Loving this fragment that shows an octopus seemingly winning a show down with an eel and possibly taking out a large prawn (or relation!) at the same time.
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.
"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.
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.
Here is a photo of a woman replicating the Roman Strophium, inspired by the Greek Apodesme. It was folded from a single piece of fabric, as in the figure of Aphrodite above.
This beautiful mosaic shows #Dionysos, also known in Latin as #Bacchus or #FatherLiber, pouring wine from a rhyton, a vessel from which wine or water were intended to be drunk or to be poured, either in a libation or at table. In this scene, Dionysos is pouring it to his pet panther.
🏛️ Roman mosaic, today in the National Museum of #Beirut
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 🐟🐙🦑🦐
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.
"Helios (the Sun), who is watchman of both gods and men [...] You [Helios] with your beams look down from the bright upper air (aitheros) over all the earth and sea."
Homeric Hymn 2 to Demeter
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!
A magnificent marble bust of #Helios, the ancient Greek sun god, that was unearthed at the ancient Agora of Athens in 1970. The holes were used for the attachment of a sun ray crown.
🎨 2nd century CE, Ancient Agora Museum. #Athens, Greece
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.