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Andrea Mall on Roman Domestic Decor

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment
Leda and the swan, House of the Gilded Cupids,...
Image by Tintern via Flickr

I suspect this one from the Toledo Museum of Art will be popular among our readers:

Andrea Mall discussed room groupings in Roman domestic architecture and their decoration at the Toledo Museum of Art. These suites of rooms, or diaetae as they were called in Latin, likely had their origin in lavish villas along the Bay of Naples. She first examined the extraordinary prototypes at the Villa of the Mysteries and the Villa at Boscoreale, then shifted to explore how Pompeians incorporated these decorative schemes into their urban homes. The Romans used several ways to distinguish suites from the rest of the home. Rooms could be associated through their architectural design, as in the House of Vettii; which has a suite consisting of successive rooms that recede into the residence. Rooms could also be linked through mythological depictions as in the House of the Centenary, whose frescoes display several myths, all tied together by a common theme of sacrifice. In the House of the Gilded Cupids, a suite likely intended for use by a woman, is completely devoid of men and focuses on feminine iconography.

Andrea Mall received her undergraduate degree in Classical art and archaeology and Latin from Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and her master’s degree in Art History from the University of Texas at Austin with a focus in ancient art. In 2002, she participated in an Etruscan excavation at Poggio Colla in Tuscany, Italy. She moved to Toledo in 2006 to work with Dr. Sandra Knudsen on the exhibition In Stabiano featuring frescoes from villas located on the Bay of Naples. She has since taken a permanent position at the Toledo Museum of Art as the Assistant Registrar for domestic loans and exhibition. She recently made her publishing debut by contributing entries to the Toledo Museum of Art’s Masterworks publication.

via Andrea Mall | “Extreme Makeover: Decor in the Ancient Houses of Pompeii” | February 12, 2010 | Toledo Museum of Art.

Sinclair Bell on Chariot Fans

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment
Winner of a Roman chariot race
Image via Wikipedia

Here’s another one from the Toledo Museum of Art … here’s the official description of an interesting talk on the fanaticism of fans ar Roman chariot races:

Dr. Sinclair Bell, Professor in the Department of Art History at Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, presented his program “Fans and Fame in the Roman Circus”.

In the first century CE, the funeral for Felix, a charioteer of the Red team, made headlines in Rome’s daily gazette when one of his fans immolated himself on his favorite’s funeral pyre. While an extreme example, fan behavior in ancient Rome is not unknown. Yet where charioteers assumed a highly visible presence in Roman society and have been much studied, the fans whom they inspired remain largely overlooked and poorly understood. This talk drew upon a wide range of literary, artistic, and archaeological evidence in reconstructing and reclaiming the interactive experience of the sport’s various followers.

Sinclair Bell is a specialist in the archaeology of ancient Italy and the history of ancient art. He has excavated in Italy and Tunisia, and worked as a curatorial assistant at museums in Germany and Greece. He studied Classical Art & Archaeology at the universities of Oxford, Edinburgh, and Cologne, receiving his Ph.D. in 2004. Currently an Assistant Professor of Art History at Northern Illinois University, he has taught previously in the School of Art & Art History at the University of Iowa and in the Department of Classics at the University of Winnipeg. Dr. Bell’s research is broadly concerned with Etruscan and Roman material culture and art, especially its social history, Renaissance reception, and contemporary theorization. He has published numerous articles, book chapters, and reviews on these and related topics. In addition, he has co-edited five books, including Role Models in the Roman World: Identity and Assimilation (Ann Arbor 2008) and New Perspectives on Etruria and Early Rome (Madison 2009). He is currently completing a monograph about the role of circus spectacles in Roman imperial culture.

via Dr. Sinclair Bell | “Fans and Fame in the Roman Circus” | March 20, 2010 | Toledo Museum of Art.

Iris (Summer 2010) is Available!

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

The Summer 2010 edition of Iris is out this month, and the theme of this issue is crime and punishment in the ancient world. Contents include:

* Romans behaving badly: crime and punishment in Rome
* Iris chat: Andrew Irvine, author of ‘Socrates on Trial’
* CSI Athens: the crime scene in ancient Greece
* Rules and rulers: law making and breaking in ancient world
* What lies beneath: off the beaten track in Northamptonshire
* Redemption and revenge: the story of Philoctetes

It also includes articles and features on outreach projects, news and reviews, puzzles, a what’s on section, translations, fiction, advice and more.

Iris magazine is part of The Iris Project, an educational charity which promotes access to Classics in inner city state schools and deprived urban areas. The magazine is sent free to state schools which don’t yet offer Classical subjects, and this is funded solely by subscriptions and advertisements in the magazine.

You can order a subscription at http://www.irismagazine.org/order.htm or by emailing editor  AT irismagazine.org. For more information on how you can help support the outreach work of the project or if you would like to make a donation, please get in touch at with us through our website.

This Day in Ancient History: nonas maias

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James George Frazer (1854-1941)
Image via Wikipedia

nonas maias

  • 431 B.C. — the “Peloponnesian War” began (according to one reckoning)
  • 399 B.C. — death of Socrates (according to one reckoning)
  • 1941 — death of Sir James Frazer (The Golden Bough)

This Day in Ancient History: ante diem v kalendas maias

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment
Edward Gibbon, by Henry Walton (died 1813). Se...
Image via Wikipedia

ante diem v kalendas maias

  • ludi Florales … a.k.a. Floralia (day 1) — a festival originally ordered in response to an interpretation of the Sybilline books in 238 B.C., it fell into desuetude only to be revived in 173 B.C.; it was a general festival of drinking and other merriment in honour of Flora, who presided over (of course) flowers and their blossoms (Chloris is also mentioned … I’m still trying to figure that one out).
  • 4977 B.C. — birth of the universe, according to the calculations of Johannes Kepler
  • 1737 — Birth of Edward Gibbon (he wrote some sort of book apparently)