Getting ready to take my eighteen 6th form classicists to #Rome on Monday. Aside from showing them the wonders of the #EternalCity, there's photos I need of coins in #PalazzoMassimo and the #FastiTriumphales in the #CapitolineMuseums just in time for my #Mphil submission next month!
CULT STATUE OF HERCULES OLIVARIUS, C1 BCE (?). CAPITOLINE MUSEUMS The cult of Hercules in the Forum Boarium stretched back to before the foundation of Rome itself. His connection with the area was mythological: the giant Cacus terrorised the area from the Aventine to the Capitoline until Hercules killed him. But this place was the Cattle Market, and Hercules had another role, the protector of commerce, equivalent to the Phœnician god Melqart. His round temple was the first to be built entirely of Greek marble, around 100 BCE, in his role as patron of olive merchants. This statue, once the sacred image of the god, had to be reassuringly strong, but his phallus is canonically small, to show that his passions did not get the better of him. A close look reveals that his foreskin is the ideal length for Greek beauty standards (about 1/3 of the length of the rest). This is a statue for international commerce.
#PhallusThursday in the #CapitolineMuseums presents us with an eye-level #phallus of the splendid C1 BCE cult statue of #Hercules from the round temple in the #ForumBoarium. The god's muscular gilded bronze thighs frame his genitals in a show of strength, but not to intimidate. #AncientBluesky 🏺
FUNERARY STELE OF A YOUTH, 410-390 BCE. GROTTAFERRATA, MUSEO DELL'ABBAZIA, ON LOAN TO THE CAPITOLINE MUSEUMS Here we have a refined and mostly intact example of late C5 BCE Attic funerary sculpture. Once it would have been bright with colour, but no trace of the original paint remains, so we can see the Parian marble that so impassioned C18-C19 neoclassicists. The stele is rectangular, stepping back twice so it's thickest at the bottom. At top is some symmetrical palmette decoration. The stela shows a youth seated facing right, his face in profile. He has short curly hair and round cheeks, and in age is surely no older than 20. His bare shoulder and chest are broad and strong, and his chiton covers his far shoulder and his body from the waist to the ankles. He's holding an open scroll and is reading happily as his faithful dog lies in the shade beneath his chair. His legs are crossed at the ankles, a graceful touch. How this got to Grottaferrata is anyone's guess.
For #ReliefWednesday we're at a show in the #CapitolineMuseums in #Rome to find a #Greek, probably #Athenian funerary stele from c. 400 BCE with a beautiful crisp #relief of a young man, the deceased, reading a scroll, his loyal #dog under his chair. #AncientBluesky 🏺
FUNERARY INSCRIPTION OF MARITIMUS AND QUINTA, 1-25 CE. CAPITOLINE MUSEUMS Maritimi / Antoniae Drusi (scil. uxoris) l(iberti), / rogatoris. // Quintae / Antoniae Drusi (scil. uxoris) l(ibertae), / cantricis. "(Tomb) of Maritimus, freedman of Antonia (Minor), (wife) of Drusus, employed for receiving guests. (Tomb) of the singer Quinta, freedwoman of Antonia (Minor), (wife) of Drusus." These two people, freed slaves working in the household of the powerful imperial woman Antonia Minor, have a simple marble plaque to mark their tomb, with their inscriptions put into two tabulæ ansatæ inscribed rather abstractly onto the marble. It was fixed to the tomb with three iron nails, which have left large rush haloes on the marble. Maritimus was a rogator or greeter, and Quinta was a singer, for Antonia Minor in her widowhood, after the death of her husband Drusus, brother of the emperor Tiberius.
This #EpigraphyTuesday offers us a simple funerary inscription now in the #CapitolineMuseums, identifying the occupants of a tomb outside the Porta Tiburtina of #Rome as a married couple, freed slaves, Maritimus and Quinta, from the household of #AntoniaMinor, wife of #Drusus. #AncientBluesky 🏺
LIVIA AS CERES, 14-37 CE. CAPITOLINE MUSEUMS, PALAZZO NUOVO From her hairstyle, we can date this striking portrait of the first empress, Livia Drusilla, to after the death of her husband Augustus in 14 CE. It had been his practice to use Livia's image in place of other divinities - notably the statue of Concord in her temple in the Forum at the base of the Capitol - and Tiberius, her son and the successor of Augustus, carried on this policy despite his great resentment of his mother. The benefits were just too good for him to stop. Augustus wanted to link his family to the divine order to establish his dynasty as a hereditary monarchy. He himself was deified, as was one of his successors, Claudius. His family's portraits stretched across the empire, all adjusted so they would resemble him, as a visual guarantee of continuity.
#Livia as #Ceres, in the #CapitolineMuseums. Nothing could be clearer than the plan of #Augustus to divinise his family, for all his false modesty. Livia's mean little face with her beautiful eyes can't compete with her splendid diadem of ears of grain and poppies.
MARBLE RELIEF OF DANCING NYMPHS, 390-380 BCE. MUSEO GREGORIANO PROFANO, VATICAN MUSEUMS This beautiful graceful relief of unknown provenance shows three female figures in full figure, holding hands and dancing. Though the faces of the figures are almost completely worn off, the rest of the relief is full of movement and detail. The light dresses of the women cling to their bodies and flutter in the dance. The two figures at centre and at right are looking at each other, the central woman turning her head to look back at the woman on the right. This is not a Dionysiac dance, but might be a representation of the Horai, nymphs of the hours, and their dance might be a lyrical expression of the swift passage of time.
This #ReliefWednesday at the exhibition "La Grecia a Roma" at the #CapitolineMuseums, we're admiring an #Attic #relief of dancing #nymphs from 390-380 BCE, borrowed from the #VaticanMuseums. Perhaps from a funeral stela, this dance might be a reminder of how quickly time passes. #AncientBluesky 🏺
TOMBSTONE OF L. AVILLUS DIONYSIUS, C1 CE. CAPITOLINE MUSEUMS AQVILO N(epos?) K(?) AQVI / LONIS · VICIT C · XXX / SECVND(as) TVLIT / LXXXVIII / TER(tias) / TVLit / XXX / VII // HIRPINVS N(epos?) AQVI / LONIS · VICIT CXIIII / SECV(n) DAS · TVLIT / LVI TERT(ias) · TVL(it) · / XXXVI · D(is) · M(anibus) / CLAVDIA · HELICE / FEC(it) · L(ucio) · / AVILL(o) DIONYSIO / COND(octori) · GR(egis) · RVSSATAE / CONIVG(i) · DIGNISSI(mo) "To the departed shades. Claudia Helice made (this) for Lucius Avillus Dionysius, trainer of the Red Team, her most worthy spouse." The "NV" and star below the last line are catalogue designations, probably from the Delfini collection of which this once was part. Above the main inscription is a relief of a man in a tunic with two horses on either side of him, their heads toward him. Above the left-hand horse is inscribed "Aquilo, (?grandfoal) of Aquilo, won 130 races, came in second 88 times, and came in third 37 times" and above the other "Hirpinus, (?foal) of Aquilo, won 114 races, came in second 56 times, and came in third 36 times." Aquilo and Hirpinus, sire and foal, must have been Avillus' star pupils, and he was justly proud of them.
When I was studying this #epitaph for #EpigraphyTuesday on a tombstone in the #CapitolineMuseums I thought it seemed familiar. Only later did I remember that I'd helped Chapps research this a couple of years ago. Yet it bears repeating. #Rome was home to many specialist trades. #AncientBluesky 🏺
FUNERARY STELE OF O. CASSIUS VALENS, 50-100 CE. CAPITOLINE MUSEUMS Q(uintus) Cassius P(ubli) f(ilius) Gal(eria scil. tribu) / Valens, Pisis; / milit(avit) in coh(orte) IIII praetoria) / ann(is) XVIII, evocatus an(nis) II; / vix(it) ann(is) XXXX. Hic situs est; /monumentus (!) hic est. "Quintus Cassius Valens, son of Publius, registered with the Galeria tribe, originally from Pisa; he served for 18 years in the fourth Praetorian cohort and was recalled to service for 2 years; he lived 40 years. He is buried here and this is (his) tomb." The second half of the C1 CE was an interesting time to be a member of the elite Praetorian Guard, which as the main military presence in Rome exercised a good deal of political power and mostly used it to squeeze cash out of emperors and contenders alike. Valens might have had a front-row seat for the Pisonian conspiracy of 65 CE against Nero, the suppression of which won a donative of 500 denarii for each member of the Guard. Perhaps he survived the Year of the Four Emperors in 69 CE, in which the Guard withdrew its support from Galba when he reneged on a deal to pay 7500 denarii per Praetorian, with lethal results for Galba, though they ended up on the winning side by supporting Vespasian. Our man Valens might even have lived into the reign of Domitian to get a big annual pay rise.
#EpigraphyTuesday takes into the #CapitolineMuseums to find this #tombstone of a #Praetorian, found in the early C18 just outside Porta Pinciana. The #PraetorianGuard was, in the second half of the C1 CE, a good economic proposition, enough to tempt a veteran out of retirement. #AncientBluesky 🏺
Getting There: Walk Your Way Through History
Capitoline Museums are just 10 minutes from the Colosseum and 15 from the Pantheon.
Take Metro Line B to Colosseo and walk along the Roman Forum—an ancient path into art.
#CapitolineMuseums, #RomeTravel, #ColosseumToCapitoline, #RomanForumWalk
Santa Maria Maggiore and the Capitoline Hill
Sunday, March 9th, 2025 @ Rome, Italy
#WRome #SantaMariaMaggiore #SanSilvestroInCapite #SantaMariaInAracoeli #CapitolineHill #CapitolineMuseums #MuseiCapitolini #SantaMariaDellaConsolazione #SanGiorgioInVelabro #Rome #Italy
FUNERARY ALTAR OF TITUS FLAVIUS GALBIANUS, 100-150 CE. CAPITOLINE MUSEUMS Dis Manibus. / T(ito) Flavio Aug(usti) lib(erto) / Victoriano Galbian(o), / M(arcus) Ulpius Aug(usti) lib(ertus) / Patiens Victorianus tabularius menso(rum) / aedificiorum, / bene merenti. "To the departed shades. To the well-deserving imperial freedman Titus Flavius Victor Galbianus (by) the imperial freedman Marcus Ulpius Patiens Victorianus, archivist in the building office." This altar, found along the via Flaminia, was made by a younger imperial freedman bearing Trajan's family name Ulpius and a typical descriptive slave name (" Patiens", patient) for an older imperial freedman, Titus Flavius Victor Galbianus, whose name reflects his ownership by the previous imperial dynasty, the Flavians. They must have been quite close friends or relatives. Ulpius Patiens, the dedicator, made sure we knew he was an archivist (tabularius) in the city planning office, an imperial bureaucrat of mid-level importance, well outranking an ordinary citizen.
#EpigraphyTuesday at the #CapitolineMuseums in #Rome gives us the beautiful white and grey marble #funerary #altar of an imperial freedman from probably the reign of #Hadrian. This must have cost the freedman's presumptive heir, the dedicator, a denarius or two. #AncientBluesky 🏺 +ALT
It seemed kind a good idea to visit the #capitolinemuseums this morning on Good Friday. As always, it filled me with awe. #Rome
Two facing images: left marble sitting sighthound, (one of four) guarding a corner of an ancient Roman base; right: my black Poodle/Spaniel mix dog Sirius, - otherwise very fluffy but now with a fresh, sleek fur cut, - with the same pose.
Sirius posing as Roman marble sighthound. Maybe we can smuggle him in at our next visit to the #CapitolineMuseums 😄 #tinyjoys
SARCOPHAGUS FRONT WITH LION HUNT, C. 260-270 CE. CAPITOLINE MUSEUMS The mid C3 was a terrible time for the Roman empire. Constant civil war fractured the empire's unity, destroying trade and ruining crops, and opening the door to starvation and plague. The emperor Gallienus (co-emperor with his father from 253, then sole emperor from 260 to 268) was engaged in a continual effort to suppress rebellions but nonetheless lost the province of Gaul. He managed to reconquer the eastern empire after his father Valerian was captured by Shapur II, the Sasanian emperor, in 260. In this context the violent turbulent movement of this sarcophagus front makes sense - the lion hunt can be read as a metaphor, the deceased Roman commander surrounded by ferocious predators, but triumphing over them with the help of the female divinity at centre left, with a helmet and one breast bared. Her face is unfinished, so she must be the commander's wife. Two huge lion heads, unrelated to the action, protrude on either side of the front, which derive from the form of the sarcophagus "a tinozza" or "a lenòs", both referring to tubs in which the lion heads held rings for carrying. This was found along the urban section of the via Appia in the Vigna Moroni, more or less directly across the via di Porta S. Sebastiano from the Tombs of the Scipiones, in a series of tombs and columbaria first excavated (well, plundered) in the early C18. This property is now part of the gardens of the villa of the actor Roberto Benigni.
For #SarcophagusSaturday I offer this #sarcophagus front with a #lion #hunt scene. The two central figures are husband and wife, with her face unfinished, but both of them battling a pride of lions. This #relief is in the #palazzoNuovo of the #CapitolineMuseums in #Rome. #AncientBluesky 🏺
CAMEO WITH THE PUNISHMENT OF DIRCE, C1 CE. MUSEO ARCHEOLOGICO NAZIONALE DI NAPOLI The Farnese collection included an important coin and cameo section, many donated by the family's librarian and antiquarian Fulvio Orsini. This early imperial-era chalcedony cameo shows a detail of a scene also represented in a huge C1 CE statue group that stood at the centre of the courtyard of palazzo Farnese: the punishment of Dirce. The latter was a cruel queen of Thebes who mistreated her niece Antiope for letting herself be seduced by Zeus and giving birth to the twin boys Amphion and Zethus, who were protected by Hermes and raised to adulthood. When Antiope escaped from Dirce's clutches and explained her situation, her sons reacted by capturing Dirce and tying her to the horns of a wild bull, which resulted in her gruesome yet satisfying dismemberment. Here we see a detail: Amphion is taking the bull by the horns at right, while Dirce, raising her arms in supplication, is being held by the hair while Zethus' other hand is tying her to the bull's horns.
It's a load of #bull for today's #ReliefWednesday, with a #cameo from the #Farnese #collection now on display at the #CapitolineMuseums in #Rome but normally in #Naples which shows a difficult revenge on the cruel #Dirce, who is tied to the horns of a male bovine. Satisfying. #ClassicsBluesky 🏺
STRIGILATE SARCOPHAGUS, C. 230-250 CE. CAPITOLINE MUSEUMS At the end of the hallway leading to the offices of the director of the Capitoline Museums is this unlabelled sarcophagus with a partial lid whose upright has two rather crudely-carved Erotes holding up a knotted cloth or peripetasma behind a portrait of the deceased, who is shown holding a scroll. At right, before the break in the upright, a small blank tabula is being held up by two more Erotes and one imagines that a parallel image of the deceased's spouse would appear in the missing half. The sarcophagus front is entirely composed of two symmetrical strigilate panels but at the corners are two matching figures of kriophoroi or ram-carriers, originally figures of Hermes but more generally evoking pastoral peace. These figures would eventually be co-opted into Christian iconography to represent Christ the Good Shepherd, and might be secret references to Christ on this sarcophagus, but are more likely to be apotropaic images of protection.
#SarcophagusSaturday this week forces us to face the ambiguous figure of the #kriophoros. The what? The #GoodShepherd of #Christian imagery, which was appropriated directly from images of #Hermes επιμελιος, keeper of flocks. This example is in the #CapitolineMuseums in #Rome. #ClassicsBluesky 🏺
STATUE BASE DEDICATED TO VIRIUS NICOMACHUS FLAVIANUS, 402 CE. CAPITOLINE MUSEUMS Virio Nicomacho Flaviano, v(iro) c(larissimo), / quaest(ori), praet(ori), pontif(ici) maiori, / consulari Siciliae, / vicario Africae, / quaestori intra Palatium, / praef(ecto) praet(orio) iterum, co(n)s(uli) ord(inario), / historico disertissimo, / Q(uintus) Fab(ius) Memmius Symmachus, v(ir) c(larissimus), /prosocero optimo. "To Virius Nicomachus Flavianus, senator of clarissimus rank, quaestor, praetor, great pontifex, consular governor of Sicily, vicar of Africa, quaestor in the imperial palace, prefect of the praetorians for the second time, ordinary consul, eloquent historian, Quintus Fabius Memmius Symmachus, senator of clarissimus rank, (dedicates this) to the excellent grandfather of his wife." In 402, Memmius Symmachus set up two statues next to each other on his property on the Caelian hill. The wording of both inscriptions on the bases, which were found in 1617, uses symmetrical descriptions of the dedicatees (the other was Memmius' father, "eloquent orator") and both refer to illustrious non-Christian nobles and high office-holders. Flavianus was active in renewing the traditional practices of worship despite imperial disapproval, and allied himself with the usurper Eugenius (393-394) who was tolerant of the old religion. His historical works have all disappeared or been suppressed.
#EpigraphyTuesday takes us under piazza del #Campidoglio in #Rome, where the #epigraphy gallery of the #CapitolineMuseums displays two statue bases side by side, both with long dedications to illustrious defenders of the old religion against the outrages of #Christianity. #AncientBluesky 🏺
RELIEF OF MARCUS AURELIUS IN TRIUMPH, 176-180 CE. CAPITOLINE MUSEUMS This relief, one of an original twelve, comes from the triumphal arch of Marcus Aurelius, whose location is unknown. The arch must already have been demolished by the time of Constantine, because eight of its reliefs were reused in Constantine's arch. Three reliefs, including this one, were set into the walls of the C6 church of S. Martina, and moved into the Capitoline Museums when that church was rebuilt in 1635. For having been above ground continuously since antiquity, this relief is in excellent condition, though it was also restored in the C17. Here we see the emperor in a quadriga moving rightward. His chariot is beautifully decorated with reliefs and his four horses are magnificent. Above his head is a winged Victory and he is passing a temple front (Jupiter Stator?) as he approaches an arch, preceded by a trumpeter.
For #ReliefWednesday a justly famous piece from the #CapitolineMuseums in #Rome, from the first landing of the monumental staircase of the palazzo dei #Conservatori. This scene of #MarcusAurelius in #triumph has been above ground since #antiquity, somehow escaping defacement. #AncientBluesky 🏺
SARCOPHAGUS OF PORCIA POSILLA, C1 CE (?). CAPITOLINE MUSEUMS This very simple sarcophagus was found in 1874 during excavations around SS. Pietro e Marcellino, a sublimely uninteresting C18 church at the corner of the via Merulana and the modern via Labicana. Its decoration is simple, sober, and monumental. The entire sarcophagus front is taken up with the funerary inscription, on a colossal tabula ansata in light relief. The inscription says PORCIAE POSILLAE PARENTES / FILIAE BENE MERENTI / FECERVNT - that is, "To Porcia Posilla. Her parents made this for their well-deserving daughter". The original red pigment within the incised inscription still leaps out at the viewer. The epigraphy seems to be from the first century CE or the first half of the second, but its perfect regularity gives no clues to its dating. We know nothing about poor Porcia Posilla. But the stoical inscription tells us that she was a good daughter, which is what her parents wanted us to know.
For #SarcophagusSaturday, this simple monumental #sarcophagus in the #CapitolineMuseums in #Rome has always interested me, especially as it has no label and almost no online presence or printed information. It's adult-sized but contained the body of a young woman, Porcia Posilla.
FRIEZE AND CORNICE FROM THE TEMPLE OF VESPASIAN, 80-87 CE. CAPITOLINE MUSEUMS In 1811, in one of the earliest scientific excavations of the Forum, the architect Giuseppe Valadier discovered large pieces of nearly intact trabeation of the temple of Vespasian and Titus, and was able to reconstruct a small length of the cornice and frieze. What he found was remarkable in its complexity and detail, Flavian baroque at its best. The cornice is decorated with carved leaves at the top, and supported by corbels sporting a Lesbian kymation above an egg-and-dart frieze in which the darts have arrowheads. Below is a frieze of dentils separated by rings with two double rings below, the signature of Domitian's architect Rabirius. Below, and even more complex egg and leaf motif frames the main frieze, which is carved with symbols of priestly sacrifice between bucrania (not shown). Everything is covered in relief - note particularly the sacrificial jug which has a hunt scene on it.
#ReliefWednesday brings us to #Rome, into the #CapitolineMuseums, where by sheer good fortune we can see a partial reconstruction of the cornice and frieze of the temple of #Vespasian, and even see the secret signature of the architect #Rabirius, who built the #DomusAugustana.
