Simon Bralee

A wooden Windsor style chair with a dried thistle on top. A warning sign ‘Everyone who ever sat on this chair is now dead. Play it safe and remain standing.’

Leicester Guildhall Museum does not mess about.

Box with Isis-Tyche-Aphrodite and Dionysus-Serapis | Early Byzantine (Egypt) | The Metropolitan Museum of Art Attenborough collection, London; Sir Francis Cook (1817–1901), Doughty House, Richmond, Surrey; sale, H. Blairman & Sons, London, to Joseph Brummer (1883–1947), April 28, 1945 (P16071); purchased by D...

Interesting question! There are a few examples of ivory boxes around including some with a few panels, plus much smaller boxes like the one below from Dumbarton Oaks.

Alexandria #Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa, located in #Alexandria city. Considered the largest #Roman #burial site in #Egypt, that dates back to the 2nd C AD. It was discovered by pure chance in 1900 when a donkey-drawn cart fell into the access shaft, 
#TombTuesday #Archaeology

3. Historians make for very versatile researchers in non-academic employment but can annoy people by always asking to look at the original sources

Jewry Wall & Roman Baths A review of the museum following a major refurbishment.

My review of the Jewry Wall Museum in Leicester. After 8 years and a major refurb, it has reopened and is a triumph of museum design.

It’s a fascinating object which I think can be compared with depictions of animal gods in Roman armour from Egypt. It would also cost a lot more than the other items of personal devotion(?) to the Egyptian gods that have survived from Roman Britain.

A small rectangular ivory fragment with an image of a dog headed figure holding a spear. Stylised lotus flowers can be seen towards the bottom of the fragment.

Fragment of an ivory box depicting Anubis holding a spear and sat amid lotus flowers. Made in Egypt but excavated in Leicester, it may have been brought here by a Roman military officer who had served in Egypt. A key piece of evidence for spread of the Egyptian gods 🏺 #Egyptology #AncientBluesky

All famines are man-made, all famines are political. Historians of empire and humanitarianism have known this forever. Gaza is not starving, Gaza is being starved, by Israel, and this starvation is enabled by our government and by every other government that does not step in to force food and aid.

A metal key which has a hooked bit at a right angle with three teeth at the end pointing back towards the handle.

Roman key from Leicester in the Jewry Wall Museum which reopens later today after a major refurb. I was lucky enough to visit yesterday and it’s looking great. A strong focus on interaction and story telling, while allowing objects to ask their own questions. I recommend a visit. Review to come. 🏺

A terracotta toy horse on four wheels with stylised cute horse head.

Classical kawai. Terracotta toy horse from 4th century BCE Athens. In the Agora Museum. 🏺 #AncientBluesky

YouTube video by LyricsWorldHUN Iron Maiden - The Evil That Men Do Lyrics

^ I should have said, the lyrics are from ‘The Evil that Men Do (lives on and on)’ by Iron Maiden.

“The seventh lamb slain, the book of life opens before me
And I will pray for you, someday I may return
Don't you cry for me, beyond is where I learn”

Well I for one love the new name for Warwick Uni 😈

A small bronze statuette of a woman with an Egyptian solar horn headdress. She is holding a large cornucopia in her left hand and a smaller object in her right, perhaps a sistrum, torch or bouquet of roses.

Tiny statutette of an Isis-Fortuna from Verona. If only the city had not forgotten this gentle goddess of love, they may have avoided some of their later tragedies: "O, I am fortune's fool!" 🏺 #Egyptology #AncientBluesky

‘My white marble bust of Zeus Serapis has no nose.’
‘How does he smell?’
‘Terrible!’

The bust of Serapis with hair and beard curls.

I agree I think these are likely just drill marks, similar to holes on the beard. Also if you look at the bust from a different angle, the holes don’t go round the head.

It’s a very interesting topic and there’s a lot still to discover. Have you read Garth Fowden’s Egyptian Hermes?

White marble statue bust of a man with long gnarly hair and shaggy beard. His nose has been broken off.

White marble bust of Zeus Serapis, from the late second century CE, in the National Museum of Ravenna. In any other city this would be the gem of their archaeological collections… 🏺 #AncientBluesky #egyptology

Vase in the shape of an unnecessarily detailed foot. There is a bottle mouth and handles at the top of the foot.

Vase in the shape of a foot from Rimini, dating from second half of the third century CE.

The tradition has carried on and you can still buy various everyday objects on the Rimini beachfront in the shape of bodily appendages, although not so many feet. 🏺 #AncientBluesky

Rather marvellous mosaic fragment depicting a Man Leading a Giraffe. C 5th AD; Byzantine; Eastern Mediterranean, probably Syria. Stone in mortar. In the collections of @artinstitutechi.bsky.social (inv. 1993.345). Photo is my own, taken June 2025. #MosaicMonday #AncientBluesky

Rather marvellous mosaic fragment depicting a Man Leading a Giraffe. C 5th AD; Byzantine; Eastern Mediterranean, probably Syria. Stone in mortar. In the collections of @artinstitutechi.bsky.social (inv. 1993.345). Photo is my own, taken June 2025. #MosaicMonday #AncientBluesky

An ancient Egyptian statue fragment in salt and pepper granite: A pleated kilt, belt with hieroglyphs ‘son of ra: Psammetico, beloved of Khnun, lord of the cateract’ and lower part of belly.

The fragments of an Egyptian statue were excavated in Rimini. Sergio Pernigotti argues it was taken from the Temple of Khnum in Elephantine. Another important piece of evidence for the reception of Ancient Egypt in Roman Italy. 🏺 #egyptology #AncientBluesky

Liz Truss and hard-right group accused of scaremongering over Parthenon marbles Ex-PM reportedly among those saying they will take legal action over ‘covert’ plans to return sculptures to Greece

Far right campaign to stop the long awaited return of the Parthenon Marbles which were illegally taken by Elgin and unjustly retained by Britain. You know this will be a little bit unhinged as soon as you learn Liz Truss and David Starkey are involved. 😒

Will do!

Really helpful to my research. I wondered if the ancients knew of similar stories and rechecked Toynbee’s Animals in Roman Life and Art. She notes that Appian described baboons being trained for entertainment (although not for animal husbandry) but this article is an intriguing lead.

This is amazing, thanks for sharing.

This is really interesting. I did not know about the herding. Could be something there. I think there’s a confusion between actual baboons (Papio cynocephalus) and more mythic dog-headed people, especially for Italians, who had maybe heard or read about baboons but never seen them in person.

Some years ago I read in The Times (28.11.12) that baboons were often used to mind flocks, so I wonder whether something like that was intended here? The figure has the right pose and clothing for such a role. If anyone has more baboon information I'd be delighted to know!

A figure with a dogs head with long snout and erect ears, recalling Anubis, wears a robe that shows off his pecks to best effect. He is stood in a landscape full of plants. Two other animals are partly visible in this photo: to his left the hind parts of a griffin and above him the legs of a giraffe.

The Mosaic of ‘Anubis’ from Rimini which may depict the god or more likely a dog-headed person (cynocephalus) from beyond the borders of the known world in an exoticised landscape. A complex image of Roman engagement with different cultures 🏺 #AncientBluesky #MosaicMonday

after so many years, I have finally paid my respects to the main attraction in #Leeds.

this one:

#LeedsCityMuseum

An ancient marble bust of a ‘male’ head, with no nose, which very loosely resembles the emperor Marcus Aurelius due to a beard, has been attached to a marble ‘female’ torso from the turn of the 16th century. The composite statue both looks and does not look like one piece. It has an ‘excessively long tapering neck, like that of a swan’.

The Swan (Portrait of Emperor Marcus Aurelius with a Female Bust) created by Francesco Vezzoli in 2023 from a 2nd century marble head and a much later (16th or early 17th century) Italian bust of a woman, referencing the 17th - 18th century practice of ‘restoring’ ancient sculpture, in MAMbo 🏺

From last week's visit to the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, for #ReliefWednesday, an altar dedicated to Silvanus (pictured on the altar with animals) by Aurelius, son of Marcus. From Lepenica and dated to the 3rd century CE.

#Archaeology #RomanArchaeology #AncientBlueSky 🏺