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Market Gate of Miletus

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Roman Anatolia
Markttor von Milet
Markttor von Milet

The Market Gate of Miletus (German: das Markttor von Milet) is a large marble monument in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, Germany. It was built in Miletus in the 2nd century AD and destroyed in an earthquake in the 10th or 11th century. In the early 1900s, it was excavated by a German archeological team, rebuilt, and placed on display in the museum in Berlin. Only fragments had survived and reconstruction involved significant new material, a practice which generated criticism of the museum. The gate was damaged in World War II and underwent restoration in the 1950s. Further restoration work took place in the first decade of the 21st century.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Market Gate of Miletus (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Market Gate of Miletus
Platz der Märzrevolution, Berlin Mitte

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N 52.521 ° E 13.396 °
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Museumsinsel

Platz der Märzrevolution
10117 Berlin, Mitte
Germany
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museumsinsel-berlin.de

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Markttor von Milet
Markttor von Milet
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Relief depicting a Roman legionary (Berlin SK 887)
Relief depicting a Roman legionary (Berlin SK 887)

A Relief depicting a Roman legionary (German: Relief mit der Darstellung eines römischen Legionärs) is located in the Pergamonmuseum and belongs to the Antikensammlung Berlin. The relief was created at the end of the first century AD and was discovered in 1800 at Pozzuoli. The relief is 159 cm high and 86 cm wide and is made of grey-blue marble. It depicts a Roman Praetorian, a member of the Roman elite forces and bodyguard of the Emperor. He wears a Tunica with the Paenula (a cone-shaped cloak made of linen or wool) over it. The tunica is pulled up to knee height by a belt (cingulum), part of which can be seen poking out from under the paenula. He carries a small shield, called a parma, under his left arm and his sword hangs over his shoulder on the other side. In his hand he holds a short javelin. The praetorian is carved from the background in very high relief. The left edge of the frame had to be restored, but the right and upper edges mostly survive in the original. The relief probably belonged to a triangular base. Sculpture on display in the University Museum of Philadelphia might be fragments of the other two sides. On one of these another praetorian is depicted and on the third there are two legionaries from the northern auxiliaries. It is suggested that this base supported an equestrian statue of the Emperor Domitian, which would have been reworked into a Triumphal arch for Trajan at Puteoli after Domitian's death and damnatio memoriae. The relief was found at Puteoli in 1800 and acquired for Berlin at Rome in 1830.

Grave relief of Publius Aiedius and Aiedia
Grave relief of Publius Aiedius and Aiedia

The Grave relief of Publius Aiedius and Aiedia is an ancient Roman grave relief from the first half of the first century, now kept in the Pergamonmuseum / Antikensammlung Berlin, with Inventory number SK 840 (R 7). It was found in Rome on the Via Appia. It is made of which marble and is 64 cm wide and 99 cm high. In 1866 it was purchased for the predecessor of the modern Antikensammlung Berlin. The inscription under the relief reads: P Aiedius P L / Amphio // Aiedia P L / Fausta Melior Translated: Publius Aiedius Amphio, freedman of Publius // Aiedia Fausta Melior, freedwoman of Publius Publius Aiedius Amphio is identified by the L in the inscription as libertus or freedman of a Publius Aedius. His slave name, the Greek name Amphio, typical for Roman slaves, is retained as his last name. The name of the wife, also identified as a freed slave of Publius Aedius, was Fausta Melior. Therefore, the social position of the pair is clear. The two slaves had gained a form of Roman citizenship on receiving their freedom, but it was of a lower class only, which bound them ever more to their former owner, who was now their patron. Yet they now had the freedom, among other things, to enter into a legal marriage and children produced from such a marriage would be normal Roman citizens. The relief emphasises this situation further. The two are depicted in an almost coldly realistic way. No sign of an intimate connection or love can be seen. Both extend their hands towards the centre of the image, showing thereby their serious union and their status as a legally married couple. The wife's finger has two rings, indicating a degree of prosperity had been achieved by the pair. The image includes so much of their bodies that it is possible to identify the clothing worn by the pair. Aiedia wears a chiton and cloak, Aiedius a toga, which was reserved for free citizens. His age and bodily blemishes are also undisguised. Wrinkles are depicted, carved deep into their skin, just as his leathery skin and the warts on his forehead and around his mouth are. All this recalls the traditional portraits on wax death masks. Age and its characteristics were signs of the worth (dignitas) and excellence (virtus), with which he had worked his way out of slavery. Today there are more than 125 reliefs of this type known. The similarity to windows, from which they get their name, is no accident. Such reliefs were placed in the walls of larger grave buildings and are often found, like windows next to doors which led into the grave building itself. The depictions "looked out" from their windows along the streets lined with tombs which led into ancient Rome. It was not unusual for freedmen to be interred in the large mausolea of their former masters.

Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin
Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin

The Vorderasiatisches Museum (German: [ˈfɔʁdɐ.ʔaˌzi̯atɪʃəs muˈzeːʊm], Near East Museum) is an archaeological museum in Berlin. It is in the basement of the south wing of the Pergamon Museum and has one of the world's largest collections of Southwest Asian art. 14 halls distributed across 2,000 square meters of exhibition surface display southwest Asian culture spanning six millennia. The exhibits cover a period from the 6th millennium BCE into the time of the Muslim conquests. They originate particularly from today's states of Iraq, Syria and Turkey, with singular finds also from other areas. Starting with the Neolithic finds, the emphasis of the collection is of finds from Sumer, Babylonia and Assyria, as well as northern Syria and eastern Anatolia. Excavations in historically important cities like Uruk, Shuruppak, Assur, Hattusha, Tell el Amarna, Tell Halaf (Guzana), Sam'al, Toprakkale and Babylon built the foundation of the museum's collection. Further acquisitions came from Nimrud, Nineveh, Susa and Persepolis. The museum shows finds from the cultures of Sumer, Akkad, Babylonia, Assyria, the Hittites and the Aramaeans. These finds often found their way to Berlin via the German Oriental Society. In 1899, the Middle East Department at the royal museums was created. In 1929, they were provisionally accommodated in the Bode Museum and the Pergamon Museum, where they have been accessible to the public since 1930. During the Second World War, there were hardly any war-related losses. The mobile exhibits, which were taken as art spoilage to the Soviet Union, were returned to East Germany in 1958. The collection had already opened again as the Vorderasiatisches Museum in 1953. Notable pieces of the collection are the Ishtar Gate and Procession Way of Babylon, remainders of the ancient city of Babylon, parts of the Eanna temple and Karaindash's temple to Inanna in Uruk. The museum also has an important number of Southwest Asian stamp and cylinder seals, as well as cuneiform texts. It has more than 200 of the Amarna letters and the larger ("Meissner") fragment (VAT 4105) of the Sippar tablet from the Epic of Gilgamesh, which includes Siduri's advice, unlike later editions of the epic. At present (2019) Barbara Helwing is the director of the museum, following Markus Hilgert (2014-2018). Previous directors were Beate Salje, Walter Andrae, Gerhard Rudolf Meyer, Liane Jakob-Rost and Evelyn Klengel Brandt, among others.