🏰 Ben Paites 🏛️
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benpaites.bsky.social
🏰 Ben Paites 🏛️
@benpaites.bsky.social
Senior Curator at Colchester Museums. Mainly Roman archaeology and LGBTQ+ history. Also cat dad to Artemis and enthusiastic Gaymer. He/Him

Author of 50 LGBTQ+ Finds: https://www.amberley-books.com/50-lgbtq-finds.html

Website: https://www.ben-paites.com
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Today is the day! My book is finally available to buy. After years of work, I’m so excited to finally share it with the world! But this isn’t the end. I will be promoting the book across the country over the next year, so stay tuned for more info.
#BookLaunch
Colchester Castle is full of graffiti. Many of it in the form of names, but there are plenty of drawings too. This ship was carved into one of the gaol cell doors. Sadly these can’t be dated, but the door is over 300 years old.
December 9, 2025 at 8:26 AM
Reposted by 🏰 Ben Paites 🏛️
Some objects are coy, but these ones wink. A Roman charm that really takes off, a medieval figure with nothing to hide, a pot that makes a race rather racy, and the Castle’s finest seat in the house, all after a loving adopter. From £10: colchester.cimuseums.org.uk/adoptanobject
December 8, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Santa round 2 this morning.
December 7, 2025 at 11:55 AM
Reposted by 🏰 Ben Paites 🏛️
🎉 SOLIDARITY SATURNALIA! 🎉

IO SATURNALIA! Our annual festive giveaway is here!

12 bundles of gifts, and all you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is:
🎄Follow us,
🎄Repost this thread,
🎄And fill out this form: forms.gle/zMcHKZqGNC...

Read on for prizes and T&Cs (UK&I only)...🧵
December 6, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Reposted by 🏰 Ben Paites 🏛️
The Warren Cup at the British Museum today, an ancient Greco-Roman silver drinking cup decorated in relief with two images of male same-sex acts. It was purchased by the British Museum for £1.8 million in 1999, the most expensive single purchase by the museum at that time. 🗃️🏺
December 6, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Cats are always found in the ruins of civilisation. Coincidence…?
December 6, 2025 at 10:33 AM
Reposted by 🏰 Ben Paites 🏛️
Today at 2PM in London I'll be at the wonderful @queerbritain.bsky.social talking about myths, monsters and all the gay things that go bump in the night...
🧜‍♂️🏳️‍⚧️👹🏳️‍🌈👻
See you there?
www.outsavvy.com/event/31166/...
December 6, 2025 at 10:25 AM
Reposted by 🏰 Ben Paites 🏛️
When we took some objects off display the other day, they left a strange object shadow in their display case. #MuseumOfShadows
December 5, 2025 at 9:16 AM
When we took some objects off display the other day, they left a strange object shadow in their display case. #MuseumOfShadows
December 5, 2025 at 9:16 AM
Reposted by 🏰 Ben Paites 🏛️
Please sign, if you haven't already: www.change.org/p/allow-tran...
Sign the Petition
Allow transgender women and girls back into GirlGuiding UK
www.change.org
December 3, 2025 at 1:56 PM
One of the many perks of the job is, when researchers come in to look at objects, we get to take things off display. These objects from the Lexden Roman tumulus are being analysed for their metal composition.
December 3, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Reposted by 🏰 Ben Paites 🏛️
Can you lovely lot song and share this around please

@greenparty.org.uk
@zackpolanski.bsky.social

www.change.org/p/allow-tran...
Sign the Petition
Allow transgender women and girls back into GirlGuiding UK
www.change.org
December 2, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Reposted by 🏰 Ben Paites 🏛️
If you're in striking distance of Chester on the 15th of January, come and hear me talk about the tangled topic of women and the Roman arena at the beautiful Grosvenor Museum. Tickets available below: visitcheshire.com/events/women...
Women of the Roman Arena | Visit Chester & Cheshire
Join ancient historian Alexandra Sills as she uncovers the forgotten story of female gladiators in Rome's most masculine arena.
visitcheshire.com
December 2, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Helmingham Hall is magical this time of year!
December 2, 2025 at 8:58 PM
I’ve somehow wangled my way into the thumbnail too! This is a great documentary about the history of migration in Essex. Yours truly give a very short intro to the Roman impact on the county.
Signals, a Colchester creative digital learning charity, has released a new documentary from its three‑year “Peoples of Essex” project, tracing arrivals from early humans to today. Early on, our curator Ben Paites introduces Roman Colchester. Watch: youtu.be/Obb2wbC3bag?...
Peoples of Essex Documentary
Peoples of Essex Exhibition and Documentary Series Peoples of Essex is an exhibition and documentary project exploring the history of migration and settlement in Essex. From early humans arriving…
youtu.be
December 2, 2025 at 3:15 PM
In Cambridge for something so had to stop off for a late breakfast at Fitzbillies (too early for Chelsea Buns for me).
December 1, 2025 at 10:14 AM
Festive season has official begun 🎅🏻🎄
November 30, 2025 at 3:01 PM
I’ve been screaming for an Assassin’s Creed series set in Ancient Rome for years (we got close with Origins), and now theyre making a series?! 😒 movieweb.com/netflix-assa...
a man in a hooded jacket says malaka in a video game scene
Alt: a woman in a white hooded jacket says malaka in a video game scene. Waves move behind.
media.tenor.com
November 29, 2025 at 11:24 AM
Had a very busy day yesterday doing something exciting and we had the opportunity to get this gorgeous Kingfisher out from the stores. 🤴🎣
November 28, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Having been on Sacha’s video game tour of the British Museum more than once, this is going to be epic!
The Meowth is out of the bag.

I am currently researching and writing my next book, 'Space Invaders' a queer history of videogames.

Just like 'Queer As Folklore' this is a subject very very close to my heart. It's very bloody exciting. What a lucky sod!

Thanks @manchesterup.bsky.social!
November 27, 2025 at 8:37 PM
Reposted by 🏰 Ben Paites 🏛️
The Meowth is out of the bag.

I am currently researching and writing my next book, 'Space Invaders' a queer history of videogames.

Just like 'Queer As Folklore' this is a subject very very close to my heart. It's very bloody exciting. What a lucky sod!

Thanks @manchesterup.bsky.social!
November 27, 2025 at 9:51 AM
Colour!? In prehistory!? What novelty!
Tres bien!
New reconstruction of a neolithic house at the Samara Parc Archéologique:
www.facebook.com/samaraparcar...
November 27, 2025 at 8:30 PM
The @mercurytheatre.bsky.social have just released the cast list for the upcoming Manningtree Witches play. Nothing beats the OG cast though.
November 25, 2025 at 12:56 PM
The @mercurytheatre.bsky.social have just released the cast list for the upcoming Manningtree Witches play. Nothing beats the OG cast though.
November 25, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Reposted by 🏰 Ben Paites 🏛️
In case you missed it, in the October episode of the Bethnal Archives I discuss the history of the witch trials and the significance of Colchester in this period of speculation and fear. youtu.be/lgnM56MCLqk?...
The Real Reasons The Witch Trials Happened| Ben Paites | Bethnal Archives Podcast
YouTube video by Bethnal Archives
youtu.be
November 21, 2025 at 3:27 PM