Mould-made oil lamp with a circular body and a pierced handle. On the discus is a draped bust of Luna with the horns of a crescent #moon rising on each side of her.
🏛️ Roman oil lamp made by C. Atilius Vestalis, dated 90-140 CE. Today in the British Museum.
On #NationalUnderwearDay I want to talk about the ancestor of the bra: the strophion!
In #GreekRomanArt the goddess #Aphrodite can sometimes be seen putting it on or taking it off but mortal women are depicted wearing it too.
It is uncertain what the Greek strophion looked like but the Roman adaptation, the strophium, was a breast band, a strip of cloth wrapped around the upper torso.
It was a normal but optional piece of feminine clothing.
@AimeeMaroux I do have an old linen skirt that I am planning to cut up and sew into a long enough strip next so I can compare the two. I'm surprised by just how comfortable this lycra one is though. I've been wearing it since 11 this morning and it hasn't moved or loosened and still feels supportive.
The bunching at the back just needs a bit more practice with getting the lycra wrapped so it's not all layered on top of each other in the same place. I can't see that it is particularly noticeable to anyone else - it doesn't look like I have a hunch under my tshirt - but I am aware of it when leaning back in a chair, for example.
I might try trying to tie it with one short end, wrapping the longer end around continually in the same direction to see if that lessens the bunching effect. I'll need to sew, rather than tie, the two lycra strips together first though, otherwise I can guarantee that central knot wil place itself somewhere uncomfortable 😂
It's fun experimenting though. Despite cursing awkward bras for years, I'd never thought to try actually making a historic alternative before. I'm going to try a few ways of tying this lycra one in the coming days, then get to work hemming the linen.
"Helios, the myth tells us [...] caused the water which had overflowed it [the island of Rhodes] to disappear. But the true explanation is that [...] the island was still like mud and soft, Helios dried up the larger part of its wetness and filled the land with living creatures."
🎨 Red-figure vase painting of #Helios in a chariot drawn by two #Erotes.
What’s going on in 419 and 418 BCE? We hear your questions and this episode is all about the answers. Tune in for an uprising, and some neighbourly disputes with the Labicani…
This is basically a recreation of a photo I took maybe six or seven years ago. As fortune would have it, I’m even wearing basically the same outfit 😅 Augustus remains unchanged.
Detail from the one of my favourite ancient Roman mosaics. There’s tentacles galore to enjoy here as well as many different examples of marine life 🐟🐙🦑🦐
I'd say Herculaneum did, because it's a less popular site and very well preserved. Although seeing the food stall remains at Pompeii and going back to Naples to have Pizza gave me pause.
We saw Herculaneum the day before we went back. When we were waiting for the train we had pizza at the small place at the top of the hill. So I feel I reflected more on the people and the lost history there.
Found a certain ‘so-called’ Agrippina bust at MAN Napoli! Very excited to hang out with such an extraordinary figure from Rome’s early imperial period.
Caught this beautiful fragment of a number of birds in a tree with my own eyes yesterday. This was once part of a funerary fresco from Paestum c. C4th BCE.
The best part was pointing out this excellent phallic display to passing English tourists, who were shocked in that awkward English way, and took a picture to end our interaction. I was like, you’re about to miss the best part of Pompeii!
Lessons I learnt at Pompeii: never let anyone tell you that you can’t ride a shrimp. You can. And if the opportunity arises, such an act may just be captured in a fresco.
I caught this beauty while at the Baths of Diocletian. It’s been placed on display on an exterior wall and is genuinely huge. The different bird life featured is spectacular!
At the Baths of Diocletian, I just happened across what appears to be a sarcophagus sized for one… it was an exciting find, especially when the fully realised single portrait is of a woman.
>"[255c] then the fountain of that stream which Zeus, when he was in love with Ganymede, called “desire” flows copiously upon the lover; and some of it flows into him, and some, when he is filled, overflows outside;"
Although it's mostly how *Eros *as desire helps elevate the soul to the Gods, I think we can read the cruder sex joke into it!
@Lamhfada@antiquidons@histodons@mythology The ancient Greeks had so many innuendos! Overflowing, I think, is one of them though I'd have to check my trusty "Maculate Muse", a lexicon of obscene language in Attic comedy.