Don’t worry, death will be instant and painless.

@judithherrin.bsky.social has arrived, your book, The Formation of Christendom, has been excellent so far. I’m looking forward to, and dreading, completing it

A picture of five books stacked up, "The Formation of Christendom" by Herrin, "The History of Sexuality Pt I" by Foucault, "The Body and Society" and "Augustine of Hippo" by Brown and "Porneia" by Rouselle

The holy, the horny, and the heady. A little theology, a little scandal, and a whole lot of footnotes. 📚 #SaintsAndSinners #FoucaultMadeMeDoIt

I’d prefer accessibility though messengers galloping up on streaming horses. Collapsing from arrow wounds is nice, but not necessary

One of the most fascinating aspects of reading about pre-Nicene Christianity is the absolute Wild West atmosphere surrounding doctrines/beliefs/etc.

The transition of power has officially occurred... the Dems are now concerned about the deficit and the Repubs want to lift the debt cap.

The images shows an grey arrow pointing down with some black text above the arrow. The text and arrow appear on a blue background with a green border around the outside. The text reads: "Just keep scrolling to the bottom of my Bluesky account for each individual reference I use to support my arguments in favour of footnotes. Then scroll back up to continue reading my arguments. Repeat until you realise how much easier it would be to follow my arguments if I had used footnotes."

Footnotes. Never endnotes. If you disagree see my citations, which I could’ve put here but instead put at the bottom of my Bluesky account.

Photo of a book cover, book, entitled: “Ancient Christianities: the First Five Hundred Years” by Paula Fredriksen.

My morning procrastination reading

black and white mosaic in the entrance passage of the House of Paquius Proculus at Pompeii depicts a chained dog, crouching in front of an open door. The dog wears a red studded collar. The dog looks alert, its mouth is open showing a red tongue and teeth

A very good boy guarding his family home for 2,000 years!Roman mosaic in the entrance passage of the House of Paquius Proculus at Pompeii

📷 by me

#MosaicMonday
#Archaeology

How delicately a Romanesque angel uses the lightest touch of a finger to wake one of the magi, snuggled with the other 2 under their crochet-trimmed circular blanket at St Lazare, Autun, c1130 (& how beautifully the textures of pillow & blanket are represented).
Season's greetings to you all!

For #MosaicMonday, from the Archaeological Museum of Sparta, a mosaic depicting Perseus slaying Medusa. Athena stands behind Perseus holding up her reflective shield and Pegasus springs from Medusa's severed neck. Dated to the 3rd century CE.

#Archaeology #RomanArchaeology #Greece #AncientBlueSky

#MosaicMonday - Sometimes you've got to embrace the brilliance of a delightfully dapper cephalopod. This little fella is one of a few surviving fragments of a huge mosaic from Villaquejida: ca. Early 3rd Century AD. #Octopus #AncientBluesky 🏺

Image: National Archaeological Museum, Madrid (3615)

I’ll forgive myself because I’m an amateur at best, but why has it taken me this much time to hear about Hellenistic Judaism and Jewish Koine?

Interviewer: Can you explain this gap in your resume?

Historian: Some call those years the Dark Ages but in reality that was a time of great intellectual ferment.

As a non-historian, but a history major in college, I heard this “general utility” question from my parents and other adults. What exactly was I going to do with my history degree?

It was disheartening at the time, and the fruits of the history major are only bearing fruit now, 20+ years later.

A nerd in a teal sweater holding a stack of books about railroads in front of a wall of framed maps.

Hi. I'm Andrew. I own New England's oldest map store because last year I moved across the country after an old guy retired and gave it to me Willy Wonka-style. Visit my store in Rhode Island. www.mapcenter.com

I've read the books, but these are such lovely covers...

Books are a total scam.
Every single word is already in the dictionary—they’re just selling them back to you in a different order.

Oh great, thanks for releasing the perfect distraction for the end of year rush…

Front Cover: Cover art: Early Byzantine ivory with a gathering in front of a city gate, Louvre inv. OA 3317 (Jean-Gilles Berizzi 2002, see the contribution by P. Niewöhner in this issue). The city gate is flanked by rows of oval shields that are displayed above eye level, seven on each side of the gateway.

New issue of Journal of Late Antiquity Vol. 17, No. 2 (2024) muse.jhu.edu/issue/53367 @projectmuse.bsky.social @hopkinspress.bsky.social

Reviewer #2 specifically asked for double-stuf’d, not regular Oreos

Okay, The Internet.... we need to talk...🤔

#MosaicMonday

A marginal owl in the corner of a book of hours from Besançon, ca. 1470 (Morgan MS M.28)

Silver and blue skies in the background of a miniature from the same book of hours.

Monkeys playing in the margins of the same book of hours

Checking this manuscript for work and was delighted to find a surprise owl, silver skies, and silly monkeys (Besançon, ca. 1470; MS M.28)

The photograph, taken within a museum setting, depicts two remarkably well-preserved Roman barrels of substantial size. They appear largely complete, with the exception of their upper sections.

XXL transport containers: Two huge #Roman wooden barrels in an outstanding state of preservation, found in Xanten. Both had a capacity of approx. 1250 l and were used to transport #wine from the Mediterranean region to the Lower Rhine. They were recycled for lining wells.1/2

📷me
🏺 #archaeology

Me raising my child as if I were an insurance company: “sorry, kid, your hunger is a preexisting condition and therefore not covered under the Parent Plan.”

#uhc #uhcceo

fresco depicting three male figures standing. the one on the right is cut off at the waist. behind them a crouched figure on the ground reaches out an arm to touch the figure on the right.

A 3rd c. fresco from the catacomb of Praetextatus thought to be the earliest depiction of Jesus healing the woman with the flow of blood (Mk 5:25-34).

Jesus is the fragmentary figure on the right. The woman can be seen in the background reaching out to touch his robe. (Wilpert watercolor)

The Elenium, David Eddings

Unearthing the secrets of the Byzantine world With support from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, Dr Ine Jacobs is digging into the history of an empire that sat at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and Africa for over a millennium.

Brilliant stuff - about my clever colleague Ine Jacobs @OxfordByzantine @UniofOxford. Move over, Indiana Jones !

www.development.ox.ac.uk/impact-stori...