This golden bowl is a patera (libation bowl) from the 6th century BC. This particular one is a copy of the original (now in the British Museum) that was found in a cave-tomb on the hillside of the mountain village of Sant’Angelo Muxaro, north of Agrigento. Discovered in the late 18th century, the bowl sports the figure of a bull repeated six times with a crescent moon gracing one area of the middle circle (which once held a precious stone). The design of this piece, along with golden rings found in similar tombs nearby, is reminiscent of ancient Greek and ancient Sicanian (the tribes living in these mountains before the Greeks arrived) technical characteristics and design aesthetics.
