Art the Ancient World

The Ancient Mediterranean and Western Asian world was dynamic and diverse. It included much of modern Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, encompassing many cultures and thousands of years of interaction between them. The Allen’s collection of ancient art spans 5,000 years—from around 4000 BCE to 1000 CE—and comes from areas around the Mediterranean Sea, such as Egypt, Greece, and Rome, and from as far east as modern Pakistan.

The objects represented here relate to many aspects of life in antiquity, and range in size and function from large architectural fragments to small personal items. The gallery is arranged thematically, placing together objects of daily life, items associated with religion and death, and works of sculpture. This arrangement brings works from different cultural groups and time periods into conversation with one another to highlight the vastness and variance of the ancient world alongside points of convergence and shared practices and ideas.