Today we visited the wonderful National Archaeology Museum, which is a showcase for the fantastic skills of the Ancient Greek sculptors and artists. Some of the bronzes on offer here were so lifelike, it was difficult to believe that they are 2,500 years old. Most of antiquity’s bronze statues have been destroyed or melted down over the centuries, so most of what has survived has actually laid buried in the sea after different shipwrecks, and was only brought to the surface in the last 100 years or so. When you consider that these fantastic sculptures (like the amazingly expressive one of Poseidon about to launch his trident) were in transit from the workshops of Athens, then what must have been on show in Athens itself at the time would have been even better. My favourite one was of a little boy riding a horse running at full pelt – the expression of fear and exhilaration on his face is just brilliant.
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