Antiquities on Display

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These were retrieved from the seabed off Ostia, the port of ancient Rome, in the early 20th c.

For a detailed description of each inscription, click here.

This architectural panel (placed below the projecting eave) probably decorated a shrine;a bucranium ('bovine face') is typical for such decoration. The metope is said to come from Etruria (north Italy), but the style of the carving suggests Cyprus, early 5th c. BCE.

For descriptions of the coins on display, click here. There are many more ancient coins in storage.

Marble heads: a barbarian (3rd-2nd c. BCE; N.154) and three small marble heads that decorated Roman table legs, 1st-3rd c. CE (N.198, N.200, N.199).

Terracotta bust from Italy, 4th-3rd c. BCE (N.156).

Top row, left to right: Hellenistic lamp, 3rd c. BCE (N.208); Classical lamp, 5th c. BCE (N.207); Early Roman lamp from Italy, 1st c. CE (N.255); Roman lamp, from Rome-on the base (shown), "FORTIS," the name of the lamp-maker, 2nd c. CE (N.246).

Bottom row, left to right: Hellenistic lamp (1st c. BCE - 2 c. CE; N.212); Hellenistic lamp mould, 2nd-1st c. BCE (N.507); Late Roman "slipper" lamp from Egypt with Greek inscription ("AGIOS THEODOROS," St Theodore) on the shoulder, 5th-6th c. CE (N.251); Classical Greek lamp, 5th c. BCE (N.253).

Athenian red-figure stemless wine cup (kylix), early 5th c. BCE; the interior depicts a youth reclining on a couch and holding out his wine cup (N.503).

Miniature Roman lamp on a stand, 1st c. CE (N.254). The pedastal carries representations of a military trophy.

Fragment of the side of a marble sarcophagus depicting a Victory and farmers, Roman, 2nd c. CE (N.244).

Fragment of a marble Ionic capital, perhaps from a small shrine or tomb, Roman, 2nd c. CE (N.243).

Marble lid of a cremation urn, Roman, 2nd c. CE (N.241).

Terracotta boar from Etruria, 3rd-1st c. BCE? (N.81).

At left, a black-figure lekythos, from Athens. Herakles and Apollo struggle over the tripod at Delphi, ca. 490 BCE (N.12).

At right, a Red-figure "bail" amphora, from Capua, Italy, 360-330 BCE (N.238).

Left to right. Two Italo-Corinthian oil flasks; at left, an aryballoi (oil flask for men; N.14); right, an alabastron (for women; N.2), both 6th c. BCE.

Roman glass flask, 3rd-4th c. CE (N.345).

Terracotta rooster, probably 3rd-1st c. BCE (N.79).

Left to right. White-ground lekythos from Athens: flutist plays while two men dance around an altar, early 5th c. BCE (N.13).

Tall glass bottle ("unguentarium"), late 1st-2nd c. CE (N.347).

Child's feeding bottle in the form of a duck, 4th-3rd c. BCE (N.31).

Terracotta figurine of an armed pig, 3rd-2nd c. BCE (N.197).

Roman glass: left to right, a bottle, unguentarium, and jar, all 1st-2nd c. CE (see above, under no. 11: N.346, N.348, N.385).

Fragment of a south Italian (Faliscan) wine-mixing bowl ("krater"), early 4th c. BCE N.231).

Red-figure, south Italian (Apulian) covered dish ("lekanis") decorated with women's heads on the lid, mid 4th c. BCE (N.505).

Red-figure wine jug ("pelike"), from Athens, by the Tyszkiewicz Painter, ca. 460-450 BCE (N.510). On the front (obverse) a man stands with a house dog; on the reverse, Eros flies down to swoop up a hare.

Right: Bronze furniture attachment in the shape of a woman's face (Medusa), 1st c. CE (N.91).

Left: Miniature Corinthian skyphos (bowl or cup). Early 6th c. BCE (N.422).

Roman plain vases: a two-handled bowl, 1st c. CE, and a ribbed jug , 2nd-3rd c. CE (N.124, N.136).

Italian terracotta hand (N.259) and foot (N.150), probably dedicated at a healing sanctuary, both 2nd-1st c. BCE.

Red-figure, south Italian (Apulian) plate decorated with a woman's head (N.504), mid 4th c. BCE.

Italian terracotta hand (N.264), probably dedicated at a healing sanctuary, 2nd-1st c. BCE.

Terracotta head of a young man, from south Italy, ca. 500 BCE (N.204).

Terracotta figurines. At left, a Mycenaean "phi" figurine, ca. 1400 BCE (N. 509); at right, early 4th century woman carrying a water jug ("hydrophoros") (N.502).

Etruscan bucchero cup ("skyphos"), late 7th - early 6th c. BCE (N.25), and wine jug ("oinochoe"), 6th c. BCE (N.28).

At left, fragment of an architectural frieze in relief: woman flanked by two male figures.

Above, Cupid drives a chariot to left (N.257).

Below, four fragments with decorative patterns (left to right: N.179, N.177, N.175, N.174).

An Etruscan bucchero wine jug ("oinochoe"), 6th c. BCE (N.32).

Early Italian vessels: a cremation urn in two parts, a stand and bowl, 8th c. BCE (N.230); an Etrusco-Roman storage jar with lid, 6th-5th c. BCE (N.232 and 233); and a clay imitation of a bronze helmet, 8th c. BCE (N.227).

Above, left: Greek wine cup (kylix) with simple decoration ("Ionian"), late 6th c. BCE (N.10).

Above, right: Greek red-figure wine cup (kylix) by the Sabouroff Painter (N.229), ca. 460-450 BCE. Inside and outside: youths at a gymnasium; as if hanging on a wall behind them are strigils (curved implements for scraping off sweat), a wood cross (for smoothing the ground for running), aryballoi (oil flasks), and flute cases.

Below, left, a sub-Geometric cup ("skyphos"), from Cumae (N.6). Below right, Mycenaean ladle, perhaps from Perati, Attica, ca. 1200 BCE (N.141).

Two clay lamps. At left, from Italy, 4th-3rd c. BCE (N.210). At right, handle fragment depicting Zeus as an eagle, 1st c. CE (N.221).

Left, Greek mug ("kantharos"), decorated with scales and leaves (Sessile class, Saint-Valentine group), late 5th c. BCE, from Italy (N.19).

Right, terracotta architectural fragment, perhaps from an altar, from Italy, late 1st c. BCE - early 1st c. CE (1909.162).

At left, Athenian red-figure child's cup ("owl" cup), early 5th c. BCE (N.506).

At right, a circular clay box ("pyxis"), with lid, possibly from Boeotia, ca. 700 BCE (N.9).

At left, "milk" bowl from Cyprus, 12th c. BCE (N.508).

At right, a red-figure oil jug ("lekythos"), from Athens: a woman pours a libation at an altar, ca. 475-450 BCE (N.16).

Etruscan bronze mirror (N.228), depicting Clytemnestra and her sister Helen (partilly nude, in the center) flanked by their cousins, the Dioscuri (Castor & Pollux), late 3rd c. BCE.