Antiquities The Antiquities collection has in it objects from ancient civilisations like Greece, Rome and Egypt. It also contains older items from other countries, such as Stone Age flint tools from Africa. The first donation came in 1919 with the Wyatt collection of Roman and Greek pottery. Then in 1926 David Cooke gave the museum a fairly large collection of antiquities. Amongst this collection are some incredibly rare and interesting Egyptian artefacts, such as Canopic Jars and Seals from a tomb which dates to Thotmoses III.

Objects from Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery’s Antiquities Collection

Prior to the opening of the new Museum and Art Gallery in 1964 the curators began to avidly collect objects which reflected the most famous ancient civilisations. From Kingston-Upon-Thames Museum there came a significant collection of early African prehistoric flint tools. These had come from the Seton-Karr collection (a famous adventurer and early archaeologist). In 1963-4 a much larger collection came in from Chelmsford and Essex Museum. There were a wide range of objects, with pottery from Palestine, Minoan Crete, and Greece, glass vessels from Cyprus and even Cuneiform tablets from Mesopotamia. This collection formed the backbone of brand new displays at Chequer Road looking at ancient civilisations. Because of the way it has been built up, the Antiquities collection is incredibly varied. Although it is small, it houses some really iconic artefacts such as the Moche figurative pots from Peru.

Silver denarius Roman republican coin This coin was minted in 119 BC under the two consuls P. Furius Philus and C. Flaminius. Their names are inscribed around the edge of the obverse side of the coin. Consuls were the two men selected from the Senate (a council of elected Roman noblemen), and elected by the Roman people to run the republic. The coin appears to have been made to celebrate a victory over the Gallic people of northern Italy. We know this because of the imagery and symbolism on the coin. On the obverse (heads side) is the two-headed god Janus. Janus was the god connected with the beginning and ending of enterprises, and with safe or fortunate passage through doorways or gateways (called Jani). The month January is named after the god Janus, because it marks the end of one year and the beginning of a new one. On the reverse (tails side) of the coin is an image of Roma (the personification of the city of Rome), placing a victory wreath on a trophy of armour, shields and Gaulish trumpets. DONMG ZA1065

Silver tetradrachm Alexander III Megas (The Great) of Macedon This coin was minted in the reign of Alexander the Great of Macedon over 2300 years ago. It comes from the conquered Mesopotamian city of Babylon (in modern Iraq), where Alexander spent the last few years of his life. On the obverse of the coin is the head of the young Herakles, son of Zeus, shown wearing a lion-skin headdress. The significance of this imagery stems from Alexander’s family, the Argeads, who claimed to be the direct descendents of Herakles. On the reverse of the coin is an image showing Zeus seated on a throne, holding an eagle and sceptre. Down the right margin is the word Alexandrou in Greek, which means ‘of Alexander’. Under the throne are the letters K and Lambda (a Greek letter that looks like an A without the cross bar). This, along with the Greek letters in the wreath to the left, tell us that the coin was made in Babylon. Below K Lambda should be the word Basilios written in Greek, which means King. Zeus (the king of the gods, revered and worshipped by all Greek city states) was chosen because Alexander, like his father Philip II of Macedon before him, wanted to portray his family as a Pan-Hellenic (for all Greeks) dynasty. Babylon was the city where Alexander’s armies were disbanded and paid off, so the mint created vast amounts of silver and gold coinage for this purpose. Masses of these coins have been found by archaeologists in Macedon, indicating that soldiers took their pay home to spend.

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Ancient Egyptian Scarab pendant The ancient Egyptians believed that the sun was propelled across the heavens every day by a Scarab beetle. The Scarab Scarabaeus sacer lays its eggs in dung, which it then rolls up into a ball and buries. It is due to this practice that Scarabs became associated with the divine manifestation of the early morning sun (Khepri). The Scarab was so synonymous with Egypt that it became the symbol of Egypt that all its neighbours recognised. Many of them even copied the Scarab. These Scarabs were worn as protective amulets. They are also found in different forms, in burials placed with the mummy where they symbolised rebirth. They were massproduced from faience, and given out by the pharaohs as part of grand publicity stunts. This Scarab, however, is made from a semi-precious stone (perhaps carnelian), which indicates that it belonged to someone of high status. Scarabs like this were sometimes gifted to the pharaoh’s officials. The hieroglyph on the underside shows the figure of an official, which supports the theory that this Scarab belonged to a highranking court official. The pendant is pierced all the way through the centre, which was probably to allow it to be strung on a necklace. DONMG ZA2575

Stirrup spouted face pot Moche Civilisation, Peru, c.400-600 AD The Moche maintained itself as a military state by controlling the miles of irrigation canals, trade routes and products, and the food resources of the sea. They built the urban centres of Moche in the Moche Valley and Pampa Grande in the Lambayeque Valley, and giant temples like the Hucaca del Sol and the Hucaca de la Luna. They were master irrigation engineers, potters and metal workers, and have been compared by archaeologists to great European civilisations such as the Greeks and Romans. Moche pots are easily recognisable because of their characteristic stirrup shaped spouts. The spout is designed to suck in air down one side of the loop, and therefore force liquid up and out of the other, aiding pouring. The small opening also prevents the liquid inside from evaporating easily. One of the great Moche arts was the creation of lifelike portraits of human faces on their pots. There are a number of caricatures that appear repeatedly on pots, suggesting that these were recognised figures in Moche society. This pot is decorated in a way that suggests it might be a representation of the Owl Woman or priest who was associated with the underworld. The figure is holding its left hand up as if to block an ear, a gesture sometimes associated with figures that are connecting with the ancestral realm.

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Mesopotamian clay tablet with cuneiform script From the ancient Near East (modern Iraq and Iran), c.3000 BC Over 5000 years ago, people living in Mesopotamia (now Iraq) developed a form of writing. This was to record and communicate different kinds of information in an increasingly complex society. The very earliest form of script was pictograms (crude images) representing all kinds of objects and items. Over time, this developed into a script called cuneiform, which was made up of symbols formed from lines and wedges. Originally, cuneiform was intended to read in columns, but in time it evolved to be read left to right, in the same way as our writing is written and read. In order that the symbols could be understood they were rotated 90 degrees. Mesopotamian scribes were well-educated men who were responsible for recording daily events, business transactions, astronomy and stories. Cuneiform is found on square tablets, cylinders, prisms, brick wall reliefs and a number of other objects. Rectangular clay tablets like this were used to record administrative information such as taxes or stock records, but could also be used for writing personal letters and even for contracts.

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Greek statuette of Zeus Unknown provenance This bronze statuette of a semi-naked man was one of the most recognisable caricatures of the ancient Greek world. Every Greek, from every Greek city-state, would have been instantly able to identify the god Zeus. Zeus was the sky god, and father of the Greek Pantheon, or family of gods. The ancient Greeks made many types and sizes of effigies representing their gods. They were placed in temples, sanctuaries and even in homes. The Greeks would offer sacrifices (animals like lambs or goats) and libations (alcohol such as jugs of wine) to the gods, who in return bestowed gifts. These gifts could range from victory in battle to a profitable business exchange, or the recovery of an ill relative or friend. This statuette of Zeus depicts him in his most recognisable form, semi-naked, bearded, and holding aloft a thunderbolt to signify his power over the heavens. The thunderbolt is also a symbol of his invincible power. Zeus was seen as the god who dispensed justice and settled disputes. Yet, Greek mythology has him as a cruel god sometimes, who set men against each other for his own amusement and benefit. DONMG 1964.53 Ex Chelmsford and Essex Museums

Egyptian faience mummy wrapping beads In ancient Egypt, when wealthy people died, their bodies were often embalmed to preserve them. They were then wrapped in several layers of bandages. From about 1000 BC, the final layer of wrapping was a net of beads, often with small symbols, such as the Scarab that symbolised rebirth. Although these beads have been strung as a necklace, they are actually part of one or more wrapping nets. These beads are made from faience, which is similar to glass as it is made from sand or quartz. However, unlike glass, which is made by heating sand until it melts, faience is made cold. It was a relatively inexpensive material, which may have been used in place of semi-precious stone beads made from materials such as turquoise or lapis lazuli. This would indicate that this bead wrapping was not that of a pharaoh, but more likely of a court official or some other member of the Egyptian middle classes. DONMG ZA2572

Greek/Egyptian wooden tabula Kornou, Thebes, Egypt, 332 BC-30 AD This incredibly well-preserved wooden tablet comes from a Greek tomb in Egypt. On it is a caricature of the deceased, with the inscription (in Greek) “Plevis the younger being seven years old”. The tablet is recorded as having come from Kornou (or Corornou), which is the site of a pharaoh’s palace in Thebes. The tablet belongs to a period when Egypt was ruled by the Ptolemys. The Ptolemys were a dynasty of Greek pharaohs founded by Ptolemy Soter, a successor (and a general) of Alexander the Great. The dynasty lasted for 300 years, and ended with the death of the last Ptolemaic pharaoh, the famous Cleopatra, in 30 AD. It is a fantastic example of the way in which the Greek conquerors of Egypt merged Greek culture with Egyptian. The Ptolemys were keen to show the native Egyptian people that they were the rightful successors of the true pharaohs. In order to prove this, they took on Egyptian culture and religion, creating a unique mix of Greek and Egyptian society. DONMG 1926.120 Davis-Cooke Collection

Roman moulded glass bottle Cyprus, c.1-100 AD This incredibly fine and beautifully made glass vessel is the epitome of Roman craftsmanship. It shows the level of technological and industrial achievement that the Roman world had achieved at such an early stage in history. The glass bottle is mould-blown, and the transparency of the glass suggests it was made to hold expensive liquids such as olive oil. Cyprus was prized for its production of good quality olive oil, which was transported from there back to Rome and elsewhere in the Roman world. The Romans arrived in Cyprus in 58 BC. Mark Antony gave the island to Cleopatra, but after his death at the Battle of Actium it came back under Roman rule. The Romans did not produce much glassware until the 1st century AD, and even at the height of glass production, it remained an expensive high status product. When you observe how delicate this glass is, and consider that it is over 2000 years old, it is an amazing example of survival and a rare and beautiful example of Roman culture. DONMG 1964.64

Greek Attic skyphos From Athens, 850-760 BC A skyphos is a wine cup or container. This is much too large to have been a wine cup, despite the fact that the Greeks were big wine drinkers. It would have been the centrepiece placed on a table during a meal, from which wine was served in smaller skyphoi. Wine drinking was an important pastime of the Greeks, and they even had a god of wine, Dionysus, who inspired ritual madness and ecstasy through the consumption of copious amounts of wine. This skyphos can be identified as an Attic (from Athens) type, dated 850-760 BC, based on the geometric design around the circumference of the pot. DONMG 1958.117