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Gareth Harney

@OptimoPrincipi

12 Dec 21

1) The remains of this 35-year-old man from the 1st-2nd century tell a pitiful tale of disability in the ancient world, yet also serve as a powerful reminder of the resilience of the human spirit. When his skeleton was found near Ostia in 2008, experts were astounded to see..

2) ..the unfortunate man suffered from a completely fused jaw (emporomandibular joint ankylosis), perhaps from trauma in childhood but most likely a congenital condition which made it impossible for him to open his mouth through his life. Incredibly, a closer look reveals that..

3) ..several of his front teeth have been removed and a hole drilled through his mouth to allow feeding, likely only eating liquid food his entire life. Nevertheless, bone analysis has shown his diet was rich and well-balanced. Other skeletal damage shows he worked in..

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Gareth Harney

@OptimoPrincipi

27 Nov 21

1) Delighted to add to my collection this wonderful denarius of Hadrian, with the restless emperor shown near the end of his 21-year reign and celebrating himself as restorer of the lands of the world - in this case none other than his homeland of Hispania.

2) Where his predecessor Trajan had travelled mainly through military campaigns and his successor Antoninus never left Italy at all during his time on the throne, Hadrian spent more than half his long reign touring the provinces of a Roman empire at its most expansive.

3) In the last few years of his rule, having visited most of his provinces in person, the Roman mint commemorated the emperor's grand tour in an ambitious 'travel series' of coinage, celebrating the imperial provinces visited by Hadrian and their subsequent revitalisation.

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Gareth Harney

@OptimoPrincipi

26 Nov 21

1/4) Roman sarcophagus fragment depicting the death of the Greek hero Meleager, famous for killing the Calydonian boar. The emotive tableau focuses on the dying hero being carried home by his father and companions. 2nd century, The Met

2/4) The scene is powerfully realised in high relief emphasising the dying hero, unlike most other classical representations of Meleager which usually show the hunt for the Calydonian boar or the hero being laid to rest in a tomb.

3/4) An emotive detail of a grieving companion of the dying hero Meleager.

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Gareth Harney

@OptimoPrincipi

21 Nov 21

1) Marble bust of a Roman empress, commonly identified as Agrippina the Younger (15-59 AD), sister of Caligula, niece and wife of Claudius, as well as mother of Nero by her first husband Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus..

2) The empress has intricately curled and braided hair with luxuriant plaits at the back. She wears a diadem of flame palmettes which has been partially restored..

3) While the bust has been dated to Agrippina's lifetime, around 40-55 AD, certain features like the treatment of the eyes suggest to me this may be a later posthumous portrait of the Julio-Claudian empress, perhaps from the Trajanic era. We know for instance that..

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Gareth Harney

@OptimoPrincipi

13 Nov 21

1) During World War II, Malta was the most bombed place on earth, with more bombs dropped on the small island in two months of 1941 than on London during the whole war. When air raids were imminent, many took refuge in churches, praying for deliverance. As on 9th April 1942..

2) In the town of Mosta, in the Northern Region of Malta, over 300 of the town's devout Catholic inhabitants gathered defiantly for evening mass in the Rotunda of Mosta, under the spectacular dome modelled on Rome's Pantheon. Meanwhile, in the skies above..

3) Luftwaffe bombers returning from a raid on the nearby airfield of RAF Ta Kali, looked for targets on which to drop their excess bombs. At 16:40pm, as they passed directly over the great Mosta Dome, the Luftwaffe jettisoned their remaining payload...

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Gareth Harney

@OptimoPrincipi

1 Nov 21

1) Roman marble statue of a draped female figure, no less beautiful despite missing head and arms. The woman wears a chiton buttoned up on the shoulders and over it, the heavier himation or mantle. Thanks to the surviving statue base she can be identified as none other than..

2) Livia, famed and long-lived wife of Augustus. Interestingly, the inscription identifies her as 'Ceres Julia Augusta', revealing that Livia is being presented in the guise of the maternal goddess of agriculture, the grain harvest and fertility.

3) In her own 87-year lifetime, Livia was regularly equated with maternal goddesses of the Roman state, especially on imperial coinage - including Pax (Peace), Salus (Health), Justitia (Justice) and on a later coin from the reign of Claudius, Ceres.

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