The Ian Potter Museum of Art at the University of Melbourne is shedding light on the daily lives of citizens from Ancient times, holding an exhibition displaying everyday, ritual and luxury objects used by the Greek and Roman worlds.
The exhibition, titled ‘Ancient Lives: Insights from the Classics and Archaeology Collection’, is open at the Old Quad of the University of Melbourne until 17 May 2024, with the opening event to be held on Thursday 3 August from 4-6 pm.
The two curators, Dr Tamara Lewit and Dr Caroline Tully, both Honorary Fellows in the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne, said the exhibition encompasses a chronological span of more than 1000 years, from the 8th century BCE to the 7th century CE.
The objects on display consist of a range of items from the university’s Classics and Archaeology Collection such as coarse ware vessels (e.g. transport amphorae), fineware (e.g. painted cups and jugs), cosmetic pots, terracotta oil lamps, statuettes, glass bottles and coins.
“(The objects) provide a glimpse into the often-hidden lives of women, men, children, athletes and artisans, rich and poor, revealing cosmetic and health practices, drinking and leisure, and rituals and myths,” Dr Lewit and Dr Tully told Neos Kosmos.
The two curators explained that the collection was initiated by Jessie and George Sutton, who provided funds to establish the John Hugh Sutton Classical Museum in memory of their son, a student at the university and resident of Trinity College who was killed in a car accident.
“It began with a selection of Greek pots, figurines, and coins. The collection was later augmented with more coins from the Jessie Webb Collection,” they said.
“It currently consists of over 200 Classical Greek objects, including fine Athenian vases, 745 coins, 500 Near Eastern objects from Iran, Iraq, the Levant, and Egypt, including Egyptian papyri, Roman period glass from the Near East, and 200 examples of Cypriot pottery.”
The collection also includes materials gathered during University of Melbourne archaeological fieldwork, such as obsidian, and 110 plaster casts and reproductions, including one of the Mesha Stele which contains the earliest extrabiblical mention of the Israelite god, Yahweh.
The exhibition’s guest curators have each designed a part of the exhibition based on their areas of expertise.
Dr Tully, being an Aegean archaeologist with a background in Classics, has curated ‘Amor et Mors: Vessels for the Beautiful Body in Life and Death’.
She has selected tiny blown glass and terracotta bottles, stone dishes, and cylindrical boxes that once held the cosmetics, perfumes, scented oils and unguents used in cosmetic, medicinal and funerary practices, along with statuettes which evoke their users.
Dr Lewit, an archaeologist of Late Antiquity who focusses on ancient wine production, has curated ‘White, tawny, blood-red, black: Wine in the Greek and Roman Worlds’.
In her part, she has selected transport containers, everyday and luxury cups and jugs, coins, sculptures, and 18th to 20th century objects which illustrate wine drinking practices, wine rituals and myths, and the legacy of ancient practices in early Christianity and in the modern world.
Dr Lewit and Dr Tully mentioned that both scented oils and wine were universal items used by all groups in ancient society, e.g. men and women, children, soldiers, slaves, elite and poor, healthy and sick – even the dead.
“Perfumes, scented hair oil and fragrant oils were essential to daily grooming and bathing, and oils and unguents were used to beautify and honour the dead,” they told Neos Kosmos.
“Babies and children were given water mixed with wine, and wine was also the basis of medicine and an essential daily offering to the gods.”
The exhibition also highlights the constant cultural exchanges within the Mediterranean, particularly the prevalence of wine drinking, with images of the wine god, Dionysos and his entourage of satyrs appearing on both Greek and Roman cups, coins, and bowls.
“Wine drinking was spread from the Near East and Greece to Western Europe and the Roman Empire, as illustrated by an 8th century BCE Cypriot wine jug, the oldest object in the exhibition.”
Dr Lewit said that the item in the collection she finds most intriguing is a 5th century Attic Greek wine jug, which has a painted scene of young boys wearing flower garlands and playing music, and a garlanded wine jug on a table.
“It is probably a depiction of the Athenian festival of wine fermentation, when musical contests were held as well as sculling competitions to drink a jugful of wine the quickest,” she said.
Dr Tully’s favourite item among this collection is an example of her favourite Greek vase type: the Athenian white lekythos vase, which dates back to the 5th century BCE, with this type of vessel being used in ancient times to bring oil to the grave as an offering to the dead.
“White lekythoi typically have the most sophisticated style of painting, where colours were applied to a white background, and give us an idea of what Greek wall paintings might have looked like,” she said.
“The image on this example is very hard to see, but it seems to show a woman and a man grieving in rather melancholic poses at a tomb.”
The exhibition is free for all and is open from Monday-Friday during 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.
More information on the exhibition can be found here.
