Archaeology · Archive · The East · Observations · Mores · Humour
The boy cites the son of his father's assistant, who has two new sets of clothes. "Even though you bore me, and his mother merely adopted him, his mother loves him, and you do not love me!" 3,500 years have passed, and so little has
Archaeology · Art · Museums · Observations · Rome
The Roman marble figure of the 2nd–1st centuries BC, found in the Baths of Titus and showing a youth biting the hand of his companion, was at first known as the Cannibal. One man bites another man: who can he be, if not a cannibal? But in 1760 the
Archaeology · Architecture · Science
Sophisticated hoisting machines existed in Ancient Egypt too, though they bore little resemblance to modern cranes, being systems of inclined planes and levers. A crane similar to those depicted here appeared in Ancient Greece and is known as early as the 500s BC; the Romans improved upon the Greek design
Archaeology · Geography · Museums · Science
The Historical Museum has announced the discovery of the oldest continuously used road in Russia. The thousand-year-old road lies in the Smolensk region, 12 kilometres from Smolensk, on the territory of the Gnezdovo archaeological complex, which is also home to the largest Viking Age burial mound cemetery in
NB! · Archaeology · Observations · Humour
At last, a convenient sundial. The Temple of Apollo in Pompeii. Best of all, it still tells the time without error
NB! · Archaeology · Art · Museums
Funerary stele depicting a naked young man playing with a ball. Beside him stands a boy-servant holding bathing implements. Ancient Greece. 5th-4th centuries BC, Piraeus. National Archaeological Museum, Athens
Archaeology · Art · Museums · Saint Petersburg
The Calvatone Victory. Ancient Roman statue, 2nd century AD. The Hermitage. The inscription VICTORIAE AUG / ANTONINI ET VERI / MARCUS SATRIUS MAIOR records the victory of the emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus over the barbarians. Until 2019 the sculpture was not exhibited; until the 2010s it lay in storage altogether
Archaeology · Mores · Rome
Roman pugilists fought absolutely naked, wearing only a kind of glove known as the caestus on their hands, studded with metal strips or balls, which often made the bouts end in death. Gladiators' gloves also had iron spikes. This part of the fighting culture came from Ancient Greece
Archaeology · The East · Monarchies · Museums · Heritage
The second great myth about Napoleon, after his short stature, is the story that on Napoleon's orders the Great Sphinx was shot in the face with a cannon and had its nose knocked off. The legend is easily refuted by images of the Sphinx made before Bonaparte was
Archaeology · Heritage · Nature · Rome
Caesar defeated Pompey, and Caesar's partisans disgracefully deprived Pompey of his life. Caesar himself was murdered in an assembly hall attached to the largest of Rome's theatres, the one named after Pompey. And the place survives to this day. The ruins of the so-called Curia
NB! · Archaeology · Geography · Maps
Archaeology · Art · Museums
Archaeological Museum of Florence