This famous mask is named after the legendary ancient Greek King Agamemnon (see Homer’s Iliad and Aeschylus’s Oresteia). While Tutankhamen’s burial mask is similarly resplendent, the Egyptian burial mask was stylistically much different from the ancient Greek. King Tut’s in particular featured a long, cylindrical beard, lapis lazuli, and turquoise in addition to the gold. The other three masks are fictional objects (but denote historical figures).

(Image accessed through Wikipedia Image Commons: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/MaskOfAgamemnon.jpg)

The famous mask of Agamemnon (c. 1500s BCE) was discovered in Mycenae in the 1800s. While early discoverers thought the mask belonged to the Greek King Agamemnon (see Homer’s Iliad and Aeschylus’s Oresteia), later scholarship revealed that the mask actually predated the historical Agamemnon by centuries. The Mycenaean civilization predated the Archaic era and was itself predated by the Minoan civilization.

(Image accessed through Wikipedia Image Commons: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/MaskOfAgamemnon.jpg)

Like other ancient Greek masks, the mask of Agamemnon would have been used to cover the face of a ruler during a funeral and interment. It was discovered covering the face of a body in a burial shaft and was accompanied by weapons, jewelry, and other artifacts. Later, in ancient Rome, wax casts and stone would replace gold as the choice for funerary masks and portraiture.

(Image accessed through Wikipedia Image Commons: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/MaskOfAgamemnon.jpg)

The Venus de Medici (c. 1^st century BCE) is a Hellenistic-era sculpture depicting the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite. It features a dolphin poised at the foot of the standing nude goddess, who looks off into the distance and who is designed to be viewed from all angles (sculpture in the round). Its existence and that of similar female nudes challenged the earlier Greek conception of the male nude as the model of perfect human beauty.

Like many Hellenistic sculptures, the Venus de Medici (c. 1^st century BCE) is made of marble. Brass, ebony, wood, and bronze were all far less common materials in ancient Greek sculpture. The dolphin at the goddess’s feet serves as a support for the extremely heavy medium, and other famous statues of Aphrodite have notoriously broken over the years.

These are the famous Riace Warriors (c 450 BCE). The Terracotta Army is a large group of clay statuary from ancient China, and Alexander the Great is a portrait bust. The Discobolus of Myron is statue of a single discus thrower, while Laocoön and His Sons features a man intertwined in battle with snakes and his two sons.

(Image taken from the public domain: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Reggio_calabria_museo_nazionale_bronzi_di_riace.jpg)

The Riace Warriors, also known as the Riace bronzes, are a pair of life-size nude male warrior statues. They were discovered in the sea in the 1970s, and, while they are primarily made of bronze, they also feature details in other materials: copper lips and ivory eyes, for example. Teak, ivory, and cement were not otherwise common materials for large statues in ancient Greece.

(Image taken from the public domain: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Reggio_calabria_museo_nazionale_bronzi_di_riace.jpg)

The Riace Warriors are an excellent example of Early Classical sculpture. Their use of contrapposto and their slightly idealized forms distinguish them from earlier Archaic work, as do their elaborately worked beards and hair. Their makers are unknown, and the statues are thought to have been buried underwater after a shipwreck of uncertain date.

(Image taken from the public domain: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Reggio_calabria_museo_nazionale_bronzi_di_riace.jpg)

While these statues may well have held weapons once, the term contrapposto denotes a specific technique first used in ancient Greek sculpture. It describes a posture wherein most of a statue’s weight rests on one foot, leading to a more natural, relaxed pose. Contrapposto also usually results in a more lifelike stance for the torso and arms as well.

(Image taken from the public domain: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Reggio_calabria_museo_nazionale_bronzi_di_riace.jpg)

From the Archaic period on, many ancient Greek bronze statues were created using the complex, multi-step lost-wax casting process. In this process, a series of molds are created using wax and clay and molten bronze is poured into the final set of molds. This technique continues to be used today, and it often allows for greater creativity than earlier sculpting methods.

(Image taken from the public domain: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Reggio_calabria_museo_nazionale_bronzi_di_riace.jpg)