Anxient Axis

I love this mosaic. It shows a ship leaving port. Sailors with muscles rippling and seemingly glossy with sweat work at the ropes as the wind ripples two flags and billows the sail. On the left may be a Roman lighthouse. It’s a dynamic piece with a deep, rich indigo backdrop

🏺 AncientBlueSky

Visual joke: cat in a knitted spartan hat. Caption say, "Historians agree that Meownidas could have held Thermeowpawlae if the Persians hadn't had a laser pointer."

#classicsbluesky #ancientbluesky

Review | When the Roman Empire was African “Africa & Byzantium” at the Met reconfigures both ancient and modern worlds.

'Africa & Byzantium’ at the Met reconfigures both ancient and modern worlds.
ClassicsBluesky 🏺 AncientBluesky

www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...

A cream and purple woven square that shows Leda and the swan in the central circle. This centre is framed by another circle with a variety of figures depicted before animals have been placed in the corners before the final square border.

Ancient textiles that have survived until today tend to be very rare, making this beauty all the more jaw-dropping.

This fragment depicts a scene from the myth of Leda and the swan and showcases the use of purple dye no less!

🕰️ C2nd CE
📍Karanis, Egypt; KM 10662
🏺ClassicsBluesky

Rock Inscriptions in Greek Discovered on Mountain in Central Asia - GreekReporter.com An interesting discovery was recently made in Central Asia in Tajikistan containing Greek inscriptions on a rock.

Rock Inscriptions in Greek Discovered on Mountain in Central Asia.
ClassicsBluesky 🏺

greekreporter.com/2024/01/01/r...

Happy New Year, everyone!! And here’s Janus to commemorate it, one face looking back to the year passed, the other looking to the year to come.

🏛️Vatican
📷Marie Lan Nguyen
🏺 AncientBlueSky

Thanks a million!

Thanks!

Trying to read my way a little bit into the field, with an eye toward understanding values and pricing in the 1st century.

Do any classics folks happen to know authoritative sources on early imperial coinage and their values?

Ancientbluesky
Classicsbluesky

New post this week on Brundisium (modern Brindisi), the famed terminus of the Via Appia and departure point for the East:

www.roamintheempire.com/index.php/20...

AncientBlueSky 🏺

Fascinating world of ancient glass: an amazing yellow pitcher. The handle is terminating in an appliqué decorated with a head of a Bacchant, a follower of Bacchus, the god of wine - an appropriate decoration for a vessel used to pour wine. Dating 50-75 AD 🏺

📷 Corning Museum of Glass

The Colosseum in Rome was also known as the Flavian Amphitheatre. Construction began between 70-72 AD during the reign of Vespasian.

🏺Ancientbluesky

Map of Europe and the surrounding area, with orange dots showing findspots of Roman coins, most of which are in Europe with a scattering in Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor, and India.

Says 'A map of the distribution of Roman coins found in Eurasia and North Africa,' but it's not at all clear that it reflects their distribution in antiquity. Maybe silver coins found in West Asia or Egypt are less likely to be reported? Or nobody has looked for them?

AncientBlueSky

This glass Roman bowl is a wonderful find, from its rich colours (honey, burgundy, midnight blue & ivory) to its garland motifs created from millefiori. It dates to the early imperial period (early C1st CE). Do yourself a favour & zoom in on the garlands. They’re great

🏛️📷 NY Met
🏺 AncientBlueSky

The settlement of Bilsk, founded in the 8th century BC, is a true mega-center in today's Ukrainian forest-steppe: impressive 5000 ha in size and surrounded b... A new look at the early phase of Greek Black Sea colonization - Lecture by Dr. Stanislav Zadnikov

online conference
Greek ceramic imports in Bilsk settlement (Ukraine) in Scythian time
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gKs...
ClassicsBluesky AncientBluesky Antiquités

Ancient Egyptians transported pyramid stones over wet sand Physicists from the FOM Foundation and the University of Amsterdam have discovered that the ancient Egyptians used a clever trick to make it easier to transport heavy pyramid stones by sledge. The Egy...

And of you wonder what secret knowledhe these Ancient Egyptians would've used for this kind of stunt - it's: physics. 🙌

Look a bit closer at that guy in the sled's front. 😉

phys.org/news/2014-04...

A very bright small #Roman glass dish - a reminder in a single artefact that the Romans lived their daily lives in vivid colour, garishly so sometimes! AncientBlueSky

Underrated People from History Hold Your Horses!

Some thoughts while going thru lit on the Scythians...

Ancientbluesky
Classicsbluesky
🏺🏺🏺🏺🏺🏺

#AncientBlueSky #ClassicsBlueSky

Description from the museum: “ This work imitates a pelican's foot shell, which is common to the Mediterranean. Only a handful of marble shells are known. They must have been manufactured in the same Greek workshops that produced elegant marble vessels intended as grave offerings for the dead.”

Greek marble pelican’s foot shell ~ c. 400 BCE

The artistry involved in capturing nature is breath-taking. One of my favourite pieces from the ancient Greek world. Sadly, the provenance is not recorded…

🏛 The Met, 1995.19
🏺ClassicsBluesky

Thonis-Heraklion was founded in C8thBCE at the Nile’s mouth. Before Alexandria’s creation, it was the major port of the delta. Succeeding earthquakes & floods saw the city slip under the waves in C2ndBCE eventually disappearing c.900CE. It has been excavated since 1933
📷Franck Goddio🏺 AncientBlueSky

This incredible bronze cuirass was found in Maresse, France. It was made as the Bronze Age was transitioning to the Iron Age & dates to the C9th/8thBCE. Along with several others, it was given as a votive offering. Give it a whopping wow, please

🏛️📷 National Archeological Musem 🇫🇷
🏺 AncientBlueSky

Hell yeah

A lovely Roman glass jug, with a decorative spiral thread trail running around it. It was made 1700-1900 years ago, & has survived in wonderful condition (🏛️ NY Met Museum) 🏺AncientBueSky

Looking for alt ac? Choose gaming! We need you!

Ancientbluesky
Classicsbluesky

Delighted to announce to ancientbluesky that the ancient world finally has a home on H-Net! Check us out, sign up, share announcements, and get involved! I’m a book review editor, so expect to see me in your inboxes soon, begging for a favor!

networks.h-net.org/h-antiquity

Red-figured vase (hydria) seen from above : Pan offers a syrinx to Apollo as his sister Artemis, two small Paniskoi, a dog and a geese watch them. In the lower register, a young woman receives offerings in her tomb.

On this hydria by the Ganymede Painter (Apulia, ca 340 BC), Pan offers a syrinx to Apollo as his sister Artemis, two small Paniskoi, a dog and a geese watch them. In the lower register, a young woman receives offerings in her tomb.
München Antikensammlungen, ArchaiOptix (CC BY-SA) 🏺 AncientBlueSky

This krater found in Cyprus depicts a Sphinx. It’s interesting that the style is Mycenaean but the subject is eastern (not only a Sphinx but one wearing an eastern style hat). One wonders if this is Mycenaean made for an export market or local ware influenced by Mycenae

🏛️BM
📷me
🏺 AncientBlueSky