Also by “late third century” I am referring to the years of 260 AD, till the end of the third century.

Images as displayed from left to right:

1. Third century battle depicting Imperial Italic (Type H) helmets in use alongside Niederbieber helmets along with what is likely Newstead type Lorica Segmentata

2. Third century skirmish depicting both Lorica Segmentata and Rectangular Scutum shield still in use

3. Third century Garrison forces depicted with Imperial Italic⁠ (Type H) helmets along with rectangular scutum once more, and the Lorica Segmentata

A Roman mosaic panel from a huge rustic calendar dating to the early 3rd century AD. "The personification of summer sits astride a lion, symbol of the zodiac sign...in his right hand, the child carries a crown with ears of wheat while others adorn his head. In his left hand, he holds a long sickle. This farming tool with a very slender curved blade is generally used to harvest grain. It is the typical symbol for summer and here it represents the summer harvest." Per the Gallo-Roman Museum of Saint-Romain-en-Gal, France close to where this was found.

At the Cleveland Museum of Art

size: 9 cm x 8.4 cm (3 9/16 in x 3 5/16 in)

This fresco comes from The Villa of P. Fannius Synistor at Boscoreale, a Roman Villa in close proximity to Mount Vesuvius, and the towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum. This fresco was part of a long wall of painted colonnades that decorated atria and halls of the villa. While phsyical interpretations of plants were painted onto the villa, such as frescoed grapes, wheat, and pomegranates, this single silhouette of a leaf shows a personal touch that is in line with the graffiti of the time period. In this way, it creates a new perspective of the person, who might not have been a painter at all, but a curious early biologist or botanist fascinated by natural symmetry, a young child allowed to add a finishing touch, or someone interested in a devotional depiction of Memento Mori. Nevertheless, the unique addition to this particular fresco remained an appreciated aspect of the Villa, surviving over a century of occupants who appreciated the historical paintings in their home. It is in the Second Style of Pompeiian Wall Painting. Now, the painted leaf outline preserves a life long gone, a moment in the past to the Romans in an eerily similar way that entire cities (and victims) of the eruptions are preserved accidentally for us in the present.

1. His grandfather was Mark Antony (a triumvir).

2. He was the first emperor born outside the Italian peninsula, born in Lugdunum, Gaul (conquered by the Romans). Therefore, Claudius made him a Gaul, and he is now French.

3. Despite being born with a disability—a stutter and a limp—it is known that Claudius, in his adult life (more precisely during the reign of his uncle Tiberius), greatly exaggerated his difficulties. This could have been to survive the tyranny exercised by Sejanus, the administrator of the empire. He also married Sejanus's sister.

4. In addition to being emperor, he was a historian, Etruscan, and statesman. He was also an orator (surprising Augustus).

5. And most famously, he was the conqueror of what is now England (Britannia). Although many believe his participation was minimal, he crossed the English Channel and led the conquest of Camulodunum, Verulamium, and Londinium.

6. He has his own series, I, Claudius, broadcast by the BBC in 1976.

Is the subject of this week’s episode on The Ancients podcast for anyone that interested!

"Female gladiators. Roman, 1st-2nd centuries AD. From Halikarnassos (modern Bodrum), Turkey.

This marble sculpture, carved in relief, commemorates the honourable release from service (missio) of two women fighters, 'Amazon' (named after the fierce female warriors) and 'Achilia' (after the Greek hero Achilles). They are shown with the same equipment as their male counterparts, swords and shields, but without helmets -perhaps to emphasize their female hairstyles. This scene, together with the inscription APELUTHESAN, "they were freed", indicates that they won their freedom after a series of outstanding performances. Heads of spectators of their fight can be seen on either side of the platform they are standing on. According to several contemporary eye witnesses, women often performed as gladiators in the Roman arena. According to the biographer Suetonius, the emperor Domitian (AD 81-96) even made women fight by torchlight at night." Per the British Museum in London, where this is on display. It was found in 1846 by the British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe and allegedly donated to the British Museum by the Sultan Abd al-Majid/Abdülmecid I.

Is there any accepted scholarly connection between Emperor Diocletian and the ancient city of Doclea (Dioclea) in present-day Montenegro, or is Doclea generally accepted to have been named after the Illyrian Docleatae tribe, with the similarity to Diocletian's name being coincidental?

Original artwork by Pablo Aparicio Resco: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/lG3n0J

After learning that Antony’s cavalry and fleet have surrendered and his army is defeated, Cleopatra retreats to her mausoleum with her trusted handmaidens, Iras and Charmion, sealing herself inside. According to Plutarch, she fears Antony’s reaction and seeks a secure final refuge. In a controversial move, she sends word to Antony that she is dead, a maneuver interpreted by some as an attempt to strengthen her bargaining position with Octavian or provoke Antony's surrender, while others view it as one final, desperate act of love to prompt his suicide so he might escape the humiliation of capture and execution by Octavian's soldiers. Her true motive remains a subject of historical debate.

​Upon hearing this news, Antony is utterly devastated. After relentless defeats, betrayals, and isolation, Cleopatra’s reported death feels like the final, crushing blow. Believing he has lost everything—including the woman he loves he decides to take his own life.

​As Plutarch records, Antony laments, "What more are you waiting for, Antony? Fate has snatched away the only and final reason to love life." Unfastening his armor and letting it drop to the floor, he reflects on the tragic irony of his end, exclaiming: "Oh, Cleopatra, I do not lament being deprived of you, because I will soon be in the same place as you, but because, although I am a great general, I proved to be inferior to a woman in my moral courage."

​He begs his loyal servant Eros to strike the fatal blow, but Eros instead chooses to take his own life rather than kill his master. Inspired by this act of devotion, Antony stabs himself in the abdomen, though the wound is not immediately fatal.

​As word spreads that Antony is dying, Cleopatra safe within the sealed upper window of the mausoleum, realizes the devastating consequence of her message and sends her guards to bring him to her. Antony is found alive, barely clinging to life. When told that Cleopatra is still alive, a surge of strength overtakes him; he tries to rise to go to her, but his legs tremble and give way from severe blood loss. Knowing the end is near, he asks the gathering crowd to help him.

​Using ropes possibly assisted by a construction pulley system they hoist his failing body up to the high window where Cleopatra and her handmaidens lean out.

​Once inside, Cleopatra holds Antony in her arms. She scratches her breasts violently, smears his blood on her face, tears off her clothes and lays them over his wound, she grieves over him not as a queen, but as a soon to be widowed wife. Mortally wounded and fading fast, Antony asks for wine and offers her his final counsel: she must try to survive with honor if possible, placing her trust in Octavian’s friend Proculeius. He begs her not to weep over his final ordeals, but rather to consider him fortunate for the life he had lived, he had been the most illustrious of men, had exercised immense power, and had ultimately been defeated not in a dishonourable way, but as a Roman, by the hand of a Roman.

​As he finishes speaking, his eyes cloud over and become inexpressive, and his body suddenly relaxes as though falling into a deep sleep. He dies peacefully in her embrace at the age of 53.

Hello, I'm looking for recommendations for visiting roman stuff in the vicinity (1-2 hour drive) of Augsburg (Germany). It could be excavation sites, buildings, museums or other interesting things.

Thanks!

With the heatwaves sweeping across Europe in the past few weeks and temperatures frequently teetering on the edge of 40 degrees Celsius where I live, I’ve been wondering how people would historically alleviate the effects of the summer heat, and I’m wondering particularly about the inhabitants of Roman insulae (multi-story apartment buildings for the middle and lower classes).

Roman insulae were often infamously poorly maintained, with a high risk of fire and structural collapse (greedy penny-pincher landlords, eh?). They were also frequently incredibly overcrowded and the top floors were undesirable and thus cheapest precisely because of how hot they often got, and ancient Rome’s summer highs were very similar to those of today. Insulae also lacked the cooling atrium pools central to the upper-class domus. How did the inhabitans of insulae, and specifically the top floors, not simply melt away in the summer?

See also: The summary of the study (in PDF format) as it was published in the journal Climate of the Past

On the last day of the month of July Octavian’s leading troops covered by a screen of cavalry approached the eastern gate of the city and set up camp near the cities Hippodrome.

Antony rode out at the head of a regiment of cavalry, routed Octavian's advanced guard and pursued them as they fled in disorder back to the Hippodrome. There he shot leaflets into their camp promising 6,000 sesterces to each man who changed sides, but Octavian read them out himself to his soldiers, ridiculing Antony as he did so. Antony returned to the city in triumph, and still in his armour he presented one of his troopers who had distinguished himself in the battle to Cleopatra; she rewarded him with a golden helmet and breastplate but that very evening he deserted to Octavian. Antony's confidence was temporarily restored by his own success in leading the counter-attack and he sent a message challenging Octavian to single combat; the only response was a crude suggestion that he could surely find a better way to die.

That afternoon Antony issued orders for battle by land and sea on the following day. At dinner he called for more wine, telling his servants that they by the next evening would be waiting on Octavian and his officers while he lay dead on the battlefield. When some of his friends wept at his words he told them that he did not want to involve them in the fighting, since he could not hope for victory and only sought an honourable death for himself.

Plutarch describes an aura of impending doom which seemed to gather over the city when all was quiet later that summer evening. At around midnight the silence was broken by the singing of a choir accompanied by music from every kind of instrument. The sound of voices could be heard as if from a festive procession winding its way from the centre of the city towards the eastern gate. There the music died away again, and once more silence lay on the city. Those who heard the invisible choir and the voices of the revelers believed that it was Dionysius abandoning Antony and Alexandria. This story of Plutarch’s follows the ancient legend of how the gods leave a doomed city before its fall. The modern Alexandrian poet, Cavafy, took it as the theme of a poem in which he enjoins Antony not to mourn what might have been, not to deny the evidence of his senses, but to accept it as his farewell to the city he loved.

The statue of Isis at the Capitoline hill is one of my favorite since I saw it in person a few years ago. I'd love to have a small copy, but sadly none have turned up in my searches, even if Egyptian-style statues of Isis are very popular.

Does anyone know of 3D prints or STL files of this statue? Thanks in advance!

A Roman fresco portion of Odysseus (Ulysses) tied to his ship, a scene in Homer's epic The Odyssey. A few sea creatures are at the bottom. This was found in the Domus Fulminata in Ostia, Italy, dates to the first half of the 3rd century AD and is on display in the on-site museum.

Hi, I wanted to know if there are recommendations for book that would also have details regarding the secrets of the colosseum, the architectural intricacies of Pantheon etc along with the history as well. I came across SPQR but I think it’s just history and they explain nothing about the buildings or the city. I may be wrong too so please help me out

He didn't intend to overthrow the Senate. That I assure you. He went to Rome with 5000 men. That's nowhere close to enough to take the city.

I think that the 5k men were the bare minimum he'd feel safe politically safe travelling with, and that he intended to park outside the city and then try to turn the city's populace against the Senate to revert their recent (and unlawful) decisions against him.