WALL FRESCO FROM THE "CUBICULUM" OF THE HOUSE "OF AUGUSTUS", 30 BCE. PALATINE HILL In this rather unclear scene, we can make out two female figures. One, at centre left, is taller and facing away from us, her hair tied behind her head. She's wearing a white peplos and himation, and the elegant line of her neck draws our attention down to her shoulder and along her arm. Facing her is a shorter girl we see in profile, tilting her head as if listening as she looks at the woman in white. The girl has her brown hair in a bun and her white peplos leaves a shoulder uncovered. Her peplos is, however, red-brown with a flower or leopard-skin pattern on it. She carries a silver plate. I hope these two women are having a conversation that isn't about men, but we'll never know.

For #FrescoFriday I present this small #fresco from about 30 BCE, in the corner of the "cubiculum" of the so-called #HouseofAugustus on the #Palatine in #Rome. Two elegantly attenuated female figures stand outdoors in a somewhat illegible space. Perhaps a #Dionysiac scene. #AncientBluesky 🏺

ŒCUS FRESCO, C. 30 BCE. HOUSE "OF AUGUSTUS", PALATINE HILL This sumptuous frescoed wall is an extraordinary example of the sophistication of late Republican painting. Painstakingly reconstructed from hundreds of fragments in the C20, this was one of the most important reception rooms in the house, with a small decorative portico around three sides of the room and the fourth side open to the peristyle garden off the left-hand side of this photo. It is almost incredibly lavish, with its lower half covered in panels of cinnabar separated by dark green bands covered in tiny floral and human images. Above a green and pink cornice, illusionistic architecture opens onto scenes of people gathering outside as if watching events in the room.

For #FrescoFriday we're delving into the #Palatine hill and the late-#Republican #domus called the #HouseofAugustus. Its main family gathering space, the #œcus, has some of the most magnificent #fresco work in #Rome. /1 #AncientBluesky 🏺

GEOMETRIC MOSAIC, C. 30 BCE. HOUSE "OF AUGUSTUS", PALATINE HILL At the end of the long row of reception rooms facing the peristyle in the late Republican house said to be that of Augustus, is this deceptively simple black and white mosaic pavement based on the triangle and the hexagon. The number of patterns in the design beguiles the eye. It's by far the most complex mosaic floor in this domus, though there were other opus sectile floors that were removed when the house was buried during the reign of Augustus to make a platform for the temple of Apollo above. Though the peristyle has vanished and the reception rooms are dark and pierced by the substructures of later buildings above, we can still get a sense of the luxury of a C1 BCE domus on the Palatine, whether or not it belonged to Imperator Iulius Caesar, the man who would later assume the name of Augustus. (I'm of the opinion that this house belonged to one of his enemies.)

#MosaicMonday surprises us with a complex geometric #mosaic in the #HouseofAugustus, which by ancient accounts was quite spare and simple. This #domus on the #Palatine in #Rome is anything but. It was a luxurious mansion, later despoiled and built over by #Augustus himself. #ClassicsBluesky 🏺