Agamemnon & Alexander the Great bring 5,000 Years of Greek Culture to Washington

Five-thousand years of Greek tales celebrating kings, scholars, poets, and philosophers emerge through 550 ancient treasures, many of which exhibited for the first time outside Greece, in the “The Greeks – Agamemnon to Alexander the Great” show, which opens tomorrow at the National Geographic Museum in Washington, DC, and runs through to October 10.

The mask of Agamemnon, a marble Cycladic sculpture from the island of Amorgos, gold offerings from the royal tombs of Mycenae, sculptures of Homer, a votive relief to Asklepios, a gold wreath of Queen Meda, a ritual vase from Minoan Crete, bronze helmets, a funerary vase from Delos, and many more ancient Greek artefacts from 22 of the country’s museums that span 5,000 years of Greek history feature in the most comprehensive exhibition to tour North America.

“The Greeks is the largest and most comprehensive exhibition of Greek history and culture to visit North America in a generation,” said Kathryn Keane, vice president of Exhibitions at the National Geographic Society. “From their Bronze Age beginnings to the height of classical civilization, the Greeks and the traditions they founded continue to have a profound impact on our lives today.”

The exhibit also includes lectures and interactive activities designed by New Media Lab of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Centre for Greek Studies at Simon Fraser University, as well as videos produced by the National Geographic Society, the Acropolis Museum, the Museum of Cycladic Art and the Canadian Museum of History.

On occasion of the show, the National Geographic has produced a three-hour series titled “The Greeks”, to air on PBS starting June 21.