Sometimes it's nice to take a break from programming and system design to make some art assets

Fun facts about antiquity make easy & popular content on social media, even when they're not true. This "Medusa from Hadrian's villa at Tivoli"? Hadrian definitely never saw it, because it isn't ancient. Sadly, there is almost no info online about this sculpture that isn't repeated clickbait lies

Throughout Late Antiquity Roman cities became increasingly vulnerable to attack. As a result many cities built walls and defences, and often hastily reused existing structures in their new defensive works, such as C. Cestius' pyramid tomb in Rome, or (ironically) Severus' victory arch at Ammaedara.

During his long reign, Justinian fought many enemies: insurgent mobs, Vandals, Goths, Lombards, Franks, Persians, Slavs, his own paranoia, pandemic plague, and so on. Perhaps his most unusual enemy was a whale, named Porphyrios, who terrorised the waters around Constantinople for decades.

The Basilica of San Lorenzo in Milan was built in Late Antiquity, and like many churches of the era it was richly decorated with mosaics. San Lorenzo's mosaics stand out for an unusual reason though - damage and neglect have exposed the ancient artists' original underdrawings

Theodoric, Gothic king of Italy, built Sant'Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna & decorated it with mosaics, incl. one showing the king and court in front of the palace. After Emperor Justinian's conquest of Italy, the Gothic king & court were erased from the mosaics, all except for a few disembodied hands