We have an incredible new PhD placement opportunity to help support the development and curation of our major exhibition on the Norman Conquest, opening in October 2027.
Learn more and apply through the link below!
www.bl.uk/services/res...
The legendary Anna Pavlova performing The Dying Swan in 1905.
#Ballet
#ReliefWednesday - Sassanid relief in Naqsh-e Rostam, near Persepolis (Iran), depicting the investiture of Narseh, the seventh king of the Sassanid Empire (c. AD 293–303). Narseh, Shapur I's youngest son, had ruled the eastern provinces and was called “Great King of Armenia” before becoming shah.
I should have added that I was saying this in jest. We have had 40 consecutive days of rain here in Wales... but the sun is shining today.
Are you insinuating that beautiful Wales never sees the sun? Pff!
Today is Primidi the 21st of Ventôse in the year 234.
Ventôse is the month of wind.
Today we celebrate mandrake. #JacobinDay
More information on mandrake
Lovely to be able to share this 18th-century bound herbarium for a workshop on botany and the book, funded by the Isaac Newton Trust and Trinity College, Cambridge. We’ve also digitised the volumes, so everyone can take a look!
cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-ADD-...
"Wild-sea Holley by ye passage as you goe from portsmouth into Cornwall" collected by William Paine, 1737, from @cuherb.bsky.social. Now, this is in fact from Plymouth, and in modern parlance it is Eryngium campestre
@jillwhitelock.bsky.social @timpurches.bsky.social
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![TOMBSTONE OF M. ULPIUS IANUARIUS, 130-150 CE. S. CATERINA DEI FUNARI
This rather lovely tombstone was turned face-down and reused as a paver in the C16 church of S. Caterina dei Funari in Rome. The top part, trimmed off, shows the deceased on a kline, banqueting. His epitaph is purely military: "Marcus Ulpius Ianuarius, sesquiplicarius [an offer who received pay-and-a-half] of the Emperor's horse guard, from the squadron of Valerius Bassus, a Pannonian by birth, lived 45 years and served 23 years. Marcus Ulpius Primus, from the same squadron, his heir, took care to have this set up for his well-deserving friend". Ianuarius was from the turbulent province of Pannonia in the Balkans, and took the family name of Trajan, along with Primus, his heir. Based on the epitaphs we have of these guards, many came from the Balkans: skilled cavalrymen, they were not from old Roman settlements sponsored by members of the court, but owed loyalty only to the emperor.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:y2ps7or6drwz3yuvelv6glai/bafkreietr3eclkalwdulsh5c4ralpcqrlx36aky3ppcebtdti3gr5v7z7u)
The #tombstone of an imperial guard for #EpigraphyTuesday tells us quite a lot about the changing composition of the #Roman #empire in the C2 CE, and provides another splendid example of #Antonine #epigraphy. This slab was used as a paver for the church of S. Caterina dei Funari. #AncientBluesky 🏺
My eldest son found this hard for a very long time, but the research does state that there will always be a need for liquid medication. Perhaps - and one can hope - a move to cheaper tablets for the majority of kids might mean more funds available to provide liquid medicine when required
This is a very interesting read!
My article on a vase with a kalos-inscription for Hephaistos has just been published, open access! In the article, I present a vase that's been largely ignored, but which gives us a new way to think about Hephaistos and his importance in 5th century BCE Athens.
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
A lovely walk! Carrying a four year old is no mean feat!
Lost page of the Archimedes Palimpsest identified in Blois, central France.
phys.org/news/2026-03...
In the midst of all this, I can't help but laugh at the use of the term 'alignment', used in reference to people working in a Humanities school, for whom the term will not doubt have various connotations. But as usual, I'm overthinking.
Last week, I've been 'aligned' in our reorganised Humanities School. While there was no surprise (I'll be in History, Archaeology, Heritage), I'm desperately sad at the dissolution of our department of Ancient History and Religion. It's been an honour to be its head. I wish I could have done more.
Pour lutter contre le drame des grossesses non désirées, Marie-Andrée Lagroua Weill-Hallé créa l’association à l’origine du Planning familial. La chercheuse Bibia Pavard nous éclaire sur cette initiative fondatrice des droits des femmes.
This appalling fat cat wants to shut the door on all my mature students, many of whom left school after GCSE and give up a lot to go to university. I can tell him that they’re the hungriest for education and far from being unable to graduate, they regularly get the highest grades. Hateful man.
Thank you. It took so long, I can't quite believe it's almost there.
The declyne of readinge ys caused by manye thinges. A huge cause ys a systematic & decades-long devaluinge of literature at all levels of educacioun. We kan not put instrumentalitye above meaninge and still thrive. Fundinge the humanityes ys key to a just societye of well-informed citizens.
Nice blog post on Caspar Commelin’s 'Praeludia Botanica' (1703) and Maria Sibylla Merian’s 'Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium' (1705), by Verity Burton, a BA Art History student doing a placement at @thejohnrylands.bsky.social #histstm
rylandscollections.com/2026/03/04/d...
Le père de Marc Bloch donnant un cours d’histoire romaine à la Sorbonne vers 1910. On remarque les trois jeunes femmes dans l’assistance fort studieuse pré-ordis portables.
(On adore l’idée qu’un éditeur de cartes postales se dise que c’est un bon sujet, à quand un revival)
Whoop. So delighted that this is now out. "Beauty that glows: Tho-Radia and radioactive cosmetics"
I started working on Tho Radia in 2012 but this is the first time I have written about the company in depth which is ridiculous. Might have to do some more now as there is still a lot to say ....
Happy St David's Day from the English Gardens.
🌼 Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus!🌼Happy St. David's Day!🌼
Daffodils have been a national symbol of Wales since the 19th century.
This bookplate of daffodils is from ‘Flowering Plants, Grasses, Sedges and Ferns of Great Britain’ by the botanical illustrator Anne Pratt (1806-1893).
'Members of the University and College Union (UCU) at the University of Edinburgh are to begin strike action following management's plans for £140 million in cuts and up to 1,800 job losses.' 1/2
Have heard Francophones say 'burrata' for the first time(I think) in Geneva - made me laugh. Learnt with some consternation that the Stoics did not think of plants as alive!!!
Exciting week: visit to Cambridge with PhDs on secondment at Cardiff on Monday-Tuesday to see a.o. great manuscripts; Dr
@clareparry.bsky.social viva on Wednseday!!!; conference in Geneva on ancient embryology Thursday and yestersay. And today some visiting of Geneva.
That is perfectly normal and healthy!
