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A panel from the Ara Pacis, or Alter of Peace, consecrated in 9 BCE by Augusus. This relief shows a female figure with two babies held to her breast and surrounded by other images of plenty.

Raphael here has depicted the council of the gods in which Jupiter decides to accept Psyche and Mercury gives her the drink of immortality.

Two statues compared

A medieval copy of an Etruscan wolf statue. The figure of Romulus and Remus were added in the 15th century AD by Antonio Pollaiuolo. This statue has become an iconic image of Rome, depicting the mythical beginnings of the city.

A statue of Augustus found in Villa Livia in 1863. From the 1st c. CE and made of white marble, this is one of the most well-known statues from the Roman empire.

Aspendos in Pamphylia was a Greek colony founded by the Argives on the modern-day southern coast of Turkey. In the fifth century BCE, the city began minting coins according to the Persian standard - a different weight system that determined the value…

Antiochus II inherited the throne from his father, Antiochus I, when the Seleucid Empire was in the throes of defeat. Pergamum, the victor, was a burgeoning kingdom that would grow over the next hundred years at the expense of the Seleucids. This…

Ptolemy II Philadelphos was the first of the Ptolemy’s to adopt the title of Pharaoh. This was not the only custom he acquired from the Egyptians as he also married his sister, a practice that was usually taboo among the Greeks. Similar to what…

The island of Thasos, just off the coast of Thrace in the north Aegean Sea, was a cultic center for the worship of Dionysus. This motif is a common one for northern Greece, an area famed for its wine.

The variations of this style include some…

Alexander III of Macedon is more commonly known as Alexander the Great. A powerful and very successful military leader, Alexander’s gold coinage is symbolic of his kingship over a unified Greek state against the Persian barbarians.

The helmeted…