ARCHEOLOGICAL MUSEUM

PRESENTATION

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The artworks of Ancient Greece have influenced not only Roman art, but the whole of Western art – don’t forget that Greece was part of the Roman Empire from 146 BC. The canons of beauty...

MASK OF AGAMEMNON ROOM 04

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The Mask of Agamemnon is one of the treasures of the museum, and one of its best-loved symbols. Its beauty and the story of how it was discovered are themselves now legendary in Greece. It was...

BULL'S-HEAD RHYTON ROOM 04B

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As you can see, the “Bull’s-Head Rhyton” is a magnificent work. It was made around 1600 BC and placed in a royal tomb in Mycenae together with some exceptionally fine funerary...

HARP PLAYER ROOM 06

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If you think ancient art is primitive and unsophisticated, the “Harp Player” will change your mind. This marble statuette dates to about 2800 – 2300 BC: nearly 5000 years ago! ...

GEOMETRIC AMPHORA ROOM 07

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The huge “Geometric Amphora” dates to around 770 BC. It was purposely created to be placed, as a token of recognition, on the tomb of a woman. If you take a close look at the extremely...

The huge Cape Sounion Kouros, or boy of Cape Sounion, is one of the most striking pieces in the museum. Over three meters in height, it was sculpted around 600 BC in marble from Naxos, an island in...

POSEIDON ROOM 15

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What you see before you is one of the best-known masterpieces of the museum: the Artemision Bronze, believed to represent either Poseidon, the god of the sea, or Zeus, the king of the gods, in the act...

BAS-RELIEF OF ELEUSIS ROOM 15

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The large bas-relief of Eleusis depicting Demeter and Kore with Triptolemus was sculpted in marble around 440 BC for the extremely important sanctuary of Eleusis, about 25 kilometers from Athens. It...

FUNERARY RELIEF ROOM 16

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The splendid Funerary Relief from Salamis dates to around 430 BC. The cult of the dead was very important for the Greeks and they managed to represent the moment of farewell with extremely touching...

JOCKEY OF ARTEMISION ROOM 21

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The awe-inspiring “Jockey of Artemision” bronze statue before you has virtually no equal. It was found in pieces, at different times, in the sea off Cape Artemision between 1928 and 1937...

ANTIKYTHERA EFEBE ROOM 28

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What you’re looking at now is one of the masterpieces of the museum: the magnificent bronze statue known as the “Antikythera Youth”. It shared the fate of other bronze statues, and...

APHRODITE WITH PAN AND EROS ROOM 30

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Aphrodite with Pan and Eros, sculpted around 100 BC, is a very different work from the others, not in terms of technique or material, but in how the subjects are represented. This marble group...

SANTORINI FRESCOES ROOM 41