Mediterranean Archaeology

In the past years, the Mediterranean Archaeology collection has expanded considerably, with the addition of Greek and Roman objects in particular. While the Egyptian and Anatolian collections remain rather limited in their coverage, many aspects of the material cultures of the Central and East Mediterranean are now well represented.

The first of the two galleries is devoted primarily to sculpture. The centrepiece is the new Apollo; grouped around it are portrait heads of Archaic, Hellenistic and Roman date, a remarkable grave stele and part of a marble funerary lekythos, both of Classical date, and a Hellenistic-Roman torso. Other artefacts, organized by material and chronological sequence, are displayed around this core group of sculptures.

The second gallery (ancient Egyptian and Near/Middle Eastern cultures) focuses on two areas. The first is the wealth of objects in organic materials — especially wood — that have emerged from the anaerobic sands of Egypt. The second is the rich collection of Luristan bronzes, which were used to adorn people and horses in the sixth to the fourth century B.C.

Roman Chigi Apollo	Roman Portrait of the Emperor Alexander Severus
Egyptian Egyptian Coffin of Isis-weret, the Sistrum Player	Possibly Taras (Taranto), Italy Ephedrismos Group Young Woman with Eros on Her Shoulder