iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Good grief! It looks as if the whole fabric is decomposing like a mouldy slice of bread! Amazing it’s still standing!

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Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

All fine here, didn’t feel a thing. Thank you so much for caring, that’s super thoughtful.

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Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

The fresco decorated the vaulted ceiling of an upper floor room above the tablinum in the House with the Bakery of Aulus Rustius Verus. During the excavation the fragments were reassembled in the finds hut as they came out of the ground and as the dig went on so the puzzle grew.

Fragments of fresco in a finds crate fresh from the excavation

Fragments of fresco arranged on a table.

Fragments making up the mask and part of the still life garland

Fragments with colourful border decorations

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Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Other details: griffins and crabs in hues of blue, Psyche, and a Nilotic scene. The central emblema is of Dionysus & Ariadne. The reconstructed part constitutes just over one quarter of the arced ceiling & the fresco is of Fourth Style - painted in the last decades of the city.

Winged griffin with a crab framed by cornucopia in beautiful hues of blue

A winged Psyche wearing a pink chiton holding a long torch in her left hand.

Nilotic scene with a building with steps, an amphora leaning against a tree, two musicians sitting on a rock, and an erotic scene

The reconstructed arced ceiling representing just over one quarter of the entire fresco

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Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

What an immense joy and satisfaction to see the fragments of the ceiling fresco from Region IX excavations reassembled. The vibrant colours and the intricate details of the highest quality are mesmerising. Currently on display in the Large Palaestra, #Pompeii

Part of the still life garland with mask and geometric borders framing a personification of Spring

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Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Celebrating the 250th anniversary of American Independence and wishing Americans a happy 4th of July with ancient Roman paint pigments from #Pompeii. 🇺🇸

Three small ancient ceramic pots with the original paint pigments inside. The colours in order are red, white and blue.

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Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

Oh that’s lovely! I’d not seen that detail in the Synistor fresco. Interestingly this fountain in Oplontis was painted much later than the original scheme. It mimics the—now badly damaged—one on the facing wall as it covers the blocking of an original door. So possibly 3rd Style mimicking 2nd Style.

Damaged facing wall fresco with spout and water jet marked. The basin is totally missing

Detailed image marked in red rectangle on wider view of fresco on facing wall
Photo: https://pompeiiinpictures.com/pompeiiinpictures/VF/Villa_055%20Oplontis%20Villa%20of%20Poppea%20p06.htm#_Room_15:_Oecus

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Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

I utterly adore the fresco of a fountain that was revealed in recent excavations in #Oplontis (room of the peacocks). The three spouts fixed on the wall each with a jet of water filling the marble basin which is supported on those beautiful curved legs. It silently creates an air of fresh coolness.

Fresco detail: Against a red wall a presumably white marble basin is being filled with water from a jet of water arcing out of a gold coloured spout fixed into the wall.

Fresco detail: Against a red wall a presumably white marble basin supported curved legs ending in animal paws is being filled by a jet of water arcing out of a gold coloured spout fixed into the wall.

Against a red wall a presumably white marble basin supported curved legs ending in animal paws is being filled by three jets of water arcing out of gold coloured spouts fixed into the wall. There is a gentle sense of perspective as the basin is at an angle to the viewer

Fresco detail: A jet of water is coming out of a gold coloured spout fixed into the red wall

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Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

My pleasure! Wishing you every deserved success with the book.

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Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

It is my wish to end up in a museum so….

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Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

‘Set off at the first sign of trouble” is about as far as I have got. What could possibly go wrong?

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Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

This book is epic in so many ways. I urge you to embark on an adventure into @carolawrence.bsky.social’s brilliantly inspiring & creative world of Homer’s Odyssey. Caroline’s unceasing passion & energy for Classics & fun bounces off the pages in her inimitable style. www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...

Book cover with partly coloured in drawing and title page

Explanatory book page about the author and her mission

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Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

The colours of Italian liberation spotted in the frescoes of #Pompeii 🇮🇹 Wishing all Italians a very happy #FestaDellaLiberazione

Red background with a green border on right side and a green and white tendril of foliage curling across the image

Red background with a green border in a rhomboid shape containing a white boss at its centre

Red background with a vertical stem with green and white foliage and flowers

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Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

But… could they be figs? I’m doubting myself!

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Reposted by Dr Sophie Hay

Sarah E. Bond @sarahebond.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

Happy National Garlic 🧄 Day! Greeks & Romans loved garlic—but Mesopotamians loved it 1000s of years before them. The Greek ἄγλις (Latin alium) is an Akkadian loan word. At Pompeii, there was even a garlic seller (aliarii) workshop ( 📸 by @pompei79.bsky.social): pompeiiinpictures.com/pompeiiinpic...

Garlic cloves and bread from a fresco originally from Herculaneum and now at the National Archaeological Museum of Naples (MANN), Italy. Photo by Sophie Hay

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Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

The fact you tried cements our friendship.

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Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

Just nosing around the neighbours’ amphitheatre. The Roman amphitheatre at Pozzuoli (Puteoli).

Looking through one of the passages under the seating area into the arena and the seating on the far side. The statue in the foreground is of a (headless) female figure possibly that of the Goddess Fortuna.

View from the exterior of the amphitheatre at the arched passages (vomitoria) that would have provided access to the seating area. The brick and stone structure is dripping in plants. The arena can be seen on the left

Looking down one of the principal entrances to the arena along a brick and opus reticulatum block wall. The seating can be seen in the background on the left.

A Bourbon inscription on a red painted wall reading ANFITEATRO PUTEOLANO at the entrance to the site.

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Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

Happy Easter! Life imitating art. Fresco of dish of eggs from the Praedia of Julia Felix, #Pompeii and an exhibit of eggs that astonishingly survived the AD 79 eruption in Herculaneum. 🥚🥚🥚

Detail of a fresco showing a dish of eggs and some dead birds hanging above it

Four near complete eggs sitting in a black dish

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Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

This was taken an hour before closing time so if you’re patient… Hope you had a great visit.

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Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

They are just stepping stones for pedestrians and cart wheels could happily pass between them as shown by the wheel ruts we see scored into the road paving. So not pedestrianised streets at all nor to slow traffic (they weren’t moving fast on those paving stones!) but to just help pedestrians.

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Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 15/03/2026

One of the most remarkable objects in #Pompeii is a marble table support with P. Casca Longus inscribed on it. Longus was the 1st assassin to stab Julius Caesar on #IdesOfMarch (today in 44 BC). On his death Longus’ possessions were auctioned & this table was bought by a Pompeian

A white marble table leg in the form of a lion head and descending into a claw as the foot. The view is from above and since there is no table top the inscription of P. Casca Long can be seen engraved into the table top support.

View across an atrium of the so-called House of Casca Longus (he never lived here!). To the left a blue painted wall. In the centre-right an impluvium basin with a circular ceramic cistern head nearest to us on one side. On the far side the white marble tripod table support.

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Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

It is. Very simple and respectful. They become far more human again in this space with the information available. A far cry from being perceived as ghoulish figures with no context.

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Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

A day filled with poignant reflection as the permanent exhibition dedicated to the plaster casts of ancient Pompeians opened in #Pompeii. At last they are given context: where, when and how they were found, what they were found with, and details such as their sex and approximate age.

View down the portico of the Grande Palaestra of the display cases housing the casts

One of the casts lying on his back. Behind him the Grande Palaestra is bathed in sunlight.

A reflection of one of the casts on display

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Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

Very kind of you! Thank you. Unfortunately my PhD is not yet published but consider yourself spared from a rather intense/dull account of analysing wall construction and identifying Roman DIY!

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Reposted by Dr Sophie Hay

Nina Willburger @drnwillburger.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

Please support the petition against the planned #closure of #Archaeology at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Archaeology has been a part of Humboldt-Universität academic tradition for almost 200 years, so closing it would break a long-standing research tradition weact.campact.de/petitions/sc...

weact.campact.de

Schließung des Instituts für Archäologie an der HU-Berlin

Die Archäologie gehört seit fast 200 Jahren zur wissenschaftlichen Tradition der Humboldt-Universität. Ihre Schließung bedeutet den Abbruch einer gewachsenen Forschungstradition und eine dauerhafte Sc...

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Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

Hooray! Hope you have a wonderful visit.

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Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

Weather can absolutely influence whether you enjoy a site or not and I’m sorry you’ve only seen Pompeii in the extremes. Normally it’s a very well behaved and utterly beautiful site!

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Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

Such a perky little day to be on site. #Pompeii

The view up a back street of pompeii leading from left to right and ending with a white travertine public fountain. The sky is blue and the few puffy white clouds seem lined up in an oblique line to mirror the perspective of the road

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Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

Something I am grateful for every day.

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Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 17/02/2026

No light quite like that produced against gathering clouds after a day of sunshine. The pinky-hues drenching the road paving and walls of Pompeii are magical.

View of Vesuvius looming over the Porta Nocera gateway of Pompeii with the paved road wending its way into the city. Above clouds gather and lit bright orange melting into shades of pink. The same hues illuminate the stones of Pompeii

Close up of the Nocera gateway into Pompeii drenched in pink lighting. The same hues seen on the clouds above Vesuvius in the background

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Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

Incredibly exciting to watch this room being fully revealed. I adore the almost romantic pairing of peacock to peahen - I would have put money on there being two more peacocks. Brilliant.

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Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

An undeniably emotional experience seeing the other half of the ‘peacock room’ in Oplontis being excavated and meeting their counterparts: the two peahens that graced the facing wall. What a delightfully playful idea by the artist. Compliments to my colleagues, excavators & conservators. Spectacular

Fragments of fresco retrieved during excavations of one the peahens striding along the yellow cornice against a backdrop of a colonnade.

Two excavators digging the other half of the peacock room in Oplontis. Behind them the facing wall being revealed and the fresco that mirrors the known wall coming to light. One of the peahens can be seen in situ on the the left side above a panel of bright red.

The excavation site from above showing where the excavators are working in the foreground in relation to the known half of the peacock room behind the hoarding in the background.

The peacock from the well known peacock room in Oplontis. It stands on the yellow cornice with its tail draped over the edge. Behind it the colonnade painted in perspective.

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Reposted by Dr Sophie Hay

Greg Jenner (Historian) @gregjenner.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

For half-term, next Tuesday I’m doing a fun kids’ event at @southbankcentre.bsky.social in London — I’ll be doing a funny talk on the history of Roman Britain, and my ace illustrator @rikinparekh.bsky.social will do a live draw-along tutorial Tix cheap! www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/tot...

Totally Chaotic History: Roman
Britain Gets Rowdy
Tue 17 Feb 2026, 3pm

Be astounded by unbelievable and hilarious facts as bestselling author Greg Jenner takes us on a riotously fun journey through Roman Britain

Www.southbankcentre.co.uk

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Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

Awww, thank you! It was such a lovely experience, in spite of the searing heat, with Alice on site.

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Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

Thank you. Happened to be passing…

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Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

You do! In fact I was trying to look some of the boats up and failed to find them in a couple of go-to sources. Strange.

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Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

A chink of light falls across the wall of the caldarium (hot room) in the women’s section of the Stabian baths in #Pompeii.

A sliver of light illuminates the ribbed stucco relief of the barrel vault and decorative cornice as well as a small patch of the red plaster and a decorative pilaster. The rest of the room is shrouded in darkness.

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Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Welcome back! Apologies for the 3-seasons-in-a-day type weather but hope you do get to see the remaining area of the site. As for the Purple Turtle… blimey - haven’t heard that name in a while! But who is this denizen? Shall message.

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Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 11/01/2026

Then, in addition, what to make of the woman who is seated? I look forward to your interpretation. But in my mind there is always room for these women to be working rather than being clientele.

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Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 11/01/2026

Ah, apologies. I’ve not come across anything specific about this fresco in that context, but that’s not to say it doesn’t exist! I’ve wondered whether the seemingly well dressed woman on the left is a client collecting her items or someone related to overseeing work in the fullery. Hope the latter!

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Dr Sophie Hay @pompei79.bsky.social · 11/01/2026

I’m pretty sure @mikoflohr.bsky.social has addressed it in one of his brilliant papers on the subject of fulleries. But isn’t it simply depicting the drying racks with garments being dried and someone is handling a carding brush. This side of the pilaster also has the fresco of drying press.

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