Ancient Rome

Quiz

QUIZ: Can You Guess This Ancient God?

Ania Kaczynska 13 December 2025

Thomas Cole, The Course of Empire, Destruction, 1836, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA. Wikimedia Commons (public domain). Ancient Rome

Painting the Fall of the Roman Empire

After many centuries, we are still wondering why the Roman Empire disappeared. Many theories try to explain it: wars, ideological problems, a chaotic...

Celia Leiva Otto 11 December 2025

Ancient Rome

The Ancient Queen and the Modern Sculptress: Zenobia by Harriet Hosmer

Harriet Hosmer, the 19th-century American sculptor from Watertown, Massachusetts was the exceptional talent behind the towering sculpture of Zenobia.

Maya M. Tola 8 December 2025

Ancient Rome

Roman Floor Mosaics: Stories in Stone and Glass

Floor mosaics are one of the most well-preserved and widespread objects of Roman art. They were found throughout the Roman Empire from Britain to...

Anuradha Sroha 1 December 2025

Ancient Greece

Timeless Beauty: Ancient Greek Athletes in Art

The idea of timeless beauty is fascinating. Also, it’s a great concern for lovers of art history. Conceptions of beauty in Western art history...

Isla Phillips-Ewen 19 November 2025

Ancient Rome

The Evolution of Art During the Fall of Rome

The Fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century CE was a pivotal moment in history, signifying the end of a dominant civilization that had reigned...

Maya M. Tola 10 November 2025

Neoclassicism

7 Things You Should Know About Giovanni Battista Piranesi

Giovanni Battista Piranesi, born in Venice in 1720 but later adopted by Rome, emerged as a preeminent illustrator of archaeological antiquities...

Celia Leiva Otto 22 August 2025

Ancient Art

Have You Ever Seen Ancient Sculptures’ Colors?

We admire the beauty and plasticity of ancient sculptures, how harmoniously they fit into the surrounding landscape. But we rarely ask ourselves the...

Elizaveta Ermakova 18 July 2025

Woman with Stylus, 55-79 CE Ancient Rome

Woman with Stylus: What a Portrait Can Tell Us About Women in Ancient Rome

Woman with Stylus is an ancient Roman fresco unearthed in Pompeii nearly two millennia after the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 CE. Various details...

Natalia Iacobelli 17 July 2025

St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican, Photograph by Alvesgaspar Architecture

Masterpiece Story: St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican

St. Peter’s Basilica is one of the most iconic buildings in Western culture. But, the facade we see today is the culmination of centuries of...

Ledys Chemin 18 April 2025

Erotica

Erotic Art in Pompeii and Herculaneum (NSFW!)

Erotic art in Pompeii and Herculaneum is a phenomenon often omitted from textbooks about ancient history. These famous Roman cities destroyed by the...

Zuzanna Stańska 10 February 2025

Ancient Rome

How to Identify a Roman Emperor by His Beard

How many times have you walked into a museum full of statues or busts and not been able to tell one ancient sculpture from another? It can be...

Lauren Dorsey 10 January 2025