The Hermitage and Antiquity

The Hermitage is especially valuable because it connects Classical Greece and Rome with the Northern Black Sea. For Russian-language readers it is one of the best bridges between Mediterranean antiquity and the material of the Bosporan kingdom, Crimea, the Scythian world and Hellenistic frontiers.

Greek bronze thorax, decorated with a Gorgon's relief. The Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, 6th-5th century BCE

A golden vessel with images of Scythians. Kurgan Kul-Oba. Crimea,Kerch Peninsula. Inv. CO.No.-11. Displayed in the Golden Storeroom of the Hermitage. Second half of the 4th century BC

Statue of Octavian Augustus in the image of Jupiter. Russia,St. Petersburg,Hermitage Museum. Marble. 1st half of the 1st century AD

Collection and Significance

The official Antiquity section points to a large body of material: painted vases, gems, ancient sculpture, archaeology of the Northern Black Sea, jewellery, terracottas and bronzes. The numismatic part is especially strong: ancient Greek coins are represented by tens of thousands of objects.

Main Materials

Greek and Roman sculpture;
bronze objects and armour;
Bosporan, Scythian and Northern Black Sea finds;
ancient coins;
jewellery, gems and vessels.

Context and Limits

The Hermitage is useful when the question is not only the "Roman" norm but provincial or frontier variation: jewellery, armour, vessels and iconography on the edges of the ancient world often show solutions absent from central Italian material.