Freud’s final resting vase

I came across a delightful series of podcasts offered by a Syndey radio station called Self Improvement Wednesday.

This week, I learned that Sigmund Freud had a huge antiquities collection, and was in fact buried in a red-figured, 4th c. BC Greek vase.

Okay, his ashes were, but still, that’s really something because even though these vases might have been used for exactly that purpose in the Etruscan graves from whence they were unearthed, they hadn’t been en vogue as cremation urns for several millennia by the time Freud passed away in 1939.

Listen to the podcast. It’s short and sweet and really fascinating. You’ll find out about how he had 2,500 antiquities in his collection and just 3,500 books in his library. You’ll also hear about his friendship with Princess Marie Bonaparte who gave him the vase in which he and his wife Martha currently reside and helped get him out Austria after the Anschluss.

Then there’s the bit about Athena’s missing spear, and Thoth’s giant member, but I’ll leave that to you to discover.

For more info on Freud’s antiquities collection, see the Freud Museum in London.