Museum Exhibits

United Kingdom -- Oxford

The Rise and Fall of an Imperial Shrine: Roman Sculpture From the Augusteum at Norona

Ancient Narona held the honorific title of "colonnia".  Situated on the River Naron 24 km from the Adriatic Sea , it was one of the most important cities of Roman Dalmatia..  In 1995, the Archaeological Museum in Split , Croatia , began to dig in the area of the Roman Forum of Narona, the present day village of Vid .  The ruins of a Roman Temple were discovered.  A conspicuous feature of the temple was the presence of a number of headless marble torsos of both male and female figures. This damage was inflicted when Christianity replaced paganism as the official religion of the Roman Empire in the 4^th Century AD. Few cults could be quite as pagan as the one originally practiced at Narona.  The temple proved to have been dedicated to the cult of the Emperor Augustus at the end of the 1st Century BC.  These fascinating statues are once again united with their heads at the Ashmolean.

ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM (44) 1865 278000 (www.ashmol.ox.ac.uk) 7 July – 17 October

United States -- Cambridge , Mass.

The Art of Ancient Rome

Stone sculpture, bronze, terracotta and glass from the museum's collection. 

Arthur M. Sackler Museum , Harvard University (1) 617-495-9400
(www.art-museums.harvard.edu).  An ongoing exhibition.

Cedar Rapids , Iowa

Villa to Grave: Roman Art and Life

150 objects, primarily selected from Midwestern museum collections, exhibited with a series of 21 Roman marble portraits, donated to the museum by Tom and Nan Riley.

Cedar Rapids Museum of Art (1) 319-366-7503 (www.crma.org)

Austria , Petronell, Niederoesterreich

Gladitoria Caruntina: The World of the Arena

Ancient documentation, including reliefs, mosaics, and frescoes, depicting the Roman gladiator and discussing his social stature. 

ARCHAELOGISCHER PARK CARNUNTUM (49) 2163 2882 (www.smca.at). Permanent

Germany , Speyer , Rhineland-Pfalz

Romans and Franks in the Pfalz

A new permanent exhibition including recent grave finds. 

HISTORISCHES MUSEUM DER PFAlZ (49) 6232 13250 (www.museum.speyer.de)

Italy, Pompeii

Reopening of the Roman Baths at and of he hose of Julius Polbius and Menandrus

The houses and baths were closed for years because of restoration work. The house of Menandrus is one of the most important of the large mansions decorated with wall paintings that have survived in the ruined city. 

PORTA MARINA (museionline@adnkronos.com) Visits on weekends by appointment

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Roman Africa
by Marcus Minucius-Tiberius Audens

The original province of Africa was formed out of the territory taken by Rome in the defeat of Carthage in 146 BC.  This province corresponded roughly with Northeast Tunisia .  Julius Caesar, after the battle of Thapsus in 46 BC added a further area, Africa Nova (New Africa) to the original province, now known as Africa Vitus (Old Africa).  Under Augustus additional territorial gains were organized into a new province entitled Africa Proconsularius, extending from Cyrenica in the East to Numidia in the West..  This was done, and soon after- ward it appears that the coastal area of Mauritania and Numidia was newly organized into a Senatorial Province .  Numidia was established under Severus as a separate imperial province, Additional changes were made under Diocletian. 

North Africa held one great advantage over the other provinces (European and Levantine) within the empire.  This advantage spoke to the Sahara Desert to the South of these African provinces.  This long land frontier was less threatened by enemies foreign to Rome , simply by the lesser populations and difficult terrain of the lands inland.  Rome however, was very specific in constructing a road system inland connecting a line of fortifications which were placed at the routes to the interior, and to particularly dangerous areas to defend.  However, only one legion was stationed here, to deal with the few raids made by the desert tribesmen. The advantage speaks against the necessity to retain a large number of troops ; say along the Rhine-Danube frontier, which necessitated the use of 14+ legions to defend the empire (See Item 1-1).

Pomponius in writing about Roman Africa says, "Throughout its inhabited area it is extraordinarily fertile, but since the greater part of it is uncultivated and covered with sterile sands .... it is more abandoned than settled."

Bordering on the "Mare Internum" ( Mediterranean Sea ) as these provinces were, the naturally fertile lands also enjoyed sufficient rainfall for agricultural pursuits.  The main crops here were cereal foods and olives.  These were both exported to markets around the Mediterranean . Olive Oil was particularly popular, and was so abundant on this coast that even the meanest household could effort to have and use an oil lam for light.

Most of the major cities, such as Leptis Magna , Thydrus (El Djem) and others lay to the East, and boasted of a very prosperous olive oil production.  However Carthage  was the greatest of all Roman African cities.

The splendid mosaics from Tunisia provide a unique glimpse into Roman life in these provinces.  They portray the trees and livestock that surround the country villas supported by the tilling of fields and the picking and processing of olives.  These farms formed the main part of the economy of this region, and with that were the basic of the success enjoyed by Roman Africa.  Very often, even the hill town public buildings as well as the wealthier homes and farm villas boasted of quite vivid and lovely mosaics (see item 1-2).

Olive oil was a prime ingredient upon which the wealth of Roman Africa was based.  The extraction of this oil from the olive crop was carried on at countless farms throughout the provinces.  The oil processing building as pictured (see item 1-3) was excavated at Wadi umm el-Bagel in modern Libya .  The "arbores" in Room 1 held a wooden beam with a weight at the other end.  This was used to press the olives.  The oil would run into a tank full of water, where the sediment sank to the bottom.  The oil floated on top of the water and drained through a gulley into the Oil tank.  The best oil would be ladled into vats, (Room 2) while the heavier grade oil went through a spout into Room 5 where amphorae (storage jars) were waiting to receive it.

The city of Thysdrus (ElDjem), in the province of Tunisia , had become so wealthy by the third century AD, that they were able to construct a huge amphitheatre, which in size was exceeded only by the Colosseum at Rome (See Item 1-4).

Amphorae --Throughout the region of the Mediterranean , goods such as oil, wine and fish sauce were most often transported for trade and dispensation in clay jars.  These pottery vessels were generally wide at the girth of the jar, with a narrow neck and mouth, and had two opposed vertical handles.  The manufacture of these pottery jars was a large business in Roman Africa as the many varieties of jars attest to. The pages 318-320 provide a detailed list and drawing of the various types of jars that were found in the Roman world (Ref. Adkins and Adkins).

References:

Adkins and Adkins, "Handbook To Life In Ancient Rome ", Oxford University Press, Oxford , England . 1994;
Scarre, Chris, "The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Rome , Penguin, London , 1995 .

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The Bridge, Part II
by Marcus Minucius-Tiberius Audens

The wind was like a knife as it blew across the ice and through the surrounding trees.  It bit through the double thickness of the red cloak on the man who stood in the shadow of the dark trees along the river's edge.  So this was the Pontus Rhenus, thought Marcus, covered with a thick layer of ice, a natural bridge to the barbarian lands on the other side.  He had not believed the stories of the mighty river that controlled the valley through which it flowed, but now it was before his eyes, and it was hard not to believe everything he had heard.

A rumbling, booming, crashing, grating sound tore through the sound of the wind, but nothing stirred on the face of the river.  The Barbarians said that it was the God of the River who spoke thus during the deep winter here.  In the Rainy season it spoke with massive flooding and the crushing of all on it's surface, and along it's banks.  Only in the warmest parts of the year was it fairly quiet, and would it allow ships and boats to use it's surface. 

Marcus shivered both from the cold and from the sounds coming from the river.  It was a terrible entity at the best of times with it's changing sand bars, channels and drifting logs from high above which had been torn loose from their roots by the river spirit.  The river pilot had been most detailed in description of those hazards, as he had tried to convince the young tribune that his job was the most hazardous on the river.  Perhaps he had a point, thought Marcus musing over what he had been told.  He shook himself -- there was no spirit here, it was just a story, He turned and mounted his horse, and turned back to the road that ended close by the river.

But, he thought, if it was just a story what were those god-awful sounds coming from the river.  Puzzled he put his pony  to the newly completed road, and settled down for the ride back to the fort.  The horse sensing that he was headed for the barn, his stall and a good feed, moved ahead smartly.  "Me too," grinned Marcus, "me too," as he saw the eagerness of his mount to get back "home."  He thought of the small tavern in the vicus that served a very tasty lamb stew, and had a supply of Falernian to wash it and the crusty rye bread down with.

Marcus Minucius Audens was a bright new Tribunus Archetecturas sent out to build a bridge across the Rhinus.  He was a replacement for another engineer who had been reassigned.  Caesar had done it , of course, but his was a temporary structure at best, and to show his contempt of the barbarians he had destroyed the bridge after he pushed his army back to this side of the Rhenus.   Caesar had seen the river in it's most peaceful period, and had conquered it.  If there was a spirit there Marcus didn't think that it would be willing to be beaten again at least without a fight, and it would certainly not desire a permanent crossing anywhere along it's length.  The bridge would have to be strong, and yet it would have to be built in an area where the river could not muster a particular strength against the bridge. There was much to plan for as he rode toward the fort.  He thought, I am treating the river as some kind of crafty enemy.  That's strange in and of itself.

He came to the road turnoff to the boat sheds along the river.  It was here that the patrol vessels were pulled up onto skids or ways clear of the water, and were protected from the worst of the weather, while maintenance and repairs were carried out on the vessels as required. The sheds were covered with a heavy layer of the new snow.  Marcus thought it quite strange to be on horseback striding through the snow on this new road.  He was more used to seeing snow in the vegetable holder in the kitchen at home, or from a great distance as the white mountain peaks towered to the sky.  It was a different world here.

The last river barges  had arrived just a week ago, and the grain bins were now full, and the supplies needed to maintain the garrison and the legion were safely in store.

Both the Praefectus of the Fort and the legion commander had their patrols out, and the Centurions were watching the river closely for any attack across the river.  The river now hidden under a sheet of ice and a blanket of snow was no longer the watery barrier it was before the cold had descended upon the area.  Now it was a highway for anyone brave enough or crazy enough to venture out on it's surface.  Doubtless the barbarians were brave enough as he had heard the tales over and over about how they hurled themselves literally upon the gladius points of the legionaries who opposed them.  In Marcus' view that made them a little crazy as well, but he wanted to be sure from his own knowledge before he began to label things and people here.  The world was not always as it first appeared, and in a country when things like this winter were so strange, it never would do to jump to conclusions.

  Marcus marveled at the difference between the winter season here and the winter season in the South of Provincia Espana where his parents owned a prosperous farm and his father was a successful civil surveyor and Magitrate as well. The weather was sometimes wet in winter but this snow, like the freezing winds, were confined to the high mountains.  It would pay well to be very careful here on this frontier. Praise Mithra for his protection and light!!

  The Engineering Office here had been set up in the Pratorium, there was supposed to be two engineers here to begin the work in the spring, but one was recalled for reassignment, and the other fell quite ill having fallen into the Rhenus.  He is in the grip of the lung sickness according to the Surgeon, and is not doing well.  There is a young Optio, who has been working on some basic plans with the help of the Praefectus.  He seems to be an eager young man, though his Greek name is apparently being held against him in some quarters.  Perhaps I should look into that, mused Marcus.  As he approached the gate he dismounted and taking hi horses rein's in hand walked through the gates of the fortress.  He acknowledged the salutes of the guards on duty, and headed for the stables to feed and stable his mount.  It was far too cold to leave his mount standing outside the tavern.  It was not a long walk outside the gate to the Tavern, and he could walk it quickly. He could already taste the warm stew, as he rubbed down the horse with a handful of straw, and then poured out a measure of grain.  The horse cared for, and already drooping in sleep he wrapped his double cloak around himself, checked his purse, and walked to the vicus exit.

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Engineering – Surveyors
by Marcus Minucius-Tiberius Audens

The profession of the ancient surveyor can be variously divided into four major areas of endeavor.  However none of these below types are mutually exclusive and those embracing the various skills often used the same instrumentation to arrive at their solutions:

(1)  The "agrimensor or gromaticus" (land surveyor)was seen to carry out localized surface survey.  Within his sphere lay the task of determining a set of street grids for a town, dividing designated land into previously determined size plots, or divining and recording the exact dimensions of a given piece of land.  It is this type of Roman surveyor that the "Corpus Agrimensorum" (a set of works compiled as a treatise) which laid down standards for the survey of land was directed to.  Land Surveyors were not concerned to any great degree with vertical measurement, concentrating instead upon horizontal measurement.

(2)  The "chorographos or geographos" (cartographical surveyor) was responsible for the mapping of significant land areas, usually more so than the above mentioned "agrimensor."  This class of effort might also relate to the determinations of large portions of the known world, and might further even extend to establishing both latitudes and the line of approximate longitudes using both astronomical and terrestrial methodology  

(3)  The "mensor" was a military surveyor, and as such was usually occupied in providing information regarding terrain features, as well as other information to his commander like the width of a river for the construction and laying of a pontoon bridge, or the hieght of a city wall to be able to construct necessary tools and machines for the wall's destruction.

(4)  The "Mensor or Librator" (engineering surveyor) was used in the area of land survey with the intent to build structures upon the land. The whole array of possible structures fall under this kind of a surveyor from Roads, Aqueducts, Navigable Canals , Harbors, Irrigation and Drainage Channels to Tunnels and Mine Shafts.  This type of surveyor needed to be well-trained and experienced in the unique problems of maintaining both vertical (gradient) and horizontal linear direction below the land's surface.

The above categories describe the individual types of surveying experience, but this is not to say that an individual did not have the ability, expertise or experience to act in the auspices of more than one of the above categories.  The engineer might also use the same instrumentation in more than one such category to determination the information needed to carry out his task.

In late Latin the surveyor might be known as a "gromaticus" ("groma" man, from "groma" which was a surveying instrument).  However surveyors were more generally known as "agrimensores" (sing. "agrimensor," land surveyors).  The "mensor"  (plural "Mensores") was a surveyor or measurer, and might well be anything from a corn measurer or a land surveyor to a military surveyor, or an architectural surveyor.   

References:

M.J.T. Lewis, "Surveying Instruments of Greece and Rome ," Cambridge University Press, 2001;
K.D. White, "Greek and Roman Technology," Cornell University Press, Ithaca , NY , 1984;
L. Sprague de Camp, "The Ancient Engineers," Ballentine Books, NY-NY, 1963;
O.A.W. Dilke, "The Roman Land Surveyos," Adolf A Hakkert, Amsterdam , 1992;
Henry Hodges, "Technology In The Ancient World," Alfred A. Knopf, NY-NY, 1970.

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The Death of Archimedes
by Plutarch of Chaeronea
http://www.livius.org/sh-si/sicily/sicily_t17.html

The philosopher Plutarch of Chaeronea (46-c.122) is the author of a series of double biographies in which he compared Greeks and Romans, and tried to explore the nature of some type of man. They contain much historical information. The following text is taken from his Life of Marcellus, and describes how this Roman general captured Syracuse during the war between the Romans and the Carthaginian general Hannibal . During the siege the famous scientist Archimedes (287-212), was killed. The translation was made by Walter Charlton and appeared in the Dryden series.

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Marcellus now was a third time created consul, and sailed to Sicily . For the success of Hannibal had excited the Carthaginians to lay claim to that whole island; chiefly because, after the murder of the tyrant Hieronymus, all things had been in tumult and confusion at Syracuse . Therefore, the Romans also had sent before to that city a force under the conduct of Appius, as praetor. [...]

At this time Marcellus, first incensed by injuries done him by Hippocrates, commander of the Syracusans (who, to give proof of his good affection to the Carthaginians, and to acquire the tyranny to himself, had killed a number of Romans at Leontini), besieged and took by force the city of Leontini; yet violated none of the townsmen; only deserters, as many as he took, he subjected to the punishment of the rods and axe.

Archimedes

The land forces were conducted by Appius: Marcellus, with sixty galleys, each with five rows of oars, furnished with all sorts of arms and missiles, and a huge bridge of planks laid upon eight ships chained together, upon which was carried the engine to cast stones and darts, assaulted the walls, relying on the abundance and magnificence of his preparations, and on his own previous glory; all which, however, were, it would seem, but trifles for Archimedes and his machines.

These machines he had designed and contrived, not as matters of any importance, but as mere amusements in geometry; in compliance with King Hiero's desire and request, some little time before, that he should reduce to practice some part of his admirable speculation in science, and by accommodating the theoretic truth to sensation and ordinary use, bring it more within the appreciation of the people in general.

Eudoxus and Archytas had been the first originators of this far-famed and highly-prized art of mechanics, which they employed as an elegant illustration of geometrical truths, and as means of sustaining experimentally, to the satisfaction of the senses, conclusions too intricate for proof by words and diagrams. As, for example, to solve the problem, so often required in constructing geometrical figures, given the two extremes, to find the two mean lines of a proportion, both these mathematicians had recourse to the aid of instruments, adapting to their purpose certain curves and sections of lines.

But what with Plato's indignation at it, and his invectives against it as the mere corruption and annihilation of the one good of geometry, which was thus shamefully turning its back upon the unembodied objects of pure intelligence to recur to sensation, and to ask help (not to be obtained without base supervisions and depravation) from matter; so it was that mechanics came to be separated from geometry, and, repudiated and neglected by philosophers, took its place as a military art.

Archimedes, however, in writing to King Hiero, whose friend and near relation he was, had stated that given the force, any given weight might be moved, and even boasted, we are told, relying on the strength of demonstration, that if there were another earth, by going into it he could remove this. Hiero being struck with amazement at this, and entreating him to make good this problem by actual experiment, and show some great weight moved by a small engine, he fixed accordingly upon a ship of burden out of the king's arsenal, which could not be drawn out of the dock without great labor and many men; and, loading her with many passengers and a full freight, sitting himself the while far off, with no great endeavor, but only holding the head of the pulley in his hand and drawing the cords by degrees, he drew the ship in a straight line, as smoothly and evenly as if she had been in the sea. The king, astonished at this, and convinced of the power of the art, prevailed upon Archimedes to make him engines accommodated to all the purposes, offensive and defensive, of a siege. These the king himself never made use of, because he spent almost all his life in a profound quiet and the highest affluence. But the apparatus was, in most opportune time, ready at hand for the Syracusans, and with it also the engineer himself.

When, therefore, the Romans assaulted the walls in two places at once, fear and consternation stupefied the Syracusans, believing that nothing was able to resist that violence and those forces. But when Archimedes began to ply his engines, he at once shot against the land forces all sorts of missile weapons, and immense masses of stone that came down with incredible noise and violence; against which no man could stand; for they knocked down those upon whom they fell in heaps, breaking all their ranks and files. In the meantime huge poles thrust out from the walls over the ships sunk some by the great weights which they let down from on high upon them; others they lifted up into the air by an iron hand or beak like a crane's beak and, when they had drawn them up by the prow, and set them on end upon the poop, they plunged them to the bottom of the sea; or else the ships, drawn by engines within, and whirled about, were dashed against steep rocks that stood jutting out under the walls, with great destruction of the soldiers that were aboard them. A ship was frequently lifted up to a great height in the air (a dreadful thing to behold), and was rolled to and fro, and kept swinging, until the mariners were all thrown out, when at length it was dashed against the rocks, or let fall. At the engine that Marcellus brought upon the bridge of ships, which was called Sambuca, from some resemblance it had to an instrument of music, while it was as yet approaching the wall, there was discharged a piece of rock of ten talents weight, then a second and a third, which, striking upon it with immense force and a noise like thunder, broke all its foundation to pieces, shook out all its fastenings, and completely dislodged it from the bridge.

According to a late legend,
Archimedes constructed large burning mirrors, enabling the besieged to set ships afire.

Yet Marcellus escaped unhurt, and deriding his own artificers and engineers, "What," said he, "must we give up fighting with this geometrical Briareus, who plays pitch-and-toss with our ships, and, with the multitude of darts which he showers at a single moment upon us, really outdoes the hundred-handed giants of mythology?" 

And, doubtless, the rest of the Syracusans were but the body of Archimedes's designs, one soul moving and governing all; for, laying aside all other arms, with this alone they infested the Romans and protected themselves. In fine, when such terror had seized upon the Romans that, if they did but see a little rope or a piece of wood from the wall, instantly crying out, that there it was again, Archimedes was about to let fly some engine at them, they turned their backs and fled, Marcellus desisted from conflicts and assaults, putting all his hope in a long siege.

Yet Archimedes possessed so high a spirit, so profound a soul, and such treasures of scientific knowledge, that though these inventions had now obtained him the renown of more than human sagacity, he yet would not deign to leave behind him any commentary or writing on such subjects; but, repudiating as sordid and ignoble the whole trade of engineering, and every sort of art that lends itself to mere use and profit, he placed his whole affection and ambition in those purer speculations where there can be no reference to the vulgar needs of life; studies, the superiority of which to all others is unquestioned, and in which the only doubt can be whether the beauty and grandeur of the subjects examined, of the precision and cogency of the methods and means of proof, most deserve our admiration. It is not possible to find in all geometry more difficult and intricate questions, or more simple and lucid explanations. Some ascribe this to his natural genius; while others think that incredible effort and toil produced these, to all appearances, easy and unlabored results. No amount of investigation of yours would succeed in attaining the proof, and yet, once seen, you immediately believe you would have discovered it; by so smooth and so rapid a path he leads you to the conclusion required. And thus it ceases to be incredible that (as is commonly told of him) the charm of his familiar and domestic Siren made him forget his food and neglect his person, to that degree that when he was occasionally carried by absolute violence to bathe or have his body anointed, he used to trace geometrical figures in the ashes of the fire, and diagrams in the oil on his body, being in a state of entire preoccupation, and, in the truest sense, divine possession with his love and delight in science. His discoveries were numerous and admirable; but he is said to have requested his friends and relations that, when he was dead, they would place over his tomb a sphere containing a cylinder, inscribing it with the ratio which the containing solid bears to the contained. Such was Archimedes, who now showed himself, and so far as lay in him the city also, invincible.

While the siege continued, Marcellus took Megara , one of the earliest founded of the Greek cities in Sicily , and capturing also the camp of Hippocrates at Acilae, killed above 8,000 men, having attacked them whilst they were engaged in forming their fortifications. He overran a great part of Sicily ; gained over many towns from the Carthaginians, and overcame all that dared to encounter him.

As the siege went on, one Damippus, a Spartan, putting to sea in a ship from Syracuse , was taken. When the Syracusans much desired to redeem this man, and there were many meetings and treaties about the matter betwixt them and Marcellus, he had opportunity to notice a tower into which a body of men might be secretly introduced, as the wall near to it was not difficult to surmount, and it was itself carelessly guarded. Coming often thither, and entertaining conferences about the release of Damippus, he had pretty well calculated the height of the tower, and got ladders prepared.

The Syracusans celebrated a feast to Artemis; this juncture of time, when they were given up entirely to wine and sport, Marcellus laid hold of, and before the citizens perceived it, not only possessed himself of the tower, but, before the break of day, filled the wall around with soldiers, and made his way into the Hexapylum[1]. The Syracusans now beginning to stir, and to be alarmed at the tumult, he ordered the trumpets everywhere to sound, and thus frightened them all into flight, as if all parts of the city were already won, though the most fortified, and the fairest, and most ample quarter was still ungained. It is called Achradina, and was divided by a wall from the outer city, one part of which they call Neapolis, the other Tycha.

Possessing himself of these, Marcellus, about break of day, entered through the Hexapylum, all his officers congratulating him. But looking down from the higher places upon the beautiful and spacious city below, he is said to have wept much, commiserating the calamity that hung over it, when his thoughts represented to him how dismal and foul the face of the city would be in a few hours, when plundered and sacked by the soldiers[2]. For among the officers of his army there was not one man that durst deny the plunder of the city to the soldiers' demands; nay, many were instant that it should be set on fire and laid level to the ground: but this Marcellus would not listen to. Yet he granted, but with great unwillingness and reluctance, that the money and slaves should be made prey; giving orders, at the same time, that none should violate any free person, nor kill, misuse, or make a slave of any of the Syracusans. Though he had used this moderation, he still esteemed the condition of that city to be pitiable, and, even amidst the congratulations and joy, showed his strong feelings of sympathy and commiseration at seeing all the riches accumulated during a long felicity now dissipated in an hour. For it is related that no less prey and plunder was taken here than afterward in Carthage . For not long after they obtained also the plunder of the other parts of the city, which were taken by treachery; leaving nothing untouched but the king's money, which was brought into the public treasury.

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Titus Varrus Stilicho, Lucius Porticus Brutus, Primus Minicius Octavianus, Titus Arminius Genialis, Decimus Aeneas Apollonius Seneciamus, Publius Tarquitius Rufus, Kaeso Cassius Oceanus, Gallus Minucius-Tiberius Iovinus, Arnamentia Moravia Aurelia, Octavia Nemo

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