Detail from the "Ship procession" fresco of room 5 of the West House in Thera(Santorini).
Created almost 4,000 years ago, a masterpiece of the Aegean #BronzeAge.
National Archaeological Museum, Athens #Archaeology
Since its discovery in the 1970s these frescoes have been causing discussion between archaeologists about the sort of the depiction.
Covering the 3 sides of a room is approximately 12m long and 43 cm wide.
Here: a town with visible Minoan influence and the characteristic elements of Akrotiri (in the island of Thera) architecture, such as the flat roofs and multiple storeys.
It could be the island of Santorini, Crete or some other place?
The main part being the procession of ships that are travelling from one port to another. The ships they are represented in two rows. Effigy wild beast (lion or reptile) at the stern probably constituted the ship's emblem.
⬇️The whole procession travelling btw the 2 towns
Detail of the second port. For many scholars this is actually the depiction of Akrotiri in Santorini while the first could be an exotic destination or Crete.
⬇️People notified of the arrival of the fleet, they come out and gather
on the waterfront to welcome the ships.
A closer look
The Bronze Age town of Akrotiri was destroyed by the volcano of Santorini in around the 16th Century BCE but the volcanic ash helped to preserve the numerous frescoes on the walls.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
In 2022 a treasure trove found in a desert cave in Israel, dating back to King Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175-164 BC).
According to the Israeli Antiquities Authority represents the "first evidence in the Judean Desert for the Maccabean revolt" against the Greek Seleucid Empire.
The Seleucid Empire covered large swaths of the Middle East and Central Asia but its power started to diminish.
King Antiochus IV Epiphanes which is referred to in Jewish sources as "The Wicked" is known for banning Jewish practices and traditions.
In the year 167 BC started a major Jewish rebellion against the Empire and against Greek influence on Jewish traditional life.
The Seleucid King Antiochus IV Epiphanes launched a massive campaign against the rebels.
𝘏𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘢 "western land" (Lit., land of the Setting Sun) initially the Italian peninsula and later Iberia & Western North Africa.
𝘈𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘢 "eastern land" (Lit., land of the Rising Sun), the peninsula of Asia Minor (modern Turkey).
Both term are influenced from a Greek point of view. Anatolia initially meant the lands in the east in general but it came to be traditionally associated with Asia Minor, and remains in use in various occasions even today.
Anatolḗ (Ἀνατολή, means the East & the rising sun).
Hesperia comes from the word Hespēra (Έσπέρα, the time just before the sun is going to set/evening) and is associated with Hésperos, the Evening Star (planet Venus). A son of the dawn goddess Eos and brother of Atlas (according to some versions of the myths).
Statues of Egyptians Gods guarding the four entrances around a pyramidal structure? A fish pond with marble oil lamps next to roman baths by the sea and just few km away from Athens?
That's the "sanctuary of the Egyptian Gods" of Herodes Atticus (160 AD) in Nea Makri, Attica
The worship of Isis and Osiris adopted by the Greeks after Alexander's conquest of Egypt. Isis can be identified here with the goddess Demeter or Aphrodite, while Sarapis, the Hellenized form of Osiris, was equated with powerful gods of the Greek pantheon.
This tradition continued in the Roman period and many prominent Romans, as the Emperor Hadrian. Hadrian had built a Serapeion on an artificial islet at Tivoli, close to Rome, modeled on the Serapeion of the town of Canopus on the Nile Delta.
Merely reveals the aspirations of the Papacy to unhinged itself from the grips of Constantinople and re-create from scratch a long gone title of "Roman Emperor" in the West, one much more closer to the Papacy, to serve better for its political/religious ambitions.
Whatever cultural inheritance Rome left in the West is an open debate, especially in the modern academia, a very interesting talk truly, but not a political one...there's no, not even one historian to really keep ignoring the finality of the fall of the empire in the West and
Attic red-figure chous, attributed to the Eretria Painter. Probably from Koropi (Attica), 430-425 B.C.
National Archaeological Museum, Athens
The vase features a scene associated with the Aiōra (Swing) ritual, which probably took place in Attica during the Anthesteria festival, in honor of Dionysus.
The swing ritual is connected with the myth of Erigone, daughter of Icarius. Icarius had been initiated by the god
Dionysos into the art of wine making; nevertheless, he met his death at the hands of his compatriots who, not having experienced the consequences of drinking, thought he had poisoned them. Erigone, unable to cope with the loss of her father, hanged herself from a tree!