#Domitian's
LightNews LightNews
totalusrankium.bsky.social
Listeners will remember this well from Domitian’s episode.
January 27, 2025 at 8:59 PM
drtobydriver.bsky.social
For #FindsFriday one more chance to enjoy the extraordinary newly-discovered Roman lead pig from Llangynfelyn, Ceredigion; one of a pair seemingly abandoned 🤔

Emperor Domitian's name is cast on the top, declaring it to be Imperial property 🧐

👉 @rcahmwales.bsky.social 3D model here: skfb.ly/pG6DJ
March 6, 2026 at 6:29 AM
drnwillburger.bsky.social
The Piazza Navona in Rome was constructed on the remnants of Emperor Domitian's stadium, resulting in its distinctive form.
Photo: Valentino Ligori via IG.

🏺 AncientBluesky
#RomanArchaeology
July 20, 2024 at 7:02 AM
anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social
The lace-like marble of #Domitian’s #Alban theatre projected absolute majesty for a court of absolute terror. A late #ReliefWednesday look at the hyper-detailed "#Flavian #Baroque" gives us the architectural framework for the waking nightmare of proximity to the emperor. #AncientBluesky 🏺
RABIRIUS. DECORATIVE CARVING OF THE SUMMA CAVEA OF DOMITIAN'S THEATRE, LATE C1 CE. VILLA PONTIFICIA DI CASTEL GANDOLFO ​Here we see the reconstruction of white marble pieces of a colonnade that once ran along the rear curve of the seating of the private theatre in Domitian's villa at Castel Gandolfo. An ornate column capital features deeply carved, sharp acanthus leaves. Above it sits a multi-tiered beam covered in dense reliefs, including a lower band of geometric patterns, a running floral scroll, and an upper figurative frieze depicting a winged griffin blending into lush, swirling foliage. The topmost section features a sharp egg-and-dart moulding and a row of dentils bearing the architect's signature, a peculiar double-ring motif carved into the negative spaces between them. ​This hyper-articulated style represents the quintessence of the Flavian Baroque. Moving away from the cool, understated restraint of earlier imperial architecture, Flavian craftsmen used deep undercutting to create a dense, tapestry-like texture. This heavy detail served a specific theatrical purpose, maximising dramatic chiaroscuro to transform stone into a display of light and shadow that projected imperial majesty to the viewer below. ​Yet this architectural delicacy could be a gilded cage. Domitian's biographers described his Alban villa as a place of psychological terror. Juvenal's Fourth Satire evokes this atmosphere with a story of the Senate being summoned to the villa. The terrified senators arrived to attend an emergency midnight council by lamplight, not for a serious political debate, as it turned out, but to discuss the best way to cook a huge Adriatic turbot that had been sent to the emperor. The white, ghostly faces of the imperial aristocracy, humiliatingly reduced to the service of a tyrant's caprices, created, for Juvenal, a "Senate of Shadows".
June 10, 2026 at 11:57 PM
sasanianshah.bsky.social
Is it time to restore Domitian’s reputation yet?
July 30, 2025 at 8:30 AM
drjeball.bsky.social
Some incredibly exciting #Roman conflict archaeology news here: what looks like a Roman-period battlefield burial - a really significant site, as we don't ever really find these even on excavated battlefields. It may be related to Domitian's Dacian War

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
Roman-era battlefield mass grave discovered under Vienna football pitch
Archaeologists say ‘catastrophic military event’ took place at site where 129 bodies have been found so far
www.theguardian.com
April 3, 2025 at 1:15 PM
doccrom.bsky.social
Piazza Navona in Rome, shaped thus because it sits on the footprint of Domitian's Stadium, built for the Greek-styled games in honour of Jupiter Capitolinus instituted in AD 86. Even in the 4th Century the Stadium was counted among "the glories of the eternal city" (Ammianus Marcellinus 16.16). 🏺
An aerial view of Piazza Navona in Rome.
February 23, 2025 at 2:01 PM
andycraig.bsky.social
Inscription recording the building of a new bridge under Domitian with the name of the emperor removed following his damnatio memoriae, Egypt, c. 91-91 CE. Following Geta’s damnatio memoriae, his name was deliberately erased from an inscription. This one is housed at the National Archaeological Museum of Cagliari. An altar dedicated to Sol and Domitian with Domitian’s name erased, 87 CE.
June 13, 2026 at 3:12 AM
phyllida.bsky.social
#ReliefWednesday After Emperor Domitian's Murder & damnation of memory, his head & face were re-carved w/ features of his successor. Results: PINHEAD NERVA (compared to other figures) w/ different-size eyes. 🏛️ #AncientBlueSky @lightacandle.bsky.social @linda2.bsky.social @robinburcell.bsky.social
February 12, 2025 at 7:22 AM
rogueclassicist.bsky.social
(234) Inside Domitian’s Secret Villa (Now the Pope’s Summer Palace) - YouTube
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Gdf...
Inside Domitian’s Secret Villa (Now the Pope’s Summer Palace)
YouTube video by Darius Arya Digs
www.youtube.com
August 29, 2025 at 5:49 PM
ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social
🪙 Roman coin from Alexandria.

It was struck under the reign of Roman emperor Domitian between 86–87 CE and one side shows Domitian’s portrait. The reverse shows Nilus, the personification of the Nile, holding a cornucopia and a reed.
A Roman coin featuring “Nilus” the personification of the river Nile. A Roman coin featuring the profile of Roman emperor Domitian.
May 8, 2026 at 7:02 AM
thenwmagpie.bsky.social
I've found my people! 😃🙌

I would LOVE to talk about Pepi II's human flytraps, and Nero's "candles." Hell, I'd love to discuss the Golden House, his porphyry bathtub, Domitian's moonstone-lined corridors . . .
January 27, 2026 at 3:53 AM
edithcharles.bsky.social
Domitian's fucked up dinner party was actually an extremely important moment in the history of both goths and haters, critical support tbh
July 20, 2024 at 9:03 PM
yorym-fla.bsky.social
#OTD in AD 96, Roman Emperor Domitian's reign came to an end when he was assassinated by court officials. He was succeeded the same day by his advisor Nerva. This denarius of Domitian was minted between AD 88-89. #FindsFriday finds.org.uk/pas/recorded...
September 18, 2026 at 7:00 AM
karachrome.bsky.social
Domitian's wigmaker begs to disagree, as does the barber who fashioned Julius Caesar's combover.
January 6, 2024 at 12:35 PM
rogueclassicist.bsky.social
(162) Explore Domitian’s Villa amidst Papal Gardens in Castel Gandolfo! - YouTube
www.youtube.com/shorts/h9R_J...
Explore Domitian’s Villa amidst Papal Gardens in Castel Gandolfo!
YouTube video by Darius Arya Digs
www.youtube.com
December 10, 2025 at 7:27 PM
jenniearcheo.bsky.social
Recreating an Ancient Roman Dinner of Death. To investigate the legend of Emperor Domitian’s Black Banquet, we made our own macabre feast. 🏺
www.atlasobscura.com/articles/how...
Recreating an Ancient Roman Dinner of Death
To investigate the legend of Emperor Domitian's Black Banquet, we made our own macabre feast.
www.atlasobscura.com
December 4, 2024 at 2:38 AM
anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social
Stairway to heaven. For #FrescoFriday we examine a rare #fresco from #Domitian's palace on the #Palatine. This yellow and purple staircase suggests staff used it to go from private imperial rooms to the magnificent state halls upstairs. Look for the ghostly figures. #AncientBluesky 🏺
FRESCO FRAGMENT FROM THE PALACE OF DOMITIAN, 85-90 CE. PALATINE HILL A detail of an ancient Roman wall featuring painted fresco decoration. The plaster is painted yellow, divided into rectangular panels by dark purple bands. In the central yellow panel, a delicate double garland hangs across the space, and two ghostly but beautiful female figures stand in the lower register. At the bottom left, the plaster is broken diagonally, revealing the rough wall and a fragment of cipollino marble baseboard. This is one of the few remaining traces of fresco work from Domitian's palace. It originally decorated a stairway ascending from the peltae courtyard to the now-lost upper ground floor, later removed to create a corridor. While the architect Rabirius favoured lavish opus sectile for imperial rooms, this simpler decoration suggests this specific route was used by staff to travel from the private rooms of the imperial family up to the magnificent state halls above.
October 2, 2026 at 10:51 AM
subrosamagick.bsky.social
Statue of a lion-headed figure associated with the cult of Mithras. On display in the Antiquarium di Villa Barberini (Castel Gandolfo), built on the remains of Domitian's Villa.
March 2, 2025 at 2:09 AM
tiredgenerally.bsky.social
kind of, they had some involvement in the end of the flavian dynasty (right after the year of the 4 emperors) and personally selected domitian’s replacement.
October 26, 2025 at 7:36 PM
wishda.bsky.social
Yup.

That’s what the Book of Revelations are actually is - metaphorical accounting of how batshit it was to live in Domitian’s Rome.
December 30, 2025 at 6:26 PM
mumblerjamie.bsky.social
#EpigraphyTuesday with this Altar of Claudia Bassilla from the Capitoline's Domitian exhibition.

The altar was dedicated by Daphnus, Domitian's slave, to his daughter Claudia Bassilla, who died at 7 and a half years of age.

#AncientBlueSky🏺
November 18, 2025 at 9:30 AM
nansjar23.bsky.social
AD 84 campaigning in #Caledonia
Gen Agricola wasn't celebrating Christmas, maybe not even #Saturnalia. Where were Emperor Domitian's spoils after the battle? Does Fortuna favour him at all?
Can Enya find her missing kin with Nith's help?
#HistoricalFiction #RomanEmpire mybook.to/ABsherenow
December 17, 2023 at 10:30 AM
oeai.bsky.social
✨ 130 years of Austrian Ephesos Excavations: In 2019, archaeologists uncovered a Byzantine commercial and dining district at Domitian's Square. The area was abruptly destroyed in 614/615 AD, preserving household items under a thick layer of ash, offering a rare glimpse into ancient life.
May 28, 2025 at 7:31 AM
sarahebond.bsky.social
When at Centrale Montemartini, I stop to read the poem on the funerary altar for Q. Sulpicius Maximus. Really enjoying @twhittermarsh.bsky.social’s new article on the poem inscribed on it, written when he was 11 for Domitian’s games. www.cambridge.org/core/journal... (photo by @chapps.bsky.social).
Image by Stephen Chappell via Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/chappspix/53541848533 Stephen Chappell (aka Chapps) Follow Funerary altar of Quintus Sulpicius Maximus This monument is the ultimate parents' brag about their child. If only it hadn't been posthumous. The altar comes fram the burial tomb of Quintus Sulpicius Maximus, whose remains were discovered in 1871 under the eastern tower of Porta Salaria, in the area of today's Piazza Fiume, during the demolition of the Honorian gate (393-423 AD). The story of the young boy, depicted in the centre of the monument, is told in the long inscription engraved on the funerary altar, dedicated to him by his parents following his sudden death at the age of 11 years, five months and 12 days (yes, the Romans would sometimes relate the full age on these monuments). How had he died? As his parents explain, he had collapsed from too much hard work! Perhaps the parents had some guilt mixed in with that pride. But as former slaves themselves, it's perhaps understandable that they pushed their prodigy child to greater heights. You might notice that this looks like an adult, not a child. This wasn't an uncommon Roman practice on funerary sculpture for children, showing them as they might have become, as their parents dreamed they would be. Very sad. Sulpicius Maximus, who lived in the 1st century AD, during the reign of Emperor Domitian, had participated in an important Greek poetry competition organized as part of the Capitoline Certamen, a competition in gymnastics, equestrian sports, music and poetry. The talented boy had competed with 52 other poets, winning over the public and judges during the poetic improvisation contest. The verses of the poem, in Greek, are reproduced on the scroll that the young boy is holding. The text was inspired by the myth of Phaeton, and is reproduced in its entirety on the marble shrine. "Sacred to the Deified Shades of the Dead. In memory of Quintus Sulpicius Maximus, the son of …
May 11, 2026 at 11:44 AM