#classical civilization

AuthorBreasted, James Henry, 1865-1935.Language(s)English PublishedBoston : Ginn and Co., c1919. SubjectsBreasted, James Henry, >  Breasted, James Henry, / 1865-1935. Civilization, Classical Civilization, Ancient History, Ancient Physical Descriptionxi, 417 p. : ill., maps ; 20 cm.

You may have to use the 'blend' command or at least reference an image with known good soldiers and costumes. There are a lot from the late 19th century. Good luck!

The Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, University of Michigan

These are gryphons (griffons) ornamenting the legs of a sarcophagus that is now in the Vatican Museum. The gryphon was an important mythical beast from ancient Greece and Roman. It was kind of winged lion, but its head was different. It sometimes had a beak like a bird. It has become a favorite mythical beast for me. Anything that supports a table or perhaps a sarcophagus is called a trapezophorus.

Here are some more soffits. These are specifically coffers. The first is from the underside of the portico of the Basilica of Saint Peter. The second image is from a fragment of a temple in the Roman forum. Between each 'scroll' on the underside of an entablature, specifically the underside of the cornice, was typically a coffer with a rosette. The third and last shows the soffit on the underside of the architrave reaching between two Corinthian capitals on the portico of the Pantheon in Rome. You can also much smaller soffits on the underside of the cornice. Compare them to the cornice in image two.

A soffit is the underside of architecture. In modern terms, it is similar but not identical to a 'ceiling.' A soffit can be the ceiling of a room and also the underside of a projection, such as a cornice or entablature. This picture above is the ceiling of one of the entry rooms of the Museo Central del Risorgimento (Central Museum of the Risorgimento). This marvelous museum is located inside of the Victor Emmanuel Monument in Rome. The Risorgimento was the Italian Unification movement of the 19th century. As you can see, the 'soffit' of this ceiling is broken up into little sections called 'coffers.' In Latin, these were called 'lacunaria,' from 'lacunar.' Each coffer is enriched with moldings and rosettes. This particular pattern of octagonal with corner square coffers—and was also used on the vaulted ceiling of the Basilica of Constantine now in ruins in the Roman forum.