iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃 @carrielarocco.bsky.social · 2h

So proud of my colleague at St John’s, Teresa Witcombe, who won the Premio del Rey in Early Spanish History for her monograph ‘On the Edges of Christendom: Maurice of Burgos and the Church and Culture of Medieval Castile’ 🥳 www.historians.org/award-grant/... (@stjohnsox.bsky.social)

historians.org

Premio del Rey in Early Spanish History (2028) – AHA

The American Historical Association awards the Premio del Rey biennially for a distinguished book in English in the field of early Spanish history.

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Rory Naismith @rorynaismith.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

(Shared from various people on FB) RIP Chris Wickham

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Dr. Sarah Parcak @indyfromspace.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Y'all denied her tenure

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Sam Ottewill-Soulsby @samottewillsoulsby.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

People with secure permanent academic jobs, please stop telling your colleagues on fixed-term contracts how envious you are of our flexibility/freedom etc etc. I try not to post too much negative stuff because it quickly gets poisonous but this has happened too many times to me recently.

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Matt Binder @mattbinder.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

the tech industry is about to invent books

Andrew Yeung
@andruyeung
X.com
We created gyms because modern day work no
longer required physical activity. Without exercise,
our muscles atrophy.
I predict we'll need gyms for our brains too, once Al
starts doing our knowledge work.
10:53 PM • 10/4/26 • 1.3M Views

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Dr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃 @carrielarocco.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

No :’( I’d say more like 8.5 x 12 inches or so. I wish I had made her bigger!

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St John's College, Oxford @stjohnsox.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

'Saying it in Style: Some Uses of Rhetoric by Platonist Philosophers in Late Antiquity' Join us for the fourth annual Donald Russell Memorial Lecture, given by Professor Anne Sheppard (Royal Holloway) www.sjc.ox.ac.uk/discover/events/do…

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Robert Wiśniewski @relicsclerics.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Warsaw Late Antique Seminar. For the beginning of the new semester we have this: 8 October, 4.45 p.m. CET. Jakub Urbanik (UW) Temples Sold and Restored to the Gods. I. Kyme 17 and the Emergence of the ‘Imperial’ Law. In-person and online.

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Dr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃 @carrielarocco.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Early for #MosaicMonday, but a progress update on my edible Theodora mosaic (made out of fondant on wafer paper)! Think it is almost done ☺️

Photo of sheet of water paper with lots of differently colored pieces of fondant that I colored and cut tesserae out of, and made a mosaic of the empress Theodora with a gold background; I attached the tesserae with edible ‘food glue’

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Dr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃 @carrielarocco.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Thank you 🙏:) I’m not caught up on Bakeoff yet, but now I’m looking forward to it even more!

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Dr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃 @carrielarocco.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Thank you :) and, I had the same thought, so I’m not exactly sure what I will do with it when it’s done 🥲

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Dr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃 @carrielarocco.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Early for #MosaicMonday, but a progress update on my edible Theodora mosaic (made out of fondant on wafer paper)! Think it is almost done ☺️

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Dr Pat Witts @wittspat.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

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

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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

I have visited lots of the places in that filmstrip, I should find my pictures to compare

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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

So would they maybe pick this shot partially because the Colosseum is so famous / recognizable?

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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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Dr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃 @carrielarocco.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Thank you! :) (And, I have not decided yet)

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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

youtu.be

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

YouTube video by StJohnsCollegeOxford

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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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