Baths of Licinius Sura (aka Baths of Gordian III)

Cool old school print art! Here's a recent GIII marriage issue pick up I never did get around to posting.



Gordian III and Tranquillina,238-244 AD, Thrace, Anchialus.

O:Confronted busts of Gordian r., laureate, draped and cuirassed, and Tranquillina l., draped and wearing stephane. R: Hygieia standing r., feeding serpent from patera. 25 mm, 12.3 g.

 

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Look at what I just got in the mail today from the UK... The Baths of Gordian III. Looks remarkably well for a 408 year old print. Will look even better when framed and hanging in my office with a professional museum quality frame.

 

@Marsyas Mike Since you like prints more than anyone else, here's the other three prints I have on the way from the UK to frame up for my office. They come from the same book. So it's 6 frames from the same series for my collection, two from the 1699 CE edition of the book, and 4 from the 1612 CE edition of the book in total...


Theater of Marcelus


Temple of Antoninus Pius


Praetorian castle

 

Sallent, those are really, really spectacular prints. That is a wonderful era, when modern scholarship/archaeology was starting to feel its way around the Greek and Roman ruins. Sure, they got some of the archaeological facts wrong, but their efforts are still lovely to look at.

That "Temple of Antoninus Pius" is interesting - this does not appear to be the Temple of Antoninus Pius & Faustina in the Roman Forum. "Basilica and Porticus" is what the engraving says, but I've never heard of such a structure (but there are a lot of things I don't know). I wonder if this is an early idea about the Basilica Julia in the Forum?

I'd like to see some photos of them framed and hung, if you get a chance.

 

I posted this photo the other day of two of them that I picked up from Michaels after having them framed. I don't know if you saw it.



And yeah, just like the supposed "Baths of Gordian III" this early book misidentified some structures that we now know were built at different time periods and by different individuals than the book attributes. But that's to be expected when looking at something over 4 centuries old. And personally I find these errors part of the charm. It shows how far we've come in our understanding of the past.