Dr Jo Ball

Museo Egizio Turin photo showing a small, dark-blue, core-formed, round glass jar which tapers in at the shoulders below the neck. It has yellow, white, and light blue festoon decoration trailed around the main body. There is a single yellow trail just below the neck of the jar. There is a dark-blue circular glass lid, the top of which is adorned with two dark-blue duck heads with yellow bills, a yellow trailed stripe on the top of each duck’s head, and indents for their eyes. The jar is displayed on a perspex (?) stand against a grey background. Glass jar dimensions: 7.6 cm x 9.6 cm. Core-forming is one of the earliest glassmaking techniques. Glassmakers shaped the body of the vessel around a core, wound colored trails around it. They then let the vessel cool and removed the core.

A 3,500 year-old Egyptian glass cosmetic jar with two little duck heads!

Glass was a relatively new material at that time, so this jar would have been a precious possession.

From Merit’s beauty case, found inside Theban tomb (TT8) of Merit and her husband Kha in 1906. 📷 Museo Egizio

#Archaeology

A #Roman dodecahedron, found in the Netherlands; they look so cool - now if only we knew for sure what they were for! 🏺 #AncientBlueSky

A metal face mask from a #Roman cavalry helmet; the blank expression is quite off-putting even now, & must have been pretty intimidating in antiquity (whether or not they were ever worn in battle) 🏺 #AncientBlueSky

The Baths of the Seven Sages are a public bathing complex in Ostia Antica, ancient Rome’s port city. Named for frescoes depicting Greek philosophers, it features a rotunda with a well-preserved mosaic floor in its frigidarium (cold room) dating to the Hadrianic period (117-138 CE). #mosaicmonday

A beautiful #Roman mosaic wall-niche, containing a garden scene with lush plants & birds, including a peacock. About 2000 years ago it decorated the garden or courtyard of a luxurious home in Baiae (near Naples, Italy) 🏺 #AncientBlueSky #MosaicMonday

A #Roman glass bowl in amber-brown & blue glass with white irregulat spots running through. A beautiful piece of ancient glassware made about 2000 years ago #AncientBluesky 🏺

He is just over 10cm long - could fit in the palm of your hand.

A #Roman figurine of a lizard, carved from a single piece of hyaline quartz. It was found in a Gallo-Roman tomb in Belgium, where it was buried as part of an assortment of grave goods about 2000 years ago (📷 MFAH, Brussels) 🏺 AncientBlueSky #Archaeology #RomanArchaeology

This is in the RMO in Leiden.

The tombstone of a #Roman gladiator named Apollonios; the portrait identifies him as a retiarius, armed with a trident & fishing net. He was obviously good at what he did, with the inscription - dedicated by his wife Zosime - revealing that he won 48 combats in his career 🏺 AncientBlueSky

ClassicsTober25: Katabasis 1. Hypnos 2. Thanatos 3. Graeae 4. Shroud 5. Hermes Psychopompos 6. Moirai 7. φαρμακίς (pharmakis) - witch, sorceress 8. Erebos 9. Lampades 10. Hekate 11. Torch 12. Styx 13. Empousa 14. Cocytus 15. Τέρατα (Térata) - monsters 16. Typhon 17. Echidna 18. Kharon 19. Shade 20. Acheron 21. Kerberos 22. Judge 23. Lamia 24. Phlegethon 25. Tartarus 26. Punishment 27. Erinyes 28. Phobos & Deimos 29. Mysteries 30. Lethe 31. Elysian Fields

#ClassicsTober prompts for October ‘25
#ClassicsTober25

A close-up of a clay figurine of a horse

Roman horse terracotta figurine found in Rottweil, dating 2nd or 3rd century AD.
Horse figurines served as offerings in sanctuaries or domestic shrines and occasionally as grave goods. Their use and meaning shift depending on context but reflect associations ... 🧵1/2

📷 me

🏺 #archaeology

My cultural referencing is pretty out of date now too, yes. So it goes!

No PowerPoint - any images through physical photo slides or an acetate sheet on an overhead projector!

Absolutely! I also remember the downside that if they were off ill, you didn't find out until you went to the lecture & found a note on the door - I'm glad that bit has changed for students, at least!

Nothing makes me feel old like the start of a new semester.

When I was an undergrad, I registered my module choices with a paper form. I took all my notes by hand. All my books were physical. I submitted my essays in print into a box outside the departmental secretary's office. Good times.

An #AncientGreek chicken on wheels - a child's toy made & first played with at least 2400 years ago in ancient Athens. If it wasn't made of terracotta it could probably pass for a modern toy; apparently the things kids find fun has not changed that much in over two millennia!

AncientBlueSky

The Allard Pierson in Amsterdam.

A #Roman ribbed glass bowl, in a pale shade of bluey-green. It is in beautiful condition despite being about 2000 years old; this type of glass vessel was very popular in the early Imperial period.

AncientBlueSky #Archaeology #RomanArchaeology

A rectangular clay relief with detailed carving shows a dramatic accident at a chariot race: a two-horse chariot crashes as the horses rear and fall, while the driver struggles with the reins. Ornamental columns and a decorated border frame the scene. On the right, two male figures stand near a building; one appears distressed, witnessing the incident. The top edge features a floral motif.

Like a scene from "Ben Hur": For #ReliefWednesday a terracotta relief depicting an accident at a chariot-race at the Circus Maximus.
The famous circus in #Rome can be recognised due to the seven movable dolphins on the central dividing barrier, the... 🧵1/2

🏺 #archaeology

Roman gold fibula shaped like an ornate crossbow, richly decorated with filigree and granulation, featuring a Latin inscription “VTERE FELIX” on the bow. Photographed on a neutral grey background.

For #EpigraphyTuesday an amazing #Roman gold fibula (a decorative pin for fastening garments/a brooch) carrying the Latin inscription VTERE FELIX - use this happily, one of the most common inscriptions on Roman finger rings and fibulae.

From Ostrovany, Slovakia, late 3rd c. AD

📷 KHM Wien

🏺

GEOMETRIC FLOOR MOSAIC, C3-C4 CE. PALAZZO MASSIMO ALLE TERME This elegant mosaic comes from the complex of the river port at Pietra Papa across the Tiber from S. Paolo fuori le Mura. This complex site includes a villa of the C1 or early C2 CE which was partially levelled and built on top of in the mid C2, with either a luxurious private residence or a small set of thermæ presumably frequented by the sailors and port workers. In either case, the site had a long life: this mosaic floor dates from the late C3 or early C4. It has a sophisticated design, a circle inscribed into a square, with a pattern of squares, diamonds, and triangles which all resolve themselves into a hexagon at the centre. Each shape contains a stylised flower against a white background, and all the shapes are framed in a continuous guilloche. The limited palette suggests that only local stone was available.

Everybody likes a sailor. #MosaicMonday takes us to the Porto Fluviale or port of the #Tiber riverbank on the #Trastevere side across from #SanPaolofuorileMura. This #mosaic may have been part of a bath complex for the use of sailors and dock workers. #AncientBluesky 🏺

Screenshot of a webpage with links to many different collections of archaeology in alphabetical order.

Got a craving to learn something completely new? Looking to explore the latest research on a period, theme or area of the world? Check out our online collections, with free and #OpenAccess #archaeology on all this and more! 🏺

antiquity.ac.uk/collections

A #Roman tile, stamped with the maker's mark of the infamous & somewhat mysterious 9th Legion Hispana #Archaeology #RomanArchaeology AncientBlueSky

They're everywhere in Athens, I love finding them!

A wild tortoise wandering through the ruins of the Library of Hadrian in Athens... wonderful that these ancient sites are still lived in!

#Archaeology #RomanArchaeology #RomanSiteSaturday AncientBlueSky

A #Roman terracotta oil lamp, decorated with a four-horse chariot racing scene. A piece of merchandise for a fan of the races, perhaps..? #Archaeology #RomanArchaeology AncientBlueSky

A #Roman leather child's shoe, a miniature version of the shoes worn by adults. It was found at the #Vindolanda (Britain), & may once have belonged to one of the fort commander's children 🏺 AncientBlueSky #Archaeology #RomanFortThursday

I'm delighted to hear that! This is all I aim to do really - show people amazing stuff from the ancient world, some of which they may have seen before, other objects or sites which might be new to them. I am really happy to think it might make someone's day just a little better sometimes.

A #Roman glass vessel in the shape of a fish - it has an adorable little face on what is technically the side/bottom of the vessel (it is shown in the museum lying horizontally). A bit impractical though, yes...