Ancient art refers to the many types of art produced by the advanced cultures of ancient societies with different forms 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.
Dion is a village and municipal unit in the municipality of Dion-Olympos in the Pieria regional unit, Greece. It is located at the foot of Mount Olympus at a distance of 17 km from the capital city of Katerini.
The sculpture of ancient Greece is the main surviving type of fine ancient Greek art as, with the exception of painted ancient Greek pottery, almost no ancient Greek painting survives. Modern scholarship identifies three major stages in monumental sculpture in bronze and stone: the Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic. At all periods there were great numbers of Greek terracotta figurines and small sculptures in metal and other materials.
Lycosura was a city in the ancient Parrhasia region of south Arcadia said by Pausanias to be the oldest city in the world, although there is no evidence for its existence before the fourth century BCE. Its current significance is chiefly associated with the sanctuary of the goddess Despoina, which contained a colossal sculptural group that Pausanias wrote was made by Damophon of Messene. This group comprises acrolithic-technique statues of Despoina and Demeter seated on a throne, with statues of Artemis and the Titan Anytos standing on either side of them – all in Pentelic marble. The dates of both the temple and the sculptural group have occasioned some dispute. Remains of a stoa, altars, and other structures have been found at the site as well. The Sanctuary of Despoina at Lycosoura is located 9 km WSW of Megalopolis, 6.9 km SSE of Mount Lykaion, and 160 km SW of Athens. There is a small museum at the archaeological site housing small finds as well as part of the cult group, while the remains of the cult statues of Despoina and Demeter are displayed at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens.
The Esquiline Venus, depicting the goddess Venus, is a smaller-than-life-size Roman nude marble sculpture of a female in sandals and a diadem headdress. It is widely viewed as a 1st-century AD Roman copy of a Greek original from the 1st century BC. It is also a possible depiction of the Ptolemaic ruler Cleopatra VII.
The Temple of Isis is a Roman temple dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Isis. This small and almost intact temple was one of the first discoveries during the excavation of Pompeii in 1764. Its role as a Hellenized Egyptian temple in a Roman colony was fully confirmed with an inscription detailed by Francisco la Vega on July 20, 1765. Original paintings and sculptures can be seen at the Museo Archaeologico in Naples; the site itself remains on the Via del Tempio di Iside. In the aftermath of the temple's discovery many well-known artists and illustrators swarmed to the site.
The Archaeological Museum of Dion is a museum in Dion in the Pieria regional unit of Central Macedonia, Greece.
The Archaeological Museum of Lamia is a museum within the archaeological site of Lamia Castle in Lamia, Greece. The museum is housed in a refurbished barracks built in 1830 by King Otto of Greece. It presents prehistoric and Classical antiquities, covering the Neolithic era, Helladic period, Early Iron Age, Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic periods.
The Demeter of Knidos is a life-size, seated ancient Greek statue that was erected near the ancient port of Knidos, south-west Asia Minor. Now part of the British Museum's collection, it is an impressive example of Hellenistic sculpture from around 350 BC.
Ancient Greek art stands out among that of other ancient cultures for its development of naturalistic but idealized depictions of the human body, in which largely nude male figures were generally the focus of innovation. The rate of stylistic development between about 750 and 300 BC was remarkable by ancient standards, and in surviving works is best seen in sculpture. There were important innovations in painting, which have to be essentially reconstructed due to the lack of original survivals of quality, other than the distinct field of painted pottery.
The Archaeological Park of Dion is the most important archaeological site at Mount Olympus in Greece, located in Dion. In the area comprised by the Archaeological Park of Dion, sanctuaries were found from the Hellenistic and Roman periods. The park displays the importance of ancient Dion in the history of Pieria.
The largest building of the Archaeological Park of Dion in northern Greece is the Hellenistic-era theatre. It is located in the south of the village of Dion, Pieria and is often used during the summer for performances of the Olympus Festival.
The Hydraulis of Dion is a unique exhibit of the Archaeological Museum of Dion. It is the earliest archeological example of a pipe organ to date.
The Archaeological Museum of Aidone is a regional museum in Aidone in the province of Enna, Sicily. It is housed in a former Capuchin convent dedicated to Saint Francis. It was inaugurated in the summer of 1984 and preserves the findings of over thirty years of excavations in Morgantina, ordered according to chronological and thematic criteria.
The Cave Sanctuaries of the Acropolis of Athens are the natural fissures in the rock of the Acropolis hill that were used as sites of worship for deities of the Panhellenic pantheon in antiquity. Traditionally a sharp distinction has been drawn between the state religion practised on the summit of the Acropolis and the cult practice of the shrines on the lower slopes. Recently, however, interest has burgeoned in the individual religious experience or personal piety in Greek society of which these cult sites may be the expression. The proceeding description follows the order of the shrines from the Klepsydra at the northwest face of the Acropolis clockwise via the Peripatos round to the foot of the Nike bastion.
The Aphrodite of Rhodes also known as the Crouching Venus of Rhodes is a marble sculpture of the Greek goddess Aphrodite housed in the Archaeological Museum of Rhodes in Rhodes, Greece. It depicts Aphrodite in the crouching Venus pose, where the goddess crouches her right knee close to the ground and turns her head to the right. It is considered to be one of the most important hallmarks of Rhodes today.
The Great Eleusinian Relief is a large marble relief kept in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens in Greece. It depicts a scene of the Eleusinian Mysteries with the principal deities, Demeter, Persephone and the hero Triptolemus. The large relief was unearthed in the town of Eleusis, which was an important center for the worship of Demeter and Persephone, in 1859.
Aphrodite Hypolympidia is a second-century BC smaller than lifesize Greek marble sculpture depicting Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of beauty and desire. It was discovered in the Temple of Isis in Dion, a town in the region of Macedonia in northern Greece. It is now exhibited in the Archaeological Museum of Dion with accession number 383.
In antiquity, two large Caryatids from the Lesser Propylaea adorned the sanctuary of the Greek goddess of agriculture Demeter at Eleusis in Greece as architectural support taking the place of columns. Following the Christianization of the Roman Empire, one of the Caryatids was dubbed Saint Demetra by the locals and worshipped as patron saint of agriculture and crops. The Caryatid was removed from Eleusis in 1801 by Englishman Edward Daniel Clarke, who later donated it to the University of Cambridge; it remains on display in the Fitzwilliam Museum.
The Terpsichore from Dodona is a Greek marble statue under lifesize depicting Terpsichore, the Greek goddess of dance, created around the second century BC. The Hellenistic work of art was discovered in Epirus in northwestern Greece and illegally smuggled out of the country in the late nineties. It then became part a prized piece of the Ancient Greek and Roman collection of the Michael C. Carlos Museum in Atlanta, Georgia, until it was finally repatriated to Greece in early 2024.
