Minerva Magazine 202
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Making a splash
How did water go from being something to fear to a place of privilege in Greece and Rome? Karen Eva Carr plunges into the cultural history of swimming.
Secrets of their craft
Many metalworkers and ceramicists in Renaissance Europe seemingly had no qualms about killing a lizard – or other animal – for their art. Pamela Smith investigates the intriguing practice of life-casting that turned nature into art, and why artisan authors recorded practical knowledge in words.
Words of wisdom: ‘Give to him who gives’
For the man who gives willingly, even if he gives much, rejoices in the gift and feels glad in his heart. The man who takes for himself, observing no sense of shame, even if it involves a small amount, hardens the heart.
Silver Scythian goddess plate discovered in Russia
This is thought to be a fertility goddess known as Artimpasa, or, in ancient Anatolia, as Cybele.
Exhibitions from around the world (December 2021 – March 2022)
Due to changing coronavirus measures, the dates listed below may have changed since we went to print, and museums and galleries may close. Check the websites and social-media accounts of the museums for the most up-to-date information and bookings.
Luxor temple: where kings become gods
After coronation, the new pharaoh would head to the temple at Luxor to assume the royal ka that flowed from the gods Horus and Re all the way down Egypt’s line of rulers. Nigel Fletcher-Jones takes us on a procession through this all-important site, developed by kings strengthening their claims to divine ka.
Sutton Hoo, 1939
Shown here is one of Wagstaff’s images, with the ghostly outline of the ship, whose planks had eroded in the acidic soil, clearly visible. In the foreground, Basil Brown (wearing a hat) works in the ship.
Museum previews: what to look forward to in 2022
In 2022, we can look forward to the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo, a new Anglo-Saxon visitor at Ad Gefrin in Northumberland, and Norway’s new National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design.
The First Ghosts: Most Ancient of Legacies
Ancient Mesopotamian literature, written in cuneiform from around 3000 BC, is haunted by omens and ghosts. Most of the sources on ghosts come from the 1st millennium BC, written in Akkadian, but
Julio César Tello Rojas
“Our present Hispanic-Peruvian civilisation cannot stand except on an indigenous pedestal.”
Kallos: eternal beauty
What did kallos mean to the Greeks? As the Museum of Cycladic Art explores this concept, Lucia Marchini talks to Nikolaos Stampolidis to uncover divine, mortal, and internal beauty in the Greek world.
Peru: the hills are alive
For some ancient Peruvian societies, the past and the future were alive, as were the dramatic landscapes they lived in. Lucia Marchini speaks to Cecilia Pardo, Jago Cooper, and Tom Cummins to find out more about how these concepts permeated the art of the Andes.
More museums reopen in Lisbon, London, and Boston
Lisbon’s Núcleo Arqueológico da Rua dos Correeiros museum, London’s Courtauld Gallery, and Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts have all reopened.
Homer: The Very Idea
Some time in the 8th century BC, with the Greek alphabet just decades old, two monumental poems, the Iliad and Odyssey, were committed to writing and so became the first great works
Charting the creative process in an Egyptian chapel
On the north and south walls of the Chapel at the Temple of Hatshepsut, mirrored reliefs show a procession of figures bringing offerings to the enthroned female pharaoh
Minerva Magazine 192
The Viking Great Army
In AD 865, a Viking army landed in eastern England. For more than a decade, it raided across the country, but contemporary documents tell us little about it. Dawn M Hadley and Julian D Richards use the latest discoveries to track down the Army and see the changes it brought about, not just as raiders, but also traders and artisans who gave rise to an industrial revolution.
Kazakhstan’s golden burials
The Greek historian Herodotus tells us that among the Scythians, the nomads of the Eurasian steppe, there was a group of ‘gold-guarding Griffins’. Were these people the Saka, whose elite filled their tombs with golden depictions of griffins and other creatures? As a new exhibition on the Saka opens, Rebecca Roberts and Saltanat Amir explore one recently discovered burial and what its contents can tell us about this ancient culture.
Tomb of a wealthy Pompeiian uncovered
The sealed funerary chamber ensured the preservation of the remains buried in the tomb, including some hair as well as a skeleton.
Sacred sites in Tyre
The investigations targeted the acropolis of the city, which was occupied from the Bronze Age (3rd millennium BC).
Treasures of the Scythian Kings
Barry Cunliffe, among the most distinguished of world archaeologists, has recently drawn together the evidence for the Scythians in a comprehensive new book, The Scythians: nomad warriors of the steppe. Neil Faulkner asked him what we know of this most mysterious of ancient peoples.