November 20, 2007—Colorful mosaics spiral across the vaulted ceiling of a grotto that was unveiled today as the likely place where ancient Romans believed that a she-wolf suckled their city's legendary founders.
In January archaeologists announced that the sacred cave, known as the Lupercale, had been found during excavations of Emperor Augustus' palace on the Palatine, a 230-foot-tall (70-meter-tall) hill in the center of Rome.
According to Roman myth, a female wolf nursed the abandoned twins Romulus and Remus in the Lupercale. The grown brothers are said to have founded the Eternal City at the site on April 21, 753 B.C.
Since the grotto's discovery, experts have been examining it with remote sensing devices, because they fear that a full dig might cause the already fragile cave to collapse, the Associated Press reported. So far the team estimates that the domed sanctuary is 26 feet (8 meters) high with a 24-foot (7-meter) diameter.
At a news conference today the team released images of the grotto—including the undated photo above—taken with a probe. The images show the cave's richly detailed mosaics made of marble and seashells.
The center of the ceiling features a depiction of a white eagle, the symbol of the Roman Empire during the reign of Augustus. The first-century-B.C. emperor is thought to have restored the sacred site in a bid to improve his power by linking himself with Rome's mystical founders.
"The Lupercale must have had an important role in Augustus' policies," Irene Iacopi, the archaeologist in charge of the site, told the AP. "He saw himself as a new Romulus."
Archaeologists also announced that teams would soon start to search for the grotto's original entrance, believed to be at the bottom of the Palatine, in the hopes of safely accessing the cave.
—Victoria Jaggard
AP Photo/Italian Culture Ministry, HO
Showing posts with label Art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Art. Show all posts
November 22, 2007
Grotto of Rome's Founders Revealed
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC NEWS
Grotto of Rome's Founders Revealed
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/11/071120-rome-grotto.html
November 20, 2007—Colorful mosaics spiral across the vaulted ceiling of a grotto that was unveiled today as the likely place where ancient Romans believed that a she-wolf suckled their city's legendary founders.
In January archaeologists announced that the sacred cave, known as the Lupercale, had been found during excavations of Emperor Augustus' palace on the Palatine, a 230-foot-tall (70-meter-tall) hill in the center of Rome.
According to Roman myth, a female wolf nursed the abandoned twins Romulus and Remus in the Lupercale. The grown brothers are said to have founded the Eternal City at the site on April 21, 753 B.C.
Since the grotto's discovery, experts have been examining it with remote sensing devices, because they fear that a full dig might cause the already fragile cave to collapse, the Associated Press reported. So far the team estimates that the domed sanctuary is 26 feet (8 meters) high with a 24-foot (7-meter) diameter.
At a news conference today the team released images of the grotto—including the undated photo above—taken with a probe. The images show the cave's richly detailed mosaics made of marble and seashells.
The center of the ceiling features a depiction of a white eagle, the symbol of the Roman Empire during the reign of Augustus. The first-century-B.C. emperor is thought to have restored the sacred site in a bid to improve his power by linking himself with Rome's mystical founders.
"The Lupercale must have had an important role in Augustus' policies," Irene Iacopi, the archaeologist in charge of the site, told the AP. "He saw himself as a new Romulus."
Archaeologists also announced that teams would soon start to search for the grotto's original entrance, believed to be at the bottom of the Palatine, in the hopes of safely accessing the cave.
—Victoria Jaggard
AP Photo/Italian Culture Ministry, HO
November 20, 2007—Colorful mosaics spiral across the vaulted ceiling of a grotto that was unveiled today as the likely place where ancient Romans believed that a she-wolf suckled their city's legendary founders.
In January archaeologists announced that the sacred cave, known as the Lupercale, had been found during excavations of Emperor Augustus' palace on the Palatine, a 230-foot-tall (70-meter-tall) hill in the center of Rome.
According to Roman myth, a female wolf nursed the abandoned twins Romulus and Remus in the Lupercale. The grown brothers are said to have founded the Eternal City at the site on April 21, 753 B.C.
Since the grotto's discovery, experts have been examining it with remote sensing devices, because they fear that a full dig might cause the already fragile cave to collapse, the Associated Press reported. So far the team estimates that the domed sanctuary is 26 feet (8 meters) high with a 24-foot (7-meter) diameter.
At a news conference today the team released images of the grotto—including the undated photo above—taken with a probe. The images show the cave's richly detailed mosaics made of marble and seashells.
The center of the ceiling features a depiction of a white eagle, the symbol of the Roman Empire during the reign of Augustus. The first-century-B.C. emperor is thought to have restored the sacred site in a bid to improve his power by linking himself with Rome's mystical founders.
"The Lupercale must have had an important role in Augustus' policies," Irene Iacopi, the archaeologist in charge of the site, told the AP. "He saw himself as a new Romulus."
Archaeologists also announced that teams would soon start to search for the grotto's original entrance, believed to be at the bottom of the Palatine, in the hopes of safely accessing the cave.
—Victoria Jaggard
AP Photo/Italian Culture Ministry, HO
July 31, 2007
Da Vinci's Last Supper: New conspiracy theory
Da Vinci's Last Supper: New conspiracy theory
By Matthew Moore
Last Updated: 1:50am BST 31/07/2007
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/30/wvinci130.xml
It is a conspiracy theory worthy of a Dan Brown novel.
The composite version of the Last Supper, created by superimposing the original with its mirror image
New claims that Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper contains a hidden image of a woman holding a child are provoking a storm of interest on the internet.
The figure allegedly appears when the 15th Century mural painting is superimposed with its mirror image, and both are made partially transparent.
According to Slavisa Pesci, an Italian amateur scholar, the resulting composite picture shows a figure clutching what appears to be a young child.
More cynical observers may conclude that the double-image is far too blurry and faded to draw such conclusions.
Mr Pesci, who revealed his "findings" last week, chose not to speculate on who the child could be, but internet conspiracy theorists have been quick to point out similarities to the plot of the bestseller The Da Vinci Code, in which Jesus married his follower, Mary Magdelene.
Leonardo da Vinci websites received millions of hits within hours of Mr Pesci's announcement, and at least four - www.leonardodavinci.tv, www.codicedavinci.tv, www.cenacolo.biz and www.leonardo2007.com - were still down this morning due to the weight of traffic.
Mr Pesci also claims that the superimposed image shows a goblet in front of Jesus Christ - perhaps a depiction of his blessing of bread and wine - and transforms two of the people sitting at the table into knights.
"I came across it by accident, from some of the details you can infer that we are not talking about chance but about a precise calculation," he said.
The Last Supper, one of the most famous and valuable paintings in the world, depicts the meal shortly before Christ's death when he announced to his disciples that one of them would betray him.
The long-haired figure who appears as a woman in Mr Pesci's double image is Philip, the figure wearing orange, third on Christ's left in the original.
The basis of The Da Vinci Code is that the feminine figure on Christ's immediate right was actually Mary Magdelene, not John as most scholars believe.
The 'woman' leans across the group in Christ's direction...
... while on the other side two guests appear as knights
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