Day Two!!!

Today, in the National Archeological Museum, I had a hard time keeping my eyes inside my head.  The Socratic paradox, “I know that I know nothing” never felt more true than after perusing the museum. My previous knowledge of Greece is measly, consisting of only a high school class reading of the Odyssey, the Percy Jackson series, and personal research of mythology.  Listening to Professor Hutton speak of the Neolithic and Bronze Age and point out the different artifacts that pertain to these time periods was truly eye opening. Seeing bits and pieces of what constituted the nascent stages of ancient Greek civilizations was astounding.

The part that was so fascinating to me was how the art changed over time. In the Neolithic Age, art was limited to designs etched or painted onto earthenware as well as representations of different objects (many of the female figure) made out of the mediums of stone and clay. As Greece moved into the Bronze Age, metals such a bronze and gold (obtained through trade or pillaging) were used to fashion tools and jewelry. Wall paintings, hair pins, signet rings, among other articles featured breathtakingly delicate details (such as the my favorite: the ram pin pictured below). In Classical and Archaic times, large marble statures began to make an appearance onto the scene, many with realistic (eventually becoming more stylized) designs.

Every day I’ve been here, I learn an incredible amount–both from our day trips and from classmates who have more experience than I do. I feel so blessed to be here and to have what many have told me is “the adventure of a lifetime.” To tell you the truth, being around so much history, seeing pieces of the past in person that I had only before glimpsed in history textbooks has changed my perspective and worldview. Seeing how much I have to learn had rendered me a more eager pupil–one with a perspective that promises a lifetime of adventure.

Below is a little gallery of some of the artifacts that I had the opportunity to see while at the museum.

Statuette of Artemis.

A Dimini pot--from one of the earliest settlements.

Beautiful wall painting from Thera in Santorini.

A "bear" holding a bowl

Statue of Athena.

Earthenware of the Neolithic Period.

Personal Fav--an intricately detailed ram on the head of a pin.

A commemorative pot. On it shows the deceased on a funeral pyre with women in mourning.

A death mask--laid over the faces of the rich and deceased. Rumor has it that this one covered the face of the fictional king, Agamemnon.

Clay figures of women from the Neolithic Period. Sculptures focused a lot on the female figure as it was exalted as a sign of fertility.

Dolphins on pottery from Thera.

Infant equivalents of death masks. They were made for the whole body of the infant.

Gold artifacts. Greece has no gold of its own--all gold found on Greece has either been imported or plundered (usually by the warlike Myceneans) from another nation.

A beautiful example of Mycenaean use of gold decoratively: a lion's head. 

Sounion Kouros

Another favorite: a signet ring.

Not an artifact, but an adorable tortoise that took a liking to me.  Two of them were living in the garden of the museum.

A helmet made of boar's tusks. 

Bottom four in a ring are tweezers. Just the thought of plucking my eyebrows with these suckers makes me wince.

Wall painting of a woman--beautiful detail and color.

A bronze statue found in a shipwreck. No one knows which god he is supposed to depict: either Zeus or Poseidon. 

Another Therian wall painting, this one is of two boxing boys.