Books - Giovanni Oliva - In Marmor Isiacum, Romae Nuper Effossum, Exercitationes
Published 1719 A.D. Oliva, Giovanni, In Marmor Isiacum, Romae Nuper Effossum, Exercitationes ad Reverendiss. P. Magistrum F. Antoninum Cloche Totius Dominicanæ Familiæ Generalem, Rome, 1719; first edition, original vellum with spine label and 19th century shelf label '770'; xvi pp + 112 pp; Latin text with Greek and Hebrew quotations; fold-out engraving showing four faces of the Roman altar with scale in palmi Romani; title page with text set in both red and black. 208 grams, 18.8 x 13.2 cm (7 3/8 x 5 1/4 in.). Ex libris David M. Miller.Property of a Hertfordshire lady, by inheritance. Giovanni Oliva was an antiquarian and bibliographer who wrote extensively about Greek and Roman archaeology as understood in the early 18th century. In this book he describes a newly discovered monument found during the excavations near the Library of Minerva in Rome, which Oliva tried to show was originally a votive altar for the cult of Isis, popular in Rome in the 2nd century A.D. [No Reserve]