Situated east of the Greek world, north of the Persian Empire, and southeast of the nomadic Scythians, the ancient kingdom of Colchis was at a crossroads of cultures. Known in myth as the destination of Jason and the Argonauts in their quest for the Golden Fleece, Colchis was renowned as a region rich in gold, and excavations at the inland site of Vani have confirmed this reputation. Image: View of the modern town of Vani from the ancient site. Photo courtesy of the Otar Lordkipanidze Center for Archaeological Research, the Georgian National Museum

Three other bronze lamps were discovered in the rock-cut pit near the walls of ancient Vani. Image: Lamp or Incense Burner with Elephant Heads, possibly Greek, from Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), 250–100 B.C. Georgian National Museum Learn more about the four lamps.

The Victorious Youth in the J. Paul Getty Museum’s collection had a thick layer of corrosion and incrustation when it was raised from the sea. Examine the statue before and after conservation.

"Each time you intervene, you may be helping to prolong the life of the object but you also risk damaging it...We become almost hypersensitive to how we affect the object, how we might influence the future." -- Jerry Podany, conservator of antiquities at the J. Paul Getty Museum Learn more about antiquities conservation.

The Getty Museum collaborated with the Pergamon Museum in Berlin to take a statue completely apart and reassemble it. Composed of approximately 40 fragments of four different types of marble, some original, others carved during different restoration campaigns of the 18th and 19th centuries, the sculpture was in danger of collapsing because the joints between the fragments had loosened over time. Image features: Marcus Aurelius, Roman, 1st century. Antikensammlung, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz Learn more about this project.