Between traveling to London and New York for work and living in Dallas, I had the chance to see a few incredible exhibitions of ancient art over the past few weeks: the Rosetta Stone and pieces of the Parthenon at the British Museum, the Egyptian collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Roman art from near Vesuvius at the Dallas Museum of Art. Ancient art (whether sculptures, paintings, or buildings like these or reading ancient literature) produce in me mixed feelings of delight and sorrow.

• Delight: Looking at a painting up close that another human being — one who was quite different than I — created two or three thousand thousand years ago rarely fails to take my breath away. Imagining the circumstances that led to its creation or the thoughts of the artist during the process connect me with a past that might otherwise have been forgotten.
• Sorrow: Many of these works of art are damaged or marred, some beyond almost all recognition. So much from the ancient world has been lost, so much beauty destroyed by wars, by religious persecution, by neglect. I always long to see more of this painting, the missing pieces of that sculpture — plus every other item that has not survived at all.

British Museum (London)

A frieze depicting a religious procession ran all the way around the ancient Parthenon, underneath the eaves of the roof. Pieces from this frieze are on display at the British Museum. All the figures in the procession are heading east, and the gods recline on their couches over the east entrance. (Learn more about the Parthenon frieze.)

Even though it’s not technically art and not really all that exciting to look at, the Rosetta Stone is quite an extremely important find: it contains the same decree written in both Greek and Egyptian and helped scholars learn to decipher hieroglyphics.

Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York)

The ancient Egypt collection at the Met is quite extensive. (The web site has plenty of information about the collection, including pictures and details about fifty pieces.) One of the most fascinating items is the Temple of Dendur. This temple was built around two thousand years ago and moved to New York in the 1970s: this is the real building from Egypt, not a reproduction.

I stood for some time at the entrance to the room containing this temple, watching people walk around the corner and catch their first glimpse of it. Their countenances almost always changed from tedious boredom to overwhelming wonder. It is quite an exhibit that can produce that same sense of awe — even if just for a moment — that an ancient worshiper would have felt approaching the temple.

Dallas Museum of Art (Dallas)

Through October 7, 2007, the Dallas Museum of Art has an exhibit called “From the Ashes of Vesuvius, In Stabiano”. This exhibit contains ancient art taken from the villas of Rome’s rich and famous in this seaside town buried in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. Many of these ancient painting contain familiar figures from mythology (such as Diana, Perseus, and Neptune).