This paper examines clothing depicted in the portraits painted on the walls of the tombs of elites at various settlements in Campania and Lucania in southwest Italy in the fourth century BC, as it provides important information on sartorial appearances and self-perception, especially in view of the dearth of textiles and lack of textual sources. It investigates the interconnected relationship between dress behaviour, ethnic identity and social status among independent Italic groups in the region in this century, a time of political and cultural tensions triggered by Rome’s aggressive expansion of its territorial control. The images, as well as the material culture from grave assemblages, indicate that people expressed who they thought they were through clothing and dress accessories and that this happened on a local basis rather than on a large scale or ‘national’ level. It was predominantly women who were expressing group belonging through specific garments and styles, headdresses, colours and patterns. These images painted for perpetuity offer us a precious window on dress behaviour and they suggest that women were the primary bearers of small-scale community identities in funerary representation and in life in this period of political and social change.

The article aims to shed new light on the voices of bereaved benefactors: slaves, freedmen and freedwomen, who are often marginalized in literary and monumental sources, by exploring a series of unpublished funerary inscriptions from Rome, currently in storage at the Museo Nazionale Romano. Editions of the text, translations and commentaries have been produced by young scholars from the British School at Rome (former participants of the BSR Postgraduate Course in Epigraphy). Their entries, edited by Abigail Graham (Institute for Classical Studies, University of London, British School at Rome) and Silvia Orlandi (La Sapienza, President of the Association Internationale d’ Epigraphie Grecque et Latine), are an exciting and unique opportunity to view inscriptions through a different lens: from scholars with diverse backgrounds and interests (history, archaeology, epigraphy, as well as linguistics), including postgraduates and academics. Careful consideration of text, appearance and context presents an array of voices and audiences as well as poignant messages that transcend time and space through a common experience: grief. By incorporating interdisciplinary scholars in the editorial process, we aim to provide and promote uniquely accessible epigraphic discussions that reflect the broader impact and significance of epitaphs as texts, images and emotive experiences.

In the summer of 1924, a young Neapolitan scholar, Mario di Martino Fusco, claimed to have discovered the long-lost 107 books of Livy’s Ab Urbe Condita, sparking an international media frenzy. Announced prematurely by his supposed ally, Francesco Ribezzo, the claim captivated the scholarly world until it was definitively debunked. Drawing on a wide range of contemporary newspaper reports and scholarly reactions, this article reconstructs the unfolding of the Livy delusion: from Martino’s initial assertion, through journalistic hysteria and academic opportunism, to the final official inquiry revealing a misreading of a fourteenth-century reference. The episode not only ruined Martino’s career but also exposed the vulnerabilities of scholarly ambition, press sensationalism and nationalist rivalries in Fascist Italy. It remains one of the most extraordinary cases of literary delusion in classical scholarship, illustrating both the enduring allure of lost texts and the dangers of credulity and pride.

The Antikythera shipwreck provides a rare chronological anchor in the history of Greek sculpture. The cargo, a massive haul of more than four-dozen bronze and marble statues, in addition to amphorae and portable luxury goods, was lost at sea c. 70–50 BCE, possibly later, along the north-east coast of the island of Antikythera. Previous research on the sculptural assemblage from the wreck has focused on the style and iconographic heritage of individual statues. This article examines the statuary as a gathered whole to isolate trends in material, size, and subject matter. The results suggest a main setting where some, maybe all, of the statues might have originally been displayed: the gymnasion. The statues were probably obtained through plunder or extortion, not normal commercial activity. The study concludes by considering where the statues might have been set up once they reached their presumed destination in Italy. It is shown that the statues were most appropriate for display in a lavish public building in Rome.

Crete’s economy under Roman rule is associated primarily with production and distribution of wine, an interpretation resulting from textual and archaeological data. Several scholars have commented on the potential of oleoculture within the economic structure of Roman Crete, including reference to olive oil as a good for export, but there has been minimal follow up that considers the specific evidence available and its ability to shed light on these practices. This paper critically considers the evidence for oleoculture on Crete during the Roman period and its prospective role in the economic life of the island, including a focus on evidence for olive cultivation and the extent to which this points to surplus production. While there are indications of olive oil production across different parts of Crete, oleoculture may have focused primarily on supporting regional economic needs across the island. Some degree of export likely did occur, perhaps on a small scale and intermittently, but evidence is lacking to develop any interpretation beyond that. Such analysis is important not only for consideration of the Roman economy of Crete but also for addressing questions and concerns around the standard contents of transport amphoras, which remain one of the most important archaeological proxies for studying economic networks and the distribution of different products. Analysis of trade routes and distribution often rely on direct correlations between amphora types and their contents, and this must always be critically assessed.