Event - Getty Villa

Have you ever seen a scene from a movie or TV show set in a beautiful garden in ancient times? In a recent episode of the popular HBO series, Game of Thrones, the beautiful princess Myrcella is shown walking in the gardens of Dorne. A few weeks back I visited the gardens at the Getty Villa, and I truly felt that I had been transported back in time. There was splendid artwork on the pillars and walls that mimicked the rich decorations of ancient times. There were multifarious flowers and a sort of tunnel of leaves that made me feel like I was in a royal palace when I was really in a museum.

Apart from the gardens the museum also has up for display precious treasures of ancient civilizations, including a real mummy. The Mummy of Herakleides, is particularly interesting as it combines the Egyptian custom of mummification of the dead with the Roman tradition of individualized portraiture. The face of Herkleides is painted on the mummy and even after 2000 years one can see the subtle lines of shading for the contours of the face. The mummy also has painted on it the Egyptian symbols of protection and rebirth which gives a lot of insight into why Egyptians mummified important people of ancient times.

Having taken a class on Greek History, I learned about how Greek Pottery provides a valuable insight into the diverse cultures and practices of ancient Greeks, as well as Greek Mythology. The image below is that of a ritual vessel, portraying the scene from the Illiad, when Menelaus found Helen at Troy. Helen originally married to Menelaus had eloped with Paris, a prince of Troy. Menelaus had intended to kill her when he found her at Troy but he dropped his sword at the sight of her beautiful body. Standing between Menelaus and Helen is Aphrodite, the goddess of love, and the source of Helen’s erotic power. Greek mythology heavily features divine intervention in the affairs of humans and this ritual vessel is a great illustration.