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.…
A rare history painting by the French artist Marie-Guillemine Benoist (1768-1826) has recently joined the collections of Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.…
Exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery: 'Anthony Kersting: Kurdistan in the 1940s'…
According to legend, a king who had been saved after being turned into a boar ordered the conversion of Armenia to Christianity. From these royal beginnings came fights between crown, clergy, and defenders of different creeds. Christoph Baumer takes us on a journey through the ecclesiastical conflicts of the Caucasus…
What buddies could you prefer to a faithful wife? What brothers can you imagine skipping out on her for? A wife’s more trustworthy than friends, more faithful than a brother, and a beautiful bride even beats your mom for loyalty.…
• The rise of Christianity in the Caucasus
• The sun in the world of Stonehenge
• Childhood in the Roman Empire
• Law and order: an ancient legal code from Crete
• A conversation with Egyptologist Salima Ikram
• Investigating Chiragan’s Roman statues…
The people of Neolithic and Bronze Age Europe explored their connection to the sun in a range of ways, from monumental stone circles to small gold discs. As a new exhibition opens at the British Museum, Lucia Marchini speaks to Jennifer Wexler to find out more about the ideas that…
At Home in Roman Egypt offers the first full-scale investigation of life as experienced by the ordinary people of Roman Egypt in the 1st to 4th centuries AD. It approaches the subject by looking at the life course, following people’s experiences throughout the various stages of their existence, from conception…
The Ipogeo dei Cristallini is situated just outside the limits of ancient Neapolis.…
One of the finest collections of Roman emperors is to be found far from Rome in the Musée Saint-Raymond in Toulouse. But where did they come from, and how did such a magnificent gathering of Roman emperors come to lose their heads? The late Roman Empire was a time of…
Southern Ethiopia’s Gedeo Zone is home to many megalithic stelae that reach up to 6m in height, with an estimate of more than 10,000 across some 60 sites. Some resemble phalluses, others have faces or anthropomorphic designs, while some are undecorated. One of these stelae sites is Sakaro Sodo, the…
What was understood about the gods, goddesses, spirits, and demons in ancient Egypt depended to a great extent on what was being explained or taught and by whom, when, and where. What was formally written down was also governed by fear of accidentally unleashing negative magical forces. Moreover, the ancient…
The Cretan site of Gortyn may be overshadowed by the palace-complex of Knossos, also on the island, but among its varied remains is an important legal document that offers insights into the ancient city. Diana Bentley is our guide.…
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.…
The substantial figure, measuring 67cm in height, was discovered in July 2021 in Buckinghamshire, southern England…
In the 1930s, an admirer remembered Japanese antiquarian Ninagawa Noritane fondly as ‘simple-hearted and unpretentious. He was frugal and sometimes walked around wearing a lampshade hat woven with rush.’ He added, perhaps unnecessarily, ‘It should be said that he was a rather extraordinary individual.’ Certainly Ninagawa lived in extraordinary times.…
In 1951, Quest for the Lost City was published in the United States. Reviewed in The New York Times as ‘a sort of overland Kon-Tiki’ – in reference to Thor Heyerdahl’s recent Pacific Ocean adventure – the book was an instant success and remains in print today. In 1955, it…
A new exhibition in Florence examines what life was like for the young sons and daughters of gods, emperors, and ordinary mortals in ancient Rome. Dalu Jones explores what the ancient art on view reveals about attitudes towards children.…
Important as commercial commodities and as symbols of wealth and power, the animals also appear to be associated with the pre-Islamic Arabian goddess, Allat.…
It was uncovered at a construction site in the Via Luigi Tosti, which joins Via Latina, home to a number of large tombs.…
It is a detailed depiction, with the plumes of the bird of prey marked in careful lattice-work.…
