Of Christians and Horses: Here are the 2 new don't-miss short cultural stops in Athens
Giddy-up to a fine equine show brought to you by The American School of Classical Studies
Did you know it’s been “450 Years Since the Christian Victory” over the Turks at the Battle of Lepanto? Well if you don’t then the Byzantine and Christian Museum, which is the sleeper hit among Athens’ myriad museum gems, is ready to remind you. Located on the edge of Aristotle’s Lyceum in a busy neighborhood some locals call the Pagrati flats, the museum is a year-round oasis of calm that is now commemorating a landmark battle that was anything but.
The new temporary exhibition “Lepanto 1571” zeros in with paintings and artifacts on the fateful year the fleet of the Holy League roundly clobbered the Ottoman Turks, off the shore of present-day Nafpaktos. This was a very big moment in world history, for that same year the Turks had finally, violently wrested Cyprus from the Venetians so the Christian victory that same year had added resonance, both symbolically and strategically keeping expansionist Istanbul at bay.
Chances are pretty good there were no horses at the Battle of Lepanto—unless they were very good swimmers—but let’s not forget the importance of the horse in the life of ancient Greece and in ancient Athens in particular.
An exciting new art and science exhibition will be held in The American School of Classical Studies’ Makriyannis Wing from January 20th to the end of April. Entitled “Hippos: The Horse in Ancient Athens” this exhibition foregrounds the important role of science for our understanding of the past. A well preserved ancient horse skeleton from the Phaleron cemetery will be displayed for the first time. Studied by Malcom H. Wiener Laboratory associate, Dr. Flint Dibble, it will be featured along with its archaeological context and zoological data. This exhibit will highlight the American School’s unique collaboration with the Ephorate of Piraeus and Islands for the conservation and study of the osteological material from the Phaleron cemetery.
“A horse is a thing of beauty….no one will tire of looking at him As long as he displays himself to the spectator in all his splendor.”
So said the Athenian Xenophon in his treatise On Horsemanship in the fourth century B.C. That the ancient residents of Greece intensely admired their horses and held them in high esteem is evident from the Bronze Age horse burials (1200 B.C.) to the sculpted images of equestrians on the Parthenon. Horses also figure prominently in Greek literature as we know from Homer where Achilles’ steeds can actually talk or more comically in Aristophanes’ play Hippeis with its chorus of knights.
Horses were depicted in all forms of ancient Greek art and the exhibit will display a variety of antiquities from Greece and abroad, such as marble reliefs, ceramic vases, and silver coins, ranging from the Protogeometric (1050-900 BCE) to the Hellenistic period (330-30 BCE). These works of art, especially Attic painted vases, illustrate the ancient Athenians’ obsession with horse breeding and racing. The excavations at the Athenian Agora have produced much evidence for the organization and important role of the Athenian equestrian corps, the hippeis, in the form of inscriptions, tokens, and cavalry monuments. One of the highlights of
the exhibit, displayed for the first time in Greece, is the loan from the Florence Archaeological Museum of the life-size Hellenistic bronze horse head which once belonged to Lorenzo the Magnificent.
Show Details:
January 20, 2022, to April 30, 2022
Opening hours: Wednesday – Sunday: 12.00 – 18.00 & Thursday: 16:00 – 22:00
Free Admission
For entrance to the exhibit you will need to present one of the following documents and a photo ID (identification card or passport):
Vaccination Certificate or Medical Certificate of COVID19 infection valid up to 6 months
Maximum number of visitors is 12 people, with a distance of 2 meters
The use of a mask is mandatory