"The Lord of the Gold Rings: The Griffin Warrior of Pylos”

Name: "The Lord of the Gold Rings: The Griffin Warrior of Pylos”
Start: 2025-04-10T17:00:00-05:00
Location: Joslyn Art Museum

Schedule

Thu, 10 Apr, 2025 at 05:00 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

Joslyn Art Museum | Omaha, NE

Join us for this exciting free public lecture and reception in the spectacular, newly re-opened Joslyn Art Museum on April 10! Cash bar reception will start at 5pm, lecture will start at 6pm.
Dr. Jack Davis and Dr. Sharon Stocker from the University of Cincinnati will share the results of the exciting Tomb of the Griffin Warrior and new light on prehistory mortuary rituals in Pylos.
This public lecture is sponsored by the Archaeological Institute of America, the Committee on Lectures, Films, and Concerts and the Department of Fine & Performing Arts at Creighton University, the Department of Art History and the Ancient Mediterranean Studies Program at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Hixson-Lied Visiting Artist & Scholar Lecture Series.
For more information see: https://joslyn.org/events/the-lord-of-the-gold-rings-the-griffin-warrior-of-pylos
Abstract:
Since 2015 new excavations at the Palace of Nestor in southwestern Greece unexpectedly uncovered significant components of the ancient cemeteries associated with the Mycenaean town. Most fascinating among these is the Grave of the Griffin Warrior, in which a single man was buried ca. 1450 B.C. in a small, unprepossessing, stone-lined shaft, but accompanied by several thousand artifacts of gold, silver, bronze, ivory, and semi-precious gems. Among these is the Pylos Combat Agate, a sealstone carved with the finest artistic representation ever discovered from prehistoric Greece. The Griffin Warrior appears to have been an important individual who was instrumental in laying foundations for Bronze Age kingship, an institution first documented only two hundred years later in early Greek written texts found in the Palace of Nestor itself. The Grave of the Griffin Warrior, together with two previously unknown, monumental Mycenaean beehive tombs found nearby in 2018, promises to redefine scholarly views on the emergence of the Mycenaean Civilization and the formation of the earliest states in Europe.
Speaker Bios:
Jack L. Davis
Carl W. Blegen Professor of Greek Archaeology
University of Cincinnati

Davis has directed or co-directed archaeological projects in the Nemea Valley, on the island of Keos (Greece), at the Palace of Nestor (Greece), and in Albania, in the hinterlands of the ancient Greek colonies of Durrachium/Epidamnos and Apollonia. Major archaeological discoveries include the grave of the Griffin Warrior at Pylos, two new Mycenaean tholos tombs at Pylos, and previously unknown Greek temples at Apollonia and Dyrrachium in Albania. Davis directed the American School of Classical Studies at Athens (2007-2012), has received the Gold Medal for Distinguished Achievement from the Archaeological Insitute of America, and is a corresponding member of the German Archaeological Institute and of the Archaeological Society of Athens. He has been honored by the presidents of both Greece and Albania.
Sharon R. Stocker
Senior Research Associate
University of Cincinnati

Stocker, in addition to co-directing current excavations at Pylos, has been American director of rescue excavations at the Palace of Nestor and at the Bronze Age site of Romanou in collaboration with the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports. She also serves as director for publications of finds from the excavations of Carl W. Blegen. In Albania, she co-directed research in the hinterlands of the ancient Greek colonies of Durrachium/Epidamnos and Apollonia. Major archaeological discoveries include the grave of the Griffin Warrior at Pylos, two new Mycenaean tholos tombs at Pylos, and previously unknown Greek temples at Apollonia and Dyrrachium in Albania. Her accomplishments have been recognized by the president of Greece and by the Giuseppe Sciacca Foundation of Vatican City.
This public lecture is sponsored by the Archaeological Institute of America, the Committee on Lectures, Films, and Concerts and the Department of Fine & Performing Arts at Creighton University, the Department of Art History and the Ancient Mediterranean Studies Program at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Hixson-Lied Visiting Artist & Scholar Lecture Series.