Antiquities Exhibits

The first 30 minutes of a 5 hour Pompeii walk video that I enjoyed immensely. Although I wasn't controlling the video camera, I was able to grab some screen shots that with a little editing with Topaz Sharpen AI, On1 Effects, and Photoshop's sky replacement feature (In summer Naples skies are usually empty and that makes for boring images!) I felt like I was revisiting the site and didn't even have to suffer any jet lag! Enhanced screen captures: House of the Mariner Tablinum screen capture from Pompeii Walk video courtesy of POMPEII ARCHAEOLOGICAL PARK Mosaic fragments from the House of Trittolemo Pompeii Walk video courtesy of POMPEII ARCHAEOLOGICAL PARK Mosaic fragments from the House of Trittolemo Pompeii Walk video courtesy of POMPEII ARCHAEOLOGICAL PARK Apollo statue in Temple of Apollo Pompeii screen capture from Pompeii Walk video courtesy of POMPEII ARCHAEOLOGICAL PARK Apollo statue in Temple of Apollo Pompeii screen capture from Pompeii Walk video courtesy of POMP...

I was reading Classical Wisdom's newsletter in preparation for this weekend's virtual symposium and found their article "Hephaestus:The Humane God" particularly interesting. Although most of us think of Hephaestus as the divine metalworker that forged magical armor and weapons like the shield of Achilles, Sean Kelly pointed out that he was also the only god in the Greek pantheon (and Roman under the name Vulcan) who suffered from a physical impairment.  Hephaestus attempted to intervene in a quarrel between  Zeus and Hera, and an enraged Zeus  cast him from Mount Olympus, injuring his legs.  Thereafter he was the subject of derision because of his lameness although he was respected for his smithing skills. He forged Hermes' winged helmet and sandals, the Aegis breastplate, Aphrodite's famed girdle, Agamemnon's staff of office, Achilles' armour, Diomedes' cuirass, Heracles' bronze clappers, Helios' chariot, the shoulder of Pelops, and even E...

The iconography and style of depictions of Horus and other traditional Egyptian deities were influenced by Hellenistic and, later, Roman traditions of representation, often combining trappings of power in ways that are striking to modern observers. "Roman period depictions of  the falcon-headed Horus have been  found  in  a  variety  of   materials  throughout  the  empire,  from  Egypt  to  Oxfordshire.  Usually  dressed  in  Roman  military costume, falcon-headed Horus is sometimes depicted on horseback, but more often standing, while seated figures are rare. Although smaller figures may have been dedicatory, larger stone and metal sculptures were probably objects of  public or private devotion." - Polychromy in Roman Egypt: A study of a limestone sculpture of the Egyptian god Horus by Joanne Dyer, Elisabeth R. O"Connell, and Antony Simpson. Sir Harold Bell observes, "...a new reli...

Although art historians are not certain whether a Lasa was a major or minor Etruscan deity, it is thought the domain and purpose of the lasa morphed into a being known as a Lar to the Romans. Lares are thought to have been hero-ancestors, guardians of the hearth, fields, boundaries, or fruitfulness, or an amalgamation of these. Roman writers sometimes conflated the Lares with domestic Penates but the Lares had much broader domains. Roadways, seaways, agriculture, livestock, towns, cities, the state, and its military were all under the protection of their particular Lar or Lares. Those who protected local neighborhoods (vici) were housed in the crossroad shrines (Compitalia), which served as a focus for the religious, social, and political lives of their local, overwhelmingly plebeian communities. Their cult officials included freedmen and slaves, otherwise excluded by status or property qualifications from most administrative and religious offices. Despite official bans on non-Christia...