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Dr. Christina Hotalen
@drchristinah.bsky.social
Roman historian who works as a Program Manager at a university. Metal head & maker of chain maille. Credentials and links to my other pages: linktr.ee/infestissima
357 followers294 following92 posts
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DCdrchristinah.bsky.social

Late Roman / Byzantine bronze steelyard weight, 4th-5th century CE

Steelyard weights, a Roman invention, were used to weigh heavy, bulky goods by suspending them from the hook at one end of a rod, and then sliding weights along that rod until they came into balance with the load. These weights were often made to resemble imperial or religious figures, endowing them with an authority that would convey confidence in the accuracy of the measurement.
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DCdrchristinah.bsky.social

Something I wasn’t expecting to find in the museum was this Roman porphyry basin dated between the 2nd and 3rd century CE. Click the alt tag for additional/detailed information.

The original function of large stone basins, such as the one in the middle of this gallery, is not yet known. This basin's decorative imagery with stylized ivy leaves and the head of a panther allude to Bacchus, the Roman god of wine, who represented the pleasures of life. The panther's mouth is pierced to function as a drain. Objects made from the very dense rock called porphyry (meaning purple in Greek) were highly valued since Roman times. In the Byzantine period, these prized goods were frequently relocated and reused. The basins often found new homes as elements in fountains or, after Rome adopted Christianity in the fourth century, were converted to baptismal fonts or sarcophagi.
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DCdrchristinah.bsky.social

Most definitely a honse

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DCdrchristinah.bsky.social

Truly 😂

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DCdrchristinah.bsky.social

Roman Egypt; Fayum portrait of a young boy (4th century CE) and portrait of a god on a horse (3rd century CE). The Wadsworth Atheneum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut

Beginning in the 1st century CE, a realistic portrait of the deceased - painted on a wooden panel—might be placed on the outer wrappings of a mummy. The big eyes and bushy eyebrows seen in this work are typical stylistic traits from an area of northern Egypt called Fayum. While the boy's clothing was common for the period, his necklace with three amulets is rare. The two outer figures represent the divine couple Isis and Serapis, and between them is a metal leaf, probably a passport for the dead. These amulets were often inscribed with instructions on how to behave in the afterlife.
The full-length representation of the figure, along with the size and shape of the work, suggest that this painting was a votive panel most likely produced to worship a deity. Shortly before Egypt fully turned to Christianity, such panels depicted pagan gods. Originally an eastern European god, this figure might represent Heron, a popular deity with the Roman army and later adopted into the pantheon of Greco-Roman Egypt. This type of painting on wood can be viewed as a link between the mummy portraits of the ancient world and the earliest icons of medieval times that led to the European tradition of panel painting.
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DCdrchristinah.bsky.social

Two lions made of marble in The Wadsworth Atheneum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut. 300 BCE, Greek.

Marble lion
Another marble lion
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DCdrchristinah.bsky.social

Visited Mark Twain’s house over the weekend

Sitting next to a bronze Mark Twain, holding a book, with yours truly pointing to something inside the book
Exterior shot of Twain’s home
Architectural details in the entryway
Huckleberry fizz soda bottle with an image of Huckleberry Finn inside the museum cafe
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DCdrchristinah.bsky.social

Rest in -redacted-

Rolling Stone article: “Henry Kissinger, war criminal beloved by America’s ruling class, finally dies” the infamy of Nixon’s foreign-policy architect sits, eternally, beside that of history’s worst mass murders. A deeper shame attaches to the country that celebrates him
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Reposted by Dr. Christina Hotalen
DJmetalclassicist.bsky.social

Please share this CFP for what looks to be an exciting, interdisciplinary graduate/ECR conference at SUNY Buffalo next Spring. Honored to be one of the keynotes. #AncientBluesky#ClassicsBluesky

The SUNY at Bualo Classics Graduate Student Association (CGSA) Spring Symposium Call for Papers Do You Remember: 21 Centuries of Earth, Wind, and Fire April 20-21, 2024 Abstract Deadline: February 1, 2024 cgsasymposium@gmail.com Of all the ideas which have endured from the Greco-Roman world, few have been as widely influential as the quadripartite system of the Classical elements: earth, fire, wind, and water. The Classical elements have served as a symbolic anchor for a vast number of paradigms and ideologies, from their origin as a pre-Socratic rumination on the composition of the cosmos through their lasting influence on humoral medicine, to their thematic representation throughout every period of Western art. The history of the transformation, appropriation, and re-evaluation of the elements is one of the longest chains of variations on a theme in the Western canon. The Second Annual CGSA Spring Symposium wishes to highlight graduate student and early career scholars working on to
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Reposted by Dr. Christina Hotalen
NSnathanielskatz.bsky.social

My (open access!) article, "Legionary Coins in the Year of the Four Emperors," just came out: jaha.org.ro/index.php/JA...

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Dr. Christina Hotalen
@drchristinah.bsky.social
Roman historian who works as a Program Manager at a university. Metal head & maker of chain maille. Credentials and links to my other pages: linktr.ee/infestissima
357 followers294 following92 posts
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