Images for week 2 Twelve Caesars course

Click on each of the images to see a full size version. LUDOVISI GAUL (Gaul Killing Himself and his Wife) + THE DYING GAUL. 4 Photos © S.P. Kershaw. The figures known as the Gaul Killing Himself and his Wife (Museo Nazionale Romano, Palazzo Altemps, Boncompagni Ludovisi Collection) are readily identifiable by their distinctive hairstyles, the woman’s oriental (by Roman standards) dress, and the typical Celtic weaponry. The pair are usually interpreted as Gauls (or ‘Galatians’), i.e. Celtic people from Asia Minor, and their identification is linked to the famous Dying Gaul, also from the Boncompagni Ludovisi Collection, now in the Capitoline Museums in Rome. They may have formed part of the same sculptural group, itself a marble copy of a bronze original by Epigonos, created for the Great Altar of Zeus at Pergamon that was commissioned by King Attalos I of Pergamon to celebrate his victory over the Gauls in 240 BCE. The sculptures pictured here probably come from the area of the Villa Ludovisi in Rome, which in ancient times was the location of the Gardens of Sallust, and prior to that of the Gardens of Caesar. The fact that they were discovered close to a residence of Caesar might indicate that they are ‘symbolic copies’, commissioned by Caesar to commemorate his victories of the Gauls, in this case a Celtic people of the West. THE MODERN LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA (interior and exterior views). 2 Photos © S.P. Kershaw. The New Library of Alexandria is a truly astonishing building. It aims to ‘recapture the spirit of openness and scholarship of the original Bibliotheca Alexandrina’ (which was so badly damaged in Julius Caesar’s time). The museum has a wonderful website. Try exploring this link: http://www.bibalex.org/Home/Default_EN.aspx MITHRIDATES VI OF PONTUS. Photo © S.P. Kershaw. One of Caesar’s early adversaries, and one of the most successful opponents of Rome for many years, was Mithridates VI of Pontus. This excellent portrait, in which he is channelling Alexander the Great, is in the Archaeological Museum, Odessa. Mithridates died in the Crimea. THE FORUM OF JULIUS CAESAR, ROME. Photo © S.P. Kershaw.