Ceremonial & Religious

Items designed for rituals, religious practices, and special ceremonies from around the globe. This category includes ornate tools, masks, and symbols that highlight the spiritual and communal traditions of various societies.

The Alunda Elk (4000–1700 BCE)

Antiquities Ceremonial & Religious Sweden

The Alunda Elk combines the shape of an axe with a remarkably lifelike animal sculpture. Carved during the Neolithic, or New Stone Age.

Ancient Greek statue of a seated female figure wearing a crown and flowing robes, holding an object in her left hand

Cybele Statue (c.60 BCE)

Antiquities Ceremonial & Religious Europe Rome Sculpture

This marble statue of Cybele presents the goddess as an enthroned and highly formal divine presence. Seated frontally, wrapped in heavy drapery, and crowned with a tall turreted headdress..

Ancient Greek terracotta vessel shaped like a bull's head with detailed black and orange painting

Bull’s Head Rhyton (340–320 BCE)

Antiquities Ceremonial & Religious Europe Greece

Made in Apulia around 340–320 BCE, this bull’s head rhyton shows how inventive South Italian pottery could be in the late Classical period. The vessel combines an animal-shaped form with red-figure decoration and added paint.

Ancient cylindrical stone pillar with inscriptions in Greek

Inscribed Colonette (2nd–3rd century BCE)

Antiquities Ceremonial & Religious Europe Rome

Carved in marble and still preserving its inscription in full, this small inscribed colonette records a personal act of thanks in the Roman city of Tomis. The text tells us that a man from Sidon, dedicated the object to the Syrian Goddess.

Ancient marble relief sculpture of two seated women in classical attire, one with head bowed and the other holding a thread

Grave Stele of Mnesarete (400 BCE)

Antiquities Ceremonial & Religious Europe Greece

Few grave monuments from classical Athens are as quietly affecting as the Grave Stele of Mnesarete. Carved in Attica around 380 BCE, the relief shows a young woman seated in composed sorrow.

Votive Club of Eukrateia (c. 0-199 BCE)

Antiquities Ceremonial & Religious Europe Greece

Small in scale but unusually rich in meaning, this bronze votive club brings together myth, religion, and a named human presence. Cast as a miniature version of the weapon most closely associated with Herakles.

Ancient painted terracotta statue of a standing woman holding a bird on her shoulder

Dove-Bearer from Callatis (c.200-400 BCE)

Antiquities Ceremonial & Religious Europe Greece Sculpture

This Tanagra-type terracotta statuette from ancient Callatis offers a refined image of female presence in the Hellenistic world. The figure stands quietly yet elegantly, wrapped in abundant drapery, with a small dove perched on her right shoulder.

Ancient winged statue of a female figure standing on a stone base with arms extended

Nike Figurine (c. 300-200 BCE)

Antiquities Ceremonial & Religious Europe Greece Sculpture

This Nike figurine presents the Greek goddess of victory in a form that is both graceful and slightly unusual. She appears as a winged nude figure with the body of an ephebe.

Bronze ancient oil lamp shaped like a flower with an inscription on its side

Bronze Poppy Capsule (c.100-300 BCE)

Antiquities Ceremonial & Religious Europe Greece Sculpture

A small bronze poppy capsule becomes unexpectedly vivid through its inscription, which preserves the name of the woman who dedicated it: Nikasimacha.