Historian and author celebrating the endless wonders of the classical world. My book 'Moneta: A History of Ancient Rome in Twelve Coins' is OUT NOW.
Swindon, Wiltshire
Joined August 2010
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Moneta is out today in paperback!
"Riveting ... An utterly original history of Rome that compels from start to finish. A wonderful read." ― Mail on Sunday
"An excellent 1,000 year history of Rome told in an engaging new way ... well worth a few denarii." ― The Times
Gareth Harney retweeted
#PortraitThursday – The extraordinary Antinous Mondragone, a colossal 95 cm-high marble head of the deified Antinous, created shortly after his death in AD 130. Its smooth, idealised features and elaborate centre-parted hair recall Hellenistic images of Dionysus and Apollo.
The head was part of a colossal acrolithic cult statue made for the worship of Antinous as a god. 31 holes were drilled into the hair to attach a metal headdress, possibly a lotus flower or uraeus, while the original inlaid eyes, of metal, ivory or coloured stone, are also lost.
Recorded in the Borghese collection at Villa Mondragone near Frascati, the portrait was greatly admired by Winckelmann and acquired for Napoleon, along with much of the Borghese collection, in 1807. It is now in the Musée du Louvre.
📷 Photographed in 2016 at the exhibition Marguerite Yourcenar et l’empereur Hadrien, une réécriture de l’Antiquité, Bavay, France.
Gareth Harney retweeted
I’m very pleased to share that I am one of thirteen contributors to the forthcoming volume, Portraits of Hadrian.
The book will be a substantial, large-format, full-colour hardcover of around 500 pages, bringing together the latest research on Hadrian, exceptional illustrations, and some of the best coin images available. We hope it will become an important new reference work on Hadrian and his reign.
My own contribution amounts to around 140 pages devoted to Hadrian’s travels across the Roman Empire, drawing on the latest archaeological, epigraphic, literary and numismatic evidence.
If Portraits of Hadrian is a book you would seriously consider buying, I would be very grateful if you could register your interest here 👉 docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F…
Maximus (@russellcrowe) outmanoeuvres Tigris of Gaul whilst pinned under one of his dead tigers. Ouch! The magic of cinema.
– Filming ‘Gladiator’ at Fort Ricasoli, Malta, 1999.
Gareth Harney retweeted
Beautiful gold Roman and Byzantine wedding rings, all bearing the Greek inscription 'OMONOIA', a term that can be translated to 'harmony', 'joined as one' or most charmingly, 'thinking the same thoughts'.
Gareth Harney retweeted
Happy birthday to Trajan, Hadrian's adoptive father! worldhistory.org/trajan/
Trajan was born in AD 53 in Italica, Hispania Baetica. During his 19-year reign, Trajan sought to extend the empire's boundaries to the east, implemented significant socio-economic reforms, and undertook a vast building program.
Gareth Harney retweeted
Portraits of Hadrian: A New Major Volume on Hadrian — Register Your Interest
followinghadrian.com/2026/09…
Gareth Harney retweeted
The grave memorial of an unknown Roman who channels Virgil in his epitaph:
'Troy gave birth to me (Troia me genuit), gave the world its famous walls, and now rejoices that I am forever linked to Rome, its descendant, where my bones have found rest after death. This small urn encloses my remains, placed here with care thanks to the piety of my son. I am one who prospered in life through the golden nectar of grapes, for which, oh fruitful Liber, we are forever bound.'
Epitaph of a wine merchant who came to Rome from Troy, 1st-2nd century AD, Capitoline Museums.
Gareth Harney retweeted
Roman funerary relief showing the transportation of wine barrels by ox cart. The deceased is shown driving the cart, accompanied on his journey by his trusty canine companion. Sitting happily on top of the barrels, the dog with his little tongue hanging out carefully supervises operations!
From Augsburg (Augusta Vindelicum) c.200 AD, Augsburg Roman Museum.
Gareth Harney retweeted
Roman terracotta relief showing part of a triumphal procession, with two distressed barbarian captives chained by their necks and ankles being paraded on the back of a cart. The bearded captives may be prisoners taken at the conclusion of Trajan's Dacian Wars, with Trajan celebrating his victories in a spectacular triumphal procession on 26th May 107 AD.
Gareth Harney retweeted
The wedding night of Randolph Churchill (only son of Winston) and Pamela Digby, 1939…
This Greek vase depicts Hercules and the princess Hesione battling the Monster of Troy, but curiously, renders the monster as the skull of a prehistoric animal – possibly a long-extinct samotherium giraffe. The vase is often cited within a wider body of evidence suggesting that the ancients were familiar with fossils and may even have taken inspiration from the strange remains when shaping their myths. Sixth century BC, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Gareth Harney retweeted
2) Roman reticulated glass cage cups or vas diatreta are a rare form of luxury glass from late antiquity, with only around ten complete examples known to survive. While usually described as cups, a small number of the vessels have actually been discovered with...
Gareth Harney retweeted
..and you who read this, please remember my name: it was Geminia Agathe, who bitter death stole at a tender age and carried off to Tartarus.
It is what it is. And so it will be for us all.'
Gareth Harney retweeted
Please everyone, comfort my family, and remind them of what a pleasant life I lived. Recite prayers for them, that their pain does not increase and their sadness not exceed its limits..
Gareth Harney retweeted
..My mother and father preceded me to the afterlife some time ago, so never grieved over my fate. Faventius, you raised me in place of my parents and loved only me – please do not despair too much over my little body. I also leave behind a sister who is saddened by my death..
Gareth Harney retweeted
'This is the grave of sweet Geminia Agathe 'Mater'...
They called me 'Mater', but I was never destined to become a mother. In fact, I lived only 5 years, 7 months and 22 days. Yet in that short time I played, enjoyed myself and was loved always by everyone..
Gareth Harney retweeted
‘Hail! Potita was the sweetest and most gentle child. She lived 3 years.’
(Ave Potita dulcissima et humanissima annorum III )
Gravestone of a young girl named Potita, 1st-2nd century AD
Gareth Harney retweeted
1) A rare and spectacular Roman glass 'cage cup' unearthed in 2020 in Autun, France – shown during excavation and after careful cleaning and restoration. A raised Latin inscription circling the vessel reads 'Vivas Feliciter' – 'Live happily!'
Gareth Harney retweeted
A Greek statuette of Apollo reconstructed from over 200 ivory fragments found in a well in the Agora of Athens. The statue is believed to be a miniature copy of the famous Lycean Apollo sculpted by Praxiteles, which stood within Aristotle's school of philosophy, 3rd century BC.
