Association for Roman Archaeology

Vicus buildings on the south slope at Housesteads Roman Fort. The remains beside the south wall of the Fort.

Vicus buildings on the south slope at Housesteads Roman Fort. #hadrianswall #followtheacorn #RomanFortthursday

#RomanFortThursday

Reconstruction of a #Roman watch tower near Fectio in the #Netherlands

#Archaeology #Military #History

Roman clay floor tile with inscription LEG(lo) X G(emina) P(ia) F(idells)

#Roman tile - 10th legion
Late 2nd Century CE

Inscription: LEG(lo) X G(emina) P(ia) F(idells)

Found in bath complex Burgstall hill, Mušov, Czech Republic. Such buildings suggest planning for long term Roman control.

Marcus Aurelius exhibition -
Rheinisches Landesmuseum, #Trier

#TilesOnTuesday

Britain's economy thrived after the withdrawal of the Roman Empire

Britain's economy thrived after the withdrawal of the Roman Empire. We had thought industries collapsed when the Romans left Britain, but archaeological evidence tells a different story.

View from top of hill overlooking Roman theatre and later baths. Discovered 1950s, excavated and rebuilt in 1970s. Now full arena and entries to underground passages are visible, with lower understage sections of the theatre and a rebuilt section to the left with columns defining niches that once held sttues. Beyond the theatre is a large colonnaded area which was once part of the theatre complex, where the bath complex was built much later. The arena and other areas are mostly covered in grass.

A view from the north, behind the theatre's stage area towards the seating arena. Stone foundations of the bath complex are seen within a colonnaded area. Nearest the viewer are the caldarium, tepidarium and laconicum, all with evidence of underfloor hypocaust heating system with furnaces. Beyond both baths and theatre, buildings can be seen high above over the city walls.

#RomanSiteSaturday 🏺
From this year's visit to Volterra here are both C1 BC #Roman theatre cut into slope of hill and 3C bath complex built when theatre out of use.
Discovered in 1950s, theatre featured fantastic views, 16m high stage, statues of Augustus+Livia. Some seats bear local family names.

Thin copper alloy sheet with a lightly hammered image of a female figure wearing an archaic Greek helmet and holding a spear in her right hand, the left resting on a shield

A goddess for #FindsFriday

In 1882 antiquary Edward Cunnington dug at the #Roman temple at Maiden Castle hillfort in #Dorset

Sadly his excavations were never published although one important find was this copper alloy plaque with repoussée figure, possibly Minerva

Now in @dorsetmuseum.bsky.social

My photo shows the ruin of an eight-sided Roman brick lighthouse with four stepped levels. There is a doorway at ground level, above which, on the upper three levels, are narrow rectangular window openings. It stands 15.8 metres high and is 12.2 metres wide at the base. Roman fabric survives to a height of 12.5 m. The brickwork of the uppermost level was reconstructed for use as a church bell tower for the adjacent Anglo-Saxon church of St Mary in Castro of which a small portion can be seen in my photo on the right hand side. The Pharos is dated 1st century - early 2nd century AD and is one of a pair originally built on the headland flanking each side of the Roman port of Dubris (Dover). It now stands within the grounds of Dover Castle.

The amazing Roman pharos (lighthouse) at Dover, still standing after almost 2,000 years! 🤩

The tallest surviving Roman structure in Britain, and one of only three surviving lighthouses from the former Roman Empire! Dated 1st-2nd century AD.

📷 by me

#RomanSiteSaturday
#Archaeology

The remains of the south-west range of North Leigh Roman Villa in Oxfordshire. The villa went through various stages of construction between the 2nd and 4th centuries AD, and was probably the centre of a large agricultural estate. 📸 My own. #RomanSiteSaturday #RomanBritain

The magnificent altar-shaped tomb of C. Iulius Alpinus Classicianus with its precision-cut lettering. Originally set up in Londinium, it is now in the collections of The British Museum (1852,0806.2). Photo is my own, taken January 2023. #EpigraphyTuesday #archaeology

The magnificent altar-shaped tomb of C. Iulius Alpinus Classicianus with its precision-cut lettering. Originally set up in Londinium, it is now in the collections of The British Museum
(1852,0806.2). Photo is my own, taken January 2023. #EpigraphyTuesday #archaeology

Relief from Aquae Sulis (Roman Bath) depicting the Roman god Mercury and Rosmerta - a Celtic goddess known at the ‘great provider’. Now part of the museum collections at The Roman Baths in Bath. #ReliefWednesday #RomanBritain #Bath

Lumps of coins and ashes from the destruction layer of the Basilica Aemilia ofn the Forum Romanum. Photo by the University of Warwick.

There isn't much evidence of Alaric's sack of the city of Rome in 410 CE, but I taught the moneychangers in the Basilica Aemilia in the Forum yesterday & hundreds of melted and destroyed coins were found in the destruction level dating to 410 CE. warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/cla...

One part of an ivory diptych showing a relief personification of the city of Constantinople. She sports a mural crown and carries a burning torch and a cornucopia in her hands; a small Cupid leans on her right shoulder.

#ReliefWednesday - Panel from an ivory diptych showing the personification of Constantinople standing within an aedicule. Traces of wax on the reverse of the panel indicate that they once served as writing tablets. 🏺

Image: Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien (X 38). Link - www.khm.at/en/artworks/...

A ceramic tile with the following letters inscribed on it: ROTAS OPERA TENET AREPO SATOR For more information, visit: https://multilingualmuseum.manchester.ac.uk/object/the-manchester-wordsquare/

The #Manchester Word Square: a piece of Roman pottery with a Latin inscription that is part puzzle and potential Christian symbol. (See the Alt text for more.) Made circa 180, found in the city centre in 1978, now on display in Manchester Museum. #RomanBritain #MuseumMonday #Lancashire
📷 My own.

A Roman mosaic of a bird. It's looking pretty sharp. It seems to be strutting, it has a quiff and it's body is patterned with chequerboard pattern

We don't know why, but we can't help thinking this bird is on its way to a nightclub. We also think it might have taken something. 😬

#MosaicMonday

Its #MosaicMonday & since i've been making a series based in the South Downs recently, seems we're overdue a Bignor Roman Villa thread 🧵👇

🏺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

Presentation slide showing results of survey

Today I learned something amazingly new to me.
Lightning strikes visible in magnetometry ⚡⚡⚡😲

Great presentation from Archaeological Management Solutions on work near Sligo

A striking bust thought to show the face of a priest of Isis who lived in 2nd Cent CE & now in @LACMA Los Angeles County Museum of Art Isis was an Egyptian goddess believed to help the dead into the afterlife - she became a popular goddess among the #Romans & her worship spread across the Empire.

A bronze jug, with decorated handle depicting a woman with an owl, as seen in a museum case with a grey background

A magnificent copper alloy #Roman wine jug with the goddess Minerva and owl

Recovered during gravel extraction in the early 1980s with over 1000 other items

Loot from a raid accidentally lost in the Rhine or deliberately deposited as an offering?

📷 December 2024 Neues Museum, Berlin

#FindsFriday

Coins of Titus, busts of Titus and his daughter Julia Flavia and image of the Colosseum

Coins of Titus, busts of Titus and his daughter Julia Flavia and image of the Colosseum

Coins of Titus, busts of Titus and his daughter Julia Flavia and image of the Colosseum

Coins of Titus, busts of Titus and his daughter Julia Flavia and image of the Colosseum

On Sept AD70 #EmperorTitus completed the conquest of #Jerusalem. His daughter Julia Flavia was born in Sept AD61, and on the Ides of Sept AD81 he died of fever at 41. The #Colosseum, #Vesuvius eruption & the founding of #Trimontium all happened under his reign.

It's #RomanSiteSaturday & we've had a pretty great summer of getting around Roman Britian, with that in mind - think it might be time for a bit of a thread-of-threads 🧵👇

🏺AncientBluesky

Perhaps you should crowdsource ideas. Here are a couple to start you off:

Picture of hypocaust, caption 'Fishbourne Roman Palace, standing room only'

or

'Bignor Roman Villa 👍
Brading Roman Villa 👍
Aston Villa 👍
Fishbourne Roman Villa 😬
No! No! No! It's a Palace!'

The Jewry Wall

Ratae Corieltauvorum was Leicester in the Roman times. It was originally an Iron Age tribal centre, founded in the 2nd or 1st centuries BC. It started to flourish in the early 2nd century. Jewry Wall was part of the bath complex of the town. #RomanSiteSaturday

The remains of the Roman amphitheater at Chester (Deva). Dating to the early 3rd century, the amphitheater could seat 7000 spectators, and is the largest known in Britain. 📸 My own. #RomanSiteSaturday #RomanBritain #Chester

Grand Roman ruins with a series of arches still standing, above a wide mosaic floor with a pattern of concentric circles, under a cloudy sky

#RomanSiteSaturday The great baths of Mactaris, a old Phoenician town in Tunisia that eventually became a Roman colony

These baths are some of the best preserved in all of North Africa. Walls rise to 15m and #mosaics still line the floors!

📸 Mine

#archaeology #romanempire #photooftheday 🏺

A little white dog made from clay.

This cute (and anatomically correct) little pipe clay Roman dog was discovered in Bath close to the temple of Sulis Minerva. In Roman religion, dogs were associated with the deities Diana and Aesculapius. #FindsFriday

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.

A splendid early entry for #MosaicMonday: the gorgeous Verulamium shell mosaic (with distracting archaeologist who wears - 😱 - rather robust shoes for standing on delicate tessellation).

Reposting this for #RomanFortThursday - and the event is tonight, so come along or register to watch online, the link is below...

The latrines at the south east corner of Housesteads Roman Fort.

The latrines at the south east corner of Housesteads Roman Fort. #RomanFortThursday #hadrianswall #followtheacorn