iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

James Heath @mumblerjamie.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

The Chimera of Arezzo isn't the only bronze at Florence Archaeological Museum, they have quite the collection!

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James Heath @mumblerjamie.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

#EpigraphyTuesday with a Roman Cippus with a dedication to the Capitoline Triad in Fiesole's Archaeological Museum. Jupiter's name has gone, but IVNONI REG and MINERVAE are still legible. #AncientBlueSky🏺

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James Heath @mumblerjamie.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Does anyone have a list of the inscriptions in Palazzo Medici Riccardi courtyard in Florence? So many Latin inscriptions, but no explanations or translations anywhere. @anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social?

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James Heath @mumblerjamie.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

#MosaicMonday with the Festoon mosaic from the House of the Faun in Pompeii. The festoon is decorated with masks, leaves and fruit Now in the MANN. Those masks summing up Mondays rather well. #AncientBlueSky🏺

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James Heath @mumblerjamie.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

#ReliefWednesday with this sheet from an Etruscan chariot in the Florence Archaeological Museum. Possibly from Chiusi, it dates to the 6th Century BC and depicts Thetis presenting Achilles with his weapons for tyhe Trojan War. Now in Florence Archaeological Museum #AncientBlueSky🏺

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James Heath @mumblerjamie.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

#MosaicMonday from the archaeological area beneath Santi Giovanni e Reparata in Lucca. A surviving section of cocciopesto with multicoloured stones inserted, from a 1st Century BC Roman domus. The oldest of the many layers in the archaeological area beneath the church. #AncientBlueSky🏺

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James Heath @mumblerjamie.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

#EpigraphyTuesday from the Casa Buonarotti's archaeological collection. DIS MAN / CASSIAE SATVRNINAE / C CASSIVS THALAMVS F / MATRI PIISSIMAE #AncientBlueSky🏺

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James Heath @mumblerjamie.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

#MosaicMonday with this Triton and Nereid Mosaic at the Villa Guinigi in Lucca. Black and white tesserae, 2nd century AD, from the area of the Villa Massimo area of Rome and formerly in the collection of Duke Carlo Ludovico of Lucca. #AncientBlueSky🏺

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James Heath @mumblerjamie.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

#FrescoFriday with marine frescoes from the Pietro Papa complex in Rome. The Pietro Papa complex was discovered during during the early 20th Century and was a suburban villa with a thermal complex attached. #AncientBlueSky🏺

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James Heath @mumblerjamie.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

#ReliefWednesday with this fragment of a Greek funerary relief of the Hellenistic period. From the Villa Guinigi Museum in Lucca. Found in the church of Vallecchia (Pietrasanta) where it was reused in the floor. It depicts a funeral banquet scene #AncientBlueSky🏺

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James Heath @mumblerjamie.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

#ReliefWednesday from the Greco-Roman Theatre and Odeon in Catania with this relief of a griffin. Discovered in the excavations of 1950-1960. #AncientBlueSky🏺

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James Heath @mumblerjamie.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

A honorary dedication to Hadrian for this week's #EpigraphyTuesday! Set up by the Decuriones of Rhegium in AD 120 to record the construction of a thermal bath complex or the citizen's forum. Now in Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Reggio Calabria. #AncientBlueSky🏺

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James Heath @mumblerjamie.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

#MosaicMonday with this cephalopod in the apodyterium of the Women's Baths (Insula VI.8) at Herculaneum. #AncientBlueSky🏺

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James Heath @mumblerjamie.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

#MosaicMonday from Reggio-Calabria! Here we have a mosaic depicting fighting scenes. On the left is a pancratium fight, in the centre is a boxing match and to the right is the judge with a rod and cloak observing the fight. 3rd Centyury AD #AncientBlueSky🏺

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James Heath @mumblerjamie.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

#MosaicMonday this week comes from the House of the Priestesses at Ostia Antica! Detailing of a bird flying down to a bowl of fruit, there are garlands above. Regio III, Insula IX, 6. #AncientBlueSky🏺

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Kevin Wilbraham @kpw1453.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

Remains of the Roman Fort at Ambleside in the Lake District. Built during the 2nd century AD, the fort guarded the Roman road from Brougham to Ravenglass, and replaced an earlier 1st century fort. 📸 My own. #RomanFortThursday #RomanBritain #Ambleside #Cumbria

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Jon Hawke @archaeohawke.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

#RomanFortThursday Ruins of soldiers' barracks at Chesters (Cilurnum) #Roman Fort, along Hadrian's Wall. There is a gutter visible, which was in the courtyard between the barracks. Also the Praetorium Baths.

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James Heath @mumblerjamie.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

A video about this appeared in my FB video scrolling, and knowing how much @oldenoughtosay.com enjoys eccentric house listings, I had to find and share the actual listing. The interior decoration on this one! www.zillow.com/homedetails/...

zillow.com

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James Heath @mumblerjamie.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

#ReliefWednesday with this relief of a sacrificial scene in front of a temple! 3rd Century AD, now in the Museo di Villa Adele in Anzio. #AncientBlueSky🏺

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James Heath @mumblerjamie.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

#EpigraphyTuesday with this plaque from the family tomb of Numerius Decumius. 80-50 BC. Found in the tomb next to the Appian Gate, Rome. The text gives the size of the grave plot as 13ft long and 16ft deep. CIL VI 1862. #AncientBlueSky🏺

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Anthony Majanlahti @anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

#MosaicMonday leads us into the perfect neoclassical #BraccioNuovo of the #VaticanMuseums, where we find this marvellous black and white #mosaic pavement with a #Triton surrounded by sea beasts, dating from around 200 CE. #AncientBluesky 🏺

MOSAIC WITH TRITON AND SEA MONSTERS, C. 200 CE. VATICAN MUSEUMS

From 1817 to 1823 the archæologist Luigi Biondi conducted an excavation on the estate of Tor Marancia along the via Ardeatina by order of the duchess of Chiablese, Maria Anna di Savoia. Biondi discovered two villas of the C2 CE full of mosaics and statues, most of which were donated by the duchess to the Vatican Museums. These villas belonged two two cousins, Munatia Procula and Numisia Procula. Modern development has erased the villa of Munatia, but the huge villa of Numisia has abundant remaining traces. This mosaic comes from the baths of the latter villa. It shows a muscular Triton at centre, blowing a long horn, surrounded by four marine versions of panthers and bulls.

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James Heath @mumblerjamie.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

#MosaicMonday from the Baths of the Trinacria at Ostia Antica! Regio III, Insula XVI, 7. The Baths of the Trinacria were named after a depiction in mosaic of the symbol of Sicily: a female head with three legs (triskeles). #AncientBlueSky🏺

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James Heath @mumblerjamie.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

#FrescoFriday with this scene from the Samnite Wars from a tomb on the Esquiline Hill. Here we see Q. Fabius and M. Fannius exchanging their insignia. It is likely that the tomb's owner was a member of the Fabii family. This fresco is now at Centrale Montemartini. #AncientBlueSky🏺

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Anthony Majanlahti @anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

For #ReliefWednesday we have this famous and magnificent #Isiac procession from #palazzoMattei di #Giove in #Rome. This is a panel from a #sarcophagus front of #Hadrianic date, when the cult of #Isis took on new importance after the emperor's lover #Antinous drowned in the #Nile. #AncientBluesky 🏺

RELIEF WITH ISIAC PROCESSION, 117-138 CE. PALAZZO MATTEI DI GIOVE

This extraordinary relief probably came from a sarcophagus front. It shows four figures moving rightward against a plain background. It may represent part of the ceremony of the inventio Osiridis, the discovery of the scattered parts of Isis' husband Osiris in preparation for his resurrection, an appropriate subject for a sarcophagus. The priestess at the start of the procession bears a snake wrapped around her left forearm, representing Isis-Thermuthes, the goddess in her role as a bringer of fertility and good fortune. She is followed by a clean-shaven priest, the Hierogrammateus, carrying scrolls. Next is the high priest with his head covered, carrying a jar with the sacred water of the Nile within, the "effluence of Osiris", and finally a priestess shaking a sistrum or holy rattle, whose job was to ward off the evil god Set and "awaken" the goddess. In her left hand she holds a staff of Anubis, the psychopomp. The stiff, hieratic poses of the figures evoke Egyptian art without imitating it.

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James Heath @mumblerjamie.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

#ReliefWednesday with a Maenad and a Goat from Palazzo Massimo (man, I love that museum). Dating to the Hadrianic period, a seated female follower of Bacchus holds the horn of a goat. #AncientBlueSky🏺

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James Heath @mumblerjamie.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

#EpigraphyTuesday with a dedication to Venus Ansotica at the Split Archaeological Museum. Venus Ansotica was a syncretic deity representing a fusion of the Roman goddess Venus and a local Illyrian goddess, worshipped in Aenona (Nin) Dalmatia. #AncientBlueSky🏺

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James Heath @mumblerjamie.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

Buon #NatalediRoma! Rome turns 2779 today! Founded by Romulus on April 21st 753 BC, the Eternal City is still going strong. My favourite city on earth. The reason for my degrees and job. Where I have lived, worked, and proposed. Long live Rome!

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Sistory History Podcast @sistoryhistory.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

Two former slaves and their 4 children are remembered on this grand funerary stele. The Cartorii were very wealthy brick-makers and many terracotta bricks in the region bear the CARTORIANA stamp. 📸 Us, Musei Civici #Padua #Archaeology #TombTuesday #AncientBluesky #Classicsbluesky #AncientRome

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Antiquity Journal @antiquity.ac.uk · 21/04/2026

Happy birthday Rome! According to Roman tradition, Romulus founded the city #OnThisDay in 753 BC. Here's a mosaic of Romulus's early years being raised by a wolf (who had a great smile) #BeforeTheyWereFamous 📷 @followinghadrian.bsky.social / CC BY-SA 2.0 🏺 #Archaeology

Mosaic depicting a wolf with what appears to be a large grin on its face. Two children (Romulus and Remus) stand underneath the wolf.

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James Heath @mumblerjamie.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

#MosaicMonday with Oceanus and Marine Animals! At Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, 2nd-3rd Century AD. From a thermal environment of the Villa dei Severi in the locality of Baccano, 16m along Via Cassia. #AncientBlueSky🏺

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James Heath @mumblerjamie.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

#FrescoFriday with Laocoon and his sons being killed by the snakes sent by the gods becuase he opposed bringing the wooden horse into Troy. From the atrium of the House of Laocoon at Pompeii (VI.14.30), now on display at the MANN. #AncientBlueSky🏺

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James Heath @mumblerjamie.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

#ReliefWednesday with the relief of an Ionic temple with 4 columns from the Museo dell'Ara Pacis. Made from Luni marble it was found onthe Via del Corso, from one of 3 potential buildings: - Ara Pietatis Augustae. - Unnamed Claudian Altar. - An upper portico of a unknown building. #AncientBlueSky🏺

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James Heath @mumblerjamie.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

#EpigraphyTuesday with this altar dedicated to Fortuna by Gaius Valerius Longinus. FORTVNAE / SACRVM C / VALERIVS / LONGINVS / TRIB Found at the bath-house of Risingham Fort. On display with accompanying light projection at Great North Museum: Hancock. #AncientBlueSky🏺

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James Heath @mumblerjamie.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

#MosaicMonday with this Bird Mosaic at Palazzo Massimo. Discovered in a necropolis on the former Via Imperiale (Via delle Terme di Caracalla / via Cristoforo Colombo). #AncientBlueSky🏺

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James Heath @mumblerjamie.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

#FrescoFriday with this scene of mourning in front of a funerary couch. From a 4th Century BC Lucanian cist grave at Paestum, they were looted and exported to the US, but returned to the site in 2022 by the Carabinieri. #AncientBlueSky🏺

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Nina Willburger @drnwillburger.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

New research: The Aromas of Pompeii’s Household Altars. An international team of researchers investigated ash residues from incense burners. The substances they discovered show that Pompeii was part of a global trade network. www.news.uzh.ch/en/articles/...

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The Aromas of Pompeii’s Household Altars

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James Heath @mumblerjamie.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

A bronze plaque inscribed with a dedication to Feronia for #EpigraphyTuesday Dating to the 2nd Century AD, this plaque was dedicated to her in fulfilment of a vow by Hedone, a Greek maid-servant of one Marcus Crassus. #AncientBlueSky🏺

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James Heath @mumblerjamie.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

#MosaicMonday with the fight between Pan and Eros from Villa Romana del Casale! A crowd waits on either side, with Silenus the judge on the left, and a table with pots of, presumably, laurel at the back. #AncientBlueSky🏺

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Katherine McDonald @katherinemcdon.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

Some pretty major ancient Italian sites aren't known by their ancient names - because we don't know them. A little post on names and evidence for names; I'd love to hear your examples. katherinemcdonald.net/2026/03/30/a...

katherinemcdonald.net

Anonymous sites of ancient Italy

I’ve been writing about sanctuaries recently, and in this field it really stands out how few names of ancient sites we know for certain. Pietrabbondante, Rossano di Vaglio, Campo della Fiera,…

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James Heath @mumblerjamie.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

#EpigraphyTuesday from the Great North Museum: Hancock! Here we have an altar dedicated by Litorius Pacatianus to Mithras. The spelling of the God's name suggests the worshipper was a Greek speaker. RIB 1599 - romaninscriptionsofbritain.org/inscriptions/1599 #AncientBlueSky🏺

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James Heath @mumblerjamie.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

#FrescoFriday with this section of the Villa Farnesina Crypotoporticus A in Palazzo Massimo! A column is painted onto the white and red background, with the base of the column itself painted to resemble shells, though they could also be feathers. #AncientBlueSky🏺

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James Heath @mumblerjamie.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

#EpigraphyTuesday with this honorary inscription for Aurelia Prisca at Split Archaeological Museum From Solin, made of limestone, and dated to the Tetrarchic period (AD 283-305). AVRELIAE / PRISCAE / NOBILISSIMAE / FEMINAE #AncientBlueSky🏺

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Dr Tom Horne @hornesupremacy.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

💥 A Whole Lot of History 🏛 Roman Special 💥 📰 Erotic mosaic stolen by Nazis returned to Italy 🖼 📰 Roman tombs found under student development in Rome ☠️ 📰 Antonine Wall fortlet found in suburban Glasgow gardens 🏡 📰 Roman well in Caistor 🚰 📰 Dorset rubbish tip 🗑 open.substack.com/pub/historyh...

open.substack.com

Monday, 16th March

Erotic mosaic stolen by Nazis | Roman tombs under student development | Antonine Wall fortlet found in suburban gardens | Roman well in Caistor | Roman rubbish

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James Heath @mumblerjamie.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

#MosaicMonday with the central Medusa emblem and then Demeter teaching Triptolemus how to plough, from Brading Roman Villa. This depiction of the goddess of the harvest is the seasonal image for spring, and lies acorss the emblem from autumn's image of Lycurgus and Ambrosia. #AncientBlueSky🏺

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James Heath @mumblerjamie.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

#FrescoFriday with these fragments of a fresco with details of a floral motif. From the so-called Villa of Pompey in Albano Laziale, they are now in Museo di Villa Ferrajoli. #AncientBlueSky🏺

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James Heath @mumblerjamie.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

#ReliefWednesday at the House of the Griffins on the Palatine Hill. A Republican era house buried under the Imperial Palace, the stucco relief seen here gives the house its modern name. Photo my own at tinyurl.com/mrxwkmn6 #AncientBlueSky🏺

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