For the first #PhallusThursday in #PrideMonth, I present to you a beautiful bisexual ring from #ancientRome with a phallus on the left for scale. Which part of this love chain do you prefer?
A Roman silver ring with erotic intaglio, 3rd century CE
"And Ares led them, and Pallas Athene. These were gold, both, and golden raiment upon them, and they were beautiful and huge in their armour."
Homer, Iliad 18.516
"Once on a time, where the milky region is set in a tranquil heaven, lay kindly Venus in her bower, whence night had but lately fled, faint in the rough embrace of her Getic lord [Mars] [...] Weary she lies upon her cushions."
Statius, Silvae 1.2.51
🏛 #Mars & #Venus, detail on a silver cup from the House of Menander in #Pompeii, 1st century CE
Description: Theft is probably one of the most annoying aspects of social life. It is by no means the most dramatic one, but it is one of those things you constantly have in mind. In most Slavic languages, a thief (‘złodziej’ in Polish, ‘злодій’ in Ukrainian, ‘zloděj’ in Czech) literally means an evildoer, as it was this kind of wrongdoing that almost everybody had to deal with. But while theft likely existed in all human societies, it changed over time: how much the thieves stole, what they stole, who stole and from whom, and how people protected themselves - all of these evolved over time. In short, theft has its history and can be a subject of historical research. Late Antiquity is a good period to study it because, in this era, thieves become more visible than before. This paper, examining documentary and literary evidence, will seek to answer questions about how people dealt with theft, attempted to apprehend thieves and recover goods, and, most importantly, what impact theft and the methods of dealing with it had on communities and individuals.
It's #InternationalWomensDay and the #vulva is still a taboo. The vulva is regarded as ugly and something to be ashamed of and talking about it is considered obscene and vulgar. In #ancientGreece and #ancientRome, exposure of the vulva (#Anasyrma) was considered an act that could avert evil, just like the phallus charms.
Labia are rarely found in ancient #GreekRomanArt but were they omitted or erased?
🪔 For #EpigraphyTuesday: Military diploma of a Lycian sailor of the Miseno fleet, Sextus Memmius Clearchi. Dated to 16 November 140 AD, it attests to the granting of Roman citizenship to a Lycian sailor after 26 years of service in the imperial fleet. 📸 me
Have a beautiful Day of Aphrodite aka Venus' Day aka Frigg's Day aka Friday 🌹
It's the first day of March, the Month of Mars or #Ares. In #ancientRome, military season started in #March. But Venus-#Aphrodite can still War's hand and subdue him, her lover and consort. In this beautiful #fresco from #Pompeii, the couple are sitting together with #Venus holding a flower and #Mars holding her breast.
🪔 For eyes pleasure: three roman glass vessels dated to the 1st-3rd cc AD, now on dispay in the Romanité Museum of Nîmes. 📸 me
👉 Don't hesitate to write in comments what kind of posts you would like to see here: pics, more info about objects, links to "long" blog posts, other... Your feedback is welcome ! 🙂🍀
🪔 For #ReliefWednesay: a funerary stele with the insignia of a centurion from #Burnum, #Croatia. Dated to the 1st quarter of the 1st c. AD, it depicts a set of nine phalerae connected by a belt. 👉 It is now in the Archaeological Museum of #Zadar, Croatia. 📸 me
👉ALT text for more.
This detailed ivory relief is thought to depict the goddess Roma ~ C5th–C6th CE
Roma appeared with a helmet and staff, and holds the globe in her hand while being crowned by the goddess Victory.
This is part of a diptych showcasing a personification of Constantinople but I’m afraid I don’t have a picture of that side. But pairing these two together would make perfect sense in a world where Constantinople was increasingly the central city and Rome a historic symbol…
Love seeing artistry that seeks to capture what the ancient past may have looked like.
This illustration by Jean-Claude Golvin is entitled ‘Capua - Façade of the Amphitheatre’. Capua was a famous centre of gladiator schools and Spartacus himself escaped from one there!
Like many things in life, there’s the art and then there’s the phallus drawings. I guess we can safely appreciate this gesture that’s near Hadrian’s wall as either one or the other 😅
This depiction of praetorians comes from the Arch of Claudius celebrating his invasion of Britain. The arch has not survived, but this panel suggests the artistry used to enhance the sense of military glory…