Minerva Magazine - July/August 2020

In this issue

ANCIENT CITIES OF ILLYRIA
In one of Europe’s smallest countries, a treasure trove of archaeology awaits. Oliver Gilkes guides us through the cities of ancient Illyria, now in modern-day Albania.

THE GOLDEN AND THE GROTESQUE
Nero’s spectacular Roman palace, the Domus Aurea, was richly decorated. Dalu Jones describes how its ruins were rediscovered in the 15th century and how artists of the Renaissance were inspired by its extraordinary painted interiors.

CIVILISATION BEGINS
The first cities grew up 4,000 years ago in Mesopotamia, complex states requiring administration and bureaucracy. Neil Faulkner explores the huge cultural contribution of the world’s oldest civilisation.

EVER-CHANGING EPHESUS
The ancient Ephesus that we visit today is the new city, David Stuttard explains, built on the site of an equally impressive earlier settlement. But the stories that surround the founding and development of both great cities are equally rich in myth and imagination.

PROPERTY, POWER, AND THE BRITISH BAROQUE
A new type of art was required for a new order. The Baroque style in Britain, writes Neil Faulkner, was ideal for the Restoration monarchy, which was trying to reassert its power.

PAVING THE WAY

The dramatic opening up of a sinkhole outside the Pantheon – the 2nd century AD ‘temple of all the gods’ (now a Catholic church) on Rome’s Piazza della Rotunda – has offered a tantalising glimpse of the imperial Roman paving beneath the present-day city streets.

2 mins

MUSES RETURN TO STOWE

An important lost group of statues of the nine Muses – inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts – has been reinstated to the grounds of Stowe, one of Britain’s great country houses.

2 mins

EARTHQUAKE HITS ZAGREB

In recent months, museums and other institutions around the world have been struggling to deal with the unprecedented economic and logistical fallout of COVID-19.

2 mins

ANCIENT CITIES OF ILLYRIA

Albania, one of Europe’s smallest and least-known countries, is an archaeological treasure-house. Oliver Gilkes, an archaeologist with 20 years of experience there, provides an introduction.

10+ mins

THE GOLDEN AND THE GROTESQUE

Nero’s spectacular palace in Rome, the Domus Aurea or ‘Golden House’, was rediscovered in the Renaissance. Dalu Jones describes how the opulent designs of its ancient halls inspired some of the most celebrated artists of the 15th and 16th centuries.

10 mins

CIVILISATION BEGINS

Neil Faulkner reports on a new Getty Villa exhibition focused on the huge cultural contribution of the world’s oldest civilisation – Mesopotamia.

10 mins

EVER - CHANGING EPHESUS

It is one of the most popular archaeological sites in the Mediterranean, but how many visitors know that the ruins they see are those of a new city, not the old? And how many know the rich myth-history of the ancient Ephesians? David Stuttard is our guide.

10+ mins

PROPERTY, POWER, AND THE BRITISH BAROQUE

Tate Britain’s recent exhibition British Baroque: Power and Illusion was an opportunity to explore the way in which art gave expression to the transition from revolutionary Commonwealth to a new stability and confidence in Late Stuart England.

10+ mins

BOOK REVIEWS

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF ANCIENT CITIES: A NATURAL HISTORY

7 mins

THE ANTIQUARIAN: Lady Hester Stanhope 1776-1839

It is unusual to feature in a magazine like ours a woman who ordered an ancient statue ‘broken in a thousand pieces’. In April 1815, Lady Hester Stanhope was in Israel, at a site called Ashkelon.

2 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