Dr Paula Lock

Eos, the Greek goddess of the dawn carries off Kephalos the hunter. Made on Melos in the mid 5th century BC but found in a tomb on Rhodes.
#eos #greekmyth #ancientgreece

The photo shows a Roman iron stylus pen used to write on wax-filled wooden writing tablets. It has an inscription which runs along its length on four sides. The image shows the four lines of inscribed text which read: ‘ab urbe v[e]n[i] munus tibi gratum adf(e)ro
acul[eat]um ut habe[a]s memor[ia]m nostra(m)
rogo si fortuna dar[e]t quo possem
largius ut longa via ceu sacculus est (v)acuus’ ‘I have come from the City. I bring you a welcome gift with a sharp point that you may remember me.
I ask, if fortune allowed, that I might be able (to give) as generously as the way is long (and) as my purse is empty.’ Excavated in London by MOLA. Photo by Juan Jose Fuldain/MOLA

Some things never change!

A 2,000 year-old Roman souvenir pen with a joke inscription roughly equivalent to:

“I went to Rome and all I got you was this cheap pen!" 😂

Dated to about 70 AD, this iron stylus pen was found in London during excavations by MOLA. 📷 MOLA

#EpigraphyTuesday
#Archaeology

The picture shows a terracotta figure of a standing cat playing a harp-like instrument with its front legs. The lower part of the figurine is broken off.

A charming little piece for Sunday: a terracotta figurine of a #cat playing the harp.

From #Egypt, #Roman period, late 1st century AD.

On display at Museum August Kestner, Hannover.

Have a lovely Sunday!

📷 by me

🏺 AncientBlueSky #archaeology

#ReliefWednesday - Delightful small-scale detail with this depiction of a Circus on a bone 'game counter'. The two conical projections being the metae ('turning posts'): ca. 1st Century AD. #Roman 🏺

Image: Princeton University Art Museum (1996-178), Link - artmuseum.princeton.edu/collections/...

Aphrodite crowns a herm of Dionysus. Terracotta, circa 150-100 BC.

Aphrodite crowns a herm of Dionysius ( terracotta circa 150-100 BC).
#aphrodite #dionysus #ancientgreece

The wrath of the grapes: How the #Romans cheated the hangover by eating one of their five a day!
#HappyNewYear #Hangover #Roman #Archaeology #AncientBluesky

bacchusandbeyond.wordpress.com/2020/08/28/t...

The wrath of the grapes: How the #Romans cheated the hangover by eating one of their five a day!
#HappyNewYear #Hangover #Roman #Archaeology #AncientBluesky

bacchusandbeyond.wordpress.com/2020/08/28/t...

#MosaicMonday; from the Archaeological Museum of Patras, a mosaic depicting the toilette of Venus. The goddess holds up a mirror reflecting her face as Cupid attends to her. From a villa at Plateia Ipsilon Alonion in #Patras. Second century CE.

#Archaeology #RomanArchaeology #Greece #AncientBlueSky

Painted terracotta plate with black background and orangey-red sea creatures swimming in a circle: two fish with black/white stripes (bream?) on sides and long fin along their back, plus a hornshell (a long cone shaped shellfish with a scalloped 'mouth' opening), and a mussel. In the centre of the plate is a round depression to hold condiment such as fish sauce for dipping.

A fishy dish for #FindsFriday.
Often found in funerary contexts, so hypothetically for 'ritual banquets'.
This one, by artist called 'the eyebrow painter', also features lively hornshell + mussel.
Terracotta, Magna Graecia, 310-300BC.
Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Matera, Basilicata.

Minoan mugs on glass shelves in a museum.

Minoan mugs that are 3,700 years old, but would sell like hotcakes today too. At the Heraklion Archaeological Museum. 📸 me
#MuseumMonday #AncientBluesky #skystorians 🗃️

Head of Aphrodite, marble. From Velletri, half of the 2nd century CE, on display at the Archaeological Museum
#Rome #archaeology #history
AncientBlueSky
📸 August 2024

Wow your friends and family this festive season with a taste of the past. Try this ancient #Roman recipe for #Passum — a delicious sweet #wine with a rich and velvety texture that goes down a treat! Why not give it a go? #SensoryTimeTravel #Christmas #AncientBluesky

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bod3...

Wow your friends and family this festive season with a taste of the past. Try this ancient #Roman recipe for #Passum — a delicious sweet #wine with a rich and velvety texture that goes down a treat! Why not give it a go? #SensoryTimeTravel #Christmas #AncientBluesky

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bod3...

The picture shows five spherical bottles made of glass in different colours: red, bue, light blue, yellow. One is made of colourless glass. Each of the bottles is decorated with a spiral thread. With the exception of one vessel, the knobs are broken off.

These #Roman glass spherical bottles would make great #Christmas baubles🎄, but they were used to hold perfume and loose powder. The contents were sealed inside the delicate cosmetic containers and a small knob at the top had to be broken off to remove the oil/powder. 1/2

🏺 AncientBluesky

Yes — an essential part of Roman life for keeping footwear in pristine condition!

#RomanSiteSaturday; the aqueduct of ancient Nemausus, which includes the famous Pont du Gard aqueduct bridge over the Gardon. Numerous other remains can be found along the ~50 kilometer route, though:

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

#Archaeology #RomanArchaeology #France #AncientBlueSky

The stunning site of #AlbaFucens comes complete with stepping stones, water fountains and bars! What more could you ask for? #RomanSiteSaturday #Roman #Archaeology #AncientBluesky
📷 Me

#FrescoFriday - Niche wall painting depicting Thanatos (the personification of death). From the Via Laurentina Necropolis, tomb 9, located outside the city walls of Ostia. Dated to the second half of the 2nd century AD.

Ostiense Museum, Ostia Antica.

Happy Winter Solstice! RIB 1599 altar dedicated to Mithras by Litorius Pacatianus. Found in 1822 at the Mithraeum, Housesteads. Currently on display at the Great North Museum: the Hancock.

The watermill is evidenced by a raised relief on the sarcophagus of a certain Marcus Aurelius Ammianos, a local miller. On the pediment, a waterwheel fed by a mill race is shown powering via a gear train, and frame saws cutting rectangular blocks by the way of connecting rods and cranks.

The Roman built Frontinus Gate and main street of Hierapolis, Turkey. Hierapolis is the site of a much earlier Phrygian settlement and later a Greek city. The city was home to the first known water powered saw mill. City was also known for its hot springs and wool production. #RomanSiteSaturday 🏺

Romano-British brooch in the form of a crouching hare, viewed from the side with head to the right. The hare has one long ear, a slightly curved incised mouth, and two curved legs (one back and one front). The brooch is cast from copper alloy (bronze), now grey in colour. The body is inlaid with green enamel with four copper-alloy decorative dots in the green enamel. The head is decorated with a circular green enamel inlay, at the centre of which is a copper-alloy dot for the eye.

Lovely little Romano-British brooch in the form of a hare 😍

The artisan who made this brooch some 1,900 years ago, gave the hare a cheerful little face! Copper alloy decorated with enamel.

📷 British Museum www.britishmuseum.org/collection/o...

#Archaeology

Which came first, the hairdo or the bread?
Carbonised loaf from #Pompeii. Hairdo, Imperial family, #BritishMuseum.

#ChristmasQuiz #PanisQuadratus #Roman #Archaeology #AncientBluesky
📷 Me

Which came first, the hairdo or the bread?
Carbonised loaf from #Pompeii. Hairdo, Imperial family, #BritishMuseum.

#ChristmasQuiz #PanisQuadratus #Roman #Archaeology #AncientBluesky
📷 Me

Was digging up some photos for a friend from this site today, so why not, for #RomanSiteSaturday, the Palace of Galerius in #Thessaloniki. Built circa 300 CE, the excavated archaeological area includes a large peristyle and bathing complex.

#Archaeology #RomanArchaeology #Greece #AncientBlueSky

The garden of the House of the Vettii in #Pompeii is wonderful! I recently got the chance to see it when it reopened after years of restoration. It’s a fabulous place to visit! 😍 #RomanSiteSaturday #Roman #Archaeology #AncientBlueSky

📷 my own

A semi-ruined ancient temple like structure sits on a flat base. Free-standing columns topped by elaborate capitals support a Classical entablature of ornamented horizontal layers. On the entablature sit triangular gables which define the slope of the long-lost roof.

For my first foray into #RomanSiteSaturday, here's one of my favourites: the tetrapylon, or gateway to the Temple of Aphrodite, in Aphrodisias, Turkey. Built ca. 200 CE.

Lots of other gems in Aphrodisias for the weeks to come....

My photo shows the left side profile of a head of a cave lion made of mammoth ivory some 40,000 years ago (Aurignacian culture). The ivory would originally have been white in colour but is now a light creamy brown with a surface sheen, and darker patches caused by time spent buried in the ground. Carved details include mouth, nose, eyes, and ears. There is cross hatching behind the ears to indicate the mane. It measures 2.95 cm in length x 2.11 cm height.

Something wonderful for the weekend!

About 40,000 years ago, during the #IceAge, an ancient artist skilfully sculpted this tiny head of a cave lion from mammoth ivory. It is one of the World’s oldest known works of figurative art.

📷 by me

#Archaeology

Sam West wears a yellow ruff and makes a heart shape with his hands as Malvolio in the poster for Twelfth Night at the RSC

What better way to prepare for Xmas than seeing #TwelfthNight at the RSC. Superb cast, marvellous music & beautiful staging. Michael Grady-Hall is an outstanding fool. (That’s a good thing). This production is so deliciously funny your garters will be cross if you miss it!