Go to Images Part I; Images Part II; Images Part III; Images Part IV; Images Part V; Images Part VI; Images Part VII; Images Part VIII
Young Girl, marble portrait bust
The child must have belonged to a prominent family, judging from the quality of the sculpture. The back is unfinished, suggesting it was intended for a niche. Roman, 180-200 CE. Malibu, J. Paul Getty Museum. Credits: Ann Raia, 2009.
Keywords: children, death, Empire
Diadem, gold filigree, Persian style
The beautifully crafted headband has attachments of flaming torches and is closed by a Herakles knot; tassels hang from it, ending with gemstone beads. Part of an ensenble of jewelry probably owned by a wealthy Ptolemaic noblewoman. Greek, from Alexandria, Egypt, 220-100 BCE. Malibu, J. Paul Getty Museum. Credits: Ann Raia, 2009.
Keywords: jewellry, women, costume, Hellenistic
Hairnet, gold filigree and enamel
The hairnet was made to cover a bun in back of the head, with a bust of a crowned woman in the center and pendent tassels of gold and gemstones. Probably owned by a wealthy Ptolemaic noblewoman, it belongs to an ensemble that includes the diadem and other gold jewelry. Greek, from Alexandria, Egypt, 220-100 BCE. Malibu, J. Paul Getty Museum. Credits: Ann Raia, 2009.
Keywords: jewellry, women, costume, Hellenistic
Aphrodite Weighing Love, gold, incised
Seated, the goddess holds a scale on either pendant of which is a figure of Eros, the winged god of love. Greek, c. 350 BCE. Malibu, J. Paul Getty Museum. Credits: Ann Raia, 2009.
Keywords: jewellry, women, Hellenistic
Small jar, glass, enamel, bronze
Container made of hexagonal glass mosaic panels, with a handle, for cosmetics. Gallo-Roman, 200-250 CE. Malibu, J. Paul Getty Museum. Credits: Ann Raia, 2009.
Keywords: women, toilette
Perfume vessel, bronze, enamel
Round jar (aryballos) with pentagonal designs for scented oil, with handle. Gallo-Roman, 70-100 CE. Malibu, J. Paul Getty Museum. Credits: Ann Raia, 2009.
Keywords: women, toilette
Theater ticket, ivory
Carved with an obelisk and a temple; inscription on the reverse: IIII Nikopolis &Eth;. Roman, 100-200 CE. Malibu, J. Paul Getty Museum. Credits: Ann Raia, 2009.
Keywords: theater, drama
Columbarium, Villa Ruffini
Arched niches to hold cinerary urns of the dead; the openings had modest labels identifying the deceased by name and often occupation. Drawing from Harper's Dictionary of Classical Literature and Antiquities. 1898. Credits: Ann Raia, 2009.
Keywords: tombs, death, monuments
Columbarium, fresco wall
Arched niches for the cinerary urns of the dead; below each opening is a tabula ansata, a placard for the name of the deceased. The bands separating the rows are painted with images from life and nature (closeup; detail from a different section). Villa Doria Panfilji. Rome, 1 century CE. Credits: Ann Raia, 2009.
Keywords: tomb, death, monuments, burial
Publia Maximina, marble
"The Trentham Lady" is a full-length statue of a young woman, apparently funerary, enveloped in her cloak and veiled. Perhaps Greek in origin (c. 300 BCE), it was re-used in Italy as a funerary statue. Inscription added on the base: P. Maximina Sextili Clementis belongs to 130-100 BCE. London: British Museum. Credits: Ann Raia, 2010.
Keywords: death, dress, women, sculpture
Octavia, marble
Full-length statue of a veiled young woman holding a scroll, enveloped in her cloak and veiled. The head is a portrait of Augustus' sister Octavia. Late 1st century BCE. Naples: Archaeological Museum. Credits: Ann Raia, 2009.
Keywords: dress, women, sculpture, Principate
Ara Pacis, marble relief
Outer side of the inner altar showing the sacrificial animals being led to the altar (details of end and beginningof the procession. 13 BCE. Rome. Credits: Ann Raia, 2007.
Keywords: monument, religion, Principate, Augustus, Altar of Peace
Guard dog, mosaic
Pavement from a villa along the Via Salaria. 2-3 century CE. Rome: Olearia Exhibit. Credits: Ann Raia, 2007.
Keywords: house, animals, domestic
Cantinea Procla, marble funerary altar
Erected by her husband C. Iulius Hermes for his wife, a priestess of Isis. On the front is a relief portrait of Isis/priestess holding a situla and sistrum; inscription: Dis Manibvs/ Cantineae M[arci] F[iliae] Proclae C[aius]/ Ivlivs Hermes conivgi pientiss[imae]/ bene merenti fecit; left side with image of closed cista mystica enveloped by a cobra; angle view; right side with image of open cista mystica guarded by a serpent. Flavian period (69-96 CE). CIL 6.34776. Rome, Via Ostia. Museo Terme Diocleziano. Credits: Ann Raia, 2009.
Keywords: religion, goddess, mystery, Egypt, women
Lucius Junius Brutus, bronze head
(side 1; side 2). Founder of the Republic, he expelled the Tarquins after the rape of Lucretia and became a symbol for liberty. 4-3 century BCE. Capitoline Museums. Credits: Ann Raia, 2007.
Keywords: Republic, consul, politics, statesman
Luna marble frieze from the Temple of Vulcan/Hephaestus narrating the myth of the life of the god of fire; only 4 blocks remain, running right to left.
Scene 1: Birth of Athena from the head of Zeus, from which Ilithyia, goddess of childbirth, flees. Scene 2: After the birth of Vulcan, his mother Juno/Hera watches him walk awkwardly. Scene 3: Juno throws the child Vulcan, dressed as a craftsman in short tunic and cap holding his tools, from Olympus; Athena awaits him on Lemnos. Scene 4: Gathering of the gods: Athena and others, Poseidon and others, at the birth of Erechthonios (snake), child of Vulcan and Gaia; he is sent to be nurtured by Athena who awaits him beside her olive tree. 2nd century CE. Ostia Museum and Berlin Museum. Credits: Ann Raia, 2007.
Keywords: mythology, religion, gods, mother
Altar to Isis, white marble
Carved on the front is the cista mystica, a woven wicker basket used for housing the sacred snake; side 2: Anubis, apparently in Roman dress, holds the feather of Maat in his left hand and a flail or fetish in his right hand (detail); side 3: an unclothed acolyte/eunuch holds a cornucopia. 1st half 1st century CE. From Santa Maria Sopra Minerva. Rome Capitoline Museums. Credits: Ann Raia, 2009.
Keywords: Religion, Egypt, death, gods
Pelagian Isis, marble
Fragmentary architectonic high relief. Mid-1st century CE. Found on Via del Mare. Special Exhibit: Divus Vespasianus. Rome, Capitoline Museums. Credits: Ann Raia, 2009.
Keywords: Egyptian, religion, sculpture, goddess, East
Isis, Pentelic marble head
Fragmentary. Perhaps a Ptolomaic Queen portrayed as Isis. 2nd century BCE. Found near Church of Peter and Marcellinus. Special Exhibit: Divus Vespasianus. Rome, Capitoline Museums. Credits: Ann Raia, 2009.
Keywords: Egyptian, religion, sculpture, goddess
Prosperity, marble full-length statue
The draped woman holds a cornucopia, sign of fertility and prosperity. She may once also have held a garland. The head is crowned, clearly a portrait. 2nd century CE. Rome, Capitoline Museums. Credits: Ann Raia, 2009.
Keywords: women, religion, dress, sculpture
Mercury, marble
Statue of the messenger god Hermes holding a purse and the caduceus, from a Greek original of the 4th century BCE. Rome, Capitoline Museums. Credits: Ann Raia, 2009.
Keywords: Olympian, religion, sculpture
Diana, marble
Statue of the goddess Artemis with her dog, dressed for the hunt, from a Greek original of the 4th century BCE. From Tivoli, Villa D'Este. Rome, Capitoline Museums. Credits: Ann Raia, 2009.
Keywords: Olympian, religion, sculpture
Altar of Caenis, marble
This funerary altar to Antonia Caenis, mistress of Vespasian and freedwoman of Antonia Minor, daughter of Octavia and Marc Antony, was set up by her freedman on the estate of her villa on the Via Nomentana in Rome. Inscription: DIS MANIB[us]/ ANTONIAE AVG[ustae]/ L[ibertae] CAENIDIS/ OPTVMAE PATRON[ae]/ AGLAVS L[IBERTUS]CUM AGLAO/ ET GLENE ET AGLAIDE/ FILIIS. Side 1: relief of two figures (perhaps a male and a female) riding on swans, holding inverted and intertwined laurel branches; Side 2: relief of two winged cherubs holding a large floral garland with vittae tied on either end. The back of the altar (no photo) bears a relief of two trees. 1st century CE. Special exhibit: Divus Vespasianus in Rome at the Colosseum. Credits: Ann Raia, 2009.
Keywords: Empire, Vespasian, concubine, death, women, class
Capitoline Triad, marble sculpture group
A representation of the central pediment of the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus (the only 3-dimensional one known of the Temple from the post-80 CE fire) with 3 differences: the position of Juno and Minerva are reversed, all three gods sit on one throne, the birds of the goddesses are present. From Guidonia near Rome (Palestrina Archaeological Museum). Special exhibit: Divus Vespasianus at the Capitoline museums. 2nd century CE. Credits: Ann Raia, 2009.
Keywords: Olympian, religion
Ritual Garland, marble
Relief of the interior wall enclosure of the Ara Pacis. In imitation of an outdoor scene, the sacred garland of fruit and branches, tied with flowing vittae (sacred ribbons), hangs between columns with acanthus leaf capitals, from the horns of the Augustan boucrania; a patera (ritual libation bowl) sits on the wall above and in the middle of the swag. Rome. 13 BCE. Credits: Ann Raia, 2009.
Keywords: religion, principate, altar
Marc Antony, silver Cistophorus
Obverse: head of Antony wearing ivy wreath, in the image of Bacchus, with a lituus below. Encircled by M[arcus] ANTONIVS IMP[erator] CO[n]S[ul] DESIC[gnatus] ITER[um] ET TERT[ium]; the whole within wreath of ivy leaves and berries. Reverse: Cista mystica between two interlaced serpents with draped bust of Octavia above. IIIVIR on left, R P C on right (IIIVIR Rei Publicae Constituendae = 2nd Triumvirate). Struck in Asia in 39 BCE. From Bibliotheque Nationale. Cluny Exhibit. Credits: Ann Raia, 2009.
Keywords: Republic, civil war, coin
Fasces, marble relief
Sole carving on a funerary altar, they are a symbol of punishment (rods bundled with an ax) meted out by magistrates with imperium (praetor, dictator, consul) and carried by lictors. Rome, Capitoline Museums. Credits: Ann Raia, 2009.
Keywords: Republic, government
gold aureus of Vespasian, mint of Rome, 77-78 CE
The obverse shows the emperor wearing a laurel-leaf crown with the inscription IMP[erator] CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG[ustus].
The reverse depicts the
emperor standing holding a spear and short, sheathed sword; a winged Victory, holding a palm branch in her left
arm, stands behind him and crowns him with a wreath. The
Victory wears a melon hairdo and has a distinctive, individualized face. The inscription reads CO[n]S[ul] VIII. The coin was found in the Casa Bracciale D'Oro in Pompeii and is in the collection of the Naples Archaeological Museum.
Rome, Colosseum, Divus Vespasianus exhibit. Credits: Ann Raia (photo), Barbara McManus (process), 2009
Keywords: Empire, Flavian, coinage
gold aureus of Vespasian, mint of Rome, 73CE
The reverse depicts the Temple of Vesta as a round temple with 4 columns and the statue of Vesta within; there is a statue on either side of the temple. The coin was found in the Casa Bracciale D'Oro in Pompeii and is in the collection of the Naples Archaeological Museum.
Rome, Colosseum, Divus Vespasianus exhibit. Credits: Ann Raia (photo), Barbara McManus (process), 2009
Keywords: Empire, Flavian, coinage, religion
Villa of the Mysteries: Triclinium frescoes of Preparation for Wedding/Dionysiac Initiation
Preparation: maiden, attendant, Eros holding a mirror (detail); Domina: note the wedding ring in the detail view.
Pompeii, mid-1st century CE. Credits: Ann Olga Koloski-Ostrow, 2009.
Keywords: women, house, dress, marriage
Cinerary urn, terracotta
This Villanovan urn for cremated ashes is elliptical, like the huts on the Palatine Hill in Rome. It has a conical roof with ridgepoles; the door has been removed. The stick figure over the entry (side 1, side 2) may have been intended to protect the soul of the deceased.
9th century BCE. New York: Fordham Museum of Greek, Etruscan and Roman Art. Credits: Ann Raia, 2010
Keywords: death, house, burial, Italic
model of the Meta Sudans, modern
This tall, conical fountain erected by Domitian stood outside the Colosseum.
Rome, Colosseum, Divus Vespasianus exhibit. Credits: Ann Raia (photo), Barbara McManus (process), 2009
Keywords: city of Rome
Go to Images Part I; Images Part II; Images Part III; Images Part IV; Images Part V; Images Part VI; Images Part VII; Images Part VIII
February 2010
