Antiquities Exhibits

The Horti Lamiani (Lamian Gardens) was a luxurious complex of an ancient Roman villa with large gardens and outdoor rooms located on the Esquiline Hill in Rome, in the area around the present Piazza Vittorio Emanuele. They were created by the consul Lucius Aelius Lamia, a friend of Emperor Tiberius, and they soon became imperial property.  Along with other ancient Roman horti on the Quirinal, Viminal and Esquiline hills, they were discovered during the construction work for the expansion of Rome at the end of 1800s. The villa and gardens were scenically divided into pavillions and terraces adapted to the landscape, on a model of Hellenistic tradition. They were eventually filled with exceptional works of art, from original ancient Greek sculptures to exquisite frescoes and marble floors. A museum of the nymphaeum excavations is planned to open in 2021. The land for the horti Lamiani was originally a cemetery just outside the ancient Servian Wall but was purchased by Lucius Aelius L...

When Ardashir I (r. 224-241 CE) founded the Sasanian Empire, he created a  standing army which was under his personal command and whose officers were separate from satraps, local princes and nobility. He restored the Achaemenid military organizations, retained the Parthian cavalry model, and employed new types of armor and siege warfare techniques.  Organizationally, the Shahanshah (the King of Kings) served as the head of the military and there were four military commanders under his authority. Initially, the offices of the Great King of Armenia, King of Meshan, King of Gilan, and King of Sakastan fulfilled these roles. After the reforms of Khosrow I, there were four spahbeds (Army Commanders), each for a cardinal direction. In the character of their warfare, the Persians of the Sasanian period differed greatly, though, from their forebears under the Achaemenid kings. The war chariot was no longer used, the  elephant corps was advanced to a very prominent and important p...

 The Byzantine army evolved from that of the late Roman Empire, but it became considerably more sophisticated in strategy, tactics and organization over time. The language of the army was still Latin, until the 6th century when Greek became the official language of the entire empire. Unlike the Roman legions, though, the Byzantines' strength was in its cavalry, especially the armored cataphracts, which evolved from the clibanarii of the late empire.  The Romans introduced armored cavalry after clashing with cataphracts at the battles of Magnesia in 190 BCE against the Seleucids, Trigranocerta in 69 BCE against the Armenians, and the disastrous Carrhae in 53 BCE against the Parthians. Parthian cataphracts became a constant threat from the 1st - 2nd centuries CE then their threat was replaced by the cataphracts of the Sassanian Persians in the 3rd century CE. Marc Antony and Cleopatra employed contarii (from the Greek kontarioi meaning lancers) in the 1st century BCE and, when T...

Buddhist monuments of the 4th and 5th century CE were decorated with elaborate scenes in stucco.  The heads were sometimes made separately and pegged in place, so they often became detached. This Head may be Kuvera or possibly a warrior belonging to the army of the evil god Mara, a demonic celestial king who tempted Prince Siddhartha (Gautama Buddha) by trying to seduce him with the vision of beautiful women who, in various legends, are often said to be Mara's daughters.  In Buddhist cosmology, Mara is associated with death, rebirth and desire. Modeled of lime composition, this sculpture reflecting Hellenistic influence introduced into the region by Alexander the Great, was found in Hadda, Afghanistan and is part of the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London that I photographed in 2016.

The Iron Age Tartessian culture of southeastern Spain, previously influenced by the Phoenicians, began to transform when exposed to Greek influence during the 6th - 4th centuries BCE.  Aristocratic power increased and numerous fortified oppidums began to appear.  Referred to as the Iberian culture, the people engaged in commerce that served to reinforce aristocratic power and control.  Iberian funerary customs became dominated by Greek-style mud-brick rectangular burial mounds and their script, once a modified version of the Phoenician alphabet, began to include a variant of the Greek alphabet.  Their mythology also began to include creatures such as winged griffins, often seen in Greek art. An early warrior figure of this period appears to fight mostly nude adorned only with what appear to be tatoos on his chest and an ornate belt.  A century later, an Iberian warrior depicted in a statue at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art dated from the 3rd to 2nd century...

 Around 435 BCE, the Greek sculptor Pheidias adorned the front of the shield at the side of his gold-and-ivory statue of Athena in the Parthenon with scenes of Greeks battling Amazons in the Trojan War. In Roman times, certain figures from this complex struggle were lifted out of their original context and enlarged to become decorative reliefs for the walls of a colonnade or courtyard. Here a wounded Greek warrior collapses to the ground after being struck a mortal blow from behind. The dying warrior’s noble countenance, the fillet or ribbon tied around his forehead, and his powerful, athletic body epitomize what Pheidias and his pupils sought to project as the ideal of mature male dignity in the decade when Athens was at the height of its power in the eastern Mediterranean world. Some five centuries later, collectors such as the Roman emperor Hadrian sought this Pheidian style, translated from a circular golden shield to a rectangular marble relief, to decorate their palaces and v...

The soldier on the plaque wears a tunic and cuirass and a crested and plumed helmet with cheek guards. His spear is beside him. The modeling is bold and chunky but not unaccomplished. The left side of the frame and the front of the soldier's helmet are both chipped. The plaque is sharply convex on a vertical axis and probably decorated a cylindrical box or a piece of furniture. It must have been secured by vertical framing that overlaped the grooved frame on the sides since no attachment holes exist. Plaques of this type normally have been attributed to the 3rd or 4th century, but the similarity of this one in size and style of carving to a plaque from a 1st century BC tomb at Cuma, Italy, raises the question whether this and perhaps other plaques may not be much earlier in date. Image: Carved bone plaque depicting a soldier, probably from furniture or storage chest, 1st century BCE or 3rd-4th century CE, Roman  at the Walters Art Museum courtesy of the museum.

The Vermand Treasure was discovered in the last quarter of the nineteenth century by Benoni Lelaurain.  It was recovered from a cemetery near the modern village of Vermand, which is located beside the Celtic oppidum of Viromandui.  In the 3rd century CE, Vermand served as a castra hiberna within the network of provincial Roman border defenses. It was also a thriving glass production center and home to a large number of refugees following the destruction of Augusta Viromanduorum in the late 3rd century by barabarian invaders. The treasure was found in one of the few military burials in the cemetery.  However, grave robbers had previously plundered the burial, cracked the stone sarcophagus and scattered the contents. Perhaps they had been interrupted in their violation of the grave as six objects including this gilt silver spear shaft mount were left behind.  Others, documented in the excavation report, remained as well but it is thought the excavator's workmen pilf...

Prehistoric and Gallo-Roman artifacts at the Pierre Martel Museum in Vachères, France. This small but interesting museum features exhibits of fossils from the Oligocene period (30 million years ago) as well as artifacts from its Gallo-Roman past including funerary monuments and a statue known as the Vachères warrior, a Roman auxiliary wearing a chain mail shirt and carrying a Roman shield and weapons but wearing a Gallic torcque around his neck. The village also has a number of medieval structures dating back to the 13th century to explore as well. Image: A young Gallo-Roman warrior dressed in mail and wearing a Gallic torque. Image courtesy of the Pierre Martel Museum.

Roman and Germanic Art from Pre-history to the early Middle Ages.  Ongoing. At the Central Museum for Roman and Germanic Art in Mainz, ancient Mogontiacum, Germany.  Statue of a Persian Soldier at the Central Museum for Roman and Germanic Art in Mainz, Germany. Collections include ancient jewelry, coins, portrait sculptures, helmets, funerary monuments, ivory reliefs, and  five ships dating from the third and fourth centuries salvaged from the ancient harbor basin of Mainz.