Jon Hawke

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 🏺

After the Dacian Wars in 109 AD the Trophy of Trajan (Tropaeum Traiani) was built next to the altar to commemorate the Roman Empire's victories over the Dacians. It gave its name to the later Roman fort probably built around 106, 1.4 km to the southwest.

The Battle of Adamclisi was a major clash fought nearby during Trajan's Dacian Wars in the winter of 101 to 102 between the Roman Empire and the Dacians resulting in a decisive Roman victory, though both sides suffered very heavy casualties. A monumental altar was built nearby in 102 to commemorate the victory.

The city was destroyed by the Goths, but it was rebuilt during Constantine the Great's rule with improved defensive walls. Civitas Tropaensium survived until the Avars sacked it in 587 when the Avar Hagan, although he had concluded a peace with the Empire from which he received the sum of 100,000 gold coins in exchange for the obligation to refrain from attacks, violated the imperial territory and conquered Tropaeum Traiani "through a military action which gave him a lot of work, because the cities did not surrender easily". It then ceased to be an important city of Dobruja and was no longer mentioned for seven hundred years.

#RomanFortThursday

Civitas Tropaensium was a Roman city situated in the #Roman province of Moesia. The city developed around the fort, colonised with Roman veterans of the Dacian Wars, and became a municipium. (See Alt.)
#Archaeology #History

#HillfortsWednesday

Old #Oswestry hillfort, Shropshire. The #hillfort, which occupies a lowland site, is one of the most #majestic in the region. The internal area is about 5.3ha. (© Clwyd-Powys #Archaeological Trust 90-mc6-0009).

#Archaeology

Monument with inscription of Gnaeus Munatius Aurelius Bassus in Rome. CIL XIV 3955: Gn(aeus !) Munatius M(arci) f(ilius) Pal(atina) / Aurelius Bassus / proc(urator) Aug(usti) / praef(ectus) fabr(um) praef(ectus) coh(ortis) III / sagittariorum praef(ectus) coh(ortis) iterum II / Asturum censitor civium / Romanorum coloniae Victri/censis quae est in Brit{t}annia / Camaloduni curator / viae Nomentanae patronus eiusdem / municipi(i) flamen perpetu(u)s / duumvirali potestate / aedilis dictator IIII

#EpigraphyTuesday
#TombTuesday

Tomb inscription for Gnaeus Munatius Aurelius Bassus, mentioning Camulodunum in its ninth line. The tomb is noticeable for the precision of its lettering. Vatican Museum, Rome.

📸Rabax63 CC BY-SA 4.0

William Borlase (1695-1772)

William Borlase (1695-1772)

Engraving- Cornish Cromlechs - Cornwall -UK. Archaeologia Cambrensis -1857. R. T. Pentreath

#TombTuesday

Zennor Quoit is a ruined #megalithic #burial chamber or dolmen, located on a moor about a mile east of the village of Zennor, #Cornwall. It dates to 2500–1500 BC. The 12.5-tonne roof, collapsed some time between 1770 and 1865.

#Archaeology #History

The cippus, which seems to have been a border stone, appears to display a text dedicating a legal contract between the Etruscan families of Velthina (from Perugia) and Afuna (from Chiusi), regarding the sharing or use, including water rights, of a property upon which there was a tomb belonging to the noble Velthinas.

#EpigraphyTuesday

The Cippus Perusinus is a stone tablet (cippus) discovered on the hill of San Marco, near Perugia, #Italy, in 1822. The tablet bears 46 lines of incised #Etruscan text, about 130 words - 3rd or 2nd century BC.
(See Alt. For more)

#Archaeology #History #writing

Roman mosaic tells a forgotten story of the Trojan War The Best of Our Knowledge explores topics on learning, education, and research.You may already be familiar with Homer’s Iliad.And more than 2,000 years later, the ancient Greek epic is taught in class...

Roman mosaic tells a forgotten story of the Trojan War | WAMC
www.wamc.org/podcast/the-...

William Borlase (1695-1772)

William Borlase (1695-1772)

Engraving- Cornish Cromlechs - Cornwall -UK. Archaeologia Cambrensis -1857. R. T. Pentreath

#TombTuesday

Zennor Quoit is a ruined #megalithic #burial chamber or dolmen, located on a moor about a mile east of the village of Zennor, #Cornwall. It dates to 2500–1500 BC. The 12.5-tonne roof, collapsed some time between 1770 and 1865.

#Archaeology #History

#MosaicMonday

#Roman floor mosaic from the Grotte Celoni area of the via Casilina, Rome. End of 1st - 2nd century AD.
(National Roman Museum, #Rome, #Italy)
#Art #History

#MosaicMonday

Floor #mosaic with guard #Dog with collar tied to door knob with labrys of the House of Paquius Proculus on the Via dell'Abbondanza, (I.7.1) - 1st century AD -

Archaeological Park of #Pompeii

A lovely oil lamp from Roman Cirencester (Corinium) with its lion motif. Now part of the collections at Corinium Museum in Cirencester. 📸 My own. #RomanBritain #Cirencester

A stone circle in a green field with hills beyond

For #StandingStoneSunday The peaceful, rural stone circle of the Piper's Stones, Athgreany, Co. Wicklow in Ireland in 2019.

I first visited in autumn 1989 on a bike during my year off as an aspiring archaeologist waiting to go to uni.

📷 My own, 2019

The Arthurlie Cross at Barrhead in East Renfrewshire. Dating to sometime between the 9th and 11th centuries, the cross-shaft is a product of the early medieval kingdom of Strathclyde. 📸 My own #StandingStoneSunday #ArthurlieCross #Strathclyde

Bronze head of Sulis Minerva, looking straight ahead at the viewer

Finally got to see the bronze head of Sulis Minerva at the Roman baths 🖤

A weathered and pitted stone standing within a fenced enclosure. The stone is slender and higher on the left side where it looks like a pointing finger. The sky is blue and almost cloudless.

For #StandingStoneSunday, the King Stone at Rollright in glorious sunshine a few days ago, just on the opposite side of the road from the stone circle.

Latin: PUMPEIUS CARANTORIUS

("[The stone of] Pumpeius, [son of] Carantorius')

Ogham: P[AM]P[E]S Ogham: ROL[ACUJN M[A]Q ILLUNA

('Pumpeius') ("Rolacun son of Illuna') - the names are Irish

Date: sixth century.
#StandingStoneSunday #History (2/2)📸My own.

#StandingStoneSunday
Originally standing in the grass verge of a road known as Water Street, two miles south of Margam on the road to Kenfig, and near the early church site of Eglwys Nunydd. A vertical Latin inscription is accompanied by two others in Irish ogham script. (1/2) 👇

Castle Douglas horned pony cap crosses Atlantic for exhibition The horned cap from southern Scotland would have made the pony wearing it look

Pony Goes to Hollywood (well, Harvard anyway)

The Torrs Celtic pony *mythical beast cap* heads west

#IronAge #Archaeology

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

My photo shows a museum display with colourful Minoan pottery cups arranged on three clear shelves, one above the other. These cups, known as Kamares Ware, are from Phaistos, Crete. They were made in palace workshops, c. 1800-1700 BC. The cups range in shape and size from conic and cylindrical cups (top and middle shelves) to hemispherical and carinated shaped cups (bottom shelf). They are decorated with multi-coloured geometric motifs; with spirals and swirls painted in red and white pigment on black.

Sipping my coffee ☕️ and thinking about these marvellous Minoan cups!

They look so modern it’s incredible to think they were made during the Bronze Age some 3,800 years ago!

Heraklion Archaeological Museum, Crete. 📷 by me

#Archaeology

Horsemen of the Roman army wore a parade helmet like this during demonstrations, which were part of their training. The helmet protected the head against the blows of spears. This image was originally posted to Flickr by TimeTravelRome

#Roman cavalry helmet. Possibly this face of woman represents an #Amazon. The band on the forehead (torques) was supposed to symbolize Amazons' "barbaric" character. Bronze. 100-200 AD. From Nola. Now in the British Museum.

#Ancient #Art #History #Archaeology

#RomanSiteSaturday

Tradition has it that the so-called ‘Villa of Augustus’, also known as the Dionysiac Villa in Somma Vesuviana, near #Nola (an ancient Campanian town in #Naples) was the place where Emperor #Augustus breathed his last circa 14 AD. 

A nice tradition 👀🤔
#Archaeology #Roman #History

Indeed

#FindsFriday - Cremation Burial.

The leaden canister contains the cremated bones of a man aged at least 35 in a linen cloth. Libations of #wine, milk    or honey could have been poured down the leaden pipe.

Found at the south-east of the fortress at #Caerleon #Archaeology 📸 My own

Large quantities of roofing tile and brick were produced by the #legion for use at the fortress.
From about AD 100, many were stamped with the legions title, official use only. The kilns were probably located near the River Usk. 📸 My own.

#FindsFriday #History #Caerleon #RomanBritain

Large quantities of roofing tile and brick were produced by the #legion for use at the fortress.
From about AD 100, many were stamped with the legions title, official use only. The kilns were probably located near the River Usk. 📸 My own.

#FindsFriday #History #Caerleon #RomanBritain

#FrescoFriday

Painted plaster found at Caerleon fortress baths.
📷 My own.

#Archaeology #artwork #History #RomanBritain

For #FindsFriday one more chance to enjoy the extraordinary newly-discovered Roman lead pig from Llangynfelyn, Ceredigion; one of a pair seemingly abandoned 🤔

Emperor Domitian's name is cast on the top, declaring it to be Imperial property 🧐

👉 @rcahmwales.bsky.social 3D model here: skfb.ly/pG6DJ

#FindsFriday - Cremation Burial.

The leaden canister contains the cremated bones of a man aged at least 35 in a linen cloth. Libations of #wine, milk    or honey could have been poured down the leaden pipe.

Found at the south-east of the fortress at #Caerleon #Archaeology 📸 My own

#RomanFortThursday

Legionary fortress of Carnuntum and its amphitheatre. Headquarters of the Pannonian fleet from 50 AD. After the 1st century, it was capital of the Pannonia Superior province. It also became a large city of 50,000 people.

#Archaeology #History

📷 Juan Torrejón

#ReliefWednesday - Sassanid relief depicting the triumph of Shapur I (r. AD 240-270) over Valerian at Naqsh-e Rostam, located 3 km north of Persepolis. It is the most impressive of eight Sassanid rock carvings cut into the cliff beneath the tombs of their Achaemenid predecessors.