Sunday, June 11, 2006

Germany trip: Berlin - 29/5 (Part 3)

Germany trip: 29/5 Berlin

After the Egyptian Museum, I went downstairs to the Antiquities collection (Greek artefacts). I planned to just walk through it since I had already visited 2.5 great Classical collections in the last 2 months, yet I found quite a few gems.

Unfortunately, though there was a good audio tour once again, it was significantly poorer than the Egyptian one and worse, there were no English labels on the items or cabinets (only on the big panels giving an overview of the section), so I had to do a lot of guessing.


Big amphora, 7th century BC


Corinthian helmets, 10th-6th century BCs. Mostly from 7th/6th centuries.


2 warriors playing a game, 520 BC


7th-6th century pottery shards

I must be the only person who takes so many pictures in museums. Excepting of course my brother-in-law, but then he snaps away at things for the sake of snapping, without having any idea what the hell he's looking at.


Perseus and Andromeda, 550 BC


Krater with departing warriors, 570 BC


Silver things, 200 BC - Aphrodite and Gans (?), Eros


Themen (?) mythology, 1st half of 5th century BC


Relief of crysapho, 540 BC


Panathenian Preisanphon (?), Athena and 2 birds, 490 BC


Andokides' Amphora, 525 BC. Herakles and Apollo.


Dishes - Javelin throwing 440-30 BC, Discus throwing 510-00 BC


The Praying Boy, 300 BC. The arms were added in the 17th century.


Smith, 500 BC


Thetis arming Achiles, 490-80 BC
Addendum: indolive says that this should be "Hephaïstos giving the armes of Achilles he just made to his mother Thetys", so I might've made an error in copying down the name of this item.


Aphrodite Tarquina, 420 BC. The bowl is a later addition.

There was a lot of silverware. It's rare to find Greek silverware.


Relief for a hero. Cumae, Marmor. 400 BC


Athena bowl, 1st century BC. I think the first picture captured the light a bit better.


Perikles, 429 BC. From Lesbos.


Oedipus and the Sphinx, 450-40 BC


Assteas' Krater, 350-40 BC
Theatrical farce


Glass amphora from Black Sea. At 60cm high, it's the largest surviving glass vase from antiquity. 150-80 BC


Olwald of Athens. 75-50 BC, from Eleusius. Grave relief of family.

The audioguide had a snide remark about a portrait head of Cleopatra: "Any attempt to find out her enduring appeal as half of the most famous pair of lovers in history is exciting, but futile" (and what about Romeo and Juliet?)


Mosaic - Cleopatra and Caesar crusing down the Nile


Bust of Cleopatra VII, 40-30 BC, Alexandria


Julius Caesar, 1st half of 1st century AD


Roman mummy portrait


2 Centaurs attacked by animals. Mosaic from Villa of Hadrian at Tivoli (118-35 AD)


Bust of Hadrian, 120 AD


Constantine I
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