Classical Greek Statues

The Artemision Bronze (God from the Sea) is an ancient Greek sculpture that was recovered from the sea off Cape Artemision, in northern Euboea. It represents either Zeus or Poseidon, is slightly over lifesize, and would have held either a thunderbolt, if Zeus, or a trident if Poseidon.

The Charioteer of Delphi is one of the best-known statues surviving from ancient Greece, and is considered one of the finest examples of ancient bronze statues. The life-size statue of a chariot driver was found in 1896 at the Sanctuary of Apollo in Delphi. It is now in the Delphi Archaeological Museum.

Caryatids from Erechtheion. A caryatid is a sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column or a pillar. The Greek term karyatides literally means "maidens of Karyai", an ancient town of Peloponnese. The best-known and most-copied examples are those of the six figures of the Caryatid Porch of the Erechtheion on the Acropolis at Athens.

The statue of Laocoön and His Sons was excavated in Rome in 1506 and placed on public display in the Vatican. The marble figures are near life-size and the group is a little over 2m (6 ft 7 in) in height, showing the Trojan priest Laocoön and his sons Antiphantes and Thymbraeus being attacked by sea serpents.

The Discobolus of Myron ("discus thrower") circa 460–450 BC. The original Greek bronze is lost but the work is known through numerous Roman copies, both full-scale ones in marble and smaller versions in bronze.

Tutankhamun's dagger made from meteorite

Analysis of a dagger found in Tutankhamun's sarcophagus found the blade is made of iron from a meteorite. The dagger has a finely embossed gold handle with a crystal pommel. It was encased within a golden sheath. The blade contains high levels of nickel, along with traces of cobalt and phosphorus. Researchers were able to match the chemical composition to a meteorite which was found in 2000 on the Maras Matruh plateau in Egypt, 150 miles west of Alexandria. Hieroglyphic term for iron, it translates as “iron from the sky”. The high quality of Tutankhamun's dagger suggests a mastery of iron working in his time.

Ancient Egyptian royal archives from 1,400BC mention royal gifts of iron in the period immediately before Tutankhamun's reign. Tushratta, King of Mitanni – a kingdom in northern Syria and Anatolia – sent iron objects to Amenhotep III, the grandfather of Tutankhamun.

The 13 inch long (34.2cm) dagger was found lying beside the right thigh of King Tutankhamun's mummy. It was likely handed down from his father. Ancient Egyptians believed iron from meteorites had magical powers that could usher souls into the afterlife. To the ancient Egyptians, meteorites were gifts from the gods. They considered the sky divine, so anything that fell from it would have been seen as a gift from the gods – if not a physical piece of one. They believed that the gods had bones made of iron. (and flesh of gold, skin of silver and hair of lapis lazuli)

Kamil crater in southern Egypt

There is no evidence of iron smelting in the region until nearly 1000 years later, so there is no question where the metal came from.

Tutankhamun’s daggers

Mass burial of Roman soldiers

Construction workers renovating a Vienna football field in 2024 found a grim piece of history: a mass grave containing the skeletal remains of what are believed to be warriors from a 1st-century Roman battle. The site yielded evidence of a brutal battle involving Germanic tribes. Located in the Simmering district of Vienna, the mass grave holds the intertwined remains of at least 129 men. Finding the dead is uncommon for Roman history as soldiers in the Roman Empire were typically cremated until the 3rd century.

Every skeleton examined showed signs of injury — typically to the head, torso and pelvis. This rules out execution. Victims were all male. Most were aged 20 to 30 years old and all were in good health.

Bones dated to between 80 and 130 A.D. That was consistant with history of relics found in the grave – armor, helmet cheek protectors, and the nails used in the Roman military caligae. A rusty dagger (pugio) of a type in use specifically between the middle of the 1st century and the start of the second was found.

The best theory is that the battle was connected to the Danube campaigns of Emperor Domitian, from 86 to 96 A.D. In the winter of 85/86 AD after 116 years of peace along the Roman frontier, King Duras swarmed over the frozen Danube and pillaged Moesia. The Romans were caught by surprise and most forces, including the Legio V Alaudae, were annihilated.

Domitian (A.D. 81-96), aureus. Rome mint, struck A.D. 92-4. Domitian in triumphal quadriga. 7.55g. An excellent example. $39k USD

Santorini - Thera

The Greek Island of Santorini was in the headlines in early 2025 because of a swarm of severe earthquakes. The earthquake swarm prompted an exodus from the island. Santorini, classically Thera, is an island in the southern Aegean Sea, about 200 km (120 mi) southeast of Greece's mainland. It is the remnant of a volcanic caldera.

The eruption of Thera was a catastrophic eruption which is thought to have occurred some 3,400 years ago at the height of the Minoan civilization. It was the largest volcanic event on Earth in recorded history. The eruption devastated the island of Thera, and may have led to the collapse of the Minoan civilization on Crete.

Kolumbo is a submerged active volcano. Its most recent eruption in 1650 CE, generated a tsunami causing destruction in the islands of Santorini, Ios, and Sikinos, while the poisonous gas emitted from the eruption killed 70 in Santorini.

Kolumbo’s edifice was created by at least five eruptive cycles, the earliest dating back more than 1M years.

New research into ancient tree rings from half a world away helped settle lingering questions about when Thera erupted. Scientists believe the volcano erupted in the 16th century B.C., about 3,400 years ago, blowing some 24 cubic miles of rock and ash into the atmosphere. The eruption had long lasting and wide ranging effects world wide. Researchers were able to determine colder years in the tree rings of Irish oaks and bristlecone pines in California. Scientists believed that the eruption happened between 1600 and 1525 B.C.

Evidence of a catastrophic tsunami that followed the eruption of Thera was found at Çesme-Bağlararası on Turkey’s Aegean coast, more than 100 miles north-northeast of Santorini.

Researchers found an articulated skeleton of a man (and his dog) believed to have been killed by the tidal wave following the eruption that devastated the Aegean island. Calibrated radiocarbon ages found within the tsunami deposit say the remains date no earlier than 1612 BCE. The eruption left a large caldera surrounded by volcanic ash deposits hundreds of metres deep.

The myth of Atlantis, described by Plato, may be based upon the Santorini eruption. Excavations in 1967 at Akrotiri made Thera the best-known Minoan site outside Crete.

Only the southern tip of a large town was uncovered, yet it revealed complexes of multi-level buildings, streets, and squares with remains of walls standing as high as eight metres, all entombed in the solidified ash. Pipes with running water and water closets found at Akrotiri are the oldest ever discovered.

The advanced architecture, and the layout of Akrotiri resemble Plato's description of the legendary lost city of Atlantis.

Dense patches of crocus flowers on the fresco ‘The Saffron Gatherers’ from Santorini suggest cultivation. Saffron crocuses are effectively clones dating back to saffron’s emergence in ancient times.

In 2015 archaeologists discovered 39 ingots scattered across the sea floor near a 2,600-year-old shipwreck off the coast of Sicily. The ingots were made from orichalcum, a cast metal which ancient Greek philosopher Plato wrote was from the legendary city of Atlantis. X-ray fluorescence analysis indicate the ingots were made from a mixture of zinc (15-20 per cent), charcoal and copper (75-80 per cent) with traces of nickel, lead and iron. Orichalcum is a brass-like alloy, which was made in antiquity through the process of cementation, which was achieved through the reaction of zinc ore, charcoal and copper metal in a crucible.

In Plato's Critias, orichalcum was described as a lustrous metal second only to gold in value. It was used to cover the walls of the inner sanctuary in the Temple of Poseidon in Atlantis. Roman coins were made of orichalcum. Orichalcum was officially valued higher than bronze, but sat just below silver and gold.

Dupondius of Faustina the Younger.

The Romans standardized their use of orichalcum during Augustus's monetary reforms in 23 BCE. The alloy was typically reserved for higher end base metal coins, the prestigious sestertius and slightly smaller dupondius. Coins were brightly gold coloured when newly struck but tarnished over time to a darker or greenish patina.

Battle of Abrittus

Gaius Messius Quintus Trajanus Decius, known as Trajan Decius or simply Decius was Roman emperor from 249 to 251. Decius is remembered for instituting the first empire-wide persecution of Christians. A distinguished politician during the reign of Philip the Arab, Decius was proclaimed emperor by his troops after putting down a rebellion in Moesia. In 249, he defeated and killed Philip near Verona and was recognized as emperor by the Senate. Aureus was struck at the Rome mint, AD 249-250. EF, lustrous. Est $15k, sold for $30k.

The Battle of Abritus occurred near Abritus (modern Razgrad) in the Roman province of Moesia Inferior in the summer of 251. It was fought between the Romans and a federation of Gothic and Scythian tribesmen under the Gothic king Cniva. The Roman army was soundly defeated, and Roman emperors Decius and Herennius Etruscus, his son, were both killed in battle. It was among the worst defeats suffered by the Roman Empire against the Germanic tribes. Decius' forces initially easily defeated their opponents in the front line, but made the fatal mistake of pursuing their fleeing enemy into the swamp, where they were ambushed by waiting warriors and completely annilated.

The immense slaughter that followed marked one of the most catastrophic defeats in the history of the Roman Empire. Upwards of 10,000 Roman soldiers died. (2 legions)Decius and Herennius died in the midst of the battle, buried under the mud.

The Goths captured Decius' treasury of tons of gold and many weapons which were discovered across Gothic territories. Gallus became emperor upon Decius' death. He negotiated a poor treaty with the Goths under duress, which allowed them to keep their booty and return to their homes.