Studies of Ancient Rome

Thursday, September 19, 2013

The Pharos Lighthouse at Alexandria, Egypt

Pharos Information

The Pharors Lighthouse was built in 283 C -- and built to last. It stood until the fourteenth century.

The Pharos was 360 feet high.

Fire was the light source refleced in a great mittor.

The light could be seen for more than thirty miles.

A central spiral staircase as used to get fuel up to the fire.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Antirrhodos Island

Key

1. Strabo, a geographer, visited Alexandria circa 27 BC and described the island as, "The private property of the kings, which has both royal palace and a small harbor." Maps later mistakenly placed the island further East;

2. Ceremonial Gateway;

3. Red Granite columns over four feet in diameter;

4. Sphinxes found here;

5. Priest's statue found here;

6. Temple to Isis may have been here;

7. Wreck of a Roman Boat;

8. Third Harbor;

9. Red granite colmns found;

10. Limestone pavement found throughout the island;

11.Wooden foundations; These indicate a structure 200 feet long dating from 250 BC.

12. Carbon Dating has fixed the date of construction as circa 450 BC;

13. Possible site of Cleopatra's Palace.

14. GODDIO (French Underater Archaeologist) -- "Using nuclear magnetic resonace, magnetometers and the satelite-based Global Positioning System, Goddio's team mapped the land mass that was submerged under 16 to 20 feet of water, probably by the earth-quake of AD365. Many artifacts have been located beneath a three foot layer of sediment. For centuries, scholars speculated on the great treasures of Cleopatra's Palace. Yet, all the while, clues lay beneath the waters surface in the port.

Eastern Port of Alexandria -- Ptolemaic and Roman Periods

Key

1. Site of the Pharos Lighthouse;

2. Antirhodos Island;

3. Possible Site, Cleopatra's Palace;

4. Timonium;

5. Ancient Shipwreck*;

6. Royal Harbor?;

7. Third Harbor;

8. Second Harbor;

9. Royal Harbor?;

10. Cape Lochias;

11. Main Passage;

12. Dock?;

13. Dock?;

14. Port;

15. Dock?;

16. Poseidium**;

17. Site of Heptastadion+;

18. Qait Bey Fort++;

19. Colosal Statue@

20. Site of the Island of Pharos;

21. Site of "Cleopatra's Needles";

22. Julius Caesar morred his fleet here;

23. City of Alexandria;

24. Harbor of the Galleys.

*Wreck of a Roman Boat (100 ft. long, and 25 feet wide);

**Possible Site of Mark Antony's Palace;

+Ancient Causeway;

++Built on the site of Lighthouse Ruins;

@May have stood at the foot of the lighthouse.

Orange = Ancient Sunken Lands and Structures;

Stripes = Ancient Reefs.

Friday, August 16, 2013

Private Houses of Roman Britain, Part 2

>>>> Private Houses of Roman Britain Part # 2 <<<<

If the private houses of Roman Britain differed a good deal, in plan, from the houses in Pompeii, the internal fittings were definitely classical. There was the same painted wall plaster, the same mosaic floors, the same hypocausts, and bathing rooms as would have been found in Italy. The wall-paintings and mosaics may have been of a poorer quality in Britain, and the hypocausts more numerous; even some fittings themselves were indicative of the ideas and products of a milder and more southerly climate, as well as a classical culture. The picture of the head of Mercury (Fig. #3) against a background of red is a fragment of wall plaster that once ordained a house in Roman London. Despite a certain crudity of execution, it is a vigorous piece of drawing. However, that it should be a Roman and not a Celtic God, that is represented, is eminently characteristic. So too, with the mosaics. No mosaic has yet come to light in the whole of Roman Britain which presents any local subject or contains any non-classical feature.

(I hasten to remind all my readers that the text from which this idea was taken was published in 1924, so the above statement may no longer be true.)

The usual ornamentation consists of mythological scenes such as Orpheus charming the animals, Apollo chasing dolphins, or Bacchus riding a panther (Fig. #4).

Traces of dwelling-houses conventionally called “villas” have been detected and excavated in various parts of the civilized area of Britain. Some sixty or seventy examples have been noted for instance in Somerset, about as many in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, some fifty in Kent, and thirty in Northamptonshire. The city of Oxford alone has yielded more than a dozen.

Note: Figures #3 and 4 can be found on my blog; http://RomanStudies.blogspot.com

Reference:

Haverfield, (revised by George MacDonald), “The Roman Occupation of Britain,” Oxford, At the Clarendon Press, 1924.

Respectfully Submitted;

Marcus Audens

Private Houses In Roman Britain, Part !

>>>> Private Houses In Roman Britain <<<<

November, 1999 Issue of the Nova Roma Eagle, Part One

This survey will look at the various excavations of dwelling-houses in Roman Britain, and will compare structure, use, internal fittings, and grounds to the dwelling-houses in the Mediterranean areas of Roman civilization. It will be seen that while the internal fittings and decorations remain standard from the Mediterranean culture, the structure and the use of the house will change to adapt in several ways to the variations of climate and temperature. The residential houses of this survey fall generally into two classes exactly parallel to the houses unearthed at Caerwent and Silchester, England. As the excavations at Silchester and Caerwent have proven, the private dwelling-houses in the Roman-British towns resembled the country houses in the rural districts of the province.

Two illustrations (Figs. #1 and 2), which though they may be ultimately derived from Mediterranean precedents, show that the housing types are not Italian. They are rather Celtic or European. Obviously houses of such irregular shape could not possibly have been fitted into continuous streets, nor was any attempt made to do so. The “insulae” of Silchester and Caerwent were not tenement blocks. They were rather, simple rectangular spaces, each of which might contain two, three, or even as many as four, separate dwelling-houses with ample garden, or other open, land around them, The above mentioned illustrations can be found at my blog:

http://RomanStudies.Blogspot.com

just as soon as I get them redrawn. I will make the announcement when such is finished.

To be continued >>>>