Rex: The Seven Kings of Rome is our debut book and it’s very cool!
No bookshelf is complete without this journey through the sources and kingly travails. The ebook is now available as well as limited physical copies from Abbey’s Bookstore, Sydney 🥳
This C2nd CE Roman mosaic suggests the preparation for a feast. On the menu: an array of meats, what looks to be dates (or something else, I’m not sure?), and a good dose of leafy greens!
Leaving Rome today! It’s always a bittersweet moment when it comes. I’m eternally grateful I get to spend time with this city up close and revel in all the layers of history written into its fabric.
Sarcophagus with a frieze depicting the labours of Hercules. This piece is thought to have been made in Asia Minor in c. 160 CE before its transfer to Rome. Today it can be found in the Galleria Borghese.
Visited the archaeological park of Tuscolo (ancient Tusculum) the other day. Tusculum was one of Rome’s key allies in the Castelli Romani region during the early republic. The Roman (Tusculan) road looks bucolic today but was once a bustling thoroughfare.
Chariot mosaic with parrot ~ late C2nd–early C3rd CE
This gorgeous piece was found in
1876 during the construction of Via Nazionale in Rome. It seems to depict a larger-than-life parrot driving a chariot!
@phistorians@histodons@antiquidons@archaeodons I knew I had seen them before a long time ago. Thanks 😊 for putting a name to them. And, if they’re half-goat, I suppose a parrot could tell them where to go, as well as a catfish.
It’s impossible for me to visit Rome without checking in with the aedes Vestae. Standing in the space once walked by generations of Vestal Virgins always leaves me utterly awed by the magnitude of history.
✨Special Episode - Classical Reception in Lil Nas X with Yentl Love
We sit down with Yentl Love (aka the Queer Classicist) to take a deep dive into the layered symbolism and classical allusions in Lil Nas X’s music video ‘Call Me By Your Name’. We very much recommend watching the music video to set the mood!
@phistorians Ooooooh, that is an interesting one! I mainly remember the obvious bible themes in the video so I will have to watch it again and give the episode a listen! :BlobhajPrideHeart:
We’re celebrating the Roman fondness for the phallus with this bronze phallic ornament c. C1st CE. With a phallic head, tail, and it’s own phallus, this piece is truly offering options in terms of apotropaic power!
This Severan era portrait is believed to be of an athlete given the emphasis on muscle delineation. Having said that, he doesn’t look like the happiest camper going around!
🏛 Centrale Montemartini (Capitolini AC 4492)
📸 My own
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.
Join our patrons for a deep dive into the classic reception tour de force that is Disney’s Hercules (1997). We sit down with Professor Alistair Blanchard whose research on this heroic figure is second to none.