Sphinx of Naxos

The Sphinx of Naxos, also Sphinx of the Naxians, now in the Archaeological Museum of Delphi, is a 2.22 meter tall marble statue of a sphinx, a mythical creature with the head of a woman, the chest and wings composed of the impressive feathers of a prey bird turned upward, and the body of a lioness.

The Sphinx stood on a 10 meter column that culminated in one of the first Ionic capitals, and was erected next to the Temple of Apollo in Delphi, the religious center of Ancient Greece, in 560 BCE.

The first fragments were excavated from the sanctuary of the Temple of Apollo in 1860. The remainder was found in 1893.

Pompeian red | Ancient colors

Pompeian red refers to the color of iron oxide-based mineral pigment with a hue close to red ochre, so named because of its common use in ancient Roman painting and the fact that it is abundant in the murals of Pompeii.

Studies have shown that walls with Pompeian red backgrounds were painted in various ways, of which the use of cinnabar was the most expensive.

This term also defines the ochre-red color of a plaster characteristic of Roman ceramics.

Pompeii roman freso

Egyptian blue | The first synthetic pigment in history

Egyptian blue, also known as calcium copper silicate (calcium copper tetrasilicate) or cuprorivaite, is a pigment that was used in ancient Egypt for thousands of years.

It is considered to be the first synthetic pigment.

It was known to the Romans by the name caeruleum.

After the Roman era, Egyptian blue fell from use and, thereafter, the manner of its creation was forgotten.

In modern times, scientists have been able to analyze its chemistry and reconstruct how to make it.

Tomb of Amunherkhepshef, son of Pharaoh Ramesses III

Petra | La Geologia della città rosa del Medio Oriente

Presso la cittadina araba di Ma’an, nel sud della Giordania, sorge Petra, nota anche come la Città delle Tombe o la Città Rosa, l’antica capitale del regno dei Nabatei, dichiarata dall’UNESCO Patrimonio Culturale dell’Umanità.

Petra fu l'imponente capitale del regno nabateo dal VI secolo a.C. circa.

Il regno fu assorbito dall'Impero romano nel 106 d.C. ed i Romani continuarono a espandere la città.

Aristotele: "Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies"

Aristotele / Ἀριστοτέλης, (Stagira, 384 a.C. o 383 a.C. - Calcide, 322 a.C.) è stato un filosofo Greco antico, ritenuto una delle menti più universali, innovative, prolifiche ed influenti di tutti i tempi, sia per la vastità che per la profondità dei suoi campi di conoscenza.

Insieme a Platone, suo maestro, e a Socrate è considerato uno dei padri del pensiero filosofico occidentale, che però soprattutto da Aristotele ha ereditato problemi, termini, concetti e metodi.

• "La cultura è un ornamento nella buona sorte ma un rifugio nell'avversa".

• "Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity".

Ancient Jordanian site of Petra | Roman period

Petra is a historical and archaeological city in the Jordanian governorate of Ma'an that is known for its rock cut architecture and water conduits system.

Established sometime around the 6th century BC as the capital city of the Nabataeans, it is a symbol of Jordan as well as its most visited tourism attraction.

It lies on the slope of Mount Hor in a basin among the mountains which form the eastern flank of Arabah (Wadi Araba), the large valley running from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba.

La Grotta di Altamira | Patrimonio della Umanità

"Dopo Altamira, tutto è decadenza", esclamò Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973, incantato dinanzi allo spettacolo delle pitture rupestri nella grotta spagnola di Altamira.

Molti pittori sono stati influenzati dalle opere delle grotte di Altamira.

Le Grotte di Altamira sono delle caverne spagnole famose per le pitture rupestri del Paleolitico superiore raffiguranti mammiferi selvatici e mani umane. Si trovano nei pressi di Santillana del Mar in Cantabria, 30 chilometri ad ovest di Santander. Queste grotte sono state incluse tra i Patrimoni dell'umanità dell'UNESCO nel 1985.

Nel 2008 il nome del patrimonio è stato modificato da "Grotte di Altamira" in "Arte rupestre paleolitica della Spagna settentrionale" in seguito all'aggiunta di 17 altre grotte.

Grecia antica

Antica Grecia (o Grecia antica) è il termine utilizzato per descrivere la civiltà sviluppatasi nella Grecia continentale, in Albania, nelle isole del Mar Egeo, sulle coste del Mar Nero e quelle occidentali della Turchia, in Sicilia, nell'Italia Meridionale (poi chiamata Magna Grecia), nelle isole del Mediterraneo occidentale di Corsica e Sardegna, nonché sulle coste di Spagna e Francia e, successivamente, dell'Africa settentrionale.

La cultura Greca, nonostante la conformazione geografica del continente favorisse l'insorgere di molteplici unità politiche a sé stanti, fu un fenomeno omogeneo, che interessò tutte le genti elleniche, accomunate dalla stessa lingua e dalla stessa religione.

Età arcaica

Le prime civiltà di cui si ha notizia per la Grecia antica sono la civiltà egea, quella cicladica e quella micenea, influenzata dalla civiltà minoica, che sorse a Creta nell'età del bronzo.

Edoardo Ettore Forti | Neo-Pompeian painter

Edoardo Ettore Forti (1850-1940) was an Italian painter, active late 19th century - early 20th century.

was an Italian painter, who was prolific in depicting realistic Neo-Pompeian scenes of Ancient Roman life and events. These subjects were popular in the late-Victorian period, as exemplified by the popularity of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema.

He concentrated on ancient Roman subjects, which were rarely based on actual historical events.

The Muses frescoes at the Pompeii’s Moregine

Pompei - Affreschi di Moregine(primo triclinio) | Erato (detail)

Pompeii’s Moregine frescoes, which were unearthed inside a Roman villa discovered in 1959 during construction works for the Naples-Salerno highway, are on display inside the newly-restored Large Gymnasium.

The Moregine architectural complex is located outside the walls of Pompeii, approximately 600 meters South of the Stabian Gate.

The ancient villa was discovered at the mouth of the river Sarno and of its ancient trading post: a porticoed courtyard fronted by at least five frescoed triclinia, or formal dining rooms, and thermal baths under construction.

Percy Bysshe Shelley | Ozymandias, 1818

"Ozymandias" is a famous sonnet written in 1818 by British Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)🎨, in which he reflects on hubris and the implacable passage of time and on the decline of leaders and their empires.

The poem is widely believed to have been inspired by a broken statue of Ramses II that is now, like many priceless Egyptian artifacts, in the possession of the British Museum.

Ancient Egyptian Sculpture

The culture and monuments of ancient Egypt have left a lasting legacy on the world. The cult of the goddess Isis, for example, became popular in the Roman Empire, as obelisks and other relics were transported back to Rome.

The Romans also imported building materials from Egypt to erect Egyptian-style structures. Early historians such as Herodotus, Strabo, and Diodorus Siculus studied and wrote about the land, which Romans came to view as a place of mystery.

Thutmose | The Sculptor of the bust of Nefertiti

The King's Favourite and Master of Works, the Sculptor Thutmose - (also spelled Djhutmose and Thutmosis), flourished 1350 BC, is thought to have been the official court sculptor of the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten in the latter part of his reign.

German archaeological expedition digging in Akhenaten's deserted city of Akhetaten, at Amarna, found a ruined house and studio complex (labeled P47.1-3) in early December 1912; the building was identified as that of Thutmose based on an ivory horse blinker found in a rubbish pit in the courtyard inscribed with his name and job title.

Ancient Egypt / La Civiltà Egizia

Ancient Egypt was a civilization of ancient Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. It is one of six civilizations to arise independently.

Egyptian civilization followed prehistoric Egypt and coalesced around 3150 BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology) with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh Narmer (commonly referred to as Menes).

Ancient Asian art

The history of Asian art or Eastern art, includes a vast range of influences from various cultures and religions.

Developments in Asian art historically parallel those in Western art, in general a few centuries earlier.

Chinese art🎨, Indian art, Korean art, Japanese art🎨, each had significant influence on Western art, and, vice versa.

Near Eastern art also had a significant influence on Western art. Excluding prehistoric art, the art of Mesopotamia represents the oldest forms of Asian art.

Ancient Art | Sitemap

Ancient Art refers to the many types of art produced by the advanced cultures of ancient societies with some form of writing, such as those of ancient China, India, Mesopotamia, Persia, Palestine, Egypt, Greece and Rome.

The art of pre-literate societies is normally referred to as prehistoric art and is not covered here.

Although some pre-Columbian cultures developed writing during the centuries before the arrival of Europeans, on grounds of dating these are covered at pre-Columbian art and articles such as Maya art, Aztec art, and Olmec art.

Ancient Rome / La Civiltà romana

Galla Fattah, 1970 | Symbolist painter | Touching Egypt

Russian painter🎨 Galla Abdel Fattah / Галла Абдель Фаттах is born in Moscow.

One has just the feeling of that mysterious attractiveness when meets that woman fragile, helpless, amazingly beautiful, her profile reminds portraits of Egyptian empresses. Especially, if you can see her among lambent gold of her pictures.

But when you start talking to her it is like the mist clears away and features of a very Russian, soft, poetic character come out through a bright, eastern appearance; it is an astonishing combination making this woman even more fascinating. How was such a mixture born? What does it promise? In what creative form such a spirit can be realized? I believe everyone asks these questions who becomes acquainted with Galla and her works.

She admitted that she had not turned to Egyptian themes in art for many years, but the roots are powerful and sooner or later they reflect in artist’s work, find their form of existence on canvas. Grown up in Russia with traditional values of Russian fine arts at a certain moment Galla discovered the harmony of ancient Russian icon painting and Egyptian symbolism, their graphical fineness.

Antinous, the Greek God / Antinoo, il Dio Greco

Antinous -also Antinoüs or Antinoös, Ancient Greek: Ἀντίνοος (27 November, c. 111 - before 30 October 130) was a Bithynian Greek youth and a favourite, or lover, of the Roman emperor Hadrian.

He was deified after his death, being worshiped in both the Greek East and Latin West, sometimes as a god (theos) and sometimes merely as a hero (heros).

Little is known of Antinous' life, although it is known that he was born in Claudiopolis (present day Bolu, Turkey), in the Roman province of Bithynia. He was probably introduced to Hadrian in 123, before being taken to Italy for a higher education.

He had become the favourite of Hadrian by 128, when he was taken on a tour of the Empire as part of Hadrian's personal retinue. Antinous accompanied Hadrian during his attendance of the annual Eleusinian Mysteries in Athens, and was with him when he killed the Marousian lion in Libya.

Praxiteles | The Diana of Gabii | Musée du Louvre

The Diana of Gabii is a statue of a woman in drapery which probably represents the goddess Artemis and is traditionally attributed to the sculptor Praxiteles. It became part of the Borghese collection and is now conserved in the Louvre with the inventory number Ma 529.

Venus de Milo

This graceful statue of a goddess has intrigued and fascinated since its discovery on the island of Melos in 1820.

Is it Aphrodite, who was often portrayed half-naked, or the sea goddess Amphitrite, who was venerated on Melos?

The statue reflects sculptural research during the late Hellenistic Period: classical in essence, with innovatory features such as the spiral composition, the positioning in space, and the fall of the drapery over the hips.