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ture and heritage ministry for the display of part of the collection. It fi rst went on show in Rome in 2020. Writing in the American Journal of Archaeology, Elizabeth Bartman, an art scholar, hailed the exhibition as “one of the most signifi cant museological contributions to the study of ancient art in our time”. But the gallery was cramped, and a covid19 lockdown meant few could admire the treasures. The new show runs until mid September in the Palazzo Brentani, part of the Gallerie d’Italia in Milan. “Here [the exhibits] get all the air and space they need to fl ourish,” says the direc tor of the Torlonia Foundation, Carlotta Lo verini Botta. She sweeps a hand around the central hall in which the busts, mostly of Roman emperors, stand on pedestals en circling the sole bronze: a lifesize fi gure of the imperial general, Germanicus. Among the most historically valuable pieces is an imposing statue—a Roman co py of a Greek bronze—generally believed to portray Hestia, or Vesta, the goddess of the hearth. Another is a bust, known as the “Old Man from Otricoli”, which unblink ingly depicts the aged features of a patri cian from the fi rst century bc. Perhaps the most singular work is a sculpture of a rest ing goat. It was restored in the 17th century by the great Baroque sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini, who gave the animal a new head and a winningly human expression. The boatman and the butcher feature in separate basreliefs, one of which off ers a detailed view of Portus, the artifi cial har bour that served ancient Rome. As with most Roman sculptures, it was originally painted. Cleaning brought to light the col ours used for two of the relief’s features: an intense scarlet for the fl ame that bursts from a lighthouse and a light blue for sea. Another discovery came during prepa ratory research. Two outstanding pieces show a nymph gracefully removing a san dal and a satyr with a percussion instru ment. Juxtaposed, they form a couple in which the satyr appears to be inviting the nymph to join him in a dance—a scene that was apparently a common motif since it also fi gures on two coins found in Asia Mi nor. Whether the two sculptures were a pair is uncertain. The research disclosed that they had been excavated in the same location, making it highly likely they were. After Milan, an international tour is planned. But that too is the subject of painstaking and protracted discussion. And a new permanent home for the Torlo nias’ extraordinary collection has yet to be chosen. Salvatore Settis, one of the show’s curators, says the Palazzo SilvestriRivaldi near the Forum, now being renovated at public expense, would be ideal. It even has a gallery adorned with 16thcentury fres coes of the Roman emperors. “Nothing could be more appropriate,” he says. n
The Economist July 9th 2022
Gaming the haj
To be a pilgrim A role-play game allows everyone to imagine one of the world’s great journeys
F
or muslims making the haj pilgrim age, which this year runs from July 7th to July 12th, the fi rst leg is easy enough: hop on a plane to the dedicated terminal in Jeddah. After that, they catch a bus or taxi for the last 85km to Mecca. But for generations of pilgrims the journey was diffi cult, expensive and fraught with dangers. The trek often took months. Not everyone made it. Tyler Kynn, a teacher of Islamic his tory now at Central Connecticut State University, was looking for a way to bring the past to life when he remembered a computer game from his youth. “The Oregon Trail”, fi rst released in 1971, in troduced a generation of American schoolchildren to frontier life in the mid19th century. Revolving around a band of settlers travelling in covered wagons from Missouri to Oregon, it forced players to think about fi nding supplies and water, conducting trade and simply staying alive. The masses of American millennials who played the game will remember the many, many ways to die on the trip. Working with a friend, and using travelogues by 17thcentury Ottoman pilgrims, Mr Kynn developed “The Haj Trail”. It is a browserbased strategy game crammed with historical detail. Players can choose the role of one of fi ve charac ters, from an Ottoman princess (the easiest) to an impoverished widow (the hardest). Travelling companions provide assistance, as do soldiers for hire and
With a little help from your friends
animals encountered along the way, such as the White Gyrfalcon (pictured). As in “The Oregon Trail”, the challenges are many. Bandits steal pilgrims’ food, mon ey and goods; water purity is unreliable; bad trades can cause bankruptcy. Despite the sometimes frustrating diffi culty of the game, Mr Kynn’s under graduates were soon hooked. Gameplay made 17thcentury travel more accessible than “giving them a book and saying: read these 100 pages of an account where the guy says ‘I get robbed here’.” Teachers from as far afi eld as Malaysia and Anato lia have stumbled on the game online and used it in their classes. Mr Kynn’s goal is to make the roleplay widely available for educational use at no cost. The appeal arises not from fancy graphics but from the game’s multi layered texture. At each stop, players have the chance to explore local shrines. They can gossip in coff eehouses, picking up valuable tips on the route ahead, or go to the local market to barter goods. They frequently confront tradeoff s in time, risks and supplies. This year Saudi Arabia has limited the number of people allowed to make the real haj pilgrimage to just 1m, far below the prepandemic peak of 2.5m. And for nonMuslims interested in the Islamic world, the haj will forever be forbidden. “The Haj Trail” off ers a way to experience some of the magic, and dangers, of one of the world’s greatest journeys, albeit from the comfort of home.
