@mvipsaniusa.bsky.social
PhD candidate at the University of Heidelberg, Late Antique and Byzantine Art History
A cartoon of a man in a suit pointing and laughing at an abstract painting with the caption НА НА WHAT DOES THIS REPRESENT? In the next panel, the painting angrily points back at the shocked man with the caption WHAT DO YOU REPRESENT?
Things I found on my laptop, an occasional series
[Ad Reinhardt, How to Look at Modern Art in America (detail), 1946]
From the villa of Agrippa Postumus at Boscotrecase, now held at the Met. Description from the museum: “Perseus is about to rescue Andromeda from the ketos, a snaky sea monster painted in a brilliant blue-green palette. The creature raises his head with gigantic open jaws and frightful teeth toward Andromeda, who stands with outstretched arms in the center of the panel. One hand appears to be chained to the crag; the other elegantly placed on the rocks. Perseus flies in from the left with his lyre in one hand, winged shoes on his feet, and a windblown cloak over his shoulder. In the upper right portion of the fresco, he is greeted by Andromeda's grateful father, a scene that alludes to the myth's “happy ending” the marriage of hero and princess.“
✨Perseus and Andromeda, the villa at Boscotrecase✨
This fresco captures moments from the myth of Andromeda and Perseus. Perseus swoops in stage left to rescue Andromeda—trapped on a crag at centre stage—from the sea monster Kêtus. The monster takes up most of the lower left of the fresco panel.
Apotheosis of an emperor who, carried by the eagle, rises towards the sky. The bird's body is seen from the front, its three-quarter legs to the left, its head turned towards the heart of the emperor who, in his right hand, holds a lituus, in his left a double cornucopia. The emperor looks at a flying Victory who, with her two outstretched hands, is preparing to place on his head a laurel wreath with flowing bands.
#ReliefWednesday - Apotheosis of the Emperor Claudius on a Roman sardonyx cameo: ca. Mid-1st century AD (mount: 1686). He is crowned by Victory and borne aloft by Jupiter's eagle. #Roman #Art 🏺
Image: Bibliothèque nationale de France (Cameo.265). Link - medaillesetantiques.bnf.fr/ws/catalogue...
✏️ An Ottoman Miniature Portrait of Francis I, King of #France, 16th Century
05.09.2025 19:50 — 👍 56 🔁 7 💬 0 📌 2Finde ich jetzt nicht so überzeugend. Ein Regierungsabo hat ja mindestens genauso die Union, links von der es nicht nur keine Regierungsmehrheiten, sondern eher gar keine Mehrheiten gibt. Und ob es rechts von Rot-Grün keine Regierungsmehrheiten geben kann, hängt auch stark vom Handeln der Union ab.
04.09.2025 14:19 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
A carved ivory relief showing a relic procession towards a church with buildings behind and people looking out of the windows
The back of the ivory relief and hands in white gloves
The back of the ivory relief criss crossed by black markings and a triangular shaped indent at the right hand side
And now attention, late antique people!
Today in Trier I was shown the Trier Ivory up close,
from the front and
- unseen before, at least by me-
from the back!
Note the strange markings, apparently by the craftsmen, and the hole for the elephant’s nerve reaching into the tusk
Person cleaning a mosaic floor with intricate patterns and a central circular design, surrounded by stone walls.
Sobesos site sheds light on urban history of Cappadocia
👉 www.hurriyetdailynews.com/sobesos-site...
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Puts 490,000 High-Res Images Online & Makes Them Free to Use
17.07.2025 22:39 — 👍 3610 🔁 1724 💬 67 📌 144...and it's out!
"‘People and Things Have Always Been Mixed Up’: Notes on the So-Called Global Middle Ages", my very short essay for the Journal of Medieval History's 50th-anniversary special issue, is now published; limited free access at the link below!
www.tandfonline.com/eprint/RAEXD...
Still from the "Star Trek: The Original Series" episode "Bread and Circuses" showing the alien Mr Spock being arrested by what looks like ancient Roman soldiers with machine guns.
Finally someone admits it!
22.06.2025 19:48 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Various examples of color reconstruction on ancient statues
Please help us understand what experts expect from digital
reconstructions of ancient color!
We're running a short (10 min) anon survey for professionals in archaeology, art history, architecture, conservation/restoration, museums, and digital humanities.
👉 forms.gle/aEhYwGiveiNi...
Please Share!
Black-figure amphora. Designs black on red panels, with borders of lotus-buds along the top; accessories of white and purple. In the main panel, four male figures stung by bees, all nude and bearded - the men, not the bees!
For #WorldBeeDay - Attic Black-Figure amphora, ca. 540 BC, showing the four men who attempted to steal honey from the hives that fed the infant Zeus - Laios, Keleos, Kerberos, and Aigolios - being punished by the bees! 🐝
Image: BM (1847,0716.1). Link - www.britishmuseum.org/collection/o...
The last few days were so stressful (on my own with our son without childcare!) that I forgot to promote the newest addition to my newsletter. This time I wrote about the myth of Kyvian Rus as the first Russian state and why the success of this narrative is linked to Russian colonialism in academia.
10.05.2025 16:52 — 👍 60 🔁 13 💬 0 📌 0
It was a delight writing this article in response to Alexander Demandt. Together with other colleagues we were invited to reflect on a recent essay of his. An opportunity to engage in "courteous polemic". The entire theme-issue is open access, but give a shout if you like a PDF of this piece!
24.04.2025 09:54 — 👍 37 🔁 11 💬 6 📌 0
Happy (Latin) Easter to everyone who celebrates! I got a little Easter Egg for you, a new Curihistory Episode!
Today's subject is Saint Elena, also known as Olha of Kyiv!
#history #Youtubers
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtNl...
Warsaw Late Antique seminar on 10 April: Zachary Chitwood (München), Eastern Roman Law, Islam and the First Millennium: Prolegomena to a ius commune orientale. As always, in person and online.
07.04.2025 05:44 — 👍 18 🔁 8 💬 0 📌 0
When I scripted this episode I didn't think a conflict between the US and Canada would be topical again, but he we are in this wacky timeline. Fortunately this one didn't end up so bad!
Also: Curihistory is back, baybay!
#history #youtubers #Canada #USA
youtu.be/eiQoo8FXdGY
Let's not say things we can't take back.
06.04.2025 16:14 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Okay, this is big. Really.
New finds from SE Anatolia suggest that at Gre Fılla, #Diyarbakir, Neolithic hunter-gatherers experimented with copper #metallurgy ... 9,000 years ago!
Yes, that's the Pre-Poettery Neolithic we're talking about:
🏺 www.turkiyetoday.com/culture/how-...
Detail of from a 4th century AD Roman mosaic showing the Greek god Dionysus (Bacchus) kissing Ariadne from Chedworth in Gloucestershire
The Look of Love
Detail of Dionysus (Bacchus) and Ariadne from the 4th Century triclinium mosaic at Chedworth #Roman villa #Gloucestershire
Found in 1864 and now looked after by @nationaltrust.bsky.social @nattrustarch.bsky.social
#MosaicMonday
On Monday 24 March 17.30 @victoriawhitworth.bsky.social will be talking about her new book at the #historyofliturgy seminar in London @ihr.bsky.social (in person & online): 'Making the familiar strange again: the unconventional text and script of the Book of Kells' www.history.ac.uk/events/makin...
15.03.2025 22:19 — 👍 24 🔁 7 💬 1 📌 1
Ein Archäologe kniet in einem Grab und legt ein einzelnes Skelett frei. Dieses steckt in einer Vielzahl schwerer Eisenringe.
"Forschende haben in Jerusalem das Grab einer Nonne aus byzantinischer Zeit freigelegt. Ihr Körper steckte in Eisenringen, die sie schon zu Lebzeiten getragen hatte. Freiwillig" www.geo.de/wissen/weltg...
13.03.2025 18:32 — 👍 4 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Ausgerechnet die Linke soll gegen eine Abschaffung der Schuldenbremse stimmen?
10.03.2025 21:39 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
TOMORROW, March 11, we welcome Georgios Makris! His lecture "Luxury for All? Jewelry and People in the East Roman Empire" will take place at 12:00 pm EDT (UTC -4) on Zoom. More information & registration: maryjahariscenter.org/events/luxur...
10.03.2025 13:29 — 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Open Access Book: Sino-Iranian and Sino-Arabian Relations in Late Antiquity: China and the Parthians, Sasanians, and Arabs in the First Millennium. Download here:
brill.com/display/titl...
Ein ausführlicherer (imo bisher bester) deutschsprachiger Beitrag (von Andrej Ivanji) zu dem, was in Serbien zurzeit geschieht, der nicht nur eine Chronologie der Ereignisse, sondern auch einige politische und gesellschaftliche Einordnungen bietet (die ich teile). Sehr lesenswert:
01.02.2025 09:40 — 👍 68 🔁 24 💬 3 📌 3Simple Mathematik:
Ohne Die Linke hätte die Union heute mit der AfD und FDP eine Mehrheit gehabt.
