Download Objects from Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery`s Antiquities

Antiquities
The Antiquities collection has in it objects from ancient civilisations
like Greece, Rome and Egypt. It also contains older items from
other countries, such as Stone Age flint tools from Africa.
The first donation came in 1919 with the Wyatt collection of Roman
and Greek pottery. Then in 1926 David Cooke gave the museum a
fairly large collection of antiquities. Amongst this collection are
some incredibly rare and interesting Egyptian artefacts, such as
Canopic Jars and Seals from a tomb which dates to Thotmoses III.
Objects from Doncaster Museum
and Art Gallery’s Antiquities
Collection
Prior to the opening of the new Museum and Art Gallery in 1964 the
curators began to avidly collect objects which reflected the most
famous ancient civilisations. From Kingston-Upon-Thames Museum
there came a significant collection of early African prehistoric flint
tools. These had come from the Seton-Karr collection (a famous
adventurer and early archaeologist).
In 1963-4 a much larger collection came in from Chelmsford and
Essex Museum. There were a wide range of objects, with pottery
from Palestine, Minoan Crete, and Greece, glass vessels from
Cyprus and even Cuneiform tablets from Mesopotamia. This
collection formed the backbone of brand new displays at Chequer
Road looking at ancient civilisations.
Because of the way it has been built up, the Antiquities collection is
incredibly varied. Although it is small, it houses some really iconic
artefacts such as the Moche figurative pots from Peru.
Silver denarius
Roman republican coin
This coin was minted in 119 BC under the two consuls P.
Furius Philus and C. Flaminius. Their names are inscribed
around the edge of the obverse side of the coin. Consuls were
the two men selected from the Senate (a council of elected
Roman noblemen), and elected by the Roman people to run
the republic.
The coin appears to have been made to celebrate a victory
over the Gallic people of northern Italy. We know this because
of the imagery and symbolism on the coin. On the obverse
(heads side) is the two-headed god Janus. Janus was the god
connected with the beginning and ending of enterprises, and
with safe or fortunate passage through doorways or gateways
(called Jani). The month January is named after the god
Janus, because it marks the end of one year and the
beginning of a new one. On the reverse (tails side) of the coin
is an image of Roma (the personification of the city of Rome),
placing a victory wreath on a trophy of armour, shields and
Gaulish trumpets.
DONMG ZA1065
Silver tetradrachm
Alexander III Megas (The Great) of Macedon
This coin was minted in the reign of Alexander the Great of Macedon over
2300 years ago. It comes from the conquered Mesopotamian city of
Babylon (in modern Iraq), where Alexander spent the last few years of his
life.
On the obverse of the coin is the head of the young Herakles, son of Zeus,
shown wearing a lion-skin headdress. The significance of this imagery
stems from Alexander’s family, the Argeads, who claimed to be the direct
descendents of Herakles. On the reverse of the coin is an image showing
Zeus seated on a throne, holding an eagle and sceptre. Down the right
margin is the word Alexandrou in Greek, which means ‘of Alexander’.
Under the throne are the letters K and Lambda (a Greek letter that looks
like an A without the cross bar). This, along with the Greek letters in the
wreath to the left, tell us that the coin was made in Babylon. Below K
Lambda should be the word Basilios written in Greek, which means King.
Zeus (the king of the gods, revered and worshipped by all Greek city
states) was chosen because Alexander, like his father Philip II of Macedon
before him, wanted to portray his family as a Pan-Hellenic (for all Greeks)
dynasty.
Babylon was the city where Alexander’s armies were disbanded and paid
off, so the mint created vast amounts of silver and gold coinage for this
purpose. Masses of these coins have been found by archaeologists in
Macedon, indicating that soldiers took their pay home to spend.
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Ancient Egyptian Scarab pendant
The ancient Egyptians believed that the sun was propelled
across the heavens every day by a Scarab beetle. The
Scarab Scarabaeus sacer lays its eggs in dung, which it then
rolls up into a ball and buries. It is due to this practice that
Scarabs became associated with the divine manifestation of
the early morning sun (Khepri).
The Scarab was so synonymous with Egypt that it became the
symbol of Egypt that all its neighbours recognised. Many of
them even copied the Scarab.
These Scarabs were worn as protective amulets. They are
also found in different forms, in burials placed with the
mummy where they symbolised rebirth. They were massproduced from faience, and given out by the pharaohs as part
of grand publicity stunts. This Scarab, however, is made from
a semi-precious stone (perhaps carnelian), which indicates
that it belonged to someone of high status. Scarabs like this
were sometimes gifted to the pharaoh’s officials. The
hieroglyph on the underside shows the figure of an official,
which supports the theory that this Scarab belonged to a highranking court official. The pendant is pierced all the way
through the centre, which was probably to allow it to be strung
on a necklace.
DONMG ZA2575
Stirrup spouted face pot
Moche Civilisation, Peru, c.400-600 AD
The Moche maintained itself as a military state by controlling the miles of
irrigation canals, trade routes and products, and the food resources of the
sea. They built the urban centres of Moche in the Moche Valley and
Pampa Grande in the Lambayeque Valley, and giant temples like the
Hucaca del Sol and the Hucaca de la Luna. They were master irrigation
engineers, potters and metal workers, and have been compared by
archaeologists to great European civilisations such as the Greeks and
Romans.
Moche pots are easily recognisable because of their characteristic stirrup
shaped spouts. The spout is designed to suck in air down one side of the
loop, and therefore force liquid up and out of the other, aiding pouring. The
small opening also prevents the liquid inside from evaporating easily.
One of the great Moche arts was the creation of lifelike portraits of human
faces on their pots. There are a number of caricatures that appear
repeatedly on pots, suggesting that these were recognised figures in
Moche society.
This pot is decorated in a way that suggests it might be a representation of
the Owl Woman or priest who was associated with the underworld. The
figure is holding its left hand up as if to block an ear, a gesture sometimes
associated with figures that are connecting with the ancestral realm.
DONMG ZA2572
Mesopotamian clay tablet with cuneiform script
From the ancient Near East (modern Iraq and Iran), c.3000
BC
Over 5000 years ago, people living in Mesopotamia (now Iraq) developed
a form of writing. This was to record and communicate different kinds of
information in an increasingly complex society. The very earliest form of
script was pictograms (crude images) representing all kinds of objects and
items. Over time, this developed into a script called cuneiform, which was
made up of symbols formed from lines and wedges.
Originally, cuneiform was intended to read in columns, but in time it
evolved to be read left to right, in the same way as our writing is written
and read. In order that the symbols could be understood they were rotated
90 degrees.
Mesopotamian scribes were well-educated men who were responsible for
recording daily events, business transactions, astronomy and stories.
Cuneiform is found on square tablets, cylinders, prisms, brick wall reliefs
and a number of other objects.
Rectangular clay tablets like this were used to record administrative
information such as taxes or stock records, but could also be used for
writing personal letters and even for contracts.
DONMG: ZA2523
Greek statuette of Zeus
Unknown provenance
This bronze statuette of a semi-naked man was one of the most
recognisable caricatures of the ancient Greek world. Every Greek,
from every Greek city-state, would have been instantly able to
identify the god Zeus. Zeus was the sky god, and father of the
Greek Pantheon, or family of gods.
The ancient Greeks made many types and sizes of effigies
representing their gods. They were placed in temples, sanctuaries
and even in homes. The Greeks would offer sacrifices (animals like
lambs or goats) and libations (alcohol such as jugs of wine) to the
gods, who in return bestowed gifts. These gifts could range from
victory in battle to a profitable business exchange, or the recovery
of an ill relative or friend. This statuette of Zeus depicts him in his
most recognisable form, semi-naked, bearded, and holding aloft a
thunderbolt to signify his power over the heavens. The thunderbolt
is also a symbol of his invincible power.
Zeus was seen as the god who dispensed justice and settled
disputes. Yet, Greek mythology has him as a cruel god sometimes,
who set men against each other for his own amusement and
benefit.
DONMG 1964.53
Ex Chelmsford and Essex Museums
Egyptian faience mummy wrapping beads
In ancient Egypt, when wealthy people died, their bodies were
often embalmed to preserve them. They were then wrapped in
several layers of bandages. From about 1000 BC, the final
layer of wrapping was a net of beads, often with small
symbols, such as the Scarab that symbolised rebirth.
Although these beads have been strung as a necklace, they
are actually part of one or more wrapping nets.
These beads are made from faience, which is similar to glass
as it is made from sand or quartz. However, unlike glass,
which is made by heating sand until it melts, faience is made
cold. It was a relatively inexpensive material, which may have
been used in place of semi-precious stone beads made from
materials such as turquoise or lapis lazuli. This would indicate
that this bead wrapping was not that of a pharaoh, but more
likely of a court official or some other member of the Egyptian
middle classes.
DONMG ZA2572
Greek/Egyptian wooden tabula
Kornou, Thebes, Egypt, 332 BC-30 AD
This incredibly well-preserved wooden tablet comes from a Greek
tomb in Egypt. On it is a caricature of the deceased, with the
inscription (in Greek) “Plevis the younger being seven years old”.
The tablet is recorded as having come from Kornou (or Corornou),
which is the site of a pharaoh’s palace in Thebes.
The tablet belongs to a period when Egypt was ruled by the
Ptolemys. The Ptolemys were a dynasty of Greek pharaohs
founded by Ptolemy Soter, a successor (and a general) of
Alexander the Great. The dynasty lasted for 300 years, and ended
with the death of the last Ptolemaic pharaoh, the famous Cleopatra,
in 30 AD.
It is a fantastic example of the way in which the Greek conquerors
of Egypt merged Greek culture with Egyptian. The Ptolemys were
keen to show the native Egyptian people that they were the rightful
successors of the true pharaohs. In order to prove this, they took on
Egyptian culture and religion, creating a unique mix of Greek and
Egyptian society.
DONMG 1926.120
Davis-Cooke Collection
Roman moulded glass bottle
Cyprus, c.1-100 AD
This incredibly fine and beautifully made glass vessel is the
epitome of Roman craftsmanship. It shows the level of
technological and industrial achievement that the Roman
world had achieved at such an early stage in history.
The glass bottle is mould-blown, and the transparency of the
glass suggests it was made to hold expensive liquids such as
olive oil. Cyprus was prized for its production of good quality
olive oil, which was transported from there back to Rome and
elsewhere in the Roman world.
The Romans arrived in Cyprus in 58 BC. Mark Antony gave
the island to Cleopatra, but after his death at the Battle of
Actium it came back under Roman rule.
The Romans did not produce much glassware until the 1st
century AD, and even at the height of glass production, it
remained an expensive high status product. When you
observe how delicate this glass is, and consider that it is over
2000 years old, it is an amazing example of survival and a
rare and beautiful example of Roman culture.
DONMG 1964.64
Greek Attic skyphos
From Athens, 850-760 BC
A skyphos is a wine cup or container. This is much too large
to have been a wine cup, despite the fact that the Greeks
were big wine drinkers. It would have been the centrepiece
placed on a table during a meal, from which wine was served
in smaller skyphoi. Wine drinking was an important pastime of
the Greeks, and they even had a god of wine, Dionysus, who
inspired ritual madness and ecstasy through the consumption
of copious amounts of wine.
This skyphos can be identified as an Attic (from Athens) type,
dated 850-760 BC, based on the geometric design around the
circumference of the pot.
DONMG 1958.117