Dr Thomas R.P. Coward

Fresco of woman brushing her hair. MANN inv. 9088. Stabiae, Ariadne’s Villa, Room 7. AD 54-69.

Back of one of the five bronze statues of Peplophorai/dancers/danaids/hydrophorai. The so-called “Dancers of Herculaneum”, 5 statues of women wearing the Doric peplos a group of life-sized bronzes with inlaid eyes that were adapted Roman copies of originals from the fifth century BCE, all found in the Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum in 1754. The back of this statue shows a peplos being pulled diagonally upwards across the back of the body of the statue conveying a sense of tension in the fabric. MANN inv. 5603, 5604, 5605, 5619, 5620, 5621

Image is of a hardback book with a blue dust jacket. The book is the first edition of the On Providence attributed to Philodemus. A number of passages are published for the first time. Vergara, C. (2025), [Filodemo], [La Providenza] (Bibliopolis, Napoli). EAN: 9788870887372 Greek text with Italian translation and commentary.

View of a large wooden desk with a microscope with LED ring light on the left and a laptop computer on the right. Underneath is a cornice with three folios of paper on it with four pieces of carbonised papyrus affixed to it. An original cornice from February to March 1782.

Back to Naples to speak at a conference on Herculaneum Papyri and Epicurean Theology with a visit to the MANN and a day at the Officina. Very happy to be a gifted a copy of my dear friend’s Claudio Vegara’s just published edition of Philodemus’ On Providence. 2/2
#ClassicsBluesky #AncientBluesky

View from one side of the bay of Naples looking towards Mt Vesuvius over the water with a cloud passing over the peak. Blue sky otherwise with some haze. Foreground is a pier with a rock shingle with some boats. On the pier a man has emerged from swimming and is playing with his four dogs which his partner has walked down to the pier. Two women sitting on the edge of the pier look towards the scene as the dogs prance and jump and scamper.

Updated shrine in the Toledo commemorating Napoli FC winning Serie A for a fourth time. Funerary notice for Milan football teams, a plastic bag full of rubbish to represent Juventus. A picture of Maradona with Vesuvius in the background. Cardboard cut outs of the two winning players for the third and four league wins. Football memorabilia with Italian flag crests with numbers 3 and 4 on them.

Cast bronze of a satyr riding a wine sack as a horse.

Conference programme NUOVI TESTI PER VECCHI PROBLEMI. UN DIALOGO TRA PAPIROLOGIA E STORIA DELLA FILOSOFIA SULLA TEOLOGIA EPICUREA 29 settembre 2025 Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, Università degli Studi Federico II Via Porta di Massa, 1 - Aula DSU 5 (Scala C - 2° piano - 4° livello) online: meet.google.com/ywt-adgs-kuy SALUTI E INTRODUZIONE AI LAVORI 9:30 - 10:00 | Andrea Mazzucchi (Direttore del DSU); Chiara Renda (Responsabile della Sezione di Scienze dell'Antichità del DSU) Giuliana Leone (Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II); Marzia D'Angelo (Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II); Enrico Piergiacomi (Technion - Israel Institute of Technology) PRIMA SESSIONE. Novità dai papiri ercolanesi teologici Presiede: Giuliana Leone (Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II) 10:00 - 10:45 | Marzia D'Angelo (Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II) Il primo libro Sugli dei di Filodemo nel progetto LACUNA 10:45 - 11:30 | Holger Essler (Universität Würzburg) Aus der Arbeit an der Neuausgabe von PHerc. 152/157 11:30 - 12:00 | Pausa caffè 12:00 - 12:45 | Claudio Vergara (Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II) Anus fatidica Pronoea: la nuova edizione de La provvidenza di Filodemo 12:45 - 13:30 | Thomas Coward (University of Bristol) An unpublished column in Philodemus On Piety: On the Nature of the Gods in Socrates and Plato? 13:30 - 14:45 | Pausa pranzo SECONDA SESSIONE. Aspetti della teologia epicurea: ricostruzione, analisi, ricezione Presiede: Lidia Palumbo (Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II) 14:45 - 15:30 | Francesco Verde (Sapienza Università di Roma) Epicuro e la "teologia" del Timeo 15:30 - 16:15 | Giulia Scalas (CNRS - Centre Léon Robin) Il piacere continuo: virtù e beatitudine nella teologia epicurea 16:15 - 17:00 | Enrico Piergiacomi (Technion - Israel Institute of Technology) Emanazioni migliori. Epicuro, Attico e i viventi irrazionali

Back to Naples to speak at a conference on Herculaneum Papyri and Epicurean Theology with a visit to the MANN and a day at the Officina 1/2
#ClassicsBluesky #AncientBluesky

View towards Radcliffe camera and st Mary’s church Oxford. Hertford College on the left. Photo taken from ground level. Similar image to ending credits plate photo of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (BBC TV 1979).

View looking down on to a table. A binocular microscope with a large glass place with papyrus pieces in it. To the left two books open, and on the right laptop with digital image of another papyrus.

View of a quad with clock tower in the centre. Corpus Christi College Oxford.

A black and white cat sitting up on its hind legs on a coffee table. Thoroughly enjoying a brush on the head with front paws up.

A recent trip to London and Oxford for even more papyri (with Tosca hosting in the latter) 2/2

A library with brown varnished wooden bookcases, green and gold wallpaper and carpet with leather chairs and small wooden tables.

View of Senate House Library in Bloomsbury, London. White art deco skyscraper.

View of Braesnose College quad with Radcliffe Camera in the background. Foreground has large green grass. Weather cloudy but bright.

Tosca a black and white cat sitting in a wooden chair with bed basket and red blanket. Cat is looking through a bay window down towards a garden with trees and bushes. Sky blue with some clouds.

A recent trip to London and Oxford for even more papyri (with Tosca hosting in the latter) 1/2

A table. On it a piece of papyrus in a glass plate held together by bull clips under a binocular microscope with LED ring light. Digital infra red microscope is on top of the plate attached to a computer. To the right several books including an increasingly annotated copy of Merkelbach-West.

Tosca the black and white cat with half white moustache and her purple brush sitting upright on a table.

View of the lake at Worcester College Oxford. Large lake in foreground with lily pads and surrounded by trees with a blue sky with patchy white clouds

An oval box made of silver containing cheese crackers. Dedication by William Force Stead, an American priest, diplomat and poet who was friends with Elliot and Yeats. The now cracker box commemorates the Anglo-American victory in WW2.

Another week spent in the Papyrology rooms @bodartlib.bsky.social and other nearby places. #ClassicsBluesky #AncientBluesky

Papyri in glass plates on a table. One under a LED ring microscope. Computer and critical edition next to the plates. Collations being taken and checked.

Carbonised Herculaneum papyrus roll in a 3D printed case. On display in the Weston Library in Oxford. Recent identified as a book of Philodemus’ On Vices. The label reads: 102 Preserved by fire The eruption of Vesuvius near Naples in the year 79 killed the citizens of the Roman holiday town of Herculaneum but preserved their belongings - carbonized. What looks like a charred lump is in fact a burnt scroll, from a rich private library in the city. Unread for more than 2000 years, its content is now opening to modern imaging technology: the mute treasure l l l reveals its secret: a lost work of the Hellenistic philosopher Philodemus. MS. Gr. class. f. 25 (P). Philodemus, On vices (Herculaneum (?). before 79).

View of Radcliffe camera from Braesnose College.

Evening sunset from the Bisney area of Oxford on the way back from The Perch. River view reflecting the dusk light with tree in outline and shadow on the left.

A week in the P.Oxy. collection ahead. But said hullo to the On Vices roll beforehand.

Hey look! My new article on the #Parthenon Frieze has been published! (Also; it’s open access!)

#ClassicsBluesky

Tree in centre with large canopy casting a partial shadow over a large bed of mainly white flowers. Green trees and bushes in the background

A reconstruction of an apiary from 1595. A collection of six round beehives made of wicker on wooden shelves. Three on each shelf.

View towards the Chinese garden with thin bamboo sticks framing the photo. Down the middle are a series of Chinese pots with dragon decorations and small tree planted in them. A criss cross pathway with landscaped bedding plants and trees.

View of a Mediterranean garden with green plants and olive tree. The garden is placed along a river bank lined with trees and gardens and university buildings. Boats are moored up along the river. A couple of clouds in the sky.

Hortus Botanicus Leiden

View of Leiden overlooking a canal. Wooden windmill to the left, a brick building in the middle ground and green and leafy banks on either side with boats moored up.

Four pieces of papyrus with Greek writing in a glass plate on a table. To its left a set of callipers and a magnifier.

Verdant green riverbanks with a large windmill on the right painted with the flag of the Netherlands. On the near right bank some birds with younglings. In the middle a motor boat moves down the river.

On the first research trip from @clahbristol.bsky.social to @unileiden.bsky.social. I am examining P.Turner 1, a papyrus preserving over 100 lines of the Hesiodic Catalogue.

I’ll also be giving a lecture and running a workshop on Herculaneum papyri. #ClassicsBluesky #AncientBluesky

View of Vesuvius with a Fiat Panda Van in the foreground

Herculaneum papyrus under LED ring microscope. On a table with laptop and callipers to the right.

Herculaneum papyrus roll being prepared for imaging in a box.

3D printed copy of a carbonised papyrus roll in the hand of the photographer

Spent the last three days in the Officina to go over several papyri with the new infrareds and virtual models, and see how things are progressing with the next phase of imaging.

Early medieval metal peacock for liturgical purposes. Byzantine-Venetian ware with Aran influences

Silver bowl with bird at the centre

Transparent glass bowl with Jesus Christ between two palms

Late antique gold earrings. Large oval gold pieces with four hanging pieces on each piece.

Cagliari Archaeological Museum: late antique and medieval objects. 6/6
#ClassicsBluesky #AncientBluesky

Latin lead inscriptions

Ivory relief of a parrot from late republic

Hellenistic relief of a sheep with a sun and crescent moon above it

Roman stone cinerary urn

Cagliari Archaeological Museum: Graeco-Roman materials. 5/6 #ClassicsBluesky #AncientBluesky

Greek vase with red figure owl

Stone relief of winged Fortune in a chariot

Glass vessel cylinder with Greek inscription

Terracotta of Venus with dolphin representing Nora

Cagliari Archaeological Museum: Graeco-Roman materials. 4/6 #ClassicsBluesky #AncientBluesky

Lead burial casket filled with objects and bones.

Large vase with human figure hugging the contents

Large Phoenician inscription

Picture of whole glass paste necklace with heads and beads. Many colours and patterns

Cagliari Archaeological Museum: Punic matters. 3/6 #ClassicsBluesky #AncientBluesky

Glass paste necklace with heads and beads in colour. Mainly bearded men.

Theriomorphic statue. Human body with wolf or lion head.

Sculpture head of a North African male.

Stone ring with Punic inscription

Cagliari Archaeological Museum: Punic matters. 2/6 #ClassicsBluesky #AncientBluesky

Nuragic giant stone statue: archer.

Nuragic giant stone statue: boxer.

Nora stone. Punic inscription which mentions Sardinia

Nuragic bronze statuette

Cagliari archaeological museum: some Nuragic highlights. 1/6 #ClassicsBluesky #AncientBluesky

Custodian cat at Nora. Snow leopard

View of remains of various buildings at Nora

Landscape of Nora.

Nora and late antique baths

Nora 3/3

Roman mosaics

Roman mosaics

Romans mosaics with sea in the background. Part of an Asclepeion?

Remains of Roman theatre at Nora

Nora 2/3

View of Nora looking south

View of Nora. Processional way southwards

Nora on the west side. Remains of bath house wall with red poppies growing in the foreground. The sea is in the distance

View of Nora towards the west. Mountains in the background with sea in the middle. Foreground remains of elite housing with tetrastyle atrium.

Nora 1/3

Local cat: grey and white. Head being scratched and tongue out.

Sacristy of the cathedral of Cagliari. The walls are elaborately decorated with panels depicting various saints and martyrs. Red and white marbles as decoration. Geometric patterns and the ceiling is heavily panelled.

Ginger cat leaning out a balcony at a stretch. Cat is looking upwards. The walls of the building are yellow and pink.

Poster. Depicting a papyrus roll. Advertisement for a university seminar by myself.

Cagliari 2/2

View from the harbour of Cagliari towards the mountains. Small boats to the left and right. Open sea in the middle ground. Mountains with clouds above in the distance.

A street in Cagliari heading up to the castello

Front of the church of San Michele.

Book shelf holding copies of a very big and heavy book on cheeses of Sardinia.

Cagliari 1/2

Not exactly “Breaking News”, but as of this month, I am now a Marie-Curie Research Fellow @clahbristol.bsky.social.

View of the Roman Forum with a close up towards the Colosseum

View from the capitoline hill looking towards via dei fori imperiali

Portico of Octavia from the front

Wide angle landscape of the Forum Romanum

Farewell Rome 4/4

Wide view of the Colosseum

Interior of ornate room filled with statues from the Capitoline Museum

Narrow street in Monti. Pedestrians walking about. Dog standing just by the front of a parked car looking towards the camera.

View of a street with traffic

Farewell Rome 3/4

View of the Pantheon

View of recently cleaned front facade of Palazzo Farnese

Striped cat from the gardens of Palazzo Barbernini looking up towards a large terracotta pot resting upon the capital of a column.

Nighttime view of some Roman pines in front of the Viminale palace

Farewell Rome 2/4

View down Via dei Fori Imperiali towards the Colosseum.

View from the Tullianum in a gap between two arches looking towards the Forum Romanum an Alban Hills. The arch of Titus is in the middle ground.

Two black cats sprawled on the ruins of a Roman temple. One cat looks up towards the other who is on a higher placed stone.

Fragments of a fresco quoting Callimachus’ epigrams from the Horti Maecenatiani, on the outer wall of the Auditorium (1874).

Farewell Rome 1/4

Close up photograph of striped cat standing on the ledge of some steps and looking directly at camera.

Circular mid republican temple with several restored columns on one side. Black cat walking across in front of the temple.

White cat with patches of stripes sitting to the right of a large white column base.

A calico cat standing upright with tail over front paws. Behind is a metal grating and to the cat’s right are some brick steps.

#caturday

Ellesmere Lake at RHS Bridgewater. Lake with squadrons of ducks and coots going across. Line of trees in the background with slithers of yellow sun peaking through the clouds.

Chinese garden at RHS Bridgewater.

A round Robin in full song

View across the herbal garden in winter

RHS Bridgewater

Black cat with white socks walking in front of St Wilfrid's Church in Ribchester, which is built on top of the praetorium of a Roman fort.

A crisp winter morning. View of green countryside with the morning sun partially obscured by thinning clouds. Background of black spindly trees and bushes in the background. Morning dew and frost across the grass. Yellow sun and patches of blue sky.

Low lying mist covers the ground with a path on the right and trees on the left. A dog in the middle presents the chosen festive stick to their humans walking down the country path.

View of a bank of the river Ribble taken from the opposite bank. The bank is steep with a flat field higher up with hills and pylons behind the field. Several sheep populate the field and some have ventured down the river bank

Winter moments.

View into the main courtyard of Milan’s Statale University

Table with laptop, microscope, digital UV camera, book, and two papyri in glass plates.

A day trip to Milan to examine two Hesiodic papyri. Very nice to be shown around the collection including seeing the Milan Posidippus. #ClassicsBluesky #AncientBluesky