Art/Archaeology

Art/Archaeology, Research Symposium Papers

On Her Majesty’s Service: C.L.W. Merlin and the Sourcing of Greek Antiquities for the British Museum

Based on hitherto unpublished archival material, this paper offers a brief biographical account of Charles Louis William Merlin, who served on Her Britannic Majesty’s consular service in Greece for almost 50 years (1839-1887). His extensive correspondence (1864-1892) with the British Museum, offers the opportunity to reconstruct Merlin’s role in the sourcing and trafficking of ancient objects directly from Athens to London. The study of this material, which is currently ongoing,… Read more

Art/Archaeology, Blog, History

To Serve and to Source: a Trading Consul at the Service of the British Museum

On 15 December 1864, a sub-committee on antiquities at the British Museum (BM) approved a text containing instructions for the consuls in Her Britannic Majesty’s service. Instigated by the BM’s Trustees and drafted by Charles Newton, former consul and Keeper of the museum’s Greek and Roman antiquities (1861-1885), the directive was… Read more

Art/Archaeology, Blog, Epigraphy/Papyrology, History

Coastalness and Inlandness: the Case of Attica

Scholarship has in the past few years dealt more systematically with networks of interaction in the Greek world, especially within the framework of coastalness and inlandness. According to Polybius (30.9.16.), the inhabitants of the Lycian city of Kybira were not able to send Polyaratus of Rhodes to Rome because they… Read more

Art/Archaeology, Blog, Epigraphy/Papyrology, History, Language/Literature

Reading Images and Seeing Epigrams: Image and Text in Attic Dedications

In the previous post I argued that some Archaic and Classical dedicatory epigrams deliberately selected non standard and non formulaic features to communicate with their audience. Those features concerned the material and immaterial elements of the dedicatory epigrams, that can be described by the three semantic systems of art and… Read more

Art/Archaeology, Blog, History

Of Grave Hunters & Earth Contractors: A Look at the "Private Archaeology" of Greece.

“I have already given orders to all the tomb robbers of Athens, who dig up old tombs all over Attica for the vases found in them, that whenever they find an intact skull or indeed any bones they should bring them to me in exchange for a good price,… Read more

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The Center for Hellenic Studies

On Her Majesty’s Service: C.L.W. Merlin and the Sourcing of Greek Antiquities for the British Museum

To Serve and to Source: a Trading Consul at the Service of the British Museum

Coastalness and Inlandness: the Case of Attica

Reading Images and Seeing Epigrams: Image and Text in Attic Dedications

Of Grave Hunters & Earth Contractors: A Look at the "Private Archaeology" of Greece.