Introduction
The Classics and Archaeology Collection forms part of the Ian Potter Museum of Art at the University of Melbourne.
Objects are on display in the Classics and Archaeology Gallery located on Level 1 of the Ian Potter Museum of Art, Swanston Street, Carlton.
For further information about the Classics and Archaeology Collection contact the R E Ross Curator, Andrew Jamieson, on telephone (03) 8344 3403 or email asj@ unimelb.edu.au.
Current Exhibition: Text and Textiles
Ian Potter Museum of Art, 18 October 2009 to 18 April 2010
Egyptian hieroglyphs, Mesopotamian clay tablets, ancient Greek papyrus, fragments of woven linen Pharaonic tunics and woollen Coptic shawls feature in this exhibition that explores how texts and textiles were produced and used in antiquity. Highlights include papyrus fragments from a book by Thucydides found at Oxyrhyncus, faience shawabti figurines inscribed with lines of hieroglyphs known as Spell Six of the Book of the Dead and part of a Coptic tunic (or possible wall hanging) made from linen and wool with elaborate embroidered patterns. This exhibition offers a view into the lives of elite as well as average citizens from the great river valleys of the Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilisations through the texts and textiles that they read and wore.
Cypriot Antiquities in the Classics and Archaeology Collection
A full catalogue of the Cypriot antiquities in the Classics and Archaeology Collection is now available. Written by Sally Salter, a long-time researcher of this important collection, the book is generously illustrated and available from the publisher or the University Bookroom. The objects date from the early Bronze Age (c. 2500 BCE), through middle and late Bronze Age and all phases of the Iron Age and Hellenistic times to the Roman era (c. 200 CE). They are principally pottery items, including some very handsome painted jugs, amphorae and bowls from the much-admired Cypriot geometric and archaic periods.