ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM

Opened in 1905, this museum (Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο Μυκόνου/Archaiologiko Mousio Mykonou) houses objects mainly from the island of Rhénée/Rinia (14 ^km2), to the west of that of Délos. Rhenaeus was used as a burial ground, particularly after 426 BC, when the Athenians forbade people to be "born and die" on the sacred island of Delos. Beautiful stelae have been discovered, such as that of Glykon, son of Protogenis, a young man depicted as sad and pensive, his gaze turned towards the prow of his ship. Dating from the same period (^2nd or ^1st century BC), the Tertia Horaria stele is equally moving: the deceased holds out her hand in farewell to her husband, while a young slave holds her jewelry box. But most of the finds come from the Rhenaeus "purification pit", dug in the^5th century B.C. to accommodate the contents of ancient tombs from Delos: black-glazed or red-figured funerary vases decorated with scenes depicting women (^6th century B.C.); female terracotta figurines with hands raised in prayer (^5th century B.C.). Rhénée also yielded statues such as the damaged one of Heracles holding the skin of the Nemean lion (^2nd century BC). One of the rare objects from Mykonos is a jar measuring 1.40 m in height. Dating from the ^7th century BC, this "Mykonos pithos" features a fine bas-relief depicting the Trojan War and the wooden horse used to enter the city.