Welcome to the Penn Museum blog. First launched in January 2009, the Museum blog now has over 800 posts covering a range of topics in the categories of Museum, Collection, Exhibitions, Research, and By Location. Here you’ll hear directly from our staff and Penn students about their work, research, experiences, and discoveries. To explore the Museum's other digital content, visit The Digital Penn Museum.
The Corinth Excavations
By: Ann Brownlee
I am writing from the site of Ancient Corinth, where excavations under the auspices of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens have been going on since the late 19th century. The Corinth Excavations have been a training ground for generations of archaeologists, including me, and I thank the director, Guy Sanders, and assistant […]
Bronze Cuirass [Object of the Day #119]
By: Ann Brownlee
This heavy bronze cuirass served as a warrior’s chest protector. Only the front part survives of what was originally a cuirass made of two pieces fastened at the shoulders and sides. The surface is decorated with a raised geometric pattern of rows of triangles and dots. The elements of the pattern meet at a […]
Cypriot Barrel Jug [Object of the Day #114]
By: Ann Brownlee
This barrel-shaped vessel dates to the Cypro-Archaic I period, between ca. 750-600 BCE, and is from the island of Cyprus. A fine example of the pottery style known as Bichrome IV, this unusual shape is decorated with a bold stylized bird flanked by rosette and lotus motifs painted in the black and brownish-red colors […]
Minoan Marine Style Rhyton [Object of the Day #95]
By: Ann Brownlee
This rhyton, decorated with six leaping dolphins against a rocky seascape, is an example of the Marine Style in Minoan pottery. It has a hole at the bottom and may have been used for libations. The lively Marine Style, with its depictions of dolphins, octopi, and other sea creatures amid rocks and seaweed, […]
Death of Achilles Greek Amphora [Object of the Day #43]
By: Ann Brownlee
Two stories from the epic cycle of poems devoted to the Trojan War appear on this Attic black-figure amphora. The Iliad and the Odyssey are the only surviving works from the cycle, but we also know something of the other poems, which carry on the story of the Trojan War and its aftermath. For example, […]
An Onyx Neo-Classical Cameo [Object of the Day #42]
By: Ann Brownlee
This very large pendant consists of an onyx cameo in a gold setting. The cameo shows Dionysus, the god of wine, carrying a thyrsus and accompanied by a panther, as he discovers a dejected Ariadne. She had helped the hero Theseus kill the Minotaur but he then abandoned her on the island of Naxos on […]