1) The streets of ancient Rome were chaotic and rowdy - the philosopher Seneca lived next to raucous public baths and had to learn to live with the constant row: "As I study in my apartment overlooking the baths I'm surrounded by every type of racket..."
2) "Sounds that make you loath being able to hear: I can hear the groans of the bodybuilders pumping iron and throwing their heavy weights all over the place, either really putting their backs into it or just hamming it up..."
3) "Even when it comes to the lazy chap having a massage, I can hear the slap of the hand on his shoulders - I can even tell the difference between a flat slap and a hollow one. When the ball player comes along, yelling his score - then that's me finished!.."
4) "Pile on top of that the roaring and shouting, the thief being caught, the bloke who likes singing in the bath, as well as those who think it's clever to dive in the pool with giant splashes of water..."
5) "Then you have the armpit-hair-plucker calling out his services with resonant yells, except for when he gets on with his work and makes someone else yell for him! Add to that a medley of noise from drink-sellers and hot-food vendors, all hawking goods with their unique cry!.."
6) "You might think I'm either made of iron, or deaf, if I am not disturbed by this discordant row all around. Nevertheless, I say with certainty this barrage of noise now has no more effect on me than the sound of the sea or running water."
1) An extraordinary Roman bust thought to represent Mark Antony, carved in rare Egyptian basanite from the Wadi Hammamat quarries in the Eastern Desert – among the most highly prized stones used in ancient sculpture, known for replicating the metallic appearance of aged bronze..
2) The commanding late-Republican portrait was discovered near the Egyptian city of Alexandria in around 1780, where Mark Antony was based with Cleopatra in their final years waging war against Octavian..
3) Though the identification of Mark Antony cannot be certain, the robust features, prominent chin, and aquiline nose do resemble Antony's appearance on coinage; here compared to a denarius from my collection. Basanite stone was also reserved for the most important sitters..
1) Having taken a leading role in the assassination of Julius Caesar on this day in 44 BC, aided by as many as sixty fellow conspirators, Brutus would commemorate the events of the Ides of March with this, the most infamous and enigmatic of all coins from the ancient world...
2) The coin shows the weapons and the motive of the assassins, with two daggers flanking a pileus cap of liberty, placed on the heads of those being freed from slavery. The blades of the Liberatores had, in the eyes of Brutus, released the Republic from a tyrant's stranglehold..
3) Rather than a lone dagger, the coin depicts a pair of blades that viewers would have most likely understood to represent the weapons of both Marcus Junius Brutus and his fellow assassin, Gaius Cassius Longinus – now the leaders of the Republican cause in the East.
1) Climbing the 124 steps to the Basilica of Santa Maria in Ara Coeli 'the Altar of Heaven' – especially hallowed ground for Roman coin enthusiasts, as the most probable site of the Temple of Juno Moneta, where for much of Rome's history the coins of state were struck into being.
2) Legend said that during the Gallic siege of Rome in 390 BC, the sacred geese of Juno honked the alarm when they spotted some sneaky Gauls scaling this northern spur of the Capitoline. Juno Moneta 'the Warner' would thereafter be worshipped in a temple on the lofty citadel..
3) The temple-workshop of Juno Moneta would soon become the home of the Roman Republic's mint, with Juno as protectress of the wealth of the state. Through Moneta, the Latin verb monere 'to warn' therefore gave us our modern word 'money' ..and me the title of my upcoming book!
1) On 10 May 1889, a pair of marble sarcophagi were unearthed on the banks of the Tiber during construction of Rome's Palace of Justice. Concerned the contents of the graves might be destroyed during transport to the Capitoline, archaeologists chose to open the coffins on site...
2) Two days later, a large crowd of curious Romans gathered to witness the opening of the sarcophagi. Deep in the construction pit, the famed archaeologist Rodolfo Lanciani gave permission for his assistants to cut the clamps sealing the first coffin and pull aside the lid...
3) The workmen and onlookers closest to the marble coffin jumped back in astonishment at the sight before them. The sarcophagus was filled with Tiber water that over time had filtered in through the tiniest gap under the lid, and through the veil of clear water they gazed upon...
1/9) Surviving sections of a spectacular and particularly ancient triumphal monument of the Roman Republic. The so-called Bocchus monument was dedicated on the Capitoline Hill around 100 BC by the future-dictator Sulla and the Mauritanian king Bocchus, in celebration of...
2/9) ..their defeat of the rebellious Numidian king Jugurtha, and the resolution of the Jugurthine War in North Africa. Though Gaius Marius was eager to claim credit for the victory himself and celebrated a triumph in 104 BC at which Jugurtha was executed, it was Sulla who..
3/9) ..orchestrated the subterfuge that won the war: convincing King Bocchus to betray his son-in-law, Jugurtha, and hand him over to the Romans in exchange for an extension to his own lands. Triumphant military symbols adorn their monument: a Roman eagle with winged Victories..
1/5) Graceful female herms dating to the Augustan era, unearthed in the area of the Temple of Apollo on the Palatine Hill in 1869...
2/5) The surviving herms are thought to be some of the fifty herm statues known to have once adorned the temple precinct, representing the fifty daughters of the mythical king Danaus, known as the Danaids...
3/5) Alternating in black 'nero antico' and red 'rosso antico' marble, the fifty female herms would have made a spectacular sight around the portico of the Augustan temple...