Hellenistic drachma of the Epirote League, depicting the heads of Dodonian Zeus (crowned with an oak wreath) and Dione (or Hera). Artist unknown; ca. 233-168 BCE. Now in the Staatliche Münzsammlung, Munich. Photo credit: ArchaiOptix/Wikimedia Commons.

Head of Artemis, of the Rospigliosi type. Marble Roman-era copy (1st-2nd cent. CE) after a Hellenistic original, perhaps from a Gigantomachia. Now in the Louvre.

Statuette of the goddess Artemis/Diana. Unknown Anatolian artist; 1st cent. BCE. Now in the Getty Villa, Malibu. Photo credit: Mary Harrsch/Wikimedia Commons.

Athenian funerary relief of a couple. Artist unknown; ca. 330-320 BCE. Now in the Pergamon Museum, Berlin. Photo credit: Nemracc/Wikimedia Commons.

Late Hellenistic sculpture (Parian marble) of a fighting Gaul.  Tentatively attributed to the sculptor Agasias; ca. 100 BCE.  Found in the Agora of the Italians, Delos; now in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens.

The playwright Menander.  Ancient Roman marble medallion (4th cent. CE) after a Greek original of the 3rd cent. BCE.  Now in the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard University.

Ancient Greek necklace with the “Heracles knot”.  Artist unknown; ca. 230-210 BCE.  From Taras/Tarentum (modern-day Taranto, south Italy); now in the Altes Museum, Berlin.

Marble head of Hermes.  Hellenistic copy after a 5th cent. BCE herm.  Found in the Theater Quarter of Delos; now in the Archaeological Museum of Delos.  Photo credit: Zde/Wikimedia Commons.

Ancient Greek terracotta incense burner in the form of a female head, possibly Kore/Persephone.  Artist unknown; 3rd cent. BCE.  Now in the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.

Pair of gold armbands depicting a Triton and Tritoness.  Artist unknown; ca. 200 BCE.  Now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Hellenistic bronze sculpture of Hermes.  Now in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.  Photo credit: LACMA.

A statue of Zeus.  Artist unknown; late Hellenistic period.  From Kameiros, Rhodes; now in the Archaeological Museum of Rhodes.  Photo credit: Jebulon/Wikimedia Commons.

Stephanophoric silver tetradrachm of the Euboean polis of Eretria.  On the obverse, a bust of Artemis; on the reverse, a steer.  Artist unknown; after 180 BCE (Hellenistic).  Photo credit: Exekias/Wikimedia Commons.

A satyr with the child Dionysus.  Artist unknown (thought to have been carved by craftsmen from Alexandria, Egypt); 2nd cent. BCE.  Now in the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.  Photo credit: Walters Art Museum.

Reaped Yet Unripe

Anthologia Palatina 7.439 = Theodoridas (fl. 2nd half of 3rd cent. BCE) Thus then did you, indiscriminate Fate, Cut down too early from the ranks Of Aeolian youth Pylius, Agenor’s son, Spurring the Dooms, hounds who hunt life. Alas, what a splendid man lies dead As spoil for unsmiling Hades! οὕτω δὴ Πύλιον τὸν Ἀγήνορος, ἄκριτε Μοῖρα, πρώιον ἐξ ἥβας ἔθρισας Αἰολέων, κῆρας ἐπισσεύσασα βίου κύνας. ὦ πόποι, ἀνὴρ οἷος ἀμειδήτῳ κεῖται ἕλωρ Ἀίδῃ.

 Young Man with a Skull (Vanitas), Frans Hals, ca. 1626

Epitaph for a Hellenistic Musician

Anthologia Palatina 7.412 = Alcaeus of Messene (fl. late 3rd/early 2nd cent. BCE) All Hellas wails for you gone, Pylades, Shearing its unplaited hair to the bone; Phoebus himself took off the laurels From his uncut locks, doing honor To his singer in the way that is meet. The Muses wept; the river Asopus Halted his stream, hearing the cry That poured from out their mournful mouths; The halls of Dionysus stopped their dancing, When you embarked on Hades’ iron road. πᾶσά τοι οἰχομένῳ, Πυλάδη, κωκύεται Ἑλλάς, ἄπλεκτον χαίταν ἐν χροῒ κειραμένα: αὐτὸς δ᾽ ἀτμήτοιο κόμας ἀπεθήκατο δάφνας Φοῖβος, ἑὸν τιμῶν ᾗ θέμις ὑμνοπόλον Μοῦσαι δ᾽ ἐκλαύσαντο: ῥόον δ᾽ ἔστησεν ἀκούων Ἀσωπὸς γοερῶν ἦχον ἀπὸ στομάτων ἔλληξεν δὲ μέλαθρα Διωνύσοιο χορείης, εὖτε σιδηρείην οἶμον ἔβης Ἀίδεω.

The Lyre, Victor Lagye (1825-1896)

Ancient Greek or Roman bronze statuette of a dwarf with silver eyes.  Artist unknown; 1st cent. BCE/CE.  Now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.