Ivory for the ancient Greeks
Trade in ivory has been banned since 1989 to conserve elephants[1]. However, in the ancient world they made use of ivory. How did the ancient Greeks perceive it and use it? I assumed it would be for ornamental purposes, and would have been carefully carved, but what do the texts and artifacts tell us? Its sheen is mentioned in an aside Telemachus makes to Peisistratos about the materials and decoration… Read more