Sources

Description

An oil lamp with a phallus depiction (Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, Naples, Italy).

The Romans painted their statues and much of their pottery. The ancient statue in virgin white marble would look awkward to a Roman.

On this contractual wax tablet, an identical contractual text is engraved on the visible part and on the sealed part. In case of suspicion of fraud, the seals are broken and the two texts are compared.

Pliny the Elder writes in 'Naturalis Historia' about silk threads growing like a fluff on the leaves of a tree. He was wrong on this.

I myself have grown silk concoons, pupae and moths of the 'Bombyx mori' at home. If you also want to give it a try, pay attention, because it has caused me quite some headaches.

This ancient abacus is on display at the National Roman Museum in Rome, Italy.

Some indicators are missing on the original.

Prehistoric stone balls with geometric patterns have been found in Scotland. We still have no idea what they were used for.

This type of arrow was used on the cheiroballistra, an optimized type of torsion catapult. Because of the dry desert conditions in Dura Europos (Syria), also the wooden shaft of the arrow has been preserved.

This triangle with a plumb bob was used to check the flatness of a surface. Amongst other things, this measuring instrument is depicted on a mosaic with a skull and may represent a symbolic meaning, e.g. the 'balance of life' (National Archaeological Museum of Naples, Italy).

On the left the archaeological remains of a torsion catapult as found in Emporium (Spain). Only the iron frame and the bronze washers have been preserved, the wood and ropes are all perished.

To apply the pre-torsion, the ancients were faced with a difficult design problem, which they solved in a way I would not have figured out myself.

This technical drawing of a ballista originates from a Byzantine manuscript copy from the 11th century AD. The original manuscript dates from the second half of the first century AD and is attributed to Heron of Alexandria.

Reproducing this diagram took me 8 days of concentrated drawing and painting and a long search for experts who could translate the technical Greek.

The phallus on this amulet was supposed to enforce prosperity and fertility, as well as to ward off the evil eye. The amulet is made from the antler of a red deer. The phallus is engraved in the solid bone of the skull (1st – 4th century AD, LVR-Archäologischer Park Xanten, Germany).

Capsae were hollow, cylindrical containers in which rolled-up papyrus scrolls were stored.

Celsus describes the ‘spoon of Diocles’ in his manuscript as a medical instrument to remove barbed arrowheads.

An object matching Celcus’ description was excavated, along with other medical instruments, in Ephesus, Asia Minor (Turkey).