The Classical collection

The Classical collection contains material from ancient Greece and Italy, and other parts of the Mediterranean influenced by those cultures. The display begins with artefacts from pre-Mycenaean Greece (c. 6,000-3,000 BC) and the Minoan and Mycenaean cultures (c. 1,550-1,050 BC). Developments in Greek art can be followed through the late Geometric period (c. 8th century BC) to Corinthian, Athenian and South Italian objects of the Archaic and Classical periods (c. 7th-4th centuries BC), especially figured pottery. Notable amongst these vases is the black figured amphora by the Antimenes Painter, and a Lucanian (South Italian) red figured skyphos of the late 5th century BC with the earliest known depiction in Greek art of the personification of the seabreeze, Aura. Sculpture is represented by a number of Roman 'portrait' heads and marble grave reliefs. A marble statue of the Greek messenger god Hermes, which was found near Smyrna in Turkey at the end of the 19th century, was presented by Nicholson's three sons in 1934 to commemorate the centenary of their father's arrival in Australia. As well as these more notable items, there are many smaller household artefacts, bronze implements, bronze and terracotta statuettes and figurines, terracotta lamps, and a fine display of early Greek and Roman glass.

Theatre in the Greek world

Among the many cultural legacies of Classical Athens, one of the most popular and enduring is the gift of theatrical performance.

Greek drama had its roots in the epic poetry of Homer and the ecstatic worship of Dionysos, god of fertility and wine. By the middle of the 5th century BC, Greek drama had reached its mature form, with many of the great Athenian poets, such as Aeschylus, Euripides and Sophocles reaching the height of their creative powers.

Map of the Aegean world (PDF)

Using painted vases, terracotta figurines and other objects from Greece, Southern Italy and the Eastern Mediterranean, the origins of theatre and its various genres – Satyr Play, Comedy and Tragedy – are examined from the 6th to 4th centuries BC. These objects afford an insight into how the Greeks themselves perceived drama, and also provide information on costuming, staging, characters, gesture and the style of performance.

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Highlights

Black-figure neck amphora	Bronze figurine	Red-figure neck amphora	Mosaic glass inlay	Terracotta mask