The greatest influence on the development of European culture over the last two thousand years was that of the ancient cultures of the Mediterranean basin, in particular Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire. There are few areas of contemporary life where classical influences cannot be found. Since the times of the Renaissance, interest in classical time has never quite waned in Europe. The 18th century saw a particular growth in interest in this period, inspired by the large-scale archaeological works conducted in Herculaneum (1738) and Pompeii (1748). These were followed by publications, collections and the founding of the first museums. This situation is also reflected in the collection of the Cieszyn Silesia Museum.
      Here are presented particularly rare and charming antiques, which came to the museum partly thanks to the 19th century collectors living in Cieszyn Silesia, including Count Küenburg, T. Kotschy and Kniczek, who donated antiques to the Szersznik foundation.
      The set of Greek vessels on display dates from the 7th or 6th century BC, and particularly outstanding is the pyksis found in a sarcophagus at the Acropolis in Athens, whose figurative decor illustrates gryphons, sphinxes and birds. These vessels functioned as caskets in which women stored jewellery or make-up. As well as pykses, they also used aryballos (a vessel for olive oil for rubbing on the body), lekyt, skyfos and many others.
      An absolutely unique relic is the terracota votive statuette presented here, which comes from Cyprus and dates from the 3rd century BC. It was most likely created for worshippers of the goddess Isis. The statuette depicts Isis sitting with her husband Osiris, holding their little son Horus. An equally interesting group of relics are the Roman coins from the times when trading took place between the Empire and the lands of the “Barbaricum”, including what is now Poland. The coins displayed were discovered by chance in various parts of the region (Kończyce, Goleszów, Nawsie, Jabłonków). From among the rich variety of coins found, silver denari and bronze sesterci are displayed here.
      The word “money” comes from the nickname of the goddess Juno Moneta (Juno the Adviser), in whose temple in the Capitol the mint was housed. The first coins struck in Rome date from the 4th century BC, before this time other forms of payment were used – cattle originally functioned as money (the Latin word for money pecunia comes from pecus, meaning cattle), then bronze bars were used (aes rude).
      The silver denarius appeared around 200BC, and it circulated alongside the golden aureus, bronze as and a whole host of others.
      A point of interest regarding Roman coinage is the variety of images portrayed on them. The obverse, from the times of Julius Caesar, portrayed the rulers and their wives, while the reverse showed figures of gods, scenes of political, military and economic events. They reflected the whole range of life at that time, life full of crime and violence on the one hand, and on the other grandness, power and order. The coins on display here are authentic witnesses of that world, lost in the mists of time, which became a cornerstone of our culture.