Images

A marble sacrificial altar dedicated to the Roman gods Mars and Venus, c. 124 CE. Later used as a pedestal for a statue of the god Silvanus. The carvings tell of the founding of Rome with the figures of Romulus and Remus, their adoptive shepherd...

A gold death mask from a Shaft Grave IV, Grave Circle A, Mycenae, 1600-1500 BCE. (National Archaeological Museum, Athens).

The so-called death mask of Agamemnon - the king of Mycenae in Homer's Iliad. Gold funeral mask from Grave Circle A, Mycenae (mid-16th century BCE). The mask in fact predates Agamemnon by 400 years but nevertheless remains solid evidence...

A red-figure loutrophoros from Apulia, 4th century BCE. These tall slim vessels with elongated handles were used during wedding and funeral rites and as grave markers, especially for those who died unmarried. This example depicts women and...

An Attic louterion vessel, used for pouring water, wine or in funeral rites and usually wiith a central spout as in this example, 760-735 BCE. (British Museum, London).

A southern Italian lebes gamikos vessel, c. 340-320 BCE. Lebetes gamikoi are distinguished by their high handles and they were associated with wedding and funeral rituals. On this example a lady perhaps prepares for a wedding or festival...

An Attic kantharos (drinking cup) with a head of a satyr, c. 420 BCE.

A red-figure Attic pyxis, 460-450 BCE. Pyxides were lidded boxes used for storing small items such as jewellery. This example depicts the birth of Aphrodite with Eros on the left. (Metropolitan -museum of Art, New York).

A Corinthian vessel depicting animals and carrying a protome of a female head on the handle, c. 570 BCE. (Getty Villa, Malibu).

A red-figure Attic Lekanis, 400-300 BCE. (Provenance: Spina Necropolis). Lekanides were often used for serving food where the lid could be overturned and its handle became a foot. The woman depicted here holds a tympanon or drum.