My daughter is a sophmore at Tampa Catholic High School and in English right now they are reading _The Iliad_ they have an assignment where they were required to go to the Tampa Museum of Art and view the Classical World Exhibition. Of course since it is due Monday we had to go today (it was assigned 3 weeks ago but of course last night was the first I'd heard of it). They had to choose 5 objects that reflect Greek culture and depict a character and describe it. So while she was wandering around with her friends (seems putting things off to the last minute is the norm with 15 and 16 year olds) I, too, perused the exhibit.
Many of the items are from around the time of Quintus and Horatia ;-) As I walked around I saw multae urnae. Many had eloborate drawings on them, they had handles and were many different sizes. One even depicted a drawing of 2 men carrying a large one suspended with a rope on a large stick. Many of the larger ones were labeled as amphoras, it said they were used to transport oils, wine and some kind of fish stuff on ships. Prof M? are amphoras different from urns used for water?
The most interesting thing I saw today was called a strigil, it is used to clean the body. The Greeks and Romans applied olive or other types of oils to their body and then an exfoliating agent, such as sand to the skin. The strigil was then used to scrape off the sand and oil also removing dirt and sweat. Afterwards they rinsed with water and dried off with a cloth.
Admission to the museum is free on Saturday's between 10 and 2 and you also don't have to pay parking then. It's pretty fascinating and you can be in and out in about an hour.
Tracy
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2 comments:
I saw that exhibit this summer and I also found it very interesting. And I thought the strigil thing was cool too! I would have liked to see more artwork besides just Pottery though. :)
-Brandi
Thank you Tracy so much, for a very informative narrative tour of the Tampa museum. I am glad that you found something there to connect to our Latin experience...I remember when I started to commune with the ancient world (pardon the rhetorical flamboyance, but that's what it was, I can't describe it better...) I started noticing things that I wouldn't otherwise. Flipping the electrical switch filled me with awe and wonder---observing a clay pot with fresh oregano in it felt like looking through a window towards the ancient past....thanks again for capturing that feeling of recognition and familiarity.
EM
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