Happy New Year *CGA style

*CGA= Consuming Greek Antiquity abbreviation :)

I saw many postcards made by Greek archaeologists using ancient Greek elements to wish everyone for the holidays. 

But these kinds of choices are to be expected. 

I much prefer to borrow a postcard sent by the mayor of Phaistos who ingeniously used the Phaistos disc as a Christmas tree ornament thus also giving it a three-dimensional quality as a spherical object. 

I wish everyone a very happy and productive New Year and may we keep discovering and discussing together more examples of the ancient Greek culture made by modern consumers for a long time. 

Vassiliki Pliatsika

Ladies man

*Today's photograph is part of a mini-series that has been forming over time in this blog with famous people photographed in front of statues.*

Nikos Aliagas in front of a Caryatid - photograph courtesy of my good friend archaeologist Manos Lambrakis

Naughty and nice

Presenting a naked male body used to be a rather taboo spectacle, unless...
well, unless you placed a classical element beside it, i.e. a column, thus creating the perfect alibi. 

No one can criticise male beauty when you present it that way. 

This used to be one of the commonest ways for Gay magazines to portray their naked models. I think it makes for one of the most interesting ways of Consuming Greek Antiquity we've seen so far in the blog.

You may read a very interesting article and browse through the whole gallery HERE

Phaistos Disco

[VIA]

Men-andros

This next presentation is courtesy of a great friend and fellow archaeologist Kalliope Sarri. 

Kalliope was very kind to share this extremely interesting set of photographs of a hair salon in Athens. It is called Men-andros appropriately focused on grooming men and children's hair. 

Not only does the owner play with a linguistic concept: Men > Andros (meaning 'of a man' in Greek) > Menandros, but he decorated the front window of the salon with a small Kouros on a  column. 

There is another intriguing archaic element involved and that is the salon's symbol. It is depicted on the shop's door sign and also on a small poster mentioning the working hours of the salon. It is a gold (or gilded) comb with a small horse on it. I can't identify the artefact so, should you know what's depicted, please let me know. 

Enjoy!

Reebok classic

This was part of a campaign showing naked athletes wearing Reebok shoes and depicted as if they were classic works of art. 

Audrey in the Louvre

In one of the most characteristic sequences of the Funny Face (1957), Audrey Hepburn as model Jo Stockton emerges from behind the Winged Nike of Samothrace and gracefully walks down the famous Daru staircase of the Louvre. 

She's wearing a red hot long dress and holds a scarf over her head in a pose much like the one held by the statue in the background. 

You may watch this particular sequence from 8.20' to 8.50' in the following video