MIDAS GOLD
29 August 2000 — Early Bronze Age pot burial – Pithos, Semayük c2500 BC — ARCHEOLOGICAL MUSEUM ANTALYA — Tomb Gifts — Phrygian King Midas voted Pan a better piper than Apollo, Apollo gave him asses’ ears—–
PHRYGIANS & KING MIDAS — Phrygian metal fusing made their bronze shine like gold which may have started that legend about their king, Midas — & the “Midas touch” — 2500 BC Cybele – real size — Silver – Actual size — Ivory Mama —-Real size—— These real sizes are about 6-10 CM high. I couldn’t believe my luck, to find this treasure house on such a dismal errand. I wandered through the museum with my sketchbook open, drawing like a dynamo.
FESTIVE BRONZES
29 August 2000 — Lots of loot from the burial mound of KING MIDAS — I love these guys! —
8-700 BC —- Festive bronze party hatpin – Real size [about 6 CM high] — Traces of red paint—— on the weeping woman’s breasts. That’s not milk——-
TEAR JARS
TEAR JARS: When the Roman rode off to war, his wife would hold [the tear jar] up to her face to catch the tears. When he returned she would say See how much I missed you! – 50 jars full. Imagine the wife & her maid filling the jars fast with seawater as the husband rode in the front & the lover bolted out the back. — Real Size — Very common sight- Comfy slob husband & draped circumspect wife. — 600 BC Griffin – Lion size — Cybele-Kybele —
29 August 2000 — Oh those Greeks- everywhere! — 2nd Century Apollo from Perge — Mycen vase 12-5Century BC — Byzantine angels- Real Size [10-12 CM]—— Later I bought an actual tear jar, neck broken but with all the pieces. Years later I repaired it with papier-mache. Here it is in a household shrine, with a fish necklace from Afghanistan and a shell fossil from Adilcevaz, near Mt Ararat.
STRANGE BEDFELLOWS
29 August 2000 — PRIAPUS & BYZANTINE JESUS, both 2ndCentury AD — Hellenistic, Early Roman grave goodies — Glass, real size [tiny] — Mosaic DIANA from Letoon —
Sea-crusted pot from shipwreck — Anchor from the “world’s oldest shipwreck” -Roman- found near Kaş — PAN – ROMAN —– Priapus, Jesus & Pan all frolic among the grave goods in the exciting 2ndCentury.
BIG BRONZE
29 August 2000 — Another lovable apostle — GIANT BRONZE ARM —
Huge marble Apollo—— Guess I’d run out of steam. That was quite a session.