Archaeology - The Parnassian (Page 38)

Archaeology · Mores · Humour

Hairstyles like that of Federation Council member Valentina Petrenko were already fashionable in Ancient Rome

Hairstyles like that of Federation Council member Valentina Petrenko were already fashionable in Ancient Rome. Marciana, for instance, the sister of the Emperor Trajan, who lived in the 1st century AD, wore her hair in much the same manner. Elaborate chignons and specially braided plaits were arranged over wire frames,

NB! · Archaeology · Art · Monarchies · Museums · People

Head from a statue of Emperor Vespasian found at the forum of Hippo in Algeria

A rather grim portrait of the birthday boy: the head of Emperor Vespasian, born on 17 November AD 9 and died in AD 79. This fragment of a statue of Vespasian was found in the forum of Hippo in Algeria and set into the wall of its museum. Not the

Archaeology · Museums · Mores

Roman slave shackles in museums in Spain and England and the question of constant wear

Roman slave shackles from the museums of Seville in Spain and Norwich in Norfolk, England. Finds of this kind are characteristic of the vast territories of the Western Roman Empire. The abundance and character of the finds may also suggest that some of the slaves in the countryside wore shackles

Archaeology · The East

In Luxor, a burial site containing 30 beautifully preserved 3,000-year-old sarcophagi of children and of male and female priests from the 22nd Dynasty has been discovered

In Luxor, a burial site containing 30 beautifully preserved 3,000-year-old sarcophagi of children and of male and female priests from the 22nd Dynasty has been discovered. It is the largest find since the nineteenth century. More here: https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-30-ancient-egyptian-sarcophagi-opened-

Archaeology · Art · Monarchies · Museums · Mores · Humour

Leather shoes of Henry VIII's era in Holbein's portrait and in museum collections

In Holbein's portrait, Henry VIII is wearing some seriously cool white leather loafers. This type of footwear was popular in Renaissance England, and such slippers became widespread in court circles precisely in the early sixteenth century, though they had to compete with another fashionable model, the heeled shoe.

NB! · Archaeology · Geography · Science · Nature

Incidentally, elephant dung is still found on the Alpine passes, and it is this that allows the route of Hannibal's fifteen-day advance to be pinned down more precisely

Archaeology · Museums · Observations · Heritage · Society

Debate over the sale of Caligula's ring and private ownership of artefacts

Meanwhile, I observe a debate flaring up over the sale of Caligula's ring, to the effect that such objects ought to belong to museums rather than to private persons. I simply cannot see what the quarrel is about, given that the piece at present belongs to a private

Coming Up · Aristocracy · Archaeology · Art · London

From 1 to 7 October the royal jewellers Wartski, at 60 St James's in London, will be showing a 2,000-year-old sky-blue ring of solid sapphire, which could go for over £500,000

From 1 to 7 October the royal jewellers Wartski, at 60 St James's in London, will be showing a 2,000-year-old sky-blue ring of solid sapphire, which could go for over £500,000. One of the most famous intaglios in the world is believed to

Archaeology · Cinema · Mores · Rome

As for the leather jerkin in which Maximus the gladiator performs on the arena floor, this is yet another unpardonable stretch on the part of the film's makers: gladiators had no armour to speak of, for the most part they fought quite naked, and only in t

As for the leather jerkin in which Maximus the gladiator performs on the arena floor, this is yet another unpardonable stretch on the part of the film's makers: gladiators had no armour to speak of, for the most part they fought quite naked, and only in the rarest

Archaeology · Cinema · Rome

The lorica musculata in the film “Gladiator” does not suit the period of AD 180

But then, the specialists already snort at this armour as it is, the so-called lorica musculata, that is, a two-plate cuirass fashioned in the shape of a male torso, with the detailed contours of a muscular chest at the front. Such armour was in use in the Roman

Archaeology · Cinema · Museums · Ethnography

In Miyazaki's "Howl's Moving Castle" there is an episode in which Sophie Hatter, whose enchantment is almost undone, gives her plait to the demon Calcifer so that he may revive after the Witch of the Waste has all but snuffed him out, and the demon acquir

In Miyazaki's "Howl's Moving Castle" there is an episode in which Sophie Hatter, whose enchantment is almost undone, gives her plait to the demon Calcifer so that he may revive after the Witch of the Waste has all but snuffed him out, and the

Archaeology · Museums · Observations · Humour

Bronze finial of a Roman standard with an eagle in the Zagreb Archaeological Museum

Things like this take me back to the days of Asterix and Obelix, that is, to when they were shown on Saturdays at 9 a.m. Part of a Roman standard: a bronze finial in the form of an eagle resembling a plump goose, perched astride a baton, with a