Italy (c. 1150) Found in the Vatican Library, Rome. Artist: Unknown Manuel I Komnenos was a Byzantine Emperor of the 12th century who reigned over a crucial turning point in the history of Byzantium and the Mediterranean. His reign saw the last flowering of the Komnenian restoration, during which the Byzantine Empire had seen a […]
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Tag: Rome
Thracian Treasures: Golden Phial & Amphora With African Faces Found In Bulgaria, Europe?
Most of what we know about the ancient Thracians comes from surviving ancient Greek and Roman sources. The Thracians were an ancient ethnic group that inhabited parts of what is today European Turkey and the extreme north of Greece, but the vast majority of Thracian land is in what is today Bulgaria. Although Thrace as an […]
Numidians In Ancient Times
Numidian cavalry was a type of light cavalry developed by the Numidians. After they were used by Hannibal during the Second Punic War, they were described by the Roman historian Livy as “by far the best horsemen in Africa.” The Numidian cavalry’s horses, ancestors of the Berber horse, were small compared to other horses of […]
Michelangelo’s Image of Cleopatra
Drawing of Cleopatra made by Michelangelo between 1533 and 1534. –Wiki This is one of the few authenticated drawings of Michelangelo and was drawn for Tommaso de’ Cavalieri, a young artist that Michelangelo passionately loved. This is the only drawing, of what Michelangelo claimed many drawings presenting to Cavlieri, that we have left. The drawing […]
A Handsome Pharaoh With Wings Statue In Italy
Some people (who wish to stay anonymous) think that, this is a better representation of what the ancient Egyptians actually looked like. Curran vividly recreates this first wave of European Egyptomania with insightful interpretations of the period’s artistic and literary works. In doing so, he paints a colorful picture of a time in which early moderns […]
Relief of a female ruler, a Candace of Meroë named Kandake Amanitore.
The reign of Arrakkamani (c. 280 BCE) when the royal burial ground was transferred to Meroë from Napata (Jebel Barkal). In the fifth century BCE, Greek historian Herodotus described Meroë as “the mother city of the other Ethiopians”. Roman Men & The Sabine Women Their connection to many major river systems such as the Niger River, West […]
E-V13 DNA originated in Northeastern Africa around 18,000 years ago entered Europe at some time via the Balkans?
Why the men of Abergele carry the rare marker is not yet known, but its high frequency could be due to the settlement of the town during the 1st to 4th centuries AD by Roman soldiers. –The Last Legion Movie Still- 2007 A more likely Roman genetic legacy in the British Isles lies in the […]
Remains of an African woman who died more than 1,000 years ago during Saxon times in Britain, Europe
Experts say the remains are those of a Sub-Saharan African woman and date from between 896 AD and 1025 AD. At the time of the discovery, the force said a Roman cemetery had been found near to the site which could explain the findings. Believed to have traveled more than 3,000 miles from Africa. Gloucestershire […]
Bust Of The Ethiopian King Memnon?
Roman; Thyreatis, Greece (c. 170 C.E.) –Tom Ljevar This marvelous bust is one of the very few documents of an actual black person from Greek and Roman antiquity. Memnon was a pupil and protégé of the well-known Athenian entrepreneur and philosopher Herodes Atticus. It was found more than a century ago in one of several […]
Mosaic Of Two Fighters Dueling From Rome, Italy
This portrays two fighters dueling with shields and swords. The influences of these mosaics are rooted in late antique impressionism that could be seen in frescoes, manuscript paintings and many pavement mosaics across villas in Africa, Syria and Sicily during the 5th century. The utterances they shout at each other are reproduced in written form: fol! […]
Forgotten or Unknown Roman Fresco
Curious looking Image from Roman Pompeii? Heracles stands beside the enthroned Lydian Queen Omphale. Above him is the winged goddess Nike, and a Satyr-boy or the god Pan holding a set of pipes. By his feet are an eagle, a lion, and the hero’s infant son Telephos suckling a doe. Museum Collection: Museo Archeologico Nazionale di […]
London was ethnically diverse in ancient times
Map Of The Roman Empire The most complete skeleton studied was that of a 14-year-old girl, who the museum curators have named “The Lant Street teenager“. Analysis of her DNA and chemicals in her teeth show that she grew up in North Africa. Her mitochondrial DNA lineage (passed down on the maternal line only) is […]
Ancient Faces: Another Mummy Portrait From Egypt, Africa
Social status The patrons of the portraits apparently belonged to the affluent upper class of military personnel, civil servants and religious dignitaries. Not everyone could afford a mummy portrait; many mummies were found without one. Flinders Petrie states that only one or two per cent of the mummies he excavated were embellished with portraits. The rates […]
Ancient Faces: The Mummy Portraits From Egypt
“Tondo of the Two Brothers” In the last decade, the genre of Roman painted portraiture that was first discovered in the cemeteries of Egypt’s Fayum Oasis has inspired a series of important publications, conferences and international exhibitions. 1 Primarily painted on wooden panels, these vivid likenesses are persistently termed Fayum portraits, despite the fact that […]
Roman mosaic found in Spain?
Mosaico romano encontrado en Merida España This mosaic was also claimed to be found in Pompeii. I’ll share the findings of this image soon. In North Africa, a tiny relict population, the Barbary leopard, persists in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco –afrilodge Ancient Rome The African leopard is a leopard subspecies native to Africa. It […]
Ancient Faces: Romano-Egyptian Mummy Portrait of a Bearded Man
Place: Egypt (Place created) Date: about 150 – 170 This image is housed at the Getty Villa. This is an educational center and museum dedicated to the study of the arts and cultures of ancient Greece, Rome, and Etruria. The collection has 44,000 Greek, Roman, and Etruscan antiquities dating from 6,500 BC to 400 AD. –Artist Unknown Encaustic on wood. Dimensions: […]
The Burning Of Library In Alexandria, Egypt, Africa
This library is most famous for having been burned down resulting in the loss of many scrolls and books; its destruction has become a symbol for the loss of cultural knowledge. Sources differ on who was responsible for its destruction and when it occurred. The library may in truth have suffered several fires over many […]
A few random images of Rome’s catacombs frescoes
A list of Ancient Rome’s Catacombs with interesting images. If you ever have the time to visit Italy, I suggest you go see this yourself. The Catacombs of Rome (Italian: Catacombe di Roma) are ancient catacombs, underground burial places under Rome, Italy, of which there are at least forty, some discovered only in recent decades. […]
Man & Zebra in Byzantine mosaic, Turkey
’Black man and zebra in Byzantine mosaic in Urfa.’ Tesserae (mosaic stones) made of rocks from the riverbed of the Euphrates were used to depict a black man leading a zebra. –helenmilesmosaics.org The 5/6 th century floor mosaic can be found in the “Villa of the Amazons”, a palatial house, that probably belonged to an […]
Samson wrestling with the lions
Curious looking image. Location: Rome, Catacomb della Via Latina. Technique: Fresco –uralprosvet.ru Artist: Paleo-Christian (5th century ) Early Christian art, also called Paleo-Christian art or primitive Christian art, architecture, painting, and sculpture from the beginnings of Christianity until about the early 6th century, particularly the art of Italy and the western Mediterranean. (Early Christian art […]