Athens - National Archeological Museum

The National Archeological Museum displays some sensational finds made since 1967 at Akrotiri on the island of Santoríni. There are plans to move this collection back to Santoríni.

The Cycladic Hall at the National Archeological Museum in Athens contains material of the third and second millennia B.C. from the Cyclades.

Characteristic of the highly developed art of this insular culture are the "Cycladic idols" and "Cycladic pans", ritual objects associated with the cult of the dead and of the gods. Notable items are the Harp-Player from Keros (one of the few preserved male Cycladic idols) and the flying-fish frescoes from Phylakopi on the island of Milos (5844: 16th century B.C.).

Other special collections housed in the National Archeological Museum include a very interesting Epigraphic Collection.

These are some of the main collections of this museum.

The Mycenaean Hall: Material excavated by Schliemann and others at Mycenae Room 4 and other Mycenaean sites, illustrating the richness of the Mycenaean culture, which combined the nobility and monumentality of Achaean Greek art with the refinement of Minoan Crete (1600- 1150 B.C.).

The exhibits are not arranged chronologically but according to sites or types of material.

The front part of the hall is occupied by material from Mycenae itself, including the famous gold mask of a king from Shaft Grave V (624: ca. 1580 B.C.), together with gold cups, vases, carved ivories, richly decorated daggers, boar's-tusk helmets, the "Warrior Vase" (1426: ca. 1200) and two pilasters from the entrance to the "Treasury of Atreus".

Particularly notable items in the rear part of the hall are the two famous gold cups (1758, 1759) from Vaphió, south of Sparta, which date from the 15th century B.C.

The Neolithic Hall at the National Archeological Museum contains material from the Greek mainland including objects from Dimini (fourth millennium B.C.), Sesklo (third millennium B.C.) and Orchomenós (third-second millennium B.C.).

There are several less-notable rooms in the National Archeological Museum. Clockwise from the entrance hall are chronologically arranged collections, beginning with the Geometric period (ninth-eighth century B.C.) and continuing through the Archaiac (seventh-sixth centuries) and Classical (fifth-fourth centuries) to the Hellenistic (third-first centuries) and Roman periods.

In room IX of the National Archeological Museum is Winged Nike (Victory) from Delos (21: C. 500 B.C.) and, to the right, a slender kouros from Milos (1,558: C. 550 B.C.).

Of particular interest is the excellently preserved kore holding a lotus flower in her left hand, with an inscription giving her name as Phrasikleia (4,889). This figure was found by Mastrokostas in 1972 at Merénda, near Markópoulo in Attica.

In the center of room seven at the National Archeological Museum is the Dipylon Vase from the Kerameikos cemetery, a monumental sepulchral vase in geometric style with a representation of the lament for the dead, dating from the time of Homer (V 804: ca. 750 B.C.).

On the right-hand wall is a flat, almost board-like relief from the island of Delos, dedicated by Nikandre (1: ca. 650 B.C.). Metopes from the Archaic temple of Athena at Mycenae (2702, 2869, 2870, 4471: ca. 620 B.C.).

In room VIII of the National Archaeological Museum are two kouroi from Soúnion which dominate this room. They are 3m/10ft high (2,720, 3,645: 625-600 B.C.).

When Greek artists began to produce large sculptures after 650 B.C. they achieved monumental expression in over-life-size figures of naked youths (kouroi). Characteristic of these figures are the rigidly frontal pose and the equal distribution of weight on both legs, with the left foot always in front of the right. Originally the hands were held close to the thighs, with clenched fists; later the arms hung free.

Also in this room are the head and hand of a kouros from Kerameikos (the "Dipylon Head", 3,372: C. 600 B.C.).

The kouros (4,890) in room X of the National Archeological Museum was found at Merénda.

Stylistic comparisons suggest that the figure of Phrasikleia (in room IX) was carved about 500 B.C. by Aristion, a sculptor from Paros working in Attica. He was also responsible for the figure of Kroisos from Anávyssos in room 13.

In Andrew Stewart's view the Merénda kouros and the Theseus and Antiope group from Eretria (Chalkis Museum) are also by Aristion or his school.

Also in this room is a fine ephebe with a discus from the Dipylon (ca. 560 B.C.).

Room XI of the National Archeological Museum includes the Stele of Aristion, by Aristokles (29: ca. 510 B.C.) and a kouros from the island of Kea (3,686: ca. 530 B.C.).

Room XII of the National Archeological Museum includes a relief of a running hoplite from Athens (1,959: ca. 510 B.C.) and heads from the east pediment of the Temple of Aphaia, Aegina.

Room XIII of the National Archeological Museum includes several kouroi, including a late Archaic figure with arms akimbo from the Ptoion (12: ca. 510 B.C.) and a powerful figure from Anávyssos by Aristion of Paros (3,851: ca. 540 B.C.), with an inscription on the base: "Stop at his grave and weep for the dead Kroisos, destroyed by wrathful Ares while fighting among the warriors in the forefront of the battle." Also very beautiful is the stele of Aristodikos.

Room XIV of the National Archeological Museum showcases classical art, including a relief of Aphrodite (?) from Milos (3,990: 470-460 B.C.) and a relief of a youth with a garland (originally a metal attachment) from Soúnion (3,344: ca. 470 B.C.).

Room XV of the National Archeological Museum includes a Eleusinian votive relief (on left) depicting Demeter giving the first ear of corn to the boy Triptolemos, with her daughter Persephone or Kore (126: ca. 440 B.C.).

In the center of the room is an imposing over-life-size bronze statue of a god (15,161) found in the sea off Cape Artemision (northern Euboea); it was previously identified as Zeus but is now generally recognized as representing Poseidon. The latest research indicates that it was made after the battle of Plataiai (479 B.C.) as an offering to the sanctuary of Poseidon on the Isthmus or to a sanctuary on Cape Artemision.

Room XVI of the National Archeological Museum includes funerary monuments, including a large marble Iekythos from the tomb of Myrrhine (4,485: ca. 420 B.C.).

Room XVII of the National Archeological Museum includes a votive relief from Piraeus depicting Dionysos with actors (1,500: ca. 400 B.C.) and a head of Hera from the Argive Heraion (1,571: ca. 420 B.C.).

Room XVIII at the National Archeological Museum includes a relief of Hegeso and her maid, the most famous of the Kerameikos monuments (3,624: ca. 410 B.C.).

Room 21 of the National Archeological Museum includes the Diadumenos, a Roman marble copy of a lost bronze original by Polykleitos (1,826: ca. 410 B.C.), and (straight ahead) the Hermes of Andros, a Roman copy of an original of the school of Praxiteles (218: fourth century B.C.) - two works which exemplify the change from the vigorous but controlled physical representations of the fifth C. to the spiritualized approach of the fourth.

Also in this room is the boy rider (15,177: second century B.C.), recently mounted on a horse which is well restored but is not his original mount.

Room 29 of the National Archeological Museum includes a large group from the sanctuary of Despina at Lykosoura (Peloponnese) and a large statue of Themis from Rhamnous (231: early third century B.C.).

Room 28 of the National Archeological Museum contains the Ephebe of Antikythera, an original work in bronze, probably representing Paris or Perseus and carved by Euphranor (Br 13,396: 340 B.C.). At the end of the room are a figure of Hygieia, probably by Skopas (3,602: ca. 360 B.C.) and a head of Asklepios from the island of Amorgos (fourth century B.C.).

Room 30 of the National Archeological Museum contains the Poseidon of Milos (235: second century B.C.), bronze heads of a boxer from Olympia (Br 6,439: ca. 350 B.C.), a philosopher (Br 13,400: third century B.C.) and a man from Delos (Br 14,612: ca. 100 B.C.).

Room 32 of the National Archeological Museum contains the Helene Stathatos Collection, with items ranging in date from prehistoric to Byzantine times.

Room 34 at the National Archeological Museum includes votive reliefs dedicated to Pan and the nymphs.

Room 40 of the National Archeological Museum contains large bronzes, including an Apollo (3,624: ca. 410 B.C.), two figures of Artemis (fourth century B.C.), found by chance in Piraeus in 1959, and the Ephebe of Marathon, probably by Praxiteles or his school, which was recovered from the sea in 1925 (ca. 350 B.C.).

Room 22 at the National Archeological Museum contains sculpture from Epidauros.

Rooms 23 and 24 contain funerary Stelae of the fourth century B.C., including the Ilissos Stele, perhaps by Skopas (578: C. 350 B.C.). Side-room 25 has statuettes and other votive objects dedicated to Amynos and Asklepios.

Rooms 36 and 37 of the National Archeological Museum contains the Karapanos Collection, with numerous small bronzes of the Archaic and Classical periods, including a horseman from Dodona (16,547: ca. 550 B.C.), a goddess with a dove (Aphrodite or Dione) from the Pindos (460 B.C.) and the famous statuette of Zeus hurling a thunderbolt from Dodona (16,546: 450 B.C.).

Other notable items in this room are an Archaic head of Zeus from Olympia (6,440: ca. 550 B.C.) and a number of pieces of sculpture from the Acropolis, including a male head with inlaid eyes (6,446: ca. 490 B.C.), the head of a youth (6,590: ca. 480 B.C.), also with inlaid eyes, and an Athena Promachos (6,447: ca. 450 B.C.).

The side-rooms 19 and 20 at the National Archeological Museum include votive relief with figures of Demeter and Persephone (3,572: ca. 420 B.C.). There is also a torso of Apollo of the "Kassel Apollo" type (1,612: Roman copy of a Greek original of the fifth century B.C.), a votive relief dedicated to Pan and the nymphs, from the south face of the Acropolis (1,329: 410 B.C.) and the "Varvakion statuette", a small Roman copy of Phidias' Athena Parthenos (128: second-third century A.D.).

From here we can enter one of the inner courts of the museum.

The National Archeological Museum contains a very comprehensive collection of vases; note particularly the Dipylon vases, the beautifully painted Protoattic vases, exhibits from Corinthian and Boeotian workshops, black-figured vases from the sixth and fifth century B.C., and an extraordinary collection of lecythi (narrow-necked vases) with white backgrounds.