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Hey there. If you clicked on this video, maybe you're in the predicament that I was in.
If you're looking to buy a gift for someone who's interested in ancient history--they love
a particular ancient aesthetic or just love all of it, maybe that person is you--you probably noticed
that when you go shopping, online most sites don't have an ancient history category. What's up with
these people, right? So you type in things like ancient or ancient history and you don't really
get what you're looking for. So what I've been doing over the last few days is trying different
searches, browsing, trying other strategies to form a list of ancient themed items that might
make good gifts. Mind you, these are according to my personal tastes, so I don't know what you'll
think of them. But maybe my searches will have turned up something that you'll like or will
prove helpful to you in some way. So I thought I would make a video on it and share with you what
I found. And below the video, I made a list of all the items with links. Okay? Check these out.
Aristotle and Homer Bust Bookends Greek philosophy. You got, basically,
an Aristotle and a Homer, and you can use them for books. The size is--what does it say?--four
by four by eight inches. Eight inches tall, it's a pretty good size. It would go great on a bookshelf
and you have your two famous ancient Greeks there. But, you know, this is wrong, of course,
because Homer is not a philosopher. So, there's one philosopher and one entertainer.
There's another one--oh, look at the length of that title--but anyway, they're
Moai statues from Easter Island. Yes, a large one and a small one, you get,
and they're pretty cool looking. Now, I have to be honest here; these are aquarium decorations, so
they go into an aquarium. If you have an aquarium, that would be perfect. But I don't see any reason
why you couldn't just have them out on a mantel, or something. They're pretty cool-looking.
Nefertiti Bust Statue, a seven-inch tall figurine sculpture. This is really cool.
You can see Nefertiti--it's kind of based on the famous bust of Nefertiti, right? Pretty fantastic,
if you ask me. It's bronze-colored. I don't think it's made out of bronze but. . . let's
see. . . it's seven inches tall so that's pretty darn cool--for those of you who love Nefertiti.
All right, how about this one here? I have something similar to this at home. It's not
the exact same set because I got mine as a gift and I don't know where they got it from,
but this is very similar to mine. They are the terracotta warrior statues, six to six
and a half inches tall. I mean, obviously they don't look exactly like the terracotta ones
but they're even--you know--they have that aesthetic. I think these are really cool.
How about this Sphinx? The Great Sphinx of Giza Sculpture. Isn't this cool? Toscano, that company,
makes a lot of the stuff that I found; some really cool decorative items. This is 7 by 3
by 5 inches and it's really cool, especially if you love the Sphinx. I think this is wonderful.
Here is a Toscano Assyrian-themed one, a war chariot, similar to
what you would see on an Assyrian relief although with colors. Very cool looking.
This is a 13-inch plaque. It's to hang on the wall. Very cool.
If you like the Roman stuff, they have some cool things in that regard,
too. Check this out. Here's a Roman soldier, 14.38 inches.
He's holding a javelin and a shield; very cool collectible figure.
If you're interested in furniture, I found a cool little table that you can get,
also made by Toscano. This is a Ramses Egyptian sculptural glass-top table. You get a set of two.
Now this is expensive, but if you wanted to go all out. It's got Ramses on four sides. Pretty fancy.
You ever hear of the emperor Ashoka from India? Oh, yeah. This is based on some of the pillars
that you'll see that were put up in his reign with the image of the four lions. Well,
you can only see three because one's facing the other side--one would be facing the other side,
this is only showing one side--but a very cool statue gift. It's for home decor, just like all
of these that I've been showing you, and it is 23 centimeters high. Notice how some of these are in
inches and some of these are in centimeters, depending on where you're getting it from.
Here is a very nice pyramid of El Castillo. This is the Chichen Itza
pyramid. So if you like the Mayan material, this is great. This is 12 and a half centimeters,
something like you might put on a desk, or something like that. Made out of resin.
There's another pyramid I found, and this one is more Egyptian style. Now, I have to admit,
it's a jewelry box, right--which is cool, it opens up. It is not based on any real pyramid, okay?
It's got--wouldn't it be cool if there was a pyramid that looked like this? But no,
this is not like any real pyramid. But it's still
very cool--it's got the Egyptian aesthetic, you can put your jewelry in it. So, you know, it's not
a bad gift. I'm not vouching for the historicity of all these objects, just to be clear.
Look at this cool Greek vase, a red figure Amphora. It's got images of Achilles, Zeus,
and Ganymede on it. Height is 22 centimeters, 8.58 inches. So it's obviously not a real size vase,
okay, but it's still very cool and you could put it on a mantel.
And then, very similar, we have a Pythagorean cup showing Dionysus on it.
So this is very neat, too. This is 11 centimeters or 4.33 inches high.
You like Gilgamesh? Here's a Gilgamesh I found. Yes, like the one found at the Louvre, this is
a 8.75-inch tall image of Gilgamesh. Very cool. What is it made out of? It's made out of resin.
Still on the statue theme here, we have a Greek statue of Hippocrates
with the Hippocratic oath written on it. So this is 16.2 inches tall. If you like medicine,
this would be a great gift for someone like that.
Here's another aquarium item I thought was kind of cool. If I had a fish I would get it.
It is a recreation of the Parthenon to put in there. Maybe you can get the Parthenon
one and the Easter Island statues, you know, just go all out. I know they don't really go together,
but. . .this is 3.75 inches high, so pretty small. But, of course, it's for fish.
They have to be able to go to the temple, you know.
You like maps? There are cool maps you can hang on your wall. I got two that I found.
Here is a map of ancient Egypt from 1851. The old maps always look the coolest, you know,
so this is an 1851 map replica. 24 inches by 36 inches that you could hang on a wall.
And then the other map I found was a map of the Roman Empire.
36 by 24 inches, vintage wall art from 1875. It does seem pricey, $60, but it says it is printed
on heavyweight matte paper--it's not just, like, regular poster paper. Of course, you're gonna
have to get frames for either of those if you really want to make the gift, you know, great.
Take a look at this. Here is a bust of the Greek god Apollo. 12.6 inches
tall. Cast marble, pretty fancy. So it's expensive because, obviously, you're getting it in marble.
It has quite a heavy weight, but it is very nice.
Here's a bronze statue of Gaius Julius Caesar in military uniform. Look at that,
huh? You like Julius Caesar? It. . .kind of looks like him. There he is. That's 10.24 inches high.
Here is an Egyptian ceremonial wall sculpture. Now, this is super
expensive. It's very large--it's got it's 46 inches tall and you hang it on the wall.
But, like, this is a reproduction of an actual stela. Now, you know. . .it doesn't look
super authentic, but it will get you some oohs and ahs when people come over to the house.
You want to wear something? Here is an Egyptian bracelet. Look at that. Isn't that cool? Wow,
Scarab Motif. Can you imagine wearing that to a party? People will really be excited to see that.
But if you want to go for something cheaper to wear, there are some cool ancient history T-shirts
that I found. Look at this: Know Thyself Ancient Greek Saying. Do you know who said
this? This is attributed to the philosopher Thales--they don't even say that on here.
But you can just get this in different colors, you can get it in men's or women's style,
but there it is in Greek: "gnōthi seauton."
And another T-shirt I found was--I mean, I found a bunch, but
these two stood out--this is a Roman-style one. Cicero quote--"I am a Roman citizen."
See? You can be a Roman citizen with this T-shirt. I think it's official.
Here's a keychain I thought was kind of cool. It's got an image of the
Parthenon on it. A very nice little gift for someone if you don't want to spend too much.
Here's another wall plaque of Egyptian style, maybe you'll like it better. Anubis and Isis.
I'm not sure how well it's modeled on the original, but
it has that Ancient Egypt aesthetic that people might be looking for.
Or, if you're Indiana Jones; you want something more along those lines, here
is the Ark of the Covenant. Gold-colored, made out of polyresin, eleven and a half inches long.
Or, if you want a different kind of box, here's a sandstone-colored Anubis
box with Egyptian detail on it--and it's an actual box, you can put stuff in it.
If you want something else with Anubis on it, here is a clock. Now, of course, no Egyptian had
a clock like this. But it's an Egyptian-themed clock, okay? Yeah. Egyptian revival,
it's called. . .something. . .in other words, it's kind of like that 1930s Egyptian revival style.
There's another kind of jewelry box. An Egyptian Pharaonic Scarab
Jewelry Box. That is very cool looking, great gift for someone who loves Egypt and jewelry.
How about just a plain old wallet? Nice and cheap. I don't know if it's based
on any specific Egyptian work of art, but it has the sort of Egyptian themes here.
Pull that out when you're paying at the restaurant and people might remark on it and say, "Cool!"
How about some jewelry to go in the jewelry box?
Here are a couple of earrings representing the Egyptian Ma'at, the symbol of justice and duty.
There's more Egyptian stuff than anything else that I found. Here's another Egyptian thing,
a holder for pens that you can put on your desk. How would you like that kind
of a pen holder? You'll have to find some Egyptian pens that maybe you can put in them.
Akhenaten! You like Akhenaten? Here he is. Made out of bronze, nine inches tall.
We also have Pharaoh Ramses II. Just his bust, looking very ominous.
Maybe you've discovered some ancient history items, as well, that you would like to share. Just
write it down in the comments below: "Hey, here's another cool one!." I think people will like
that. So, that is a smattering of some ancient history-themed gifts that I've located. Again,
the list is below the video with links. If you have any of these or if you do end up buying one,
please let me know what you thought of it. And I'll do the same with the ones that I buy.
If you're new here and you love ancient history, please consider subscribing to
get regular ancient history content. I hope to see you again soon.
You might like my little e-booklet Why Ancient History Matters. It's designed to persuade
people that the subject is important even in the modern world. You might also wish to use it to
help spread the word. So feel free to share it with someone you know. It's free for anyone who
wants it. I've left the link in the description box below the video for you to grab a copy.
Catch you later.