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Marble head of the philosopher Epicurus (341-270 BCE), known for his materialistic theory of the universe and his belief in pleasure as the goal (telos) of human life. Roman copy of the 2nd century CE, after a lost Greek original of the first half of the 3rd century BCE. Now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
A scene from the Trojan War: Achilles and the Ethiopian king Memnon, son of Eos (Dawn), clash in single combat, flanked by chariots. This combat was recounted in the Aethiopis, a now-lost poem belonging to the Epic Cycle that continued the story of the Trojan War after the Iliad and Hector's death. As often, the relationship between literature and visual art is unclear: did the vase painter deliberately set out to illustrate the Aethiopis, or did poet and painter simply draw upon the same stock of traditional oral narrative?
Attic black-figure pyxis, in the manner of the C Painter; ca. 570 BCE. Now in the Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Munich, Germany.
Stater (16.14 grams), minted from the naturally occurring gold-silver alloy electrum between 500 and 450 BCE by the polis of Cyzicus (located on the Hellespont in northwest Anatolia). The obverse, shown here, bears a gorgoneion (gorgon's head) above a tuna fish. Now in the British Museum. Photo credit: ArchaiOptix/Wikimedia Commons.
A lion attacks a stag. Reverse of a silver didrachm issued by the polis of Elea in southern Italy between 420 and 380 BCE. The obverse, not shown, bears the head of Athena. Now in the Staatliche Münzsammlung, Munich, Germany. Photo credit: ArchaiOptix/Wikimedia Commons.
Bronze head of a goat. Artist unknown; 3rd-1st cent. BCE (Hellenistic period). Now in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Photo credit: Cleveland Museum of Art.
Ancient Greek terracotta figurine (16.5 cm = 6.25 in high), depicting a peasant carrying a basket and wearing a pilos (conical cap). Artist unknown; 1st cent. BCE. Excavated at Myrina, Lemnos, in 1883. Now in the Louvre. Photo credit: © Marie-Lan Nguyen / Wikimedia Commons.
A prince of the Ptolemaic dynasty represented as the god Hermes. Sardonyx cameo by an unknown artist, ca. 250 BCE. Now in the Cabinet des médailles, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris. Photo credit: © Marie-Lan Nguyen / Wikimedia Commons /
A woman plays the aulos (a double-reeded wind instrument, often played at symposia and other festive occasions in the ancient Greek world). Attic red-figure lekythos (oil jar), attributed to the Brygos Painter; ca. 480 BCE. Now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The god Dionysos, holding a kantharos (two-handled drinking cup) in his right hand and a grapevine in his left. Side A of an Attic red-figure amphora attributed to the Berlin Painter and dated between 490 and 480 BCE. Found at Vulci; now in the Louvre.
Gold stater (diameter=18 mm; weight=9.09 g) from the ancient Greek city of Panticapaeum, a Milesian colony on the Black Sea. The obverse bears the head of the god Pan, shown in three-quarter view and crowned with ivy. The reverse depicts a griffin with a spear in its mouth, standing on an ear of grain (the Black Sea region was an important center of grain production for the ancient Mediterranean world). Around the griffin are the Greek letters ΠΑΝ. Now in the Münzkabinett der Staatlichen Museen, Altes Museum, Berlin. Photo credits: ArchaiOptix/Wikimedia Commons.
Tondo from the so-called Coupe à l'oiseleur ("Birdcatcher Cup"), an Ionian black-figure kylix made in ca. 550 BCE. The tondo depicts birds, a grasshopper, and a snake amidst lush vegetation, with a human or divine figure in the center. Some have argued that the shoots are meant to represent vines and that the central figure is Dionysos, but this is uncertain. Provenance uncertain (perhaps Etruria); now in the Louvre.
Marble portrait head of Chrysippus of Soli (ca. 279-206 BCE), the prominent Stoic thinker and writer sometimes credited as the "second founder" of the Stoa. The biographer/doxographer Diogenes Laertius lists over 700 works by Chrysippus, all of which have perished save for fragments. This portrait head dates to the 2nd century CE and is modeled after a lost Hellenistic original, perhaps by the sculptor Euboulides; it is now located in the Louvre. Photo credit: Marie-Lan Nguyen/Wikimedia Commons.
Polychrome terracotta sculpture of the god Dionysos, holding an egg and a rooster. The unusual attributes may hint at a connection to Orphism, which held that the first deity, Phanes or Protogonos ("First-Born"), was hatched from a cosmic egg. Adherents of Orphism saw humankind as the descendants of Dionysos (under the name "Zagreus"), created when the Titans devoured the young Zagreus and were then struck by Zeus' thunderbolt. Artist unknown; created in Tanagra, Boeotia (an important center of terracotta production) ca. 350 BCE. Now in the British Museum.
An episode from the Gigantomachy: Poseidon, wielding his trident, attacks the Giant Polybotes, while Gaia (from whom the Giants sprang) looks on. Interior of an Attic red-figure kylix (drinking cup) by the painter Aristophanes; ca. 410 BCE. Now in the Antikensammlung Berlin. Photo credit: Sailko/Wikimedia Commons.
A satyr plays the double reed instrument known as an aulos to entertain Dionysus, who is crowned with ivy and holds his characteristic thyrsus (staff topped with a pinecone). Interior of an Attic red-figure kylix (drinking cup) by the potter Hieron and the painter Makron; 480s BCE. Found at Vulci, Italy; now in the Altes Museum, Berlin. Photo credit: ArchaiOptix/Wikimedia Commons.
The goddess Athena. Obverse of a terracotta miniature Panathenaic amphora, attributed to a painter of the Bulas Group; ca. 400 BCE. Now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
A figure holding two tridents stands between horses. The scene has been interpreted as ritual horse-sacrifice, though this is not certain. Ancient Greek pottery fragment in the Geometric style, dating to the Archaic period (8th century BCE) and located in the Archaeological Museum of Argos. Photo credit: Zde/Wikimedia Commons.
