The Iris

Ancient World

The world of ancient Greece and Rome, with the occasional field trip to lands beyond

Also posted in Antiquities, Art, J. Paul Getty Museum

Voting with the Ancient Greeks

By Annelisa Stephan | Published: November 6, 2012
Voting with psephoi in a scene from the Wine Cup with the Suicide of Ajax / Brygos Painter

This Greek wine cup from the 5th century B.C. offers one of the earliest depictions of voting in art. As the Trojan War rages, Greek chieftains are forced to choose between the competing claims of heroes Ajax and Odysseus to… More»

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Also posted in Behind the Scenes, Conservation, Getty Villa, J. Paul Getty Museum

A Roman Emperor Sojourns at the Getty Villa

By David Saunders | Published: October 29, 2012
Wheeling the Statue of Tiberius from the loading dock at the Getty VIlla

The Roman emperor Tiberius, who ruled from A.D. 14 to 37, has something of a reputation for wanting to get away from it all. In 6 B.C., he stepped out of the political and military arena and settled for seven… More»

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Also posted in Education, Getty Villa, J. Paul Getty Museum

Overpromise, Lie, and Other Questionable Political Advice from 64 B.C.

By Annelisa Stephan | Published: October 23, 2012
Portrait of Marcus Tullius Cicero with political campaign button

If Karl Rove had lived in ancient Rome, he might have written something like Commentariolum Petitiones, a down-and-dirty electioneering guide from 64 B.C.  just published in English by Princeton University Press as How to Win an Election: An Ancient Guide… More»

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Also posted in Antiquities, Art, Education, Getty Villa

Percy Jackson, The Hunger Games, and Why Your Kids Need to Know Classical Culture

By Erin Branham | Published: October 17, 2012
A family visiting the Getty Villa explores ancient art, history, and mythology through frescoes from the ancient Roman city of Herculaneum.
Mosaic with boxers: A scene from the Aenied in which two boxers fight to a bloody end for the watching crowd. (The J. Paul Getty Museum, 71.AH.106)

The adventure and derring-do of ancient myth is an easy sell to kids, and parents too for that matter. But I believe your kids need to know more. More»

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Also posted in Art, Exhibitions and Installations, Getty Research Institute, Photographs, Film, and Video

New Exhibition Offers Look Inside Pompeii’s Interiors

By Isotta Poggi | Published: October 1, 2012
Detail of a transverse section of the House of the Tragic Poet in Pompeii / Jules Frederic Bouchet and Raoul Rochette

The exhibition Inside Out: Pompeian Interiors Exposed, recently opened at the Italian Cultural Institute in Westwood, provides a historic glimpse inside the houses and villas of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Drawing mainly from the photo archive of the Getty Research Institute,… More»

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Also posted in Antiquities, Exhibitions and Installations, Getty Villa, J. Paul Getty Museum

Apocalypse Then: Bulwer-Lytton’s “The Last Days of Pompeii”

By Annelisa Stephan | Published: August 24, 2012
Cover and illustration from Bulwer-Lytton's The Last Days of Pompeii

Mount Vesuvius erupted on August 24, A.D. 79, burying Pompeii and neighboring towns under tons of ash and volcanic debris. Rediscovered by accident some 1,650 years later, the Vesuvian ruins captured the imagination of artists and writers, who vied to… More»

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Also posted in Antiquities, Behind the Scenes, Getty Villa, Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Installing “Lion Attacking a Horse” at the Getty Villa

By Steve Saldivar | Published: August 16, 2012
Lionsculpture_lg
Sovraintendenza ai Beni Culturali di Roma Capitale—Musei Capitolini

The massive sculpture of a Lion Attacking a Horse hasn’t left Rome in over 2,000 years, but it feels right at home sitting in the Atrium of the Getty Villa. The giant marble, on loan through January 2013 as part… More»

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Also posted in Antiquities, Education, Getty Villa

Reclining and Dining (and Drinking) in Ancient Rome

By Shelby Brown | Published: August 10, 2012
A Roman Feast / Roberto Bompiani

The ancient Greeks had a recumbent approach to their (male-only) dinner parties, as I discussed in a previous post: elite men reclined, propped on pillows, to drink, converse, and—sometimes—overindulge. The practice of reclining and dining continued into ancient Rome, but… More»

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Also posted in Antiquities, Education, Getty Villa

Lindsey Davis on Writing the Ancient World

By Annelisa Stephan | Published: August 1, 2012
Novelist Lindsey Davis at the Getty Villa

Novelist Lindsey Davis has devoted her career to entertaining readers with zesty whodunits set in ancient Rome. Famed for her ability to evoke ancient life down to its sounds and smells, as well as for her clever plots full of… More»

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Also posted in Antiquities, Art

Grit, Money, Glory: Olympics Then and Now

By Sarah Waldorf | Published: July 30, 2012
Athletes and Competition (Gallery 211) at the Getty Villa

This weekend marked the start of the 2012 Olympics, a spectacle with 10,500 Olympic and 4,200 Paralympic athletes in competition across 26 sports, from handball to taekwondo to the good old-fashioned pentathlon. The Olympics we’re familiar with today are an… More»

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      Nature, a powerful force out of the control of man. Storms can be a depiction of anxiety, heroism, drama, and beauty, but also can provide a context for an artist to explore the emotion behind color, form and texture.

      Long Ship’s Lighthouse, Land’s End, 1834-1835, Joseph Mallord William Turner, watercolor and bodycolor. J. Paul Getty Museum.
      A Storm on a Mediterranean Coast, 1767, Claude-Joseph Varnet, oil on canvas. J. Paul Getty Museum.


      06/17/13

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