Faces of the Past

Faces and stories from the days long gone. Photos made by me are tagged as #myphoto 

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Bertel Thorvaldsen. Adonis. (1808/32)

Neue Pinakothek, Munich (on the photo Munich Glyptothek)

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I haven’t found any description to this piece at the place itself, all i can say is that it’s probably Dionysus. Belongs to the Musei Capitolini collection. If anyone knows more about this head, please share.

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Apollo Anzio, a Roman copy of a Greek original of the 4th century.

(Description added thanks to @laisofhyccara)

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Sleeping Satyr, or the Barberini Faun. Marble copy of a bronze original, circa 220 BCE. Glyptothek, Munich

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Sleeping Satyr, or the Barberini Faun. Marble copy of a bronze original, circa 220 BCE. Glyptothek, Munich

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Bust of Antinous. About 130 AD. Glyptothek, Munich

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“Augustus Bevilacqua”. About 10 AD. Glyptothek, Munich

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Bust of an ephebe (Narcissus leaning on a pillar)

Marble, Roman copy of a Greek original of the late 5th century BC.

Museo Chiaramonti, Vatican Museums, Rome

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Canopo, Villa Adriana, Tivoli

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The surviving fragments of Villa Adriana’s floor designs

Unfortunately, the photos are not of the best quality but I hope they might be of use to those interested in the topic

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Depiction of Antinous by A. Wager from fifth edition (1884) of George Taylor’s “Antinous”

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A bronze statue of Hadrian in the garden of Hadrian’s Mausoleum

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Reading “The Iliad” in prose translation by E. V. Rieu.

What is your favourite translation and why? 🤔

(could be any language, of course)

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ooooh boy here goes. Of course, I have a very hard time choosing between the 6 I have at home but i have Opinions.

Lattimore: 2/10.  I KNOW that he’s all ~academic~ or whatever, but this one both gives me a headache and puts me to bed invariably.  reading this gives me a hangover and an extreme distaste for the Iliad.

Fagles!?: is fine. 5/10.  solid. I definitely don’t read this one for fun, but it’s the best one to use in a class I think because it doesn’t make people go feral in the same way that other peoples translations do.  Definitely doesn’t make me go absolutely buck-freaking-wild, hence the 5/10.

E.V. Rieu: I have no opinions whatsoever. I think its in prose so thats interesting.

PeTer GrEeN: ALright, I’d actually recommend this to people looking for a translation to read for the first time.  Not as crazy as Lombardo’s which holds a special place in my heart… He does do freaking crazy spellings with all the glory of a -kh and an -los.  but he explains his opinions rather nicely so we’ll give him a pass on them.  8/10

Now, for my boy Lombardo.  He was the first I read, and certainly one of the more unorthodox translations (other than that strange adaptation that’s a list of the war dead). But, his translations of the similes are really beautiful and its certainly a lively translation.  it doesn’t really have the same grandeur that the epic does in the other translations but it really depends on what you’re looking for. ANd he does silly stuff like fragmenting the dawn epithets and stuff which is Not Cool. 7/10.

And Finally, Alexander Pope: What an icon, translated this at the wee young age of 27 and completed it… some time later.  It’s in rhyming iambic pentameter and stunning.  you get the same sense of the oral trandition of storytelling that the original greek occupied (fight me.  i know the meter was different and there wasn’t a rhyme scheme but you can’t tell me pope’s translation doesn’t pop.) 12/10

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I haven’t found any description to this piece at the place itself, all i can say is that it’s probably Dionysus. Belongs to the Musei Capitolini collection. If anyone knows more about this head, please share.

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From Schloss Sanssouci, Potsdam. Does anyone know who exactly does this sculpture portray? And what is a copy of?

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Beautiful tondos, portraying episodes from Hadrian’s life. On the left is the famous lion hunt scene, on which Hadrian took Antinous. Sadly vandalised by someone (and yes, I look at you, Constantine). Hadrian’s head was cut and changed to Constantine’s. Now can be seen on the Arch of Constantine in Rome.

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Hermes. Marble, Roman copy after a Greek original Museo Chiaramonti, Vatican Museums, Rome

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Hadrian’s Villa model