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Art and sculptures from Hadrian’s Villa: Statue of Apollo holding the kithara
This week’s sculpture from Hadrian’s Villa is a marble statue of Apollo holding the kithara (Apollo Citharoedus) from the Temple of Venus (Casino Fede). Statue of Apollo holding the kithara, from the...
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Photoset: The Temple of Apollo Epikourios at Bassae (Greece), the so-called...
“Off all the temples in the Peloponnese this one could be considered second only to the temple at Tegea for its proportions and the beauty of its stone”. Pausanias, “Description of Greece”, Book VIII,...
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The Hadrianic reliefs from the Arch of Portugal (Arco di Portogallo), Rome
About halfway along today’s via del Corso, once called via Lata, a large arch of Roman age spanned the street up to the mid 17th century. It was earlier known as the Arcus Hadriani, but from the...
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Art and sculptures from Hadrian’s Villa: Mosaic of the Doves
This week’s masterpiece from Hadrian’s Villa is a mosaic depicting a group of doves drinking from an ornate bowl, called Mosaic of the Doves. Mosaic showing doves drinking from a bowl, from Hadrian’s...
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The Pompeiianum, a reconstructed Roman Villa in the German town of Aschaffenburg
Built in the 1840s in the Bavarian town of Aschaffenburg, the Pompeiianum (called Pompejanum in German) is an idealized reconstruction of a Roman house based on excavations in Pompeii. It is...
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Animula vagula blandula… Hadrian’s farewell to life
Originally posted on FOLLOWING HADRIAN: On this day ante diem VI idus quinctilias (July, 10th) in 138 A.D., Hadrian died after a heart failure at Baiae on the Bay of Naples. He lived 62 years, 5...
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The Painted Tombs of Paestum
With its three magnificent large Doric temples, Paestum became a well-known site thanks to the 18th century engravings by Piranesi and Goethe’s impressive descriptions in his Italian Journey. However...
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Art and sculptures from Hadrian’s Villa: Marble relief depicting a youth with...
This week’s masterpiece from Hadrian’s Villa is a bas-relief representing a boy with a horse, probably Castor taming his horse, accompanied by a dog. Boy with horse (possibly Castor), marble relief...
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The Nervan-Antonines in Cologne
Built in 1974 over the remains of a Roman villa, the Romano-Germanic Museum in Cologne houses an extensive collection of Roman artefacts from the Roman settlement of Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium...
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A tribute to Augustus
This week marks the bimillennial anniversary of the death of the first Roman emperor, Augustus. He died on 19th August AD 14 at the age of 75 after a 41-year reign, the longest in Roman history....
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Exploring Minturnae, a forgotten ancient city on the Appian Way
On a recent trip to Italy, I visited the Archaeological Area of Minturnae, a little-known but impressive archaeological site along the Appian Way. Minturnae was originally an Auruncian city (of which...
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Art and sculptures from Hadrian’s Villa: Head of a diademed goddess
This week’s sculpture from Hadrian’s Villa is a head of a goddess made of Pentelic marble. She is wearing a diadem in her wavy hair that are centrally parted and dressed in a chignon at the nape of her...
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A journey to Terracina on the Riviera of Ulysses
Following my visit to Minturnae (see previous post here), I continued my journey north along the Appian Way to reach Terracina, a picturesque town on the Tyrrhenian coast situated approximately...
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Looking for Roman bridges in Provence, France
“Pontem perpetui mansurum in saecula mundi” (I have built a bridge which will last forever) – Caius Julius Lacer, builder of the Alcántara Bridge Ancient Roman bridges represent one of the greatest...
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Roman mosaics from the National Archaeological Museum of Spain, Madrid
Two weeks ago I returned to Madrid to visit the new Archaeological Museum. Spain’s National Archaeological Museum reopened to the public six months ago after a massive six-year revamp that aimed at...
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Bronze statue of Hadrian from the legionary camp at Tel Shalem (Judaea),...
A magnificent bronze statue of Hadrian, now on display at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, was found by chance by an American tourist in Tel Shalem (Beth Shean Valley, Israel) on 25th July 1975 while...
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The inscription dedicated to Hadrian from the Tel Shalem arch
About a year and a half after the discovery of the bronze statue of Hadrian (see previous post here) in 1977, six fragments of a monumental Latin inscription – the largest ever found in Israel – were...
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Exploring Aelia Capitolina, Hadrian’s Jerusalem
With thousands of archaeological sites, Jerusalem is one of the most excavated cities on the planet and to walk its streets is to walk through thousand years of history. This ancient city has been...
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Art and sculptures from Hadrian’s Villa: Eight statues of seated Muses
This week’s masterpieces from Hadrian’s Villa are eight marble statues depicting seated muses. In Greek mythology, the Muses were sister goddesses of music, poetry, and other artistic and intellectual...
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The Byzantine “Bird Mosaic” from Caesarea, Israel
A stunning mosaic floor referred to as the “Bird Mosaic” was uncovered by accident in 1955 on the outskirts of Caeserea in Israel, outside the walls of the ancient settlement. With no budget available...
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