#Antemnæ
LightNews LightNews
anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social
This splendid terracotta #antefix in medium #relief is my offering for #ReliefWednesday this week. It shows #JunoSospita, a terrifying huntress divinity of the Latial peoples, and comes from the ruins of #Antemnæ, one of the #Sabine towns whose women were taken by #Romulus. #AncientBluesky 🏺
TERRACOTTA ANTEFIX, С. 480 ВСЕ. BATHS OF DIOCLETIAN The Sabine town of Antemnæ stood at the point where the Anio river flowed into the Tiber. It was thought by the ancient Romans to be older than Rome itself, and its main religious building was a temple to the goddess Juno Sospita, a quite different and bloodier divinity than the Greek Hera and effectively a different goddess than Juno Regina, wife of Jupiter. She is often depicted wearing a goatskin cloak with its horned hood and ears, rather as Hercules is shown wearing a lionskin or leonté. In this broken antefix from her temple at Antemnæ we can see these characteristics, as well as the painted decoration that shows a red and black checkerboard pattern on the curve between the horns of her cloak. This comes from a cast and closely resembles a similar antefix found on the Palatine.
October 15, 2025 at 7:56 PM
philipcurnow.bsky.social
Wonderfully instructive discovery of ancient Antemnae overlooking the Salaria Vetus. A story of Etruscans, Italici, Siculi, Galli, Sabines and many more.

Did you know that the suffering pines of Rome are recent introductions. The people of the time would have enjoyed their oak trees.
Archaeology Group, Rome.
September 8, 2025 at 8:34 PM
anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social
How's it hangin'? No, literally, how is this #terracotta #exvoto of a #phallus, for #PhallusThursday, seeming to float in its display case in the #BathsofDiocletian in #Rome? Maybe it's powered by #BDE. Large Phallus Energy. @ljtrafford.bsky.social #AncientBluesky 🏺
PHALLIC EX VOTO, C7-C5 BCE. BATHS OF DIOCLETIAN In a case which is unfortunately unlabelled, a series of archaic terracotta decorations and ex votos from shrines in the ancient Latial towns of Antemnæ, Lanuvium, and Satricum are displayed. One ex voto, given in fulfillment of a vow by an afflicted man after he was cured, is this honestly rather enormous phallus and scrotum. It's also unclear how it's hanging there in this glass case, giving it a slightly eerie quality as it seems to hover over the rest of the displays.
September 4, 2025 at 6:16 PM
philipcurnow.bsky.social
If walls could talk ... And it seems they have. An ancient pathway to pre Roman Antemnae or the fortified very perimeter of the same encampment with a view of the valley below.
Antemnae
September 2, 2025 at 4:20 PM