The great exhibition on the naval battle of Alalìa (540 BCE), in which the fleets of the Phocaeans of Alalìe (Corsica) and perhaps of Massalìe clashed with those of the Carthaginians and the Etruscans, is a major International event which will be declined, with appropriate adaptations, inside the diverse museums destined to host it in the span of three years: Vetulonia in 2019, Aleria in 2020, Carthage in 2021.
Ideally centred on the battle of Alalìa, the exhibition focuses more generally on the contacts between the ancient civilizations of this part of the Mediterranean basin, hence the subtitle: Greeks, Etruscans and Carthaginians in the Mediterranean of the sixth century BCE.
The exhibition features 150 finds of extraordinary scientific and artistic value, coming from the Aleria Museum, partner of the exhibition, the Antiquarium Arborense of Oristano, the Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio of Sassari and Nuoro, the Museo Archeologico Nazionale of Florence, together with a selection of finds seized by the Customs Corps Archaeological Heritage Protection Team of Rome; on this special occasion, the Museum of Villa Giulia has loaned an outstanding work from the Castellani Collection, which is chronologically very close to the time of the battle.
This artwork was identified by the curators as a symbol, intended to celebrate the sea and become a tangible scenic 'logo' of the exhibition: it is the famous dinos of the great Attic ceramist Exekias (540-530 BC). The inner edge of the vase bears a miniature frieze of ships (pentecontere) proceeding on the wavy surface of the sea so that when, during the symposium, the vase was full of wine mixed with water, it made them look as they were sailing on the waves. In this exhibition, for the first time, the large fragment of the shoulder of the Exekias dinos is displayed resting on an innovative 3D-print support which acts as an integration of the large missing part of the vase. The new support (made in ABS polymer), in addition to helping a non-specialized audience to better understand the shape and characteristics of the ancient vase, allows to appreciate the originality of the design of the great Athenian ceramist, who knew how to wonderfully transpose into painting the Homeric formula of the "wine-dark sea".