192. Ancient Greece through its stone and bronze ...

My first of I'm sure many forays into the Greece of ancient times was a visit to the National Archaeological Museum in the centre of Athens.

The museum was founded in 1829, but its huge collection of artifacts from Greek antiquity worldwide didn't find a permanent home until more than sixty years later when the current imposing neo-classical building was opened.

Its many galleries of marble and stone and bronze and clay and precious metal artifacts trace the development of Greece - through its arts - from pre-historic times to the Golden Age of Greece and all the way to the Roman times.

This was a real journey of learning for me and a visual delight to be in the presence of such wonderful and ancient art.

Of course so much of Greek art was stolen from Greece by the Romans to decorate their villas and temples - then by the English and other conquering nations through the ages ( and much of these glorious pieces can be found now in the museums of London, Paris or New York and the Vatican ... ) - but what I found here in this museum was in many ways far superior in their "brokenness" to the shiny perfect statues in the Louvre and the NY Met. Here is just a small sample of treasures from the Museum ...

 

goddess Nereid on horseback - 380 BC

 

gallery ...

 

 youths ...

gallery ...

 

Isis - AD 120

goddess of wisdom, knowledge and understanding ...

 Portrait bust of Antinoos - AD 130

The Greek youth Antinoos was a favourite of the Roman Emperor Hadrian - but unfortunately for the youth, he accidentally drowned in the River Nile under mysterious circumstances. After his death was deified by Hadrian and worshiped as a god and a hero both in the Greek east and the Latin west.

 male portrait bust - AD 160

 male portrait bust - AD 180

 gallery ...

 grave stele ( headstone ) ...

grave stele ...

 

gallery ...

 

The Emperor Augustus - bronze - 10 BC

... founder of the Roman Empire and its first Emperor ...

 

 the Fighting Gaul - 100 BC

 grave stele ...

Aphrodite - 100 BC

 goddess of beauty, love, desire, and pleasure. 

Although married to Hephaestus she had many lovers, 

most notably Ares, Adonis, and Anchises.

 portrait head ...

gallery ...

 

Poseidon - 120 BC

god of the sea ... 

... and for some unknown reason, 

this next piece is my favourite out of the entire museum ...

 

its description is unknown ... so beautiful ...

 

Themis - 3000 BC

goddess of divine law ...

 the Antikythera youth - bronze - 300 BC ...

 grave steles - 300 BC 

 detail ...

 detail ...

 detail ...

gallery ...

 

 grave stele - 300 BC ...

grave stele - 380 BC ...

 

gallery ...

 

Nike - 4000 BC

the goddess of victory ...

 

another statue of Nike - 380 BC

 

 grave stele ...

The following pieces have no descriptions

but in their anonymity are even more beautiful ...

 

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Zeus - bronze - 500 BC

god of the sky and thunder and King of the gods of Mount Olympus ...

 

Aphrodite - 420 BC

goddess of love, beauty, pleasure and procreation ... 

figure of a youth - bronze ...

 

 wonderful collection of bronze urns ...

 Youth of Marathon - bronze - 340 BC

 Kroisos youth - 500 BC

gallery ...

 

 gallery ...

 seated femail figure - 400 BC

Athena

the goddess of wisdom, craft and war ...

known for her calm temperament as she moves slowly to anger.

She is noted to have fought for only just reasons, 

and would not fight without a purpose ...

 The virgin patroness of Athens ...

 the goddess Athena - 10 BC

gallery dedicated to Athena ...

 

The story of Athena’s birth comes in several versions. In the one most commonly cited, Zeus - the king of the gods of Mount Olympus - lay with Metis - the goddess of crafty thought and wisdom - but he immediately feared the consequences. It had been prophesied that Metis would bear children more powerful than the sire, even Zeus himself. So in order to prevent this, Zeus swallowed Metis. But he was too late: Metis had already conceived.

Eventually Zeus experienced an enormous headache; Prometheus, Hephaestus, Hermes, Ares, or Palaemon (depending on the sources examined) cleaved Zeus’ head with the double-headed Minoan axe, the labrys, and Athena leaped from Zeus’ head, fully grown and armed.

Greek gods are immortal and cannot die no matter what happened to them – but unfortunately for king Zeus, in the 4th century AD Roman Emperor Theodosius - a Christian ruler - forcibly seized the temples of Zeus and thereafter the cult of Zeus was banned. Perhaps he still survives today in some corner of his kingdom.

  grave stele ...

 gallery ...

  

And so after several hours of wandering, reading, absorbing, imagining, fantasizing and photographing - but with a welcomed lunch break half way through in the cafeteria - it was time to eventually emerge back out into the reality of a stormy Sunday afternoon into noisy chaotic wonderful exciting 21st century Athens ...