NYC Exibition

[lucian]

This past weekend I visited the exibition on Alexander up in NYC. It was actually very good for the price (FREE!!) and they hand out a thick book of the exibition, which at first I thought was $30, but it was also free, it also included a medium size poster - pretty neat. The medallions were absolutely amazing!!! they were incredibly well done, and I often wonder how the ancients managed such detail in their metal craft. Much of the exibition came from the tomb of Philip, so it was mostly cups, bowls, and some armor pieces, although it did not include the "cuirass of Philip", which I was hoping to see. They had an awesome piece of a shield there, with a good portion of the Macedonian sun embossed in it, it was neat!On the weapons...What amazed me, is that these guys must have been very little!!!! I saw two pairs of greaves (one at the Onnasses, and one at the MET) and I'm 5'5' and I KNOW they wouldn't fit me. Of course it's Two pair of greaves, and I'm generalizing, but still. I believed that for the time period the Macedonians were generally tall??? Basically Alexander's height wouldn't have mattered, if the comparisons were not so much different.The swords, both the scimitar, and the "leaf blade" sword were very small in comparison to some recreations I have seen lately, and I can't imagine them being so heavy. One companion here mentioned a replica sword, and how heavy it was, but looking at the ones I've seen, and imagining them in full quality, I still don't believe they were that heavy. What impressed me was the sarissa blades, they were huge! and it must have been an incredible burden to hold on to those things, and keep them steady at an angle, the points are massive! Another thing that dowright scared me was the arrow heads, one of which had Philip's name engraved in it, to signify that it was minted during his reign. And although Alexander's lung was hit by a foreign arrow, I shuddered when I imagined one of those things going through it, cause the design was most likely similar. Kudos for those guys, because I will be the first to admit that I could not under any circumstance handle that. Overall, it was well worth the time. If anyone goes, don't bother taking a camera, they won't allow it in. It's a very small exibition, shouldn't take more than 1/2 hour to see it all, and there is nothing else to see in that building, pretty though it is. If you have the money, the shop upstairs has replicas of the medallions for ab

[jan]

HI Lucian, This exhibit sounds so interesting as you have described it. Has there been any mention of where this exhibit will go from here? Ian Worthington once mentioned that it was to travel westward? Do you happen to know anything about that? Thanks in advance.

[jan]

Hi Lucian, I just visited the Onassis website, and it appears that there has been an extension of the exhibit to May 28. Correct me if I am wrong.

[ruthaki]

I've seen these items several times while in Greece. You'd be amazed if you saw the cuirass from Philip's tomb. It is so small! By the same token, the silver greaves in the tomb of the Macedonian Prince (believed to be Alex. IV are too large for a 14 yr. old boy but the archaeologist I spoke to at the site of the tombs told me that often the grave offerings didn't actually belong to the person but were 'tokens'. The greaves in the Prince's tomb might have even once been Alexanders as an older youth (I like to suppose!)

[yiannis]

What about Philip's ceremonial shield? The one made of ivory, gold and glass. Is it also in the Onassis museum?

[ruthaki]

Oh that's a beauty! But you really must, some time in your life, see the tomb museum at Vergina. It's a wonder!

[lucian]

From what I understand the exibition was extended! but I'm not aware of the date.
I don't know where they are going from here, it was my impression that it was going to return to Greece, but I doubt that, I will call them and find out!
The shield of Philip is not there. :0(
Neither is that head of Alexander, portraying him at around 30 years old (my favorite)
The shield I talked about belonged to King Demetrios, who apparently dined with Alexander (son of Cassander) in 294 B.C. and the shield was originally a gift to the temple of Zeus in Dion.Oh, the replica medallions are about $200 a pop! that part was cut in my previous message.I really want to go to Vergina!!! As for Philip's cuirass, and the subject of "tokens" I wonder if it really was used by him then. Now that I think about it, what if these armors were just replicas being put in the tombs, but served no real purpose? If that's the case, the Macedonians and Greeks alike might have been taller, and stronger (the greaves looked skinny, like that of a boy's). Although, here in Washington, at the natural history museum, they have measurements on the wall you can stand against, that measures you against the typical height of an ancient Greek - and they were short!!! It makes me wonder how Alexander (being shorter than the average Macedonian) might have looked against Darius'supposed massive height.A friend of mine who raises horses also mentioned that ancient greek horses wouldn't have been taller than 12-13 hands, which is practically a pony, so Alexander wasn't helped in that area either. Maybe he had an early Napoleonic syndrome? (Although he was actually not short).