Special Event
2021 Photo Contest Winners
November 18, 2021
Contrasting the tall modern buildings of Pula lay the remains of Agrippina Minor's house. The archaeological site was unearthed in the southwestern side of the ancient Roman Forum of Pula. A marble head representing the famous Empress and dating to the 1st century AD was found inside one of the rooms of the house during the excavations and gave the building its name. Agrippina, Emperor Claudius’s wife and mother of Nero, is famous for having killed her husband to help his son’s accession to power. Unfortunately, Nero was not a grateful son, since he ended up commissioning his mother’s murder in 59 AD. In his most famous work Annals (XIV, 8), Roman historian Tacitus describes the last moments of Agrippina's life: “Circumsistunt lectum percussores, et prior trierarchus fusti caput eius adflixit; iam in mortem centurioni ferrum destringenti protendens uterum, «Ventrem feri» exclamavit, multisque vulneribus confecta est” (“The killers surrounded her couch, and the captain of the trireme ship first hit her head violently with a mace. Then, while the centurion bared his sword to kill her, she, stretching her abdomen, exclaimed "Smite my womb!" and she was slain with many wounds”).
This picture is a perfect representation of the “old vs new” concept. Agrippina must have chosen the location for her house well if people still like living in the neighbourhood!
Congratulations to the winners of the 2021 SFU Archaeology photo contest!
- $200 Valentina Martinoia with “Agrippina's house in Pula”
- $100 Georgina Covey with “Shows submitter looking for features on a stage 4 archaeologically stripping job, in a corn field in the Mississauga area in Ontario.”
- $50 Bryn Letham with “Northwest Coast Archaeologists' uniforms, out to dry.”
- AND TIED for third place…
- $50 for Valentina Martinoia with “The Pula Arena (in Croatian Pulska Arena)”
The Pula Arena (in Croatian Pulska Arena) was first built between 2 BC and 14 AD during the Empire of Augustus. It was renovated and enlarged by Vespasianus in 79 AD, allegedly to celebrate Cenis, an Istrian liberta who was also his lover.
The Arena is the sixth biggest Roman amphitheatre in the world, but it is without a doubt the best-looking one as it faces the sea, which you can see in the background of this picture I took at sunset!
Copy