I tend to associate ancient Greek art with marble sculpture that depicts the gods and goddesses of Greek mythology. If you share that perception, a visit to the National Archeological Museum in Athens will quickly disabuse you of that notion. We visited the museum on our last day in Athens and were struck by the beauty, and especially the variety, of the artwork on display from the ancient Greeks and the even more ancient civilizations that preceded them The museum shows that, for millennia, the Greeks and their forebears were proficient in producing fabulous artwork not only in marble, but also using gold, bronze, pottery, painting, and tilework. The museum’s collection is overwhelming and leads to the inescapable conclusion that these were extraordinarily gifted artistic cultures.
The museum begins with a rich display of pieces from the Mycenaean civilization and related cultures, which existed about a thousand years before the classical Greek period in Athens and helped to provide the basis for Homer’s epic poems. The collection shows that the Mycenaeans were especially skilled in metalwork–specifically, with gold. The very first display case you see upon entering is shown in the first photo, above, and includes the famed “Mask of Agamemnon,” seen in the upper right of the photo, that was discovered through excavations by Heinrich Schliemann in the 1870s. The display of Mycenaean artifacts shows that the artists not only were skilled at making golden death masks for the wealthy and powerful, but also jewelry and other objects. The detail of the pieces is amazing–all the more so when you consider that the Mycenaean civilization collapsed in about 1200 B.C., more than 3,000 years ago.
The collection also displays some exceptional statuary in bronze, with pieces that show that the ancient Greeks, following in the footsteps of the Mycenaeans, also were masters of depicting the human form in metal. Perfectly preserved pieces like the ones above and below reveal that the ancient Greeks achieved a graceful realism that equals, if not exceeds, the efforts of Michelangelo and other skilled sculptors of the Renaissance period.
If you are not familiar with the ancient Greeks’ bronze statuary, that’s probably because not much of it survived. Marble pieces can endure the elements, but more importantly they cannot be recycled, whereas bronze statuary can be melted down and recast into other objects–like swords, or cannons. The fact that these wonderful pieces survived at all is due entirely to discovery of ancient shipwrecks. Some of those wrecks were of vessels that were transporting statuary and other artwork to their intended destinations when the ships went down and the pieces were preserved by the cold water for millennia, until they were rediscovered. I’ve never before thought of being grateful for a shipwreck, but now I am.
The ancient artists also were skilled in depicting actual individuals, not just characters from epic myths. Two of the more striking pieces in the National Archaeological Museum collection are busts of unknown individuals which also were retrieved from shipwrecks. Given the careful rendering that these busts reflect, I suspect that they aptly and accurately captured the sorrowful, deferential glance of the man above and the grizzled and demanding countenance of the man below.
Another amazing piece received from a shipwreck is this bronze depiction of a boy riding a charging horse. This piece was enormous and showed incredible realism and attention to detail, from the physiology of the horse to the posture and appearance of the boy who was in the midst of an exciting ride. When you enter the room where this piece is featured, you feel an urge to get out of the way so that the horse and boy could gallop right on past you into the next gallery.
Of all of the metalwork pieces in the museum, my favorite was this colossal rendering, shown below, of what the museum curators believe to be Zeus, king of the gods, with left hand outstretched and right hand poised to launch one of his famous thunderbolts. The thunderbolt has regrettably been lost, but the ancient artist has perfectly captured the posture that would have been used in hurling an object, and the sense that the focused, striding Zeus has been captured in mid-motion. With magnificent depictions like this–and others that have been lost to time–is it any wonder that the ancients revered Zeus as king of the gods?
There are a lot of museums in Athens, but the National Archeological Museum is a must-see items for any visitor. Going to the museum was a fitting capstone for a wonderful trip to Greece.
Webner House 