The Villa (not the Museum, there are two Getty museums!) focuses on Ancient Greek, Roman and Etruscan civilizations. I loved many of the artifacts and have seen a few of them before in books and articles. I wasn't too crazy about the organization of the museum, by themes, rather than by civilizations/chronology, but it was neat to see how each civilization portrayed certain themes.
[My apologies for the quality of the photos. I took them with my phone, as I was nervous about using my camera with its flash. I got scolded by the staff for accidentally having the flash on for one of my pictures.]
Here's a peek at some of the artifacts:
I love painted Greek vases! This vase in particular is an amphora and was a prize given to winners in the Olympics. All the amphora were filled with the prized olive oil from Athens and would have a picture of Athena (seen here) on one side and a picture of the sporting event on the other side. There are several of these vases spread out throughout the world.
These items are Orpheus related. I thought they were pretty neat, particularly the little piece of gold, which is inscribed with a prayer to Orpheus.
Here is a replica of a Peristyle that would have been found in villa of Pompeii.
A very large mosaic, which depicts a scene from the Trojan War. In this, the prize girl of Achilles, Briseis was being taken and handed over to the greedy Agamemnon (i'm not a fan of him..)
A sarcophagus that depicted scenes from the life of Achilles. This is much larger than it appears.
This is probably my most favorite object from the museum. This is fragment from the Odyssey!
The Museum had some very early works, including this early vase painting from the Geometric period of the Aegean world. It depicts a funerary scene.
This kouros may or may not be a forgery. I read an article about this in my archaeology course. (Here is a different article) Looking at it, and having seen other kouroi before, I wouldn't be surprised if it was a forgery. I am not an expert at all, but there was something about it that did not look authentic to other sculptures before and after this work's supposed date.
I liked this golden wreath.
This helmet looked bizarre with its tiny eye holes.
LIVIA! I have used this image before in my first paper in grad school. Glad to see it up close and personal
I thought this Roman Egyptian mummy was fascinating. There was a video set up explaining the process. I particularly think the funerary masks were very interesting. It was nearly impossible to see in this picture, but it looked very Byzantine.
The kids' area was excellent! I loved all the activities they had available for the children to do!
Overall, the Museum was lovely. The artifacts were great and the views of the outside were breathtaking. I highly recommend it for anyone who is in the area.
