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@oz-of-the-ancients.bsky.social Oct 5, 2026, 11:59 AM

Here's a new one for #MosaicMonday - this one is thought to depict the hunters Atalanta and Meleager, heading off to hunt the Calydonian boar

From 4th century AD, found near Burgos, Northern Spain

📍Now in the Burgos Museum

📸 Mine 🏺 #archaeology #ancientbluesky

Close up of a damaged mosaic showing three figures standing and holding various implements

@anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social Oct 5, 2026, 11:09 AM

For #MosaicMonday, a c. 60-50 BCE #mosaic floor from the basis villæ, the Late Republican core of Hadrian's Villa. If his wife Vibia #Sabina inherited this estate, her Antonine relatives held a 200-year connection to these local stones, unified by descent rather than adoption. #AncientBluesky 🏺

GEOMETRIC MOSAIC FLOOR, C. 60-50 BCE. BASIS VILLÆ, HADRIAN'S VILLA

A Late Republican mosaic floor in the basis villæ, the original nucleus of Hadrian's Villa, an area long closed to the public. The floor features a tricolour geometric pattern creating a woven trompe l'oeil effect. Rectangular blocks of reddish-brown stone tesseræ are arranged symmetrically around small squares of white stone, sharply delineated by rows of dark grey tesseræ. Dating to c. 60-50 BCE, this elegant mosaic floor in tesseræ of local materials contrasts with Hadrian's C2 expansion that embellished the estate with polychrome marble from across the empire. A widely-held theory suggests Hadrian chose this site because his wife, Vibia Sabina, inherited this older villa. Her mother Matidia, niece of Trajan, was the ancestress of the Antonine dynasty, and if the inheritance of this villa passed through her, then all the emperors from Hadrian to Commodus could claim this as a family property stretching back over two centuries.

@sistoryhistory.bsky.social Oct 5, 2026, 9:13 AM

A #mosaicmonday from the House of the Birds at the ancient roman site of Itálica - birthplace of the Emperor Hadrian. Particularly loving the proud peacock second from bottom, strutting confidently into the week 🦚.

#archeology #classicsbluesky #ancientbluesky #hadrian
#ancientrome

@romanpiso.bsky.social Oct 5, 2026, 12:40 AM

#Discover @paulinsc.bsky.social #NewTestament #RomanEmpire #AncientHistory #AncientBlueSky

The actual Roman authors of the New Testament:

@drjeball.bsky.social Oct 4, 2026, 10:44 PM

A beautiful #Roman glass bottle, in green & gold with small patches of blue - a lovely thing, although I suspect the original owner would be stunned to know that it had survived nearly 2000 years, & was now on display to the public... #Archaeology #AncientBlueSky

@gnomai.com Oct 4, 2026, 8:16 PM

Μὴ μύρα, μὴ στεφάνους λιθίναις στήλαισι χαρίζου,
μηδὲ τὸ πῦρ φλέξῃς· ἐς κενὸν ἡ δαπάνη.
ζῶντί μοι, εἴ τι θέλεις, χάρισαι· τέφρην δὲ μεθύσκων
πηλὸν ποιήσεις, κοὐχ ὁ θανὼν πίεται.

(Anonymous, _Greek Anthology_ XI.8, ed. Paton)

#AncientBlueSky #ClassicsBlueSky #BlueSkyClassics

@quatrus.bsky.social Oct 4, 2026, 3:17 PM

You might consider adding the #AncientBlueSky tag to your posts, which would cause them to show up on the Classics list?

@romanpiso.bsky.social Oct 4, 2026, 2:27 PM

#Discover #BannedBooksWeek @paulinsc.bsky.social #Books #Read #Reads #Reading #CreatingChristianity #HenryDavis #PisoChrist #RomanPiso #booksky #BookSky💙📚 #Christianity #BibleBelt #WhiteChristianNationalism #WritingandBooks #literature #AncientHistory #AncientBlueSky #What'sHistory🗃️ #EduSky🍎 #Jesus

@matthiashoernes.bsky.social Oct 4, 2026, 2:00 PM

Miniatures steal the show! A tiny krater and table from a cult space in a house beside Selinunte’s Agora, alongside an extraordinary terracotta assemblage, an altar, and a sacrificial installation. On display in the brilliant exhibition on the German agora excavations.🏺 #AncientBlueSky #archaeology

@maskflowerprince.bsky.social Oct 4, 2026, 12:18 PM

For #stunday. Trying to capture the enormity of the Pyramids of Giza (2004). #Pyramids #Egypt #Giza #photography #ruins #AncientBlueSky #archaeology #travelphotography #AncientSiteSunday #SundayStonework #EastCoastKin #ECK #WCK

This photo captures a close-up, low-angle view of the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. The shot emphasizes the massive, weathered limestone blocks that make up the pyramid's base and tiers, showing significant erosion and a rugged texture.

@anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social Oct 4, 2026, 11:38 AM

Necessity is spolia's iron law. For #SpoliaSunday we examine a C4-C2 BCE Etruscan nenfro sarcophagus in Viterbo. Likely unearthed during C13 works, it was reused for a papal potentate, much like Pope Alexander IV, then ruthlessly reused again until its identity was lost. #AncientBluesky 🏺

ETRUSCAN SARCOPHAGUS, C4-C2 BCE, REUSED IN THE C12-C13 CE. MUSEI DEL COLLE DEL DUOMO, VITERBO

In an excavated corridor in a building beside the Duomo of Viterbo, an ancient Etruscan sarcophagus lies in situ. Roughly carved from nenfro, a local grey volcanic stone, it features a massive gabled lid designed to imitate a pitched roof. In this case the peak of the lid has been abraded away, probably to fit the available space, and the lid itself is broken and partially missing, revealing a human skull and some scattered bones. Originally carved between the C4 and C2 BCE, it was likely unearthed on the cathedral slopes during medieval building works. Since a similar nenfro sarcophagus famously concealed the corpse of Alexander IV in 1261, this box was probably initially repurposed for a mid-C13 papal official. Yet necessity is spolia's iron law. No one dead is important enough to resist the requirements of the living. The tomb was ruthlessly reused, breaking the lid in the process, and the skull inside belongs only to its final, unknown occupant.

@romanpiso.bsky.social Oct 4, 2026, 4:15 AM

#Discover @paulinsc.bsky.social #AtheistSky #Atheist/Atheism #EduSky🍎 #NewTestament #Bible #Gospels #Read #Reads #📰News #Anthropology/Archaeology #Ancient #AncientHistory #What'sHistory🗃️ #History #AncientBlueSky

@anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social Oct 3, 2026, 8:12 PM

The law of the jungle. For #SarcophagusSaturday, a C3 #sarcophagus a lenòs at #palazzoVenezia. Unlike variants where a trainer restrains the beast to show #virtus, this #lion devours its prey. It reflects the cruelty of nature, matching the anxieties of a fractured Roman empire. #AncientBluesky 🏺

$STRIGILATED SARCOPHAGUS A LENOS, C3. PALAZZO VENEZIA In the sunlit garden loggia of the C15 palazzo Venezia, this unlabelled and uncatalogued sarcophagus a lenòs waits unobtrusively for our attention. A simple version of a widespread C3 style, it shows no personalisation. The main front features S-curved strigilation, with flutes meeting at the centre to form a blank mandorla. The curved right end displays a stylised lion with a mane elaborately coiffed like a C18 wig, grasping a small hoofed animal in its paws and jaws. Its pupils focus directly on us, menacingly indicating its preference for dining alone. Enough of the partially obscured left end is visible to confirm a matching relief. While some variants show a human trainer holding back the lion to represent virtus, this version focuses on the cruelty of nature. The weak are brutally devoured by the stronger, an understandable attitude toward death in the fractured and violent C3.$

@roamintheempire.bsky.social Oct 3, 2026, 12:53 PM

New post this week! The first of two on ancient Faesulae (modern Fiesole). Originally an Etruscan city, it was later destroyed and colonized by Sulla in the 1st century BCE:

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

#RomanSiteSaturday #Archaeology #RomanArchaeology #AncientBlueSky🏺

@drjeball.bsky.social Oct 2, 2026, 11:18 PM

A #Roman pie or pastry mould in the shape of a pig - probably used to create a 'showstopper' dish for a dinner party, some 2000 years ago

#Archaeology #AncientBlueSky

@classicsgc.bsky.social Oct 2, 2026, 7:13 PM

Our department's second lecture of the fall semester! You MUST RSVP for this, whether you plan to attend in person or online.

#ClassicsGC #HumanitiesGC #AncientBluesky #ClassicsBluesky #BlueskyClassics CUNY Graduate Center

Tan and black flyer for the CUNY Graduate Center's 2026 Classics Program Lecture Series, featuring Prof. Nicole Lopez-Jantzen, Associate Professor of History at Borough of Manhattan Community College, titled "Goths, Huns, and Romans: Race and Gender at the End of the Western Empire, in the Historical Writings of Ammianus Marcellinus and Jordanes," with her photo, a talk description, and event details for Thursday, Oct 23rd, 5:30 PM EST, Room 3114 or via Zoom, RSVP to RKousser@gc.cuny.edu.

@camhawkins.bsky.social Oct 2, 2026, 11:55 AM

…which he expressed mostly by commissioning some really cool building projects, like his subterranean aqueduct, a new channel for the mighty Eridanos River, and of course the precinct and temple of Olympian Zeus!

#AncientBlueSky #Classics

@havetoga.bsky.social Oct 2, 2026, 11:53 AM