I love to go to museums, but one thing that I do wrong is bringing a camera with me. With the camera in my hands, I look at the sculptures and jewelry but also how to take pictures of these objects and the rest that is exhibited. Doing this, I often forget to read what it is that I take pictures of, or I just glance at the text. I was in Greece 7 years ago, and for some reason, I felt the urge to see where all these objects I have taken pictures of are coming from.

I have found a lot of information on the internet, and you can read endlessly about the objects and where they came from and follow a trail of links. I do not intend to describe these objects in detail here on this blog; I just hope you get interested and start reading and searching yourself.

For this particular sculpture, I searched for the name of the museum in Athens, and after 30 pages of pictures, I finally saw a picture of this particular sculpture. I found the image on a site called hellenicaworld.com, and I found it specifically here and more here.  

This sculpture was made in a region called Calydon

On the website above you can read the following: Calydon (Greek Καλυδών) was an ancient Greek city in Aetolia, situated on the west bank of the river Evenus.

According to Greek Mythology, the city took its name from its founder Calydon, son of Aetolus. Close to the city stood Mount Zygos

The city housed the important Aetolian sanctuary known as the Laphrion, dedicated to Artemis Laphria and Apollo Laphrios. (where this terracotta sphinx or acroterion* comes from)

There is more to read on the site if you are interested.

*An acroterion or acroterium or akroteria is an architectural ornament placed on a flat pedestal called the acroter or plinth, and mounted at the apex or corner of the pediment of a building in the classical style. An acroterion placed at the outer angles of the pediment is an acroterion angularium (angulārium means ‘at the corners’).

The acroterion may take a wide variety of forms, such as a statue, tripod, disc, urn, palmette or some other sculpted feature. Acroteria are also found in Gothic architecture. They are sometimes incorporated into furniture designs. From Wikipedia.

I have an unrelated footnote about links to other websites on this or any other website, social media or email. If I don’t trust a website and the links on it, I will never click on a link directly but right-click on the link and copy the address into a search/address bar.  The second link I give you above reads: http://www.hellenicaworld.com/Greece/Museum/NationalMuseumAthens/en/NAMAML17870.html if you copy and paste it in the search bar. You can see yourself that it doesn’t send you to some shady site, but to something that makes sense in the context it is in. You must never click on links from sources you don’t trust. We all heard of ransomware, and one of the methods these criminals use is to send emails with links that look harmless but install some kind of virus or another harmful program on your computer or network.

Culture and philosophy are important for your wellbeing, but proper computer etiquette is also important for your wellbeing.