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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 1h

Here’s just one example of the beautiful jewellery made by a Minoan master goldsmith found in an elite burial on the island of Aigina. It’s an extraordinary piece with exquisite craftsmanship. 🕰️c1850-1550BC 🏛️BM 📷 mine

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

This beautiful ring is carved from a single piece of amber. It’s Egyptian and dated to the New Kingdom, so 16th-11th centuries BC. The inscription shows hieroglyphics but I can’t find any information that has a translation. Grateful if anyone knows. 🏛️📷 BM

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

This beautiful Roman glass bowl was found around Vesuvius. Its bold colours and lines make for a striking piece. 🕰️C1stBC-1st AD 🏛️📷 MANN 🇮🇹

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

This beautiful Roman glass bowl was found around Vesuvius. Its bold colours and lines make for a striking piece. 🕰️C1stBC-1st AD 🏛️📷 MANN 🇮🇹

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

A Roman mosaic of snails escaping a basket. 🏛️ Basilica Patricale, Aquileia 🇮🇹 🕰️ 4th century AD #MosaicMonday

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Chris Dale @chrisdaleoxford.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

In Iona Abbey OTD in 2023

Carved stone head with a drinking cup on a column in an old abbey.

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Jon Hawke @archaeohawke.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

#MosaicMonday Mosaic of the capture of Europa, found in a #Roman villa at Torre tre Teste, on a road from Rome to Paestum (Palestrina), Italy - 1st/2nd century AD - Ny Carlsberg, Copenhagen. #ancient #artwork #art #History

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

A Roman mosaic of snails escaping a basket. 🏛️ Basilica Patricale, Aquileia 🇮🇹 🕰️ 4th century AD #MosaicMonday

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

This Etruscan alabastron (or perfume vase) is made from terracotta in the shape of a (somewhat languid) rabbit. If you’ve ever had a rabbit as a pet, the flattened ears and rear legs stretched out behind (here sadly broken) indicate a rabbit at ease & feeling safe. 🕰️650-500 BC 🏛️📷 The Met, NY

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Macedonians preserved the Mycenaean tradition of burying elites with gold masks. This was made for a priestess. The decoration is detailed & exquisite, including animals on the headband. However, the disks on the eyes & plate on the mouth are confronting & final 🕰️C6thBC 🏛️📷Pella Archaeological Museum

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

These so-called glass claw beakers were distinctive art forms for early Anglo-Saxons in England and northern Frankish kingdoms. This one was unearthed at the Ringlemere barrow in Kent. The moulded glass appendages look very octopus-like. 🕰️c.400 to 600 AD 🏛️📷 BM #FindsFriday

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Roman brooches in whimsical animal shapes were very popular with people of all social classes in the empire. This one portrays a rabbit or hare. His alarmed gaze and running stance seems to suggest he is evading a predator. 🕰️c.100-300 AD 🏛️📷 Met, NY

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

The furore over Nolan’s Odyssey seems to have died as quickly as it started. Nevertheless, the poem’s most famous story is Odysseus' encounter with the cyclops, Polyphemus. The tale was hugely popular in ancient Greek art and clearly continues to this day. This vase is from Argos c. 7th-6thBC.

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

This magnificent brooch was found in Galloway as part of a Viking age hoard of gold, silver & crystal. It remains unclear who buried the hoard & why. The silver brooch is finely crafted with sinuous interlocking patterns & the heads of 4 creatures (maybe dragons). 🕰️850-1000AD 🏛️National Museum 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 📷me

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

This Coptic church was opened in 2017 in the heart of Melbourne. In its entrance lobby (on the ground floor of a large office block) is this vibrant mosaic of the holy family fleeing to Egypt. I love the donkey with his knowing glance. ⛪️ St Verena & St Bishoy, Melbourne 📷mine #MosaicMonday

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

This superb coin of Caesar’s was minted c.48-47 BC and celebrates his Gallic triumph. At the bottom, we see a rather wild looking Vercingetorix, arms bound behind his back, stripped, forlorn. Above are Gallic arms and a carnyx, the distinctive bronze horn with a decorative dragon’s head as the bell.

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Minoan vases with octopuses are relatively common but this one shows a more unusual type of marine animal: an argonaut. It's an octopus-like animal that lives on the seabed in a shell. The Minoans were masters of depicting aquatic creatures. 🕰️c1500 BC 🏛️📷Heraklion Museum

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

This fresco depicts Cerberus, guardian of the underworld with Hercules left, who subdued him, and Mercury right. It was buried in a tomb for 2,000 years and only uncovered in 2023, which makes its vibrancy even more remarkable. 🕰️C1stBC-2ndAD 🏛️Tomb of Cerberus, Giugliano #FrescoFriday

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

This shallow glass drinking cup is Roman and made in the millefiori style, still used today most notably in Venice and Murano. It is absolutely stunning. With its vibrant colours, it’s like a meadow in spring. 🕰️1st century AD 🏛️Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Munich 📷Vassil

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Séamas Aloysius @seamusaloysius.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

The Antikythera Youth is a 330 BC bronze statue of a young man discovered in 1900 by sponge divers in the area of the ancient Antikythera shipwreck off the island of Antikythera, Greece.⁣ The magnificent bronze statue is one of the masterpieces of the Archeological Museum of Athens.

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

This mosaic is from Italica, Spain (the birthplace of Trajan and Hadrian). It shows a lion looking poised for conflict - it adopts an aggressive stance, bears its teeth, bristles its mane. It’s a superb image of fierce strength 🕰️176-275 AD 🏛️📷Archaeological Museum, Seville

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

This is the oldest bottle of liquid wine found to date (in Germany). It isn’t the oldest liquid wine found though: this belongs to wine in a C1stAD urn found in a tomb in Spain in 2019. Don’t know about you but it looks like it needs decanting and airing… 🕰️c325AD 🏛️ Palantinate Museum, Speyer

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

This is a cult image of the ancient Egyptian god, Ptah. It is made from brilliant blue lapis lazuli, one of the rarest and most expensive materials for artwork. 🕰️ c945-600 BC

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andrew phillips @herfst.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

3,900 years ago an Assyrian trader named Aššur-taklāku found himself in an unlucky situation during his travels: he was accused by local Anatolian rulers of taking orders from a rival city. After a 2-month imprisonment, a group of his colleagues met with the king and queen to vouch for his good name

Clay tablet with cuneiform with 23 of cuneiform text (reverse) where it details how a colony of traders (kārum) tried to negotiate the release of one their members

Clay tablet with 9 lines of cuneiform text (obverse) informing the recipient that his debt to Aššur-taklāku (name in line 4) for a loan silver has been repaid and all further claims are void.

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

This is a cult image of the ancient Egyptian god, Ptah. It is made from brilliant blue lapis lazuli, one of the rarest and most expensive materials for artwork. 🕰️ c945-600 BC

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

I’ve never seem something like this before & it’s great. This is a detachable marble wig for female busts, meaning hairstyles & maybe other headpieces could be changed for the subject of the statue. A fascinating insight into the flexibility of Roman statuary 🕰️C2-3rdAD 📷 mine 🏛️Museo Nazionale Romano

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

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Dr. Jeroen W.P. Wijnendaele @drdragases.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Missed opportunities, Nolan.

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

This beautiful, elegant silver kantharos (drinking vessel) depicts the death of Orpheus on this side the other shows the abduction of Helen. 🕰️c 420-410BC 🏛️📷Vassil Bojkov collection 🇧🇬

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

What better way to greet Friday than to admire this bearded, crested, three-headed beast of hell. It’s a beauty. It’s a 3rd century BC fresco from the delightfully named Tomb of the Infernal Chariot (which sounds like a Hammer movie). 🏛️📷 Museum of Sarteano #FrescoFriday

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

This fresco portrays a running ibex. It was found in an elite home known as the Domus of Termini near Diocletian’s baths in Rome. 🕰️C2nd AD 📷 mine #FrescoFriday

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

This fresco portrays a running ibex. It was found in an elite home known as the Domus of Termini near Diocletian’s baths in Rome. 🕰️C2nd AD 📷 mine #FrescoFriday

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Roman factory marks hold information such as the owners or production date. Here, a brick is stamped 'Q. Articuleius Paetinus' & 'L. Venuleius Apronianus’. It was during the drying phase that a child left their footprint on the brick. 🏛️Museo Nazionale Romano 📷mine 🕰️123AD

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Some very wary looking sailors are trying to load an elephant onto a ship. I love the way the men on the quay are leaning away in fear and the first guy in the ship is nervously looking at his mates as if to say ‘Anyone fancy helping, lads?’ 🏛️Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe 📷Carole Raddato

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Some classical reception/inheritance. Left is a sestertius of Antoninus Pius (150AD) showing the Temple of Faustina. The temple was reconsecrated as the Church of San Lorenzo in Miranda c.650AD & is shown in the 1835 papal medal on the right. The church used the Roman columns of its portico 📷mine

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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

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