Public life in #AncientGreece was dominated by a binary between political life and private life. Integrating philosophical texts with #epigraphic evidence, Benjamin Gray argues, however, that by the 2nd c. BCE the Greeks started developing a concept of "social life" that contradicts usual views of "depolitization" in that period.
👉 The Invention of the Social? Debating the Scope of Politics in the Greek Polis
"Astuanassa: A handmaid of Helen, Menelaos’ wife. She first discovered positions for intercourse and wrote On Sexual Positions. Philainis and Elephantinê rivaled her in this later—they were women who danced out these sorts of wanton acts."
Suda, 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia
Meet this Roman stone statue of the god #Mars, found in #York. It was carved from local sandstone in the 4th century CE. #Eboracum was a fort and later a city in the Roman province of Britannia that became the city of York. Eboracum was a busy port and a provincial capital with residents from all over the Roman Empire.
Tetrassarion #coin dated 162/163 CE. The reverse depicts Ares fully dressed in his armour with helmet, shield, and spear. Facing him stands Aphrodite of the Pudicitia type, holding one hand to her genitals and one hand to her breasts.
This piece is on my mind after coming across it quite unexpectedly in the Baths of Diocletian. It was a feeling of awe to see this beauty with my own eyes.
🏛 Acropolis Museum (usually, but clearly currently on loan!)
"And there grew up from the watery wave this island, and great Helios who begets the fierce rays of the sun, holds her in his dominion, that ruler of the horses breathing fire.
There long ago he lay with Rhodes and begot seven sons, endowed beyond all men of old with genius of thoughtful mind."
Pindar, Olympian Ode 7
"When Seirios [#Sirius, the star] scorches the flesh, when the crude grapes which #Dionysos gave to men - a joy and a sorrow both - begin to colour." #Hesiod, The Shield of Herakles 398
🏛️ Dionysos holding a kantharos, Roman statuette, Archaeological Museum of #Eleusis
"When Seirios [#Sirius, the star] scorches the flesh, when the crude grapes which Dionysos gave to men - a joy and a sorrow both - begin to colour."
Hesiod, The Shield of Herakles 398
🏛️ Dionysos holding a kantharos, Roman statuette, Archaeological Museum of Eleusis