Italy

RIGHT The god Mercury holding his half brother, the god Bacchus, as a child. This statue was in the Antiquarium of Cosimo I at Palazzo Pitti in 1576 and later, in 1597, in the Galleria degli Uffizi. After it was restored in 1758, it was moved to the Garden of Boboli, where it remained until recently. Marble, 2nd century AD.

Children of the Roman Empire

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.

1160px Vincenzo Camuccini A Roman Triumphal Entry Possibly of Marcus Claudius Marcellus

War of words – ‘ovation’

Marcus Claudius Marcellus asked the Senate to grant him a triumph. He was refused because the fighting in his former province of Sicily was still ongoing, and his army was not with him to support his claim. Instead, he was given only an ovation.

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This week: Domitian

Few figures in history have seen their reputation rise and fall quite like Domitian (AD 51-96). The third and final ruler of the dynasty founded in AD 69 by his father Vespasian, he became one of the longest-serving emperors, praised during his 15-year reign as a living god, but later remembered as corrupt, murderous and deeply depraved.

Domitian

Domitian: dominus et deus

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.

ABOVE The Mausoleum of Augustus, as seen in the summer of 2017. The poor state of the monument in 2014 the 2,000th anniversary of Augustus’ death helped to prompt the establishment of LoveItaly.

Tracy Roberts and LoveItaly

Based in Rome, LoveItaly is now in its seventh year and its accent is decidedly American and not patrician. It owes everything to the dynamism of a Californian who is every bit as Roman as the Romans.

‘Arrogance and violence’

Suetonius’ Lives of the Caesars offers a series of sensational biographies of Roman rulers from Julius Caesar to Domitian, highlighting moments of depravity, viciousness, scheming, and excess.

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Honouring Augustus

After centuries of reuse and years of closure, the Mausoleum of Augustus is now open to visitors. Dalu Jones examines the structure’s long history and how, with its neighbour the Ara Pacis, it forms a modern monumental complex to the ancient emperor in the heart of Rome.

OPPOSITE Polychrome wall mosaic showing a harbour and ship, found in the garden of Palazzo Rospigliosi Pallavicini in 1876, during construction work on Rome’s Via Nazionale. Late 2nd / early 3rd century

Rome’s hidden mosaics

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.

Right A modern piatto di pompa with St Francis in front of a cross. Size: 31cm in diameter

St Francis of Assisi: a tale of two plates

In September 1224, St Francis of Assisi had a vision in which an angel marked him with the wounds of Christ. As Norman Hammond explains, this was a popular scene on plates for pilgrims, but sometimes these plates could offer up a more unusual image.