emily 🏹🕯️🖤

book i really need is missing from the library. today in my MA struggle chronicles

i did! republican women get so little attention, so it was really welcome!

just finished reading Fulvia by @jldraycott.bsky.social !! yet another welcome addition to my beloved collection of biographies about Roman women

found a book in a bibliography that doesn’t seem to exist. i love academia

they’ve been threatening us with that gal gadot cleopatra movie for what feels like years. is that still happening? can we forget about it yet?

This is why universities are “the enemy”, why the arts need to be defunded, why humanities degrees are a “waste of time”.

You cannot have authoritarianism without manipulating history first.

In this wall painting from a villa in Herculaneum, priests and worshippers in Egyptian costume celebrate a water ritual for the goddess Isis at the foot of a grand staircase leading to a temple. An altar stands in the foreground, and statues of sphinxes on pedestals flank the temple's entrance. The head priest, clad all in white, holds up a golden vessel, which does not touch his skin (his hands are covered by the white garment), and two rows of worshippers are on either side of the staircase. At the bottom, a collection of priests and priestesses clap and hold up sistrums (rattles), so this would have been a joyously loud ceremony. One priest tends to the fire on the altar, which is decked with garlands, with two black and white ibises lounging in front of the scene. One priest with a crown of leaves plays the tibia (double pipe) while sitting on the ground in the foreground - is this the same priest that disguised himself as Bes in the other painting?). The presence of ibises and palm trees helps locate the scene in Egypt. Roman, 62-79 CE From a villa in Herculaneum (house/villa not recorded) Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples, 8924

One of two panels from Herculaneum depicting different moments of a ceremony that unfolds on and in front of the podium of a temple (of Isis), preceded by the altar and surrounded by palm trees, garlands, crowns, and ibises. Priests distinguished by their clothes and different attributes are engaged in different moments of the same religious function that unfolds between two wings of worshippers. A golden vase is presented and then carried to the altar in the foreground;here, a priest disguised as a dark-skinned god Bes performs a ritual dance while carrying a palm branch and wearing a crown of leaves. This is probably the solemn ceremony of the inventio Osiridis described by Plutarch, in which the symbol of the god was the water contained in the golden vase. Roman, early 1st century CE. From Herculaneum, a house or villa near the Theatre. Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli (MANN inv. 8919)

For a late #FrescoFriday, superb paintings from #Herculaneum depicting a ceremony at the temple of Isis, with palm trees, Ibises, and priests and priestesses, some with sistrums (rattles). A priest disguised as the god Bes performs a ritual dance on the podium steps. 🏺 1/

1st c. CE, #MANN

#AncientSiteSunday - Gadara (Umm Qais) in Jordan is a Hellenistic city founded by the Ptolemies. Under Roman rule, it became one of the semi-autonomous cities of the Decapolis and prospered in the 2nd century AD with large-scale public building works.
followinghadrianphotography.com/2020/09/27/g...

We will publish the letter tomorrow. Still time to share widely and directly! tinyurl.com/2rcmmm2e
On this Land Day, let’s keep fighting for Palestinian self-determination, right of return, freedom, happiness🔑🫒✊
Eid Mubarak everyone🌙
#wacwithoutapartheid #wac #wac10 #wacaustralia #archaeology #🏺

EXTENDED DEADLINE: Join over 300 archaeologists & cultural heritage workers worldwide. Sign the open letter to WAC, urging them to pledge no ties with apartheid Israel or its complicit institutions. WAC respected the boycott of apartheid South Africa in 1986. Why not now?
#Archaeology #🏺

happy birthday Ovid!

a pic of his statue in his hometown of Sulmona, Abruzzo 🖤

Rare fresco discovered in Pompeii shows type of woman who 'breaks free from male order to dance freely, go hunting and eat raw meat in the mountains' Archaeologists have brought to light an enormous fresco depicting a secretive cult practice in Pompeii.

New frescos unveiled at Pompeii today rival those at the Villa of the Mysteries! 🧪🏺

The relief shows the standing emperor Caracalla in armour, resting his right hand on a victory monument (tropaion) - a tree trunk set up, "dressed" in a tunic and a hat on which hangs the weapons taken as symbols of victory. At the base of the tropaion sit a pair of bound captives looking up at the emperor. Next to Caracalla, his mother Julia Domna is standing in a characteristic wig; she crowns the emperor with a laurel crown, while holding a palm leaf in her left hand.

#ReliefWednesday - Relief of the emperor Caracalla, crowned by his mother Julia Domna in the guise of Victory, resting his right hand on a tropaion: ca. AD 214-217, likely from Roman Syria. #AncientBluesky 🏺

Image: National Museum, Warsaw (139678 MNW). Link - cyfrowe.mnw.art.pl/en/catalog/4...

Roman mosaic of a black 'jackal-like' dog, wearing a white collar with a red lead around its neck. The dog's red tongue protrudes from its mouth *blerp*.

"...a bit with a dog - that's what they want".

Discovered #OnThisDay - 23 February - in 1875 in the House of Orpheus, Pompeii (VI.14.20); the same house yielded up the (in)famous plaster cast of the chained dog. #Pompeii #Dog 🏺

Image: National Archaeological Museum, Naples (110666)

one day i will inherit approximately 40 olive trees and currently that is my entire reason for living

well! that was certainly interesting

Obverse of a Roman Denarius: Wreathed head of Caesar, right. Lituus and Culullus in the left of the field. Border of dots.

#OnThisDay - 14 February - in 44 BC the 'Lupercalia Incident' occurred. Mark Antony attempted to present Caesar with a diadem – a symbol of kingship. A moment of deep political resonance and one which hastened Caesar's downfall. #Caesar 🏺

Image: RRC 480/3. Link - numismatics.org/crro/id/rrc-...

#FrescoFriday - Discovered 20 February 1851 at the Scavo del Principe di Montenegro, Pompeii (VII.16.10), a scene that is typically identified as Omphale, the Lydian Queen, looking down on a drunken Hercules . #Pompeii #AncientBluesky 🏺

Image: National Archaeological Museum, Naples (9000)

very me thing to notice, but the pretense of ‘accuracy’ of roman clothing seems only to apply to men in modern film. for women it’s more about them looking good through a modern lens. and i really think that’s a shame

lucius wants to fuck that doctor

trying to turn off my brain to watch gladiator 2

my (american) flatmate boiled milk in our kettle ☹️

back at uni to finish my MA 🫡🫡

Claudius and the #Praetorian Guard.

A #gold aureus of Claudius (41-54). The reverse depicts #Emperor Claudius greeting a Praetorian signifer and the legend "praetorians received"
Lyon mint (44-45AD)
AncientBlueSky🏺🪙
#artwork #Roman #History #Coins

A Roman gold coin. Obverse: Confronting busts of Nero, bare, head bare, facing right and Agrippina, draped, hair in long plait at back, facing left. Reverse: Inscription within oak-wreath.

"Happy Birthday, Nero!"

#OnThisDay - 15 December - in AD 37 Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus was born. Following his adoption by Claudius he would be Nero Claudius Caesar, reigning as emperor AD 54-68. #AncientBluesky 🏺

Image: RIC Nero 1; BM (1864,1128.252). Link - numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric....

#OnThisDay - 16 December - in 19 BC the Altar to Fortuna Redux (Fortune the Home-Bringer) was dedicated. It celebrated Augustus' return to Rome after a three-year absence (Dio 54.10.1-3). #AncientBluesky 🏺

Image: RIC Augustus 53a; MK Berlin (18206797). Link - numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric....

Did most Roman gladiator fights end in death? Gladiatorial contests are often depicted as bloody and brutal battles to the death, with only the most valiant fighters allowed to survive. But how true is this?

Fortunately, the defeated gladiator would have a relatively good chance of being spared, as most gladiatorial fights did not end with the defeat of the defeated fighter (although they would be vulnerable to dying of infection from any wounds sustained)

www.badancient.com/claims/gladi...

Happy December!

December was originally the 10th month in the Roman calendar (from Latin decem = ten). When the calendar was reformed to add January and February, December became the 12th month but retained its name.

Now looking forward to the Saturnalia celebrations! 🌟🌟🌟

i thought the gladiator would gladiate more than he gladiated. many anachronisms but i see why the film is so iconic

the lack of understanding of roman women’s fashion in media makes me craazy