An exhibition showcasing the history and culture of Ancient Greece opened in Beijing, China on Thursday, offering a rare glimpse of artifacts on loan from Greek museums.
Titled “The Greeks: Agamemnon to Alexander the Great,” the exhibition will run at the Capital Museum of China until May 18, 2025, before moving to Shanghai.
The display features 270 pieces from 14 Greek museums and institutions, including pottery, statues and gold artifacts.
The items on display are distinct as they reflect how various periods of Ancient Greek civilization thrived.
Spanning from the Neolithic period to the Hellenistic era of the 1st century BC, the exhibits shine a light on the ancient civilizations of the Cycladic Islands and Minoan Crete, the Mycenaean kingdoms and the legendary Agamemnon, the golden age of Athens under Pericles, and the Hellenistic era of Alexander the Great.
Beijing Municipal Cultural Heritage Bureau Director Zhang Lixin highlighted the significance of the exhibition as a unique opportunity for Chinese audiences to explore the rich legacy of ancient Greece.
He said more than 90 percent of the selected cultural relics for this exhibition are being displayed in Beijing for the first time.
“We believe that this exhibition will help the public experience the charm of Greek culture up close,” Zhang said.
He told the Global Times that the exhibition “not only brings visitors close to the Greek civilization but also guides them to find similarities between Greek and Chinese civilizations.”
China exhibition showcases artifacts from Ancient Greece
One of the items on display is a double axe made of bronze. The piece was excavated from the Arkalochori Cave in Greece, and dates to 1700 BC to 1600 BC. The double axe is similar in appearance to the yue, a type of ancient Chinese axe that was also primarily made of bronze.
Honorary Decrees for Leonides of Halikarnassos is a marble stele that is inscribed with two decrees. They reveal how rights were granted to protect Leonides of Halikarnassos and his sons from injustice in Athens.
While the stele provides insight into Ancient Greek civic culture, two bronze strigils reveal something of the Ancient Greeks’ everyday routines. A strigil is a scraping tool used by ancient Greeks to remove dirt and sweat while bathing.
“This extremely important world-class exhibition generously offers visitors the unique opportunity to get a comprehensive overview of a historical period lasting approximately 2,000 years that shaped world history, literature, science, and art,” Evgenios Kalpyris, ambassador of Greece to China, emphasized while attending the event’s opening.
“I am confident that this exhibition will offer visitors the opportunity to gain a better understanding of why Greek civilization is not only the cradle of Western civilization, but also a civilization with a centuries-old presence and a strong footprint in Asia as well.”
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