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Reposted by Dr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃

Reposting for all of us whose Sunday might be improved by enjoying this elegant and colourful heron. 😊

Reposted by Dr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃

Chapps @chapps.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

These fragments from a Roman villa in Spain are not from a mosaic but from a fresco. If you look closely you’ll see a grid of lines, many following the contour of the figures, much as tesserae do on mosaics. This trompe-l’oeil technique simulates mosaics. 1/ 🏺 1st-2nd c. Museo de Málaga 📸 me

Fragment of a fresco depicting part of a human face, mostly the eyes. Thin lines form a grid pattern, simulating the edges of tesserae.

Fresco fragment showing a naked torso of a woman, her legs and pubic area covered in a red himation (cloak). Her right hand carries a basket laden with fruit, which look like giant globes of grapes. Grapevine leaves appear in the background. A Dionysian scene. The faux tesserae grid lines follow the curves of the body.

Fresco fragment depicting some sort of half-human creature with wild hair and bare torso, gesturing upwards with his right hand and holding a branched stick with his left. The faux tesserae grid lines follow the curves of his garment and body.

Fresco fragment with the torso of perhaps a god with golden skin, a red himation flowing outwards and partially covering his or her legs. Perhaps Dionysos?

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Kevin Wilbraham @kpw1453.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

3rd century wall plaster from the Romano-British villa at Tarrant Hinton in Dorset, possibly depicting Narcissus, a hunter from Roman mythology. Now part of the collections at East Dorset Museum in Wimborne, Dorset. 📷 My own. #FrescoFriday #RomanBritain #TarrantHinton

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Hannah Čulík-Baird @opietasanimi.com · 30/09/2026

It is my enormous pleasure to share the most recent issue of #ResDiffJournal: Res Diff 3.1 (2026) With contributions from Jody Valentine, Sarah Cullinan Herring, Joy Woolley and Paul Robertson, and Sally Mubarak #OpenAccess resdifficiles.com/res-diff-3-1...

resdifficiles.com

Res Diff 3.1 (2026)

Jody Valentine, What is a Classic? Experimenting with Engaged Scholarship Keywords: classical tradition, critical self-reflection, reflexive antiracism, Sappho, subjectivity, White privilege. Abstr…

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Dr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃 @carrielarocco.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Why “medieval Europe, excluding Spain”?

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Dr. Nick Posegay @nposegay.northsky.social · 21/09/2026

A damaged magical amulet featuring a human-like figure surrounded by Arabic incantations (ca. 11th-12th c). The figure (human, jinn, demon?) has a snake draped over its shoulders. The text is mostly nonsense sounds intended to invoke a magical effect when recited. @theul.bsky.social #medievalsky

Dark brown paper manuscript fragment, badly torn around the edges, with a large drawing of a human-like figure with a rectangular torso, conical hat, misaligned eyes, and a snake draped over its shoulders. Arabic text in black ink fills much of the empty space. The fragment sits on a blue background next to a yellow label that reads T-S Ar.51.112 (https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-TS-AR-00051-00112/2).

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Dr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃 @carrielarocco.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

So cool! 🥹 Tap to expand / view this old filmstrip with images of the Acropolis!!! 🎞️ (Image description / alt text: scan of filmstrip titled ‘Die Schönheiten griechischer Landschaften und althellenischer Baukunst’; next few frames are blank, followed by different views of the Athenian Acropolis)

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Kevin Wilbraham @kpw1453.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Part of a 9th century cross-shaft from Shaftesbury Abbey which was founded by Alfred the Great in AD 888. The abbey was founded solely for women, and Alfred’s daughter, Aethelgifu, was installed as its first Abbess. 📸 My own #SaxonSunday #SundayStonework #ShaftesburyAbbey

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Sam Barber @barber-samj.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Good lord. What do you even say to this

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Dr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃 @carrielarocco.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Lots of old filmstrip images of Ancient Greek ruins 😍

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Dr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃 @carrielarocco.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

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Dr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃 @carrielarocco.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Fragmentary film strip of the Colosseum! 🎞️ “An unidentified 70mm film fragment, shot with Filoteo Alberini's Cinepanoramica camera for experimental use. The fragment is in the collection of Alberini’s material at the Museo Nazionale del Cinema in Turin.” (Image/text from: www.filmatlas.com/entry/57)

Scan of a film strip with three frames showing the colosseum; the film is black and yellow

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Dr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃 @carrielarocco.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

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Alex von Tunzelmann @alexvont.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Well done to the picture editor who captioned this delightful snap of a black pig swimming off the west coast of Greece “swine-dark sea” www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Swine-dark sea ... Mediterranean black pigs swim at a beach on the private island of Atokos, in the lonian Sea off the west coast of Greece. The island, which is uninhabited by humans, is owned by a shipping magnate
Photograph: Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images

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Dr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃 @carrielarocco.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

A talk that I gave on some aspects of the reception of late Roman and early medieval women for the Open Days at St John’s College, Oxford last year (@stjohnsox.bsky.social) ☺️ (youtu.be/a_siiNn0cRQ?...)

youtu.be

Carolyn La Rocco, ‘Late Roman and Visigothic women in visual media’

YouTube video by StJohnsCollegeOxford

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Reposted by Dr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃

Dr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃 @carrielarocco.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

For #MosaicMonday, more Roman / Byzantine food art! A thing I have been working on (but which is not finished yet) - a replica of the mosaic portrait of Theodora from San Vitale in Ravenna, but made out of tesserae I made out of fondant! On edible wafer paper.

Photo of a sheet of edible wafer paper, with lots of little tesserae cut of out different colors of fondant icing, to look like the mosaic portrait of Theodora (who is wearing an elaborate headdress)

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Dr Jo Ball @drjeball.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

A #Roman cheese press, found at Balmuildy fort on the #AntonineWall (Scotland). The cheese was put in the press & pressed down by a weight, forcing out any moisture through the holes. The resulting cheeses would have the concentric circle pattern from the press 🧀 #Archaeology #AncientBlueSky

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Dr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃 @carrielarocco.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

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Dr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃 @carrielarocco.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

youtu.be

Carolyn La Rocco, ‘Late Roman and Visigothic women in visual media’

YouTube video by StJohnsCollegeOxford

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Reposted by Dr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃

Alison Fisk @alisonfisk.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Spectacular Roman octopus mosaic from the floor of the women’s changing room at the Central Baths in ancient Herculaneum. 📷 by me #MosaicMonday #Archaeology

My photo shows a monochrome Roman floor mosaic depicting an octopus. The octopus is composed of small black tesserae (tiles) and has eight writhing arms with suckers and narrow curling tips. It is set against a white tesserae background. This octopus detail comes from a monochrome marine mosaic featuring Triton with a cherub and various sea creatures which include the octopus, dolphins and a cuttlefish. From the floor of the women's changing room at the Central Baths in Herculaneum.

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Trevor Wiley @mearcsteppende.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Want to learn how early medieval people living on the coast in Scotland hunted seals and seabirds? Or how collecting sea snails on the beach was part of new Christian practice? You should check out my new article in Water History! link.springer.com/article/10.1... #medievalsky

link.springer.com

Wild animals, small practices, and the formation of an early medieval coastal landscape on the Firth of Forth - Water History

The large-scale landscape changes that occurred in northern Britain from roughly 400–800 C.E. were built on a vast array of smaller shifting practices which reflected the realities of local environmen...

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Anfor @anforsorrow.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Talking about the Bayeaux Tapestry, the British Museum has prepared a website where you can explore the whole embroidery (it is not really a tapestry) in high resolution. It even includes annotations so you can understand what each character and event is! www.britishmuseum.org/bayeux-tapes...

britishmuseum.org

The Bayeux Tapestry online experience

Follow the story and discover the people, places and events of 1066 and the Battle of Hastings. Made for young learners, open to all.

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Rory Naismith @rorynaismith.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Early medievalists may be happy to know that Simon Keynes’s collection of maps of Anglo-Saxon England has now been made freely available via @trincolllibcam.bsky.social These were commissioned by Simon and drawn (by hand) by Reg Piggott between 1991 and 2012. archives.trin.cam.ac.uk/index.php/ma...

archives.trin.cam.ac.uk

Maps of Anglo-Saxon England - archives.trin.cam.ac.uk

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Oxford Archaeology @oxfordarchaeology.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Our offering for the #FindsFriday council this week: This 6,000-year-old elm tree leaf we uncovered during excavations in west Lancashire 🍃 Thank you to the peaty conditions that preserved it for all those millennia (and the archaeologists who carefully excavated it too)

A small elm leaf around 7cm in length include its stem

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Matt Gabriele @profgabriele.com · 11/09/2026

You cannot in fact make that argument

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Annalisa Nicholson @apuddleofmuddle.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

It's just weird isn't it when the British Museum is running a sold-out exhibition, when The Odyssey reports $1billion at the box office, when the V&A has just opened the most innovative and accessible museum model in Europe....and this is what our minister for research comes out with.

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Because in a history course, my job is to teach students how to read sources themselves, how to analyze them themselves, how to write about them and craft arguments themselves. It's like you're asking a personal trainer to include a fork lift as part of the free weights routine.

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Chaucer Doth Tweet @levostregc.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Datinge app for megalith enthuasistes Henge

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Kevin Wilbraham @kpw1453.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

The graffito of a horse at Birdoswald Roman Fort on Hadrian’s Wall in Cumbria. The horse is carved into one of the stones at the base of the remains of the drill hall - easy to miss! 📸 My own. #RomanFortThursday #Birdoswald #Cumbria

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Dr Crom @doccrom.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

#OnThisDay - 2 September - in 31 BC Octavian, through his naval commander Agrippa, was victorious over Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium. The victory established Octavian's supremacy. #AncientHistory 🏺 Image: RIC Augustus 265A; ANS 1937.158.443. Link - numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric....

Obverse of a Roman denarius: Head of Octavian, bare, right.

Reverse of a Roman denarius: Trophy, rudder and anchor on base, all on prow.

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Dr Pat Witts @wittspat.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Really exciting news for this #MosaicMonday!! A fragment of a long-lost mosaic has swum back to Cirencester. A highlight of the recent ASPROM visit to the wonderful @coriniummuseum.bsky.social was a privileged surprise viewing of this fragment. 🐬🐟1/2 Photo: Corinium Museum #AncientBlueSky 🏺

A fragment of Roman mosaic. On the right, a dolphin swims with its head towards the top of the fragment and its tail undulating to the right. Its eye is prominent and its mouth is slightly open. To the left, part of a fish with its head missing and tail curving up towards (but away from!) the dolphin's mouth. The piece is colourful, with many red highlights contrasting with the dark and light grey outlines of the creatures.

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Sissel Undheim @unsissel.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Sacrifice to Diana. Scene from the hall of the small hunt (Sala della piccola caccia) at Villa Casale, Sicily. #MosaicMonday 📸 me

Small golden statue of Diana (holding bow and reaching for an arrow) on a pedestal flanked by tall trees. Man sacrificing on altar in front of the statue, men with horses (and a dog) turned towards the statue on both sides.
Detail, centrally placed in the upper half of large floor mosaic at Villa Casale.

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Emily Higgs Kopin (spooky) @ehkopin.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Corollary: if someone is “brilliant” but an asshole to women and junior colleagues, they are not brilliant. They are bad at their job and should be treated as such

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Chapps @chapps.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Even though that photo looks a jumble, the amphorae were broken up and carefully laid out, layer by layer. You can see this in my photo below. Just pieces of used amphorae remain, but some still show the potters’ handprints.

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👹zozo👹 @rickshawtuna.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

No one can ever make me hate humanity. In us collectively lives a well of creativity and whimsy so deep and vast that I’m routinely brought to my knees in awe.

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Dr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃 @carrielarocco.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Still thinking about the Hadrian Oreo I made

Photo of my hand holding an Oreo with a carving of Hadrian on it, in front of a computer screen displaying the coin the carving was based on

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Dr Vanessa @hpsvanessa.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

The loss of search structure is devastating for knowledge retrieval. I teach basic lit searching and it's always felt like a really core transferable skill for students to know boolean operators and "exact phrase searching" and now google, microsoft etc have just killed it to force us to use slopAI.

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Viola Tricolor @kaffeehaus.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

That's not only an interesting overview on bread in ancient Rome but it includes the important sources that tell us about how bread was made as well as a recipe in the end (I haven't tried it yet):

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Dr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃 @carrielarocco.bsky.social · 12/11/2024

Another funerary mosaic today, this time for #EpigraphyTuesday. It is an old favorite of mine: the 4th-5th century CE funerary mosaic of Bishop Optime in Tarragona [MNAT (P) 2651)]. Note the misspelling of CHRISTI as CRHISTI. 🏺🗃️

Elaborate mosaic portrait with man in white garments with stole, looking at the viewer. His funerary epitaph is in the mosaic, above his head

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Alison Fisk @alisonfisk.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

A 3,400 year-old Egyptian glass kohl tube and applicator! ✨ It belonged to a woman named Merit, and was part of her beauty case. Glass was a luxury material at that time, making this a precious possession. From Merit’s tomb (TT8), Deir el-Medina. 📷 Museo Egizio, Turin #Archaeology

The Museo Egizio photo shows a small deep cobalt-blue glass kohl tube standing on a grey display surface. It contains a dark wooden applicator stick, of which only half can be seen. The main body of the blue glass tube is decorated with white and yellow festoons (a repeated curved motif like a garland). The festoons were created by wrapping white and yellow glass rods around the surface of the tube while it was still hot, and dragging them with a pointed tool across the surface to produce the festoon pattern. The top of the glass tube widens to look like an open petalled flower with blue petals edged with yellow arranged around the neck of the tube. The bottom of the container also widens slightly to form a base to stand on. This glass container held kohl, a dark cosmetic made from soot, fat, and antimony, which was applied to the eyelids and eyelashes with the applicator stick.

This kohl tube belonged to Merit. It was found in her makeup box, inside her tomb (TT8) at Deir el-Medina, dated 1425–1353 BC, 18th Dynasty. It was excavated by Italian archaeologist Ernesto Schiaparelli in 1906.

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Douglas Murphy @entschwindet.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

I've met a lot of academics in my time, some of them right at the top of their field, and, boy oh BOY is neurotypicality not well represented

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Dr Vanessa @hpsvanessa.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

I emailed a library asking for a small but annoying favour, and they did me a big favour and it's provided absolutely crucial data for a new project and publication, and slopAI could never and yay for humans, and librarians and archivists in particular.

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Dr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃 @carrielarocco.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Oh, there is a photo of me working on the ‘La Mora’ Tapestry Project in the newsletter! Cool ☺️

Photo of woman with red hair and woman with white / grey hair sitting at a table in front of a large tapestry

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