Minerva Magazine - July/August 2018

In this issue

The first ‘Hammer of the Scots’
From his base in York, Emperor Septimius Severus and his 50,000-strong Roman army – the largest ever to have campaigned in Britain – set about the brutal annihilation of the Caledonian people. Simon Elliott

RA RA RA!
The Royal Academy of Arts is celebrating its 250th anniversary with
a show called The Great Spectacle, charting the rise of its ever-popular Summer Exhibition, in its elegant new surroundings. Dominic Green

In the Farnese gardens
Rome’s most famous gardens, built on the Palatine Hill where the city’s mythical founders Romulus and Remus were reared and where emperors built their palaces, have been dramatically restored. Dalu Jones

Inside secret bowers
Artists, from Simeon Solomon to Stanley Spencer, have depicted different kinds of gardens as places of love, beauty and enchantment – as a new exhibition in Newcastle’s Laing Art Gallery shows. Theresa Thompson

Monsters of the mind
Medieval images of terrors, aliens and wonders on show at New York’s Morgan Library & Museum reveal some of the curious and grotesque creations born of mankind’s fertile imagination. Dominic Green

Lord of the runes
As an exhibition at the Bodleian Library in Oxford examines the life and work of JRR Tolkien, we look at how his unrivalled knowledge
of the Anglo-Saxon language, literature and culture inspired characters, places and events in The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Tom Shippey

A second Achilles?
Socrates loved him, women adored him, soldiers died for him – but the shameless self-publicist and golden boy Alcibiades was as vulnerable as his role model, the mythical hero Achilles. David Stuttard

Lost Cities Of Iraq

Two long-lost cities in Iraq have started to emerge: one in the Autonomous Region of Kurdistan; the other is thought to be somewhere in the south.

2 mins

Genius In Genes

Those Deans are everywhere.

3 mins

The First 'Hammer Of The Scots'

Simon Elliott describes how Septimius Severus, a ruthless but extremely effective Roman emperor and military commander, dealt with troublesome, warring locals ‘north of the border’ in Britannia

10 mins

In The Farnese Gardens

Dalu Jones explores the newly restored monumental terraces, grottoes, frescoes and fountains of the ancient Roman gardens on the Palatine Hill In Rome

7 mins

Read all stories from Minerva

Minerva Magazine Description:

Now available for iPad, Minerva magazine gives anyone with an interest in archaeology and antiquities a compelling insight into the ancient world. Minerva explores the lost civilisations of the past, from Ancient Egypt to Greece, Rome and the mighty empires of the Middle East and Asia.

For over 25 years, Minerva has revealed record-breaking auction results, exciting new finds, and untold stories of the distant past, spanning the Stone Age to the Dark Ages and beyond.

Each issue includes:
• News of finds and research from around the world
• Original research by international experts
• Reviews of major new exhibitions
• Latest trends and auction reports from the antiquities market
• In-depth features on history’s most fascinating people and events
• Profiles of leading figures from the world of archaeology
• Reviews of new publications and a must-have events diary