Dionysian frieze discovered in Pompeii Ongoing excavations of a grand domus in Pompeii’s Insula 10, Regio IX, have revealed a series of spectacular finds, including a dining room decorated with scenes from the Trojan War (CA 412), a lararium or…
During the 13th century, a series of popes made use of the palace at Viterbo in Italy. During this period, the city hosted five conclaves, while the palace grew increasingly impressive. Tim Tatton-Brown examines the evolution of this complex and the events that unfolded there.
Dedicated to the memory of Amanda Claridge In 1925, thanks to Winston Churchill, Britain returned to the gold standard; Italy slipped into a dictatorship under Benito Mussolini after a speech to the Chamber of Deputies on 3 January; the USA…
In recent months, excavations in Pompeii’s Insula 10, Regio IX, have uncovered several sections of a grand domus, including a black-walled dining room decorated with scenes from the Trojan War (CWA 125), a lararium or household shrine room (CWA 126),…
W Benson Harer Jr says we should thank the Roman legionaries for our ginger feline friends.
REVIEW BY KATHERINE V BOYLE This book looks at an often-overlooked aspect of European prehistory, more specifically the Neolithic/Eneolithic, but one that, fortunately, is gradually changing with work undertaken in recent years by scholars across Europe. The subject is the…
Ongoing excavations in Insula 10, Regio IX, at Pompeii have uncovered a luxurious private bathhouse, one of the biggest ever found in a domestic context in the ancient city. The thermal complex is the latest remarkable discovery inside the grand…
Another advance has been made in the efforts to decipher a collection of ancient papyrus scrolls from Herculaneum that were burnt during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. Remarkable progress has been made in recent years thanks to…
Thanks to an ingenious digital technique, a particle accelerator, and an internet competition, we stand on the threshold of being able to enjoy what is potentially the greatest influx of ‘new’ Classical texts since the Renaissance. Brent Seales told Matthew Symonds why scrolls that were once widely believed impossible to read are now on the verge of becoming legible.
A small, ornately decorated house has been uncovered in Pompeii during ongoing excavations of the Insula of the Chaste Lovers, in the centre of the ancient city. Archaeological investigations of this newly discovered residence are still under way, but it…
In a deep valley below Bomarzo’s Orsini palace lies the so-called ‘Monster Park’ – the Sacro Bosco, a Mannerist gem from the later 16th century. It is surely one of the most remarkable Renaissance gardens in Italy, if not Europe.…
REVIEW BY EMLYN DODD The study of dolia, and indeed research more generally into ancient viti- and viniculture, has become increasingly popular in the past two decades. Cheung’s book fits neatly into this trajectory and complements other recent work on…
Analysis of the brains of individuals from 17th-century Milan indicates that they were utilising the coca plant (Erythroxylum spp.) several centuries before the drug was previously believed to have reached Europe. The coca plant originates in South America, where it…
With Marc DeSantis
EGYPT: JOURNEY TO IMMORTALITY An exhibition telling the story of the journey to the afterlife through 110 masterpieces from the Egyptian Museum of Florence (National Museum of Archaeology). Highlights include the mummy and sarcophagus of Padimut, a ‘pseudo-mummy’ of a…
What is it? This ornate bronze hanging oil lamp, 60cm in diameter and weighing 57.72kg, comes from the Etruscan civilisation. It is decorated with a unique combination of iconography that has been the subject of discussion since its discovery. In…
Graham Goodlad analyses the clashes that made Napoleon’s name as a soldier of genius.
Flavius Aetius is little known today, unlike his nemesis Attila the Hun. But, says Tim Newark, it was the Roman general who triumphed over his notorious adversary in a battle that decided the fate of the Roman Empire.
When Venice features in the media, the story is usually about the malign consequences of flooding, cruise ships, and tourism, which crowds out more positive news, like the development of the Venice Time Machine, due to be showcased at this year’s European Association of Archaeologists conference in Rome.
• Pompeii: the biggest dig in a generation
• AI and archaeology: reconstructing ancient landscapes
• Creatures of the Nile: what animals did for ancient Egypt
• Seeking Bluetooth’s kingdom: a journey through Viking Denmark
• Ghana: digging Christiansborg Castle
• South America: monumental rock art
The biggest dig at Pompeii in a generation is working to expose nearly an entire block of the ancient city. Archaeologists are making astonishing discoveries that shed powerful new light on life and death in the shadow of Vesuvius, as Giuseppe Scarpati and Sophie Hay told Matthew Symonds.
What can artificial intelligence bring to archaeology? Maurizio Forte introduces recent work dedicated to reconstructing ancient landscapes, and weighs some of the risks and rewards.
Less well-known than the invasion of Normandy, the Allied campaign in northern Italy saw some of the bloodiest fighting of the Second World War. Eighty years on, Patrick Mercer looks in detail at one action to understand how things went wrong.
REVIEW BY GRAHAM GOODLAD The Second World War saw the parachute and glider used to deploy troops in large numbers for the first and last time in military history. The technology had simply not been available in the Great War,…
Stunning painted banquet hall uncovered in Pompeii A banquet hall boasting some of the finest frescoes found in Pompeii has recently been uncovered by archaeologists working in Regio IX. The Third Style wall paintings depict particular imagery from the Trojan…
An exhibition at Pompeii explores the less glamorous side of life in the ancient city.
Archaeologists working at Pompeii have uncovered a spectacular banquet hall decorated with mythological images connected to the Trojan War. This luxurious space, once used for feasting and entertaining, was part of a grand private residence located in Insula 10 of…
David Porter on Military History's doomed inventions.
Rome’s military is renowned as one of the finest fighting forces of the ancient world. But what was life really like for the individuals who became career soldiers, and how much do we know about the tools of their trade? Richard Abdy told Matthew Symonds about the people who fought for Rome.
In the second of a two-part feature examining Monte Cassino, Richard Hodges examines how the monastery developed from the late 9th century onwards.
A luxurious domus dating to the late Republican period has been discovered in Rome in the area between the Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum. The site, which has been named the Domus del Vicus Tuscus, was first discovered in…
Rare tomb found in Naples A rare underground funerary chamber was recently found during excavations in advance of the laying of a water pipeline in northern Naples, Italy. Measuring 3m by 4m, the walls of the chamber are completely covered…
In the first of a two-part feature, Richard Hodges untangles the early evolution of the famed Benedictine monastery of Monte Cassino.
An exceptional discovery has been made during the laying of a water pipeline in northern Naples, in Giugliano, an area that has never before yielded this type of find. The archaeological excavations, requested by the Superintendency for the Metropolitan Area…
With Marc DeSantis
Efforts to decipher the Herculaneum scrolls have reached an important turning point. The collection of over one thousand papyrus scrolls, carbonised during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79, was discovered in 1752 in what is now known as…