History: the Ultimate Fandom

Photo reblogged from A Mad Boy and his Box building a Motorbike

(via pondicusrex)

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Photoset reblogged from ·ROMA·VIVAT·

polyfloisbos:

Cato the elder.

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Photo reblogged from To the map room, Indy!

fvckyeahromanhistory:

Ides of March Special: Silver Denarius of Marcus Brutus, Macedonia, 43-42 BCE

This coin was struck in honour of Marcus Junius Brutus, one of the assassins of Julius Caesar. The reverse shows the cap of liberty given to freed slaves flanked by two daggers. This indicates Brutus’ intention of freeing Rome from Caesar’s imperial ambitions and the murder weapons employed to do so. Below is the day of the deed; EID.MAR, the ides of March.

Few coins capture a moment in history with such stark and brutal imagery. Brutus had carried out the attack with some fellow Roman Senators in 44 BC when Caesar had come unarmed to address the Senate on 15 March. This day was known to the Romans as the ides, or the middle day of the month and was recognised on a new calendar system that Caesar himself had established just two years before.

The assassins, or ‘freedom party’ as they regarded themselves, fled Rome to Macedonia to raise an army. However, they were defeated by Caesar’s allies led by Mark Antony and Octavian at the Battle of Philippi (42 BC). Brutus subsequently committed suicide.

The decision to flee east was probably influenced by the richness of the provinces of the eastern Roman Empire - raising an army was a very costly business. Supplies needed to be bought and soldiers needed wages. Amongst the coins the conspirators briefly struck to this end was this, the ‘Ides of March’ denarius.

P. Matyszak, Chronicle of the Roman Republi (London, Thames & Hudson Ltd, 2005)

M.H. Crawford, Roman republican coinage (Cambridge University Press, 1974)

(Source: )

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Photo reblogged from ·ROMA·VIVAT·

amantes-amentes:

nevertravelled:

this scene is so great in explaining male sexuality in rome - roman men aren’t meant to be desired, because being desired is a passive state, which is why they can fuck pretty much whomever they want, as long as they are the penetrators (… lol) - while also being, like, the funniest scene in the show. it’s so hard to screencap, though, because it’s all in lyndsey marshal’s eyebrows as she takes vorenus’ measure, and kevin mckidd practically quivering in fear.

… and then shaking with lust ;)

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Photoset reblogged from Male Beauty in Art

hernaniste:

Brighten up your day with some striking images of Antinous, Emperor Hadrian’s young lover who is known and loved by fandom from the “Antinous farouche” that Hugo provocatively uses to describe Enjolras.

Hadrian’s very public and lasting relationship with the low-born young man scandalized the Roman elite, but the real controversy didn’t begin until Antinous mysteriously drowned and the distraught Hadrian deified him. This is actually what intrigues me most about the Enjolras comparison; the pretty and gay make for fun reading, but I’m particularly fascinated by how Antinous became an object of popular devotion, official outcry against his apotheosis notwithstanding. This absolute nobody who may even have been a slave somehow caught the emperor’s eye, became his beloved, then ascended to the heavens. Among all the aristocratic gods of the classical pantheon, Antinous represented the people. As best I can tell, his cult lasted for centuries.

His beauty was famous and his face shows up in a ton of art from the period, often as Apollo or Dionysus. Should you ever be lucky enough to find yourself in a gallery with Roman statues, you can actually play the game of trying to pick him out. Just find the prettiest marble man in the room and chances are you’ll have him.

A final note: while I absolutely love “Antinous farouche” as a descriptor, and understand why the adjective is necessary to make the comparison about something other than just sex, the actual Antinous had plenty of ferocity of his own. Don’t let Hugo make you think he was just posing on imperial couches and looking pretty. He accompanied Hadrian on his travels around the empire and the two were apparently known for hunting lions together. Lions!

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Photo reblogged from To the map room, Indy!

muralgirl:

theancientworld:

The Empress Sabina, Roman, C. 130 CE

Museo Nacional del Prado, On View in Room 71

“Vibia Sabina (83-136 A.D.), a relative of Trajan, was married very young to the future emperor, Hadrian. This portrait, made towards the end of her life, around 130, denotes the intention to create an intemporal image, free of the passage of time.”

Sabina was so purty. Too bad her husband was gay. But then she probably managed to gets hers somewhere, since she had a whole palace to herself (and her many, many servants) while Hadrian was out gallivanting across Greece and Egypt.