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ABOVE The religious heart of Palmyra was the Sanctuary of Bel (TOP), while a fine colonnaded street led through the centre of the city (BOTTOM). Both are seen here in 2008, before elements of the ancient city were destroyed in 2015.

Facing the Palmyrenes: exploring life and death in a desert city

What can an extraordinary group of sculptures commemorating the dead reveal about ancient life in Palmyra? Thousands of ancient inhabitants’ portraits once graced lavish family tombs in cemeteries just beyond the desert city. Studying this artistry can reveal much about wealth, power, family, and even the balance between local tradition and outside influences in a major trading hub, as Eva Mortensen and Rubina Raja reveal.

Greek technology

Ancient Greeks: Science and Wisdom

For Ancient Greeks, the natural world was a source of wonder and inspiration. Philosophers pondered sundry subjects, seeking the secrets of the night sky or what makes for a satisfying tune. Such questing curiosity inspired technological advances that we are only fully appreciating today, as Jane Desborough and Matthew Howles told Matthew Symonds.

9781606067444

A Maya Universe in Stone

A Maya Universe in Stone delves deeply into the imagery, inscriptions, and political and social contexts of several ancient Maya carved limestone lintels made in the late 8th century AD, likely in Guatemala’s Department of Peten. Eminent epigrapher and archaeologist…

BELOW Felicity Wild and I helped Martin Aitken with the proton magnetometer survey. I wore my school rugby jersey. She took off her sweater in the hot weather and never saw it again.

Surveying Verulamium

We all gathered round on another day, when a whoop of excitement emerged from the next-door shop, where Professor Frend was working in a cellar. He had just found the lovely bronze statuette of Venus, now a proud exhibit in the Verulamium Museum

Below The Barber Institute’s new exhibition, Miss Clara and the Celebrity Beast in Art 1500 1860, includes several depictions of the famous 18th century rhinoceros, such as this bronze sculpture.

Celebrity beasts

The statues of five elephants surrounding this part of the cemetery have led to the belief that these and other circus animals are buried here along with the human victims of the Hammond circus train disaster of 22 June 1918.

The pressure placed on academics to publish new books and papers has led to a dramatic increase in the number of works produced (LEFT), but has it also had a negative impact on their ability to address wider narratives? For example, perhaps Roman studies would benefit from more discussions of broader topics such as the nature of Roman urbanism (ABOVE).

Academic mass production

Every paper has to say something new. In the mass production of vehicle components, difference is defect. In the mass production of academic papers, difference is a requirement.

Cage cup

What is it? This cage cup, or vas diatretum, dates to the 4th century AD. The intricate, colourless glass bowl is 12.6cm tall and 15cm in diameter and has a flared rim. A Latin inscription in the central part of…