Empress Livia’s white hens
Ad Gallinas Albas: Few people know this name today, but two thousand years ago things were different. Known under it was a town nowadays called Prima Porta – near Rome, on Via Flaminia.
If you have found a spelling error, please, notify us by selecting that text and pressing Ctrl+Enter.
Monuments are curiosities dedicated to the preserved buildings, ruins, and material remains of the ancient Roman world. This category includes lesser-known facts, interesting details, and unusual information about Roman monuments, their history, function, and significance for understanding the history of the Roman Empire.
Ad Gallinas Albas: Few people know this name today, but two thousand years ago things were different. Known under it was a town nowadays called Prima Porta – near Rome, on Via Flaminia.
Contemporary Naples is a city where ancient monuments are much more difficult to find than in Rome, but that does not mean that they are not there. After all, it is a city as old as Rome. Founded by Greek colonists, the settlement already had an urban character when Rome was still a small village.
In 1880, during the construction of the Tiber embankments near Villa Farnesina in Trastevere, a very interesting discovery was made: large fragments of a luxurious residence from the reign of Emperor Augustus were excavated. It is a fascinating building: breaking with the typical architectural layout of the Roman “domus” (and with its canonical sequence of rooms: vestibule-atrium-tablinum-peristyle), reminiscent of the more refined suburban villas of Roman patricians. Its location on the very bank of the Tiber must have been captivating.
In Cartagena (south-eastern Spain) there are remains of the Punic walls of Cartagena, which date back to the 3rd century BCE. Scientists have found traces of fire, which proves that a battle and probably looting really took place here.