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The Partial Historians 🏺

@partialhistorians.bsky.social

After surviving exposure at birth, these unconventional academics realised they were destined to found the greatest Ancient Roman History podcast! 🏛📯⚔️ 📘‘Your Cheeky Guide to the Roman Empire’ is out now! https://linktr.ee/ThePartialHistorians

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The Partial Historians 🏺@partialhistorians.bsky.social · 1h ago

When we talk about long inscriptions, the Res Gestae Divi Augusti is up there! This modern version of Augustus' late-in-life retrospective offers HIS interpretation of his life and rule… #ReliefWednesday #AncientRome #Augustus

Anthony Majanlahti @anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social · yesterday

To secure his seat on a burial club board in exactly 1 CE, Nepos paid for the ossuary's new mosaic floor out of his own pocket. It is a masterful display of status: funding local infrastructure so your peers literally walk all over your name in perpetuity. #EpigraphyTuesday #AncientBluesky 🏺

MOSAIC INSCRIPTION OF NEPOS, 1 CE. VATICAN MUSEUMS

Here we see a rectangular mosaic panel featuring a Latin text in black tesserae against a white background, mounted on a wall among various marble funerary plaques. Originally excavated from the subterranean Columbarium of the Volusii Saturnini, the text reads: NEPOS DEC PAVIMENTVM IN OSSVARIO ET SVBSCALARIA D S P D D C CAESARE L PAVLLO COS. The inscription translates to record that Nepos, a decurion of a burial club, funded the pavement of the ossuary and the area under the stairs with his own money. The consular date line specifically anchors this public works gift, or summa honoraria, to the year 1 CE under Gaius Cæsar and Lucius Paullus. Nepos did not act alone: two other decuriones, Mellax and Lucrio, funded additional decorations for this exact same stairway. Setting his name in stone was therefore not merely a selfish desire to be remembered, but rather reflected a profound urge to embellish a shared, sacred space for the fellow members of his sodality.

The Partial Historians 🏺@partialhistorians.bsky.social · 2d ago

Podcasting is amazing as it brings together people with amazing shared interests. Dr Rad and I were fortunate to be interviewed by Tristan for The Ancients podcast many years ago, and yesterday we got to meet in person!

From left: Tristan Hughes, Dr Rad, Dr G, Professor Alastair Blanchard outside the City Recital Hall, Sydney.

Dr Pat Witts @wittspat.bsky.social · 2d ago

For this #MosaicMonday, the ever-gorgeous Bignor Venus. Her semicircular diadem resembles the shape of a pelta. Some see this as deliberate but is it just the shape - albeit immediately recognisable - formed by the two curls of hair in front? Thoughts welcome! 1/3 #AncientBlueSky 🏺

Extract from a hand-coloured engraving of a mosaic showing the bust of a naked female figure in a circular frame. She is wearing a pendant (which has led some to argue that the pendant is the neck of a diaphanous robe). Her hair is arranged in neat coils, perhaps gathered in a pony tail because no hair is visible on either side of the neck, with the ends draped on her shoulders. On her head is a semicircular diadem held in place by a tiara decorated with small white crosses.

The Partial Historians 🏺@partialhistorians.bsky.social · 3d ago

Let yourself float on the gentle tides of the Mediterranean (even if only in your imagination in this moment). Feel the calm waters and the little fish brush past your fingertips. Wave to the passing squid with the long and short tentacles. #MosaicMonday #AncientBluesky🏺

This mosaic fragment is made up of a white background and blue hues have been used to depict fish, a squid, and other marine life. It is striking in the simplicity of colours. From the Roman house in Ariminum (Rimini). Mosaic on display at the Museo della città di Rimini.

Chapps @chapps.bsky.social · 4d ago

In honor of The Odyssey, here’s an alabaster #Etruscan cinerary urn with the scene from the epic where Odysseus is tied to his ship’s mast so that he might hear the song of the Sirens. Oddly, the Sirens here don’t have birds’ bodies/legs, but appear as women playing musical instruments. 🏺 1/ 📸 me

Alabaster cinerary urn depicting Odysseus and the Sirens. Its contents originally included two containers of cremated human remains and samples of walnut, shell, grass, glass, and charcoal. In this scene, Odysseus's ship draws near to the sirens, who are shown in fully female form, each playing a different musical instrument. Odysseus seems to be struggling to free himself while one of the crew adjusts his ropes.

Etruscan, from Volterra, 2nd century BCE. British Museum (1849,1201.2)

Anthony Majanlahti @anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social · 3d ago

The Martyrdom of St Nobody. This stone on an ancient capital in S. Sabina is merely meant to evoke the ancient domus that preceded the basilica. Yet, posed on a pedestal, it allows a pilgrim’s relic-seeking eye to manufacture awe out of nothing. Throw your coins! #SpoliaSunday #AncientBluesky 🏺

SUBTERRANEAN COLUMN AND MASONRY FRAGMENT, C2-C3 CE. S. SABINA

Here we see an excavated subterranean well beneath the modern floor level of the C5 basilica of S. Sabina on the Aventine hill. When the C5 builders levelled the site, they sheared off the walls of the underlying C2 domus, leaving the smooth, pale grey marble Roman column seen here plunging far below the illuminated section down to the original street level. The column likely belonged to the domus of a wealthy Roman benefactress named Sabina who donated the site. To justify the "titulus Sabinae", the early Church simply invented a homonymous saint to dedicate the building to, commemorating the benefactress under a veneer of martyrdom. The weathered Corinthian capital bears a jagged, roughly triangular block of stone dead centre, perhaps the springstone for two arches crossing the space between the columns of an atrium. It was likely placed there by C20 excavators to give a sense of the building preceding the church. Yet in the spatial grammar of a Roman basilica this isolated stone, framed by plastered retaining walls and modern black iron railings, seems to demand veneration. The Church understands this visual vocabulary perfectly: leaving a piece of ancient masonry perfectly positioned atop a column in an excavated well is a brilliant passive manipulation of the human instinct to find the sacred in the city's ruins. This is all too fitting: Saint Sabina herself is about as real as the "relic" resting atop this column.

The Partial Historians 🏺@partialhistorians.bsky.social · 6d ago

The bust appears to be quite modern, but the hairstyle is very much in keeping with the Flavian style. Higher and higher the hair rises! #AncientRome #Flavian #AncientBluesky🏺

Lindsay Powell FRHistS @lindsaypowell.bsky.social · 6d ago

For your weekend reading: 'MARCUS AGRIPPA: The True Story' by @lindsaypowell.bsky.social. As featured in @historia-hwa.bsky.social. #AncientBlueSky #Agrippa #Romans historiamag.com/marcus-agrip...

Marcus Agrippa: The True Story by Lindsay Powell – Historia Magazine

historiamag.com

Anthony Majanlahti @anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social · 7d ago

When Lord #Elgin stripped the Treasury of #Atreus at #Mycenae in 1802, he left its monumental entrance a bare, undecorated skeleton. We look at these fragments today and forget they were once part of a dazzling Late Bronze Age façade. #ReliefWednesday #AncientBluesky 🏺

STONE RELIEF FRAGMENTS FROM THE TREASURY OF ATREUS, C13 BCE

Here we see three carved stone fragments from the Treasury of Atreus. The top and bottom pieces feature running spirals above roundels, while the middle rosso antico fragment shows opposed half-rosettes separated by a vertically banded triglyph. The lowest piece is carved from greyish-green limestone. The deep carved centres of the spirals were originally drilled to hold bright blue glass inlays. Despite its name, this was a royal tholos tomb, not a treasury. The long approach and towering façade were accessible stages for public funerary rituals. The lavish decoration served as dynastic propaganda, overawing subjects and rivals with imperial power. While such conspicuous wealth was an open invitation to theft (it was heavily looted in antiquity), the immediate political need to project dominance outweighed the risk of desecration.

The Partial Historians 🏺@partialhistorians.bsky.social · 7d ago

✨Brand New Episode - Fatal Second Helen with Josh Cannon✨ In this interview we’re joined by Josh Cannon who holds a PhD in near eastern languages and civilizations from the University of Chicago.

Illustration of Ajax defending the Greek ships against the Trojans. Text reads: ‘Special Episode - Fatal Second Helen with Josh Cannon’.

The Partial Historians 🏺@partialhistorians.bsky.social · last wk.

In the Res Gestae, Augustus claimed to have had great auctoritas (influence) but not more potestas (power) than anyone else. A fine distinction to us but perhaps more readily understood by a Roman of the day! #ReliefWednesday #AncientBluesky🏺

Picture from wikipedia is “A view of the remnants of the Temple of Augustus in Ankara, Turkey (Monumentum Ancyranum). Photo taken by AtilimGunesBaydin on November 28, 2004.” This version of the inscription was in Greek. Fragments elsewhere are in Latin.

Dr Jo Ball @drjeball.bsky.social · last wk.

A #Roman tile marked with a child's footprints - they have really sunk their toes into the unfired clay here! There are also dog pawprints on the tile - a child & their beloved pet walking together, maybe, some 1700+ years ago... #AncientBlueSky #Archaeology

The Partial Historians 🏺@partialhistorians.bsky.social · last wk.

Feel the seasons upon you with this mosaic fragment from the Palazzo Chigi in Ariccia. If you can make it there, it’s well worth the visit with ancient artefacts scattered throughout the Baroque collection. #AncientRome #MosaicMonday #AncientBluesky🏺

The Partial Historians 🏺@partialhistorians.bsky.social · last wk.

To say it was an odyssey would be fair! When Roman historians go to see ancient Greece on film, we have opinions for sure.

Dr Rad (left) and Dr G (right) standing in front of some fearsome Laestrygonians while wearing ‘Odyssey Boat Tour’ T-shirts.

Durotriges Dig @durotrigesdig.bsky.social · last wk.

Want a book about the end of the southern British Iron Age, the Roman invasion and the greatest king of this island has ever had? If only such a thing existed...🤔 www.bloomsbury.com/uk/caratacus... @bloomsburyacademic.bsky.social January 2027 #Archaeology #AncientBlueSky 🏺

Book cover with an Iron Age coin depicting a naked spear and shield wielding male warrior on a horse with the title *Caratacus - Great King of Britain* below

Anthony Majanlahti @anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social · last wk.

Step under the C12 portico of Santa Cecilia in #Trastevere and you find medieval #spolia use at its finest. Symmetrical ancient shafts, with two central rose granite columns flanked by dramatic breccia, are topped with new C12 classicising Ionic capitals. #SpoliaSunday #Rome #AncientBluesky 🏺

PORTICO COLONNADE WITH SPOLIA COLUMNS, C12 CE. S. CECILIA

Here we see a C12 church portico that showcases the medieval penchant for turning ancient architectural elements into a refined medieval entrance. A pair of smooth Egyptian rose granite columns sits between two outer shafts of richly brecciated Africano marble, creating a deliberate symmetry that treats salvaged stone as a luxury material, exactly as it had been in antiquity. The C12 masons topped these antique shafts with newly carved, classicising Ionic capitals to ensure a harmonious rhythm. Beyond its material prestige, the portico served a vital liminal function as a sacred insulator from the physical world. It provided a deliberate architectural buffer where worshippers could pause and shed the chaotic distractions of daily existence, casting off the heavy curtain of the flesh before crossing the threshold into the quiet, spiritual radiance of the church interior.

The Partial Historians 🏺@partialhistorians.bsky.social · 2w ago

✨Fulvia with Kaarina Parker✨ The late republic of Rome is a tumultuous time and it opens up the possibility for elite women to be part of Rome’s political project in more overt ways than previously recorded in the ancient evidence.

Bookcover for ‘Fulvia’ by Kaarina Parker with a red background and the silhouette of a classical female figure surrounded by columns and laurel leaves.

Anthony Majanlahti @anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social · 2w ago

For #SarcophagusSaturday, Rome’s most prominent outdoor #sarcophagus, the "Tomba di Nerone" on the via #Cassia. It’s actually the C3 CE box of one P. Vibius Marianus. After Paschal II destroyed the real tomb of #Nero in 1099, medieval pilgrims attached the legend here. #AncientBluesky 🏺

TOMB OF PUBLIUS VIBIUS MARIANUS ("TOMBA DI NERONE"), C. 200–230 CE, VIA CASSIA

This is a gabled marble sarcophagus on a high masonry plinth. The chest features a central Latin epitaph on a large tabula, flanked by relief carvings of two soldiers in parade cuirasses. The disproportionately large, roof-like lid features carved tiles and oversized corner acroteria showing winged Victories. Dedicated by Vibia Maria Maxima to her father, a former governor of Sardinia and prefect of Legio II Italica, the tomb's heavy drill work, rigid frontality, and architectural scale anticipate the style of C4 and C5 late antiquity. In 1099, after Pope Paschal II cleared Nero’s real burial site on the Pincian Hill to build the predecessor to Santa Maria del Popolo, medieval pilgrims on the via Francigena misidentified this prominent roadside monument as Nero’s tomb, despite its inscription. Nero’s remains were probably tossed into the Tiber.

Dr Jo Ball @drjeball.bsky.social · 2w ago

A toy ball from #Roman Egypt, made from linen with strips of reed (painted red & green), & with stone chips inside so it would rattle when used. First played with some 1600+ years ago... (📷 British Museum) #AncientBlueSky

Anthony Majanlahti @anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social · 2w ago

For #FrescoFriday, a masterpiece of ancient collaboration. In the #DomusAurea ’s Hall of the Owls, painter Fabullus flooded the vault with costly Egyptian blue and cinnabar to capture flickering light. In the central pinax, Hermes steals Apollo’s cattle. #AncientBluesky 🏺

HALL OF THE OWLS CEILING FRESCO, DETAIL, 64–68 CE. DOMUS AUREA

Here we're looking up at a detailed view of a barrel-vaulted ceiling fresco from the Hall of the Owls in Nero’s Domus Aurea. Along the lower plaster arch, small blue songbirds sit perched on delicate reddish vine tendrils flanking a central dark diamond motif. Above this, a curved architectural band features eagles with outstretched wings silhouetted against panels of vivid Egyptian blue. The upper vault contains a central framed pinax likely depicting the youthful Hermes stealthily driving away the cattle of Apollo. The overall decorative scheme blends symbols of divine authority (the eagles of Jupiter), wisdom (the room’s namesake owls of Minerva), and bucolic peace (the songbirds and pastoral myth), creating a Neronian allegory of Golden Age harmony and imperial abundance for banqueting guests. Saturated mineral pigments of Egyptian blue, gold ochre, and cinnabar red accentuate the ceiling architecture.

@maskflowerprince.bsky.social · 2w ago

Another archaeological landscape for #scape Friday. The mighty city of Mycenae, Greece. King Agamemnon launched the Trojan War from here 3,000 years ago. #Greece #Mycenae #Odyssey #TheOdyssey #Homer #Agamemnon #archaeology #AncientBlueSky #ancientart #art #ruins #EastCoastKin #ECK #WCK

The Partial Historians 🏺@partialhistorians.bsky.social · 2w ago

Hold on tight, it’s #PhallusThursday! You just never know when really good fortune is going to come into your ancient Roman day, so best to prepare ahead by making sure you’ve done your pilates and are ready for whatever the day might hold…

Description from Nicolo Melissa Antiques: “Ancient Roman Carved Phallus. Carved white marble phallus with figure grasping the shaft that can be interpreted as a representation of fertility.” Thought to date to the first Century CE.

The Partial Historians 🏺@partialhistorians.bsky.social · 2w ago

The Vestal Virgin frieze at the Museo Archeologico Antonio Salinas in Palermo is a beautiful piece that shows the five veiled women and a six figure whose head is missing due to damage of the frieze. The veils indicate a sacrifice is the subject. #ReliefWednesday

A frieze showing six figures. From left: a veiled seated woman (possibly the chief Vestal Virgin) facing right; four veiled standing women facing right; a one figure at the far most right facing towards the viewer but details are missing from the mid torso up.

The Partial Historians 🏺@partialhistorians.bsky.social · 2w ago

The Appian Way in the summertime #AncientRome

The Partial Historians 🏺@partialhistorians.bsky.social · 3w ago

New restoration work is underway in Trajan's forum! #AncientRome #Trajan

The Partial Historians 🏺@partialhistorians.bsky.social · 3w ago

New restoration work is underway in Trajan's forum! #AncientRome #Trajan

Erotic Mythology @aimeemaroux.bsky.social · 3w ago

Did you have good luck today? Hermes is here to provide it, given you are ready to give him a quick rub. #PhallusThursday @partialhistorians.bsky.social mastodon.social/@AimeeMaroux...

mastodon.social

The Partial Historians 🏺@partialhistorians.bsky.social · 3w ago

When at the Colosseum, it is obviously appropriate to ask the question that Maximus Decimus Meridius asks, “Are you not entertained?” #AncientRome #ClassicalReception

Dr G stands outside the Colosseum with her arms wide as if to ask the question posed by Maximus in the arena.

Dr G stands outside the Colosseum with her arms wide with the Maximus ‘Are you not entertained’ meme superimposed over the top.