The Ancient Art Blog

Attachment to a bronze vessel in the form of Silenus—satyr and erstwhile companion of Dionysus. Late 6th century BC, maybe from Thebes? Louvre museum.

Terracotta figurine with lion’s head from Tharros, thought to be 2nd or 1st c. BBCE. Cagliari, Museo Archeological Nazionale.

Something to consider when choosing your body art: what will archaeologists of the future think about it?

Re (in cat form) slaying the serpent Apophis (see Spell 17, Book of the Dead). Facsimile of a wall painting from the Tomb of Sennedjem, Deir el Medina. Early Dyn 19, ca. 13th cent. BC. Illustration source: Metropolitan Museum of Art

Athenian red-figure wine jar showing an owl as soldier, 410-390. Provenance unknown. Louvre Museum.

Marble base of a column, sitting in the cloister of Sé de Lisboa (Cathedral of Santa maria Maior de Lisboa). 14th century, maybe? Gothic architecture isn’t our area of expertise, so corrections welcome.

Pair of eyes meant to be inlaid in a Bronze sculpture. Probably from Greece, ca. 5th century BC. Bronze, marble, grit, quartz, obsidian. Ht: 3.8 cm. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Picture credit: http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/255977

Bronze furniture leg with Silenus atop the large foot of a four-toed animal. Probably from Alexandria, 1st c. BCE (purchased). Israel Museum.

Eros, Aphrodite, and Pan on the inner lid of a bronze mirror said to be from Corinth. British Museum 1888.1213.1-2, thought to be from ca. 350. Photo courtesy British Museum.

Neolithic figurines. Budapest, Hungarian National Museum.

Chalkoprateia, Church of the Theotokos, 5th c. CE, Archaeological Museum of Istanbul. 

Limestone Sarcophagus of Queen Batnu’am, from Byblos (Lebanon). Inscription reads: “In this sarcophagus: I, Batnu’am, mother of king Uzziba’al, king of Byblos, son of Palletiba’al, priest of Ba’alat. I am lying in a garment with headgear over me, and there is a golden plate at my mouth, like the queens who have been before me.” First half of the 4th cent. BC. Beirut, National Museum. 

Ashtart throne from the Sanctuary of Eshmun at Bostan esh-Sheikh (near Sidon). Early Hellenistic. Beirut, Lebanese national Museum.

Houston, I’m ready for take-off! ‘Lady of Baza’, Limestone sculpture (really an anthropomorphic cinerary urn) from Grave 155, Baza (Granada). 4th cent. BC. Museo Arqueologico Nacional, Madrid

Something in her eyes says . . . wait, what? (googley-eyed female figure. Ptoion, Boeotia. Local stone. Late 7th c. BC. National Archaeological Museum, Athens. The googley eyes are really there, look closely)

(Red-figure squat lekythos. 5th cent. BC. National Museum, Athens)

(Copper statuette of Serapis-Amon, a cthonic deity originating in Greco-Roman period Egypt, in human-snake form with rams horns on his head. National Museum, Athens)