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SPQR - News Thursday, 08 May 2008 |
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SPQR News
Archaeology news on Ancient Rome and the Roman Empire _______________
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Rome celebrates jubilee Updated 21.11 Sun Apr 20 2008
Ancient Rome enthusiasts have paraded in front of the Coliseum as part of celebrations to mark Rome's jubilee. Several hundred people from Italy, Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom marched through ancient Rome's centre dressed as centurions and legionnaires. "We have come from Chester in the North-West of Britain near Liverpool," said a man who presented himself as Ocratius Maximus Gittus, centurion of the 20th Legion. "Our job is to represent the unique Roman heritage of our city, and we are here in Rome today to represent the quality of Roman heritage you will see by making a visit to our beautiful country." Legend tells that Rome was founded by Romolo on April 21st, 753 BC. The 2761st anniversary will be marked on Monday.
Ancient marble staircase found in Rome Published: April 20, 2008 at 12:03 AM
ROME, April 20 (UPI) -- Italian archeologists said an ancient staircase made of marble was uncovered during excavations beneath Rome's Piazza Venezia. Rome Archaeological Superintendent Angelo Bottini said the staircase, inset into pink granite and travertine, was discovered during work on a station for Rome's newest metro line. Bottini told ANSA it is an important find. "It must have been an entrance into an important place but we have to find something in ancient sources if we are to make any circumstantiated hypothesis,'' he said. The Italian news service said the subway construction project has turned up a trove of archeological treasures over the past 10 months, including Roman taverns, medieval kitchens and remains of Renaissance palaces.
New findings around the Colosseum
The work to repave the area around the base of the Colosseum on its western side has brought to light new archaeological findings. At the beginning of April a marble piece measuring a metre and a half of an equestrian statue was found and then two days later the head of a male statue was discovered, both of which had been only 50cm below the surface. According to archaeologists the piece of the equestrian statue suggests one of an emperor due to its size and most likely adorned the arch over the imperial entrance. The head is too small to be that of the rider of the horse in the equestrian statue. The goal of the repaving of the area around the Colosseum is to bring it back to its original height by lowering the cobblestones by 80cm. Soon work will also begin on redoing the ramp that leads from Via Capo Africa to the amphitheatre, while work has already begun for the metro line C on the side of the Fori Imperiali. The digging that these projects require is expected to uncover further archaeological findings. The Colosseum, originally known as the Flavian Amphitheatre, was constructed between AD 72 and AD 80, under emperors Vespasian and Titus, and then modified under Domitian. It is the largest amphitheatre built in the Roman Empire and had a seating capacity of around 50, 000. Statues once embellished its arches on all three levels. |
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Ostia Antica is a ruin, but it once buzzed with commercial activity When in Rome, many travelers focus only on the blockbusters. Such as the Colosseum, where so many men and beasts gave their lives for a bit of jolly fun for a bloodthirsty audience.
The Complete Guide To: Hadrian's Empire With a domain stretching from the Sahara to Cumbria, this Roman emperor was always on the move – and he left a legacy that remains to this day.
Rare Statue of Roman Emperor Found ROME (AP) — Italian police have recovered a rare statue of a Roman emperor who co-ruled alongside Marcus Aurelius and was known for his reluctance to sit for portraits.
Subway Dig Unearths Rome's Ancient Past It's been centuries since archaeologists excavated Rome's central Piazza Venezia, but just a few hundred yards from the Roman Forum, skeletons of the city's past are surfacing.
Ancient Love Stars at Rome's Eros Exhibit An exhibit in Rome aims to explain the role of Eros, the most powerful and most elusive of the ancient gods. The show at the Colosseum seeks to illustrate the huge gap between contemporary attitudes to erotic love and how the subject was treated in antiquity.
Wife-beating in Ancient Rome For all the glory and glamour of its art and literature, classical antiquity produces household statistics that make the heart sink. Greek and Roman girls were normally married in their mid-teens to men twice their age.
Bound to repeat it: The late American empire? If a present-day American suddenly warped backwards in time, he would likely find the streets of ancient Rome, during the city's cosmopolitan zenith, a comfortable enough place to visit.
Light Beams to Color Rome Column April 10, 2008 -- The Trajan Column, one of Rome's most famous monuments, will be shown next year under a totally new light.
Ancient statue discovered in Rome Rome, 9 April (AKI) - A fragment of an ancient Roman equestrian statue that once adorned the Colosseum has been found during excavations near the world famous Italian landmark.
Lifestyles of the Rich and Imperious in Rome April 10, 2008 · Lovers of ancient Rome have another treasure to behold as the home where future Roman Emperor Augustus lived in about 30 BC is now open to the public.
Limit the number of tourists to Pompeii, says expert 17 March (AKI) - Pompeii, one of Italy's most popular ancient attractions, should limit the number of visitors and be used for special events, according to a proposal from a leading tourism official.
Battle of Actium in 31 B.C. changed the world Washington, March 31: The Battle of Actium in 31 B.C. between Mark Antony and Cleopatra against spurned former ally Octavian, led to the eventual end of the Roman Republic, thus changing the world.
Houston museum shows latest Pompeii relics - Thursday, March 20, 2008 "The worst disaster of the ancient world preserved such amazing art." So says Frances Marzio, strolling among remains from one of history's most famous volcanic eruptions.
After 1,500 years as a ruin,Circus Maximus to be restored It still bears its thrilling ancient name, and the antique ruins on the Palatine Hill, the heart of ancient Rome and home of the Caesars, still gaze down upon it.
Ancient Roman Emperor Augustus first house opens in Rome Italian experts believe the rooms, found in the 1970s below the ruins of Augustus's sprawling imperial palace, were part of a smaller house where he lived when he was still just Julius Caesar's adoptive son Octavian and not Rome's first emperor.
Ancient Roman Temple Reconstructed Experts have digitally reconstructed one of Rome's earliest major temples, the Temple of Apollo, built by the first Roman emperor, Augustus. The temple dates to 28 B.C., and its ruins stand adjacent to the emperor's imperial palaces on the city's famous Palatine Hill.
The overlooked wonders of Italy's Ostia Antica Sitting on the top row of the ancient arena, I scan the ruins of Ostia Antica, letting my imagination take me back 2,000 years to the days when this was ancient Rome's seaport, a thriving commercial center of 60,00 people.
Appian Way blighted by voracious property developers It was the first modern road in the world, shooting like an arrow from the Porta Capena in Rome's city walls all the way to Brindisi on the Adriatic coast, more than 500km away.
Tourists 'stripping ancient Rome bare' Archaeologists said that Trajan's Forum, in the heart of the city's classical ruins, had been stripped of all the fragments of statues and shards of amphorae that adorned the site until recently. |