Gudea Ensi of Lagash

This votive statuette in a prayerful gesture was dedicated by a man from Larsa to the god Martu on behalf of the King Hammurabi of Babylon. While cast in bronze the statuette was gilded with gold, a common practice of this period.

…ceremonies at the nearby temple at En Gedi only 10 km away.

Copper scepter with Grooved Shaft Decorated in a Human Head, Nahal Mishmar, 4500-3600 BC

One of eleven objects from the so called “Cave of Treasures” to be classified as a scepter, the scepter possesses a hollow shaft in order to be placed on a wooden staff possibly to be used in religious…

This false door from the site of Saqqara from the Egyptian Late period (c. 6th century) bears an inscription in the Carian language which supports Herodotus’ claim that Carian and Ionian mercenaries were employed in the army of Pharaoh Psamtik I (called Psammetichus).

One of my favourites! A carnelian showing Odysseus tied to his ship's mast, as he endeavours to pass the Sirens: ca. 1st Century AD.

'The Sirens bewitch with their clear-toned song' (Odyssey 12.44) #AncientBluesky 🏺

Image: Berlin Antikensammlung (FG 6880). Link - recherche.smb.museum/detail/690597

Ostracon with a child’s drawing of people from Athribis, Lower Egypt, 100 BC-AD 200

Funerary scene on a limestone ostracon with mourners and a burial chamber, Egyptian, New Kingdom,

The burial shaft resembles those from Deir el-Medina in plan. One of the party wears a jackal mask possibly as a stand in of Anubis or Anubis himself.

Minoan clay house model from Archanes, Middle IIIA c. 1700 BC

This model resembles fresco depictions found at Akrotiri of two story residential structures.

Middle Assyrian sickle sword bearing the inscription: "Palace of Adad-nirari, king of the universe, son of Arik-den-ili, king of Assyria, son of Enlil-nirari, king of Assyria” This sort of bent sword was used as a mark of authority in Mesopotamian art from the Early Dynastic Period onwards.

1/ In 1903, the Italian archaeologist Roberto Paribeni discovered inside an elite chamber tomb (Tomb 4) in the area of the royal Villa of Hagia Triada, Crete, one of the most important artifacts of Aegean art: the Hagia Triada sarcophagus. It is dated to around 1400 BC.
#Minoans #Myceneans

Imitation scarab bead with native gulf stylistic elements in the Dilmun seal tradition, Failaka island, Kuwait

Syrian style cylinder seal impression from Avaris (modern Tell ed-Dab’a), Middle Bronze Age

One armed anchor found on the shores of the Dead Sea dated to the 7th century BC

The anchor is made of an acacia wood crock lashed with palm fiber rope to a limestone stock. The anchor lacks parallels in any other location and thus is likely indicative of a local tradition.

Fragment of a boat model from Tell Ishchali dated to the Old Babylonian period

The fragment depicts the stern of a wooden vessel with framing and keelson or central timber.

Hafit-type beehive tombs in modern Oman and UAE (3100-2700 BC)

Statue of Iddi-ilum (21st century BC) with the inscription:

“Iddi-ilum, shakkanakku of Mari, for the goddess Ishtar dedicated a statue of himself. As for the one who removes this inscription, may the goddess Ishtar destroy his progeny.”

Diorite head of a ruler from Alalakh (Tell Achana), level VII, c. 19-17th century BC

The head probably depicts Yarim-Lim of Alalakh which Leonard Woolley mistook for the ruler of Yamhad of the same name. (Picture from Beyond Babylon by Joan Aruz; Kim Benzel; Jean M. Evans)

Ubaid period “censer” found at the site of Eridu in Temple VI

The true function of these is to hold a smaller vessel that sat on top containing the incense. Many of these were found in the temples of later periods. All examples have fenestrations suggesting it may represent a building.

Bronze counterweight for a steelyard from the 7th century AD Yassiada shipwreck (Turkey) in the shape of a helmeted Athena with a gorgon depicted on her breastplate

This is one of the latest depictions of a god from the Greek Pantheon well into the Christian period.

Steatite cylinder seal depicting a warrior holding a head stuck on a pike, Minet el-Beida, kingdom of Ugarit (Syria), 14th-13th century BC

This inscription (c. 700-650 BC) discovered at Ekron was the first text identified with the Philistines and was written in Phoenician. The text dedicates the construction of a temple by Achish to pt[ ]yh which may be the name of Baal’s daughter, Pidray.

The site of Mushiston in modern Tajikistan is home to ancient mines whose earliest phase is from 2400-1900 BC and contains ceramics associated with the Andronovo Culture. Tin associated with sites like this fueled the bronze making of the Near East.

There are a few naval ram fragments found at the Actium Victory Monument in Nikopolis. Below is the largest fragment found near one of the sockets. This fragment would have been part of a large ram in the fleet of Antony and Cleopatra!

In his Deipnosophists, Athenaeus notes that rhyta shaped like triremes were used by various people, including the Athenian comic poet Epinicus, and these trireme rhyta were intended to be humorous. There are a few that still exist today!

Old Babylonian limestone basin (c.1800 BC) decorated around the exterior in carved bas relief with scenes of warriors fighting a lion, Nineveh

What was the largest naval cast in antiquity?

Some would think the rams on the largest polyremes, including the “twenty”, “thirty”, and “forty”, would have the largest rams. However, they would have had smaller rams than their increasing class size would indicate.

Etruscan Square Tomb, Cerveteri
📸 Johnbod (CC BY-SA)

Cerveteri (Etruscan name: Cisra or Caisra, Roman: Caere) was an important #Etruscan town which flourished between the 7th and 4th century BCE.
#Archaeology #History
🏺 AncientBlueSky

“Probably, too, all the ancient money was of this sort, some peoples using iron spits for coins…pieces of money retain the name of "oboli," or spits, and six "oboli" make a "drachma," or handful, since that was as many as the hand could grasp.” (Plutarch, Lysander 17.3)

One of my favourite archaeological sites. Prehistoric and late antiquity hillfort Ajdoščina above Rodik, Slovenia. Most archaeological features visible on lidar visualization are from the late antiquity phase (4-6 century).

Spherical and sphendonoid shaped pan balance weights found as a part of the assemblage from the Cape Gelidonya Wreck c.1200 BC

Most weights are based on a measurement of 9.3g which roughly corresponds with the Ugaritic “light” shekel or the Egyptian qedet.