On #NationalUnderwearDay I want to talk about the ancestor of the bra: the strophion!
In #GreekRomanArt the goddess #Aphrodite can sometimes be seen putting it on or taking it off but mortal women are depicted wearing it too.
It is uncertain what the Greek strophion looked like but the Roman adaptation, the strophium, was a breast band, a strip of cloth wrapped around the upper torso.
It was a normal but optional piece of feminine clothing.
"Let us be merry and drink wine and sing of Bakkhos [#Dionysos], the inventor of the choral dance, the lover of all songs, leading the same life as the Erotes, the darling of Kythere [#Aphrodite]."
The Anacreontea, Fragment 38
🏛️ Roman terracotta relief dated 20 BCE - 50 CE. Today in the British Museum.
Chariot mosaic with parrot ~ late C2nd–early C3rd CE
This gorgeous piece was found in
1876 during the construction of Via Nazionale in Rome. It seems to depict a larger-than-life parrot driving a chariot!
This Severan era portrait is believed to be of an athlete given the emphasis on muscle delineation. Having said that, he doesn’t look like the happiest camper going around!
🏛 Centrale Montemartini (Capitolini AC 4492)
📸 My own
[Thread] So, the following is from a presentation I gave at a Women and Gender Studies class I took in 2017 (as a Classics Major). I thought it was important to post here -- especially in this day and age where women's reproductive rights are being threatened. In some ways, we've taken a step backward as time has gone on...
Listen to this absolutely lovely ten minutes with two stars of I, Claudius - Derek Jacobi and Brian Blessed (and wait till the end for the sweetest sign-off ever).
This coin was minted circa 206 CE, during the reign of Caracalla. The obverse depicts the laureate head of Caracalla facing right. The reverse type features #Mars, naked save for cloak hanging from his shoulder, holding a branch and spear.
This delightful barbotine vessel is adorned with sweet phallic creatures with legs resembling those of chickens and either wings or maybe antlers (at a pinch).
Detail from the one of my favourite ancient Roman mosaics. There’s tentacles galore to enjoy here as well as many different examples of marine life 🐟🐙🦑🦐
Far be it from us to suggest you visit Pompeii to go on an exploratory phallus-finding mission… but we certainly wouldn’t try to dissuade you either. Just look at that phallus framed by other phalluses! Must be good fortune 🥳
Good piece on these mysterious Roman dodecahedrons. More than 100 of these have been found around Europe and no one really knows what they were used for. More tests are being done on them. They're metal, and have survived undamaged for over 1700 years 🤯
While the auction house listed this piece as a rare C1st BCE intaglio, my suspicion is its a fake. Ancient Roman phalluses rarely came with balls when you could have another phallus! Something about the lightning bolts also feels off. What do you think?
The so-called ‘Tellus’ relief from the Ara Pacis is my all time favourite relief. The details are mesmerising with so much layered symbolism built in from the infant twins to the vegetation.
The Augustan style often calls for abundance to be on full show and this relief captures that idea in spades.
A skilful and jaw-dropping relief not to be missed!
This relief was found at Hadrian’s villa in Tivoli. The young man (Castor?) seems to be in a tousle for control with the horse while a dog watches on. Likely Roman in manufacture, but definitely inspired by the Greek style!
We’re celebrating the Roman fondness for the phallus with this bronze phallic ornament c. C1st CE. With a phallic head, tail, and it’s own phallus, this piece is truly offering options in terms of apotropaic power!
Cleopatra VII has a hold in the imagination that has continued for millennia. Here she is imagined in the moments prior to her suicide. In this act, Cleopatra defied Rome and ensured Augustus would not parade a pharaoh in his triumph…
🎨 Attributed to Jacopino del Conte ~ 1525–50
🏛 Galleria Borghese
This is basically a recreation of a photo I took maybe six or seven years ago. As fortune would have it, I’m even wearing basically the same outfit 😅 Augustus remains unchanged.
🪔 For eyes pleasure: three roman glass vessels dated to the 1st-3rd cc AD, now on dispay in the Romanité Museum of Nîmes. 📸 me
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