Thanks to all of you who entered to win a copy of William Wallace's new book, Michelangelo: the Artist, the Man, and His Times.  I always love a good giveaway, and I love having fun prizes, too.

She's the winner of this giveaway.  She has a really nice collection of printable bookmarks on her blog, Corner of the Library -- handy for all you book worms!  You'll find her on Twitter, too: cmcarpenter28.

 I'd love to send you each a prize, but this will just have to do...

Image courtesy of the Walters Art Museum

This gold medal was found in Egypt -- part of a cache of similar medallions one of which was inscribed "Olympic Games of the year 274."  Now in the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, this medal may have been a prize from the Olympic Games held during Emperor Caracalla's reign (198-217 AD).  That's Caracalla depicted on the medallion with his shield.

The Romans were as Olympics-crazy as we are today, and they adopted the Greek custom with a fervor.  Nike made an appearance even at those ancient games -- just not in swoosh form.  Look at Caracalla's shield.  That's Nike, the goddess of victory, on the shield depicted in the bobsled of the day, a chariot.

Reverse of the medal. Image courtesy of the Walters Art Museum.