Dr Crom
@doccrom.bsky.social
5.3K followers 610 following 3.9K posts
Classicist, archaeologist, sci-fi and horror nerd and, most importantly, ginger. Oh, and... "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn". #EdgyPedlar #AncientStuff
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doccrom.bsky.social
AncientBluesky 🏺- A favourite! The eponymous piece from the Tomb of the Blue Vase, Pompeii (HGE08). A stunning cameo glass amphora, with grape-harvesting Cupids: ca. 1st Century AD. #Pompeii #Archaeology

Image: National Archaeological Museum, Naples (13521). Link - mann-napoli.it/gli-oggetti-...
Reposted by Dr Crom
doccrom.bsky.social
ClassicsBluesky 🏺🧵

#LatinForTheDay – 9 October #Ovid

“quid iuvat in nudis hamata retundere tela
ossibus? ossa mihi nuda relinquit amor.
tot sine amore viri, tot sunt sine amore puellae!—
hinc tibi cum magna laude triumphus eat.
Roma, nisi inmensum vires promosset in orbem,...
Reposted by Dr Crom
doccrom.bsky.social
#OnThisDay - 9 October - in 28 BC Augustus dedicated the Temple of Palatine Apollo. One of Augustus’ most important buildings, Velleius Paterculus (2.81.3) claims he “spared no expense”. #AncientHistory 🏺

Image: RIC Augustus 271; ANS 1947.2.412. Link - numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric....
Obverse of a Roman denarius: Head of Apollo, laureate, right. Reverse of a Roman denarius: Rostral column with prows of ships; on top, statue of Octavian.
doccrom.bsky.social
The Image at the head of this thread is 'The First Whisper of Love' by George Frederic Watts, ca. 1868–1886 (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool: WAG 2103).

Link - artuk.org/discover/art...

#LatinForTheDay #Ovid 🧵🏺
The First Whisper of Love | Art UK
The First Whisper of Love by George Frederic Watts (1817–1904), c.1868–1886, from Walker Art Gallery
artuk.org
doccrom.bsky.social
Here Ovid returns to the trope of 'militia amoris' as he seeks retirement from the campaigns of love. He draws upon a series of examples to suggest that when individuals have reached the appropriate point they may be legitimately 'released from service'!
doccrom.bsky.social
'They retire the warship, having dragged it into dry-dock;
And when the blade is laid aside, the waster takes its place.
It is time for me too – I who have served so often in the
Campaigns of my mistress – to live peacefully, my duty discharged.’
doccrom.bsky.social
'Rome, had she not stretched forth her strength over the limitless
Globe, would even now still be a hamlet of thatched huts.
The weary soldier retires to those fields he has well-earned;
The unharnessed horse is put out to pasture from the starting-gate;...
doccrom.bsky.social
‘What’s the point in your barbed arrows being blunted on
Bone? Love has left me bare bones and bugger all else!
There are so many lads without love, so many lasses too,
Let that lot be whence your gloriously grand triumph comes!...
doccrom.bsky.social
"...tutaque deposito poscitur ense rudis.
me quoque, qui totiens merui sub amore puellae,
defunctum placide vivere tempus erat.”

Ovid, Amores 2.9A.13-24
doccrom.bsky.social
"...stramineis esset nunc quoque tecta casis.
fessus in acceptos miles deducitur agros;
mittitur in saltus carcere liber equus;
longaque subductam celant navalia pinum,...
doccrom.bsky.social
ClassicsBluesky 🏺🧵

#LatinForTheDay – 9 October #Ovid

“quid iuvat in nudis hamata retundere tela
ossibus? ossa mihi nuda relinquit amor.
tot sine amore viri, tot sunt sine amore puellae!—
hinc tibi cum magna laude triumphus eat.
Roma, nisi inmensum vires promosset in orbem,...
doccrom.bsky.social
#OnThisDay - 9 October - in 28 BC Augustus dedicated the Temple of Palatine Apollo. One of Augustus’ most important buildings, Velleius Paterculus (2.81.3) claims he “spared no expense”. #AncientHistory 🏺

Image: RIC Augustus 271; ANS 1947.2.412. Link - numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric....
Obverse of a Roman denarius: Head of Apollo, laureate, right. Reverse of a Roman denarius: Rostral column with prows of ships; on top, statue of Octavian.
doccrom.bsky.social
Thought it looked familiar!
doccrom.bsky.social
Is this one in Vienna?
Reposted by Dr Crom
doccrom.bsky.social
ClassicsBluesky 🏺🧵

#LatinForTheDay - 7 October - meets #ClassicsTober Day 7: Φαρμακίς (witch, Sorceress) #Juvenal

“hic magicos adfert cantus, hic Thessala vendit
philtra, quibus valeat mentem vexare mariti
et solea pulsare natis. quod desipis, inde est,
inde animi caligo et magna oblivio rerum...
Reposted by Dr Crom
doccrom.bsky.social
#EpigraphyTuesday – The dedication to ‘Virgo Caelestis’ from Carvoran Fort, ca. Late 2nd Century AD. Presented as a poem rendered in ten iambic senarii, the piece has been the focus of much discussion. #Latin #AncientHistory 🧵🏺

Image: Great North Museum: Hancock (NEWMA : 1816.8). 📸 Pete Savin
Reposted by Dr Crom
doccrom.bsky.social
#OnThisDay - 7 October - ca. 14 BC Drusus the Younger, son of the Emperor Tiberius, was born. His death in AD 23 was thought natural, though it was later alleged that he had been poisoned by Sejanus. #AncientHistory 🏺

Image: RIC Tiberius 45; ANS 1957.172.1519. Link - numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric....
Obverse of a Roman as: Head of Drusus, bare, left. Reverse of a Roman as: Legend surrounding large S C.
doccrom.bsky.social
Hey you guys! 😊
doccrom.bsky.social
The Image at the head of this thread is 'A Sorceress' by John Duncan, 1898 (University of Dundee Fine Art Collections: DUNUC ARTS:27).

Link - artuk.org/discover/art...

#LatinForTheDay #Juvenal 🧵🏺
A Sorceress | Art UK
A Sorceress by John Duncan (1866–1945), 1898, from University of Dundee Fine Art Collections
artuk.org
doccrom.bsky.social
In this extract of Satire 6, Juvenal focusses on Caesonia - Caligula's fourth wife - suggesting that his 'madness' may be blamed on a love-potion which she gave him. The charm in question is a 'hippomane', made from the membrane covering a foal's forehead just after its birth.
doccrom.bsky.social
'What woman wouldn’t follow in the footsteps of an emperor’s wife?
Everything was ablaze, the fabric of the world was rending,
As if Juno herself had driven her husband mad.’
doccrom.bsky.social
'You’ve got no clue what you’ve done. All the same, you could bear it,
Providing you don’t go completely off your rocker, like Caligula – Nero’s
Dotty Uncle – for whom Caesonia concocted that pick-me-up,
Muddling in a little horse-head charm, plucked from a tottering foal....
doccrom.bsky.social
‘This one deals in magic spells, this one’s flogging Thessalian
Philtres – y’know the ones I mean – them that a wife’ll use to befuddle
Her hubby’s head, so he’ll bend over and have his arse spanked!
That’s why you’ve lost it; that’s why your mind’s muddled and...
doccrom.bsky.social
"quas modo gessisti. tamen hoc tolerabile, si non
et furere incipias ut avunculus ille Neronis,
cui totam tremuli frontem Caesonia pulli
infudit. quae non faciet quod principis uxor?
ardebant cuncta et fracta conpage ruebant
non aliter quam si fecisset Iuno maritum
insanum.”

Juvenal, Sat. 6.610-620
doccrom.bsky.social
ClassicsBluesky 🏺🧵

#LatinForTheDay - 7 October - meets #ClassicsTober Day 7: Φαρμακίς (witch, Sorceress) #Juvenal

“hic magicos adfert cantus, hic Thessala vendit
philtra, quibus valeat mentem vexare mariti
et solea pulsare natis. quod desipis, inde est,
inde animi caligo et magna oblivio rerum...