This Newly Reconstructed Wall Painting Gives Us Rare Insight Into Roman London
After four years of reconstruction, the remains of a painted wall in Roman London, founded in AD 43, have a big story to tell.
Since 2021, archaeologists from the The Museum of London Archaeology (Mola) have been trying to match thousands of pieces of the fallen fresco wall, believed to have come from a luxe villa. Found in Southwark, near the Thames River, it's one of three major discoveries in the same area that's currently being developed by Landsec in Southwark, according to the BBC.
Among the finds is a mosaic floor—the largest of its kind found in the last 50 years. The floor patterns include a guilloche, Solomon's knot, flowers, and geometric patterns, thought to be the work of a known band of mosaicists, called the Acanthus group, who made a distinct style found in other unearthed works in Germany, suggesting that the band traveled. The floor panels were found along with a handful of objects associated with Romans of status. This, alongside the cemetery found at the same site, believed to be for wealthy Romans, leads archaeologists to see the story behind the reconstructed wall as one of Romans investing in Londinium. "There was this thriving, bustling settlement quite early on in the Roman period, and it's almost the kind of wealthy suburb—the Beverly Hills of Roman London," Andrew Henderson-Schwartz of Mola told the BBC.
The patterns revealed after the plaster pieces were put in order by senior building material specialist Han Li and a team of experts show fruit, flowers painted with a rare, bright yellow, people, and instruments like the lyre. Perhaps most curiously, the word 'fecit' appears, which would roughly translate to 'has made this." Though the name that might have followed hasn't yet been uncovered, the team is hopeful. If and when it does, it will tell us who this nearly 2,000-year-old interiors painter to the Roman stars was.
"The group or groups of painters responsible for creating these frescos took inspiration from wall decorations in other parts of the Roman world," writes Mola. "...These paintings were designed to show off both the wealth and excellent taste of the building's owner or owners."
In another interesting turn, however, this wall, painted at some point after Londinium was founded and before AD 150, was torn down, according to Mola, by AD 200. "These beautiful frescoes once decorated around twenty internal walls of the building; however, the enormity of our find wasn't immediately obvious. That's because the decorated plaster was found dumped in a large pit, shattered in thousands of fragments—the result of Roman demolition works to clear the old building."
Fashion, it seems, has always been fickle, and keeping up with it has always been paramount.
You Might Also Like
From the Archive: Tour Sarah Jessica Parker's Relaxed Hamptons Retreat
75 Small (But Mighty) Kitchens to Steal Inspiration from Right This Instant
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
41 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Investors in LSL Property Services (LON:LSL) have seen respectable returns of 51% over the past five years
Explore LSL Property Services's Fair Values from the Community and select yours It might be of some concern to shareholders to see the LSL Property Services plc (LON:LSL) share price down 11% in the last month. But the silver lining is the stock is up over five years. In that time, it is up 30%, which isn't bad, but is below the market return of 166%. Unfortunately not all shareholders will have held it for the long term, so spare a thought for those caught in the 23% decline over the last twelve months. Let's take a look at the underlying fundamentals over the longer term, and see if they've been consistent with shareholders returns. This technology could replace computers: discover the 20 stocks are working to make quantum computing a reality. While the efficient markets hypothesis continues to be taught by some, it has been proven that markets are over-reactive dynamic systems, and investors are not always rational. One imperfect but simple way to consider how the market perception of a company has shifted is to compare the change in the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price movement. During five years of share price growth, LSL Property Services achieved compound earnings per share (EPS) growth of 6.4% per year. So the EPS growth rate is rather close to the annualized share price gain of 5% per year. That suggests that the market sentiment around the company hasn't changed much over that time. In fact, the share price seems to largely reflect the EPS growth. You can see how EPS has changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values). We consider it positive that insiders have made significant purchases in the last year. Even so, future earnings will be far more important to whether current shareholders make money. This free interactive report on LSL Property Services' earnings, revenue and cash flow is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further. What About Dividends? When looking at investment returns, it is important to consider the difference between total shareholder return (TSR) and share price return. The TSR is a return calculation that accounts for the value of cash dividends (assuming that any dividend received was reinvested) and the calculated value of any discounted capital raisings and spin-offs. Arguably, the TSR gives a more comprehensive picture of the return generated by a stock. We note that for LSL Property Services the TSR over the last 5 years was 51%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. This is largely a result of its dividend payments! A Different Perspective While the broader market gained around 22% in the last year, LSL Property Services shareholders lost 20% (even including dividends). However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. On the bright side, long term shareholders have made money, with a gain of 9% per year over half a decade. If the fundamental data continues to indicate long term sustainable growth, the current sell-off could be an opportunity worth considering. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand LSL Property Services better, we need to consider many other factors. Case in point: We've spotted 1 warning sign for LSL Property Services you should be aware of. LSL Property Services is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of small cap companies at attractive valuations which insiders have been buying. Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on British exchanges. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
World shares are mixed in quiet trading as traders await cues from the Fed
BANGKOK (AP) — World shares were mixed on Tuesday after Wall Street held near its records, with traders awaiting fresh cues about interest rates from the U.S. Federal Reserve. Germany's DAX gained 0.2% to 24,896.79. In Paris, the CAC 40 advanced 0.5% to 7,924.30. Britain's FTSE edged 0.2% higher to 9,173.55. The future for the S&P 500 was 0.1% lower while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was barely changed. In Asian trading, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index lost 0.2% to 43,546.29 as market heavyweight SoftBank Group Corp. fell 4% after it announced it was taking a $2 billion stake in U.S. computer chip maker Intel. Intel gained 5.4% in pre-market trading early Tuesday. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng shed 0.2% to 25,122.90, while the Shanghai Composite index edged less than 0.1% lower, to 3,727.29. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.7% to 8,896.20. In Seoul, the Kospi gave up 0.8% to 3,151.56. Taiwan's Taiex fell 0.5% and the Sensex in India was up 0.4%. In Bangkok, the SET slipped 0.1%. This week will bring updates from the head of the Federal Reserve and from some of the biggest U.S. retailers. On Monday, indexes mostly fell in Europe in their first trading after Trump's inconclusive summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday about the war in Ukraine. Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday, but that meeting finished after U.S. markets were closed. The S&P 500 barely budged and fell by less than 0.1%. It was its first loss after it set an all-time high for three consecutive days. The Dow slipped 0.1% and the Nasdaq composite edged up by less than 0.1%. Novo Nordisk's stock that trades in the United States rose 3.7% after the Danish company said U.S. regulators approved its Wegovy drug as part of a treatment for a liver disease found in many overweight and obese people. Soho House, a membership club with locations around the world, jumped 14.9% after announcing a deal where an investor group led by hotel-operator MCR would pay $9 in cash for its shares. On Friday, the focus will swing to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, which has been the home in past years of many big policy announcements from the Fed. There, Fed Chair Jerome Powell will give a speech, and investors are hoping to hear how his mind has changed about interest rates since he said last month that he wanted to wait longer before cutting interest rates. The Fed's twin jobs are to keep the job market healthy while also maintaining a lid on inflation, and helping one can often hurt the other in the short term. Lower rates can boost the economy by making it cheaper for U.S. households and businesses to borrow to buy houses, cars or equipment, for example, but they also risk worsening inflation. Inflation updates have been mixed, but traders are expecting the Fed to cut its main interest rate for the first time this year at its next meeting in September. The hope is that Powell could give a nod to that. In other dealings early Tuesday, U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 47 cents to $62.23 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, slipped 51 cents to $66.09 per barrel. The U.S. dollar fell to 147.66 Japanese yen from 147.88 yen. The euro rose to $1.1677 from $1.1663.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Arthur J. Gallagher concludes $13.45bn purchase of AssuredPartners
Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has completed its acquisition of AssuredPartners at a gross consideration of $13.45bn. The deal was announced in December last year. AssuredPartners, a US-based insurance broker, provides services across commercial property/casualty (P&C), specialty, employee benefits and personal lines. The acquisition is expected to expand Gallagher's retail middle-market P&C and employee benefits presence across the US and strengthen its UK and Ireland presence. It is also expected to provide new business opportunities through the integration of Gallagher's expertise, data, analytics and product offerings. Arthur J. Gallagher chairman and CEO J. Patrick Gallagher, Jr. said: "I am extremely excited to welcome our new colleagues to Gallagher. Together, we will further build upon our client-centric, entrepreneurial cultures and utilise our product and industry expertise, extensive data, innovative analytical tools, outstanding service and broad product offerings to provide our clients with the very best insurance and risk management solutions.' The transaction also aims to enhance Gallagher's capabilities in various niche practice groups including transportation, energy, healthcare, government contractors and public entity sectors. The deal is also intended to support the growth of its wholesale, reinsurance and claims management businesses. It is expected to be financially beneficial, with projections of double-digit adjusted earnings per share accretion, the company said in a press release. The terms of the agreement involved Gallagher purchasing the stock of AssuredPartners' parent company from private equity firm GTCR and funds advised by Apax Partners. The acquisition was funded using net proceeds from equity and debt financing transactions. In March, Arthur J. Gallagher purchased Woodruff Sawyer for $1.2bn. Woodruff Sawyer, based in San Francisco, specialises in commercial P&C products, employee benefits solutions and risk management services, predominantly catering to middle and large-market clients. "Arthur J. Gallagher concludes $13.45bn purchase of AssuredPartners " was originally created and published by Life Insurance International, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
