Athens Day 5 - Benaki Museum - Archaeology

The Benaki Museum is housed in a beautiful Neoclassical building that was presented to the state by Antonis Benaki in 1930 in memory of his father Emmanuel Benaki,

 Clay "frying-pan" vessel decorated with impressed triangles and incised running spirals. The purpose of the vessel is unkown, from Euboea, 2800 - 2700 BC

 Clay female figurines with the hands under the breasts and plastic features. Similar figurines were made in Cyprus in the Middle Bronze Age, perhaps under the influence of contacts with the Near East. Syrian workshop, 2nd Millenium BC.

Cypriot bull-shaped rhyton of Base-Ring ware. Rhyta, vessels with a hole at the top and bottom were used in cults for offering libations. They often occur in the shape of the head of a bull or a whole bull, both in Minoan and Mycenaean art, 1450-2000 BC.

 Mycenaean bovine figure and head of a bull figurine with schematic features and linear decoration, 1400 - 1100 BC.

 Minoan cylidrical pyxis deocrated on one side with a tree and on the other with a double axe flanked by sacral horns. This vase was most probably made in a workshop in Eastern Crete and perhaps comes from a tomb, where it had been used as a cinerary urn, 1200 - 1100 BC.

 Cypriot vase decorated with concentric circles, a trefoil mouth oinoche of black on red ware, 750 - 600 BC.

 Skyphos and trefoil-mouthed oinochoe with depictions of horses and a host of filling motifs. The stylistic affinity of the two vases suggests they were made in the same workshop, if not by the same craftsman.

 Large Geometric Amphora from Attica. Decorated with a frieze of meander patterns on the neck and rotae in metoes in the handle zone. Vases of this class have been associated with specific burial rites, given that they were used as cinerary urns exclusively in female burials or as grave markers. Attributed to an Athens workshop, 800 BC.

Black-figure amphora from an Attic workshop, with zones  of sirens and felines alternating with lions, 580 BC.

 Black figure skyphoid vase with a zone of aquatic birds of the "Ragusa Group", 590 - 580 BC.

 Black-figure hydria from a provincial Attic workshop, with zones of aquatic birds, sirens and lions. It belongs to the "Ragusa Group", 590 - 580 BC.

 Attic Geometric amphora, it bears a scene of prothesis of the dead and mourners on the neck and zones of linear motifs, warriors and animals on the body. Of interest are the chctonic symbolism of the modelled snakes and the use of applied white pigment to enhance details, 720 - 700 BC

 Mycenaean gold kylix with repoussé representation of running hounds, from Dendra, Argolid, 13th Century BC.

 Boeotian black-figure lekanis decorated with cockerels, sirens, feline and wild boar, mid-6th Century BC.

 Boeotian black-figure skyphos decorated with a crab, an ass and an extremely rare representation of a seal,  500 BC.

 Corinthian black-figure pyxis (container for cometics or jewellery, with a zone of felines and ibexes, 600 - 575 BC

Alabastra with representations of mythical creatures (sphinxes, sirens, griffin) warriors in single file, Boread and winged rosette.

Attic black-figure lekythos with depiction of satyr between two large painted eyes, 500 - 490 BC.

Athens Day 4 - Kolokotroni Street

The wonders of Google had told me that there was a wool shop on Kolokotroni Street which wasn't far from our hotel so I decided to wander down.     I found not one wool shop but three -    

 In this one I found some silk threads that were made by House Tsiakiri in Soufli, Evros, Greece. The shop only had six colours in stock so I had one of each for 21,5 Euros.

 Bought some sock wool in this one for my Beekeepers Quilt that I plan to start eventually.

Bought two more balls of sock wool in this shop for the quilt as well.

 On my next visit I'll be thinking of what patterns I want to make and I'll buy some more wool.

The lady in the first shop was really helpful. She told me that the district around Kolokotroni Street had lots of fabric shops so I went wandering. This is what I found...

Shop after shop selling fabric from the bolt. They bring bolts of fabric out every morning to show their wares and put them away again in the evening. Most of these shops are small family run enterprises but they have fabulous stock. In central Athens the shops that sell one kind of product seem to be in separate areas, so you can find the fabric quarter, the jewellery quarter etc. I found one street near Kolokotroni where 5 shops were selling boxes of various kinds, from jewellery boxes to hat boxes.

National Archaeological Museum - Athens Day 3 - The Antikythera Wreck

The Antikythera Wreck dates from the 1st Century BC. It was discovered off the Greek island of Antikythera in 1900.

Glass bowl with two multi-leaved olive branches extending around it. On the bottom is an eight petalled rosette.

 

 Glass striped mosaic bowl.

 Left arm of a larger than life sized bronze boxer statue. Heavy thongs are wrapped around the wrist, thumb and hand for protection.

 Statue of a boy made of Parian marble. The boy is depicted nude and half bent over with his head raised. The upper part of his torso leans sharply forward. It may be the statue of a wrestler assuming his position before a match. The left side of the statue has been corroded by sea organisms. The right side was buried under sediment and well preserved.

The Antikythera Mechanism - 7 large pieces and 75 smaller fragments made of bronze. The fragments may or may not belong to the mechanism. The mechanism contained gears, dials, scales, axles and pointers. The Greek inscriptions refer to astronomical and calendar calculations, with instructions for its use. It was contained in a wooden box. Originally thought to be an astrolabe, it is now believed to be an advanced mechanical calculator.

National Archaeological Museum - Athens Day 3 - I would have walked like an Egyptian through this gallery...

if I could have managed it!

 A bronze doe from Akarnania - 450 - 425 BC

Funerary stela with representation of the deceased Khenit and her son Kai, limestone.

 Scarabs symbolized rebirth and were popular objects for the living and the dead. The living used scarabs as seals, amulets or rings. Those scarabs bore blessings, symbols of fortune and fertility, figures of deities, the names and titles of their owners, or even roayl names depicted or inscribed on the flat reverse. Scarabs were the most popular funerary jewellery, as they offered hope for justice during the weighing of the heart ceremony and of resurrection.

Mummy case of Djed-Aset-Ansankh, chantress of the god Amun.

Wooden jackal-headed ushabti.

 Wooden funerary stelae of the priest Hor and of Taperet and Hany, chantresses of the god Amun, worshipping the god Re-Horakhty.

Copper alloy statuette of Horus.

 Copper alloy votive statue of a cat, sacred animal of the goddess Bastet.

 Cartonage with the mummy of Nespakashouty, overseer hymnist and priest at the temple of the god Min in the city of Akhmim.

 Wooden ornaments of an outer sarcophagus depicting the god Anubis in jackal form.

Wooden figurines of the triad Ptah Sokar Osiris. Characteristic funerary offerings of the Late and Ptolemaic periods. During the New Kingdom they were used as cases for papyri of the Book of the Dead. During the Late period, a small mummy made of barley, symbol of resurrection was inside a cavity decorated with a hawk and symbolic tomb of Osiris on the base.

Wooden ornaments of an outer sarcophagus or  canopic box depicting the Ba bird, symbol of the deceased's soul.

 Wooden animal shaped sarcophagi for baboon and cat mummies and a copper alloy sarcophagus of a cat.

Copper alloy statuette of the god Sarapis Amun Agathodaemon. One of the rare preserved statues of this deity.