That was not very clever: visiting the National Archaeological Museum on the last day of a two week trip through northern and central Greece. Of course, it was a nice summary of everything we’ve seen, but I think it would have been better to start over here. Ever a teacher, I might have used the museum’s splendid collection of sculpture to explain to my companions the development of Greek art.
That’s what you’ll find on the first floor: lots of sculpture in a series of rooms surrounding a large hall, which is devoted to Mycenaean art. There, you will find the golden objects from Mycenae that Schliemann found. The sculpture rooms surround it. Your tour starts with some kouroi and you can easily follow the growth to greater accuracy in representing the human body. When you’ve finished about a third of your tour, the Greek sculptors have mastered every aspect of anatomy, and you will pass along many classical sculptures, including two dazzling copies of the Diadumenus and the Cnidian Aphrodite. After that, more sculpture: the fourth century, Hellenism, and finally the Roman age.
On the ground floor, there’s also a series of rooms that contain metal art. Here, you will see the Anticythera Mechanism, but also collections of arrowheads from Marathon and Thermopylae. The Egyptian part – also on the ground floor – is a bit odd in a museum dedicated to Greek art, but the collection is too small to be exposed in a museum of its own and too important to keep stored away. In the Hellenistic part of the Egyptian collection, I noticed a statue of Hephaestion that I had never seen before.
Upstairs, you will find a marvelous collection of pottery and some objects that don’t fit anywhere else, like the Lemnian inscription, written in a language related to Etruscan. Next to it is a section dedicated to the investigations at Santorini, where some splendid frescoes have been found.
Do not forget to visit the basement. There’s a little café with a garden, where you will see some of the sculptures found in the Anticythera wreck. They have a certain beauty because they are partly eroded. I found the giant Heracles absolutely fascinating.
This museum was visited in 1989, 1992, 2004, 2007, 2010.
 Smyrna, Portrait of Caligula, reworked to resemble Titus
|
 Akrotiri, Building B, Room B1, Wall painting of boxers
|
 Mycene, Wall painting of a griffin with a warrior
|
 Piraeus, Theater, Head of Dionysus (classicizing)
|
 Athens, Kerameikos, Base of the statue of a wrestler
|
 Athens, Varvakeion Athena
|
 Piraeus, Funerary stela of Damasistrate
|
 Thermopylae, Arrowheads
|
 Eretria, Lekythos (Bosanquet Painter)
|
 Eleusis, Tombstone of a warrior
|
 Piraeus, Julian the Apostate
|
 Nysa, Bouleuterion, "Little Refugee"
|
 Thebes, Head of Artemis
|
 Akrotiri, Building B, Room B1, Wall painting of antelopes
|
 Corinth, Plate with Demeter
|
 Mycene, Boar's tusk helmet
|
 Athens, Kerameikos, Dipylon krater
|
 Piraeus, Statue of a woman or Demeter
|
 Chalcis-Vromousa, Head of a woman (Roman copy of a Greek original)
|
 Corinth, Relief of a hoplite
|
 Aegina, Temple of Apollo, Statue of a wounded warrior
|
 Thebes (?), Block statue of Prince Horwedja, governor and high priest in Heliopolis
|
 Eucratides II of Bactria
|
 Athens, Agora, Late Geometric pyxis
|
 Aegina, Tombstone of a young man, holding a bird
|
 Sais, Temple of Neith, Statuette
|
 Gomphoi, Relief of Odysseus and Amphicleia
|
 Aegina, Ptolemy VI Philometor
|
 Eleusis, Relief of a drunk Heracles
|
 Sparta, Statue of Julia Aquilia Severa, damaged after her death
|
 Athens, Kerameikos, Siren
|
 Eleusis, Relief of Demeter, Triptolemus, and Kore
|
 Mycene, Dagger with lion hunt
|
 Pharsalus, Krater with a four-horse chariot
|
 Athens, Statue of a Minotaur
|
 Piraeus, Votive stela of a reclining Dionysus
|
 Piraeus, Funerary stela with ball players
|
 Argos, Heraion, West pediment, Head of Hera
|
 Argos, Heraion, Sima
|
 Olympia, Head of the boxer Satyros
|
 Alexandria, Hephaestion (part of a group with Alexander)
|
 Alexandria, Alexander the Great (part of a group with Hephaestion)
|
 Eretria, Gymnasium, Statue of Cleonicus
|
 Piraeus, Head of a bearded god
|
 Oropos, Aeolian-Ionic capital
|
 Lycian portrait of Omphale
|
 Argos, Relief of the Doryphorus of Polykleitos
|
 Athens, Kerameikos, Skull of Myrthis
|
 Athens, Stoa of Attalus, Attalus II Philadelphus
|
 Argos, Heraion, West pediment, Palladion
|
 Hellenistic ruler
|
 Mycene, House of the Warrior Krater, Warrior Krater
|
 Zeus and Ganymedes
|
 Megara, Statue of Dionysus
|
 The fight for the body of Patroclus.
|
 Lemnos, Tombstone of an Etruscan (?) warrior
|
 Eleusis, Temple F, Cecrops and Herse
|
 Athens, Kerameikos, Alexander with a Lion's Pelt
|
 Mycene, Wall painting ("La Parisienne")
|
 Epidauros, Temple of Artemis, Nike
|
 Lead figurine of Athena
|
 Artemisium, Statue of Zeus
|
 Athens, Pnyx, Lenormant Athena
|
 Larisa, Tombstone of Polyxena
|
 Megara, Statue of a Roman emperor (Trajan or Hadrian)
|
 Marathon, Arrowheads
|
 Dodona, Figurine of Zeus Keraunos
|
 Argos, Heraion, Amazonomachy
|
 Decree of Tefnakht
|
 Larisa, Tombstone of a man with a hat
|
 Thebes, Tombstone
|
 Lebadeia, Relief of Trophonius
|
 Argos, Theater, Statue of Aphrodite
|
 Melos, Statue of Poseidon
|
 Megiste, Bellerophon sarcophagus.
|
 Athens, Temple of Zeus, Portrait of Polemo of Laodicea
|