DorisD
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dorisd.bsky.social
DorisD
@dorisd.bsky.social
120 followers 250 following 64 posts
By day, non-fiction editor and writer. Incurable Romaphile. Lover of history, literature, art and architecture, fountains, arancini, pompelmo gelato and umbrella pines. All photos my own.
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Reposted by DorisD
partialhistorians.bsky.social
✨Augustus in colour✨

The Prima Porta Augustus is one of the most famous sculptures of ancient Rome. Earlier depictions of the sculpture noted the remnants of colour but the craze for cleaned statuary meant much detail was lost to the casual gaze.

#AncientRome #History
This image shows a partial colour reconstruction of the Prima Porta Augustus including a cuirass in reds, blues, and golds. Military dress in red, and purple toga details.
November 20, 2025 at 10:02 AM
Reposted by DorisD
durotrigesdig.bsky.social
A rather angry sea gryphon chases a cheeky dolphin across a 2nd century #Roman mosaic

Found at #Cirencester in 1849, the entirety of this decorated floor (featuring hunting dogs) can now be seen in the excellent @coriniummuseum.bsky.social

📷 Aug 2022

Don't play with your food this #MosaicMonday !
Detail from a Roman mosaic floor depicting a sea gryphon with claws outstretched chasing a dolphin
November 10, 2025 at 7:24 AM
Reposted by DorisD
arturoviaggia.bsky.social
Today the #Catholic Church commemorates not a saint but a building in the liturgical calendar--the dedication of the Lateran basilica in #Rome. On land granted to the church by Constantine, it has been the city's cathedral since the 4th c. flic.kr/p/oaHRzq

#photography
#travel
#religion
San Giovanni in Laterano (Rome)
After Constantine defeated his challenger Maxentius for control over the city of Rome and supremacy over the western Roman Empire in 312, he abolished the Imperial Guard and gave the land, where their...
flic.kr
November 9, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Reposted by DorisD
partialhistorians.bsky.social
Detail from the gladiator mosaics housed in the Villa Borghese.

This #MosaicMonday we bear witness to the gruelling stakes of the arena where death was always a possibility.
The Gladiator Mosaic is a famous set of five large mosaics of gladiators and venators and two smaller ones. The mosaics are dated to the first half of the 4th century CE. In the centre of the action a secutor seems poised to offer the downed retiarius a final blow but the retiarius named Astius also carries the sign of death, so perhaps one more blow is unnecessary.
October 27, 2025 at 8:05 AM
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drnwillburger.bsky.social
Today I am definitely a nine.
Meme showing nine illustrations of medieval lions with humorous/whimsical expressions and poses, labeled 1 to 9, with the caption “On a scale of medieval lion how are you feeling today?”
October 24, 2025 at 6:07 PM
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wantedinrome.bsky.social
Umbrella pines in Rome’s rose garden frame a view of the Vittoriano
October 18, 2025 at 4:04 PM
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romanpalace.bsky.social
This has made our day.

www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/35...
On the right, the coliseum. On the left, a model of the coliseum, fashioned from custard creams. It's a bit sketchy in its details, but... custard creams!
October 15, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Reposted by DorisD
romanpalace.bsky.social
There's a lot going on here. Not least the cameo appearance of Captain Blackadder.
October 13, 2025 at 5:24 PM
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kpw1453.bsky.social
The dome of the Pantheon in Rome - still one of the largest domes in the world. Originally built by Agrippa during the reign of Augustus (27 BC - AD 14), it was rebuilt during the reign of Hadrian (117 to 138 AD) following a fire. 📸 My own #RomanSiteSatutday #Pantheon #Rome
October 11, 2025 at 7:04 AM
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sarahebond.bsky.social
“The Commodus Passage, the name given to the corridor through which Roman emperors gained unseen access to the Imperial box in the Colosseum, has been opened to the public for the first time after a major restoration of its glistening marble walls.” ilglobo.com/en/news/comm...
Commodus Passage opens to public for first time
The Commodus Passage, the name given to the corridor through which Roman emperors gained unseen access to the Imperial box in the Colosseum, has been opened to the public for the first time after a ma...
ilglobo.com
October 8, 2025 at 11:24 AM
Reposted by DorisD
drjeball.bsky.social
Thinking today about some less well-known (but still important!) ancient #Roman deities:

Cardea: goddess of door hinges
Suadela: goddess of persuasion
Fornax: divine personification of ovens & properly-baked bread
Verminus: god who protected cattle from worms

🏺 #AncientBlueSky #MythologyMonday
October 6, 2025 at 5:42 PM
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anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social
#SpoliaSunday takes us up the #Aventine hill in #Rome to the splendid though brutally over-restored #palaeochristian basilica of #SantaSabina, where an ancient weight measure does service as a relic of diabolic frustration. #AncientBluesky 🏺
LAPIS DIABOLI, C3-C4. S. SABINA In the corner between the counterfaçade and the base of the belltower inside the beautiful early Christian basilica of S. Sabina (425-432) on the Aventine hill stands a reused partial column with spiral fluting. Atop it is a smooth, fairly regular round black stone, flat on top and underneath. This was an ancient Roman counterweight or lapis aequipondus of a determined number of libræ, a standard unit of weight equivalent to 327 grams. Other Roman churches have further examples, possibly because churches were protected places to keep standard measures. However they became reused as relics and their original use forgotten. This one is known as the lapis diaboli or devil's stone, which was meant to have been thrown by the devil himself at the head of St Dominic, who was praying in this church at the time, after failing to tempt him. To me it looks like a stone used in the sport of curling, and with its now-missing metal handle it would have looked even more so.
October 5, 2025 at 7:06 PM
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kpw1453.bsky.social
Some of the surviving frescoes from the House of Livia, the wife of Augustus, on the Palatine Hill in Rome. The frescoes date to around 30 BC. 📷 My own. #FrescoFriday #Rome
October 3, 2025 at 6:15 AM
Reposted by DorisD
wantedinrome.bsky.social
Rome's Coppedè quarter, famed for its magical mixture of architectural styles, celebrates 100 years.
Rome's Coppedè quarter celebrates 100 years
Rome's Coppedè quarter, famed for its magical mixture of architectural styles, celebrates 100 years with three days of guided tours, talks and exhibitions.
www.wantedinrome.com
September 27, 2025 at 11:48 AM
Reposted by DorisD
followinghadrian.bsky.social
#OnThisDay in 46 BC, Julius Caesar dedicated the Temple of Venus Genetrix in Rome to Venus, the mythical ancestor of his family, fulfilling a vow he had made at the Battle of Pharsalus in Central Greece.
September 26, 2025 at 4:33 PM
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partialhistorians.bsky.social
This #FrescoFriday we travel to the villa of Publius Fannius Synistor to enjoy the complex and engaging architectural fresco complete with theatrical masks!

The use of colour, perspective, and drama all come together to create a brilliant and arresting whole.

#AncientRome
The fresco combines architectural details like columns on pedestals elaborate framing of doors and glimpses of fabric awnings for shade outside. The colours include reds, blues, and yellows. The fresco is held by the MAN Napoli.
September 26, 2025 at 8:58 AM
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anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social
#MosaicMonday for the next few weeks will be obsessing over the incredible #opussectile room of #PortaMarina, from the very edge of #OstiaAntica, though the room is now hidden away in the former Museo dell'Alto Medioevo in the #EUR. #Christ takes centre stage on the south wall. #AncientBluesky 🏺
OPUS SECTILE OF THE DOMUS OF PORTA MARINA, 385-388 CE. MUSEO DELLE CIVILTÀ This astonishing opus sectile work, of which we see only a detail here, comes from a building outside Porta Marina, the Sea Gate of Ostia Antica, and closes off the space between the end of the Decumanus Maximus, the main east-west street of the city, and the ancient shore. With the front door open, it was probably possible to see the beach across a courtyard. This room north of the entrance opens onto the courtyard peristyle. It was discovered in 1942 but excavations only ended in 1962. Most of the dazzling marble decoration had to be pieced together as it was found on the floor. Here we see at centre an image of Christ, with a halo and brown beard (! Early for the beard) making a gesture of benediction. On panels to either side there are two peltæ-like curved forms, and the register above has a marvellous vegetal scroll in serpentino; the lowest register shows large framed panels in giallo antico.
September 22, 2025 at 8:33 PM
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drnwillburger.bsky.social
Two Roman finds from Rottweil (my beautiful hometown 😊): vessels in the shape of boars, dating 2nd century AD. They were used to hold oil.

📷 me

🏺 #archaeology
Two small animal-shaped figurines resembling boars, made of brownish clay. The one on the left has upright ears and a rounded body, while the one on the right has a looped handle on its back. Both are displayed on a gray surface.
September 23, 2025 at 5:13 PM
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demiliopics2.bsky.social
"Holy God of the Angels who brought about the resurrection"
The monumental inscription on the early #medieval Tempietto del Clitunno, a jewel-like monument on the Via Flaminia and also rich in Roman #spolia
#Umbria
#EpigraphyTuesday #Architecture
The Latin inscription is in the frieze beneath a highly sculptured cornice and pediment decorated with a cross and vinescroll. It is supported by four decorated columns with ornate Cornithian capitals and pilasters to each side. Much of the stone has a slightly golden gleam in the sun.
September 23, 2025 at 5:12 AM
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pompei79.bsky.social
The fragments of the Forma Urbis – the marble map of Rome made towards the end of Emperor Severus’ reign – set into Nolli’s beautiful 18th century map of the city is breathtaking.
Fun to spot existing monuments but wondrous to see the now missing buildings.
www.sovraintendenzaroma.it/content/il-m...
A printed map of the Colosseum with incomplete marble fragments of the monument overlying it A printed map of the area around the Theatre of Pompey with incomplete marble fragments of the monument overlying it. Nolli’s map forms the floor surface around it. A printed map of Nolli’s Rome with incomplete marble fragments with a plan of a monument, set into it A printed map of the Circus Maximus with incomplete fragments of the monument overlying it.
September 19, 2025 at 5:44 AM
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sarahebond.bsky.social
Tell me you are an ancient mosaicist who has never depicted breasts without telling me.
Amazon warrior hunting on horseback. 5th century CE mosaic (Nile House, Sepphoris, Israel).
September 18, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Reposted by DorisD
durotrigesdig.bsky.social
In Iron Age finds news:

The Yorkshire Museum has acquired the Melsonby *hoard* (more properly *assemblage*) a huge collection of material including chariot fittings, equestrian gear and weaponry, thanks to the National Lottery funding and fundraising 👇👇

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Huzzah!
Iron Age Copper alloy equestrian equipment
July 29, 2025 at 9:07 PM
Reposted by DorisD
kpw1453.bsky.social
The remains of Trajan’s Market in Rome. Designed by Apollodorus of Damascus and commissioned by the Emperor Trajan, the multi-level mercantile complex was built between 100-110 AD. 📸 My own. #RomanSiteSaturday #Rome
June 28, 2025 at 6:52 AM
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anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social
At night on the #Palatine in #Rome, suddenly a huge #mosaic is lit up and visible from the terrace atop #Hadrian's extension of the #domusTiberiana, a tantalising hint of the decoration of these rooms of the #imperial bureaucracy. #AncientBluesky 🏺
MOSAIC FLOOR, C. 125 CE. DOMUS TIBERIANA This is one of the rooms facing out of the original façade of Nero's Domus Tiberiana, before it was expanded across the via Nova by Trajan and Hadrian. At that point or later, the front opening (once closed by a now-lost curtain wall) was narrowed and whatever mosaic floor this room had was replaced by what we see here, an excellent example of black and white floor geometric mosaic probably contemporary with the more complex floor mosaics of the Hospitalia of Hadrian's Villa. Access to this room was from the still-extant balcony at front. A long irregular excavation in the left-hand wall suggests a medieval burial and the level of debris at the time, which ought to be sometime in the mid C8.
June 9, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Reposted by DorisD
sistoryhistory.bsky.social
Dusk from the walls of the Colosseum for #RomanSiteSaturday 🏛️ with the imposing Arch of Constantine and the majestic Palatine hill rising over the city.

📸 Us, in #Rome

#Archaeology #Skystorians
#AncientBluesky #Classicsbluesky #AncientRome #Romans #Colosseum #Constantine
June 7, 2025 at 9:51 AM