Dr Jo Ball
@DrJEBall
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#Roman & conflict archaeologist; Freelance archaeological writer; Honorary Research Fellow & University Teacher @LivAncWorlds ⛏ ⚔ #RomanArchaeology
Liverpool, England
Joined December 2017
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Pinned Tweet
IT'S HERE!
I finally have finished copies of my book about
#Roman
commander & politician Publius Quinctilius Varus (of the Teutoburg, 'give me back my legions!' infamy). Really happy with how it has turned out - I've spent years learning his story, so is amazing to now tell it!
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A beautiful
#Roman
blue glass bowl, recovered during excavations in the city of Nijmegen (Netherlands). Not only is it a very lovely piece of glass, but it was actually found completely intact - not even a crack! - which is remarkable for a piece of 2000 year old glassware!
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9K
This
#MosaicMonday
offers another opportunity to marvel at a
#Roman
mosaic in Antakya (Turkey) which survives in beautiful condition (if not entirely undamaged), with an amazing waving pattern caused by earthquakes (📷 Museum Hotel Antakya)
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6K
An amazing moment as a
#Roman
mosaic starts to emerge from the ground during current excavations at Colchester - can't wait to see the full extent of the mosaic (& also for the blue cable to be removed...)
#RomanArchaeology
(📷 Colchester Gazette)
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A beautiful piece of
#Hellenistic
/
#Roman
-period glass in the shape of a pomegranate. The glass is wonderfully preserved, & the colours are stunning. It was likely once used to hold perfume, & may have been put in a grave as an offering to the dead (📷 Phoenix Ancient Art)
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A
#Roman
tile fragment, marked with the pawprints of a dog that walked over the drying clay some 1600+ years ago... 🐕
#Archaeology
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A cuneiform tablet with a recipe for a savoury pastry pie, with a filling including bird meat, leek, onion, garlic, dill, mint, & cinnamon - sounds rather delicious. The human taste for pie is clearly longstanding - this recipe is about 3750 years old..! (📷 Yale)
#Archaeology
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A selection of fruit seeds, stones, & pits recovered from the drainage system of the Colosseum in
#Rome
, remains of the snacks eaten by
#Roman
spectators watching the games in the arena up to 1900 years ago
#RomanArchaeology
96
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4K
A small figurine of a lizard, carved out of rock crystal - with a beautiful amount of detail given its size (less than 11cm long). It was found in a Gallo-
#Roman
tumulus at Cortil-Noirmont (Belgium), presumably as an offering to the dead buried there
#RomanArchaeology
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A beautiful moment as the vivid colours of an ancient mosaic emerge after thousands of years buried at the Graeco-
#Roman
city of Zeugma (Turkey); it depicts the nine Muses, with Calliope, the muse of epic poetry, at the centre
#MosaicMonday
(📷 Ankara University)
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A beautiful
#Roman
gold necklace, set with amethysts & small emeralds. It was made around 1700 years ago, & has survived in beautiful condition, perhaps as part of a hoard. The original owner was lucky to own such a nice piece of jewellery!
#RomanArchaeology
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A
#Roman
fresco emerges during excavations in
#Pompeii
. It depicts the myth of Leda & the swan, & once decorated the wall of a bedroom of a wealthy house in the city - but had not been seen for nearly 2000 years since AD 79! (📷 Cesare Abbate/EPA)
#FrescoFriday
#Archaeology
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A striking
#Roman
glass bowl, probably made in Italy in the late C1st BC/early C1st AD. It has stripes in yellow, blue, amber, purple, green, & opaque/white. Not looking bad for a piece of crockery made around 2000 years ago!
#RomanArchaeology
(📷 Corning Museum of Glass)
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An amazing piece of ancient art - a
#Hellenistic
bronze sculpture of a seated boxer, often known as the 'Boxer at Rest', which was excavated in
#Rome
in 1885. He is depicted sitting down, probably moments after a fight, still wearing his boxing gloves.
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A Hellenistic/
#Roman
period glass vessel in the shape of a pomegranate. It is in beautiful condition, only missing one of the lobes from the top, but otherwise complete. It was likely once used to hold perfume/oil, some 1900+ years ago (📷 Phoenix Ancient Art)
#Archaeology
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The underwater remains of ancient Alexandria (Egypt), showing the
#Egyptian
,
#Greek
, &
#Roman
influences on the city.
It was slowly lost to the sea between the C4th & C6th AD, as seismic activity led to a much higher sea-level.
#AncientSiteSunday
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A beautiful
#Roman
glass bowl, with a lovely ridged decoration around the outside. It was made in Italy just under 2000 years ago, & survives in beautiful condition - it would not look out of place in a modern house!
#RomanArchaeology
#AncientGlass
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A beautiful
#Roman
opus sectile floor in Ostia Antica - such a beautiful space, even more than 1600+ years since it was first laid
#Archaeology
#RomanArchaeology
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A colourful & beautiful
#Roman
millefiori glass bowl, dated late C1stBC-early C1st AD, in the area around Vesuvius (Italy). Just a wonderful artefact (📷 MANN)
#RomanArchaeology
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A
#Roman
blue glass bottle with a body in the shape of a shell. It was made some 1900+ years ago, & was probably used to hold perfume by its lucky original owner(s)
#RomanArchaeology
#AncientGlass
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An amazing
#Roman
find from the Netherlands - a 25-metre long wooden river barge, found on the bed of a tributary of the Rhine, where it sank about 1800 years ago. The level of preservation is fantastic - the wreck even still contained some of the crew's personal items!
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An absolutely stunning
#Roman
glass bowl, with a blue-green base & a flowery pattern in yellow, lilac, white & light green. Just such a beautiful artefact. Dated C1st AD.
(📷 Thorvaldsens Museum)
#RomanArchaeology
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A beautiful
#Roman
mosaic find from Antakya (Turkey), found on the building site of a new hotel & preserved by it during construction. The ripping effect has been caused by earthquakes shifting the ground (& looks amazing!)
#MosaicMonday
(📷 Museum Hotel Antakya)
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One of my favourite
#Roman
artefacts from this year - a tile with the footprint of a chicken impressed into the surface more than 1600 years ago. Found in Silchester (Britain)
#RomanArchaeology
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A colourful
#Roman
glass bowl, probably made in Italy 25BC-AD50. For a while it was thought to be a C19th fake, but scientific analysis suggests it is almost certainly from antiquity - made by/for someone who liked colour! On display at the V&A (London)
#RomanArchaeology
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A beautiful
#Roman
mosaic panel from
#Pompeii
, which depicts the portrait of a young & undoubtedly wealthy woman - a very individual study, perhaps of a woman who lived in the house it adorned, almost 2000 years ago
#MosaicMonday
(📷 MAN)
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A mosaic discovered in the ancient city of Antioch (Turkey), depicting a reclining skeleton holding a drink, with bread & a wine amphora nearby, alongside a Greek inscription reading "Be cheerful, enjoy life".
Dated C3rd BC
#MosaicMonday
#DayOfTheDead
(📷 AA)
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A lovely
#Roman
glass bowl in a vivid emerald green, which has survived complete in beautiful condition. It was made about 2000 years ago, & still looks amazing today! (📷 NY Met Museum)
#Archaeology
#AncientGlass
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A beautiful
#Roman
necklace, made of gold with an emerald pendant, & a garnet set into a flower-like clasp at the back. It was made between 1700 & 1900 years ago, & (probably) comes from Egypt; it is a lovely piece of ancient jewellery
#Archaeology
(📷 Art Institute Chicago)
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The
#Roman
Colosseum in
#Rome
, surrounded by snow - it looks even more beautiful than it usually does!
#RomanSiteSaturday
(📷 Colosseum Rome Tickets)
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Something truly amazing about seeing a
#Roman
fresco re-emerge during excavation - in this case, a fresco depicting Leda & the Swan from
#Pompeii
, uncovered in 2018 during work on Regio V
#FrescoFriday
Images - EPA via BBC
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A virtual reconstruction of a
#Roman
villa discovered at La Olmeda (Spain), which was occupied from the C1st AD until at least the late C5th (📷 VRO)
#RomanSiteSaturday
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I still love the images of this
#Roman
fresco being excavated at
#Pompeii
, which depicts the mythological scene of Leda & the swan. It was found in what was thought to be a bedroom in an upscale house on the Via del Vesuvio
#FrescoFriday
(📷 Cesare Abbate/EPA)
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There is something utterly wonderful about seeing a
#Roman
mosaic emerge from the ground, looking perfect despite its long burial - this example, from Stari Grad in Croatia, is absolutely amazing!
#MosaicMonday
(📷 Vilma Matulić/ Stari Grad Museum)
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A
#Roman
'Swiss Army Knife', complete with three-pronged fork, spatula, pick, spike, & knife - useful for eating on the go. It was probably a bit of a luxury item - it is made of silver - & was maybe used by a wealthy person on the move, some 1700+ years ago
#RomanArchaeology
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'... there were two very brave men, centurions, T. Pullo, & L. Varenus. These used to have continual disputes between them which of them should be preferred, & every year used to contend for promotion with the utmost animosity...'
RIP Ray Stevenson - thank you for Titus Pullo.
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An aerial view of the
#Roman
amphitheatre at Leptis Magna (Libya), against a beautiful marine background
#RomanSiteSaturday
(📷 Jason Hawkes)
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A beautiful
#Roman
blue & white glass bowl. It was probably made in the first half of the C1st AD, & must have been a much-valued piece of ancient tableware - it still looks pretty amazing today!
#RomanArchaeology
(📷 Bonhams)
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Beautiful
#Roman
mosaic floors at the site of Conímbriga (Portugal) - if these were in my house I would never get any work done, as I would constantly be distracted by them...
#MosaicMonday
#RomanArchaeology
(📷 António Adauta)
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A small copper-alloy
#Roman
mouse figurine, found around the Roman fort at Loughor (Wales). The mouse is shown eating (or about to) a piece of food in its paws, likely a piece of bread or cheese; its whiskers have been scored into the metal
#RomanFortThursday
(📷 Amgueddfa Cymru)
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A beautiful
#Roman
glass bowl, with a marbled blue & white pattern - almost looking like it was made from stone rather than glass! It was probably made in the late C1st BC/early C1st AD - it looks pretty good for a piece of glassware made two millennia ago! (📷 MFA Boston)
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Statues underwater in the
#Roman
city of Baiae (Italy), now below the waterline due to geomorphological changes along the coastline. Somehow they look even more stunning than they would on land!
#RomanArchaeology
Photos © Antonio Busiello Photography
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A wonderful wooden toy horse from
#Roman
Egypt - painted & on wheels to make it even more fun to play with! A beautiful illustration of the timeless nature of toys - this horse wouldn't look out of place in many toyboxes today!
#RomanArchaeology
(📷 British Museum)
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A selection of fruit stones, seeds, & pits found in the drains of the Colosseum in
#Rome
- the remains of snacks eaten by
#Roman
spectators watching games & shows at the arena up to 1900 years ago
#Archaeology
#RomanArchaeology
40
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A glass
#Roman
bowl, cast with a colourful striped pattern - in blue, green, white, & yellow - creating a very modern-looking piece. The beauty of ancient glass never ceases to amaze!
#RomanArchaeology
(📷 Toledo Museum of Art)
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The
#Roman
ruins of
#Pompeii
, blanketed in snow in 2018. A wonderful wintery scene
#RomanSiteSaturday
(📷 ANSA)
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A small figurine of a lizard, carved from hyaline quartz in the Gallo-
#Roman
period. It has such beautiful detailing marking out its features & its scales! It was buried in a tumulus at Cortil-Noirmont (Belgium) around 2000 years ago (📷 MFAH Brussels)
#Archaeology
28
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A scene from Trajan's Column in
#Rome
, which contains the only known depiction of
#Roman
soldiers receiving medical treatment/first-aid in battle; it is sometimes referred to as the 'Battle of the Bandages' scene
#ReliefWednesday
#Archaeology
(📷 )
14
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An amazing & beautiful
#Roman
blue glass bowl, found in Nijmegen (Netherlands) in an absolutely perfect condition - without even a crack! - looking just as good now as when it was made, around 2000 years ago
#Archaeology
#RomanArchaeology
#AncientGlass
37
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A
#Roman
moulded glass bowl, in blue with a white marbling pattern. A beautiful artefact, which must have looked amazing when it was used in the ancient world (it doesn't look half bad now...)
#RomanArchaeology
(📷 British Museum)
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2K
Wow, thrilled to see I now have 20,000 followers, amazing! Thanks to everyone for your support - the
#Roman
Tweets will keep coming!
#RomanArchaeology
27
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A beautiful
#Roman
glass bottle, in green glass with bands of blue, white, & gold patterning. We don't know what this particular vessel was used for - but I imagine it was highly valued by its owner! Dated C1st AD, in the Fitzwilliam Museum collection
#RomanArchaeology
23
257
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The Great Bath in the
#Roman
town of Aquae Sulis (modern Bath, Britain). It is now open to the elements, but in antiquity was under a roof (about 20m high). The water is beautifully warm, drawn from hot springs nearby - if only you could still bathe in it...
#RomanArchaeology
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A fantastic
#Roman
mosaic from Hadrianopolis (Turkey), during excavations in 2021. Ancient mosaics always look so amazing when they are in the process of rediscovery!
#MosaicMonday
#RomanArchaeology
(📷 Anadolu Agency)
27
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2K
One of my favourite pieces of
#Roman
pottery - a fragment with an incised sketch of a big round human face. I hope this was made as a portrait of a real person - although I'm not sure they would have been flattered by it!
#Archaeology
#RomanArchaeology
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An amazing aerial view of the
#Roman
ruins of Timgad (Algeria), founded as a colony in the reign of Trajan, & probably one of the best surviving examples of Roman grid-based town planning out there
#RomanSiteSaturday
(📷 George Steinmetz)
28
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A
#Roman
marble columbarium panel, decorated with a relief image of a dog in a collar, alongside the inscription 'For darling Metilianus, Lucius Novius Aprilis made (this)'. A funerary dedication from an owner to a much beloved pet?
#RomanArchaeology
#TombTuesday
(📷 Bonhams)
22
388
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This
#Roman
glass bowl is a riot of beautiful colour, made using a millefiori technique to create a mosaic-like irregular pattern. A beautiful work of ancient glass! Dated C1st AD
#RomanArchaeology
(📷 Cleveland Museum of Art)
25
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A diver explores a
#Roman
mosaic, originally part of the ancient pleasure resort at Baiae (Italy), now underwater due to seismic activity in the area
#MosaicMonday
#RomanArchaeology
(📷 Antonio Busiello)
10
268
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A fragment of
#Roman
pottery, on which a small sketch or doodle has been drawn of a very round-headed person, bald, with a long nose & pretty odd-looking features. Would love to know if this was based on a real person - either way, it is now one of my favourite Roman graffitos!
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A colourful
#Roman
glass bowl, with a striped pattern in yellow-green, deep blue, amber, amethyst, yellow, & white. It was made around 2000 years ago (probably in Italy), & still looks pretty amazing today! (📷 Corning Museum)
#AncientGlass
#RomanArchaeology
28
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A beautiful
#Roman
mosaic from
#Pompeii
, depicting the portrait of a woman - perhaps someone who lived in the house the mosaic decorated before it was lost in the AD 79 eruption of Vesuvius. It is such a great example of ancient mosaic art! (📷 MANN)
#MosaicMonday
#Archaeology
14
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Trajan's Market in
#Rome
also forms the backdrop of one of my favourite
#Roman
photographs ever - the "Gladiator Crab" by
@EmanueleBiggi
, which stars one of the freshwater crabs that still lives in the ancient Cloaca Maxima sewer system.
25
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A
#Roman
glass bowl, made just under 2000 years ago, probably in Italy - it has survived in beautiful condition!
#Archaeology
#RomanArchaeology
#AncientGlass
19
254
2K
A
#Roman
mosaic on the coastline of the city of Sabratha (Libya) - a beautiful backdrop to a striking piece of ancient mosaic art
#MosaicMonday
(📷 Roman Ports)
12
279
2K
An amazing & colourful
#Roman
glass bowl, found in the area around
#Pompeii
. It is a lovely piece of ancient glassware, & survives in beautiful condition; it was made around 2000 years ago
#RomanArchaeology
(📷 MAN Naples)
22
290
2K
A
#Roman
tile with the deep-set footprint of a toddler of about 3 years old, imprinted when they walked or ran across the tile while it was drying before being fired - more than 1600 years ago
#RomanArchaeology
(📷 Malton Museum)
26
260
2K
An absolutely stunning
#Roman
glass bowl, in a gorgeous shade of blue glass with irregular white patterning. It was made about 2000 years ago, probably in Italy, but doesn't look anywhere near its age!
#Archaeology
#RomanArchaeology
#AncientGlass
38
318
2K
Some of the garden frescoes from the dining room in the luxurious
#Roman
villa which once belonged to the empress Livia, over 2000 years ago. Absolute perfection, in my eyes
#Archaeology
#RomanArchaeology
#FrescoFriday
46
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2K
A beautiful
#Roman
necklace, made of gold with amethysts & emeralds set into it. It was made about 1700-1800 years ago, but absolutely does not look its age - such a wonderful & timeless piece of jewellery! (🏛️ BM)
#Archaeology
#RomanArchaeology
35
311
2K
A beautiful
#Hellenistic
/
#Roman
-period glass bowl, cast in mosaic-pattern glass, with yellow spirals set within a blue background. Amazing to think that it is more than 2000 years old!
#AncientGlass
(📷 Bonhams)
19
308
2K
My book about the
#Roman
commander Publius Quinctilius Varus has now been out in the big wide world for over 2 months, which seems like an excellent reason to post a (long!) 🧵 about one of the key events in his life - the AD 9 Battle of the Teutoburg, or 'Varus Disaster'
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A beautiful selection of
#Roman
glass vessels on display in Köln/Cologne (Germany). Many of them were locally produced - the city had quite a reputation for glass-making, & from these pieces it is easy to see why! (📷Römisch-Germanisches Museum)
#RomanArchaeology
21
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A
#Roman
glass bowl, with a colourful (& slightly irregular) pattern created from fused glass rods. It was made around 2000 years ago, & is an absolutely beautiful piece of
#RomanGlass
(📷 Cleveland Museum)
13
243
2K
There is something very special about seeing a
#Roman
mosaic peek out of a trench during excavations - in this case, from a Roman villa located in a vineyard at Negrar di Valpolicella (Italy). The colours are just amazing
#MosaicMonday
Photos: Comune di Negrar di Valpolicella
28
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2K
A
#Roman
glass vessel in the shape of a basket - another astonishing example of
#RomanGlass
! It was found in Syria, & was probably made in the C3rd AD. A beautiful little piece!
#Archaeology
7
222
2K
Spring poppies growing alongside the remains of a
#Roman
road in Ostia (Italy)
#RomanArchaeology
#RomanRoadsFriday
13
181
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A
#Roman
tile from Silchester (Britain) which bears the footprint of a chicken that wandered over the clay while it was drying before firing, some 1600+ years ago
#RomanArchaeology
23
214
2K
Most of a
#Roman
helmet (minus cheek pieces), dated to the mid-C3rd AD & found somewhere in the Balkans. The name of the owner, Julius Mansuetus, is inscribed on the neck-guard, alongside a carrying handle; it is also decorated with 2 mice & loaves of bread/cheese wheels.
42
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An aerial view of the theatre at Sabratha (Libya), within the remains of the
#Roman
city; the Mediterranean Sea is providing a beautiful backdrop! (📷 Jason Hawkes)
#RomanSiteSaturday
8
185
2K
A beautiful ancient glass bowl, thought to have been made in
#Hellenistic
- or
#Roman
-period Cyprus. It was made from spiral-twisted canes of blue, yellow, & clear glass, & must once have been much treasured by its owner - a wonderful piece of ancient glass
#Archaeology
24
239
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A C3rd AD
#Roman
helmet, decorated on the back with 2 mice chasing a circular object, either a cheese or a loaf of bread. It was made more than 1700 years ago, & once belonged to a soldier named Julius Mansuetus, whose name is inscribed on the neck-guard (📷 NY Met Museum)
39
273
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Love this little graffito horse, carved into one of the building-stones of the drill-hall in the
#Roman
fort at Birdoswald (
#HadriansWall
). It was probably put there by a soldier stationed at the fort - although we have no idea exactly why!
#RomanFortThursday
#RomanArchaeology
56
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2K
A stunning
#Roman
glass bottle, made from green glass with a blue, white, & gold pattern. An amazingly beautiful piece of
#RomanGlass
! Dated to the C1st AD, & on display at the Fitzwilliam Museum (Cambridge)
#RomanArchaeology
21
250
1K
A
#Roman
iron frying pan, found at Usk (Wales) & dating to the C3rd AD. It even has a handle that can be folded away, to make for easier carrying/storage. Can't imagine how many meals were cooked on this before it was lost to the archaeological record
#RomanArchaeology
32
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1K
Wow, amazed & delighted to see that I have crept over the 35k follower milestone for the first time, thank you all so much.
It is wonderful to know there are so many people out there interested in all things
#Roman
- I will do my best to keep the
#RomanArchaeology
coming!
33
67
1K
A stunning shallow
#Roman
glass dish, in a blue & dark orange with a pattern picked out in gold. It was probably made in Italy around the late C1st BC-early C1st AD. A reminder of the beauty of
#RomanGlass
, particularly when it survives this well
#RomanArchaeology
22
243
1K
A mummy portrait from
#Roman
Egypt, depicting the face of a young woman. She is wearing gold ball earrings & a lunula crescent pendant; the style of her clothes & hair suggests she died around AD 55-70. Sadly, we don't know her name
#RomanArchaeology
(📷 British Museum)
26
207
1K
A glass dish (probably) made in
#Roman
-period Egypt, in the late C1st BC/early C1st AD. It has a very eye-catching chequerboard-type design in red, blue, & white, for the Roman with a bold taste in crockery...
#RomanArchaeology
30
220
1K
A
#Roman
mosaic from Carmona (Spain), originally found in a bath-house & now on display at the Town Hall. An image of Medusa the Gorgon sits at the centre, flanked by images of the 4 seasons, surrounded by an intricate geometric pattern
#MosaicMonday
(📷 Turismo Carmona)
19
294
1K
A moving
#Roman
-period tombstone from Lesbos, dedicated to a dog named Parthenope. The inscription says the dog earned this special grave through their companionship & happiness; the dog was a 'worthy friend' to their owner. Dated C3rd AD (📷 Dick Osseman)
#RomanArchaeology
14
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