Ancient Artifacts & Items

Amarna Period

The Amarna Period (approximately 1353-1336 BCE) was a significant era in ancient Egyptian history ma...

Ankh Symbol

All Egyptian periods

Egyptian Museum, Cairo

The Ankh is an ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic symbol representing eternal life. It consists of a cros...

Antikythera Mechanism

Hellenistic Period • Greece

National Archaeological Museum of Athens, Greece

The Antikythera Mechanism is an ancient Greek analog computer used to predict astronomical positions...

Atenism

Ancient Egypt 18th Dynasty (New Kingdom), c. 1353-1336 BCE • Ancient Egypt, primarily centered in Amarna (Akhetaten)

Archaeological evidence spread across multiple museums including the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, the Louvre, and the British Museum

Atenism was not a physical artifact but rather the first known monotheistic religious system in anci...

Book of the Dead

New Kingdom • Egypt

British Museum (Papyrus of Ani)

The Book of the Dead is not a single book but a collection of ancient Egyptian funerary texts consis...

Bronze Armor

Classical Greek (8th-3rd century BCE)

The bronze cuirass (breastplate) and greaves (shin guards) worn by Greek hoplites for protection. Of...

Canopic Jars

Old Kingdom to Ptolemaic Period

{'major_collections': ['Egyptian Museum, Cairo', 'British Museum, London', 'Louvre Museum, Paris', 'Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York']}

Canopic jars were elaborate vessels used in ancient Egyptian mummification processes to store and pr...

Corinthian Helmet

Archaic to Classical Period

{'multiple_specimens': ['British Museum, London', 'National Archaeological Museum, Athens', 'Louvre Museum, Paris', 'Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York']}

The Corinthian helmet was an iconic piece of ancient Greek military equipment, developed in the city...

Damnatio Memoriae

Roman practice of erasing someone from history, applied to Akhenaten and Nefertiti by later pharaohs

Dead Sea Scrolls

Second Temple Period • Israel

{'primary_location': 'Shrine of the Book, Israel Museum, Jerusalem', 'other_locations': ['Jordan Archaeological Museum, Amman', 'Various international institutions']}

The Dead Sea Scrolls are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts discovered between 1947 and...

Dory (Greek Spear)

Classical Greek (8th-3rd century BCE)

Examples can be found in numerous museums including the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, British Museum, and various other European collections

The dory was the primary thrusting spear of ancient Greek hoplites, measuring approximately 2.1-3 me...

Egyptian Papyrus

Early Dynastic to Islamic Period

Major collections are housed in the British Museum, Cairo Museum, Berlin Egyptian Museum, Louvre, and various university collections worldwide.

Egyptian papyrus is one of the earliest forms of writing material, made from the pith of the papyrus...

Egyptian Sarcophagus

Old Kingdom onwards

Egyptian Museum, Cairo

An Egyptian sarcophagus is an ornate coffin designed to hold mummified remains, typically made with...

Greek Manuscripts

Ancient Greek

Collection of ancient Greek texts including philosophy, mathematics, and literature.

Hoplon (Greek Shield)

Classical Greek (8th-3rd century BCE)

The heavy bronze-covered wooden shield used by Greek hoplites, essential to the phalanx formation. W...

Iliad

Ancient Greek

Multiple manuscripts exist in various libraries and institutions worldwide, including the Biblioteca Marciana (Venice), the Bibliothèque Nationale (Paris), and the British Library (London)

The Iliad is an ancient Greek epic poem traditionally attributed to Homer, composed around the 8th o...

Immortals Armor

Achaemenid Period (550-330 BCE)

The elite Persian guard known as the Immortals wore scale armor and carried wicker shields. They wer...

Mask of Tutankhamun

18th Dynasty • Egypt

Egyptian Museum, Cairo (pending transfer to Grand Egyptian Museum)

The Mask of Tutankhamun is one of the most iconic symbols of ancient Egyptian art and craftsmanship....