Rare testimonies from the Palace of Pergamon

Pergamon made a clear statement to take a leading position in the Hellenistic world in which the rulers attracted the best artists, architects, and philosophers. 

The Palace of Pergamon and its adjacent rooms must have been a sight for sore eyes considering the magnificence and action displayed on the famous Altar of Zeus, whose remains have been moved to the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. 

On most maps of Pergamon, we find five consecutive rooms initially labeled as Palaces in their own right. Recent studies have established that the so-called Palace V was the main building used for official purposes. The other “palaces” were rooms for the Royal family and the guests, storage rooms, and arsenals. 

The official rooms with their niches and patios would be filled with elegant statues, statuettes, vessels, and other decorative items created by the best artists from Hellenistic times commissioned by the Attalid kings (see: The Attalids, rulers of Pergamon). 

From the reign of Attalus I, 241 to 197 BC, the most striking examples are the statues of the Dying Gaul and the man and woman known as the Galatian Suicide. Both pieces were taken to Rome to adorn the Gardens of Caesar. Also at the instigation of Attalus I, a new architectural feature appeared, the Pergamene Capital (see: About Greek/Roman columns and capitals). There must be proof that at least bits of these capitals are left in situ but I have not found any. I discovered my first examples in North Africa and in particular in Leptis Magna, the city built by Septimius Severus in the 2^nd century AD. 

The reigns of Eumenes II and Attalus II in the 2^nd century BC left us with only a handful of artworks that survived the ravages of time. A rare treasure found in the dining room of Palace V with the Hephaistion mosaic is the dancer or light carrier lady. She is 1.20 meters tall and made of white translucent marble. Her right hand which has not survived is raised and her left hand reaches downwards towards her dress. This elegant beauty has been transferred to the Altes Museum of Berlin. Another lady dancer has apparently been moved to the Archaeological Museum of Izmir and the only available picture is on the site of Livius. 

More telling is the colorful mosaic of a parakeet now at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin (see: The beauty of Alexandrine mosaics) retrieved from one of the two dining rooms of the Palace. Here, another remarkable mosaic was discovered that carried the signature of the artist. His name is Hephaistion, which has nothing to do with Alexander’s friend who lived two centuries earlier. This artist very creatively wrote his name on a label that seemed to be stuck to the floor with sealing wax at its corners, except one corner which was already lifted up. The full inscription can be translated as "Hephaistion made it". 

The balance of the finds in and around the Royal Palace is very meager considering the grandeur and wealth accumulated by the Attalid Kings of Pergamon (see: The Attalids, rulers of Pergamon). It is unclear whether these premises have been thoroughly excavated or if more work remains to be done. I like to believe the latest.

Alexander head found near the Black Sea

As strange as it may seem, a head of Alexander was found in Konuralp, close to the Black Sea. In antiquity, the city was named Kieros and was part of Herakleia Pontus. 

[Picture from Duzce Municipality]

The historian Memnon of Herakleia (1^st century AD) tells us that King Prusias I of Bithynia captured the city end 3^rd/beginning 2^nd century BC and renamed it Prusias. It was strategically situated on the road between Nicomedia (modern Izmit) and the Pontus region. 

The Romans, who conquered Bithynia around 74 AD, changed the name again to Prusias ad Hypium. The city was important enough to be visited by the emperors Hadrian, Caracalla, and Elagabalus. 

Although most of the ancient city is still buried under modern Konuralp, recent archaeological excavations have exposed remains of the city walls and a gate, a theater, an aqueduct, and a Roman bridge. Inscriptions mention the presence of a gymnasium and an agora. However, there is not enough information to establish the layout of Prusias ad Hypium, and crucially there is nothing to indicate the reason for Alexander’s presence at this location. 

The marble head attributed to Alexander was discovered at the top of the theater. It is 23 cm tall and has been dated to the 2^nd century AD. This is not much information to go by but hopefully, more news will follow.

Previous excavations also exposed a head of Apollo and Medusa.

Planetarium of Archimedes?

A fragment from a complex mechanism was discovered by chance near Olbia, Sardinia, and it soon became clear that the dented gear wheel showed similarities with the mechanism of Anticythera. This fragment, however, was made of a brass alloy unknown otherwise at the time. 

[Kircher's reconstruction of the sphere of Archimedes]

Thanks to the detailed writings of Cicero in the 1^st century BC, we know that Archimedes constructed a Planetarium (Orrery). The celestial globe is mentioned by Ovid in the 1^st century BC and by Claudian, a 4^th-century Latin poet associated with the court of Emperor Honorius in Mediolanum (Milan). 

When, in 212 BC, the Romans sacked Syracuse, Consul Marcus Claudius Marcellus brought to Rome a device that was built by the famous mathematician. It represented the motion of the Sun, Moon, and the planets reproduced on a sphere. In short, a modern Planetarium. 

It was Gaius Sulpicius Gallus, who reported the story as he had seen the object personally and knew how to operate it. Cicero was amazed that Archimedes had been able to generate the motion of the individual planets starting from a single rotation. The Planetarium was placed inside a glass sphere. This corresponds to what Archimedes wrote in a now-lost treatise On Sphere-Making detailing the construction of the Planetarium. 

Livy, who died in 17 AD, wrote that before the Battle of Pydna in 168 BC, Gallus, an astronomer himself, used the Planetarium to predict a lunar eclipse on the night before the battle. The news was shared with his Roman legionnaires to prevent them from panicking, but the Macedonians freaked out. 

A first reconstruction based on the section of the gear wheel found near Olbia revealed that it counted 55 dents in total. Noteworthy is the shape of the dents, which is not triangular as in the case of the Anticythera mechanism but slightly curved as used in our modern gear wheels. This shape proves to be more efficient and allows a higher precision. In antiquity, these wheels were created manually and the craftsmen had to do without the use of our modern measuring and cutting tools, which emerged only a few centuries ago. 

Marcus Claudius Marcellus, owner of the Planetarium, was sent off to Spain to fight the Iberic Celts in 152 BC. It is reasonable to assume that Marcellus took the Planetarium with him – a sign of his status – and that his ship was wrecked in the region of Olbia, crashing the Planetarium. 

The Planetarium has been dated between the end of the 3^rd century BC and the mid-2^nd century BC. It thus predates the Anticythera mechanism from the 1^st century BC generally ascribed to Archimedes. However, the analog computer may well have been reproduced based on Archimedes’ description.

It must have been one of the marvels from Hellenistic times, many of which still remain to be discovered!

[the section found near Olbia is thoroughly discussed in this YouTube]

Macedonian swords set against history

As mentioned in an earlier post (see: Alexander’s battle outfit), the Macedonians basically used two types of swords. The straight sword with a double-edged blade, which was most popular, was about 60-70 cm long. The blade was exceptionally efficient because of the swelling toward the sword’s tip. It added weight and momentum to each blow. It was used by cavalry and infantry alike, as it functioned for hacking and stabbing. 

The kopis, or saber-shaped sword with the crooked hilt, was less common. The blade was 40-60 cm long, and only the curved side had a cutting edge. The kopis was more effective for fights on horseback since the rider could deliver a heavy blow from above. 

Sources tell us that the Cyprian King of Citium (ancient Larnaca) gave Alexander a masterly executed sword, which was exceptionally light and well-tempered (see: The role of Cyprus in Alexander’s campaign). 

Quality swords were widespread among Alexander’s commanders and even common troops. Several memorable encounters have been reported by our historians. The most striking one was when Cleitus, with a single blow, severed the arm and shoulder of a Persian attacking Alexander at the Granicus. The Paeonian cavalry leader Ariston used his sword to behead the Persian leader Satropates during a skirmish near the Tigris River. 

The kopis were handled by the Macedonians at the Hydaspes to slash at the elephants’ trunks. Ptolemy drove his sword through the thigh of a local chief during the Indian expedition, and Alexander cut off the hand of his Arab assassin with one stroke of his sword during the siege of Gaza. The Macedonian tradition of handling weapons with high cutting capacity is still alive in 276 BC when King Pyrrhus inflicted such a blow to his adversary that he cleaved his opponent in two parts, falling to either side! 

Now we may wonder where and how all these swords were made. Cyprus was known for its quality weaponry, but did the artisans accompany the Macedonians into Asia, or did they train a selected number of people in this specific craftsmanship? Either theory is plausible. 

There is, however, the case of Porus’ gift. After the Battle of the Hydaspes, King Porus gave Alexander a precious sword. This story leads us to another source, Wootz Steel (the name is a corruption of ‘ukku’), a well-kept secret amongst the metallurgists in India. The name first appeared when Alexander received a gift of over 2500 kg of ‘white iron’, a kind of steel that originated in India millennia before reaching Europe. 

Wootz steel is a type of crucible steel made using a clay crucible. The vessel was closed and heated for several days to a temperature of 1300-1400 degrees Celsius. In the process, the quality of the product acquired high ductility, high impact strength, and reduced brittleness. After a slow cooling, the Wootz ingots were ready. Archaeologists discovered an industrial steel center from around the 3^rd century BC in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. 

How was this new technology received in the Macedonian camp? It is hard to imagine that Alexander did not explore or use the possibilities of this Wootz steel. He always was a ringleader when confronted with new inventions and improvements in warfare. The next time we hear about this revolutionary steel is that Indians had a monopoly over the production and export of Wootz steel from the 3^rd to the 17^th century, reaching from the Roman Empire in the West to China in the East. 

In the Middle Ages, Damascus became the main supplier of the famous Damascene swords, which is only another name for weaponry made using Wootz steel. 

By the 8^th century, manufacturing in India had spread throughout Central Asia, where the Vikings had established trade posts to exchange their furs and slaves over Eurasia. Hoards of Arab dirhams have been found in Scandinavia, documenting these trades. As a result, by the 9^th century, the Vikings produced high-quality Ulfberht swords, made of crucible steel known as Wootz steel. 

[Picture from Ulfbeht sword - Credits: Secrets of the Viking sword]

The blades of Viking swords were generally 70 to 90 centimeters long and 5-6 centimeters wide. The so-called Ulfberht swords carried the inscription +VLFBERH+T, which may be linked to some religious invocation rather than the maker’s signature. The earliest known specimen was created in the 9^th century and was one of the heaviest (1.9 kg) and longest (102 cm) Viking swords. It is exhibited at the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo. Another surviving example is the sword of Saint Stephen from the 10^th century, which was the coronation sword of the Hungarian King Stephen. It still has its walrus-tooth hilt. 

The so-called Lincoln sword from the same era is one of only two known swords bearing the inscription +LEUFRIT, also made of crucible (most probably Wootz) steel. It was found near Monks Abbey in Lincolnshire, UK, in 1848. 

It is noteworthy that the science behind the production of Wootz steel was only understood in the 20^th century! From a technological point of view, this means that the metallurgists of ancient India were far, really far ahead of their time! 

Unfortunately, history has, to my knowledge, not linked the weaponry from Cyprus to the Wootz steel swords made in India. Consequently, we still don’t know how Alexander acted and reacted to Porus’ highly prized gift. I can’t imagine that Alexander did nothing to explore this newly acquired knowledge.

The Attalids, rulers of Pergamon

The Attalid Dynasty of Pergamon started with Philetairos in 282 BC, roughly fifty years after the death of Alexander. 

It remains difficult to imagine the wealth Alexander had accumulated from his conquest of Asia.  The rise of the Ptolemaic and Seleucid dynasties can hardly be compared to that of Lysimachos, who did not draw the best cards. The War of the Diadochi was a very intricate and complex bickering and conniving from which all parties did not profit equally. However, Lysimachos put his share of the booty to good use and his trusted treasury keeper, Philetairos, did the same giving Pergamon the jump start it needed.

The starting date of the Pergamon Dynasty is much later than for the empires of  Seleucos in 312 BC, and Ptolemy in 305 BC founded at the end of the War of the Diadochy. 

Philetairos was a eunuch who had served under Antigonus Monophtalmos. In 302 BC he deserted him to join Lysimachos, the king of Northwest Asia Minor. At the death of Antigonus, Lysimachos rewarded Philetairos for his loyalty by putting him in charge of his treasury (inherited from Alexander) in Pergamon. 

But when Lysimachos, upon the instigation of his wife, murdered his only son, Agathocles, Philetairos joined Seleucos I. Soon afterwards, Seleucos’ forces murdered Lysimachos leaving Philetairos to rule Pergamon until 263 BC. Seleucos granted him great autonomy, which enabled him to expand his territory. Unable to have children of his own, Philetairos had adopted his nephew, the future Eumenes I, who would succeed him in 263 BC. 

One year into his kingship, Eumenes defeated the Seleucid King Antiochus near Sardes, which enabled him to create an independent city-state of Pergamon. Eumenes did not have children either and the throne went to his nephew and cousin, Attalus, who went down into history as Attalus I Soter. Attalus ruled from 241 to 197 BC and many historians still consider him as the founder of the Attalid Dynasty, with Pergamon as its capital. 

The reign of Attalus I was all but peaceful. The Seleucids had lost power over Lysimachos' territories of Pergamon, Bithynia, Nicomedia, and Cappadocia, which gained their independence. Attalus expanded his territory but lost much of it to Seleucos II later on. However, he managed to save Pergamon from the attacks of the Galatians on his northern border and to establish friendly relations with the Romans. That’s how he got involved in the Second Macedonian War (200-197 BC), which opposed the weakening kingdom of Macedonia to Rome, as an ally of Pergamon. Attalus suffered a stroke during peace negotiations in Thebes and was brought back to Pergamon, where he died in 197 BC. 

Eumenes II took over where his father left off but mingling in the affairs of the Seleucids in Syria did not sit well with the Senate of Rome. No reason for Eumenes to be distracted from carrying out his own large expansion program in Pergamon, where he built the unique Great Altar and the massive Library, second only to that of Alexandria. The Romans resented the power and independence Eumenes displayed, which in their eyes reduced their own sphere of influence in Asia Minor. Sadly, although still in his early sixties, Eumenes’ health began to deteriorate, and he appointed his brother Attalus II as a co-ruler. One year later, in 159 BC, Eumenes died. His own son was still an infant, and consequently, Attalus II, who conveniently married his widow, became the new king. He also adopted his brother’s young son, who was to become the future Attalus III. 

Attalus II continued Eumenes’ building projects in Pergamon, this time including the Palace. He also funded the construction of a new temple to Hera Basileia between the lower Agora and the Gymnasium. 

He was familiar with the political situation he inherited. He had no real enemies and was careful to recognize the authority of Rome. Instead of going to war, Attalus II expanded his influence by spending lavish amounts of money on prestige projects. For instance, he contributed to the construction of a splendid Stoa in the Agora of Athens, at the foot of the Acropolis. This is the Stoa of Attalus II, which was restored/ reconstructed by the American School of Classical Studies in the early 1950s. Another Stoa carrying his name was built in Termessos next to the Corinthian temple.

As always, all kinds of taxes were raised to pay for these grand expenses, but Attalus equally improved trade in his kingdom, building markets and safe harbors. He certainly needed reliable access to a harbor, and Attalus attempted to subdue Side. In the wake of this failed attempt, he added part of Pamphylia to his kingdom, where he founded an entirely new port. He named it Attaleia, after himself, i.e., modern Antalya. Attalus II died at the blessed age of 81 or 82 in 138 BC. 

His successor was his nephew and adopted son, Attalus III. However, the new king was not interested in his kingship or in Pergamon. No wonder that he was rather unpopular among his citizens. When he died five years later of disease, he bequeathed Pergamon to Rome, which made it the capital of their Provincia Asia.

Although there may have been one last pretender to the throne, a supposed illegitimate son of Eumenes II, the Attalid Dynasty came to an abrupt end in 133 BC. 

In hardly 150 years, the Attalids had built one of the greatest Hellenistic centers for culture and art, mainly under the reigns of Eumenes II and Attalus II, which still intrigues us.

The end of Pergamon was all but glorious. After being hit by a severe earthquake in 262 AD, its decline was set in motion. The Muslims sacked what remained standing during their raid of 663 AD. More setbacks followed after the conquests by the Byzantine Empire and around 1300 AD by the Ottoman Empire. Slowly, the majestic site deteriorated to the point it was abandoned and forgotten until the first explorers of the 18^th and 19^th centuries rediscovered Pergamon.

An unknown kingdom in Turkey, lost in time

The time of great discoveries is not behind us. The world still holds many surprises to be unveiled, believe it or not! 

As recently as last winter, a farmer in southern Turkey unearthed a large stone stuck in an irrigation canal. This stone carried mysterious inscriptions belonging to an ancient, lost civilization. 

The archaeologists determined that the writing was in Luwian, an ancient Indo-European language from Anatolia. It was used by the people living in western and southern Asia Minor from the 2^nd millennium BC, prior to the arrival of the Hittites. The hieroglyphic symbols were read in alternating sequences from right to left and left to right.

This newly discovered inscription mentions an ancient civilization that might have defeated the Phrygians, best known through their King Midas, in the late 8^th century BC (see: Gordion, a name with a resonance). A specific symbol on the stone indicated that the message came directly from their ruler, King Hartapu. The name Hartapu was known from a previously discovered inscription on a mound some 16 kilometers away, but at that time neither his title nor kingdom was mentioned. 

The kingdom, whose name is not known yet, existed between the 9^th and the 7^th centuries BC. Its capital was probably located near Turkmen-Karahöyük, less than 20 kilometers from the UNESCO site of Çatalhöyük. 

Imagine, this was 300-500 years before Alexander! Maybe he had the answers we hope to find in future research?

[Pictures from Archaeology World]

The beauty of Alexandrine mosaics

The first time I was confronted with the fine and delicate mosaics created in Alexandria was in Libya. 

Unexpectedly, this was in the eastern city of Ptolemais, seeing the centerpieces of the mosaic floors in the Summer Triclinium of the Palazzo delle Colonne. It was as if I could zoom in time and again to discover ever more details! 

Another striking example was exhibited at the local Museum of Sabratha in western Libya. Here it was a carpet-like mosaic depicting the Triumph of Bacchus. The three central roundels executed in fine Alexandrine mosaics stood out against the otherwise rather rough tesserae of the outer mosaic. The top roundel showed Bacchus, after whom the mosaic was named, followed by a lively lion head and a panther head. 

Another example was presented at the Bozar Museum in Brussels during the Exhibition on Alexandria in 2022. Here the fine centerpiece of the mosaic was a wild Medusa face on loan from the Museum of Alexandria dated also from the 2^nd century AD. 

Scenes of gods and goddesses were very common in antiquity, but it seems that animals were generally introduced by the Romans. 

Lesser known is the panel of a colorful parakeet, one of three centerpieces that decorated a floor of Palace V in Pergamon. This is the only one that made it to the Museum of Pergamon; the other two are lost in the mist of time. 

Now the story of this parakeet requires some extra information. To start with, it has been identified as the Psittacula eupatria, noble fatherland or of noble ancestry. Apparently, it was Alexander the Great who sent the first birds from Punjab to the West, where they were received as exotic pets by the rich and famous of his time. 

The mosaic panel was made in Pergamon in the days of Eumenes II or Attalus II to decorate the so-called altar room of Palace V on the city’s acropolis.

The technique also used the opus vermiculatum meant to emphasize the contours of the bird – a parakeet in this case. To that effect, one or more rows of dark tesserae would be inserted around the subject to enhance the pictorial effect and create an extra contrast or a shadow.   

It is hard to imagine how the artisans of those days were still able to see what they were doing handling those tiny bits of stone, marble, and glass varying between 0.5 to 1 millimeter in size and keeping an eye on the contrast effect at the same time. High-skilled craftsmanship, no doubt.

The Thrasyllos Monument in Athens

The rock on which the Athenian Acropolis has been built holds several caves that were used in antiquity as sanctuaries. Early settlers were attracted by the clean water from its hidden natural sources. Some of these caves led very far inside but most were rather small. Over time, some of these spaces were turned into sanctuaries. 

The most striking example is the Thrasyllos Monument, a temple inside a large cave on the south slope of the Acropolis. It was created around 320 BC by Thrasyllos, a judge in the Great Dionysia Festival. His son, Thrasykles, modified the monument in 270 BC.

Few people know that its façade was an almost exact copy of the west façade of the south wing of the Propylaea on the Acropolis above. It has two door openings with pilasters and a central pillar, crowned with a Doric architrave displaying a continuous row of guttae, a frieze, and a cornice. The frieze depicts five olive wreaths on either side of the central ivy wreath. The three columns above the cornice supported the bronze choragic tripods. Pausanias tells us that the cave held a representation of Apollo and Artemis killing the children of Niobe. 

Paintings inside the cave referred to a marble statue of Dionysus probably added to the top of the monument in the 4^th century AD. It was removed in 1802 by Lord Elgin, who took it to the British Museum in London. 

Under Ottoman rule, a small chapel was built inside the cave known as the Virgin Mary of the Cave. It was used by the Athenians who came to pray for the health of their sick children. The chapel was decorated with Biblical frescos, and a marble icon of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, recently restored. 

Most of the marble entrance collapsed in 1827 during the Ottoman siege and bombardment of the Acropolis. As so often, the stone material was reused elsewhere in the city and, in particular, for the restoration of the Byzantine Church of Panaghia Sotiras tou Nikodimou. 

[Reconstruction drawing by James Stuart and Nicholas Revett]

The restoration of the Thrasyllos Monument started in 2011 assisted by archaeologists of the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. We have to thank the English architects James Stuart and Nicholas Revett for having left us so many drawings of what they witnessed in 18th-century Athens. Their work was of great help to reconstruct the Thrasyllos Monument and provided a clear copy of the original Greek inscriptions. 

This impressive Choragic Monument was meant to be seen by all of ancient Athens. Today, it is an eye-catcher overlooking the Theater of Dionysus. The Monument is clearly visible from the terrace of the New Acropolis Museum as seen in my picture from 2015.  

For safety reasons, the interior of the Thrasyllos Monument is not open to the public yet.

Bronze equestrian statuette from Albania

The Getty Villa Museum in Malibu, California, is hosting a special exhibition, The Horse and Rider from Albania from July 26, 2023, through January 29, 2024. The centerpiece is a beautiful bronze equestrian statuette that was found in 2018 by a farmer plowing his land. This happened near the ancient city of Arnisa, modern Babunjë. Based on the Geography of Claudius Ptolemy from the 2nd century AD, Arnisa belonged to the Illyrian Taulantians. 

[Statuette of a Horse and Rider,

Greek, 520–500 B.C. Bronze. Albanian Institute of Archaeology, Tirana.

Picture from Getty Museum]

The city was settled by people from nearby Apollonia (see: Along the Via Egnatia: from Ohrid to Elbasan) in the early 6th century BC. It was an ideal location close to the river Seman with ample fertile land. Arnisa itself was built according to the Hippodamian plan (see: The Hippodamian plan, not so Greek after all) and covered an area of five to six hectares. It was surrounded by a fortification wall made of carefully carved blocks that perfectly fit together as seen in other Illyrian cities in Albania. 

Although only a small part of Arnisa has been excavated so far, archaeologists believe that the city flourished in the 5th and 4th centuries BC, and was abandoned in the 3rd century BC when Macedonia rose to power after Alexander's conquests. Others are inclined to put an end to its prosperity in the days it was defeated by the Romans. 

The small Horse and Rider is approximately 14.5 cm high and has been tentatively dated to around 500 BC. It was cast in one piece of solid bronze and the rider’s face and the horse’s nostrils and eyes were carefully carved. 

Nothing of the kind has been found so far in Albania and scholars hope that future excavations will provide more information about the site of Arnisa and the history of Albania. 

After the exhibition at the Getty, the precious statuette will return home and find a proper place at the National Historical Museum of Tirana.

The Tabula Chigi quoting Alexander

“Kings have knelt before my spear, and their peoples too,
how many are the embraces of the Ocean around the earth.
I am the son of Philip, by Heracles a descendant of Zeus,
and of my mother Olympias, of the race of the Aeacids.”

This inscription is in Greek as it appears on the Tabula Chigi, in which Alexander speaks in the first person. 

This Tabula Chigi is a tablet made of antique yellow marble, 15.5 x 9 cm and 1.5 cm thick, from between the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD. It belongs to a series of “tabula iliaca” named after the Iliad because most of the scenes tell episodes from Homer’s book. 

[Picture from Rai Cultura, Arte]

We don’t know for whom or why these panels were created. They may have served to decorate some libraries or to disseminate a story, or they simply had a votive function. The latest opinion is that they were a kind of conversation piece for the ‘nouveaux riches’ who had no access or the skills to read literary texts. 

Another study has suggested that the Chigi iliaca were meant to be read and understood by a selected group of connoisseurs of Greek calligrams (sets of words arranged in such a way that they form a thematically related image). So far, we know twenty-two tabulae iliacae existed. Italy has the largest collection with seven tablets spread among the Capitoline Museums, the Villa Albani, the Vatican Museums in Rome, and the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. 

The Tabula Chigi was discovered in 1777 in a quarry belonging to the Chigi family. Over the years, the tablet disappeared and was known only from 19th-century illustrations. In 1928, the last member of this powerful family gave the tablet to his American wife. It was officially called lost in 2012. However, it resurfaced recently in New York and was handed over to the Italian State in the name of the last daughter of the Chigi family. It ended up in the National Roman Museum,Palazzo Massimo, in Rome.   

The tablet shows two female figures facing each other, Europa and Asia as mentioned in the inscriptions. Between them stands an altar with a relief of a cithara player, probably Apollo, flanked by two dancers, Muses or Graces. With one hand, they hold up a tondo (round relief) with various figures; and with the other hand, they hold a dish for libations and offerings. A Greek inscription fills the space between the roundel and the altar, Europa and Asia, and this is the text mentioned above. The Tabula Chigi has survived in excellent condition. 

This unique tablet has been on display during the exhibition “The instant and eternity. Between us and the ancients” together with 300 exceptional artifacts from Greek, Roman, Etruscan, Italic, medieval, modern, and contemporary civilizations. For the occasion, a section of the Baths of Diocletian, part of the National Roman Museum in Rome reopened after decades of closure.