The National Archaeological Museum, Part 1

Or, the pictures that everyone who goes to the museum has to take, because the item in question is really really famous and amazing to see in person.

Warnings for pictures of statues of naked people and extreme classics geekery.
This is, of course, the mask of Agamemnon. It is one of the gold masks found in the shaft graves of Mycenae by Heinrich Schliemann, and it is very famous. It also is erroneously named- it's probably not the mask of Agamemnon, who we think probably lived about 300 years after this mask was made.
This is a FAF, or folded arm figure, and I'm sure you've seen pictures of them somewhere before. This one was found at Amorgos and is from the Early Cycladic II period (abbreviated ECII), which was from about 2800-2300 BC. It's made from Parian marble, and it's unique in that it's 1.5 meters tall. This is the Artemision Bronze. It was found off of the coast of Cape Artemision, and it's a statue of either Zeus or Poseidon. Why don't we know? The statue is incomplete- he would have been throwing something, and if we knew what that was, we would know who this statue was supposed to be. If it was a thunderbolt, Zeus. A trident, Poseidon.
This very large piece of pottery is a grave amphora that was found in the Kerameikos. It is very large and very well preserved, and is a good example of late Geometric period pottery. (760-750 BC). The figures near the handles are mourning the dead man- the rest of the designs are geometric.
And this is a very famous bronze statue of a jockey on a horse. I'm sure it has a lovely history, but I neglected to take notes on it, and so I'll have to look it up before I can tell you any more.

Coming up- the really cool things that aren't quite so famous.