Jatta National Archaeological Museum

Inscriptions of the second century of the Roman Age.

In the first room there is an inscription in Latin which commemorates the founders of the Museum.[10] Mainly there are terracotta vases with geometric decorations and dating back to the Peucetian age of the seventh and sixth centuries BC.[10] In the center of the room there is a gigantic jar reassembled and once used for the collection of food liquids. Under the large window a tuff sarcophagus has been reconstructed with unpainted finds inside.[3] Next to the sarcophagus there are two inscriptions engraved on Roman sepulchral plates dating back to the 2nd century:[11] the first collects the dedication of the spouses Marcus Licinius Hermogenes and Licinia Charite to their son who died at the age of seven; the second inscription shows Julia Eutaxia's dedication to her husband.[11]

In the adjacent showcases there are fragmentary remains of architectural decorations, statuettes called prayers for the position of the arms, a long series of tools and statuettes of divinities. The tintinnabula, small ceramic animals containing a pebble and used by children as toys arouse curiosity.[11]

The second room, the largest, contains about 700 vases of Greek or local production.[3] The vases were created with the technique of red figures, or red images on a black background.[3] At the entrance to the room it is possible to admire a large crater with masks from the 4th century BC. depicting Apollo in the act of shooting arrows at the Niobids, the work of the Baltimore Painter.[12] The vase is flanked by two amphorae from the same period but by the painter Lycurgus: the first bears the scenes of Heracles in the temple with Antigone and Creon and of the fight between Amazons and warriors around Heracles; the second, instead, the delivery of weapons to Achilles by the Nereids. Noteworthy is the Attic bell-shaped crater depicting the rise of Heracles to Olympus.[13]

The showcases arranged all around contain a great variety of finds ranging from amphorae and vases of ever smaller dimensions to objects of funeral and daily use. In addition, a Latin inscription is preserved in this room which recalls the construction of the walls of the Roman Rubi (Ruvo).[13]

Ancient Greek vases in the Third Room.

In the third room, containing over four hundred pieces,[14] the white marble bust of Giovanni Jatta junior stands out, who founded the Museum.[15] The first vase placed is a Proto-Italian crater from the 4th century BC. on which Cicno are represented and the chariot of Ares is also taken up with an interesting frontal perspective[15].Bellerophon on Pegasus is depicted on another proto-Italian crater flanked by Athena and Poseidon, the work of the ceramographer called the Ruvo painter.[15] A third crater of Lycurgus shows three scenes: the garden of the Hesperides on the front facade; a sacrifice to Apollo on the rear; Heracles against the bull and a Dionysian rite on the neck of the vase.[15] On a severed column there is also another volute crater on which the myth of Phineus is painted and is the work of the painter Amykos.[15] Other craters placed on the columns depict Theseus and Piritoo punished by Minos and the abduction of the Leucippids.[14]

A large number of rhyta, glasses in the shape of human or animal heads are kept in the display cases, including some Atticans and some Iapygians.[15] There is also a pelike representing the meeting between Paris and Helen mediated by Venus, a kantharos with the figure of a bearded old man and an askos.[15]

The Talos Vase, the symbol of the Museum and the City of Ruvo.

The fourth room, despite being the smallest, collects the most precious finds,[16] about two hundred and seventy.[17] Here too there is a marble bust but here Giovanni Jatta senior in toga is depicted. A pelike is preserved that takes up the myth of the Nereids and two specimens of lebetes.[16] There are also two volute craters, one of which represents Bellerophon reading his death sentence and another on which a chariot race is painted.[16]

In the showcases, double-sided rhyta are kept as well as necklaces and balsam pieces in glass paste.[16] Also important is the kylix with the figure of a naked young man.[16] Next to it is a lekythos depicting the singing competition between Tamiri and the Muses.[16] The second showcase collects Neolithic and Iron Age finds.[16] The third and last showcase preserves imported Corinthian works dating from the 7th to the 6th century BC, such as some types of alabastron and ariballo.[18]

Other vases kept are of the black-figure type and therefore belonging to the first phase of Atticans ceramics, such as the oinochoe representing Heracles against the lion Nermeo and Theseus chasing the Minotaur.[18] The last pottery, the most valuable, is the Talos vase by the so-called Talos painter.[18] The Museum and the city of Ruvo itself owe their fame to this vase considered one of the most important Atticans ceramic masterpieces due to the artistic innovations present such as the coloristic and perspective researches of the 5th century BC.[18] On the vase is painted the episode narrated by Apollonius of Rhodes in the Argonautiche regarding the killing of Talos by Medea, supported dying by the arms of Castor and Pollux. Also in the room are metal objects and pieces of armor.[3]