Apocalypse Then: Bulwer-Lytton’s “The Last Days of Pompeii”
Cover and illustration from the copy of Bulwer-Lytton's The Last Days of Pompeii in the special collections of the Getty Research Institute (London, William Nicholson, ca. 1883) Mount Vesuvius erupted...
View ArticleAn Interview with the Creative Team behind Euripides’ “Helen” at the Getty Villa
“It’s a whole lot of fun to roll up to rehearse at the Getty Villa on a daily basis,” says Maxwell Caulfield, the actor headlining the Getty Villa’s outdoor theater production of Euripides’ Helen,...
View ArticlePercy Jackson, The Hunger Games, and Why Your Kids Need to Know Classical...
A family visiting the Getty Villa explores ancient art, history, and mythology through frescoes from the ancient Roman city of Herculaneum. Teaching kids about the world of ancient Greece and Rome...
View Article“The Last Days of Pompeii” and the Archaeology of Imagination
What stories do ruins tell? The Forum at Pompeii with Vesuvius in the Distance, 1841, Christen Schjellerup Købke. Oil on canvas, 27 7/8 x 34 5/8 in. The J. Paul Getty Museum, 85.PA.43 Having traveled...
View ArticleOverpromise, Lie, and Other Questionable Political Advice from 64 B.C.
Portrait of Marcus Tullius Cicero, originally published (minus campaign button) in Denkmäler des klassischen Altertums (K. A. Baumeister, 1885). Photo: Wikimedia Commons If Karl Rove had lived in...
View ArticleA Roman Emperor Sojourns at the Getty Villa
The Roman emperor Tiberius, who ruled from A.D. 14 to 37, has something of a reputation for wanting to get away from it all. In 6 B.C., he stepped out of the political and military arena and settled...
View ArticleA Virtual Model of the Villa dei Papiri
The exhibition Inside Out: Pompeian Interiors Exposed at the Italian Cultural Institute includes a virtual-reality model of the Villa dei Papiri (Villa of the Papyri) in Herculaneum that I recently...
View ArticleConserving the Berthouville Treasure
Before conservation treatment: Plate with Portrait of Maia and Mercury, 2nd–3rd century A.D. Silver and gold, 20.2 cm diam. x 3 cm deep. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des monnaies,...
View ArticleSeven Ways of Seeing “Lion Attacking a Horse”
Lion Attacking a Horse, Greek, 325–300 B.C.; restored in Rome in 1594. Marble, 150 x 250 cm. Sovraintendenza ai Beni Culturali di Roma Capitale—Musei Capitolini In August, the Greek sculpture Lion...
View ArticleAn Ancient Curse Revealed
One small but powerful object stands out among the artifacts excavated from the ancient city of Morgantina in central Sicily, now on loan to the Getty Villa from the Museo Archeologico Regionale of...
View ArticleGetty Voices: Digging the Sacred
Getty Voices presents first-person perspectives by members of the Getty community in weekly rotation. This week, educator Erin Branham excavates the sacred, magical, and mysterious in the classical...
View ArticleAncient Sicilian Coins: Miniature Masterpieces, Full-Scale Challenges
Coin with a Head of Apollo (detail), 410–403 B.C., Sikeliote (Sicilian Greek), minted in Katane. Silver tetradrachm signed by Choirion, 1 1/16 in. diam. Courtesy of the Museo Archeologico Regionale...
View ArticleGetty Voices: Classics 2.0
Were the ancient Greeks and Romans really so different from us? This week on Getty Voices, the Villa Teen Apprentices dish up an ordinary-folks view of classical civilization rich with saucy graffiti,...
View ArticleThe Waltz of the Hummingbirds
Photographer and nature-whisper Tahnee Cracchiola continues her week on Getty Voices sharing her stunning series of encounters with wildlife at the Getty Villa. Here she shares her surprising dance...
View ArticleThe Transformative Outer Peristyle
“I think there is something magical about shooting in natural light.” This week on Getty Voices, Tahnee Cracchiola shares her photographic encounters with wildlife on site at the Getty. Her first...
View ArticleA Young Buck on a November Morning
Both the Getty Center and the Getty Villa are nestled in the Santa Monica foothills, which are home to large populations of wildlife, including deer. Bucks, does, and fawns are frequent visitors to...
View ArticleA Tribute to Rough Fingers and Soft Hearts
This week’s Getty Voices has featured Villa photographer Tahnee Cracchiola. Her charming prose and gorgeous photographic moments have been a delight for us to share. But, being the kind and reflective...
View ArticleGetty Voices: Backstage at the Villa
So you wanna be a producer? This week on Getty Voices, join the team currently in the throes of helping to produce Prometheus Bound for the Getty Villa’s outdoor theater as they reveal the joys,...
View ArticleFive-Ton Wheel Takes Center Stage for “Prometheus Bound”
It looks like a ferris wheel—but you can’t ride on it, and instead of pleasure, it offers endless torment. The Prometheus Wheel has arrived. The 23-foot-tall, five-ton steel creation is the...
View ArticleA Winged Chariot, Wilshire Boulevard, and a Shipwreck: The Travels of...
Spared two centuries ago from being lost at sea, a Greek vase makes the crosstown trip from the Miracle Mile to Malibu Red-Figure Neck-Amphora with Triptolemos Attended by Demeter and Persephone, about...
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