#emperor's palace

[lomlompurim]

When your multiple jobs take away your wifey time...💔

[illustratus]

Reception of Volost Elders by Alexander III in the Courtyard of the Petrovsky Palace in Moscow — by Ilya Repin

[mydaylight]

The show didn't keep all the book details of Zhen Huan's poisoning of the Emperor in the last episodes, but there was actually quite a lot happening in the years following the aftermath of Yunli and Yuyin's deaths. Zhen Huan has Wei Lin use medicine to render Yongzheng infertile, so that he won't be able to produce any more children to threaten her and her sons. This also enables Zhen Huan - who is the de-facto empress at that point - to use a "divide and conquer" strategy in ruling the harem; she keeps throwing new concubines at Yongzheng to keep him occupied, but none of them are able to ever get pregnant. The result is that all the low-ranking concubines exhaust themselves in petty fights for favor while Zhen Huan's position, as the one with the most kids, is unattainable. At the same time Zhen Huan letting the Emperor have more consorts gets her a reputation for being virtuous and generous. This was actually one of Zhen Huan's most cruel moves towards the end, since she knows none of these girls have any future in the harem, and she's basically just waiting for Yongzheng to die anyways. I think this scene might indicate show!Zhen Huan is using the same strategy, although we don't see it be explained exactly.

(also I have to mention that one concubine comes up pregnant and Zhen Huan immediately knows the baby cannot be the Emperor's but her reaction is basically ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. She couldn't care less and even felt vindicated at hoodwinking him in this way)

[imasexypotato]

Macrinus: Today I saw emperor Geta crying for 3 to 4 minutes straight, then one of the servants gently tapped him on the shoulder, and he just...stopped crying and got back to work whit the senators.

Acacius, nodding: It's called time management, Macrinus

Macrinus: .....what

[blueiscoool]

Rome’s 'Lost' Imperial Palace 'Domus Tiberiana' Reopens

Until recently a crumbling and off-limits ruin near the famous Colosseum, the Domus Tiberiana palace — built in the first century AD and beloved by Nero — hopes to once again take its place as one of the city’s top tourist attractions.

The ancient palace sits on Palatine Hill — the city’s oldest hill, overhanging Rome —from where imperial dynasties ruled for centuries. But over the years, the site fell into disrepair and in the 1970s, the Domus Tiberiana site was shut due to the structural instability of some of the ruins. The closure left behind what many Romans described as a “black hole” in the capital’s archaeological heart.

Now, after a six-year makeover, the palace has reopened its doors as a “diffuse museum,” with findings and frescoes scattered across the site to provide visitors with an insight into the palace’s ancient grandeur.

And it was grand. The Domus Tiberiana was Rome’s first imperial palace, built by the emperor Tiberius who combined and incorporated the pre-existing noble mansions built on the hill. Occupying over four hectares, the palace featured residences alongside large gardens, places of worship and rooms for the emperor’s Praetorian guard.

As the seat of Rome’s power and politics, Domus Tiberiana held a prime location, high above the Palatine and Roman Forums, offering its occupants a “balcony view of the city.” Over time, the Domus was embellished and enlarged by other emperors including Nero, who was crowned on its steps aged just 16, in 54 AD.

Alfonsina Russo, director of the Colosseum’s archaeological park (in which Domus Tiberiana falls) and lead archaeologist on the renovation, said that ancient antiquities, many exceptionally well-preserved, were unearthed during the project.

The artifacts — bright stuccos, frescoes, amphorae, potteries, looms, terracotta, and divinity statues related to the cults of Isis, Dionysius and Mithras — offer visitors a trip through time, said Russo.

“They make this place — formerly (inhabited) by aristocratic families, then Roman emperors — feel alive again,” she said. “There are seven exhibition rooms full of extraordinary finds, starting with those preceding the original construction of the palace when aristocrats lived in mansions before Tiberius subsumed them into the Domus.”

Among the newly-exposed and frescoes are some of the earliest paintings of lemons (considered an exotic fruit in Ancient Rome, as they hailed from the Far East) and a depiction of a gladiator, proving that the era’s gladiatoral games were appreciated by rich families, explained Russo.

The imperial palace remained in use until the 7th century, when it became the papal residence of John VII. In the mid-16th century, the aristocratic Farnese family — who were powerful local landowners — built the lavish Orti Farnesiani gardens on the site, adorning it with ornaments and sculptures of nymphs, satyrs and fauns.

“This monument speaks of history,” Russo added. “We have restored (Domus Tiberiana) to its past splendor, but more work lies ahead.”

Indeed, painstaking efforts have been made to blend old and new. A series of majestic, reddish-brown vaulted arches that greet visitors having been carefully reconstructed with the same materials as ancient Romans used in the past.

“What makes this revamped Domus unique is the architectural style,” said Russo. “We managed to use original materials to reinforce and strengthen the handmade 15-meter (50ft) tall front arches (which run alongside the palace’s) ancient paving.”

It has certainly caught the public’s attention. Since reopening at the end of September, Domus Tiberiana has attracted some 400,000 visitors, a “huge success,” said Russo, adding that she believes that this incarnation of the Domus Tiberiana offers visitors the most “evocative” visit in generations.

Archaeologist and scholar of ancient Rome Giorgio Franchetti saidN that, in the reopening of the Domus Tiberiana complex, Rome has “recovered a lost jewel.”

“The Palatine Hill has always been the stage of Rome’s power politics,” he said in an interview. “Tiberius likely chose this spot to build the palace as it was where his family residence stood. There aren’t many places like the Domus Tiberiana where you can really breathe the past.”

By Silvia Marchetti.

[add1ctedt0you]

Story of Yanxi Palace - Episode 24

"Your Majesty, I don't have the right to interfere about how you'll deal with Prince He of the First Rank. But Wei Yingluo is my servant. She's my trusted aide. If she did something wrong, I surely will severely punish her. But if anyone bullies her, I will also not sit by and watch."

[summercosmos]

you think god loves you until the very moment when you start getting obsessed with a piece of media no one in the last five years has Ever thought about

[amourcherie606]

Last Deck! Makoto Niijima - The Emperor, Codename: Chancellor Student Council President of Shujin Academy, Makoto is a very vigilant and forward student—perfect, if a little too stern at times. She looks up to her sister greatly, constantly shadowing her and aiming to follow in her footsteps 1:1. Makoto had been investigating Kamoshida privately before the Phantom Thieves got involved, having suspicions yet no one would fess up about Kamoshidas brutality. When the police interrogate the school to gather evidence of Kamoshida's crimes, Makoto has plenty of evidence to give. She initially believes the Phantom Thieves are students at Shujin, yet reviewing events that happened regarding Kamoshida, she finds Ann leaving Shujin, followed by Shiho, investigating worthy, and sets out to Kosei for interrogation. The closer she gets to the truth, the colder she gets, having no care for being kind to Kamoshida's supposed victims. It's thanks to Makoto's constant prodding and stalking that when checking their apparent Phan site, they recognize the last name of a rampant Prosecutor with an unchallenged win rate. Makoto ends up following them into the metaverse, after discussion declaring she'll watch them to determine if her sister is truly corrupt as they suggest.

Chancellor doesn't awaken to her persona, admittedly, at the start of Sae's palace. It takes a trip exploration and several in-person confrontations with her sister to finally come to her senses. So obsessed with becoming like her sister, that she's failed to see beyond a black-and-white lens. No longer shall she let the idea of justice blind her from the corruption in systematic justice; she'll determine her own justice with her own two eyes. Makoto's has shown moments of her capable kindness prior to achieving a persona, which simply awakens her to see it. She's a valuable physical, ice user. She gives a wicked curb stomp with her mallet and a chilling finish with her persona Themis. Very good at assisting with shadow negotiation and real-world investigation. A competent stagiest as well. Her confidant with Ann is assisting Makoto with self-discovery as she has realized she's structured so much of herself as her sister, shes lost sight of herself. The confidant also includes assisting Makoto with student council duties, connecting with Shujin students, and increasing Ann's knowledge.

[john-ts-sh-ai]

♫ ♫ ♫

[starry-bi-sky]

Oh man, I binged the first 20 episodes of The Princess's Jewels a few days ago after watching a few review videos on it because I had to see just how bad it actually was, and I've decided to talk more about it here.

For the entire spite-fueled four hours of reading, i kept stopping to take screenshots to send them to @the-navistar-carol and then talk about how stupid a lot of the plot points were. I jokingly called Ariana a jellyfish based on her hairstyle, and the nickname stuck after Gen said "yeah and she's like an actual jellyfish by how the trick you into getting closer because they're so pretty before paralyzing you with their stingers."

I'm putting this under a read more because, as normal, I write a lot.

We all know Jellyfish sucks, but what gets me the most is the wasted potential of the guys (among other things). They are all so! Interesting! And they befall the same fate as female harem members in that their backgrounds and personalities all get set to the wayside in favor of fawning over the MC. They all come from unique, diverse backgrounds that don't get touched up on at all. For example:

Why did Efrit wear a mask all the time when his older brother didn't? Why did he say that "he finally found the woman he was going to reveal his face to" to Abal after he met Jellyfish? Is it some kind of cultural thing for the soldiers and warriors of Xek to wear masks until they fall in love? That would explain why his brother has his face revealed, cuz he's not a warrior! Why is the second prince in charge of the country's army and not the king himself? Why did he STAY the general of the army after he fucked off to another kingdom to become the lover of a foreign state?

Why was Haun Baek taken in by the royal family? The flashback of the queen giving him a new name implies to me that he may have been a slave of some kind, which puts a lot of perspective on why so many people were against his rise to power and disliked him. He was mentioned to be a general and head of the security division of the king, but as far as chapter 21 goes, this has never been brought up again. He's the Harem Pretty Boy who does all the work in high society for Jellyfish.

Speaking of fighting -- when did Jellyfish get a thigh tattoo to summon her sword? What's the backstory behind that? It probably has something to do with the 'swordmaster' thing (which is ANOTHER thing) but when did she get it? Why was she even allowed to learn swordfighting if she came from a seemingly implied patriarchal society? More importantly -- why was everyone okay with this? Why is it only the off-screen "evil old advisors" that hate her doing this.

Are these evil old advisors in the room with us right now?

Why are Nell and his family werewolves? Where did their magic recorder ability come from? This was just seemingly a power that he had that came out of nowhere when they were looking into Benela and her family. From the videos I had assumed he was a poor family that rose into dukedom after the war, but apparently they've always been? Dukes? And the other advisors still see the family as a threat? On one hand I can see where they're coming from, but on the other I don't think the comic is portraying them as "threats" the way I think they are. Nell and his family are seemingly treated like they were commoners who suddenly rose into nobility, rather than pre-existing nobility that fell onto hard times.

I want to know more about Jade and the fact that he's from a holy house from an entirely different country -- i cannot believe Ariana got away with that btw. Like im not even touching the gross overreach of power that is her demanding a noble not of her kingdom to be castrated, but more so on the fact that she practically coerced and stole a descendant of a saint and faced?? No backlash from this? None whatsoever? The gods and the people just let her get away with it because oh, it's an honor for this snobby empirical princess to come in and steal one of their chosen saintly descendants all because his dad pissed her off?

Like I agree that the dad was a scumbag, but Ariana calling him out on it is like the pot calling the kettle black.

Also, I wish Benela and her family were a bigger threat than TJP claims they are. Like, this is apparently the emperor's favored concubine who stole the love of the emperor away from the empress and successfully murdered the crown prince without getting caught. She's apparently some master manipulator but Jellyfish faces no trouble thwarting her at every turn. So what is it? Is she a master manipulator or is she a dunce? Or is the emperor just an idiot who doesn't care about his sons because with the way he treats them, you'd think they were bastard children.

The banquet "queen heel syndrome" scene gets me especially so because that was a good fucking plan!

Benela's plan to reveal and shine a light on Jellyfish's harem and how it was negatively impacting her image and high society was a good plan! That was brilliant! Because it had basis of truth in it. I don't know if the queen heel syndrome thing was a false rumor, or something she deliberately fabricated -- the comic never actually goes out of it's way to disprove it. In fact, I'd argue the QHS thing is *backed* by it, because just a few chapters prior when we first meet Benela, there's a side comment made by a noble woman about how her daughter was chasing after some man she was infatuated with.

But what I do know is that Jellyfish has been disgraceful towards her fiancé and that she has been indulging in her harem. By all accounts, by the implied societal standards of Arbezela or Azkaban, Jellyfish is being a whore. I am not one for mindlessly slut-shaming, but sometimes slut-shaming IS okay if it has a narrative purpose. And it does here. And Jellyfish doesnt even disprove any of their arguments, in fact she does a 1st grade level deflection and instead goes right for insulting Bavilo's lack of marriage prospects, which wasn't what they were talking about at all.

I'd applaud the deflection if it wasn't Ariana doing it, and if it wasn't such a serious and valid accusation that Benela and her family were making.In any other manhwa, this would have worked. This would have damaged Ariana's reputation, and it should've had some actual consequences to it. Instead they completely skip over this plot because the author knows that Ariana has no defense, she can't talk or excuse her way out because regardless of the truth behind the Queen Heel Syndrome, the fact remains what she is doing is inherently shameful.

Like! I am so mad that their scheme didn't work, because it! Was! A! Good scheme! All the best lies have some part of the truth in it, and Ariana should not have been able to weasel herself out of that so easily. In fact, the fact that she did just makes the emperor look like an even bigger incompetent.

Wanna know how this ended? It ended with the emperor blowing up at Bavilo because Bavilo said that he "could make it to the top on his own without the help of talented subordinates" and the emperor perceived that as a slight against him because, apparently, Bavilo was claiming to be heir to the throne? When nowhere in that sentence did Bavilo even so much as say or imply such a thing?

and also--- WHY is it such a bad thing that he's claiming to be vying for the heir seat? It's empty! The Emperor hasn't announced a new successor yet, of course Bavilo would say he wanted to be the crown prince. Nothing that Bavilo said was insulting towards anyone, and was actually quite admirable.

What gets me too is that right after this chapter, the empress claims that the princes are "illegitimate children" because they're the sons of concubines, and that if they were chosen for the role of "carrier of the light" people would question their parentage-- ???

First of all, not at all how concubines work. Concubines are a legitimate role in a harem structure and quite literally their job is to produce more heirs for the throne as back-ups in case something happens to the Heir Apparent. Like that's literally their job. They are official members of the royal palace, to claim that their children aren't legitimate is to claim that they're merely mistresses, not concubines. This was both an insult to the concubines AND the emperor.

Like my god I do not have the time to go into all of the plot holes of this webtoon. I haven't even gone into the total lack of consequences Ariana experiences both politically and socially, and how all of the interesting conflict happens off screen, nor the blatant racism and misogyny present throughout the webtoon, NOR the absolute SHIT worldbuilding.

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

Horus Heresy Sketchbook - Emperor's Golden Palace Concept Art by John Blanche

[illustratus]

Diocletian's Palace by Ernest Hébrard

[mydaylight]

Your Majesty put this pair of jade bracelets on my wrists yourself when I first entered the prince's manor. We were hoping that like those bracelets, we would see each other day and night. But now Your Majesty believes that I've done wrong, and perhaps doesn't wish to see me again. At that time, with these bracelets at hand, Your Majesty told me, that if I gave birth to a prince, the position of Fujin would be mine.

LEGEND OF ZHEN HUAN | Episode 72

[from-a-legends-pov]

Star Wars Legends: Poll of the Week — The Many Lives of Mara

One of the most popular characters to be developed for Star Wars Legends is Mara Jade, who first appeared in Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn trilogy. The character went through a number of journeys, both in her relationship with Luke Skywalker and in her own right, and over that time she had a number of professions. Which one of these Mara Jade professions is your favorite?

The Emperor’s Hand, a Dark-Side-wielding spy and assassin for the Empire, trained by Darth Vader and the Emperor

Hyperdrive mechanic, on the run from Isard and others after the fall of the Empire

Smuggler with Talon Karrde’s crew and later leading the Smugglers’ Alliance

Dancer in Jabba’s Palace (undercover as Arica, as part of her mission to kill Luke Skywalker)

Jedi Knight, and later, Jedi Master who took on Jaina Solo and Anakin Solo as her apprentices

Let’s create more Legends moments together! Follow @from-a-legends-pov and come join us for From a Legends Point of View, a fanfiction event where we’ll be building a collection of fics featuring Star Wars Legends characters (including OT characters) during the time of the Original Trilogy. Writer signups are open now through June 2 — use our Signup Form to pitch your story concepts (Signup Guidelines here), check out our Event Overview and FAQ for more information, and encourage your favorite writers to participate! Hope to have you join us.

[classic-art-favourites]

Nicholas II by Boris Kustodiev, 1915.

[blueiscoool]

Large Piece of Rare ‘Egyptian Blue’ Recovered from Emperor Nero’s Imperial Palace in Rome

The discovery of this ancient synthetic pigment highlights the impressive artistry of Rome’s imperial era.

Archaeologists in Rome have discovered beautiful, ancient paint—but not just any paint. Known as “Egyptian Blue,” it’s among the oldest synthetic pigments in the world, with the newly found ingot weighing more than five pounds.

Two tanks found at the ancient pigment workshop

Archaeologists excavating the Domus Aurea, Emperor Nero’s vast imperial residence in ancient Rome, have discovered containers still carrying the splendid pigments artisans used to decorate the palace complex almost 2,000 years ago. Among the brilliant colors, researchers were most excited to find a rare chunk of Egyptian blue pigment. The Colosseum Archaeological Park announced the discovery in a January 20 Facebook post.

“The fascination conveyed by the depth of blue of this pigment is incredible,” Alfonsina Russo, Director of the Colosseum Archaeological Park, said in the Facebook post. “The Domus Aurea once again moves [us] and restores the brilliance of the colors used by the painters who skillfully decorated the rooms of this precious and refined imperial palace.”

The amphora containing yellow ocher. 

The archaeologists unearthed two tubs that, among other things, were used to process the colorful pigments while the palace was under construction. Presumably from within the tubs, they recovered an amphora containing yellow ocher, tiny jars with red pigments such as realgar and red ocher, and an ingot of Egyptian blue.

Unlike yellow and red ocher, Egyptian blue is a synthetic color achieved by heating a mixture of limestone, chemical compounds, and copper-containing minerals. Its earliest production and use dates back over 5,000 years ago to ancient Egypt; in Roman times, the pigment was produced in southern Italy. In fact, it’s the oldest synthetically-made color known to scientists. Archaeologists typically discover the ancient remnants of Egyptian blue pigment in the form of powder or tiny spheres, but the rarity of the recent specimen lies in its size: a whopping 5.29 pounds (2.4 kilograms).

Remnants of Egyptian blue previously uncovered in Pompeii suggest that the pigment was used in spaces of luxury and wealth, according to the Colosseum Archaeological Park. The context of the recent discovery within Nero’s imperial residence further affirms this suggestion, and provides insight into the refinement and specialization of the artisans who were employed to decorate it.

Scientists previously thought that the recipe for Egyptian blue was lost after the fall of the Roman Empire and only truly rediscovered in the early 1800s by the British chemist Humphry Davy. A 2020 study, however, revealed that Italian Renaissance painter Raphael used the pigment in his 1512 fresco, Triumph of Galatea. Perhaps the recipe hadn’t been lost after all.

Either way, the brilliant color connects artists and artisans across the vast annals of human history. Even some modern shades of blue used by artists today are called Egyptian blue in homage to the ancient pigment.

By Margherita Bassi.

Nero’s imperial palace, the Domus Aurea