Giove: In Jupiter’s shadow
I first came to the Umbrian hilltop village of Giove half a lifetime ago. I was seeking sanctuary in the real Italy as I navigated potential closure of the British School at Rome (where I was director) at the hands of Mrs…
Italy
A sacred well
An ancient votive well has been discovered at the Etruscan city of Kainua in northern Italy. Kainua, located on the outskirts of modern-day Bologna, was founded in the late 6th century BC. Situated next to the Reno river, along thriving…
Bell Beakers and the Mediterranean: maritime connections and networks
This handsome 158-page volume focuses on the Mediterranean and its role in the Bell Beaker phenomenon. Throughout the book, the sea emerges both as an inhabited space and as a medium for communication and circulation. This maritime perspective shifts attention…
The plaster casts of Pompeii
The first permanent exhibition of the plaster casts of Pompeii has opened at the Archaeological Park.
Surviving Rome: the economic lives of the ninety percent
Sometime in the 1st century AD, a crass graffiti artist carved a 2m-long graffito into the wall of a stairwell within the House of Julia Felix at Pompeii. The mudslinger didn’t mince words. In it, they mocked a man who…
SAS: Great Escapes 5
War correspondent, film producer, and writer: many MHM readers will already know Damien Lewis’s work. In his latest book about British Special Forces, he presents five more hair-raising accounts of WWII escapes. ‘Escapes’, that is, in the broader sense, since…
Sacrificial scents
Analysis of two votive offering vessels from Pompeii is enhancing our understanding of Roman domestic rituals.
Picturing Pompeii
A 19th-century photograph sheds light on a forgotten part of Pompeii, as Janice Kinory describes.
Current World Archaeology 136
• Surveying Falerii Novi: the development of a Roman town
• An island kingdom: extraordinary Hawaiian ancestral art
• In the heart of the Sahara: the rock art of Wadi Djerat
• Re-examining the Hjortsprint boat
• Discovering Denmark: from prehistoric burials to Viking age power
• Exploring ancient graffiti in Pompeii
A Mediterranean Valley redux
My son looked at me askance and muttered ‘more nostalgia’. I smiled, recognising he was right. My Mediterranean journey really began in this unlikely valley and its off-the-beaten-track places that I have dreamed of revisiting. For two full days, my…
Surveying Falerii Novi: Rethinking the development of a Roman town
Surveying an ancient town in Italy has presented fresh insights into a key moment for Roman urbanism. Matthew Symonds spoke to Martin Millett about what can be learnt from studying an entire townscape.
The Diver of Paestum: Youth, Eros, and the Sea in Ancient Greece
On 3 June 1968, Italian archaeologists digging the ancient city of Paestum made an extraordinary discovery. They had unearthed a tomb fashioned from slabs of travertine, containing the bones of an individual who had been lain to rest c.480 BC,…
Basilica built by father of Western architecture
A basilica built by the pioneering Roman architect Vitruvius has been rediscovered in the city of Fano, in the Le Marche region of Italy. Marcus Vitruvius Pollio was born in Fanum Fortunae (modern-day Fano) in the 1st century BC and…
Exploring ancient graffiti
The walls of Pompeii are littered with messages left behind by the city’s inhabitants two millennia ago. Recent research is shedding new light on one of the richest concentrations of these ancient inscriptions.
The Siege of Pavia: Defeating the Lombards, 773-774
In the second part of our special, Stephen Roberts reveals how a key victory helped Charlemagne establish the foundations for the Holy Roman Empire.
CA at Paestum
CA at Paestum The 27th annual Mediterranean Exchange for Archaeological Tourism met at Paestum, Italy, at the end of October and start of November to celebrate archaeological and cultural heritage. Together with archaeologists, heritage managers, and tourism professionals, CA visited…
CWA news in brief
A changing Rome Maria Barosso is an unsung heroine in Rome’s archaeological story. An extraordinary new exhibition in the Museo Centrale Montemartini provides a flavour of her work as a functionary in the Direzione Generale Antichità e Belle Arti. Born…
Those Who Are About to Die: a day in the life of a Roman gladiator
REVIEW BY MARC DeSANTIS Romans were hypocritical about gladiators. Typically slaves, criminals, or prisoners of war, they were seen by the upper crust as sitting squarely among the dregs of society. Yet they were admired, ogled, and cheered across the…
Treasures of the Pharaohs in Rome
Lucy Gordan describes a temporary exhibition Treasures of the Pharaohs, which displays priceless artefacts from ancient Egypt in Rome for the first time.
Ancient Egypt Letters 152
Your opportunity to comment on articles in the magazine or on any Egyptological subject that interests you. Email the Editor peter@ancientegyptmagazine.com with your thoughts.
Bird-beaked masks
During the Black Death of 1347 to 1352, doctors wore bird-beaked masks filled with various herbs that were designed to protect the wearer from breathing poisoned air – or so we have been led to believe.
The Last Days of Pompeii: the immersive exhibition
A new exhibition in London uses cutting-edge technology to recreate the streets of Pompeii – and the explosive events that turned a thriving Roman settlement into an archaeological time capsule. Carly Hilts describes the experience.
Second-century soldier’s tombstone found in a New Orleans backyard
In March 2025, the owners of a house in the Carrollton neighbourhood of New Orleans came across a flat marble slab while clearing undergrowth in their backyard. The unusual object bore an engraved Latin inscription, leading the couple to fear…
Roman helmet from the First Punic War discovered by deep-sea divers
Underwater excavations around the Aegadian Islands, off the north-west coast of Sicily, have discovered a 2,200-year-old bronze helmet of the ‘Montefortino’ type. This style of Roman helmet, which has a conical shape with a knob on top, a flared rim,…
The Rovigo Egyptian collection
Simone Petacchi describes an important Egyptian collection in Rovigo, Italy, that is not on public display.
The Obelisk and Tomb of Antinous
Barbara Gai explores the history of this important monument and the clues that might lead to the location of Antinous’ tomb.
Monumental voyages
Discovered as recently as 1989, the Neolithic settlement submerged beneath the waters of Lake Bracciano, at La Marmotta, near Rome, Italy, has yielded rich evidence of life 7,000 years ago. New analysis of the five boats found at the site suggest that they could have been used for the sea voyages that led to the spread of Neolithic practices to the islands of the Mediterranean.
Intact Etruscan chamber tomb discovered
An untouched Etruscan chamber tomb dating to the 7th century BC has been uncovered in the San Giuliano necropolis in Lazio, central Italy. Investigations in the area have been carried out since 2016 by the San Giuliano Archaeological Research Project,…
Being a woman in ancient Pompeii
An exhibition at the Archaeological Park of Pompeii explores what life was like for Roman women.
The Nile Mosaic at Palestrina
Robert R Frost explores Graeco-Roman Egypt through the scenes in a stunning Nilotic mosaic.
Gladiators: Heroes of the Colosseum and Gladiators of Britain
Exhibitions currently running at the Royal Armouries in Leeds and at Northampton Museum & Art Gallery focus on ancient Rome’s famous arena fighters, separating fact from fiction and exploring the latest archaeological research. Carly Hilts visited both to learn more.
Cosmic psychopomps and apotropaic pentagrams: A pot with a difference
Archaeology essentially illuminates human entanglement with things, James Deetz pointed out 50 years ago in his classic book In Small Things Forgotten. ‘Don’t read what we have written; look at what we have done’, Deetz concluded in a clarion call…
Herculaneum Scrolls: title revealed
For the first time, non-invasive technology has been used to recover a title from the ancient papyri from Herculaneum carbonised in the AD 79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Earlier this year, scans of the scroll in question, known as PHerc.172,…
Birthing Romans
REVIEW BY PAULINE RIPAT Roman legends stressed the importance of babies in the foundation of Rome and its destiny to dominate. The unlikely birth of the twins Romulus and Remus from a Vestal Virgin, and their even more improbable survival…
Disaster over the Alps: The Austro-Hungarian army on the Italian Front, 1915-1918
In the second part of our special, Graham Goodlad assesses Austria-Hungary’s failure to achieve victory against Italy.
Bombing Venice: The Allied attack on one of the world’s most beloved cities
In a new book, Jonathan Glancey tells the inside story of Operation Bowler, the audacious WWII plan to destroy German strategic outposts around Venice’s port, while leaving the legendary city unscathed.