Did Roman Emperors Actually Become Gods? Did Emperors Become Gods?

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#Romanhistory #ancientbluesky #history

By what authority did the senate actually make someone a 'god'? What did this even mean? Surely it was up to the gods who became a god?

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From the Bardo Museum, Tunisia.

The scroll contains the words of Book 1, verses 8-9:

"Musa, mihi causus memora ..."

"My muse, remind me of the causes, tell me ..."

Discovered in a house in Sousse (Hadrumetum).

For #mosaicmonday, one of the greatest treasures of Roman #Tunisia, the 3rd-century AD mosaic of the poet Virgil writing the #Aeneid. Next to him stand Clio, the muse of history and Melpomene, the muse of tragedy.

The scroll contains the words of Book 1, verses 8-9:

"Musa, mihi causus memora ..."

"My muse, remind me of the causes, tell me ..."

Discovered in a house in Sousse (Hadrumetum).

Read my new serialisation of the Historia Augusta with a full reader's guide explaining who is who, what is what and what the hell is going on. Only on Substack!

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A Reader’s Guide to the Historia Augusta Full Edition

Paid subscribers get a full edition with the whole of Part One of the Life of Hadrian, translated and with a full guide to who is who and what in blazes is going on!

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The Historia Augusta is Rome's strangest text - fact and fiction mixed, sometimes in the same sentence. But it can be difficult to follow. Starting today, a new serialisation, with the Life of Hadrian. In clear English with a full guide for the casual reader.

Free preview - shorturl.at/FKeRk

The shield comes from Reifenstein Castle, in the Austrian Tirol, which was owned by the religious military order known as the Teutonic Knights.

For #FindsFriday, a 15th-century Austrian tournament targe with a notch at the upper left to support the lance of a charging knight. The motto reads, brilliantly:

IO HARR · LAS UBER GAN (Just wait! You'll be beaten!). IO HARR is repeated around the outside.

Were Romans Visited by Angels? Acta Populi, Number XXVIII

#ancientbluesky #Jesus #romanhistory #Caesar

When Caesar was pondering whether or not to cross the Rubicon by crossing the Rubicon and get the dice rolling, a strange figure appeared and showed him the way. But what was this odd vision?

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It celebrates his second appointment as praefectus urbi of Rome in 487 AD. He has money strewn at his feet as a sign of his munificence, an eagle-topped sceptre in one hand, and the mappa circensis, the flag waved to start the consular games in the other.

Because you've been good this week, for #ReliefWednesday, here is the stunning Boethius Diptych from Museo di Santa Giulia, Brescia, #Italy. Made from ivory, it shows (on both panels) the consul Manlius Boethius.

For #TombTuesday, the beautiful Amazonmachy sarcophagus fragment from Museo di Santa Giulia, Brescia, #Italy. Discovered in 1998, reused (face down) in the floor of the San Salvatore Church, it dates to the 2nd or 3rd century AD and is made from #Greek marble.

As this article has Life of Brian references in it, can we just give The Daily Star their flowers for this headline:

Plus I don't think he was, but mostly the article thing.

Because then I couldn't write this article.

How Did Jesus Win? A brief historical guide.

#ancientbluesky #history #Jesus #Chrsitianity #Roman

Why Jesus? I mean, out of all of them. I know a theologian will give you an answer, but what does history say about how Jesus managed to win the race between all the 1st Century AD Jewish preachers?

Let's find out! - shorturl.at/HZE0q

In a change from the normal #mosaicmonday, how about #museummonday instead!?

From Museo di Santa Giulia, Brescia, #Italy, the stunning late 4th-century AD Lipsanoteca di Brescia, a reliquary made from walnut and ivory depicting a wide range of #Christian iconography.

Ch-ch-ch-changes! As part of my constant thrust to try and bring you not only the best content I can muster, I am always trying to improve the format of the three weekly content drops.

An update to the weekly Substack content carousel that some might find exciting if one is interested in the Historia Augusta. And one should be!

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© The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

#archaeology #classics #ancientbluesky Fragment of a horse statue from the Mausoleum of Halikarnassus, Bodrum, #Turkey, c. 350 BC. Attributed to Pytheos of Priene.

Thank you very much for your kind words. They are much appreciated.

On Military Coups in the Roman Empire? What did the Romans think when the inevitable military coup happened?

#romans #ancientbluesky #history

Military coups frequently happened, but what did the people think about them? Was it seen as legitimate regime change or terrifying political overreach?

open.substack.com/pub/jamescov...

This presented something of a problem during famine or plague, for example, when those same men were expected to pay up, but had nobody to get it from. A lot of them simply ran away to avoid having to pay.

There are many reasons for the decline, and if I could fit them all into a Bluesky post, I would probably be a wealthy man!

The task of collecting taxes was devolved to important nobles in the provinces, who were simply told to come up with a certain amount of money on request.

Traditionally, it is four, and Horus has four sons, but I believe there have been some examples found with as many as six.

But you can try and make the argument go away by running around squealing about antisemitism and taking everything he says out of context. It should also be remembered that this attempt to turn Hasan into a hate figure has spectactularly backfired.

The problem is that they no longer understand modern social media. The argument against Israel has been lost in public opinion. You cannot make this Israeli administration more popular and Hasan represents the majority view of Israel in the US now.