Acropolis Museum

Why do we put old stuff from millennia ago in musea and pay to see them? There is something fascinating about delving into history using objects rather than books, marvelling at the skills of people in the past that lead up to the development of our technology and society. At the foot of the Acropolis, there is a museum exhibiting golden artifacts and everyday objects from Ancient Greece.

This bronze amphora is special because of the unusual decorative material it's made from. You see Persian men with Phrygic caps as decorations on it, as well as some winded forms.

This golden artifact in the form of a shield was probably used for ritual or decorative purposes. You see carved dolphins frolicking in the water on the inside and Medusas (mythological women with serpents as hair and a gaze that could turn you into stone) on the outside.

Ceramic stoves show again the advanced technology of the Classical Period. The one on the left is simple, but the one on the right is decorated with some carved garlands.

This stone inscription says (below the words agathe = virtue and tyche = fortune) that Gaius Iulius Metrodoros (a hellenised Roman?) dedicated this votive stone to Apollon.

Lastly, another cruel Medusa face awaits you... Yes, they were painted although some of it might be bleached over time, just like the statues that will follow in the next post.

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