National Archaeological Museum of Greece

This morning, the group met at 8:45 along with our Art History teacher to visit Greece's National Archaeological Museum. We are going to be making several trips there periodically throughout our time here, as we study the different periods of artwork in our lectures.

At the moment, we just finished lecture on the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations. So, for today, we visited those parts of the museum. Here are some pictures:

 "The Face of Agamemnon" death mask (rumored to have been tampered with by archaeologist H. Schliemann... notice how the mustache looks oddly German)

 "Lady of Mycenae" wall fresco

 Minoan wall frescos

(Minoan frescos were influenced by the Near East, notice how it's only the profile view and the exaggerated eyes- much like the Egyptians)

 Mycenaean "bull-leaping" wall fresco. This was a real sport, perhaps served as both a form of entertainment and a religious practice.

 Mycenaean Linear B clay tablets

(Linear B is the proto-form of Greek. These tablets were used to keep inventory.)

 Mycenaean jewelery, made from semi-precious stones

 Gold Mycenaean earrings

 Mycenaean vase, in Minoan style (Mycenaeans borrowed their nature/sea motifs)

 "The Dipylon Amphora"

Funerary vase. Absolutely fantastic in person. Probably the height of an average human being.

Up-close of the amphora. Here you see a funerary procession which actually goes around the entire vase. The women are shown here pulling out their hair, which is a symbol for mourning in Ancient Greece.

We have our history class in a couple of hours, and then tonight we sail off to Crete!! Hopefully I will sleep the entire 9 hour ferry ride. I'm seriously considering taking some Tylenol PM...