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Using the multispectral images, the Oxford (O) and Naples (N) disegni, alongside the original papyri, this paper presents a more detailed analysis of Philodemus’ De dis 1 (PHerc. 26). In particular it focuses on columns 12 to 15, arguing that these columns provide further insight into the Epicurean concept of πρόληψις (‘preconception’), a kind of mental image or sketch of a concept. In particular it addresses the question of whether προλήψεις are innate or whether they are gained over time.

Editing the Greek and Latin library from Herculaneum presents great challenges to classical scholarship. These papyri were preserved by being carbonized in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius (Sider 2005). They have either been opened invasively, which has left them badly damaged, or not opened at all. There is also the problem, or advantage, that all the texts, so far, have been unique, and are not subject to the vagaries of Medieval transmission.

This paper looks at two Roman triclinia from Gallia Narbonensis, both of which employ figures and compositional structures reminiscent of pantomime in their decor (Figs 1, 2). In these rooms, mosaic floors and frescoed walls are decorated in such a way as to transform the space into a stage, where guiding lines and scattered mythological figures on the floor coopt everyone in the room – guests and hosts, diners and servers alike – into the performance of the dance.

In this paper I argue that an increase in the frequency and geographic range of Roman imperial Asclepius coins, begun by Domitian and continuing until the Third Century Crisis, is a rich example of Wallace-Hadrill’s (2008) “circulation” model of Hellenization and Romanization, a process that continued in waves long after the Roman subjugation of the Greek world. In particular, I draw connections between the appearance of Asclepius on imperial coins and a resurgence of Roman interest in Greek Asclepius sanctuaries after a lengthy period of neglect.

This paper examines the coinage of Philip (r. 4 B.C.E.-34 C.E.), son of Herod the Great and tetrarch of Batanea, Trachonitis, Paneas and Auranitis, in the context of the coins of three other groups of minting authorities: contemporary client rulers, defined for the purposes of this paper as independent rulers who achieved their position through Roman support; contemporary municipal coinages of Syria; and other successors to Herod.

This paper explores the ways in which the bronze coins struck for Kleopatra VII at Ituraean Chalkis (i.e. Chalcis sub Libano in Coele Syria) simultaneously express the queen’s authority as a monarch in her own right and as a partner to Mark Antony. Kleopatra received Chalkis from Antony, the Roman triumvir with hegemony over the eastern provinces, as part of the territorial grant of 37/6 B.C.E. This grant restored to the queen areas that were once part of the overseas empire of the Ptolemies, including Coele Syria and part of Phoenicia.

εἰς τὸν Εὔξεινον πόντον, Σύλλας δὲ τὴν Ἀσίαν δισμυρίοις

ταλάντοις ἐζημίωσε, προσταχθὲν αὐτῷ τά τε χρήματα ταῦτα

πρᾶξαι καὶ νόμισμα κόψαι

Peace being presently made, Mithridates sailed off to the Euxine sea,

but Sulla taxed the inhabitants of Asia twenty thousand talents,

and ordered Lucullus to gather wealth and coin the money.

(Plutarch, Lucullus 4.1)

This paper presents the results of my analysis of the chronological and geographic distribution of the five largest issues of victoriati, a silver coinage without a mark of value minted alongside the denarius for a period of forty years at the end of the third and beginning of the second century B.C.E. I argue that the victoriatus’ appearance in the Po River Valley in the early second century B.C.E and its metrological similarities to local coinages (Crawford 1985) represent a conscious economic decision related to the contemporaneous Roman colonization initiative in the region.

Bellum se ipsum alet? Financing Republican Imperialism

Rome at Sea: the Beginnings of Roman Naval Power