A visitor takes a photo during a preview of Ancient Greeks: Athletes, Warriors and Heroes at the National Museum of Australia, Canberra, Australia, on December 16, 2021. Photo: VCG

People in Australia who find it hard to travel internationally due to COVID-19 concerns will now be able to learn more about ancient Greece in Canberra.

An exhibition exploring the theme of competition in ancient Greece opened at the National Museum of Australia (NMA) on Friday. It will run until May 1, 2022.

The exhibition, Ancient Greeks: Athletes, Warriors and Heroes, features more than 170 objects from the British Museum that date back to 800 BC to AD 200.

"The legacy of ancient Greece endures in our society today, and visitors will be mesmerized by the stories of competition in the ancient Greek world and by the beautiful depictions of athletes, the ceramics, sculptures, armor and jewelry on show," said Mathew Trinca, director of the NMA.

"Australians have endured months of lockdown and uncertainty, and we are thrilled to give them such a magnificent international exhibition experience after what has been one of the most difficult periods in our nation's history," he said.

Lily Withycombe, curator of the exhibition with the NMA, was in a team who had worked in the past two years to bring the objects to Australia.

One of the highlights she mentioned in the interview with the Xinhua News Agency was the statue of the Goddess Nike at the entrance, the personification of victory.

"She's absolutely unmissable and she's the first object that you see as soon as you come into the exhibition," said Withycombe.

Dating back to about 100 BC, the marble statue was once framed by two large wings and realistically colored to show the goddess descending from Mount Olympus. 

Another object was a blue gemstone from about 350 BC to 300 BC, which might be used as a seal. It shows the Goddess Nike setting up a trophy of captured arms and armors gathered from the battlefield. 

"Finally there is the name of the gemstone cutter," said the curator. 

"It's really exquisite."

In fact, many people growing up reading Greek mythology can find familiar scenes depicted on the objects: pottery showing Odysseus trying to persuade Achilles into going back to the battlefield in the Trojan war, and the Goddess Artemis demanding King of Mycenae Agamemnon sacrifice his daughter.

In the exhibition hall there is also a section that looks at sport in the ancient world.

"It [sport] had such a critical role," said Withycombe. 

"Gymnasium were connected to religious sanctuaries, and religion and sport were intertwined deeply and closely."

A series of objects at the exhibition showed sports in ancient Greece.

"You see incredible Greek vases that depict sporting competitions like long distance running, pentathlon, chariot racing and unusual Greek games that I've never heard of before, games involving balls sitting on people's shoulders and types of horse-racing that looked really perilous, racing without saddles or without stirrups," said the curator.

The horse-racing she talked about, known as keles, was introduced into the Olympic Games in 648 BC. The scene was depicted on an ancient amphora.

One of the marble sculptures at the exhibition showed winners of a torch race, in which six to 10 athletes ran a relay with a lit torch for the baton. The winner was the first to arrive with his torch still alight.

"So we have these incredible insights into sports in the ancient world that we both recognize, and also can be really surprised by," said Withycombe.