The so-called Arch of Janus in Rome was probably built in the middle of the 4th century CE and likely it is not related with the God Ianus. It is thought to be an arch dedicated to Costantinus I or to other emperors like Costantius II as well as just a covered meeting place in the Forum Boarium since the word Ianus in latin means also a covered passage.
| Date / Authority | 98 -116 CE / Roman Empire – Marcus Ulpius Nerva Traianus |
| Denomination / Metal | Denarius / AR (Argentum) |
| Minting Place (Zecca) | Roma |
| Obverse (Dritto) | IMP [TRAIANO AVG] GER DAC PM TRP COS VI PP, figure of Trajan’s laureate bust right |
| Reverse (Rovescio) | SPQR OPTIMO [PRINCIPI], figure of Trajan’s Column |
| Weight | 3.40 grammes |
| Diameter | 19 mm. |
Trajan (Traianus) was born in 53 CE in the Roman colony of Italica, in the present-day Spain. He ruled as Roman emperor between 98 and 117 CE. The Trajan’s Column, reported on the reverse of the above illustrated coin, celebrates the definite conquest of the Dacia (present-day Romania). For this reason, the cognomen of Dacicus was given to him by the Senatus. With the annexation of the province of Dacia, the Roman Empire reached its maximum extension.
The Trajan’s column was erected in Rome in the Forum Traiani which included also the so-called Trajan’s Markets and the Basilica Ulpia.
Here below some pictures of the Column and the remains of the Forum Traiani.
References:
– Seaby H. A. “Roman Silver Coins”, vol. 2, 3rd edition, 1978
| Date / Authority | 161-180 CE / Roman Empire – Marcus Aurelius |
| Denomination / Metal | Sestertius / AE (Bronze) |
| Minting Place (Zecca) | Roma |
| Obverse (Dritto) | ANTONINVS AVG TR P XXIII above laureated head of M. Aurelius |
| Reverse (Rovescio) | SALVTI AVG COS, S C, figure of Salus, standing, left, feeding a snake out of a a patera, left hand holding a spear, S C |
| Weight | 21.13 grammes |
| Diameter | 30 mm. |
“Be solicitous only to live well for the present; and you may go on till death, to spend what remains of life, with tranquillity, with true dignity, and complacence with the divinity within you” (M. Aurelius, “Meditations”)
Marcus Aurelius was born in 121 CE and died in 180 CE. He was a Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoic philosopher.
His name at birth was probably Marcus Annius Verus like his father, the praetor Marcus Annius Verus. After his father’s death, he was raised by his grandfather and later adopted, together with Lucius Verus, by his uncle, Antoninus Pius. After the death of the emperor Antoninus Pius, he reigned together with Lucius Verus until 169 and, after the death of the latter, he reigned alone until 180.
Between the years 170 and 180 he wrote the so-called Meditations which are considered a masterpiece of the Stoic philosophy.
The equestrian bronze statue of Marcus Aurelius at the Capitoline Museums is the only bronze statue of ancient emperors survived in Rome. Differently from many other bronze statues, the Marcus Aurelius’ one was not melt down by the iconoclast fury of the christians, probably, because it was thougth to be a statue of Costantine, the first emperor that officially legalized the christian cult. Until 1981, the statue was standing in the middle of Piazza del Campidoglio (the “Capitolium Square”) where it was placed in 1538 during the redesign of the Square made by Michelangelo Buonarroti. Some years after the relocation of the original bronze statue in the Museums, a replica was put in the Square.
References:
Below some pictures of remains of dwellings of Stone and Copper Age (5,000 BC) found at the Durankulak Lake, in Bulgaria near the border with Romania.
In the same site, remains of dwellings of the Thracian period (12th century BC) were also found (see photos below).
(m.v.) – Before the Roman conquest of the Gallia Cisalpina (corresponding to the present-day Val Padana, i.e. the Po river’s Valley), Cremona was a settlement of the Galli Cenomani (a Celtic Tribe). During the 2nd Punic War, in 218 BC, the Romans fortified the village that was likely transformed in a colonia under Latin Law, like other cities of the region, after the issuing of the Lex Pompeia in 89 BC (see previous post The Roman Ticinum (present-day Pavia) ).
Cremona was an important city for all the Roman period due to its key location of being at the crossroads of main commercial ways: the city was a relevant port on the Po (Padus), it was traversed by the via Postumia (which linked Genoa to Aquileia and that was built by the Roman consul Spurius Postumius Albinus in 148 BC.) and the via Regina connecting Cremona to Mediolanum (Milan) and Clavenna (Chiavenna).
It is worth mentioning the small village (vicus) of Bedriacum (present-day village of Calvatone) near Cremona where after the death of the Emperor Nero in the year 69 CE (the so-called “longus et unus annus” or the “year of the four Emperors”), two battles were fought, the first one between the armies of Otho and Vitellius and the second one between the armies of Vitellius and Vespasianus.
Moreover the village of Calvatone is famous for an ancient Roman bronze statue of a Winged Victory (Nike) found in 1836 and called “Victory of Calvatone” after the village’s name. The Statue was transferred to Germany (former Kingdom of Prussia) in 1841. The original Statue is nowadays at the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg after it was brought here after the WW2 by the Soviet Army (see photo at right).
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Cremona was taken by the Eastern Roman Empire / Byzantine army during the war against the Goths and remained a Byzantine stronghold until the Lombards (or Longobards) occupied the city in 603.
The City had an important role also during the Medieval Age when it was often opposed to other neighborhood cities such as Milan or Parma. Many impressive churches and building of the Medieval times may be still admired in the city, notably the Santa Maria Assunta’s Cathedral (whose construction started in the 12th century) with its bell tower called Torrazzo, the Baptistery or the Palazzo Comunale (the City Hall, 13th century).
The remains of the Roman period still visible, unfortunately, are not many. It is worth noticing, those of the domus unearthed in Piazza Marconi. Most of the domus’ findings, specifically the nymphaeum, are exposed at the S. Lorenzo Archeological Museum.
The Archaeological Museum of Cremona is located in the old Church of San Lorenzo (Saint Laurentius), dating back to the end of 12th / beginning of 13th century, which was built on the remains of a paleo-Christian basilica situated in a former Roman necropolis.
Here below some other pictures of the City and of the Museum recently taken.
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References:
Here below, a picture of the funerary stele of Didia Salvia (1st-2nd century CE) found in Milan, the ancient Mediolanum in the Regio Transpadana, one of the 11 Italian regions established by the Emperor Augustus. It is now exposed at the Archeological Museum of the City (Corso Magenta 15, Milano, Italia).
The funerary stele was dedicated by Quintus Didius Tertullinus (son of Quintus), Roman Knight with public horse, to the Deads’ Gods (Dei Mani) of his optima mater Didia Salvia, freedwoman of Marcus.
Latin text:
D(is) M(anibus)
Didiae M(arci) L(ibertae)
Salviae
Q(uintus) Didius Q(uinti) F(ilius)
Tertullinus
Eques R(omanus) Equo P(ublico)
Matri Optimae
m.v.
The present-day town of Albisola Superiore, near Savona in the Italian region of Liguria, in the ancient Roman times was probably named Alba Docilia. In fact, the modern Albisola has been linked to the ancient Alba Docilia on the basis of the Peutinger Map (Tabula Peutingeriana), a 13th century parchment (pergamena) showing the road network in the Roman Empire, probably, as it was in the 4th-5th century CE [1]. The Roman town of Alba Docilia was located along the road between Genua (present-day Genova) and Vada Sabatia (Vado Ligure).
At the end of the 19th Century, father Schiappapietra, the parson of the little St. Peter’s Church [2] (Chiesetta di S. Pietro) started some excavations and unearthed the remains of a large Roman villa. Further excavations, carried out in the years fifties of the 20th century during the building of the railway station, allowed to delimit the extension of the Roman villa. The Roman villa, covering an area of about 8,000 sq.m., consists of a residential part (pars urbana) which includes rooms with hypocaust (indicated with A in the map below) and thermal baths (thermae). The thermae embed the circular bulding (indicated with D). This circular construction is believed to be a sauna (sudatio or laconicum) or a warm pool (piscina calida) within the baths’ calidarium. Around the large internal courtyard (B) there are the farmhouse’s buildings (pars fructuaria) that include the warehouses (C).
In the last years, new hypotheses were made about the real use of the villa. It has been argued that the structure of the villa (e.g. the large internal courtyard, the presence of thermae etc.) suggests that actually it could be a mansio, i.e. an ancient service station and hotel for travellers.
Here below some picturesof the archeological area taken by myself in a recent tour.
M. Valentini
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Notes:
[1] The Peutinger Map is named after a 16th-century German antiquarian, Konrad Peutinger. The map is now conserved at the Austrian National Library in Vienna. According to some hypotheses, the Map could be based on what reported in documents dating back to 4th or 5th century, i.e. it could represents the road network in the late Roman Empire. On the other hand, some particulars reported in the Map – not in line with the historical references dealing with the 4th century – have brought some researchers to think that it could be a late reproduction of an original map of the roads drafted by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa under the Emperor Augustus.
[2] The Church was partially destroyed in 1887 and restored, following its original Romanesque architecture, in the beginning of the 20th century.
Sesterzio di Lucio Vero (161-169 d.C.):
Monete varie:
Alcune monete e altri oggetti trovati nelle antiche fognature della città:
Here below two examples of ancient bronze currency, anticipating real coins, found in Bulgaria, the ancient Thracia.
The first picture refers to a bronze ingot that dates back to 14th -12th century BC, the second one to little bronze arrows used as money and dating back to 600 BC.
Those findings are exposed at the Archaelogical Museum of Burgas (Bulgaria) on the Black Sea (once named Pontus Euxinos).
The “Basilica of Saint Ambrosius” was originally built around 380 CE outside the walls of the ancient Roman city of Mediolanum, near a catacomb, as Basilica Martyrum by Aurelius Ambrosius, a government official and then bishop of Milan under the Christian emperor Theodosius.
Amongst other interesting and historic artifacts and remains, at the Sant’Ambrogio church there are two ancient columns which are surrounded by stories and legends: the so-called Devil’s Column and Snake Column.
Devil’s Column
Outside the Church there is an ancient Corinthian column bearing two big holes. According to the legend, the Devil tried to seduce Ambrosius into temptation, the refusal of Ambrosius gave rise to a fight with the Devil, who hit the column with the head, piercing the marble with his horns. According to a popular belief, the holes still smell the sulfur and leaning your ear on the column you can hear the sound of the hell.
Snake Column
On a granite column of ancient Roman times inside the Basilica stands the Snake of Moses. It is a bronze sculpture, probably, donated in 1007 by the Emperor Basil II, nicknamed the Bulgaroktonos, i.e. the Slayer of Bulgars.
The Snake was believing having thaumaturgic powers. Moreover, it is said that the end of the world will be announced by its descent from that column to reach the Valley of Jehoshaphat.
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