#OnThisDay - 20 April - in 1863 the statue known as the Prima Porta Augustus was discovered in excavations at the Villa of Livia. Traces of the original polychrome decoration survive. #Augustus 🏺
Image: Musei Vaticani (MV.2290.0.0). 📸Joel Bellviure. Link - catalogo.museivaticani.va/index.php/De...
#OnThisDay - 20 April - in 1863 the statue known as the Prima Porta Augustus was discovered in excavations at the Villa of Livia. Traces of the original polychrome decoration survive. #Augustus 🏺
Image: Musei Vaticani (MV.2290.0.0). 📸Joel Bellviure. Link - catalogo.museivaticani.va/index.php/De...
Obverse of a Roman aureus: Head of Vitellius, laureate, right.
Reverse of a Roman aureus: Legend in three lines (SPQR / OB / C.S.) within oak-wreath.
#OnThisDay - 19 April - in AD 69 the Arval Brethren undertook a sacrifice "in honour of the day on which [Vitellius] Germanicus Imperator came to power, decreed to have been 19 April" (AFA 40.1, 84-89). #History 🏺
Image: RIC Vitellius 82; BnF (IMP-7337). Link - numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric....
Preserved Roman bread (panis quadratus), a circular loaf divided into 8 portions, bearing an inscription stamp.
Happy #BreadDay to all who celebrate! 🏺
#OnThisDay - 19 April - someone in #Pompeii felt so excited that they just had to record that:
"XIII K(alendas) Maias panem feci" (CIL IV 8972)
'On April 19, I made bread'
Wonder how it turned out? 🤔
Image: National Archaeological Museum, Naples (84596)
Relief sculptural panel. Agrippina crowns her son Nero with a laurel wreath. Agrippina carries a cornucopia, symbol of Plenty, and Nero wears the armour and cloak of a Roman commander.
For #WyrdWednesday - Suetonius (Nero 39.2) on the numerical values of language quoting an isopsephic lampoon, noting that Nero's name in Greek, Νέρων = 1005 = ἰδίαν μητέρα ἀπέκτεινε ('murdered his own mother'). 🏺
Image: Aphrodisias Excavations. Link - aphrodisias.classics.ox.ac.uk/sebasteionre...
Hollow-cast bronze figure of a seated cat with incised detail, an inlaid silver sun-disc and wedjat-eye pectoral on the chest and golden earrings and nose-rings.
#ClassicsCurio - One for the cat-lovers! Diodorus Siculus (Library 1.83.8) reports that when one of the Roman envoys to Ptolemy XII Auletes in 59 BC accidentally killed a cat, he was mobbed by the Egyptians as a result. #Cats 🏺
Image: BM (EA64391). Link - britishmuseum.org/collection/o...
ClassicsBluesky 🏺🧵
#LatinForTheDay – 15 April #Horace
“O crudelis adhuc et Veneris muneribus potens,
insperata tuae cum veniet bruma superbiae,
et, quae nunc umeris involitant, deciderint comae,
nunc et qui color est puniceae flore prior rosae,
mutatus, Ligurine, in faciem verterit hispidam,...
Relief sculptural panel. Agrippina crowns her son Nero with a laurel wreath. Agrippina carries a cornucopia, symbol of Plenty, and Nero wears the armour and cloak of a Roman commander.
For #WyrdWednesday - Suetonius (Nero 39.2) on the numerical values of language quoting an isopsephic lampoon, noting that Nero's name in Greek, Νέρων = 1005 = ἰδίαν μητέρα ἀπέκτεινε ('murdered his own mother'). 🏺
Image: Aphrodisias Excavations. Link - aphrodisias.classics.ox.ac.uk/sebasteionre...
Hollow-cast bronze figure of a seated cat with incised detail, an inlaid silver sun-disc and wedjat-eye pectoral on the chest and golden earrings and nose-rings.
#ClassicsCurio - One for the cat-lovers! Diodorus Siculus (Library 1.83.8) reports that when one of the Roman envoys to Ptolemy XII Auletes in 59 BC accidentally killed a cat, he was mobbed by the Egyptians as a result. #Cats 🏺
Image: BM (EA64391). Link - britishmuseum.org/collection/o...
The Image at the head of this thread is 'La reproduction interdite' by René Magritte, 1937 (Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam).
Link - boijmans.nl/en/collectio...
#LatinForTheDay #Horace 🧵🏺
In this poem, towards the end of Horace's final book of Odes, he comments on the inevitably passing of time, observing that physical beauty and good sense in love seem to go hand-in-hand rarely.
'The crimson rose – has changed, replaced with stubbled cheeks.
Comes the muttering whenever you gaze on this new self in the glass:
“Damn it! Why didn’t I have this same nous when I was a stripling?
Why can’t those faultless cheeks return to grace today?”’
‘Ah, you’re still cruel, still lording it with Venus’ bounties:
Yet unwished for winter overtakes your arrogance,
The hair cascading ‘cross your shoulders grows thin;
Even now, Ligurinus, the complexion – which once outstripped...
"dices “heu” quotiens te speculo videris alterum,
“quae mens est hodie, cur eadem non puero fuit,
vel cur his animis incolumes non redeunt genae?””
Horace, Odes 4.10
ClassicsBluesky 🏺🧵
#LatinForTheDay – 15 April #Horace
“O crudelis adhuc et Veneris muneribus potens,
insperata tuae cum veniet bruma superbiae,
et, quae nunc umeris involitant, deciderint comae,
nunc et qui color est puniceae flore prior rosae,
mutatus, Ligurine, in faciem verterit hispidam,...
Obverse of a Roman aureus: Head of Septimius Severus, laureate, right.
Reverse of a Roman aureus: Hercules, naked, on left, standing right, holding club set on ground in right hand and lion-skin over left arm, and Bacchus, wreathed, naked, on right, standing left, emptying oenochoe in right hand over panther, seated left, head right with open mouth, and holding garlanded thyrsus in left hand.
#OnThisDay - 11 April - likely in AD 145, Septimius Severus was born in Leptis Magna (according to Cassius Dio: 76.17.4). Coming to power in AD 193, he would reign until AD 211. #History 🏺
Image: RIC IV Septimius Severus 25; Münzkabinett Wien (RÖ 36840). Link - numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric....
Obverse of a Roman aureus: Bust of Macrinus, laureate, long bearded, draped, cuirassed, right.
Reverse of a Roman aureus: Annona, draped, seated left, holding two corn-ears in right hand and cornucopiae in left hand; at feet, modius and corn-ears.
#OnThisDay - 11 April - in AD 217 Marcus Opellius Macrinus was proclaimed emperor following Caracalla' assassination. His reign would be brief, around 14 months, with Antioch as his centre of power. 🏺
Image: RIC IV Macrinus 18; Münzkabinett Wien (RÖ 36934). Link - numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric....
Obverse of a Roman aureus: Head of Septimius Severus, laureate, right.
Reverse of a Roman aureus: Virtus, helmeted, draped, standing left, holding Victory in extended right hand and spear, reversed, in left hand.
#OnThisDay - 9 April - in AD 193 Septimius Severus was proclaimed emperor by the Pannonian Legions in the aftermath of the death of Pertinax. Doubtless much to Didius Julianus' annoyance! #AncientHistory 🏺
Image: RIC IV Septimius Severus 24; ANS 1967.153.167. Link - numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric....
Obverse of a Roman aureus: Bust of Caracalla, laureate, draped, cuirassed, left.
Reverse of a Roman aureus: Isis, draped, standing right, holding sistrum in right hand and presenting two corn-ears to Caracalla, in military attire, standing left, holding spear in right hand and trampling on crocodile.
#OnThisDay - 8 April - in AD 217, according to Cassius Dio (79.5), the Emperor Caracalla was assassinated by the roadside in Parthia, en route from Edessa to Carrhae, aged 29 years & 4 days. #AncientHistory 🏺
Image: RIC IV Caracalla 257B; Münzkabinett Berlin. Link - numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric....
Obverse of a Roman aureus: Bust of Caracalla, laureate, draped, cuirassed, left.
Reverse of a Roman aureus: Isis, draped, standing right, holding sistrum in right hand and presenting two corn-ears to Caracalla, in military attire, standing left, holding spear in right hand and trampling on crocodile.
#OnThisDay - 8 April - in AD 217, according to Cassius Dio (79.5), the Emperor Caracalla was assassinated by the roadside in Parthia, en route from Edessa to Carrhae, aged 29 years & 4 days. #AncientHistory 🏺
Image: RIC IV Caracalla 257B; Münzkabinett Berlin. Link - numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric....
#MosaicMonday - The eponymous piece from Casa della Matrona ignota, Pompeii (VI.15.14); discovered #OnThisDay - 6 April 1898: a woman wearing a pearl necklace, with gold and pearl earrings. #Pompeii 🏺
Image: National Archaeological Museum, Naples (124666). Link - mann-napoli.it/mosaici/#gal...
#OnThisDay - 6 April - in 46 BC, Julius Caesar defeated the Republican forces under the command of Metellus Scipio and Cato the Younger at the Battle of Thapsus in North Africa. #AncientHistory 🏺
Image: RRC 468/1; Münzkabinett Berlin (18216705). Link - numismatics.org/crro/id/rrc-...
#MosaicMonday - The eponymous piece from Casa della Matrona ignota, Pompeii (VI.15.14); discovered #OnThisDay - 6 April 1898: a woman wearing a pearl necklace, with gold and pearl earrings. #Pompeii 🏺
Image: National Archaeological Museum, Naples (124666). Link - mann-napoli.it/mosaici/#gal...
#OnThisDay - 5 April - in AD 59 the Arval Brethren held thanksgiving sacrifices for Nero's safety. The timing suggests a link with the murder of Agrippina, whom Nero accused of plots against him. #AncientHistory 🏺
Image: RIC Nero 16; British Museum (IOC.1216). Link - numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric....
#OnThisDay - 5 April - in AD 59 the Arval Brethren held thanksgiving sacrifices for Nero's safety. The timing suggests a link with the murder of Agrippina, whom Nero accused of plots against him. #AncientHistory 🏺
Image: RIC Nero 16; British Museum (IOC.1216). Link - numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric....
For a re-assessment of the accession of Julianus, see:
Appelbaum, Alan. “Another Look at the Assassination of Pertinax and the Accession of Julianus.” Classical Philology 102, no. 2 (2007): 198–207.
doi.org/10.1086/523738
#ACOTD #Numismatics #Rome 🧵🏺
However, given the proclamation of Septimius Severus as emperor by the Pannonian legions on 9 April, a mere 12 days into Julianus' reign, the political situation was too unstable. Notably this event detracts even further from Julianus' claims of 'Harmony of the Soldiers'.
The rapid production of such coins was necessary in order to be able to pay his bribe (if we’re being kind, we could still call it the donative) to the Praetorians, as well as to try to generate goodwill and legitimacy.
Similarly, designs that celebrated his wife – Manlia Scantilla – were very common, often with a Reverse design of Juno with her peacock.
Image: RIC IV Didius Julianus 18A; Münzkabinett Wien (RÖ 14003). Link - numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric....
