Ancient Greeks exhibition is finally open at Auckland War Memorial Museum

The highly anticipated international exhibition Ancient Greeks: Athletes, Warriors and Heroes, is finally open to Kiwis.

Postponed from 2020, the exhibition officially opened to the public today, exclusively at Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum.

It showcases the largest selection of Classical world artefacts ever loaned by the British Museum to Aotearoa New Zealand - a wide range of treasures and stories featuring a selection of iconic sculptures, including a frieze from the Mausoleum at Halikarnassos, one of the seven wonders of the Ancient World.

Acting keeper of Greece and Rome at the British Museum Dr Peter Higgs said they've always wanted to send an exhibition to New Zealand.

"This is the first time we've been able to send a whole exhibition here so we're really delighted it got here," he said.

"There's been individual loan items to New Zealand before but not an exhibition of 170 objects filling several rooms in this wonderful museum."

The exhibition explores the theme of competition through sports, politics, drama, music and warfare through dozens of artefacts from Ancient Greece.

Key objects in the exhibition include iconic black and red-painted vases featuring athletes, gods, and warriors; stunning marble and terracotta, statues and reliefs; bronze figurines; arms and armour; toys and games; fine gold jewellery; and coins.

Bronze head of an athlete dating from 400-350 BC. Photo / Jason Oxenham

A masterpiece of the exhibition is the 2m-long fragment of marble frieze that details a battle between Amazon warriors and Greek soldiers. This would have originally been part of a 140m-long frieze that ran around the upper part of the podium of the Mausoleum at Halikarnassos, one of the seven wonders of the Ancient World.

"This exhibition presents many rare pieces from the British Museum's world-famous collection," Higgs said.

"The objects have enlightened our understanding of the Ancient Greek world and have been brought together to tell a unique story for this exhibition."

The exhibition will be open until November.