My new article on hyperallergic
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For #EpigraphyTuesday we're in the #CapitolineMuseums in #Rome , looking at an #inscription found near Porta Maggiore. Ti. Julius Xanthus was a tractator or masseur who really rubbed #Tiberius and #Claudius the right way.

For #SpoliaSunday we're off to the MAF_Firenze to admire this upcycled ancient #bronze statue of a lamp-bearer, found in #Pesaro in the lands of the #dellaRovere duchy of #Urbino and sent to #Florence as a wedding gift from the duke to his heiress in 1630.

For #SarcophagusSaturday we're going back, back, back in time, to October 2023 when I took this photo of a late #Mycenaean #larnax in the #Louvre in #Paris . The undulating linear patterns on this #terracotta box are heirs to the spiral reliefs in earlier cemeteries.

For #FrescoFriday , we're addressing the problem of a queen mating with a bull, in the #HouseoftheVettii in #Pompeii . It must have been a logistical nightmare for #Daedalus , not to mention an awkward conversation with the king later. Honestly, mythological #sex is such a hassle.

For both #EpigraphyTuesday and #ReliefWednesday this week, I offer you a splendid altar to the god of woods and fields, #Silvanus , with a somewhat scattered #inscription that nonetheless has a good semi-cursive script. This is in the #CapitolineMuseums in #Rome .

Get your cock out and let's compete! For #MosaicMonday we're in #Naples where, as we can clearly see in this #mosaic #emblema , cock size was one indicator of probable victory, but tactics and aggression could also make your cock a prize winner.

#SpoliaSunday this week takes us to #Paris where a splendid throne in the #VaticanMuseums caught #Napoleon 's art commissioners' eye, little knowing that almost nothing of it was ancient, and most of it was only ten years old. It was not considered worth being sent back to #Rome .

For #SarcophagusSaturday , a grieving widow joins her husband in the Underworld, on a #sarcophagus in the #VaticanMuseums . A strange story, with a strange message: should a widow really go that far?

#FrescoFriday this week brings us something for #PhallusThursday as well, but while we're enjoying the frustration of #Silenus and the sexy surprise offered by #Hermaphrodite , let's not be distracted from what a masterpiece this #fresco is, from #Pompeii via #Naples .