Anthony Majanlahti

It's not a philosopher, in such a central position, in a Christian Ostia. I think this was the house of a chief state official. It's gotta be Jesus.

It's definitely Jesus, but strangely bearded in a period of beardless Jesi. There's also another portrait on the same wall, of a young man (the owner?). All rather mysterious.

OPUS SECTILE OF THE DOMUS OF PORTA MARINA, 385-388 CE. MUSEO DELLE CIVILTÀ This central alcove of the domus of Porta Marina is decorated in an extraordinary, indeed unique way. Instead of the figurative and geometric designs of the larger part of the hall, this area, which was found without a floor, has two registers. The lower one is composed of a small diagonal grid of mosaic that resembles a mosaic pavement without a discernable pattern. The upper, larger register imitates in opus sectile a brick structure with four arches at centre on the back wall flanked by two flat-topped sections. Behind, within, above, and below the giallo antico "brick" is a backdrop of marble "opus reticulatum", a style of construction that had ceased to be used long before this was made. This strange wall reminds me irresistibly of the opus mixtum tombs outside Porta Romana at the other end of Ostia's Decumanus Maximus. In the foreground is the magnificent pavement of the main hall.

#MosaicMonday once again draws us back to the #MuseodelleCiviltà in the #EUR in the south of #Rome to marvel at the #domus of #PortaMarina from #OstiaAntica, where a central alcove imitates humble brick and #tufo, complete with shadows, in costly #opussectile. #AncientBluesky 🏺

That's absolutely not 327 g. It's a multiple of 327 g, though I can't guess how many.

LAPIS DIABOLI, C3-C4. S. SABINA In the corner between the counterfaçade and the base of the belltower inside the beautiful early Christian basilica of S. Sabina (425-432) on the Aventine hill stands a reused partial column with spiral fluting. Atop it is a smooth, fairly regular round black stone, flat on top and underneath. This was an ancient Roman counterweight or lapis aequipondus of a determined number of libræ, a standard unit of weight equivalent to 327 grams. Other Roman churches have further examples, possibly because churches were protected places to keep standard measures. However they became reused as relics and their original use forgotten. This one is known as the lapis diaboli or devil's stone, which was meant to have been thrown by the devil himself at the head of St Dominic, who was praying in this church at the time, after failing to tempt him. To me it looks like a stone used in the sport of curling, and with its now-missing metal handle it would have looked even more so.

#SpoliaSunday takes us up the #Aventine hill in #Rome to the splendid though brutally over-restored #palaeochristian basilica of #SantaSabina, where an ancient weight measure does service as a relic of diabolic frustration. #AncientBluesky 🏺

STRIGILLATE SARCOPHAGUS, C4 CE. VIA DI S. SEBASTIANELLO This elegant sarcophagus with its syncretic decoration dates from 320-350 CE. Its origins are lost in the archives of the Sovrintendenza. It shows two large symmetrical panels of strigilation on either side of a female figure with an unfinished head making a blessing sign with her right hand as it emerges from her stola. She stands in front of a knotted cloth or peripetasma which indicates her as the deceased. On the right and left corners of the sarcophagus front are shown two Good Shepherds, lambs over their shoulders in the traditional way. Here there was once a small shrine to St Sebastian, but it was destroyed in 1728 when the wall collapsed after a heavy downpour, only two years before the Spanish Steps next to it were completed. A large niche took the place of the shrine, with a frame that once contained the saint's image. In 1967 the niche was restored and the sarcophagus was installed as a fountain, with three jets shooting water from the Acqua Vergine aqueduct.

#SarcophagusSaturday brings us to a modest #fountain near the foot of the #Pincio in #Rome, next to the #SpanishSteps. In 1570 this was meant as the site for a grand fountain celebrating the entrance of the #AcquaVergine into the city, to no avail. This was installed in 1967. #AncientBluesky 🏺

The babe, with a cry brief and dismal
Fell into the water baptismal.
Ere they'd gathered its plight
It had sunk out of sight -
For the depth of the font was abysmal.

On the last day, the mayor and city council throw two bound and gagged sacrificial tourists into the river, one man and one woman.

FUNERARY FRESCO, 130-170 CE. TOMB A, DRUGSTORE MUSEUM The chamber tomb of which this image shows a detail was hewn out of the tufo hill off the ancient via Campana-Portuensis and rediscovered in 1967 when an ugly apartment building was erected atop it. The tomb's original construction date was somewhere between 80 and 120 CE, and continued to be used for burials until around 230 CE. Sometime in the mid C2, frescoes of food were put into the niches, and holes were cut for libations to the spirits of the dead. Here we see three fish, two small red mullets at top and a sea bream at centre, against a white background. Food was a natural subject as it formed part of a major annual celebration of the dead, the Parentalia and Caristia. During the 9-day Parentalia which started on 13 February, food and wine were offered to the manes or departed souls of dead relatives, followed by the Caristia, a feast at the tomb on February 23.

#FrescoFriday leads us into the dreary suburban sprawl of the #Portuense quarter in #Rome, where the delightful surprise of a #tomb with #fresco decoration awaits our discovery in the basement of a former supermarket, now a little museum. #AncientBluesky 🏺

So were the Goths just Goths from Gotland? Where were they from, what were they if not Germanic? I hope they were Finnish. "Yes, I live in Rome, but I consider my stay here as a sort of Gothic conquest."

Not Germanic?

😂

PEDIMENT RELIEF, 250-200 BCE. POMPEII ANTIQUARIUM This pediment in tufo comes from a temple discovered outside the main archaeological area of Pompeii, when an Allied bomb hit a hill near the church of S. Abbondio in the countryside nearby. It took the top off the hill and revealed the ruins of a small temple with an unusual banqueting area in front of it, on either side of the main stairs. It was a C3 BCE temple to Dionysus which was probably later rededicated to Liber, the Senate-sanctioned version of Dionysus whose cult was banned in 186 BCE. The relief, which bears traces of white paint, shows Dionysus at centre left, holding grapes as he reclines shoulder to shoulder with Aphrodite/Ariadne at centre right, who has lost her face. A thyrsus separates them at centre. At far left is a panther, and between it and the god is an almost vanished figure of Silenus. The female divinity is attended by an Eros and a goose or swan, and is lifting her veil seductively: an air of languid sex pervades the relief.

For #ReliefWednesday we're in the small museum at the site of #Pompeii, where a rather wonderful #relief in #tufo (a friable stone that usually doesn't hold detail well) is on display after its temple was bombed into view during the Second World War. #AncientBluesky 🏺

a woman says " don 't count on it " while mixing something Alt: A character from the sitcom "Friends" shakes a Magic 8-Ball and reads the result to her friends. "Don't count on it."

The Comune says yes, but a more reliable source would be a Magic 8-Ball.

a woman in a white wig is dancing in front of a comedy sign Alt: The odd, off-putting Chicken Lady, clearly part chicken, in the throes of orgasm in a sketch from the Canadian comedy show The Kids in the Hall

The thing is, once the dress comes off and the saint sees whatever Chicken Lady stuff is going on underneath, the question of temptation disappears like a mirage. Unless he was into it, obviously.

Oh the things we do for that sweet sweet Athenian love.

I'm well out of my comfort zone here, with this archaic Latin/Volscian/Faliscan? inscription with its duplicating syllables (Valesiosio), and I didn't address the possible interpretations of the first letters of the inscription, so please read this post as a distillation of the essential.

LAPIS SATRICANUS, C7 BCE. BATHS OF DIOCLETIAN [3 or 4 letters missing] IEISTETERAI POPLIOSIO VALESIOSIO / SVODALES MAMARTEI This slab of tufo comes from the acropolis of the ancient town of Satricum, founded by the Latins according to Livy, but subsequently taken by the Volsci and then a military flashpoint between the Romans and the local tribes for much of the middle Republic. The town was destroyed twice, sparing only the temple of Mater Matuta. This stone slab was sliced from a monumental base, perhaps for a statue group, and reused in a late C6/early C7 BCE restoration of the foundations of the temple. The inscription has been the subject of lively debate, especially over the first letters. These two lines refer to the "suodales Mamartei" (=sodales Martis) or soldiers under one Poplios Valesios (=Publius Valerius in classical Latin) via the archaic genitive Popliosio Valesiosio. This may be P. Valerius Publicola, who, along with M. Junius Brutus, was one of the two first consuls of the Republic.

For #EpigraphyTuesday we're diving into the archaic past to find an #inscription from well outside #Rome that may be primary- source evidence of one of the two consuls who founded the #Roman Republic. The Latin might be Volscian and the #epigraphy is unclear. So buckle up, y'all. #AncientBluesky 🏺

What's more, the most important museum in that cluster, the ethnographic museum, is *still* closed for "rearrangement" (ie "what have we stolen in our imperial adventures - let's not put those items on display").

That's where I saw this! In fact it's still in the relatively sad Museo dell'Alto Medioevo, it's just that the whole complex is now called the Museo delle Civiltà. Excluding the Museo della Civiltà Romana, which is a civic not national museum and is still tragically closed.

I'm so glad it's open again!

OPUS SECTILE OF THE DOMUS OF PORTA MARINA, 385-388 CE. MUSEO DELLE CIVILTÀ This is the most magnificent interior from late-antique Ostia. The room is divided into two parts, with the smaller part, a large alcove, visible at far right. The main part of the hall has a surviving floor, which repeats the geometric themes of the wall, particularly an almost obsessive use of peltæ-like shapes, but these are fancier than ordinary peltæ, which originally represented the shields of the barbarian Amazons. The north wall is separated from the alcove by a huge acanthus-scrolled pilaster. The lowest register of the wall is made of large panels of giallo antico with complex frames separated by smaller panels in serpentino and giallo antico. Above this is a register which picks up the acanthus-scroll theme of the pilasters. The next register up, very fragmentary, shows large scenes of tigers attacking animals, in this case a stag, and a further register, almost nonexistent, has circles and geometric shapes.

#MosaicMonday takes us back to the #MuseodelleCiviltà in the #EUR, and to the breathtaking #opussectile hall of the #domus of #PortaMarina in #OstiaAntica, to get an overall view of the north wall. This is #LateAntiquity at its most refined, a real masterpiece of stonework. #AncientBluesky 🏺

They're provably from Home Depot, all those rosettes and Baroque glue-ons.

They freak out because it looks like the best little whorehouse in Euro Disneyland.

PALAEOCHRISTIAN BAPTISTERY, C5-C7. SAN MARCELLO AL CORSO This extraordinarily well-preserved baptistery was discovered in 1912 during works under the adjacent palazzo Salviati Mellini. It was once in a separate building attached to the late-C4 church of S. Marcello, whose orientation was opposite to today's, as the lower stretch of the Corso had become swampy, so part of the urban section of the via Salaria, now via di S. Marcello, higher up the base of the Quirinal, supplanted the Corso (via Lata) for several blocks. The baptistery shows two different brick layers, the lower from the early 400s,the upper from 200 years later but clearly on an identical plan. The simple white marble revetment, probably reused from the C5 baptistery, is incised with plain lines to create frames. The octagonal form has four semicircular niches, one in every second wall, and the water comes from a natural spring that still wells up inside the rectangular gap in the floor of the baptistery, and once filled the octagon up to at least knee height.

I went into the Six Senses hotel in palazzo Salviati Mellini and asked if they would let me see the #palaeochristian #baptistery of #SanMarcello, over which the palazzo is built, and they showed me this marvel, surely the best-preserved example from #LateAntiquity in #Rome.

CIBORIUM ARCH, C8-C9, RECUT INTO ALTARPIECE FRAME, C16. MUSEO DELLE CIVILTÀ This marble slab has had several lives and started out as a panel in an unknown ancient Roman structure. In the late C8 or early C9 it was given gorgeous Romanesque relief carving and a central arch still visible despite later reuse. It became part of a ciborium or altar canopy in the church of Santa Cornelia along the via Flaminia, part of the huge papal farm or domusculta Capracorum founded by Hadrian I (772-795). The Romanesque is not really Roman-like at all: this is a descendant of Celtic art with barely-recognisable Roman themes, like the peacocks, symbols of immortality, and the grapevine. The technique shows signs of drilling as well as carving, another sophisticated Roman technique for punctuating a relief with a spot of dark shade. Sometime in the C16 this slab, from the by then disassembled ciborium, was turned over and cut into the top part of a square or rectangular frame.

#Spolia was rarely reused only once. For this #SpoliaSunday we're in the #MuseodelleCiviltà to look at the splendid carving of this #Romanesque #ciborium or altar canopy, the marble taken from some ancient #Roman structure, and later reused again as part of an altarpiece frame. #AncientBluesky 🏺

One of the things that interests me about this particular form of social media is exactly that - to discover and share new things, or look at familiar things in a new way.

Not so new anymore.

SARCOPHAGUS WITH CLIPEI, C. 200-250 CE. BATHS OF DIOCLETIAN This adult-sized sarcophagus was found in a tomb in the same cemetery at the corner of via Portuense and via Belluzzo which we can visit in the Drugstore Museum, which displays tombs A and B. This sarcophagus comes from tomb D, also found in 1967 but not part of the museum. It is a tub form (a lenòs) coffin in expensive Proconnesian marble with its distinctive grey stripes. When it was found, it contained the skeleton of a ten-year-old child. The sarcophagus is made of symmetrical strigilations divided down the middle, and on both sides of the front are a clipeus, at left of the face of Helios, at left that of Selene, the gods of the sun and moon. Both faces are the same, and represent the face of the deceased, passing from day to night.

I think of you night and day. #SarcophagusSaturday offers us a #sarcophagus striking in its simplicity, now in the #BathsofDiocletian but originally in a #necropolis along the ancient #viaPortuensis outside #Rome. #Helios has a radiate crown and #Selene a crescent moon. #AncientBluesky 🏺

SACRED LANDSCAPE, 62-79 CE. MUSEO ARCHEOLOGICO NAZIONALE DI NAPOLI This small landscape comes from Pompeii and dates from after the earthquake in 62 CE, but its original findspot has been forgotten. At centre a tall narrow doorframe looms over the foreground, with two urns atop it, a "sacred door", with shields and spears tied around both uprights. Behind it at left is a lovely round temple with columns and a conical roof topped by a finial. At the temple's left edge we can make out a sphinx on a base, perhaps one of two flanking the entrance. At the base of the sacred door is a statue of Hecate, the witch goddess, seated on a throne and holding a staff in her right hand. Two worshippers, a womand and a little girl, are approaching the statue from the left. A hiker's staff is leaning against the offering table in front of the statue. This belongs to another worshipper, a man, who is collecting water from a spring falling from a cliff at far right. In the background a mountain rears up, with a river falling along its side to reach the foreground. Everything is painted with great assuredness and rapidity.

#FrescoFriday brings us to the #fresco goldmine of the #Naples Archaeological Museum, where this week we find a #sacred #landscape or perhaps more of a magical one, with an idyllic rural temple, high mountains, a river, a spring, and a statue of #Hecate. #AncientBluesky 🏺