CATEGORIES

A Stitch In Time
Minerva

A Stitch In Time

Jenny Davenport marvels at all the astoundingly intricate works of medieval English embroidery in Opus Anglicanum, a major exhibition currently on show at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

time-read
9 mins  |
January/February 2017
The Hidden Secrets Of Lake Nemi
Minerva

The Hidden Secrets Of Lake Nemi

Headlines last spring announced that a third pleasure-boat built for the Emperor Caligula (r AD 37–41) was about to be recovered from the murky waters of Lake Nemi near Rome. As it turned out, after investigating the facts with the former director of the Museo delle Navi at Nemi, archaeologist Giuseppina Ghini, this was not entirely a matter of ‘much ado about nothing’.

time-read
3 mins  |
July/August 2017 Volume 28 Number 4
Voyage Of No Return
Minerva

Voyage Of No Return

In 1845 the ill-fated Sir John Franklin and his 129-man crew sailed off in search of the Northwest Passage and were never seen again – at least that is what was thought until some local Inuit people were interviewed. Roger Williams investigates one of Britain's greatest naval mysteries - the subject of an exhibition at London's National MAritime Museum.

time-read
9 mins  |
July/August 2017 Volume 28 Number 4
Defend Or Destroy?
Minerva

Defend Or Destroy?

Guy de la Bédoyère charts the rise and fall of the formidable and privileged Praetorian Guard who were paid to serve as the elite bodyguard of Roman emperors but who might equally well turn on their masters if, and when, they chose to do so.

time-read
9 mins  |
March/April 2017 Volume 28 Number 2
Minerva

The Wrong Caesars

As a dozen Renaissance gilded silver treasures, the Aldobrandini Tazze or Twelve Caesars, go on show at Waddesdon Manor, Professor Mary Beard unscrews the puzzle of how the Roman emperors and dishes got mixed up

time-read
8 mins  |
May/June 2018
Horse Sense
Minerva

Horse Sense

Dominic Green explores the fi ne equine imagery on Ancient Greek vases and coins in a wide-ranging exhibition at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

time-read
8 mins  |
May/June 2018
Fashion plates
Minerva

Fashion plates

Historian, curator and ex-champion jouster, Tobias Capwell explains how, during the 14th and 15th centuries, a young man wanted to be seen wearing the latest design of armour – not just for show, but because it could help to save his life in combat.

time-read
10+ mins  |
November/December 2016
Victorian Classics
Minerva

Victorian Classics

As the iconic painting Flaming June returns to Leighton House Museum in London, Dominic Green looks at the influence of the Classical World on the inscrutable artist Frederic, Lord Leighton.

time-read
9 mins  |
November/December 2016
Picasso – Half Man, Half Bull
Minerva

Picasso – Half Man, Half Bull

Recent stories rom the world of art, archaeology and museums.

time-read
3 mins  |
July/August 2017 Volume 28 Number 4
Metamorphoses Of The Poet's Mind
Minerva

Metamorphoses Of The Poet's Mind

John Davie pays homage to the great Roman poet Ovid who died in exile 2000 years ago this year.

time-read
9 mins  |
September/October 2017 Volume 28 Number 5
For The Love Of The Gods
Minerva

For The Love Of The Gods

An exhibition in Naples examines the timeless power of Greek myths, which are as vibrant today as when the Roman poet Ovid penned his Metamorphoses 2000 years ago.

time-read
7 mins  |
September/October 2017 Volume 28 Number 5
Minerva

The Galloping Goldsmiths

Everyone has heard of the Scythians but where did they come from, how did they live and what was it that helped them to rise to power?

time-read
6 mins  |
September/October 2017 Volume 28 Number 5
Taking The Tablets
Minerva

Taking The Tablets

Paul Chrystal puts the record straight regarding how we know what we know about the Romans.

time-read
9 mins  |
September/October 2017 Volume 28 Number 5
A Colourful Past
Minerva

A Colourful Past

One of the ways that the Fitzwilliam Museum is celebrating its 200th anniversary is by the staging of a splendid exhibition of illuminated manuscripts at the end of July – a very fitting tribute to its founder, reports.

time-read
9 mins  |
July/August 2016
Devotion And Decadence
Minerva

Devotion And Decadence

After its tour to four venues across the US, then to Paris and Copenhagen, Devotion and Decadence: The Berthouville Treasure and Roman Luxury has reached its final destination at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW) in New York.

time-read
4 mins  |
November/December 2018 Volume 29 Number 6
Twilight Of The Gods
Minerva

Twilight Of The Gods

Professor Maarten J Raven, who is retiring after 40 years at the National Museum of Antiquities of the Netherlands, shows us round his farewell exhibition, Gods of Egypt.

time-read
5 mins  |
November/December 2018 Volume 29 Number 6
King Of The World
Minerva

King Of The World

Far from being simply a power-grabbing ruler and military strategist, the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal was a scholar, who assembled the first comprehensive library in the world, discovers Dominic Green when he visits the British Museums new exhibition.

time-read
8 mins  |
November/December 2018 Volume 29 Number 6
Anglo-Saxon Attitudes
Minerva

Anglo-Saxon Attitudes

David Miles pays fulsome tribute to the late Jean Manco and reviews her last book probing the roots of the Anglo-Saxons, which is also the subject of a landmark exhibition on show at the British Library.

time-read
7 mins  |
November/December 2018 Volume 29 Number 6
Pointing The Finger
Minerva

Pointing The Finger

The Campana art collection was assembled in Italy, acquired by Napoleon III, and then dispersed among the museums of France, including the Louvre, and also the Hermitage in Russia; Dalu Jones traces its journey.

time-read
7 mins  |
November/December 2018 Volume 29 Number 6
In The Lap Of ​​​​​​​Luxury
Minerva

In The Lap Of ​​​​​​​Luxury

Nicole Benazeth visits an exhibition of treasures in Arles that shows how the other half lived in the ancient world.

time-read
8 mins  |
September/October 2017 Volume 28 Number 5
Magnificent Monteverdi
Minerva

Magnificent Monteverdi

Tom Ford pays tribute to the ground-breaking Italian composer, born 450 years ago, one of the great musicians celebrated in the V&A‘s upcoming exhibition Opera: Passion Power and Politics.

time-read
7 mins  |
September/October 2017 Volume 28 Number 5
Caesarea Will Rise Again
Minerva

Caesarea Will Rise Again

Archaeology in Caesarea – King Herod’s city, Roman and Byzantine provincial capital, Crusader stronghold and Ottoman village – has been slow in getting off the ground. But now a £47-million renewal project, one of the largest of its kind in Israel, is set to put the ancient city and its treasures firmly on the tourist map.

time-read
3 mins  |
July/August 2017 Volume 28 Number 4
Casting Director
Minerva

Casting Director

Artist Marc Quinn talks to Michael Squire about his latest work, Drawn From Life – a series of 12 sculptures installed in Sir John Soane’s Museum, – and reveals what it is about Classical art that has influenced his work.

time-read
9 mins  |
July/August 2017 Volume 28 Number 4
The Colossus Of Rome
Minerva

The Colossus Of Rome

Dalu Jones discovers what happened to the largest amphitheatre in the world after the brutal public fights and barbaric contests ceased.

time-read
7 mins  |
July/August 2017 Volume 28 Number 4
The Archaeologist Of Artists
Minerva

The Archaeologist Of Artists

Dominic Green looks at the sensual paintings of the acclaimed Victorian artist Lawrence Alma-Tadema currently on show at Leighton House in London.

time-read
10 mins  |
July/August 2017 Volume 28 Number 4
Under The Volcano
Minerva

Under The Volcano

Theresa Thompson investigates the history of a very hot subject, which can have cataclysmic results, at a new exhibition in Oxford.

time-read
10 mins  |
March/April 2017 Volume 28 Number 2
Rendlesham Revealed
Minerva

Rendlesham Revealed

Archaeologists Faye Minter, Jude Plouviez and Christopher Scull have worked, together with four tireless detectorists, to locate, uncover and excavate the site of an important 7th-century Anglo-Saxon royal settlement in south-east Suffolk.

time-read
10 mins  |
March/April 2017 Volume 28 Number 2
This Mysterious Monument
Minerva

This Mysterious Monument

David Miles leafs through recent books on Stonehenge to see what’s new and what’s not.

time-read
9 mins  |
March/April 2017 Volume 28 Number 2
Writing on the Wall
Minerva

Writing on the Wall

David J Breeze constructs a history of the different theories about Hadrian’s Wall – who constructed it, when and why?

time-read
7 mins  |
July/August 2016
Standing up for the Classics
Minerva

Standing up for the Classics

Lindsay Fulcher talks to the writer, broadcaster and lapsed comedian Natalie Haynes, who makes the ancient world not only accessible to a modern audience but relevant, funny and fascinating.

time-read
9 mins  |
July/August 2016