Go to Images Part I; Images Part II; Images Part III; Images Part IV; Images Part V; Images Part VI; Images Part VII
Female Bust: cameo
The hairstyle dates this unidentified woman to Livia's period, opening 1st century CE.
Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris. Credits: Ann Raia, 2009
Keywords: Empire, jewelry, women
Sacrifice to Taranus: floor mosaic of stone, marble, glass
Scene from the Agricultural calendar of the Four Seasons. A woman and man perform religious rites at an altar before the nude statue of the indigenous Gallic god Taranus, to whom the Romans gave the traits of Jupiter. From villa St. Roman en Gal, 3rd century CE.
Musee des Antiquites Nationales, St. Germain-en-Laye (Paris). Credits: Ann Raia, 2009
Keywords: Empire, religion, Gaul
Compitalia: floor mosaic of stone, marble, glass
Scene from the Agricultural calendar of the Four Seasons, the month of January: sacrifice to the Lares during the festival of the Compitalia. From the villa St. Roman en Gal, 3rd century CE.
Musee des Antiquites Nationales, St. Germain-en-Laye (Paris). Credits: Ann Raia, 2009
Keywords: Empire, religion, Gaul
Baking bread: floor mosaic of stone, marble, glass
Scene from the Agricultural calendar of the Four Seasons: slave puts bread into an outdoor roofed oven. From the villa St. Roman en Gal, 3rd century CE.
Musee des Antiquites Nationales, St. Germain-en-Laye (Paris). Credits: Ann Raia, 2009
Keywords: Empire, work, Gaul
Celtic Wheels: gold votives (rouelles)
associated with the sun and worship and iconic images of the indigenous Gallic god Taranus, a cruel god of thunder who may have received human sacrifice. Some bear additional symbols and some seem to have been worn as jewelry. Gallo-Roman period (1-4th century CE).
Musee des Antiquites Nationales, St. Germain-en-Laye (Paris). Credits: Ann Raia, 2009
Keywords: Empire, religion, Gaul
Sestertius of Caligula
Inscribed with the names and images of his three sisters (Agrippina II, Drusilla, Julia); each holds a cornucopia and appears in the guise of a goddess: Drusilla also holds a patera and Julia holds a rudder. Below them the letters S[enatus] C[onsulto] (voted by decree of the Senate) are written. Minted in Rome, 37-38 CE. Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo. Credits: Ann Raia, 2009.
Keywords: Empire, women, coin
As of Caligula
Inscribed with the name and seated image of the goddess Vesta. On either side of her throne are the letters S[enatus] C[onsulto] (voted by decree of the Senate). Minted in Rome, 37-38 CE; another, minted 40-41 CE. Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo. Credits: Ann Raia, 2009.
Keywords: Empire, religion, coin
Coin portrait, Silver denarius
Julia Soaemias Bassiana(d. 222 CE), Augusta, Mater Augustorum, Mater Castrorum, mother of the Emperor Elagabulus. Inscribed: IVLIA SOAEMIAS AVG. Minted at Rome, 218-222 CE. Getty Villa. Credits: Ann Raia, 2009.
Keywords: Empire, women, economy
Coin portrait, silver denarius
Plautilla(2nd-3rd century CE), Augusta, wife of Emperor Caracalla. Inscribed: PLAVTILLA AVGVSTA. Minted at Rome, 202-205 CE. Getty Villa. Credits: Ann Raia, 2009.
Keywords: Empire, women, economy, empress
Portrait, marble
Head of Plautilla(2nd-3rd century CE), Augusta, wife of Emperor Caracalla. Rome, 202-205 CE. Getty Villa. Credits: Ann Raia, 2009.
Keywords: Empire, women, sculpture, empress
Coin portrait, bronze sestertius
Lucilla, wife of Emperor Lucius Verus. Inscribed: LVCILLA AVGVSTA. Minted at Rome, 164-169 CE. Getty Villa. Credits: Ann Raia, 2009.
Keywords: Empire, women, economy, empress
Medea, marble relief tablet
Medea with the daughters of Pelias prepare the bath into which his divided body will be placed. Roman copy of Greek original of 420-410 BCE. Berlin, Pergamum Museum. Credits: Ann Raia, 2005.
Keywords: Drama, myth, sculpture
Bank, bronze
Shaped like a girl with curley hair, seated, with her right hand outstretched and her left hand holding open the top of her tunic where the money slot is. The upper edge of her tunic has incised decorations as well as two strips of copper trim. 25-50 CE. Getty Villa. Credits: Ann Raia, 2006, 2009.
Keywords: children, money, sculpture
Seated Woman, marble
Portrait statue honoring a woman, perhaps a priestess, who is seated on the throne, wearing the mural headdress and accompanied by the attributes of the goddess Cybele. Rome, 50 CE. Getty Villa. Credits: Ann Raia, 2006.
Keywords: Empire, women, sculpture, religion
Old Woman, bronze statuette
A servant spinning or one of the fates (smaller). Greek, 100-1 BCE. Getty Villa. Credits: Ann Raia, 2006, 2009.
Keywords: work, women, sculpture
Musician, painted terracotta statuette
A seductive female slave dances animatedly with her lyre. Greek, South Italy 200-100 BCE. Getty Villa. Credits: Ann Raia, 2006.
Keywords: work, women, sculpture, music
Girl Doll, terracotta figurine
Articulated limbs. Greek, 500-400 BCE. Getty Villa. Credits: Ann Raia, 2006.
Keywords: play, children, toy
La Meditrina (Pharmacienne), limestone bas relief with traces of paint
A stele decorated with a work scene; the setting is disputed: pharmacy, a glass factory, a soap factory? A woman is seated in the center, among casks and bottles; behind her is a smaller male figure with mortar and pestle (small). Roman Gaul. Found in Grand (Vosges), 2nd century CE. Epinal (France), le musee departemental d'art ancien et contemporain (photographed in the special exhibit on the ancient bath in Cluny). Credits: Ann Raia, 2009.
Keywords: work, women, sculpture, death
Bas relief panel: Forum of Pompeii, stone
Depiction of a triumphal arch and the Capitolium (Temple of Jupiter) flanked by 2 equestrian statues, tilted after the earthquake of 62 CE. To the right is an altar, to which a bull is being led for sacrifice (red background). From the Lararium in the House of Caecilius Iucundus in Pompeii. Photographed in the exhibit "Divus Vespasianus" at the Colosseum in Rome. Naples Archaeological Museum. Credits: Ann Raia, 2009.
Keywords: Sculpture, monuments, religion
Portraits in relief on marble
Heads of Vestals displaying their characteristic headdress. Roman, Hadrianic era (117-138 CE). Rome, Palatine Museum. Credits: Ann Raia, 2009.
Keywords: priestess, sculpture, religion, women
Nile Mosaic
Wildlife and plants along the banks of the Nile river (small). From the House of the Faun, Pompeii. From 120-end 1st century BCE. Naples, Archaeological Museum. Credits: Ann Raia, 2009.
Keywords: Egypt, nature, villa
VIA APPIA:
Map of the regional park in Latium.
Modern carving on stone of lines about the Via Appia from Statius, Silvae 2.2.11-12: FLECTERE JAM CVPIDVM GRESSVS QVA LIMITE NOTO/
APPIA LONGARVM TERITVR REGINA VIARVM ("now eager to turn my steps where the Appia, queen of the long roads, is worn away by a well-known track").
Ancient roadway beside the tombs (small); paving showing the wheel ruts in the tufa stones (detail).
Modern section beside Capo di Bove (villa Herodes Atticus built for his wife Regilla), repaved with square tufa stones; modern paving alongside the tombs and a repaved section within the Parco delle Tombe di Via Latina.
Rome, Appia Antica. Credits: Ann Raia, 2009.
Keywords: road, tombs, transport
Mausoleum of Caecilia Metella
Monumental circular tomb decorated in the Augustan style with garlands and bull's heads, faced with marble. The massive tower is 100 Roman feet in diameter, 11 meters high, on a square base 7 meters high. The tomb was built by her husband and inscribed: CAECILIAE/Q[uinti] CRETICI F[iliae]/METELLAE CRASSI (For Caecilia Metella, daughter of Quintus Creticus, wife of Crassus). A corridor leads to the central brick-walled burial chamber. In 1303 it became a crenellated watchtower for the huge Caetani castle, the remains of which have been turned into a museum; on its face are ancient sculptural fragments and the 3rd milestone. Rome, Via Appia Antica at the 3rd milestone. End of the Republican period. Credits: Ann Raia, 2009.
Keywords: burial, women, monuments
Claudia Quinta: painted, tempera on panel, by Neroccio de' Landi
Claudia appears in Renaissance dress, on a pedestal, holding the ship Salvia with the Magna Mater inside; in the background a Renaissance landscape contains the story. A 4-line inscription appears on the base beneath the Claudia's feet: CLAVDIA CASTA FVI NEC VVLGVS CREDIDIT AMEN/
ET TAMEN ID QVOD ERAM TESTIS MIHI PRORA PROBAVIT/
CONSILIUM ET VIRTVS SVPERANT MATERQVE DEORVM/
ALMA PLACET POPVLO ET PER ME HUNC ORATA TUETUR. Sienna, 1490/5. Washington DC, National Gallery (full information). Credits: Ann Raia, 2006
Keywords: women, religion, Cybele
Triumphal Arch of Trajan
Erected by the Senate and the Roman People, it celebrates his civic and military achievements and honors his building of the Via Traiana,a shorter, coastal extension of the Via Appia from Beneventum to Brindisium via Barium. The arch was once enclosed in the city walls. Detail of the attic and inscription. Roman, 114 CE. Beneventum. Credits: Ann Raia, 2009.
Keywords: empire, architecture, military
Socrates: marble herm
Inscribed (in Greek): SOKPATHS/SOPHPONISKOY/ATHHNAIOS. Roman copy (1st century CE) of a 4th century BCE original of Lysippus. Rome, Capitoline museum (Conservatory). Credits: Ann Raia, 2007.
Keywords: sculpture, portrait, philosophy
Matrona: marble
A full-length statue of a woman with her arms open (in prayer?), modestly dressed in heavy drapery and wearing the strapped, floor-length stola of the married woman. Her face is idealized but her hairstyle suggests a date in the late 1st century BCE/early 1st century CE. Rome, Vatican museum (Gregoriano Profano). Credits: Ann Raia, 2007.
Keywords: sculpture, dress, marriage
Child's grave goods: amber containers for table and toilette
Found with ivory doll in a girl's marble sarcophagus on the Via Cassia (Grottarossa). End 2nd century CE. Rome, Palazzo Massimo.Credits: Ann Raia, 2007.
Keywords: toys, girl, death
Doll, ivory
Articulated limbs, with anatomically correct female body. From an underground tomb on the Via di Tor Cervara. 3rd century CE. Rome, Olearie Papali alle Terme di Diocleziano. Credits: Ann Raia, 2007.
Keywords: play, children, toy
Woman with a stylus, fresco
The young so-called Sappho holds in her hands 4 wax tablets bound into a book and a stylus. She wears a hairnet of woven gold threads typical for the fashion of the Neronian period. Roman, from Pompeii, Regio VI (insula occidentalis), c. 60 CE. Naples, Museo Archeologico Nazionale. Credits: Ann Raia, 2009.
Keywords: poet, writer, education, domestic
Learned couple, fresco
Paquius Proculus, an influential political figure, and his wife pose with stylus, wax tablets and a scroll in citizen dress. Roman, from Pompeii, House of Paquius Proculus (insula 7, no.1). 1st century CE. Pompeii. Naples, Museo Archeologico Nazionale. Credits: Ann Raia, 2009.
Keywords: marriage, education, domestic
Gold Ring
Clasped hands in pledge of marriage or loyalty. From a private home on Via Anagnina (Tomb 4 bis). 2nd-3rd century CE. Rome, Olearie Papali alle Terme di Diocleziano. Credits: Ann Raia, 2007.
Keywords: marriage,jewelry, women
Hairnet
Elements of gold fittings and reconstruction drawing for a woman's hairnet. Roman. Vallerano Tomb 2-4. Imperial age. Rome, Olearie Papali alle Terme di Diocleziano. Credits: Ann Raia, 2007.
Keywords: hair, jewelry, women
Defixiones Curse tablets and nails
One tablet is flat (the inscription is not legible); the other two are folded and pierced with a nail (see Defixiones for explanations and further images). Roman. Necropolis on the Via Benedetto Bompiani. 1st-2nd century CE. Rome, Olearie Papali alle Terme di Diocleziano. Credits: Ann Raia, 2007.
Keywords: hair,jewelry, women
Funerary altar with inscription
For the solo singer (monodiaria) Heria Thisbe, wife of Tiberius Claudius Glaphyrus who played the reed pipe and was victorious at the games in honor of Actium and of Augustus (libation pitcher on left side, libation dish on right side). Last half 1st century CE. Rome, Capitoline Museum. Credits: Ann Raia, 2007.
Keywords: entertainment, death, women, work
Soldier's sandal made of leather
The sole was hobnailed. From Mainz. 1st/2nd century CE. Munich Archaeological Museum. Credits: Ann Raia, 2005.
Keywords: clothing, military, shoes
Omphale marble statue
Legendary queen of Lydia, Asia Minor. In expiation of the murder of Iphitus and stealing the Delphic tripod, the Delphic Oracle commanded Heracles to become a slave of Omphale. She forced him to wear women's garments and wore his attributes: the skin of the Nemean Lion and the olive-wood club. After his year of servitude she married him. Rome, Vatican museum (Gregoriano Profano). Credits: Ann Raia, 2007.
Keywords: queen, myth, hero, epic, clothes
Tombstone for Regina
Set up by her husband Barates from Palmyra for his freedwoman and wife, a British woman of the Catuvellauni tribe. She sits in a niche in a high-backed wicker chair holding her distaff and spindle, with a money box and wool basket at her feet. Inscription: D[is] M[anibus] REGINA[e] LIBERTA[e] ET CONIVGE BARATES PALMYRENVS NATIONE CATVALLAVNA AN[nis] XXX (lower inscription in Palmyrene: Regina, the freedwoman of Barates, alas). RIB 1065; 2nd century CE. From Roman fort & settlement at Arbeia (South Shields, Tyne & Wear). London: British Museum. Credits: Ann Raia, 2008.
Keywords: women, death, marriage, Britain
Stele for Dasumia Soteris
set up by her former owner and husband. Inscription: D[is] M[anibus]/ DASVMIAE SOTERIDI LI/BERTAE OPTIMAE ET CON/IVGI SANCTISSIMAE BENE/MER[enti] FEC[it] L[ucius] DASVMIVS CAL/LISTVS CVM QVA VIX[it] AN[nis]/ XXXV SINE VLLA QVE/RELLA OPTANS VT IPSA/ SIBI POTIVS SVPER STESEV/ISSET QVAM SE SIBI SVPER/STITEM RELIQVISSET. The upper figured relief is broken off and lost; space left at the bottom probably for his epitaph. Rome, 2nd century CE. London: British Museum. Credits: Ann Raia, 2008.
Keywords: women, death, marriage, Britain
Girl Doll painted terracotta
Seated baby with upswept hair and hat. From a child's grave. Hawara. 2nd century CE. London, Petrie Museum. Credits: Ann Raia, 2008
Keywords: children, death, toy
Regilla, Tunica Recta
This garment was worn by a Roman bride on her wedding day, woven in the traditional way, in one piece at an upright loom. Harper's Dictionary of Classical Literature and Antiquities. 1898. Credits: Ann Raia, 2009
Keywords: clothing, women, marriage
Decorative frieze, marble fragment
From the elegantly carved cornice of the Temple of Vespasian, dedicated by Domitian. Detail shows the sacrificial instruments of dedication (patera, ritual axe, knife, jug, aspersory, priestly helmet) between garlanded boucrania. 80-87 CE. Rome, Capitoline Museums: Tabularium. Credits: Ann Raia, 2007
Keywords: religion, architecture, Empire
Hut urn, terracotta
Burial urn for ashes in the shape of a capanna, an early Roman hut from the culture of Latium. 10th century BCE. Tomb 6, Necropolis of Castiglione. Rome, Terme di Diocleziano. Credits: Ann Raia, 2009.
Keywords: death, proto-history, house
Head of Vespasian, Greek marble
Handsome and vigorous youthful face; neck formed for insertion into a statue. From Ostia (discovered 1868 in Campo della Magna Mater). Flavian period. Rome, Museo Nazionale Romano, Palazzo Massimo alle Terme. Credits: Ann Raia, 2009.
Keywords: Emperor, Portrait sculpture
Head of Vespasian, marble
Peg holes in the head and neck indicate it once had a wreath; neck formed for insertion into a statue. From Naples(?). Probably c. 79 CE. Copenhagen: Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek (photo taken in Colosseum, Divus Vespasianus exhibit). Credits: Ann Raia, 2009.
Keywords: Emperor, Portrait sculpture
Go to Images Part I; Images Part II; Images Part III; Images Part IV; Images Part V; Images Part VI; Images Part VII
June 2009
