Travelwriticus

#HadrianFactTuesday - Did you know that Hadrian was portrayed in eight distinct official portrait types during his reign? 1. Stazione Termini 2. Chiaramonti 392 3. Rollockenfrisur 4. Tarragona 5. Baiae 6. Imperatori 32 7. Vaticano Busti 283 8. Delta Omicron Hadrian was particularly concerned about his image. During his reign, he commissioned as many as eight official portraits of himself, more than Augustus, who had only five, and significantly more than his successor, Antoninus Pius, who authorised only two effigies. To date, approximately 160 sculpted portraits of Hadrian have been discovered, spread over the time and regions of his reign. Max Wegner, a German classical archaeologist, established the typology of Hadrian’s portraiture in 1956. He identified six distinctive portrait types that represent the emperor, each named after the findspot or the location of the best-preserved example. Klaus Fittschen later added a seventh type in 1984. During the last fifty years, an intense scholarly debate has arisen over whether an eighth portrait type of Hadrian should be added, the ‘Delta Omicron’ type (also known as ‘Renatus’), showing the Emperor in his late teens or early twenties. followinghadrian.com/2024/12…

#RomanSiteSaturday - The monumental eastern entrance to Roman Philippopolis (modern Plovdiv), Bulgaria. A broad paved street led from the gate into the city, lined with Corinthian colonnades and shops. The gate incorporated an earlier honorary arch from Hadrian's reign, likely erected to mark the emperor's visit to the city. When the lower city was fortified under Marcus Aurelius (reign 161-180 CE), the arch was incorporated into the new defences. In the 4th century AD, a monumental eastern gate was built on the same site, opening onto the road to Byzantium. Read more in my new article for @whencyclopedia: worldhistory.org/article/300…

#EpigraphyTuesday – A Roman inscription on a tabula ansata recording the AD 173 restoration of a temple dedicated to Liber Pater and Libera in Bigeste, a defensive post on the Salona–Narona road. The temple, which had fallen into disrepair, was restored and given porticoes by Cohors I Belgarum under the supervision of Flavius Victor, a centurion of Legio I Adiutrix. The inscription is dated to the consulship of Severus and Pompeianus. CIL III 1790 edh-www.adw.uni-heidelberg.d… Templum Liberi / Patris et Liberae vetus/tate dilabsum(!) restituit / coh(ors) I Bel(garum) adiectis por/ticibus curam agente / Fl(avio) Victore |(centurione) leg(ionis) I ad(iutricis) p(iae) / f(idelis) Severo et Pompeiano / II co(n)s(ulibus) 📍 Franciscan Museum Humac, Ljubuški, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

#MosaicMonday – A Roman mosaic depicting Hypnos (Somnus), the god of sleep. Dating to the 2nd century AD, the mosaic shows the winged god reclining on a couch, resting his head on one arm. It decorated a room in a luxurious Roman residence, traditionally identified as a bedroom. It was discovered in a Roman villa at ancient Risinium (modern Risan) on the Bay of Kotor, Montenegro. The Hypnos mosaic is remarkable as the only known Roman mosaic depicting Hypnos and is considered one of the finest examples of Roman mosaic art preserved in Montenegro.