#PalazzoAltemps
LightNews LightNews
anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social
​I'll meet you in the #Forum of #Sibidius. Where? This #EpigraphyTuesday gives us a statue base found in this otherwise mysterious forum near #palazzoAltemps in #Rome. Today in the #VaticanMuseums, it honors the forum's builder, Acilius Glabrio Sibidius himself. #AncientBluesky 🏺
DEDICATION ON STATUE BASE, 438 CE. VATICAN MUSEUMS ​Here we find a large white marble statue base with an inscription that notably has its rubrication, the red paint in the incised letters, intact or restored, making the text leap out at the reader. This C5 honorific text dedicates a togate statue to the high-ranking official Acilius Glabrio Sibidius from his powerful son, Anicius Acilius Glabrio Faustus, the ordinary consul for the year 438. The text lists the father's career, including serving as Vicar of the Seven Provinces of Gaul and founder of the local forum. The letterforms mimic the elegant, serif-heavy Filocalian or Damasian style of the late C4, but the execution betrays a distinct technical decline in monumental craftsmanship, where lines visibly droop downward to the right, vertical stems wobble, and poor layout planning forces the word ACHAIA to clumsily breach the right-hand frame. The "Forum of Sibidius" mentioned here is entirely absent from narrative histories. Instead, topographers believe it was a late antique urban renewal project that repaved and monumentalised the old C2 wine market, the Forum Vinarium, which sat in this pocket of the northern Campus Martius. When the base was discovered near piazza di S. Apollinare, right by palazzo Altemps, clustered alongside it were two other bases dedicated to Faustus's maternal great-grandfather and his father-in-law. Far from just a public square, this lost forum functioned as a dynastic monumental space where the great late-antique Acilii and Anicii families could display their familial pride and political dominance before the forum faded into medieval obscurity.
June 9, 2026 at 2:58 PM
crialesi.bsky.social
#palazzoaltemps #museonazionaleromano #mercurio #mercurius #classicalart #ancientsculpture #sculpturephotography #museumphotography #artphotography #blackandwhite #blackandwhitephotography #bnwphotography #bnwart #fineartphotography #monochrome #visualresearch #highcontrast
February 4, 2026 at 12:52 PM
anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social
A C3 CE child's #sarcophagus for #SarcophagusSaturday, this one from the Altemps collection in #PalazzoAltemps in #Rome. Two #Erotes hold up a central #clipeus with a sad inscription on it, and on either side are two more, the other four representing the seasons. #AncientBluesky 🏺
CHILD'S SARCOPHAGUS WITH EROTES, C. 240-250 CE. PALAZZO ALTEMPS This tiny sarcophagus of Luni marble was able to be replaced here in the courtyard fountain of palazzo Altemps, after the family had removed it when they sold the palace. Now it is dry, but it once had a jet of water pouring into it, and emerging from the hole at bottom centre to fall into a lower basin, also now dry. The inscription says "D. M. FYRMIUS METRAS ET AELIA CHRYSOTYCHE C. FYRMI METRAE FILIO DULCISSIMO FEC(ERUNT)", "to the departed shades. Fyrmius Metras and Ælia Chrysotyche made this for their sweetest son C. Fyrmius Metras." The central clipeus bearing the epitaph is held by two Erotes and supported by two winged sphinxes. At right and left are four other Erotes which represent the seasons, of which I can only identify one, Winter, at far right, because he's wearing a tunic and cloak instead of just a cloak. The seasons evoke circular time and the hope of rebirth.
November 1, 2025 at 10:16 PM
anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social
#FrescoFriday gives us this #Pan holding a #thyrsus, a #Dionysiac symbol, in this #fresco fragment from the Evan Gorga collection now in #PalazzoAltemps. This is of possibly #Neronian date and is all about fun and revels, rather Saturnalian, with Pan wearing the crown of #Serapis.
Pan, against a black background, holds a thyrsus in his left arm horizontally over his head. A red jewel dangles from the pointed end of the thyrsus. Pan himself looks fun, not dangerous, despite his goat horn and ears. He's wearing a yellow tunic and may be holding a wine jug in his other hand. Atop his head is the golden flowerpot-shaped crown we usually associate with the syncretic Roman/Egyptian god Serapis, husband to the Roman version of Isis.
October 24, 2025 at 7:05 PM
yourhistoryguide.bsky.social
Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagus at Palazzo Altemps, Rome. Dramatic high-relief scenes show Roman victory over barbarians. The deceased, likely a son of Emperor Decius, appears as a general above the chaos. Shot Dec 23. [VIDEO]
#Rome #PalazzoAltemps #MarbleArt #YourHistoryGuide
May 15, 2025 at 8:13 PM
kpw1453.bsky.social
A fragment of painted wall plaster from a Roman domus. Dating to the 1st century AD, the fragment is part of the collections Palazzo Altemps in Rome. 📸 My own. #FrescoFriday #Rome #PalazzoAltemps
A fragment of painted wall plaster from a Roman domus.
April 11, 2025 at 6:46 AM
kpw1453.bsky.social
Statue of Apollo with his lyre. Dating to the second half of the 1st century, the statue was heavily restored during the 17th century. Now part of the collections at the Palazzo Altemps in Rome. 📸 My own. #Rome #PalazzoAltemps
Statue of Apollo with his lyre.
April 10, 2025 at 8:20 PM
mji29.bsky.social
palazzo altemps courtyard, rome, italy
#monochrome #bw #blackandwhite #arch #architecture #building #museum #courtyard #statues #palazzoaltemps #rome #italy #curve #awning #shadow #quad #portrait #opening #sky #skylight #canvass #photography
monochrome photograph of palazzo altemps courtyard, rome, italy
March 19, 2025 at 9:52 AM
anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social
#EpigraphyTuesday leads us to my favourite #Roman museum, #PalazzoAltemps, where we find this dedication to #Zeus Hadad, an already syncretic divinity also identified with one #Iuppiter Heliopolitanus, taking us into the perplexing religious ferment of late-antique #Rome. #ClassicsBluesky 🏺
ALTAR TO ZEUS HADAD, C. 190 CE. PALAZZO ALTEMPS ΘΕΩ ΑΔΑ / ΔΩ ΑΝΕΘΗ[XEN] "God Hadad show mercy". Below this was the donor's name, but it was erased in antiquity, as it was on the right and left sides of this altar, which also have dedications to Hadad, one identifying him as "LIBANEOTE", from Lebanon, and the other calling him "AKROREITE", of the high places. This altar was found in the "Syriac sanctuary" on the Janiculum, a largely C4 structure that may have been a cult centre or even a house with a large shrine area. The religion was highly syncretic - the sanctuary also housed two statues of Osiris Chronocrator, entwined with a snake representing Aion, god of circular time, and Dionysus, closely linked with Osiris. Hadad was associated with Zeus, and was a god of the mountains and of rain. In the sanctuary he was connected with Atargatis, or Venus Cœlestis. His origins lie with Baal, venerated by the Phoenicians, vilified by the jealous god of the Old Testament.
March 18, 2025 at 10:46 PM
chapps.bsky.social
These dream-like fresco fragments, their secco fresco details worn away, were found in the area of the Pallavincini Rospigliosi palace on the Quirinal Hill in Rome.

Left, Cupid on a ladder and branch; right, Cupid on a branch with flowers. Why a ladder?

ca. 70-100 CE
#PalazzoAltemps 📸 me
Fresco fragment showing a chubby, naked Cupid on a white background, standing on a bending branch and about to ascend a red ladder. He seems to look down warily. We can see the remains of a red border on the right side and bottom. Another chubby naked little winged Cupid, also standing on a flowering branch and holding up one foot, inspecting it. I have no idea what's going on here. Both Cupids have a slightly blurry quality, their pigments and sharp details worn away over time. But the colors are very vibrant.
January 15, 2025 at 7:37 PM