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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 12h

#OTD Ludi Capitolini, Games established in 387 BCE by Camillus, a politician of the Roman Republic, to celebrate Rome’s escape from capture during the Gallic siege. The games celebrated state prosperity; under Emperor Domitian, they evolved into a celebration of achievement.

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 20h

🌙 #HillfortsWednesday - Eildon Hill North’s ancient ramparts once enclosed hundreds of roundhouses. Legend tells of wizard Michael Scot cleaving the hill in three, King Arthur & his knights sleeping beneath it, & Thomas the Rhymer being spirited away by the Fairy Queen. 🗡️✨ #ScottishFolklore

Eildon Hill North summit : ramparts, ditches and traces of roundhouses can be seen

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

#NationalDessertDay What about a glass of 'vinum passum' with a slice of your favourite cake? The vinum passum is a raisin wine made with semi-dried grapes that, according to the Punic writer Mago, originated in Carthage. Then it reached Rome and it spread all over the Empire.

📷Autumn, Aquileia; credits: https://zurl.co/HkEZB 📷Still Life with Cake, R. Peale; credits: https://zurl.co/baWen 📷Wine Vessels; credits: https://zurl.co/fDxtq

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

#October was a very busy month in terms of #Roman Festivals. #OTD 13th Oct., the Romans celebrated #Fontanalia - decorating fountains & wellheads in the city with garlands of flowers to honour #Fontus, the god of wells and springs. 📷 Altar to the Divine Fontes. Photo credit: Luca Giarelli, CC.

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

Would you wear this hat? This #TrimontiumTuesday, we offer you one of our more unusual finds from our ancient Roman fort site. This hat made of hair moss (polytrichum) is a wonderful example of basketry techniques, with intricate and beautiful weaving used to create this historical headwear.

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

#OTD AD54 - Emperor Claudius, Rome’s fourth emperor, died aged 63 after nearly 14 years in power. Poisoned mushrooms? A poisoned feather? Ancient accounts differ, but his wife & niece, Agrippina, was the chief suspect. Claudius also launched Rome’s invasion of Britain in AD 43. #RomanEmpire

Quote of Claudius with a bust of Claudius, on a yellow background

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

#OTD 12 Oct - #Augustalia was a #Roman festival celebrating Augustus’ return from Asia Minor in 19BC. The Senate dedicated an altar to Fortuna Redux, goddess of safe returns. The Ludi Augustales, games in his honour, were formally established after his death & deification in AD 14. #RomanHistory

Various representations of Augustus in sculpture (busts and full body statues), coinage, and a cameo

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

#otd #Meditrinalia was celebrated in honour of the new #vintage. Romans drank a mix of new & old wine believing it to promote good health. At #Trimontium, vessels were found that would have held wine, a staple in the fort diet. 📷Bronze wine jug & Coarse ware flagon, Trimontium Trust

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

#OTD 10 October AD 19, #Germanicus Julius Caesar died at Antioch, aged 33. A popular general, he won victories in Germania & was compared by #Tacitus to Alexander the Great. Nephew & adopted son of Emperor Tiberius, his suspicious death amid accusations of poisoning shocked Rome. #RomanHistory

Painting representing the death of Germanicus

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

#OTD celebrations were held in honour of Juno Moneta, #goddess of the mint. #Romans sought financial protection. It is believed Romans celebrated today due to the dedication of her temple. 📷 Bust of Juno Moneta on denarius Relief of Juno's sacred geese & the Temple of Juno Moneta, from Ostia

Coin of Juno Moneta over a blue background

Relief representing geese and a temple (fragment)

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

This #penannular #brooch, made from bronze and decorated with blue enamel and silvery inlay with a dog-tooth pattern, was discovered at #Trimontium by excavator James Curle, and dates to the late 1st of 2nd century CE.

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

🐙The Romans captured octopuses in their mosaics, fascinated by these remarkable sea creatures. Today, pollution, habitat loss & overfishing threaten marine life. 8 Oct - #WorldOctopusDay, let's protect our oceans & the extraordinary creatures that call them home! 🌊 #RomanArt #RomanMosaic #Octopus

Elaborate Roman mosaic depicting many different sea creatures including an octopus

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

7 Oct 13BC Drusus Julius Caesar, aka Drusus the Younger, was born. Son of Tiberius & Vipsania Agrippina, he became consul, governed Illyricum & was named heir after Germanicus's death (his cousin & brother in law). He died suddenly in AD 23, aged 36. Sejanus & Livilla were suspected of his death.🏺

Bust of Drusus the Younger over a gradient grey background

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

⛰️ #HillfortsWednesday Burnswark: (Dumfriesshire) hillfort surrounded by two Roman camps. One of the most remarkable concentrations of Roman fire power found at a native site in Britain. Lead sling bullets, ballista balls & bolts, & arrowheads tell the story of a Roman assault. 📷 ©TrimontiumTrust

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

🌍 #GlobalDiversityAwarenessMonth At #Trimontium diversity is written into the archaeology: Syrian archers, Gaulish cavalry, soldiers of Legio IX Hispana & local communities living alongside Rome’s military presence. Different peoples, languages, traditions & beliefs on Rome’s northern frontier

Syrian style arrowhead over a red background

images of 2 Roman altars in black and white

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Happy #TrimontiumTuesday! 🏛️ These Roman tweezers found at Trimontium could have been used for grooming or perhaps as part of a medical kit. Their little suspension ring kept them handy — whether at the bathhouse or on the go, marching through the hills of Scotland! 😄

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Happy #WorldTeachersDay! How the pupils and older students called their teachers? Ludi magister (from 7 to 11 y.o.), grammaticus (from 12 to 15 y.o.) and rhetor (from 16 y.o.). An important role was played by the mothers who taught their children at home before they were taught by a tutor.

📷 A boy with his tutor; credits: https://utancientromaneducation.weebly.com/teachers-and-schools.html

Two girls with a wax tablet; credits: www.romanoimpero.com

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

#OTD 5 Oct the #Romans marked #MundusPatet 💀 when the sacred mundus was opened, symbolically creating a gateway between the world above & the underworld — a time when the spirits of the dead were thought to come closer to the living. 👻 A time when Romans felt especially close to their ancestors.

Roman mosaic depicting a skeleton holding jugs

Roman mosaic in full colour depicting a skeleton reclining

Roman relief depicting the gates of Hades

Roman mosaic depicting a skull and a wheel

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Its #GrandparentsDay today! The role of #grandparents in Ancient #Rome was interesting. Due to Roman cohabitation and marriage patterns, multi-generational households were commonplace, and children would often have been born into the house of their paternal grandparents.

Ara pacis detail showing the family of Augustus

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Long ago, a lord named William de Soules ruled #Liddesdale from #Hermitage Castle. It is said that he practised sorcery, stealing his tenant's children to use in sacrificial rituals. Finally, his aggrieved tenants wrapped him in lead & boiled him alive at nearby #Ninestane Rig. #SundayintheBorders

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

The horses of Trimontium were bred and trained to be brave and hardy in battle, carrying their Roman riders towards the expansion of the empire into Caledonia. 📷 ) National Museums Scotland

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

On this #WorldAnimalDay, we remember the horses of Trimontium. Trimontium was a primarily cavalry fort, evidenced by our huge volume of horse-related finds from bones to tack, and even little figurines like this terracotta statue found on the fort site!

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

😊 Happy #WorldSmileDay! The Romans knew how to smile, too. From the joyful young centaur found at Hadrian’s Villa (copy of a Greek original), to a laughing child from the British Museum & our own smiling terracotta horse from Newstead. Nearly 2,000 years later, they’re still making us smile. ❤️

collage of images showing close ups of a head of a centaur, head of an infant laughing and head and upper body of a horse smiling

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Many will be involved in sports in some way this weekend. What would the #Roman soldiers have been doing at #Trimontium Fort? Perhaps playing #Harpastum, a popular ball game similar to rugby. 📷 1) Harpastum, ancient Roman fresco 2) Tombstone of a boy with harpastum ball - Sinj, Dalmatia, Croatia

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

📷 1) Pythagoras, Roman copy of a Greek original 2) Gladiators mosaic, 250 AD3) 18th century engraving representing Ovid4) Bust of Seneca 5) Plutarch of Chaeronea, modern copy of a Greek original. Photo credit: Odysses CC.

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

From Pythagoras to Plutarch, Seneca & Ovid, meat-free diets in antiquity were intertwined with philosophy, ethics, religion & ideas about how humans should live alongside other living beings. 🌱

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

The poet #Ovid (43 BC–AD 17/18) explored similar ideas in the Metamorphoses. In Book 15, he gives Pythagoras a long speech condemning the killing & eating of animals & arguing for a world without bloodshed.

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

#Seneca the Younger (c. 4BC–AD65) experimented with a meat-free diet. In a letter he describes the Pythagorean belief in the kinship of living beings, & arguments that avoiding meat could discourage cruelty, reduce luxury & benefit health. His father eventually persuaded him to abandon the practice.

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Gladiator remains from Ephesus show evidence of a predominantly plant-based diet, while Pliny calls gladiators *hordearii* — “barley eaters”. Their diet included grains & pulses, while plant ashes may have been consumed as a mineral-rich tonic after exercise.

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

#Roman #gladiators provide another glimpse of ancient diets. Gladiator remains from Ephesus show evidence of a predominantly plant-based diet, while Pliny calls gladiators hordearii — “barley eaters”. Their diet included grains & pulses: plant ashes may have been consumed as a mineral-rich tonic.

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

The Greek writer #Plutarch (c. AD 46–after 119) also argued against eating meat. He condemned suffering inflicted on animals, criticised extravagant meat-eating at elite feasts, & argued humans were not naturally designed to eat flesh — pointing to our lack of claws, sharp fangs or hooked beaks.

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

#Pythagoras (b. c.570 BC) & his followers are famous for avoiding meat. His philosophy held that souls could pass between living beings, meaning an animal might contain the soul of a human, family member or friend. Killing animals could therefore mean harming a being with a soul like our own.

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

#WorldVegetarianDay! 🌱🥦. Vegetarianism existed in Classical antiquity among Greeks & Romans, although abstaining from meat was often associated with specific philosophical or religious beliefs rather than being the norm.

Busts of Pythagoras, Seneca and Plutarch, illustration depicting Ovid and mosaic depicting gladiators.

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

His 3 week reign was seen positively, given to Gordian I’s agreeable character, and he and his son were deified by the senate. By the end of the year, Gordian’s own grandson, Gordian III was proclaimed the sole emperor of Rome by a senate keen to appease a Gordian-aligned public.

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

His reign lasted only 22 days, undertaken alongside his son Gordian II. Unfortunately, this rule was cut short upon the death of Gordian II, who fell to the hands of the governor of Numidia. Upon hearing the news that his son was killed in battle, Gordian I committed suicide.

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

On this #InternationalDayofOlderPeople, let's look at the oldest Roman emperor to rule. Gordian I was around 80 years old upon his ascension to the throne in 238 AD, the Year of the Six Emperors.

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

#OTD 1st #Oct #Rome honoured #Fides, goddess of trust, good faith & fidelity. She appears on many Roman coins — including some on display at our museum in Melrose. 🔎🪙 It's also the birthday of Roman historian Sallust c.86 BC. His accounts of the Catiline conspiracy & Jugurthine War survive.

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Happy Kalends of #October! 🍂 From the Latin octo, “eight” — October was the 8th month in the earliest Roman calendar. Even after the calendar expanded to 12 months, it kept its name & its 31 days. October marked the close of the military & farming seasons & was under the protection of Mars. ⚔️🌾

Mosaic of the month representing October

Another mosaic representing October as a personification

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Img // 'The Private Life of the Romans', Harold Whetstone Johnston

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

A crepundia was a collection of small figures, beads, and amulets hung on a chain or string and affixed around the child’s neck to allow them easy access and reduce the chances of a parent having to pick it up should it fall or be thrown.

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Children have always played, and Roman children were no different! While first toys today are often stuffed animals, the Roman baby could be offered a crepundia as their first plaything.

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Despite this, the resemblance is clear, with the familiar curls that make Aurelius’ portraits so recognisable making a return for this celtic take. //The Ashmolean

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

It is remarkable in its consistent level of detail and use of patterning, a favourite feature in local art, alongside inlaid almond eyes and a downturned mouth.

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

This find comes from Steane from the age of Roman Britain, and it is a wonderful example of provincial style interacting with imperial portraiture. Here we see a bronze Marcus Aurelius, only 16cm tall and an incredible 2kg, presumed to be a sceptre or pole head.

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

#PompeytheGreat , Born #OTD 106 BCE, was a renowned Roman general and statesman of the final decades of the Roman Republic. Protégé of the military dictator Sulla, Pompey achieved significant military and political success during his lifetime. #FirstTriumverate #roman #history

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

These portraits replaced the classic Egyptian death mask as Greek and Roman settlers entered Egypt, though how accurate they truly were remains up for debate.

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

This is not indicative of when she died, however, as the majority of Fayum portraits depict the subject in their youth rather than closer to the end of their lives.

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Trimontium Trust & Museum @trimontiumtrust.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Perhaps you have seen the Fayum mummy portraits! They are famous for how real they look, the faces of Roman elites from the past. This woman had her portrait made between 160 and 170AD, based on her trendy hairstyle and fashion inspired directly from the imperial women of Rome.

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