The article has a lot more on why Christie’s was so eager to please Epstein and the valuation and fate of the Hercules: www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/ma.... But to me the most important info is that provenance info can be vastly less certain than it seems from the catalog listing.

Sermons of Eusebius of Emesa preserved in an ancient Latin translation - starting to read about these. www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2026/...

Finally made the connection between Imperial #Aramaic לחן 'temple servant', feminine לחנה,* and Biblical and later Aramaic לְחֵנָה 'concubine', 'wench' or something like that. * That's 𐡋𐡇𐡍 and 𐡋𐡇𐡍𐡄 for my fellow Unicode freaks

Visiting the Steiff Museum today! 🧸 When Margarete Steiff made her first little elephant in 1880, she unknowingly sparked a global phenomenon: the world of plush toys. Born in 1847 and living with the effects of polio, Margarete defied expectations of her time to found what became...🧵1/2 📷 me

'Twas on the Monday morning the postman came to call... www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2026/...

btw I have a student who wants to build documentation and resources for cypriot arabic, she's very determined and has already started unearthing a lot of stuff but if anyone here has contacts in the remaining community or is interested in collaborating, please drop me a dm 🐦🐦

48 #Manuscripts digitized this week by the #Vatican, www.wiglaf.org/vatican/2026... includes a bunch of Coptic biblical fragments, Classics, Bede, and early date for William of Moerbek, liturgical commentary and more! #MedievalSky #Skystorians

A Medieval Coptic translator was confronted with a dilemma: the Pericope Adulterae (John 7:53-8:11) is not attested in his exemplar. He visited archives in Cairo & Damascus to collect its versions in Coptic, Syriac, Greek, &Arabic. what did he find? Join his facinating journey in this new article

One of my favourite pseudo-Diogenes aphorisms comes from this papyrus: "Diogenes the Cynic philosopher, seeing a small town with large gates, said shut the gates in case the city escapes!"

A remarkable archaeological discovery beneath the waters of Lake Neuchâtel! In November 2024, the remains of a Roman cargo ship, dating 1st c. AD, was discovered. The wreck contained hundreds of pottery vessels, Spanish olive oil amphorae, tools and weapons, including the #sword shown here. 🧵1/2 🏺

Don't want to criticise the author or this article, but one should probably not publish with MDPI: www.predatoryjournals.org/news/list-of...

The Cotton Genesis (Cotton MS Otho B VI, 5th century) was left barely legible after the Ashburnham House Fire in 1731. Multispectral imaging on the MS has now uncovered texts and images unseen for hundreds of years. Join us at our upcoming conference to learn more. events.bl.uk/events/multi...

Our new article is part III of "At the Dawn of Digital Studies on Arabic Script in France" by Ilyes Mechentel (@unibe.ch). In part III, Ilyed explores why Arabic Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR) adoption lags behind Latin scripts despite achieving technical parity. Read more on our website!

Want to read a watermark but there’s too much text on it? Then use the magic eraser. It’s really simple: you upload a photo and the image appears without the ink. #siteoftheweek

Perhaps the #Vatican was at the #MAA2026 this past week, as they only added 10 #Manuscripts www.wiglaf.org/vatican/2026... includes 3 volumes of cameos, 4 Ge'ez, a library catalogue, a cosmography, and more #MedievalSky #Skystorians

Useful real-world thread on AI translation and why you must not simply accept whatever it pumps out.

And here's a quick transcription and translation that I did myself. Again, give it a look before scrolling.

#ReliefWednesday - Tufa relief featuring a sculpted bas-relief scene of Mithras Tauroctonos. From Transylvania, once part of the Roman province of Dacia, dated to the 2nd-3rd century AD. National Museum of Transylvanian History, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

What would be the best Latin dictionary for reading an author like Cassiodorus? He seems a little late for Lewis and Short, but a little early for most medieval Latin dictionaries?

a solid 66 #Manuscripts from the #Vatican this week www.wiglaf.org/vatican/2026... a ton more Ge'ez, medicine, the tragedy Crispo, ancient cameos, classics, chronicles, specula and more! #MedievalSky #Skystorians

AotW: T. Rudolph, 1098: The Anonymous Crusading Account of the Gesta Francorum Describes the Muslim Mother of Kürbuġa as Counsellor, Scholar, and Prophetess, TMH 2.2 (2020), doi.org/10.18148/tmh.... *We are looking for authors: ojs.ub.uni-konstanz.de/transmed/ind... !* #medievalists #medievalsky

Good news that the digitised Beowulf manuscript has survived the digital equivalent of the Cottonian Library fire, the British Library cyberattack of 2023

Interesting interview with someone doing translation, in this case from Arabic to English. www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2026/...

Getting ready to translate the letters of Procopius of Gaza. www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2026/...

Found some images missing from old posts on the blog. The fixing process was... interesting. www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2026/...

A few folios from the Bodmin Gospels (Add MS 9381), a 9th-century Breton Gospel-book that was brought to Bodmin in Cornwall by the end of the 10th century. It's notable for its added manumissions, documents recording the free of slaves. @ccurran.bsky.social searcharchives.bl.uk/catalog/032-...

Most people are willing to send you a copy of their article, if you ask nicely, which makes it the more odd that someone has just refused to do so. A very obscure article too. I can manage without, but it reminds me to be grateful to those who do.

One of these lovely moments when you see a personal reflection made by the scribe on the text. In the colophon of one 4-Gospel manuscript, the Melkite scribe says that he made the copy from an Egyptian exemplar, because Copts have translations that "have no parallel in their quality" [1/2]

Congrats to Marianna Cerno for publishing a new ps. Clementine text she identified recently, for which she suggests a date of composition in the fourth century! Basically, new apocryphon just dropped. You can find a discussion of her book here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmQe...

It can be jolly hard to find Islamic primary sources, especially in English. A search for the "Fath al-Bari" commentary on the hadith of Sahih al-Bukhari. www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2026/...

On this day 8th March 1859 Kenneth Grahame, author of Wind in the Willows, was born in Edinburgh Artist: Martin Aitchison (1983)

#FindsFriday - Cremation Burial. The leaden canister contains the cremated bones of a man aged at least 35 in a linen cloth. Libations of #wine, milk    or honey could have been poured down the leaden pipe. Found at the south-east of the fortress at #Caerleon #Archaeology 📸 My own

I don't care, I'm on holiday. www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2026/...

"Make people dependent enough, and then make it shitty" Still giggling at this hilarious video from the Norwegian Consumer Council "A Day in the Life of an Ensh*ttificator" which seems a perfect embodiment of Silicon Valley and tech generally these days www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4Up...

My new JTS article on (Ps.-)Didymus the Blind's De Trinitate is out! I argue for a late-fourth-century dating, showing that the angelology of De Trin is perfectly compatible with practices of angel veneration that are well-attested in that period. academic.oup.com/jts/advance-...

The recently discovered Maronite World Chronicle does mention the Third Council of Constantinople, but does not mention John Maron, who became patriarch after the denunciation of monotheletism. This is odd. Is it possible that John Maron is the author of this chronicle?

The recently discovered Maronite World Chronicle does mention the Third Council of Constantinople, but does not mention John Maron, who became patriarch after the denunciation of monotheletism. This is odd. Is it possible that John Maron is the author of this chronicle?

Are you looking forward to visiting a free Iran? Iran is a country with a long and rich history, where many civilisations thrived over thousands of years. With 29 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Iran offers an incredible variety of archaeological & cultural wonders. www.worldhistory.org/article/1871...

Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus #openaccess publications ptolemaeus.badw.de/publications @brepols.net @phullmeine.bsky.social @badw.de

Ancient Coin of the Day: Something a little niche today, with coins issued by the interesting figure of Vetranio in AD 350, starting with this rather fabulous solidus. #ACOTD #Numismatics 🏺 🧵 Image: RIC VIII Siscia 260; Münzkabinett Wien (RÖ 28121). Link - numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric....

Want to know the date of the Tremulous Hand of Worcester, or why medieval documentary ‘forgery’ is, more properly, imaginative fiction? My book is now available in paperback! 🥳 www.arc-humanities.org/978180270086...

Only 10 #Manuscripts this week from the #Vatican www.wiglaf.org/vatican/2026... some Ge'ez (including music), an Arbor Philosophiae, a Formularium, some classical works and more (not much more) #MedievalSky #Skystorians

Oh, just saw that both volumes are already available #OA on the project page. ptolemaeus.badw.de/publications #astrohistory #histsci #medievalsky

🔓𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗟𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻 𝗣𝘁𝗼𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗰 𝗪𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗔𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 𝘂𝗽 𝘁𝗼 𝗔𝗗 𝟭𝟳𝟬𝟬 𝗔 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗵𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗦𝘂𝗿𝘃𝗲𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀, 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝘂𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗘𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗘𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 David Juste More Info: bit.ly/4bavsX4 #Ptolemy #Astronomy #Astrology #ManuscriptStudies #Manuscripts #OpenAccess

A very sensible article in the @FT (and not paywalled) about the awful new tax regime in the UK. The bit that really grates is being forced to pay private companies for software to file your new exciting 5 tax returns a year. www.ft.com/content/8010...

A selection of #Roman ridged glass bowls, all made about 2000 years ago - but still looking fantastic! #AncientBlueSky

#archaeology #ancientbluesky #romanhistory #Texas Epitaph of Saturnia, 1stC AD, San Antonio Museum "Diis Man(ibus) sac(rum) Saturniae . Vix(it) ann(is) XVI. Paederos conser(ae) dulc(issmae) ben(e) mer(erenti) fec(it)."