IVORY KNIFE HANDLE, C2-C3 CE. MUSEO NAZIONALE DEL BARGELLO The popular passion for gladiators in the ancient Roman world crossed the boundaries of class. This ivory knife handle, a luxury item, shows a secutor, a gladiator armed with a shield which we see covering most of the body, here decorated with four quadrants each containing a four-petaled flower. He also had a leg greave and an arm protector for his sword arm. The most notable aspect of his armour was a distinctive helmet with many little eyeholes, which was rounded so as not to catch the net of the secutor's standard opponent, the retiarius, armed with a net and trident. This helmet, on the contrary, has a little finial at the top, for decorative purposes. It's a beautiful little object.

For a belated #ReliefWednesday, an ivory knife handle from the #Bargello in #Florence, dating to the C2 or C3 CE. The tiny figure is that of a #secutor or "pursuer", one of the specific roles of a #gladiator. Its survival is well-nigh miraculous. #AncientBluesky 🏺

This is the Ludovisi sarcophagus (mid-3rd AD). It absolutely writhes, hums and bursts with energy and movement. It reminds me of Tacitus’ famous phrase about the Romans: “they create a wasteland & call it peace.”

🏛️National Museum, Rome
📷mine
#ReliefWednesday

📸 Arunansh B. Goswami.

#ReliefWednesday

Depiction of Emperor Theodosius I on the pedestal of the obelisk of Theodosius I in #Istanbul. #Art #History

#ReliefWednesday - Relief depicting the personification of the city of Salona, carved into Porta Caesarea in the 4th century AD. The letters MIVSF inscribed on the flag are the initials of the official name of Salona, Martia Iulia Valeria Salona Felix.

Split Archaeological Museum, Croatia.

#ancientbluesky #reliefwednesday #Roman

Funerary relief of two freedmen and a freedwoman, late 1st Century BC

"L(ucius) Gallonius L(uci) l(ibertus) Ascanio / L(ucius) Gallonius
L(uci) l(ibertus) Philodamus / Gallonia L(uci) l(iberta) Laais"

For #ReliefWednesday, 3rd Century AD epitaph, #Italy

"D(is) M(anibus). Valentino filio, qui vixit an(nis) V,
me(n)s(ibus) V, Aur(elius) Achilles m(iles) c(o)ho(rtis) VIII p(raetoriae) ((centurio)) pater fecit dulcissimo b(ene) m(erenti) fecit.

Text in the museum's description: Seated Narcissus is reflected in the water beside a cupid with a torch Villa del Petraro, frigidarium 17 Stucco, c. AD 79 61002 Narciso seduto si specchia nell'acqua, accanto un amorino con fiaccola Villa del Petraro, frigidarium 17 Stucco, 79 d.C. ca.

Narcissus and Cupid, from Villa del Petraro, frigidarium 17
Stucco, c. AD 79
On display at Museo archeologico di Stabiae.
#ReliefWednesday

📸 me

Tienda de vinos, un mostrador equipado con embudos y jarras de diferentes tamaños cuelgan sobre el mostrador. El comerciante vierte vino en uno de ellos, el cliente sostiene una jarra bajo el embudo. Siglo III d. C. 📷 lupa.at/25058

#ReliefWednesday
Tienda de vinos, un mostrador equipado con embudos y jarras de diferentes tamaños cuelgan sobre el mostrador.
El comerciante vierte vino en uno de ellos, el cliente sostiene una jarra bajo el embudo.
Siglo III d. C.
#History #Roma
#RomanArchaeology
#AncientBluesky

1/ Suggested hashtags to join on a Wednesday

#HillfortsWednesday
#NormanWednesday

#EgyptologyWednesday

#ReliefWednesday

#GothicWednesday

#WellsOnWednesday

#WallsOnWednesday

#BrickworkWednesday

#WindowsWednesday
#WindowsOnWednesday

#Woodensday

1 of 7 #WednesdayHashtags

Wednesday #
#WednesdayGreen
#AquilineWednesday
#BookshopWednesday
#EgyptologyWednesday
#GothicWednesday
#HillfortsWednesday
#HollowayWednesday
#WaterTowerWednesday
#LegendaryWednesday
#ReliefWednesday
#RoseWednesday
#WallsOnWednesday

Description from the Kunsthistorisches Museum: “The most important ancient cameo now housed in the Vienna Collection of Classical Antiquities, the Gemma Augustea, served to glorify the deeds of Emperor Augustus and his successor Tiberius. Carved from two layers of Arabic sardonyx, it is a masterpiece of the imperial gem-making workshop in Rome. In the upper frieze, Augustus is enthroned in the attire and pose of Jupiter, holding a scepter and augur's staff. To the emperor's right sits Roma, the patroness of the city. Between the heads of the two figures is the Capricorn, the celestial body of Augustus, and at his feet is an eagle. On the right are allegorical figures: Oikoumene, the inhabited earth; Oceanus, the personification of the sea; and Italia with a cornucopia and two boys. Next to Roma, Augustus's great-nephew Germanicus stands in officer's attire. On the left, Tiberius, the emperor's crown prince and stepson, dismounts from a two-horse chariot driven by Victoria. In the lower part of the image, gods (?) are erecting a trophy (victory monument) and leading in captured barbarians. The depiction perhaps refers to the suppression of the Dalmatian Revolt: On January 16, 10 AD, Tiberius, commander-in-chief of the Roman troops, entered Rome; as victor, he appeared before the emperor. The cameo is first mentioned in 1246 in an inventory of the Saint Sernin monastery in Toulouse. At the beginning of the 17th century, it came into Habsburg possession through purchase by Emperor Rudolf II.”

✨Augustus and Tiberius - the Gemma Augustea✨

One of the most impressive artefacts from the Julio-Claudian period, the Gemma Augustea is our pick this #ReliefWednesday.

Gravestone fragment showing three Roman legionnaires. The fragment was found at Croy Hill on the Antonine Wall, and is now part of the collections at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. 📸 My own. #ReliefWednesday #RomanScotland #NMS

IVORY PYX WITH DIONYSIAC SCENE, C4 CE (?). VATICAN MUSEUMS This worn and fragmented elephant ivory circular container was originally made as a cosmetics box, probably from the workshops of Alexandria which were the best in the empire. Here we see a beautiful relief scene of a Dionysiac procession of children in a woodland dance, a sort of innocent parody of an actual Bacchic nighttime party. A child in a beautifully-carved tunic at centre brandishes a tambourine as he dances in a group moving to the right. Behind him is a tree, a cantharos on the ground, and another ground of children heading around the pyx in the other direction. This container was considered splendid enough in the Middle Ages to contain one of the important relics in the heavily fortified chapel of the Sancta Sanctorum, the Holy of Holies, which was the private chapel of the medieval popes at the Lateran.

A real banger for #ReliefWednesday from the #VaticanMuseums: a C4 CE #ivory #pyx from #Egypt, with a #Dionysiac #relief on it, reused as a #reliquary in the Middle Ages in the huge locked altar of the #SanctaSanctorum at the #Lateran, the private chapel of the medieval popes. #AncientBluesky 🏺

My photo shows a carving of a hedgehog in a basket. It comes from a wall relief in the Tomb of Mereruka, Vizier of King Teti, Sixth Dynasty, c. 2330 BC. The hedgehog is depicted in profile facing right, inside a rectangular basket. It has a long, almost oval shaped body. Its back is filled with short, parallel carved strokes representing densely-packed spines. It has four short legs below its body. Its head is narrow and pointed with a long snout. It has a small circular eye and long ears of a desert hedgehog. The rectangular basket has patterned edges and looks like woven basketry. It has a long cord on top which is suspended from the arm of an offering bearer. The hedgehog is being presented to the owner of the tomb. This little hedgehog may carry two meanings at once. It is a food offering to provide nourishment for the deceased but it may also represent magical protection for his rebirth.

A lovely little hedgehog in a basket carved by an Egyptian artisan some 4,300 years ago! 🦔❤️

Detail from a wall relief in the Tomb of Mereruka at Saqqara.

📷 by me

#ReliefWednesday
#Archaeology

The tauroctony is depicted in its simplest form. In the centre, Mithras, with a bare head, slaughters a bull. Flanking him are Cautes, who wears a Phrygian cap and holds a raised torch on the left, and Cautopates, whose head is bare and whose torch is lowered on the right. In the upper corners, there are draped busts of Sol on the left, adorned with a radiant crown, and Luna on the right, featuring a crescent moon. The rigidity of the figures, the frontal orientation of their faces, and the relief's overall style suggest that it was produced locally.

#ReliefWednesday - Tufa relief featuring a sculpted bas-relief scene of Mithras Tauroctonos. From Transylvania, once part of the Roman province of Dacia, dated to the 2nd-3rd century AD.

National Museum of Transylvanian History, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

#archaeology #Reliefwednesday

Funerary monument of Caecilia Philete, #Rome, 2-3rd Century AD

It reads -

D(is) M(anibus) Caecilia Philete fecit, seviva, sibi et nutritori suo
Caecilio Marciano et lib(ertis) libertabusq(ue) posterisq(ue) eorum; hunc monumentum neque vendere neque donare licet.

Casa del relieve de Télefo, Herculano, Italia. Data del siglo II a.C. El relieve se encuentra actualmente en el Museo Arqueológico Nacional de Nápoles. Hay una copia en Herculano. 📷 A. M.

#ReliefWednesday
Casa del relieve de Télefo, Herculano, Italia. Data del siglo II a.C.
El relieve se encuentra actualmente en el Museo Arqueológico Nacional de Nápoles.
Hay una copia en Herculano.
#History #Roma
#RomanArchaeology
#Archaeology #Art
#AncientBluesky

Terracotta panel from a water tank shows columns supporting an arched area with water flowing in the bottom and a tree/plant on the left. In the centre is Venus on one knee with her hands around two long strands of her hair. A large jar behind her leg has water running out of it. On the left is an attendant holding something cloth-like, and on the right is another attendant, with a narrow jug.

#ReliefWednesday from water tank, featuring rather grumpy Venus bathing in a stream attended by nymphs holding fluffy towel + water jug.
From High Rochester Fort, #Roman Bremenium: place of the roaring stream. Built on Hadrian's wall/Dere St for border control.
Gt North Museum: Hancock, Newcastle 🏺

Oval cameo framed in an ornate gold mount. It is carved in layered onyx, masterfully exploiting the contrast between its bright upper layers for the high-relief facing busts and an eagle, and the dark brown lower layer as a dramatic background that enhances depth and definition. The two wreathed male profiles turn toward each other. Female profiles visible in the slightly shadowed background layers.

For #ReliefWednesday the so called Gemma Claudia, made of five-layered onyx. Emperor Claudius and his forth wife Agrippina minor are depicted on the left, opposite her parents Germanicus - brother of Claudius - and Agrippina maior.
The cameo was presumably made on...🧵1/2

📷 me
🏺

1/ Suggested hashtags to join on a Wednesday

#HillfortsWednesday
#NormanWednesday

#EgyptologyWednesday

#ReliefWednesday

#GothicWednesday

#WellsOnWednesday

#WallsOnWednesday

#BrickworkWednesday

#WindowsWednesday
#WindowsOnWednesday

#Woodensday

1 of 7 #WednesdayHashtags

Wednesday

#WednesdayGreen
#AquilineWednesday
#BookshopWednesday
#EgyptologyWednesday
#GothicWednesday
#HillfortsWednesday
#HollowayWednesday
#WaterTowerWednesday
#LegendaryWednesday
#ReliefWednesday
#RoseWednesday
#WallsOnWednesday

Relief depicting three spirits that probably formed part of a family shrine. It was found in a building that formed part of the vicus at Housesteads Roman Fort on Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland. Now on display in the site museum. 📸 My own. #ReliefWednesday #RomanBritain

If you know more details about this artefact, we’d love to know more. It is apparently held by the Antiques Museum in the Royal Palace, Stockholm.

#ReliefWednesday #AncientRome #Bull

Herewith, a grasshopper, dragonfly and frog perched on reeds in the tomb of Kagemni.

Kagmeni was a senior official in the reign of Pharaoh Teti who lived around 2,345BC. It’s thought Kagmeni may have been married to one of Teti’s daughters.

Isn’t it a delight?

📍 Saqqara 🇪🇬
#ReliefWednesday

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 🏺

In this relief, the king is shown receiving the ring of kingship from a female figure, often identified as the divinity Aredvi Sura Anahita. However, the king is not depicted in a pose typical of a divinity, and it is therefore likely that the woman is a relative, perhaps Queen Shapurdukhtak of Sakastan.

#ReliefWednesday - Sassanid relief in Naqsh-e Rostam, near Persepolis (Iran), depicting the investiture of Narseh, the seventh king of the Sassanid Empire (c. AD 293–303). Narseh, Shapur I's youngest son, had ruled the eastern provinces and was called “Great King of Armenia” before becoming shah.

Relieve que muestra al emperador Marco Aurelio y su familia ofreciendo sacrificios en el Templo de Júpiter, en la Colina Capitolina. Año: 175-180 d.C. ⛪ Iglesia de los SS. Luca e Martina, Roma 🇮🇹 Italia

#ReliefWednesday
Relieve que muestra al emperador Marco Aurelio y su familia ofreciendo sacrificios en el Templo de Júpiter, en la Colina Capitolina. Año: 175-180 d.C.
⛪ Iglesia de los SS. Luca e Martina, Roma 🇮🇹 Italia
#History #Roma
#RomanArchaeology
#Archaeology
#AncientBluesky

#ReliefWednesday at the House of the Griffins on the Palatine Hill.

A Republican era house buried under the Imperial Palace, the stucco relief seen here gives the house its modern name.

Photo my own at tinyurl.com/mrxwkmn6

#AncientBlueSky🏺