A 1,800-Year-Old Roman Mosaic Links Proserpina’s Abduction to the Changing Seasons
At the center of a Roman mosaic in the Centrale Montemartini, Pluto carries Proserpina toward the underworld in his chariot. Around this moment of violence,…
Roman Mythology
The Vestal Virgins Held Extraordinary Power but Lived Under Rome’s Absolute Control
At the eastern edge of the Roman Forum, a small fire carried the symbolic weight of an empire. Its flames belonged to Vesta, goddess of…
Lost Roman Sea Mosaic in England Survives Through One Fragment and an 18th-Century Drawing
For more than two centuries, a Roman sea mosaic discovered beneath Cirencester survived largely as an image on paper. The pavement itself disappeared beneath the…
Pompeii’s Lost Ceiling Reveals Dionysus and Ariadne Above an Ancient Banquet Hall
A richly painted ceiling depicting Dionysus and Ariadne, once suspended above an upstairs banquet hall in Pompeii, has been partially reconstructed from hundreds of fragments…