Bulletin of the National Archaeological Museum, 8.
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Although infant mortality was part of everyday life in ancient Greece, the disappearance of children was no less traumatic. If, in everyday life, the white-backed lécites echo the death of the ateloi and serve to construct the philia of the members of the oikos, the funerary stelae are useful for constructing a social image that unites the polis in the face of the drama. Myth, for its part, contains an extraordinary number of stories of infanticide such as that of Itis, the children of Medea or Astyanax where children become instruments of vengeance, all of which serve to warn of what is not to be.
The identification of this portrait, sometimes with the emperor Titus and sometimes with Domitian, to whom it has finally been attributed, is of more than merely iconographic historical importance.
A vase recently acquired by the State for the National Archaeological Museum, an Apulian amphora with red figures by the Baltimore Painter, dated between 330 and 320 BC, allows us, through the reading of its images, to take a journey through the infernal and paradisiacal landscapes of the Surithalic imaginary. The iconographic and ideological programme of this vase, decorated with a naiskos scene, a scene with characters next to a funerary stele and a scene with Orpheus’ visit to the Underworld, has a clearly salvific message, offering the promise of a new, Edenic and immortal existence beyond death for the deceased.
The object of our study will focus only on the beginning and the development of travel writing. This way of describing the events, places and customs experienced during a journey is the starting point of ancient history, geography, ethnology and cartography.
The boar on the seal from the Museo Arqueológico Nacional shows the originality of this countermark device on the obverse of Clunia issue. The animal is neither erect nor in motion but lying with its legs under its body. The lying posture seems to bear no relation to portrayals from the legionary milieu as found on seals, emblems, standards, and so forth. This unprecedented countermark device, struck only on the obverse, is associated with an image on the reverse of the coinage showing the animal’s cranium. The image has always been described as a «boar’s head», although its shape and detail depict the animal’s skinless skull. No plausible explanation has been given. What is certain is the relationship between the two types, always paired, the former on the obverse, the latter on the reverse. The two countermarks were struck at Clunia in the spring of 68 CE in the context of events culminating with Galba’s acclamation. They represent the whole series of propitiatory rites, from initial animal sacrifice, with victim depicted prone, to the ritual banquet that wraps up the ceremonies, where the skinned skull is trophy and loot. The countermarks’ application exclusively to Clunia issue shows that the events of spring 68 CE directly involved not only the legionary milieu, which was responsible for Galba’s acclamation, but also the whole community of citizens called upon to take active part in the political process.
The Valsadornín Treasure, found in 1937 next to the old road linking the Palencia towns of Valsadornín and Gramedo, is one of the most important archaeological testimonies of the insecurity suffered by the Roman Empire in the middle decades of the 3rd century. It is a bronze pot containing thousands of coins, all of them Antoninian, hidden or lost around 270 AD.
Once the whole was assigned to the Museum of Palencia, the vessel, incomplete but still with a significant number of coins attached, was deposited in the National Archaeological Museum (MAN). In 2016-2018 it underwent restoration and various analyses aimed at its study and better conservation, in an institutional collaboration between the Museum of Palencia, the MAN and the Spanish Cultural Heritage Institute (IPCE). Prior to its return to Palencia, it was presented to the public in MAN’s Showcase ZERO between October 2018 and January 2019.
The re-reading of two Roman imperial countermarks, preserved in the National Archaeological Museum of Madrid (figs. 4-5), allows us to clarify and update what is known about the types related to the Legio X Gemina in the Hispanic area: two of them (B-C) are already included in the bibliography, but interpreted incompletely and not related to each other; moreover, a new specimen of type B (fig. 3) confirms the use of archaic cursive spelling for the letter E, in the form of II, and makes the two types B-C unique for the epigraphic customs of the imperial countermarks of the E, in the form of II. 3) confirms the use of the archaic cursive spelling for the letter E, in the form of II, and makes the two types B-C unique for the epigraphic customs of the Roman imperial countermarks.
This article provides some details on specific aspects of the Roman quarries of Almadén de la Plata, focusing on the relationship they may have had with the pagus Marmorariensis, the attempt to identify them with the Mons Mariorum mentioned in an ancient itinerary, their relationship with the statio serrariorum Augustorum documented in Italica and the problem of the inclusion of the quarries in the Patrimonium Caesaris. The hypothesis of a Severan building project in Italica is also raised.
Recensión.El vientre controlado es la publicación de la tesis doctoral de Patricia de los Ángeles González Gutiérrez leída en julio de 2015 en la Universidad Complutense de Madrid y dirigida por
el profesor Carlos González Wagner. El trabajo ha sido revisado y modificado para su
publicación como libro en una editorial que se dedica a temas feministas pero que tiene un
claro perfil de investigación de la Antigüedad.
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This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
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