Simon Bralee
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simonbralee.com
Simon Bralee
@simonbralee.com
Advocate for arts and humanities. I believe in the importance of sharing the stories of research to create impact outside of universities. Comms professional and history postgrad researching Anubis in the Roman World. 🏛️🐍
He/him
That’ll do pig. A small bronze figurine of a boar, rendered so realistically you can see the scowl on its face and the individual hair and bristles shaped almost like a porcine combover.

From Colchester, Roman period.

#AncientBluesky
January 22, 2026 at 8:45 PM
Reposted by Simon Bralee
A certain Iron Age boar has been attracting attention recently, so for this #MosaicMonday here's a perky Roman boar. He's from the wonderful Triumph of Neptune and the Seasons mosaic from La Chebba, now in the Bardo in Tunis, and he represents Winter.
#AncientBlueSky 🏺
January 19, 2026 at 10:36 AM
Reposted by Simon Bralee
👣 Love this Bowl with Human Feet which is almost 6,000 years old! Egypt, Nile clay, ca. 3700–3450 B.C.

The bowl which has a beautiful polished surface is very similar in form to the Egyptian hieroglyph meaning "to bring."

🏛️ Met

🏺 🗃️ #arthistory #skystorians #ancientbluesky #archaeology #Egypt
January 14, 2026 at 8:29 AM
Jacob Epstein’s Primeval Gods and Sun God from 1910, carved either side of a Hoptonwood stone block. Inspired by the Egyptian sculpture in the British Museum, it is currently on loan from the Met and on display in Tate Britain. International connections.
January 18, 2026 at 7:58 PM
We all shine on, like the moon and Serapis and the sun.

Oil lamp with image of the god Serapis between a crescent moon and a star or sun. Made in Ephesus, said to be Egyptian, about 100-150 CE. Currently held by British Museum 🏺 #AncientBluesky #Egyptology
January 14, 2026 at 8:37 PM
Reposted by Simon Bralee
#MosaicMonday brings us to #Roman #Carthage in 375 CE, to a well-appointed #domus with a floor #mosaic showing the #seasons and #months. This fragment now in the #BritishMuseum shows #November as a priestess of #Isis, with a #sistrum in her hand. See the ALT text for why. #AncientBluesky 🏺
January 12, 2026 at 2:11 PM
Reposted by Simon Bralee
This engraved Romano-Egyptian magical gem (green jasper) depicts the Egyptian god and psychopomp Anubis holding an ointment jar and standing over a lion-shaped bier. The mummified body of Osiris lies on top. 💀🏺 #ancientbluesky 1/

100-125 CE. #GettyVilla
📸 me
January 11, 2026 at 1:28 AM
Reposted by Simon Bralee
One month to go… UCL turns 200! 🎉

On 11 February, we kick off #UCL200 – a year of celebrations marking our radical founding in 1826 as London’s first university, open to all. Expect parties, exhibitions, student festivals, art, books, performances, and more.

Get ready!

@uclspeccoll.bsky.social
January 11, 2026 at 2:08 PM
Items related to the Egyptian gods found in Tenea, Greece including votive clay mask possibly depicting Harpocrates, an oil lamp with image of Serapis and gold lotus leaves, dated late Hellenistic to Roman period 🏺 #AncientBluesky #Egyptology
Significant New Archaeological Findings in Tenea, Greece - The National Herald
ATHENS – The Greek Ministry of Culture on January 9 announced the results of the systematic excavation of ancient Tenea,… Continue reading Significant New Archaeological Findings in Tenea, Greece
www.thenationalherald.com
January 12, 2026 at 11:04 AM
Reposted by Simon Bralee
Margam park Roman villa find could be 'Port Talbot's Pompeii'

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Margam park Roman villa find could be 'Port Talbot's Pompeii'
The largest Roman villa ever found in Wales lies less than a metre under Margam Country Park.
www.bbc.co.uk
January 12, 2026 at 6:18 AM
Article about retrieval of items stolen from the British Museum. 654 out of an estimated 1,500 missing items have been recovered 🏺 #AncientBluesky
Inside the hunt for British Museum’s missing treasures
More than two years have passed since the British Museum revealed it was missing hundreds of precious artefacts. Alex Ross spoke to the man tasked with tracking the prized items down
www.independent.co.uk
January 11, 2026 at 1:36 PM
Reposted by Simon Bralee
January 11, 1897: After finding little, 70 Egyptian workers are sent by Grenfell & Hunt to excavate a trash heap near Oxyrhynchus. They immediately found a fragment of the Gospel of Thomas & 1000s more papyri, proving trash heaps are archaeological treasures. oxyrhynchus.web.ox.ac.uk/waste-paper-...
January 11, 2026 at 12:32 PM
Reposted by Simon Bralee
Ancient Greek Sites Serve as Unexpected Havens for Wildlife
#Greece #heritage
greekcitytimes.com/2026/01/09/a...
January 9, 2026 at 2:54 PM
“Tech industry sources refer to the process of "Harvest Now, Decrypt Later" to describe how state agencies are believed to be saving all of the worlds encrypted data at home and abroad with the expectation of future generations being able to access it”.
Google Willow: The secrets of the world's most powerful quantum computer
Faisal Islam gets rare access to Willow - Google's quantum computer.
www.bbc.co.uk
January 8, 2026 at 8:16 PM
War trumpet in 'shape of a snarling wild animal' and bronze boar head battle standard showing the importance of animals to iron age self presentation. Great discovery. 🏺 #AncientBluesky
‘Extraordinary’ iron age war trumpet find in Britain may have Boudicca links
Bronze instrument or carnyx dug up in Norfolk in area inhabited by Celtic tribe led by warrior who fought Romans
www.theguardian.com
January 7, 2026 at 8:50 AM
A bronze figurine of Isis-Tyche-Fortuna holding a steering oar and not one but two cornucopias for double the blessings. Don’t settle for anything less this year.

Roman, 2nd Century CE. British Museum. 🏺 #AncientBluesky #Egyptology
January 1, 2026 at 6:46 PM
Reposted by Simon Bralee
Happy New Year and good fortune to everyone during 2026! Below is a relief of the Roman goddess Fortuna which was found at Castlecary Roman Fort on the Antonine Wall. Now part of the collections at the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow. 📸 My own. #RomanFortThursday #NewYear
January 1, 2026 at 7:38 AM
Reposted by Simon Bralee
Votive Plaque: Swallow (Egypt, Ptolemaic Period, 332-30 BCE)

Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington
December 30, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Reposted by Simon Bralee
'Josephine Burton...was recently appointed practitioner in residence at the University of London’s Institute of Classical Studies, where she will be working on a music-theatre project, Songs of Solidarity, to create a collective epic for our time drawing on both Classical and non-Western models.'
Artist-academic collaborations can lead to ‘unexpected magic’
Joint projects require academics to ‘show up and feel a bit uncomfortable’, argues theatre maker who is taking up a new position at the University of London
www.timeshighereducation.com
December 29, 2025 at 1:17 PM
This may be how the shepherds appeared at the manger in Bethlehem, those many years ago.

A small statuette of a satyr carrying a goat, Egyptian, 1 or 2 century CE. Held in the British Museum.

🏺 #AncientBluesky #Egyptology
December 28, 2025 at 1:27 PM
Just found out there’s a new movie about Mother Ann Lee and the Shakers to be released in February. Love a bit of millenarianism (and interiors inspo).
Film lookahead: Twenty highlights to watch out for in 2026
We look ahead to 20 notable films to watch for in 2026, from Oscar hopefuls to potential blockbusters.
www.bbc.co.uk
December 28, 2025 at 10:05 AM
Highlights from Boxing Day walk around Rainham, initially the site of a Thames ferry (part of a pilgrim route) and later ‘Havering Riviera’ with pleasure trips from London before a fish manure works put stop to it all. A fascinating area with Georgian houses, industry and a bird sanctuary #history
December 27, 2025 at 9:55 AM
As I wait for festivities to begin, I am thinking of my favourite Christmas mornings in literature. Nothing beats Oscar and Lucinda when the hero tries a Christmas Pudding against the wishes of his puritanical father who has strong feelings towards “Satan's fruit”.
What’s your favourite? 📚💙
December 25, 2025 at 11:06 AM
1. It has Joe Pesci in it.
2. It has a Christmas tree in it.

It’s a Christmas film.
Goodfellas is a Christmas movie
December 24, 2025 at 8:58 PM
For unto us a child is born. Ceramic images of mothers and children from Cyprus, possibly goddesses c. 700-300 BCE. Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates. 🎄 🏺 #AncientBluesky
December 24, 2025 at 12:23 PM