Ancient Greece, a brief trip in pictures

[Andrew McCabe]

I made a brief trip to Ancient Greece a few weeks back (I have use of a Tardis). I did not have much time, 3 or 4 days plus some working days, and the visit included the BCD library which I mentioned in my earlier post about two weeks back. Still, I did manage to take a few photos which I'll share here: They should all be fully described (including dates and locations of visit, e.g. I photographed the Triclinium of a Roman House in Thessalonica whilst on a visit there in 450AD; most of my Macedonian pictures were snapped between 350BC and 280BC). As, after editing, there remains several hundred photos, I can only illustrate a few examples in this posting.

Delphi, view from Mount Parnassus, and Artemision Zeus


Palace of Galerius in Thessalonica (this is my favourite pic!), and Pheidias' Athena


Hephaistaion, or Vulcan's temple in the Agora, and an Ottoman mixed hoard


Derveni Krater, the boys Kleovis and Biton, and a red-metal bell tower


Of course there are hundreds of ancient coins among the pictures. For the remainder, you will need to have a look at my photo galleries, where there are several pages of pictures:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ahala_rome/sets/72157631659126223/detail/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ahala_rome/sets/72157631659126223/detail/?page=2

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ahala_rome/sets/72157631659126223/detail/?page=3

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ahala_rome/sets/72157631659126223/detail/?page=4

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ahala_rome/sets/72157631659126223/detail/?page=5

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ahala_rome/sets/72157631659126223/detail/?page=6

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ahala_rome/sets/72157631659126223/detail/?page=7

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ahala_rome/sets/72157631659126223/detail/?page=8

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ahala_rome/sets/72157631659126223/detail/?page=9

What are your favourite photographs or eras?

Andrew

[4to2CentBCphilia]

I have seen some impressive artifacts in a variety of museums. The vatican museum has fantastic items. BUT that Derveni Krater............eye popping.....extraordinary....remarkable.....hard to believe it exists.

[Andrew McCabe]

I have seen some impressive artifacts in a variety of museums. The vatican museum has fantastic items. BUT that Derveni Krater............eye popping.....extraordinary....remarkable.....hard to believe it exists.

It is remarkable but still somehow the Derveni Krater seems a bit tacky in real life (that's what I thought when I looked at it) It seems to be an Ancient Greek copy of an over-embellished 19th century Victorian original.

Have a look at the other 200 photos I provided links to above (and then return to Forvm to chat) The half-dozen I illustrated as samples are not the best items, but more a random selection of the sort of pictures in my photoset. You may find others you like!

[4to2CentBCphilia]

I have seen some impressive artifacts in a variety of museums. The vatican museum has fantastic items. BUT that Derveni Krater............eye popping.....extraordinary....remarkable.....hard to believe it exists.

It is remarkable but still somehow the Derveni Krater seems a bit tacky in real life (that's what I thought when I looked at it) It seems to be an Ancient Greek copy of an over-embellished 19th century Victorian original.

Please have a look at the other 200 photos I provided links to above. The half-dozen I illustrated as samples are not the best items, but more a random selection of the sort of pictures in my photoset. You may find others you like!

I find the craftsmanship and detail remarkable. It makes me wonder about the person who commissioned it, and the artisans who created it.

[Molinari]

Great pics, Andrew.

I especially like the one of the "handful" of iron spits.  If you're interested, Richard Seaford gives an excellent analysis of iron spits in relation to the emergence of coinage in his book, Money and the Early Greek Mind, Cambridge: UP, 2004.

Nick

[Constantine IV]

  Fantastic photos Andrew!

[Mat]

Beautiful pics Andrew, thanks for sharing!

[FlaviusDomitianus]

Great sites and pics, thanks for sharing.

[Lloyd Taylor]

Great images and I love the appearance of your Mohawk haircut in the uppermost right photo.   Looks like Zeus is about to give it a pat! Either that, or hurl a thunderbolt at it!  

[Andrew McCabe]

Great images and I love the appearance of your Mohawk haircut in the uppermost right photo.   Looks like Zeus is about to give it a pat! Either that, or hurl a thunderbolt at it!  

That Mohawk took a lot of hair gel, but it was worth it for the photo. If Zeus had patted my Mohawk he'd probably have scratched his bronze hand.

[Andrew McCabe]

Great pics, Andrew.

I especially like the one of the "handful" of iron spits.  If you're interested, Richard Seaford gives an excellent analysis of iron spits in relation to the emergence of coinage in his book, Money and the Early Greek Mind, Cambridge: UP, 2004.

Nick

The iron spits / drachma / handful concept takes a beating from the numbers. Six 2-metre-long iron bars just have to be worth a lot more than a drachm, even if the early drachm (if you consider it as half a stater) weighed  6 or 7 grams. The subject is discussed again in the new Oxford Handbook, but no solid answers are provided.

[Juli]

Great pictures. Thanks for sharing. It's nice to see what coins you saw. They are quite amazing! I love the ancient Greek statues and art too.

[Andrew McCabe]

Great images and I love the appearance of your Mohawk haircut in the uppermost right photo.   Looks like Zeus is about to give it a pat! Either that, or hurl a thunderbolt at it!  

That Mohawk took a lot of hair gel, but it was worth it for the photo. If Zeus had patted my Mohawk he'd probably have scratched his bronze hand.

Sadly I had to shave off the Mohawk hairstyle; I loved it on the photo for sharing on Forvm, but this picture is destined for a new web-page so distractions needed minimising.

I intend to grow it back at some stage, perhaps colour it red.

[Lloyd Taylor]

A shame it had to go - but a vague shadow of its former self. I thought it quite becoming and a bit of a shake-up for the staid numismatic world!  I guess anything is possible beneath the hand of mighty Zeus.

[Andrew McCabe]

A shame it had to go - but a vague shadow of its former self. I thought it quite becoming and a bit of a shake-up for the staid numismatic world!  I guess anything is possible beneath the hand of mighty Zeus.

Those who know where this Zeus lives will realise that the windows at the left of the room have also been blanked off in an effort to avoid distracting from Zeus. And I dimmed the light behind Zeus' head. My mouse will go to extraordinary lengths in the service of promoting ancient history. Here is a new composite photo where I can compare a really tiny (a 4 inch cheekguard) against a really massive sculpture, both from the 5th century BC; I'm busy prepping a web-page at the moment.

[Diederik]

Finally they got rid of those dreadful windows; when I was there, both the visitors and light made photographing difficult. Thanks to photoshopping...


Frans