With small tiles of marble and glass, Roman mosaicists created intricate mythological images, realistic scenes from nature, and other complex compositions to decorate the floors and walls of tombs, sanctuaries, and homes. Dalu Jones explores some mosaic masterpieces normally hidden in stores in Rome’s museums.…
An old German proverb has it that ‘a great war leaves the country with three armies – an army of cripples, an army of mourners, and an army of thieves.’ General Field Marshal ‘Bloody Ferdinand’ Schörner, commander of Army Group Centre on the Eastern Front in World War II, was…
The artist John Craxton had a close relationship with archaeology. It began in his early years in England, where he encountered excavations of Roman mosaics, medieval churches, and an idiosyncratic museum. But, above all, it was the art of Greece that he longed for, as Ian Collins explains.…
• Luxor temple: where kings became gods
• Art and ancestors in ancient Peru
• Eternal beauty: what did kallos mean to the ancient Greeks?
• Domitian: portraying imperial power
• John Craxton and the art of ancient Greece…
The excavation has unearthed a large mosaic in what is thought to be the dining room or entertaining area of the villa, which was occupied between the 3rd and 4th century AD.…
Are bad Roman emperors really that different from good Roman emperors? Nathalie de Haan and Eric M Moormann look at the case of Domitian, an accomplished military man and prolific builder who emulated Augustus but was reviled as a new Nero.…
The Eurasian Steppe: People, Movement, Ideas is an ambitious scholarly volume tracing the origins of the European identity in the Eurasian steppe, the vast expanse of land that stretches from Hungary through to the Ural Mountains and China. Covering a period of 5,000 years, this is a bold account that…
For the man who gives willingly, even if he gives much, rejoices in the gift and feels glad in his heart. The man who takes for himself, observing no sense of shame, even if it involves a small amount, hardens the heart.…
This is thought to be a fertility goddess known as Artimpasa, or, in ancient Anatolia, as Cybele.…
Due to changing coronavirus measures, the dates listed below may have changed since we went to print, and museums and galleries may close. Check the websites and social-media accounts of the museums for the most up-to-date information and bookings.…
After coronation, the new pharaoh would head to the temple at Luxor to assume the royal ka that flowed from the gods Horus and Re all the way down Egypt’s line of rulers. Nigel Fletcher-Jones takes us on a procession through this all-important site, developed by kings…
Shown here is one of Wagstaff’s images, with the ghostly outline of the ship, whose planks had eroded in the acidic soil, clearly visible. In the foreground, Basil Brown (wearing a hat) works in the ship.…
In 2022, we can look forward to the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo, a new Anglo-Saxon visitor at Ad Gefrin in Northumberland, and Norway's new National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design.…
Ancient Mesopotamian literature, written in cuneiform from around 3000 BC, is haunted by omens and ghosts. Most of the sources on ghosts come from the 1st millennium BC, written in Akkadian, but some texts and ideas hark back to even older texts written in Sumerian. Irving Finkel was first drawn…
“Our present Hispanic-Peruvian civilisation cannot stand except on an indigenous pedestal.”…
What did kallos mean to the Greeks? As the Museum of Cycladic Art explores this concept, Lucia Marchini talks to Nikolaos Stampolidis to uncover divine, mortal, and internal beauty in the Greek world.…
For some ancient Peruvian societies, the past and the future were alive, as were the dramatic landscapes they lived in. Lucia Marchini speaks to Cecilia Pardo, Jago Cooper, and Tom Cummins to find out more about how these concepts permeated the art of the Andes.…
Some time in the 8th century BC, with the Greek alphabet just decades old, two monumental poems, the Iliad and Odyssey, were committed to writing and so became the first great works of Western literature. We call their author Homer, but – even in antiquity – there was disagreement over…
Lisbon's Núcleo Arqueológico da Rua dos Correeiros museum, London's Courtauld Gallery, and Boston's Museum of Fine Arts have all reopened.…
On the north and south walls of the Chapel at the Temple of Hatshepsut, mirrored reliefs show a procession of figures bringing offerings to the enthroned female pharaoh…
• The Saka: golden burials of the steppe
• The Viking Great Army
• Humboldt Forum: Berlin’s new cultural centre
• Triumph of Rubens
• Mausoleum of Augustus…
