ancientart:The House of Cleopatra and Dioscorides. Located on the island of Delos, Greece. ”Cleopatr
ancientart:The House of Cleopatra and Dioscorides. Located on the island of Delos, Greece. ”Cleopatra, daughter of Adrastus of Myrrhinous, set up this image of her husband Dioscorides…” So reads the Greek inscription written on the state-base. As you may have already noted, these statues, and the house which contained them, were not owned by the famous Egyptian queen Cleopatra VII. Rather, an Athenian couple, offering us insight into residential life on Delos during the 2nd century BC. ‘Cleopatra’, after all, is a name of Greek origin.The house itself is fairly typical of the larger homes in the town’s Theatre Quarter district, with 12 rooms arranged around 2 open courtyards. The placement of these statues within the house may have been significant in relation to visibility from the streets outside, for the pleasure of their owners, or for impact on visitors to the household.Recommended reading: Lisa Nevett’s Domestic Space in Classical Antiquity (2010). Photos courtesy of and taken by: Bernard Gagnon, Heiko Gorski, and Geraki. -- source link