In February 1923, Carl Blegen, then secretary of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, dispatched a Valentine to his sweetheart Elizabeth Pierce, who was in Rome.

Blegen had an artist friend render a Mycenaean figure as an expression not only of his love for Elizabeth, but also his ideas that Greek mainland Bronze Age culture should be seen as distinct from the Minoan culture of Krete.

For more about Blegen and Pierce, see the blog of Natalia Volgeikoff-Brogan.