one of the coolest things about ChatGPT is how you can actually just never use it. you can fill your whole entire life with simply not once using it. it's incredible.

#EpigraphyTuesday An altar put up by Saturninus, Centurion of the II Legio Augusta. DEAE SV / LI MIN(ERVAE) ET NV / MIN(IBVS) AVG(VSTORVM) G(AIVS) / CVRIATIVS / SATVRNINVS / C(ENTVRIO) LEG(IONIS) II AVG(VSTAE) / PRO SESV / ISQVE / V(OTVM) S(OLVIT) L(IBENS) M(ERITO) #AncientBlueSky🏺

Notice the staff. Can you tell me what the staff is?! It does not appear on the republican designs which inspired this type. livyarrow.org/2021/01/19/s...

#MosaicMonday and we're at the MANN! This scene of comes from, preusmably, a larger Nilotic scene found at the House of the Faun in Pompeii. It mostly features a group of ducks, though you can also spot a kingfisher and a frog in the scene. #AncientBlueSky🏺

#FrescoFriday from the MANN! We have the Lares and Snakes panel from Pompeii (Regio VII.2/3) We have two Lares in their typical pose with rhytons, the Genius performing a sacrifice with attendants and an aulos-player. Below a pair of snakes lie near an altar that has eggs on. #AncientBlueSky🏺

#ReliefWednesday at the Lovure with this portrait of Antinous. Around AD 130 Marble Modern back, nose, mouth, chin and neck. Formerly in the Campana Collection #AncientBlueSky🏺

If you're teaching the Julio-Claudians in schools, you might find this video on how to use coin evidence to teach Agrippina the Younger useful. :-) www.youtube.com/watch?v=52AF...

Alf Dubs is a 92 year old man who spent his life fighting for refugees, and in particular for refugee children. He fought the Tories tooth and nail during their last three terms, only to see Labour adopt far-right policies on immigration. “But to use children as a weapon ... I’m lost for words.”

#EpigraphyTuesday with this Altar of Claudia Bassilla from the Capitoline's Domitian exhibition. The altar was dedicated by Daphnus, Domitian's slave, to his daughter Claudia Bassilla, who died at 7 and a half years of age. #AncientBlueSky🏺

#MosaicMonday with this mosaic of showing a garum container. From the House of Aulus Umbricius Scaurus, Pompeii (VII.16.13) Scaurus made a fortune from fish sauce. bought a mansion in Pompeii and set four of these panels into the floor of its entrance hall. #AncientBlueSky🏺

Just wilful performative cruelty that is entirely out of step with the majority of British people. How many Labour MPs got into politics in order to vote for stealing jewellery off of people seeking refuge from war and persecution?

2015 Shabana Mahmood really needs to have a word with 2025 Shabana Mahmood

#FrescoFriday in the MANN! Here we have bows of ships decorated with apotropaic eyes, seen through the arches of an arsenal. From Pompeii, Insula Occidentalis, VI.10. I think they look very, very sheepish. #AncientBlueSky🏺

#ReliefWednesdayat the British Museum's Legion exhibition was this terracotta panel showing Roman soldiers leading distressed prisoners in chains. #AncientBlueSky🏺

#EpigraphyTuesday from Petra Museum! This limestone altar has 6 lines of Latin inscribed on 2 sides. It mentions Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (M. AVR. ANTONI), Roman Emperor from AD 161-180. After the annexation of the Nabataean Kingdom, Latin was used in Petra. #AncientBlueSky🏺

You may have missed this gem yesterday. From which we learn that: 1. Betting shops are really good for the mental health of isolated people. 2. Most drug-takers are not a problem. 3. Kids put tuppence in slot machines in the hope of getting rich. 4. Farage probably has a gambling industry donor.

#MosaicMonday with birds having a drink, while a feline waits below. Now in the MANN, discovered in Sant Maria Capua Vetere. #AncientBlueSky🏺

#FrescoFriday with this one known as Theseus the Liberator in the MANN! From the exedra fo the House of M. Gavius Rufus in Pompeii (VII.2.16-17) it depicts the hero being celebrated by the Athenians after he has slain the Minotaur #AncientBlueSky🏺

#ReliefWednesday from Jerash! In the North Theatre, on the wall at the end of the cavea, are reliefs, including this aulos-player! Originally built in the 2nd Century AD, it was restored in the 3rd Century AD. #AncientBlueSky🏺

A brand new UK TV #archaeology series starts TONIGHT Tues 4 November 9pm on More4 With #SandiToksvig @rakshadigs.bsky.social and the students of @bournemouthuni.bsky.social @buarchanth.bsky.social HUZZAH !! 🥳 Available for download after on Channel 4 #4OD 👇

For #EpigraphyTuesday this week we have this honorary pedestal to Quintus Calpurnius Flavus from Barcelona Q[VINTO] CALPVRNIO / L[VCI] FIL[IO] GAL[ERIA] / FLAVO / AED[ILI] II VIR[O] FLAM[INI] / ROM[AE] ET AVG[VSTI] / [BARC]IN[ONENSES] EX D[ECVRIONVM] D[ECERETO] #AncientBlueSky🏺

Detail from the Thruxton Bacchus Mosaic, probably representing one of the seasons. Discovered at Thruxton in Hampshire, the mosaic probably came from a villa. Dating to around 250-350 AD, the mosaic is now part of the collections at the British Museum. 📸 My own. #MosaicMonday

It's #MosaicMonday! Here we have a scene from the Gladiator Mosaic in Galleria Borghese! A victorious retiarius, alumnus, stands over his defeated opponent, the secutor, Mazicinus. 3rd-4th C. AD, from an excavated villa at the Borghese's Torrenova estate. #AncientBlueSky🏺

#FrescoFriday at Palazzo Altemps. Two frescoes here of a man and a woman, date to the circa AD 200 and come from the area fo the Baths of Titus on the Oppian Hill. They form part of a set in the Pallavincini Rospigliosi Collection. #AncientBlueSky🏺

#ReliefWednesday and we have this from the British Museum! While fragmentary it depicts Satyrs working a wine press. 1st Century AD, from the Hamilton collection. #AncientBlueSky🏺

#EpigraphyTuesday at Museo delle Terme with this altar dedicated to Hercules by Tiberius Claudius Onesimus. HERCVLI / SANCTO / SACRVM / TI(BERIVS) CLAVDIVS / ONESIMVS D(ONO) D(EDIT) Dated between AD 31-100, it was found at Vicolo dell'Arsaccio. #AncientBlueSky🏺

#MosaicMonday with this one of a Panther and other Dionysiac symbols on display in Herculaneum's on-site musem. The museum panel doesn'tsay where it's from, or specify each symbo, though I can definitely see the thyrsus. #AncientBlueSky🏺

#FrescoFriday From high above the clouds, and under a rainbow, Jupiter, flanked by an eagle, gazes at something a Cupid is pointing out. Originally from Herculaneum. #AncientBlueSky🏺

The train station serving Ostia Antica is to be completely transformed amid plans by Italy to seek UNESCO recognition for the ancient port city near Rome.

#ReliefWednesday and this comes from Amman's Citadel! It would appear to be a fist holding a stylistic form of lightning bolts. Perhaps Zeus/Jupiter? Currently on a patch of open space near the Temple of Hercules, it may have come from the temple. #ReliefWednesday

#EpigraphyhTuesday with a milestone cippus from Mt. Nebo Museum. It's the 6th Milestone from the Esbous-Livias road. The road was upgraded in the early 3rd Century AD, and therefore the inscription features the name of Caracalla. #AncientBlueSky🏺

#MosaicMonday from my Jordan trip. The mosaic of the Diakonikon of the Memorial Church of Moses at Mt. Nebo. Depicting Hunting Scenes split by a pastoral scene, it was the work of Soel, Kaium and Elijah. It dates to the 6th Century AD. #AncientBlueSky🏺

A fine mosaic featuring Bacchus and leopard was unearthed from a #Roman villa at Stonesfield #Oxfordshire in 1712 It was recorded by William Lewington in this painting now in @antiquaries.bsky.social Soon after, the floor was destroyed by locals "who refused to pay for seeing it" 😱 #MosaicMonday

Last week, myself and other professionals from the UK educational trips sector were invited to Jordan by the Tourism Board. We spent a magical 5 days in the country, seeing Jerash, Amman, Petra, Wadi Rum, Aqaba, the Dead Sea, Mt. Nebo, and Madaba.

#ReliefWednesday with this oscillum of a Satyr pouring from a wineskin into a krater. On display at the Ashmolean Museum for the Last Supper in Pompeii exhibition in 2020. Part of the Wyvern Collection. #AncientBlueSky🏺

Studying the language and literature that has helped to define our nation at home and around the world for centuries is a "rip-off" apparently

#EpigraphyTuesday with a Block with Inscription. Part of the pavement of the imperial ustrinum near the Mausoleum of Augustus. The epigraph probably bore the name of Vespasian's wife, Domitilla: [DOMITILLIAE / DIVI] / VESPASIANI #AncientBlueSky🏺

Wow, #Roman tombstones really do get around - this one was rediscovered in New Orleans, after being transported across the Atlantic by unknown persons in the chaotic aftermath of WW2... www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

#MosaicMonday with this close up of a leopard from the mosaic that depicts two centaurs fighting big cats. The mosaic was found at Hadrian's Villa, being part of the floor decorations of the dining room in the main palace at the complex. It dates to around AD 130. #AncientBlueSky🏺

I understand a court of appeal ruling is due this month on the question of whether a judicial review of the ban can go ahead in November. The government is opposing it, but I think they might be wiser to get this cleared up as soon as possible. The current situation looks awful & is not sustainable.

#FrescoFriday from the atrium of the House of the Vettii in Pompeii! Just a cupid riding a crab, as you do. #AncientBlueSky🏺

#ReliefWednesday with this high-relief cameo with a portrait of Augustus from the BnF in Paris! Carved during his lifetime, it was reused in the Byzantine period, as attested by the Greek inscription. It may have adorned a reliquary in Constantinople. #AncientBlueSky🏺

#EpigraphyTuesday with this Altar bearing an inscription, in Oscan, by the Magistrate Maras Atinius. It dates to the 2nd Century BC, is made out of tufa, and was discovered at the sanctuary of Sant'Abbondio, outside the town. #AncientBlueSky🏺

#MosaicMondayfrom the MANN! We have a fragmentary mosaic depicting Achilles preparing to fight Agamemnon, but being restrained by Athena. This scene from Book 1 in the Iliad, was created in Mosaic for the owner of the House of Apollo at Pompeii (VI.7.23). #AncientBlueSky🏺

ClassicsBluesky 🏺🧵 #LatinForTheDay – 25 September #Travel “crebra relinquendis infigimus oscula portis: inviti superant limina sacra pedes. oramus veniam lacrimis et laude litamus, in quantum fletus currere verba sinit: “exaudi, regina tui pulcherrima mundi,...

Back in the office today, had all of last week off except Thursday and then had yesterday off for my birthday and my brain is struggling this morning.

Wall painting from a tomb at Ostia Antica depicting a sacrifice to Hercules. Dating to the 2nd century AD, the painting is on display in the site museum. 📷 My own. #FrescoFriday #RomanArchaeology #OstiaAntica

#FrescoFriday Two wonderful fragments from a frieze depicting scenes from Virgil's Aeneid. The (incomplete) painted caption reads, 'BINA MANU L...' ("Two [spears] in hand...") and the other fragment shows a man with a spear. From a villa at Otford, Kent and now in the British Museum. #RomanBritain

#FrescoFriaday with this fresco of a young man from Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum. From Capua, dating to the 1st Century AD, you can see the head of a young man, covered by a green cloth, looking to his right. #AncientBlueSky🏺

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