An ancient statue dating to the Hellenistic era was found in a black bag next to garbage bins in Greece’s northern city of Thessaloniki.
According to a statement issued by the Hellenic Police, a 32-year-old man found the statue inside a black garbage bag, at night on Saturday, January 18, and surrendered it to the police.
“An archaeologist at the relevant Ephorate of Antiquities was informed and after assessing the statue, opined that it falls under the relevant legislation [for the protection of cultural heritage and antiquities],” the statement says.
Police at Thessaloniki’s Office for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, who are investigating the case, confiscated the ancient artifact, which, after being examined in a police crime lab in northern Greece, will be sent to the local Ephorate of Antiquities for evaluation and safekeeping.
Ancient Greece’s Hellenistic Age and its characteristics
The Hellenistic Age refers to the three centuries of Greek history between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the rise of Augustus in Rome in 31 BC.
When Alexander died he left his enormous conquered territory without a clear line of succession and his most powerful generals divided it up into several vast kingdoms. The new independent governments, along with the spread of Greek culture as far away as India, paved the way for dramatic changes to the perceptions Greeks held regarding themselves and the world around them.
The arts and other areas of life in ancient Greece had always been influenced by other cultures, but the vast expanses of territory gained by Alexander the Great’s conquests brought greater possibilities for further cultural exchanges in the Hellenistic Age.
This sharing led to a new cosmopolitanism in the Greek world and influenced the desire to understand, appreciate and represent the diversity of individual peoples. Greater mobility made possible by territorial expansion also motivated people to seek a sense of purpose and belonging.
Philosophy and other intellectual pursuits, which developed rapidly during the Hellenistic period, provided a means of exploring one’s thoughts and ways of seeing the world, and it was during this time that philosophers such as Epicurus and Diogenes of Sinope lived, found their followers and influenced the succeeding generations.
Social and cultural changes also led to alterations in Greek religious practices. Individualistic mentalities led to a new fascination with mystery cults, which typically promised rewards in the form of a better afterlife.
New deities entered the Greek arena, from areas such as Egypt and Syria, the result of cosmopolitanism and cultural exchange. Ruler cults became commonplace as Hellenistic kings and queens started being worshipped alongside gods. In certain parts of the Hellenistic world, such as Egypt, which was ruled in the Hellenistic period by the Ptolemies, a long tradition of ruler worship already existed, but in other regions, which had no such tradition, ruler worship was not taken up as quickly or as strongly.
The arts flourished in the Hellenistic period as artists explored new ways of representing emotional effects and individual experiences, and introduced ornate details. Architecture was used as a way of expressing an interest in the dramatic through huge structures, as well as surprising vistas, such as at the sanctuary of Athena on the island of Lindos.
Religious buildings were commonly designed to give visitors a physical and emotional experience that matched their religious experience, evoking feelings of awe, revelation and delight.
Hellenistic sculpture evidenced a new awareness of personality and introspection by conveying realism and human emotion instead of the detached idealism shown in the art of the Classical period.
