What Does First-century Roman Graffiti Say?

Ancient graffiti (in red) is covered by tourists' markings inside Rome's Colosseum.

A facelift of the Colosseum in Rome that began last fall has revealed centuries of graffiti. Removing the accumulated grime and calcification, experts discovered layers of inscriptions on the section of a wall seen here—designs in red and faded gray from antiquity, and lettering in black left by visitors in modern times.

Built in the first century, the Colosseum may have held crowds as large as 50,000 people. Its numbered entrances and covered passages were designed to get spectators in and out quickly and to separate the high and mighty from the hoi polloi. (Read about Rome's border walls in National Geographic Magazine.)

The wall in this picture flanked a passage that led to an upper tier. There, women, children, and slaves perched in the cheap seats to watch the bloody spectacle of gladiators and wild beasts battling for their lives on the arena floor 60 feet (18 meters) below.

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Roman-era glass workshops found near Naples

The Macellum, meat and fish market, in the ancient Roman city of Puteoli [Credit: Wikicommons]

An ancient road on which glass-making workshops of artisans renowned for their skill in the first  century A.D. of the Roman Empire has been found near Naples. The road, Clivius Vitrarius, recently surfaced in Pozzuoli during excavations for maintenance work on a modern road. 

The unexpected discovery occurred when the road sunk after heavy rain. In repairing it, workers came across archaeological finds and called the experts in from the Naples superintendent's office, who in turn brought to light ancient structures near the area which housed Roman baths, as reported by the newspaper Corriere del Mezzogiorno.

The latest excavations have added interesting historical information on Clivius Vitrarious, the road of the glass-making artisans famous throughout the Roman Empire, alongside their artisan counterparts north of modern-day Milan.

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Archaeologist Uncovers Clues To Ancient Roman Vineyard

An American classics professor has uncovered ancient grape seeds that could provide insight into Roman Chianti vineyards.

One of the world’s authorities on the Etruscans, Nancy Thomson de Grummond is the M. Lynette Thompson Professor of Classics and Distinguished Research Professor at Florida State University. She unearthed 150 waterlogged grape seeds during a dig in Cetamura del Chianti, an ancient hilltop located in the heart of the Chianti district of Tuscany near Siena, during the summer of 2012.

De Grummond serves as project director of archaeological excavations at Cetamura del Chianti, which is in an area once inhabited by the Etruscans and then the Ancient Romans. Faculty and students of Florida State University have conducted research at the archaeological site since it opened in 1973.


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Bulgaria Funds Varna Roman Baths Restoration with BGN 3 M

The Roman Baths are one of the most valuable monuments of culture in Bulgaria's Black Sea city of Varna.
Photo by historvius.com

Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Simeon Djankov, has pledged the significant amount of BGN 3 M for restoration and conservation of the historical Roman Baths in the Black Sea city of Varna.

The sum came as a pleasant surprise to archaeologists who have asked for BGN 200 000.

Djankov made the pledge during a discussion organized by the Bulgarian Standard daily in Varna in the frame of the newspaper's campaign "The Miracles of Bulgaria."

The Minister stated the idea to provide significant funds under the Via Ponticaprogram was not to give more money for archaeological research, but to make existing archaeological sites more attractive in order to boost tourism. He called on archaeologists to be creative in inventing names and stories around their discoveries.

The program is named after the Via Pontica bird migration flyway.

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Ovarian tumor found in a Roman-age skeleton

This shows an ovarian tumor, with teeth and a bone fragment inside, found in a Roman-age skeleton: Macroscopic view of the ovarian teratoma, with two teeth adhering to the inner surface. Two more teeth were found, along with a small bone fragment [Credit: ANTROPÒLEGS.LAB - UAB]

A team of researchers led by the UAB has found the first ancient remains of a calcified ovarian teratoma, in the pelvis of the skeleton of a woman from the Roman era. The find confirms the presence in antiquity of this type of tumour - formed by the remains of tissues or organs, which are difficult to locate during the examination of ancient remains. Inside the small round mass, four teeth and a small piece of bone were found.

Teratomas are usually benign and contain remains of organic material, such as hair, teeth, bones and other tissues. There are no references in the literature to ovarian teratomas in ancient remains like those found in this study, led by the researcher Núria Armentano of the Biological Anthropology Unit of the UAB and published in the International Journal of Paleopathology.

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Entombing the Tomb of the Gladiator: Who Will Save the Roman Ruins?

A worker searches a site along the Via Flaminia in northern Rome where a mausoleum was found and believed to be the tomb of Marcus Nonius Macrinus, a general and statesman in the late second century AD, Oct. 21, 2008.

When archaeologists announced the discovery of the tomb of Marcus Nonius Macrinus in Rome in 2008, the find was heralded as the most important in decades. Built in the shape of a temple, with tall fluted columns and an intricately carved sarcophagus, it was the final resting place for the Roman general who served as inspiration for Russell Crowe‘s character in the movie Gladiator, unearthed a the site of a planned housing project some 1,800 years after its construction.

In contrast, the December 2012 announcement regarding the tomb was much more muted. Italy’s cash-strapped ministry of culture declared it was unable to find the several million euros that would be required to protect the ruins and turn them into a tourist attraction. Instead, the Gladiator’s Tomb, as the site has come to be known, would likely have to be buried once again.

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Colosseum restorers uncover old frescos, graffiti

A restoration in the Italian most famous and historical monument Colosseum has yielded ancient traces of colorful frescoes as well as graffiti and drawings.

The restorers cleaning the Colosseum discovered the artworks in the internal passageway, between the second and third levels of the first Century Colosseum of the building.

The frescoes remains located under decades of calcified rock and grime of the 2,000-year old arena were uncovered in vivid red, blue, green and white colors.

The team also found ancient sketches of crowns and palm trees as symbols of victory painted by the spectators who celebrated success of gladiators they supported.
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Roman man's face finally revealed at Caerleon museum

The portrait was painted following a forensic reconstruction of the face

The face of a wealthy Roman citizen who lived in south Wales has been revealed nearly two millennia after he died.

Using the latest technology, experts have produced a portrait of the man whose skeleton was uncovered 18 years ago in Caerleon, near Newport.

Archaeologists are trying to fill in more details using forensic techniques employed by police.

The image of the man was unveiled at the National Roman Legion Museum in Caerleon on Thursday.
The remains from around AD200 were uncovered by builders who were working on the nearby Newport university campus in November 1995.

Analysis showed the skeleton was that of a well-preserved man of about 40.

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More on Ancient graffiti found inside the Colosseum

A restorer stands in front a wall with remains of frescoes and graffiti in Rome's ancient Colosseum [Credit: Reuters/Tony Gentile]

Italian restorers cleaning the Colosseum have discovered remains of frescoes indicating the interior of one of the world's most famous monuments may have been colorfully painted in Roman times.

The 2,000-year old arena, where gladiators fought bloody battles for the entertainment of crowds, originally looked far different from the stone ring that has become one of the symbols of Rome.

Working in a passage closed to the public for decades, restorers scraped off years of limescale and black pollution from car exhaust to discover remains of the frescoes, their vivid red, blue, green and white colors still visible.

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Experts discover new Roman graves

GRAVES dating back to Roman times have been excavated by archaeologists in Colchester.

The experts from the Colchester Archaeological Trust have been digging on the site of the new car park in Napier Road, part of the former Colchester Garrison.

They found eight Roman graves dating back to the third and fourth centuries.

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Ancient Rome's hairdo for vestal virgins re-created

A modern woman models the Roman vestal virgin hairstyle and headdress.

For the first time, the hairstyle of the Roman vestal virgins has been re-created on a modern head. 

The vestal virgins were priestesses who guarded the fire of Vesta, the goddess of the hearth, among other sacred tasks. Chosen before puberty and sworn to celibacy, they were free from many of the social rules that limited women in the Roman era. Their braided hairstyle, the "sini crenes," symbolized chastity and was known in ancient texts as the oldest hairstyle in Rome. 

"These were the six most important women in Rome, with the possible exception of the emperor's wife," said Janet Stephens, the Baltimore hairdresser and amateur archaeologist who unraveled the secrets of the Vestals' trademark braids. [See Video of the Braiding Process]

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2,000-year-old treasure found in Black Sea fortress

The citadel was torched by the Roman army in A.D. 45, with many of its inhabitants likely killed. Some time afterward Artezian was rebuilt with stronger fortifications although it, along with the rest of the Bosporan Kingdom, was under the sway of Rome
[Credit: Russian-Ukrainian Archaeological Artezian Expedition]

Residents of a town under siege by the Roman army about 2,000 years ago buried two hoards of treasure in the town's citadel — treasure recently excavated by archaeologists.

More than 200 coins, mainly bronze, were found along with "various items of gold, silver and bronze jewelry and glass vessels" inside an ancient fortress within the Artezian settlement in the Crimea (in Ukraine), the researchers wrote in the most recent edition of the journal Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia.
"The fortress had been besieged. Wealthy people from the settlement and the neighborhood had tried to hide there from the Romans. They had buried their hoards inside the citadel," Nikolaï Vinokurov, a professor at Moscow State Pedagogical University, explained.

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Famed Roman Shipwreck Could Be Two

First discovered in the early 1900s by local sponge divers, the wreck is most famous for the Antikythera mechanism, which contains a maze of interlocking gears and mysterious characters etched all over its exposed faces. Originally thought to be a kind of navigational astrolabe, archaeologists continue to uncover its uses and now know that it was, at the very least, a highly intricate astronomical calendar. CREDIT: Courtesy Wikipedia Commons 

Content provided by Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience
A dive to the undersea cliff where a famous Roman shipwreck rests has
turned up either evidence that the wreck is enormous — or a suggestion
that, not one, but two sunken ships are resting off the Greek island of
Antikythera.

"Either way, it's an exciting result," said study researcher Brendan
Foley, an archaeologist at Woods Hold Oceanographic Institution who
presented the findings Jan. 4 at the annual meeting of the
Archaeological Institute of America in Seattle.

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Ancient Pompeians Could Go Upstairs to Pee

A few second-story toilets survived the lava that covered Pompeii, such as this one.

A. Kate Trusler

The residents of the ancient city of Pompeii weren't limited to street-level plumbing, a new study finds. In fact, many in the city may have headed upstairs when nature called.

Most second floors in the Roman city are gone, claimed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius that destroyed Pompeii in A.D. 79. But vertical pipes leading to lost second stories strongly suggest that there were once toilets up there, according to a new analysis by A. Kate Trusler, a doctoral candidate in anthropology at the University of Missouri.

"We have 23 toilets that are connected, that are second-story preserved, that are connected to these downpipes," Trusler told LiveScience on Friday (Jan. 4) at the annual meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America in Seattle, where she presented her research.

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Pompeii 'Wall Posts' Reveal Ancient Social Networks

Think of it as the earliest version of the Facebook wall post: Ancient Pompeii residents revealed their social networks through graffiti on actual walls.

Now, a new analysis of some of these scribbled messages reveals the walls of the wealthy were highly sought after, especially for political candidates hoping to drum up votes. The findings suggest that Pompeii homeowners may have had some control over who got artistic on their walls, said study researcher Eeva-Maria Viitanen, an archaeologist at the University of Helsinki.

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2,000-Year-Old Treasure Discovered In Black Sea Fortress

Residents of a town under siege by the Roman army about 2,000 years ago buried two hoards of treasure in the town's citadel — treasure recently excavated by archaeologists.

More than 200 coins, mainly bronze, were found along with "various items of gold, silver and bronze jewelry and glass vessels" inside an ancient fortress within the Artezian settlement in the Crimea (in Ukraine), the researchers wrote in the most recent edition of the journal Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia.

"The fortress had been besieged. Wealthy people from the settlement and the neighborhood had tried to hide there from the Romans.  They had buried their hoards inside the citadel," Nikolaï Vinokurov, a professor at Moscow State Pedagogical University, explained. [See Photos of the Buried Treasure]

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Ancient graffiti found inside the Colosseum

Italian archaeologists have found brightly coloured fragments of frescoes depicting heroic and erotic scenes inside a corridor of the Colosseum in Rome, along with samples of ancient graffiti.

"We have found traces of decorations in blue, red and green," Rossella Rea, director of the 2000-year-old amphitheatre, said.
The fragments "seem to depict the glory of the gladiator world, with laurels, arrows, victory wreaths and even erotic scenes," the Repubblica newspaper said.
The frescoes were found in a corridor currently closed to the public while archaeologists were working to restore an area between the second and third floor of the Colosseum, which has fallen into disrepair in recent years.

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'Exceptional' find of Roman statues linked to poet Ovid

The head of Niobe has been described as an "exceptional" find

 

Archaeologists in Italy say they have discovered what they've called a "very important" series of statues dating back to the Roman era.

The seven figures were found in a villa outside the city owned by the patron of the celebrated poet, Ovid.
They depict one of the myths recounted in his masterpiece, Metamorphoses, that of the proud mother Niobe.

The team unearthed the 2m-high figures at the bottom of what would have been a richly-decorated swimming pool.

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Roman theatre discovered in Kent

Remains of the day … the cockpit-style theatre was large enough to seat 12,000. 

Photographs: Kent Archaeological Field School

Remains of a huge, 2,000-year-old Roman theatre, thought to be the first of its kind in Britain, have been discovered in Kent.

Paul Wilkinson, director of the nearby Kent Archaeological Field School, and his team uncovered the remains of a cockpit-style outdoor auditorium built into a hillside in Faversham. Around 150 such theatres have been discovered across northern Europe, according to Wilkinson, but the remains are the first to be found in the UK.

In addition to the orchestra pit – in which choruses would have performed – the ruins also include a narrow stage, featuring holes that are thought to have allowed flooding for aquatic displays.
The theatre could have housed audiences of up to 12,000 people in 50 rows of seats over an area 65 metres in diameter. The site, which shows activity dating back as far as the bronze age, was probably used for religious festivals in which two nearby bathhouses, also uncovered by Wilkinson's team, would have played a part.

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Augustan-era sculptures found near Rome

Archaeologists say they've uncovered an "exceptional" group of sculptures dating to the 1st century BC in a villa in Rome's suburb of Ciampino.

The sculptures, found in an ancient villa owned by Roman general Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus, a patron of the poet Ovid, tell the myth of Niobe, the proud daughter of Tantalus who lost all her 14 children after boasting to the mother of Apollo and Artemis, Leto, about her fertility.
Niobe, regarded as a classic example of the retribution caused by the sin of pride or hubris, was turned to stone. Excavations at the villa have also revealed a thermal bath area with fragments of artistic mosaics and a swimming pool as long as 20 meters with walls painted blue.

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