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Elizabeth Saint C @esaintc.bsky.social · Oct 3

#classicstober #classicstober25

Day 3 - The Graiai

There once were mythic sisters named Graiai,
Who shared one tooth and one eye between three,
When Perseus came near,
They shrieked in great fear
'He's taken them both! How greedy?!'

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Elizabeth Saint C @esaintc.bsky.social · Oct 2

#ClassicsTober25

Day 2 Thanatos

"[Apollon] gave him [the dead Sarpedon] into the charge of swift messengers to carry him, of Hypnos (Sleep) and Thanatos (Death), who are twin brothers, and these two presently laid him down within the rich countryside of broad Lykia."

Homer, Iliad 16.681

Thanatos (Death) and his brother Hypnos (sleep) carry away the body of Sarpedon from the battlefield of Troy.

Attic Red Figure Kalyx ca 515 BCE. Signed by Euphronius. Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC.

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Elizabeth Saint C @esaintc.bsky.social · Oct 1

#ClassicsTober2025

Day 1 - Hypnos, god of sleep.

"Yet you love sleep and salute Hypnos, the Greek god of sleep, and forget that he is death's brother"

Mahmoud Darwish, Palestinian poet.

🖼"Sleep and his Half Brother, Death", John William Waterhouse (1874, oil on canvas Private Collection

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Dr Alan Montgomery @classicalalan.bsky.social · Sep 3

This is exciting - a newly launched official Antonine Wall Trail that will help walkers to explore Britain's best Roman frontier! I will need to take a look and see how it compares to the route I took as I walked the Wall...
storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/45fd...
#WallsOnWednesday

The Antonine Wall Trail

Follow the Line of the Wall Across Central Scotland

storymaps.arcgis.com

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Nina Willburger @drnwillburger.bsky.social · Sep 3

#ReliefWednesday: A #Roman terracotta money box in the shape of a beehive, decorated with an image of Mercury, holding the caduceus (the staff carried by herolds) and a money bag.
Mercury was considered the god of financial gain and commerce, and as such...🧵1/2

🏺 #Archaeology

A dome-shaped object made of clay, featuring a carved relief of a standing male figure inside a temple-like structure with two twisted columns and a triangular pediment; the figure holds a staff entwined by two serpents in his right hand and rests his left hand on the head of a sheep or ram that stands beside him, all set against a dark background.

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The Roman Society @theromansoc.bsky.social · Sep 3

Shout out for our pop-up exhibition 'Women of Romano-British Archaeology' on display in the Hellenic and Roman Library at Senate House in London curated by Dr Tatiana Ivleva.

the-past.com/feature/expa...

#ClassicsBluesky 🏺

Expanding frontiers: Celebrating the Mothers of Romano-British studies | The Past

The early days of Romano-British research are often thought to have been dominated by male excavators, but many female archaeologists also made vital contri ...

the-past.com

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Alison Fisk @alisonfisk.bsky.social · Sep 3

Fabulous 3,500 year-old Mycenaean wooden box embellished with repoussé gold plates with lions chasing deer and antelope, among palm trees, spirals and bulls heads.

From Grave V, Grave Circle A, Mycenae, Greece. National Archaeological Museum, Athens.
📷 by me

#ReliefWednesday
#Archaeology

My photo shows a hexagonal wooden pyxis (box), the sides of which are decorated with rectangular gold plates ornamented in the ‘repoussé’ technique; that is a method of decorating metal with raised reliefs by hammering from the back. The lid of the box is wooden. Two layers of gold plates decorate the sides of the pyxis Three decorative themes are repeated: a lion in a ‘flying gallop’ position (four legs fully extended, with all feet off the ground) chases a deer, another lion in the same postion chases an antelope. Both chases take place in a tropical landscape with palm trees. A third plate design shows a running spiral pattern (not seen in my photo). This box is a unique find both because of the wood, which rarely survives from the Mycenaean period, but also because of the distinctive character of the repoussé scenes depicted.

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Elizabeth Saint C @esaintc.bsky.social · Sep 3

In London and fancy seeing/ handling objects lost by Roman citizens of Londinium? Head to the Roman Amphitheatre at Guildhall for an exhibition of things discovered by Mudlarks.

#classicsbluesky #ancientbluesky

FREE ADMISSION

6 and 7th September
10 - 4pm

www.thecityofldn.com/event/mudlar...

Mudlarking Exhibition and talks - City of London

In this exhibition within the ancient Roman amphitheatre, mudlarks will display their private collections of Roman artefacts recovered from the River Thames.

www.thecityofldn.com

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The Hellenic Society @hellenicsociety.bsky.social · Sep 3

Starts 17th September! Our new online course 'Roman Coinage in Britain' with Dr Peter Guest.

A 5-week course, 6.00pm - 7.30pm (UK time) + recordings will be available.

More info and booking at: www.hellenicandromanlibrary.org/Events/Event...

Joint course with @theRomanSoc

#ClassicsBluesky 🏺

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Elizabeth Saint C @esaintc.bsky.social · Sep 3

Even better! Prof. Ron Hutton is due to lecture about magical, mystical Hecate on 26 November 2025 at 18:00hrs GMT. Not to be missed!

Register for the online talk at the link below

#ancientbluesky #classicsbluesky

Hecate: Mistress of Magic | Gresham College share.google/2jGrCDZwRD37...

Hecate: Mistress of Magic

Hecate started as the ruling goddess of the Asian region of Caria, and got taken over by the Greeks as the only one able to operate in every realm of the cosmos. This then gave her special responsibil...

share.google

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Elizabeth Saint C @esaintc.bsky.social · Sep 3

The fabulous Prof. Ron Hutton is to give a free online lecture on the ancient Greek god Pan as part of the Gresham College Lecture series. September 17th at 18:00hrs GMT. Sign up at link below.

#classicsbluesky #ancientbluesky

The Great God Pan: Lord of the Wild share.google/fx9Xv8CnfS7v...

The Great God Pan: Lord of the Wild

Pan started as a shepherds’ god in a wild and backward area of Greece, but became one of the best-known in the Greek and Roman world. This was partly because the leading city of Athens imported him as...

share.google

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Catherine Fletcher @cathfletcher.bsky.social · Sep 1

SEPTEMBER SPECIAL!

Back to work today, but with the happy news that THE ROADS TO ROME is only 99p on Kindle all month so you can get away from it all in virtual fashion and enjoy the ancient routes.

www.amazon.co.uk/Roads-Rome-H...

Cover of THE ROADS TO ROME on a Kindle, with image of straight Roman road running between pine trees towards a distant city.

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Elizabeth Saint C @esaintc.bsky.social · Sep 3

Wonderfully creepy ❤️

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Elizabeth Saint C @esaintc.bsky.social · Aug 26

(3) Odyssey 17 (lines 300–306), translated by Robert Fagles from the original Greek

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Elizabeth Saint C @esaintc.bsky.social · Aug 26

(2) So Argos lay there dirty, covered with fleas. And when he realized Odysseus was near, he wagged his tail, and both his ears dropped back. He was too weak to move toward his master. At a distance, Odysseus had noticed, and he wiped his tears away and hid them [...]

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Elizabeth Saint C @esaintc.bsky.social · Aug 26

#InternationalDogDay

The saddest tale, the goodest boi....

(1) Argus, the faithful hound of Odysseus, was the only one to recognize Odysseus upon his return to Ithaca after 20 years. Too weak to move, he wags his tail and offers a final gaze of recognition before passing away.

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Kate Sheehan-Finn @katesfwriter.bsky.social · Jun 23

Simple black and white Roman mosaic from a corridor of a house in Hersonissos, Crete, 2nd C AD. The corridor led to the dining room. Look closely for a kantharos from which a vine emerges. Cretan wine was appreciated and exported during the Roman period.
#MosaicMonday #Archaeology #AncientBlueSky

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RoaminTheEmpire @roamintheempire.bsky.social · Jun 23

For #MosaicMonday, from my recent visit to the Archaeological Museum of Split, the central panel of a large floor mosaic depicting Orpheus among the animals. From the provincial governor's house at Salona. Dated to the 2nd century CE.

#Archarology #RomanArchaeology #AncientBlueSky 🏺

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Jon Hawke @archaeohawke.bsky.social · Jun 23

#MosaicMonday

#Roman mosaic with struggle between Eros and Pan, 3rd century AD. Archaeological Museum of Cordoba, #Spain.
(See Alt for more details)

#artwork #History
#Archaeology #AncientBlueSky🏺

The mosaic depicts the struggle between Cupid and Pan to signify the triumph of love on the wound side.

The mosaic of the Ronda de los Tejares in Cordoba is part of the floor of a perhaps third-century Roman house.

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Jon Hawke @archaeohawke.bsky.social · Jun 23

#MosaicMonday 👀

Achilles is adored by princesses of Skyros, a scene from the #Iliad where #Odysseus discovers him dressed as a woman and hiding among the princesses at the royal court of Skyros.

A late
#Roman mosaic from La Olmeda, Spain, 4th-5th centuries AD.
#Classics #History #AncientBlueSky🏺

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Craig Barker @drcraigb.bsky.social · Jun 23

Something fishy for #mosaicmonday
Mosaic panel featuring a fish and partridge behind it. From the House of Eustolios at Kourion in Cyprus, late 4th century CE.
The Christian iconography is matched by inscription mosaics proclaiming Eustolios' faith. #ancientbluesky 🏺

Roman floor mosaic panel. In the lower section of the photograph is a rectangular panel showing a fish. Above it in the image and separated by intricate geometric patterns is a square panel with a partridge. Both animals are facing towards the left.

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The Partial Historians 🏺 @partialhistorians.bsky.social · Jun 23

🦁🐆 It’s lion versus leopard this #MosaicMonday! This stunning scene comes from the Casa delle Colombe a mosaico at Pompeii.

It seems the lion truly has the upper hand, standing over the prone leopard. The power of the lion’s claws are matched by its direct stare at the viewer.

#AncientBluesky🏺

In this mosaic scene a lion stands dominantly over a leopard. The leopard has been injured by the lion and is gazing up fearfully towards the lion. The lion stares out of the frame at the viewer. The two big cats are in a varied landscape of trees and water’s edge. Now held at MAN Napoli (inv. no. 114282).

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James Heath @mumblerjamie.bsky.social · Jun 23

#MosaicMonday and my entry is from I Colori dei Romani at Centrale Montemartini.

Here we have Europa and the Bull from a burial chamber at the Via Ostiense necropolis, as well as the plant decoration from the threshold of the same burial chamber.

#AncientBlueSky🏺

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romanbritain.bsky.social @romanbritain.bsky.social · Jun 23

#MosaicMonday

Orpheus theme #mosiac, excavated from Barton Farm, Cirencester. The mosaic likely dates to the 4th century CE, a period when such imagery was popular in villa decoration across #RomanBritain.

#Archaeology
#AncientBlueSky🏛️
#History

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Dr Pat Witts @wittspat.bsky.social · Jun 23

Got so caught up analysing this that I forgot to add:
#MosaicMonday
#AncientBlueSky 🏺

Dr Pat Witts @wittspat.bsky.social · Jun 23

Continuing from last week's look at the mosaic in Room B at Frampton, another compartment shows this couple. Suggested identifications have included Attis and a nymph, Venus and Adonis, Paris and Oenone, or Paris and Venus. 1/4

A detail from a coloured engraving of a Roman mosaic shows a male figure seated on the left, wearing the typical attire of a shepherd including a Phrygian cap. His right hand rests on top of a staff and he holds a syrinx in his left hand, near his right knee; his right leg is crossed (somewhat awkwardly!) over his left leg. On the right, a female figure is standing, looking at the male, with her right arm outstretched in his direction, as if speaking to him. Her torso is naked but her legs are draped and she wears a cloak over her left shoulder, wound around her left arm.

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