Jeff Koons, one of the most controversial, and respected, artists of our time, is set to launch his first British solo exhibition in London this week at the Serpentine Gallery. He is thought to epitomise modern art but is Koons more than a little in debt to the ancients? Graco-Roman Sex Cults Raunchy Koons would have been well at home in one of Caesars Venus sex cults. In fact, he is reported as having said that he is inspired by the ancient Greek sculptor Praxiteles. An article in the Guardian reports: ‘Koons is fascinated by sex – it keeps coming…
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Summer‘s here – and if you hadn’t noticed from the lighter nights, sunny days and relaxed morals, the Council for British Archaeology are ready to officially launch the barbeque season with a festival on a truly mind-boggling scale: The Festival of British Arachaeology 2009. From Saturday 18 July, the nation will become a hotbed of heritage fun, games and erudition as hundreds of venues the length and bredth of Britain lay on over 615 events celebrating archaeology and history in this country and many more. Maybe you want to join in on an excavation project? Or be taken on guided…
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The air around the Elgin Marbles has turned blue many a time – but few would’ve pictured any of the magnificent sculptures the same colour. Yet this is exactly what a physicist at the British Museum claims to have discovered today. Giovanni Verri claims that by using red light he has found traces of an ancient hue, known as Egyptian Blue, painted on many of the priceless pieces. In fact, Verri says that 17 of the 56 marbles have revealed traces of the pigment, which was first used in Egypt and Mesopotamia as early as 2,500 BC. The colour certainly…
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Attribution: FatTireTour.org Corinth Greece Key Dates Founded in the Neolithic Age, circa 6000 BC; flourished as a Greek city from the 8th century BC before being levelled by the invading Romans in 146 BC, who refounded it in 44 BC. Under Byzantium rule, earthquakes hit Corinth three times, in 375, 551 and 856. Key People Julius Caesar refounded the city in 44 BC, shortly before his assassination. The Apostle Paul lived in Corinth for a year and a half. Julius Caesar Positioned on the Isthmus of Corinth, between the Peloponnesus and mainland Greece, Corinth has been right at the forefront…
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Fire-fighting: A Losing Battle Wildfires are a big problem in southern Italy. Every year they sweep the tinder-dry countryside and often threaten forests, farmers’ land and human habitation. In Sicily and Campania in particular, ancient heritage sites can also be in danger from summer fires. Despite state publicity about not throwing cigarette butts out of car windows and well-publicised hot-lines (no pun intended) for reporting local fires, it seems that the authorities are fighting a losing battle. This year looks like it will be no different, with the countryside around Palermo in Sicily being one of the first to suffer.…
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When it comes to museums, there’s no doubting London’s credentials as one of the world’s finest launchpads for the intrepid antiquarian. Huge, sprawling caverns of colonial collections and stunning curios line the magnificent colonnaded hallways of giants like the British Museum or the V&A, and no-one can deny that both have fully earned their status as truly wonderful exhibitors. Yet scratch below the surface and there’s a whole mini-museum microcosm just waiting to be explored – and you won’t have to shimmy past shoals of dough-eyed snappers to get a glimpse of some of the city’s most intriguing artefacts. Here’s…
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After much heartache, and a building project which ran five years behind scedule, Saturday saw the doors of Athens’ New Acropolis Museum finally throw open its doors to the public in a triumphant blaze of pomp and ceremony. But Greek officials took the chance to highlight the country’s claim for the ‘stolen’ Elgin Marbles’ – 75 of the original 160 pieces of the magnificent marble friezes which once adorned the city’s famous Parthenon. The night itself was a glittering success, with hundreds of foreign dignitaries and celebrities flooding the museum’s floors to get a first glimpse at its myriad masterpieces…
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This Saturday Athens’ stunning New Acropolis Museum throws open its doors in a $4.1million opening ceremony, following years of heady anticipation. Thousands of foreign dignitaries and heads of state are scheduled to arrive from all over the world – all except Britain. The opening of Greece’s most lavish museum has already thrown open the debate surrounding the 160m-long Parthenon marble friezes, taken by the British Lord Elgin in 1811. Britain has long since argued that Greece does not have a sufficient space in which to display the magnificent marbles – a claim Greek officials argue the New Acropolis Museum shatters.…
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Most of the original Seven Wonders of the World are best known for their incredible construction techniques by inspired architects whose names have justly gone down in the annals of ancient history for their achievements. The Temple of Artemis (also known less precisely as Temple of Diana) has the unfortunate legacy of being most famous for its pointless destruction, at the hands of history’s original attention seeker. Built – in its most famous phase – around 550 BC at Ephesus (near modern day Selçuk, in Turkey) the shrine to the Ephesian goddess of fertility Artemis was a masterpiece of its…
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Charging In In the 1830’s British colonel Howard Vyse explored the Pyramids of Khufu and Menkaure using a rather destructive method – dynamite. The colonel, along with John Perring, an engineer, blasted his way into four stress-relieving chambers in Khufu’s pyramids. As the name suggests the chambers were built for engineering reasons and the colonel didn’t find any objects. He did, however, find some ancient graffiti saying, according to John Romer’s book, The Great Pyramid: Ancient Egypt Revisited, “Khufu is pure! Khufu is bright!” And “May the White Crown of Khufu strengthen the sailing!” They had more luck in Menkaure’s…