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The Partial Historians 🏺 @partialhistorians.bsky.social · 7h

I love many shades of green-blue and this one is right up there! I hope I get the chance to see it in person one day ☺️

The Partial Historians 🏺 @partialhistorians.bsky.social · 7h

An acting troupe and their aulos player are our pick this #MosaicMonday. This panel comes from the House of the Tragic Poet, Pompeii and is held by the MAN Napoli. The sense of festivity is a delight!

#AncientRome

The panel depicts seven figures who appear to be getting ready for a play. One wears a theatrical mask pushed up onto their crown, one plays the aulos, while another figure sits before a tray of masks - this figure may be a choregos. The touches of light blue in the borders adds a sense of lightness to the scene.

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The Partial Historians 🏺 @partialhistorians.bsky.social · 13h

An elegant household addition 😅

Reposted by The Partial Historians 🏺

The Partial Historians 🏺 @partialhistorians.bsky.social · 1d

To enter the Underworld, first you must cross the river Styx. Charon will be your guide. This interpretation by Flemish painter Joachim Patinir is our pick for #ClassicsTober25 Day 12: Styx. With these delightful blues and greens, the entrance to the other side looks positively delightful…

‘Landscape with Charon Crossing the Styx’ is an oil on wood painting dating to c. 1515–1524, held by the Museo del Prado, Madrid. The Styx is depicted as an aquamarine river that shimmers under a blue sky dotted with clouds. Charon is a bearded man with not many clothes but enough to cover his modesty. The far bank on the right has burning buildings and thunderous clouds.

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The Partial Historians 🏺 @partialhistorians.bsky.social · 1d

To enter the Underworld, first you must cross the river Styx. Charon will be your guide. This interpretation by Flemish painter Joachim Patinir is our pick for #ClassicsTober25 Day 12: Styx. With these delightful blues and greens, the entrance to the other side looks positively delightful…

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The Partial Historians 🏺 @partialhistorians.bsky.social · 2d

Likewise! The intricate details and play of colour are fantastic

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The Partial Historians 🏺 @partialhistorians.bsky.social · 3d

Hecate for #ClassicsTober25 - although a minor figure in the magnificent Jupiter and Semele by Gustave Moreau - Hecate’s presence as a chthonic goddess is significant to this work.

Who should wait patiently in the shadows? Hecate stands ready to meet Semele.

#AncientRome #History

Description of the painting from Wikipedia: “ It depicts a moment from the classical myth of the mortal woman Semele, mother of the god Dionysus, and her lover, Jupiter, the king of the gods. She was treacherously advised by the goddess Juno, Jupiter's wife, to ask him to appear to her in all his divine splendor. He obliged, but, in so doing, brought about her violent death by his divine thunder and lightning.”

Detail from Jupiter and Semele showing Hecate with the crescent moon crown in the lower left corner.

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The Partial Historians 🏺 @partialhistorians.bsky.social · 4d

Sounds like an excellent trip all round ☺️

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Reposted by The Partial Historians 🏺

Dr Pat Witts @wittspat.bsky.social · 4d

I've been travelling and have a feast of phalli to share over the following weeks! We'll start with an old favourite. This one often appears here, but I've added some photos showing its context for those who might not have the chance to visit. 1/2
#PhallusThursday

A paved area of a Roman building runs from the foreground to the rear, with the phallus stone approximately at the centre of the picture. The paved area is set within grass, with a low outer wall. Towards upper right are some modern steps leading down into the Roman building. The remains of the Roman entrance are in front of them.

A close-up view of the phallus symbol. It is in a circular border carved in relief within a roughly square slab. The phallus is pointing to the right and is not placed centrally within the circle.

A paved area of a Roman building runs from the foreground towards the rear, with the phallus stone approximately at the centre of the picture. The paved area is set within grass, with low walls to the rear and around. The walls at the rear are the remains of the inner rooms of the Headquarters Building.

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The Partial Historians 🏺 @partialhistorians.bsky.social · 4d

Oooo exciting times!

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The Partial Historians 🏺 @partialhistorians.bsky.social · 4d

I think the oak wreath with the round shield may have cinched the deal for them. I’m not a cameo expert by any means so open to potential dates on this piece!

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Reposted by The Partial Historians 🏺

The Institute of Classical Studies @ics.bsky.social · 5d

Registration now open for our upcoming 3D Spring School: shorturl.at/GpY8r

3D Imaging and Modelling for Classics and Cultural Heritage
13-17 April 2026

This in-person course will introduce you to issues, methods and technologies in the 3D imaging and modelling of ancient artefacts and buildings.

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Reposted by The Partial Historians 🏺

"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 4d

Classics hivemind! I have in my head that there's a passage somewhere where a ruler (a Roman emperor?) comes across a woman tilling her own fields and orders some arrangement to be made for her?

I don't know if I am imagining it, but I can't find it again. Wonder if anyone recognizes it?

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The Partial Historians 🏺 @partialhistorians.bsky.social · 4d

That’s got a lot going on 😅

The Partial Historians 🏺 @partialhistorians.bsky.social · 4d

Yes it is - provenance listed as unknown which doesn’t bode well

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The Partial Historians 🏺 @partialhistorians.bsky.social · 4d

#PhallusThursday is correct, swiftly followed by #FannyFriday ☺️

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The Partial Historians 🏺 @partialhistorians.bsky.social · 4d

The re-carved faces and the frame are later aspects of this piece but the Romans certainly weren’t past kitsch 😅

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The Partial Historians 🏺 @partialhistorians.bsky.social · 4d

Very similar vibes 🤣

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The Partial Historians 🏺 @partialhistorians.bsky.social · 5d

Witness Augustus as you’ve never seem him, re-sculptured to look nothing like himself!

The scene is ostensibly Augustus driving a chariot of Tritons. The imagery includes Tritons holding a shield with an oak wreath (thought to be the clipeus virtutis) and Victoria.

#ReliefWednesday #AncientRome

Description from Kunsthistorisches Museum: “The cameo shows Augustus, clad in a toga – the heads of the figures are all modern – viewed from the front in a chariot being pulled through the sea by Tritons. The triumphant naval victor holds a branch in his right hand and a sceptre in his left. An oak wreath is attached to the parapet of the chariot, and a shell is attached to the end of the handle. While the two middle Tritons – one holding a horn in his right, the other a dolphin in his left – each raise an arm symmetrically as if pointing at Augustus, the two outer Tritons carry the symbols of his reign in front of him: the left holds a globe, on which a shield with an oak wreath (clipeus virtutis) flanked by two ibexes, and the right shows Victoria floating on the globe. The cameo was probably created soon after 27 BCE, when Augustus was awarded the oak wreath, which - together with the ibex - was also engraved on the back of the stone in the 16th century.”

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The Partial Historians 🏺 @partialhistorians.bsky.social · 5d

Oooo beautiful!

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The Partial Historians 🏺 @partialhistorians.bsky.social · 5d

Thank you! It’s such an arresting painting ☺️

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The Partial Historians 🏺 @partialhistorians.bsky.social · 6d

‘The Magic Circle’ 1886 by John William Waterhouse is our pick for φαρμακίς ‘witch, sorceress’ #ClassicsTober25

This painting captures the power and potential of harnessing a knowledge of nature to achieve certain ends. Could this be Medea, Circe or yet another powerful ancient figure? #Witch

Description from the Tate: “The woman in this picture appears to be a witch or priestess, endowed with magic powers, possibly the power of prophecy. Her dress and general appearance is highly eclectic, and is derived from several sources – her hairstyle is like that of an early Anglo-Saxon; and her dress is decorated with Persian or Greek warriors. In her left hand she holds a crescent-shaped sickle, linking her with the moon and Hecate. With the wand in her right hand she draws a protective magic circle round her. Outside the circle the landscape is bare and barren; a group of rooks or ravens and a frog - all symbols of evil and associated with witchcraft - are excluded. But within its confines are flowers and the woman herself, objects of beauty.”

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The Partial Historians 🏺 @partialhistorians.bsky.social · 7d

Hector for #MosaicMonday?

Very little is known about this mosaic including the provenance, but the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna offers a tentative date of C1st–C2nd CE and the tantalising hint that this may be part of a Trojan War cycle depicting Hector.

#AncientRome #AncientGreece #TrojanWar

Mosaic depicts five warriors. The left-most figure appears to be able to throw a javelin with his shield raised in his other hand. He is seemingly watched by three others who stand ready but not about to throw anything. A fifth figure can be seen about to take action though the nature of the action is not clear.

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The Partial Historians 🏺 @partialhistorians.bsky.social · 8d

Hermes Psychopompos for #ClassicsTober25

This plaster sculpture entitled ‘Hermes Psychopomp’ by Dervis Yusuf Akdemir combines a Greek classical style portrait head with cut out sections. Does it really feel like you should trust this guy with your journey to the underworld?? Not sure we would!

A plaster statue of a Greek figure labelled as Hermes with slices taken out of it on both sides of the face.

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The Partial Historians 🏺 @partialhistorians.bsky.social · 8d

Obviously a novel pitch set for success 😅