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Jim Cleary @jimcleary.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

A fun game based around the collection in the Met. Some hints are available so my results are a bit overstated... Anthropeum.com · Jun 15 2026 🟩🟩🟨🟦🟦🟩🟨🟦🟩🟩 75,537 · top 6% of players today!

anthropeum.com

Anthropeum

A daily game that challenges our understanding of human cultures. Ten objects. 5,000 years of human history. Guess where and when each artifact was made. See how you rank.

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Jim Cleary @jimcleary.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

#MosaicMonday Some lovely mosaics from Heraclea Lyncestis (photos taken in 2011). All I remember was how cold it was!

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Jim Cleary @jimcleary.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

For #MosaicMonday, some lovely mosaics from the beautiful building in Kildare Street, #Dublin that houses the marvellous Bronze Age Gold collection of the National Museum of Ireland.

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Jim Cleary @jimcleary.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

#MosaicMonday ... and now the Seasons, who are in the corners of the mosaic! Horae & the Seasons mosaic; now on display in the rather fine Archaeological Museum of #Kissamos, #Crete. (sorry about my feet!) 2/2

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Jim Cleary @jimcleary.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

#MosaicMonday The lovely Horae (The Goddesses of the Seasons & Order: Eunomia, Eirene & Dike), in the centre of the Horae & the Seasons mosaic; now on display in the rather fine Archaeological Museum of #Kissamos, #Crete. 1/2

The central panel of a mosaic: a rectangular picture showing three Greek goddesses, wearing colourful flowing dresses, dancing around a central circular altar.

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Jim Cleary @jimcleary.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

It does seem to me that a lot of the information contained in the most recent set of Epstein files has been specifically chosen to expose British participants in this shoddy affair & thus divert our attention from elsewhere. Or am I simply seeing UK media naturally focussing on the British angle?

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Jim Cleary @jimcleary.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

#TombTuesday The interior of the tomb of Seuthes III, King of Odrysia in ancient Thrace in the 4th century BCE. Located in the Golgama Kosmatka Tumulus near Kazanlak in modern day #Bulgaria. His famous bronze portrait head can be seen in the National Archaeological Museum in Sofia.

Ashlar masonry forming the corridor leading to the tomb-chamber

The roof of the tomb-chamber with concentric circles of ashlar masonry

One of the doors of the tomb-chamber. Marble, carved to resemble wood with metal reinforcing bosses. There is also a small Gorgon head on the upper half of the door

Bronze portrait head of Seuthes in a glass display case. He has a large moustache, and long beard.

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Jim Cleary @jimcleary.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

#MosaicMonday These ones are in the superb Bishop’s Basilica of Philippopalis (modern day Plovdiv, Bulgaria)

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Jim Cleary @jimcleary.bsky.social · 21/04/2025

Something a little different for this #MosaicMonday - some lovely modern mosaics on the wall of Globe Primary School, in Bethnal Green

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Jim Cleary @jimcleary.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

#MosaicMonday This Dionysos looks like he has seen a few too many parties! 4C AD, from Ancient Halicarnassus (modern day Bodrum) and now on display in Room 70 of the British Museum.

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Jim Cleary @jimcleary.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

#MosaicMonday This wonderfully goofy looking Medusa is in the Benaki Museum in Athens, described as: "Mosaic floor with head of Medusa. Possibly from Asia Minor, Late Roman period."

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Jim Cleary @jimcleary.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

Many thanks to @alisonfisk.bsky.social for inspiring me to visit Ham House - the crocuses are stunning again this year!

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Jim Cleary @jimcleary.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

#FrescoFriday A lovely Roman altar from Milan, on display in the marvellous Civic Museum of Archaeology. 1st/2nd century CE. Side A has an embedded black marble head of Dionysos/Bacchus.

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Jim Cleary @jimcleary.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

#MosaicMonday The extraordinary interior of the Cappella Palatina, in Palermo, Sicily. 12th century.

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Jim Cleary @jimcleary.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

#FrescoFriday The Flotilla Fresco, from the West House in Akrotiri, Thera. Preserved by the volcanic eruption of Santorini/Thera around 1,600 BCE, and now on display in the Museum of Prehistoric Thera, in Fira, Santorini.

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Jim Cleary @jimcleary.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

#MosaicMonday The Triumph of Dionysos, on display in the marvellous museum in Sousse, Tunisia. From the house of Vergil, Sousse. Roman, C3 CE. Full description in Alt text.

The triumphal parade of Dionysos, who is in a chariot pulled by 4 tigers. His retinue includes a winged Victory, a Bacchante, two Satyrs, a panther drinking from a crater and the child Dionysos riding a lion.

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Jim Cleary @jimcleary.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

#MosaicMonday I’m not sure why this representation of November is looking at her sistrum so suspiciously! From Ancient Halicarnassus, now in the British Museum.

Lady holding a sistrum - a kind of ancient rattle. She looks suspicious or angry.

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Jim Cleary @jimcleary.bsky.social · 06/01/2025

#MosaicMonday The birth of Alexander the Great; mosaic found near Baalbek, and now on display in the National Museum of Lebanon, in Beirut.

Large square mosaic with decorative border; upper left quadrant is missing. Six figures in 3 groups of two; figures are named but not all the names have survived.
Two figures on the left half, seated, thought to be Philip & Olympias (Alexander's parents).
Two women upper right, Therapena and Olympias.
Lower right is a small child standing in a bowl or shell, (Alexander) being washed by a Nymph.

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Jim Cleary @jimcleary.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

#MosaicMonday Marvellous sea-creatures from Ostia Antica.

A fantastical dolphin with an undulating tail

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Jim Cleary @jimcleary.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

#MosaicMonday A lovely sinuous pattern of dolphins and swans, from the House of the Dolphins, a massive (over 3,000 sq metre) house in El Jem, now on display in the museum in El Jem, Tunisia. First half of the 3rd c. AD/CE.

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Jim Cleary @jimcleary.bsky.social · 13/11/2024

From the Silk Roads exhibition at the British Museum: the earliest known group of chess pieces, dated to the 700s AD/CE, found in Afrasiab (modern day Samarkand). and Afrasiab today. "The spider weaves the curtains in the palace of the Caesars, the owl calls the watches in the towers of Afrasiab"

A group of ivory chess pieces, with a decorative bowl behind them.

A herd of sheep grazing on lush green grass. The field is very undulating, and there are some buildings just visible on the horizon behind them. These are the modern-day inhabitants of Afrasiab.

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Jim Cleary @jimcleary.bsky.social · 06/02/2024

Quinctilius Varus, give me back my legions! This is a cuirass from the Teutoburg Forest battlefield, currently on display in the Legion exhibition in the British Museum.

Roman body armour, constructed of individual iron plates

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Jim Cleary @jimcleary.bsky.social · 06/11/2023

#MosaicMonday L’ivresse d’Hercule - Hercules’ Drunkenness- C3 AD found in Vienne & now on display in the fine museum in Lyon.

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Jim Cleary @jimcleary.bsky.social · 16/10/2023

#MosaicMonday A rather elegant dolphin, C1 CE. Found in Marseilles during the construction of the Cathedral de la Major in the 19th century, and now on display in the superb Museum of the History of Marseilles (Musee d’histoire de Marseille)

A simple black and white image of a dolphin, oriented diagonally in a border. Tail is bottom left and head is top right

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Jim Cleary @jimcleary.bsky.social · 09/10/2023

#MosaicMonday: Another Alexander? A hunter, suggested to be Alexander the Great. He can be seen in the Piazza della Vittoria in Palermo.

A hunter, who is probably on horseback, leaning over holding a spear pointing downwards in his right hand.

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