Submitted by Mary Harrsch on Fri, 11/06/2009 - 14:24
I have been interested in history since I was a child and love to share my interest through my photography. Over the years, I have shot thousands of pictures of historical art and architecture at archaeological sites and in museum galleries around the world and uploaded them to Flickr for other history enthusiasts, teachers, and researchers to enjoy and use in their educational activities.If you would like to do the same, you may find some of the following tips helpful.
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Don’t forget to shoot closeups of the little details you discover as you explore a site or an anteroom to a gallery. Photograph that little impression of a goddess in the remains of a plastered ceiling.
Submitted by Bija Knowles on Fri, 10/02/2009 - 14:27
The discovery of a unique amphitheatre and other structures at Rome's ancient maritime port is putting the archaeological site of Portus on the map. For decades it's been a much over-looked site next to Fiumicino's international runway and scholarly attention has focused on neighbouring Ostia Antica, but experts now believe it is a unique site that should rank alongside monuments such as Stonehenge or Angkor Wat.
Portus was the principal maritime port of ancient Rome for most of the imperial period. Construction began during the reign of Claudius by digging out a huge man-made harbour protected by sea walls. It is located on the coast about two kilometres north of Ostia Antica, to the north of the Tiber mouth at Ostia, and near to Rome's main international airport, Fiumicino. The port was finalised during the reign of the emperor Nero and then greatly enlarged by the emperor Trajan. It was at this time that an amphitheatre would have been built within the complex of the 'palazzo imperiale', where most of the port's administrative business would have been done by the port official – known as Procurator Portus Utriusque. The port would have supplied the city of Rome with imports from large cargo ships until the Byzantine period and beyond. Portus was the conduit through which most of the key foodstuffs, marble, glass and metalwork that were consumed in Rome were imported from the Mediterranean provinces.
The amphitheatre has emerged at a location that excavators say is inside an 'imperial' palace complex - whose main function was port-related administration.
Submitted by Bija Knowles on Thu, 10/01/2009 - 12:02
Several major archaeological discoveries have been made at the site of one of Rome's ancient harbours. An oval amphitheatre, a 90m canal as well as many smaller objects (including marble statues) have emerged during excavations of Portus, the cargo port of ancient Rome, about two miles north of its better-known counterpart, Ostia Antica.
Submitted by Bija Knowles on Thu, 09/10/2009 - 13:36
European Heritage Days are being held in all European countries during September as part of English Heritage's Heritage Open Days programme of events. In England, events run from 10th to 13th September, at sites across the country, including plenty of Roman sites. Italy has chosen the last weekend in September to make its splash with over 1,500 monuments and sites expected to attract thousands of visitors.
The year is 62 AD and Nero has jilted his long-suffering wife Octavia and married his lover Poppaea - much to the consternation of his wise adviser Seneca. The people of Rome aren't happy about this either and are rioting on the streets in protest. As Nero tries to suppress the unrest in the most brutal and bloody of ways, the story, based on the writings of Seneca himself, unfolds to reveal the historical drama of that period.
This play is based on the work Octavia, which was attributed to Lucius Annaeus Seneca, although it is more likely to have been written after Seneca's death (in 65 AD).
Submitted by Bija Knowles on Tue, 05/05/2009 - 15:18
In Need of a Protection Racket?
Ostia Antica is like any other town – it has streets, shops, houses. Even a theatre and a fire station. The crucial difference is that no one has lived here for almost two millennia. Many of the buildings have lost their roofs, and protection from the elements is minimal – which means there is little to halt the gradual process of dilapidation that has been going on in Ostia for many centuries. Two-thousand-year old mosaics are exposed to the elements while the ruins of ancient shops and cellars are at risk of flooding. It's true that Italy – and Rome in particular – is inundated with valuable ruins. Some monuments that, if they were found elsewhere, would be housed in their own climate-controlled double-glazed case and have their own explanation on a nearby placard, are left to fend for themselves in Italy. Special attention is reserved for the main tourist attractions. Other heritage sites must take their chances with the rest of us.
Ostia Antica, 30km north-east of the Italian capital, was the harbour city for Ancient Rome. It now lies some 3km inland thanks to a number of factors, including a fall in the sea level and problems associated with silting. In ancient times the city was at the mouth of the river Tiber; today it sits by its side ('Ostia' in Latin means 'mouth').
The site's ancient buildings have been beautfully preserved, as have its frescoes.
The 
The year is 62 AD and Nero has jilted his long-suffering wife Octavia and married his lover Poppaea - much to the consternation of his wise adviser Seneca. The people of Rome aren't happy about this either and are rioting on the streets in protest. As Nero tries to suppress the unrest in the most brutal and bloody of ways, the story, based on the writings of Seneca himself, unfolds to reveal the historical drama of that period.
