Tessera

'Cyprus may have world’s highest stray cat ratio, study finds' You only need a passing acquaintance with Cyprus not a full research paper to know this to be true! Two cats for each person. #BlueSkyCats en.philenews.com/local/cyprus...

Cyprus may have world’s highest stray cat ratio, study finds

A new international study warns Cyprus's stray cat population has surpassed 2 million, more than double its human population, amid a lack of central planning.

en.philenews.com

The Goodies: Kitten Kong in London

Alt: The Goodies: Kitten Kong in London

static.klipy.com

Eliot Higgins@eliothiggins.bsky.social · last wk.

Oddie, along with the other two were a massive part of my childhood. Thank you to Australian children's television on the ABC of the 80s for the endless repeats of The Goodies that are permamently embedded in my generation's brain (all soundtracked by Oddie's songs) RIP

Bill Oddie, naturalist and broadcaster, dies aged 85 www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

Today is Sleepy Head Day a celebration of sleeping in originating in Finland. For #MosaicMonday here is the only known mosaic depicting Hypnos, the Greek god of sleep. It is from Risan, Montenegro and is 2nd cent CE. For the amazing story of Sleepy Head Day: www.daysoftheyear.com/days/sleepy-...

A multi-colored central medallion mosaic in a villa's bedroom portraying the god of sleep with folded wings over his shoulders, meant to protect the sleeper. He reclines with his head to the left.

It is from Risan in Montenegro https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/risan-roman-mosaics

‘Excavations at Kissonerga uncover one of Cyprus’ oldest Bronze Age settlements’ #archaeologynews🏺 cyprus-mail.com/2026/07/25/e...

Excavations at Kissonerga uncover one of Cyprus’ oldest Bronze Age settlements

Archaeologists working at the Skalia archaeological site in Kissonerga have uncovered further significant finds from one of Cyprus’ longest-inhabited Bronze Age settlements, Akamas municipality said o...

cyprus-mail.com

Council for British Archaeology @archaeologyuk.bsky.social · 2w ago

‘Pompeii archaeologists unveil stunning fresco ceiling in ancient banquet hall” #archaeologynews 🏺 www.independent.co.uk/news/science...

Pompeii archaeologists unveil stunning fresco ceiling in ancient banquet hall

The vault depicts Dionysus and Ariadne, whose union is one of the best-known Greek myths

independent.co.uk

Ask an Archaeologist Day is here! 🏺 Today, archaeologists from across the UK are here to answer your questions about the past, the profession and everything in between. Follow along throughout the day and send us your questions. #AskAnArchaeologist #FestivalOfArchaeology

Paul @atticusfinch-105.bsky.social · 2w ago

Lithographs by Elizabeth Frink (1930-1993) from 1973-74 showing scenes from The Odyssey from a series of illustrations she did for the Folio Society. #theodyssey From the Chau Chak Wing Museum collection www.sydney.edu.au/museums/coll...

Artwork titled "For a long time Odysseus was kept under water"

Art work titled "Polyphemus never noticed that my men were tied up under the breasts of his own woolly sheep."

Art work titled "Not a single axe did Odysseus miss."

Art work titled "Circe struck them with her wand and pended them in the pigsties."

Storage jar decorated with mountain goats From Central Iran, Chalcolithic period, ca. 3800–3700 BC. In the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.⁣ #History #HistoryMatters

Sue Wilkes @suewilkesauthor.bsky.social · 2w ago

Ok we will get a terrible film but on the bright side he may well single-handedly kill off AI www.theguardian.com/film/2026/ju...

Elon Musk says Grok Imagine will make ‘historically accurate’ AI adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey

The billionaire says the AI-generated film will stay true to Homer’s original, after repeatedly criticising Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster over its casting choices

theguardian.com

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... #gardens

Chatsworth's parched grass reveals 'lost' 17th Century garden

The hot weather uncovers the outline of The Great Parterre, an ornate garden designed in 1699.

bbc.co.uk

Australasian Classical Reception Studies Network (ACRSN)@acrsn.bsky.social · 2w ago

#Odysseus gets lost in translation: What separates #Homer’s epic from Nolan’s blockbuster? - by Ben Brown (Sydney) - ABC Australia www.abc.net.au/religion/ody...

Odysseus gets lost in translation: What separates Homer’s epic from Nolan’s blockbuster? - ABC Religion & Ethics

Christopher Nolan gives us a psychologically modern Odysseus who undergoes a traumatic dissociation, is wracked by guilt but accepts that he must move on — this “complicated” man is a far cry from Hom...

abc.net.au

Today is #InternationalMoonDay (for 20 July to mark the first landing on the moon) This third century CE mosaic from Tusculum features Minerva (Athena) in the centre surrounded by the phases of the moon - an 18th century addition when the mosaic was added to the Vatican collection. #MosaicMonday

"Lunar phases" - a 3rd century Roman mosaic from ancient city of Tusculum in Italy. Now in Vatican Museums.
Athena (Minerva), goddess of war, is depicted in the central circular panel with the phases of the moon surrounding her.

Artemis Papatheodorou @artemis-p.bsky.social · 3w ago

'Harry Seidler brought art to architecture, and modernism to Australia' This is our brand new exhibition at the Chau Chak Wing Museum at @sydney.edu.au 🏛️ www.smh.com.au/national/nsw...

Harry Seidler brought art to architecture, and modernism to Australia

The architecture of Harry Seidler at the Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney, opening on Saturday, celebrates these collaborations, and the architect’s life.

smh.com.au

I discuss this with material from the Ottoman state archives. As part of my current project, MMARe, I'd like to further explore this story and its ramifications. Those interested in the book, you may have a look here: librinet.ucy.ac.cy/book/%CE%BA%...

Κυπριακές Aρχαιότητες στην Ελλάδα. Ιστορικό και Νομοθετικό Πλαίσιο

Η παρουσία κυπριακών αρχαιοτήτων στην Ελλάδα αποτελεί ένα θέμα με ιστορικές, κοινωνικές και πολιτικές προεκτάσεις. Η πραγμάτευση του θέματος αυτού επιχειρείται για πρώτη φορά στο παρόν βιβλίο και καλύ...

librinet.ucy.ac.cy

Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 3w ago

A depiction of The Odyssey in ancient art a day until the release of Christopher Nolan’s film #theodyssey 🏺 Odysseus slays the suitors of Penelope on Ithaka. A reminder of the violence in the Homeric epics. Attic red-figure skyphos from Tarquinia, The Penelope Ptr, c. 440 BCE Altes Museum Berlin

Description from Google Arts & Culture

One of the most dramatic scenes from the myth of Odysseus’ return home is depicted on this drinking bowl (skyphos). The hero Odysseus is shown killing the suitors who beset his wife, Penelope, during his decades-long absence (Homer, Odyssey 22).
The painting on both sides of the bowl is continuous in both content and form, making it essentially a single frieze even if the palmettes and tendrils under the handles interrupt its continuity. On one side we see the bearded Odysseus, named with a painted inscription, still disguised as a slave in the short workman’s garment called the exomis. He is shown tensed to the utmost, gripping a bow in his left hand and pulling the bowstring taut with his right – the arrow is ready to fly. Two servant girls with short hair and Doric chitons stand behind him, anxiously watching the proceedings. The inscription kale (Greek for “beautiful”) appears twice over their heads.
The arrow’s target is shown on the opposite side: three suitors startled from their banquet by the arrows falling on and around their kline. All three men are nearly nude and wear the symposiast’s fillet around their heads. Their mantles have slid down and now hang loosely around their bodies, hindering their movements. The man at left, viewed from behind, kneels on the foot of the couch; he has been struck with an arrow in the back and is trying with both hands to pull it out. Meanwhile, the bearded suitor in the middle crouches in front of the kline and holds the dining table in front of him as a shield against the arrows. The third man, lying on the kline, seems to have just sat up, and holds out his hands in a helpless gesture of defense. Above his head too are the traces of an inscription, (k)alos.
The men are represented in poses that convey three phases of action simultaneously: the fright at the attack, the defense against it, and the pain after it. With this scene the anonymous vase painter – named the “Penelope Paint…

It’s 25 years since we lost Douglas Adams. I am happy to have been able to get a reference to him into this piece in the FT about why the humanities are essential www.ft.com/content/fbde...

It is 25 years since the death of Douglas Adams. He was prescient in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in
concluding that finding the answer to life, the universe and everything was not that difficult - it was 42. But the hard part was understanding the question. The humanities are here to help us make sense of the questions of our time.

I had the great pleasure of teaching and working with Sam years ago. While I have no intention personally of cycling the Mediterranean if you are a cyclist with a keen interest in the ancient world this would be an amazing experience and a great guide! www.theguardian.com/travel/2026/...

A modern odyssey: the archaeologist following Homer’s route on a bicycle

As Christopher Nolan’s star-studded adaptation is released, Australian archaeologist and cyclist Sam Wood has recreated Odysseus’ journey on two wheels

theguardian.com

A depiction of The Odyssey in ancient art a day until the release of Christopher Nolan’s film #theodyssey 🏺 Odysseus and his crew escaped from the cyclops Polyphemos by hiding in the underside of his flock Attic black-figure column krater, c.525-500BCE Getty 96.AE.303 www.getty.edu/art/collecti...

From Getty webpage:

In the Greek epic poem the Odyssey, the hero Odysseus devised a clever ruse to escape from the man-eating, one-eyed giant Cyclops. First, Odysseus blinded the monster, then tied himself and his men to the undersides of the sheep in the giant's flock. The blinded Cyclops checked his sheep as he let them out to graze, but he only felt along their backs, so Odysseus and his men were able to escape. This Athenian black-figure column-krater depicts Odysseus bound under the ram, the leader of the flock. The scene is placed between a pair of eyes, which appear sporadically on Athenian vases of the 500s B.C. The escape from the Cyclops was the most popular scene from the Odyssey depicted on Athenian vases. The back of the vase shows either Nike or Iris between scenes of lions attacking bulls.
The Greeks produced a very strong wine, which they drank mixed with water. A krater was used as a mixing vessel to blend the wine and water before serving. The type of krater that scholars call a column-krater takes its name from the columnar appearance of the handle supports.

'3,400-year-old gold diadems from Cyprus reveal Bronze Age trade across the ancient Mediterranean' Amazing finds from Hala Sultan Tekke in Cyprus. #archaeologynews 🏺 archaeologymag.com/2026/07/3400...

3,400-year-old gold diadems from Cyprus reveal Bronze Age trade across the ancient Mediterranean | Archaeology News Online Magazine

3,400-year-old gold diadems and mouthpieces from Cyprus reveal Bronze Age trade, local craftsmanship, and ancient burial customs.

archaeologymag.com

'What one of Emperor Hadrian's latrines is telling us about the durability of Roman concrete' #archaeologynews 🏺 phys.org/news/2026-07...

What one of Emperor Hadrian's latrines is telling us about the durability of Roman concrete

One of the many marvels of the Roman world is that some of its buildings are still with us. But why have they lasted for so long when some relatively modern structures are in a state of decay after a ...

phys.org

A depiction of The Odyssey in ancient art a day until the release of Christopher Nolan’s film #theodyssey 🏺 Odysseus returns to Ithaka disguised as a beggar. Terracotta plaque, Melian c. 460-450 BCE #ReliefWednesday Metropolitan Museum of Art 30.11.9 www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...

Terracotta relief.

After years of trial and adventure Odysseus returned to his native Ithaka.
He found his wife, Penelope, harassed by suitors who had taken over his palace and were consuming his wealth.

Here Odysseus makes how entrance looking like a beggar. Here he is shown approaching from the right reaching out to the disconsolate Penelope, as the faithful members of his household—his father, Laertes, his son, Telemachos, and the swineherd Eumaios—look on.