Yesterday, I had the good experience of attending the Australian Museum's exhibition of Alexander the Great. This exhibition (of over 400 artifacts) is excellent and I highly recommend that people go and see it. Loads of good stuff to see, much of it is about 2,000 years old.
Alexander III of Macedonia (356-323 BC) owes his epithet ‘the Great’ to the enormous territory that he conquered: from Greece in the west to the river Indus in the east, the largest empire in antiquity. This is all the more remarkable when you read that he subjugated this vast region within just eleven years, and that he was only twenty years of age when he came to power.
Last night we were welcomed with cocktails and Greek-themed canapes on arrival, in addition to some sideshow stuff like face painting, temporary tattooing, themed photography, balloon sword making and even one of the Museum's live snakes was brought in (this last one being in honor of Alexander's mother, Olympias, being a devout member of a snake-worshipping cult of Dionysus). ACU drama students provided a comic relief via their performance of "Alexander - the Great"? - a humorous reflection of Alex's life, narrated by his tutor, Aristotle. Naturally, no camera's were allowed to be used in the exhibit, but I managed to locate pictures of a few of the artifacts to share here.
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| Chariot shaft |
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| Musician |
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| Ancient textile |
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| The Gonzago Cameo |
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| Really nice example of repousse work in gold |
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| Greek Tetradrachma in silver |
