didoofcarthage

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Silver didrachm minted in Velia, Greek Southern Italy (Magna Graecia), 335-330 BC

from The Walters Art Museum

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Alabaster cylinder seal, Assyrian, circa 2800 BC

from The Louvre

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Gold stater (diameter=18 mm; weight=9.09 g) from the ancient Greek city of Panticapaeum, a Milesian colony on the Black Sea. The obverse bears the head of the god Pan, shown in three-quarter view and crowned with ivy. The reverse depicts a griffin with a spear in its mouth, standing on an ear of grain (the Black Sea region was an important center of grain production for the ancient Mediterranean world). Around the griffin are the Greek letters ΠΑΝ. Now in the Münzkabinett der Staatlichen Museen, Altes Museum, Berlin. Photo credits: ArchaiOptix/Wikimedia Commons.

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Tondo from the so-called Coupe à l'oiseleur ("Birdcatcher Cup"), an Ionian black-figure kylix made in ca. 550 BCE. The tondo depicts birds, a grasshopper, and a snake amidst lush vegetation, with a human or divine figure in the center. Some have argued that the shoots are meant to represent vines and that the central figure is Dionysos, but this is uncertain. Provenance uncertain (perhaps Etruria); now in the Louvre.

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ἐγὼ μὲν οὐκ ἔχοιμ᾽ ἂν εὖ λέγειν τύχην, χρὴ δ᾽, ἥτις ἐστί, καρτερεῖν θεοῦ δόσιν

"I could never bring myself to say that fate is kind, but we must endure what the gods give, whatever that may be."

— Euripides, Alcestis

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Reverse side of an Attic silver tetradrachm (τετράδραχμον, 'four drachmas'), depicting the owl of Athena facing forward, with the abbreviation ΑΘΕ (ΑΘΕΝΑΙΩΝ, 'of the Athenians'), indicating the coin's origin. Such coins were often referred to as glaukes (γλαῦκες, 'little owls') and became widespread throughout the Aegean during the 5th century BC as Athenian dominance over the eastern Mediterranean grew.

🏛️: © The Trustees of the British Museum

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Sphinx 

Column capital, Hellenistic late 4th/3rd century BCE, Greek, South Italian, Tarentine, limestone, 18.1×33 cm

The Met Fifth Avenue  Inv.  1995.95

The capitals, carved in crisp and striking detail, are a variant of the early Hellenistic Corinthian capital. The figure of a double-bodied Sphinx dominates front and back, and large palmettes ornament the sides. They are typical of the architectural decoration found on Tarantine naiskoi (funerary monuments). (MET)

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Colosseum Ruins Rome, Italy

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τύχα τύχα δυσπάλαιστος ἥκει, πέρας δέ γ᾽ οὐδὲν ἀλγέων τίθης

"Fate, the fate that has come, is hard to wrestle with, but no one can place a limit on suffering."

— Euripides, Alcestis

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A collection of large mosaics depicting gladiators and venators ('beast-hunters'), dated to the 4th century AD. Dead combatants are marked with the Greek letter Θ (abbreviation for θάνατος "death"), while victorious fighters are marked with the Latin vic (short for vicit, "he wins").

🏛️: Galleria Borghese, Rome

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Maenad

Dionysus and a Maenad, Red-figure krater, Puglia, Italy, ca. 385/360 BCE.

British Museum

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Maenads

The dance of the Maenads, ca.120/140, white marble

Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid Inv. E000042/43/45/46

The four reliefs of Bacchantes (E00042, E00043, E00045 y E00046) are Roman copies of Greek originals made in Athens in the late fifth-century B.C. to adorn a monument to Dionysius, or related with theatrical activity under his patronage. The reliefs show Dionysus’s followers who, on account of their unrestrained dance, were called Maenads. Wearing almost transparent dresses and their jewels, they might represent women who took part in rites under the appearance of mythical Maenads. Copied many times on marble plaques and vessels, the original reliefs are traditionally attributed to Callimachus (ca. 410-400 B.C.), whom Vitruvius credits with the invention of the Corinthian capital. This sculptor was famous for his works´ perfect finishes. (Museo del Prado)

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Rhyton in the shape of a ram's head, Greece, circa 480 BC

from The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

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Gold and carnelian purse mount, Ostrogothic, 5th-6th century

from The British Museum

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A sunken garden.

Casa dell’Ancora (House of the Anchor)

Pompeii, Dec. 2019

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Gold rings with aquamarine gems, Roman, 1st century AD

from The State Museums of Berlin

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δουλεύομεν θεοῖς, ὅ τι ποτ' εἰσὶν οἱ θεοί

"We are slaves to the gods - whatever the gods are."

— Euripides, Orestes