8.8 metre kind logboat, found on the banks of the River Tay carbon-dated to 485 CE, and carved from a single tree. The indentations on the sides, suggests the boat have had seats. 🏛️ Dundee McManus

Beautiful article by Jenny Diski, worth it for the story of a late antique sea journey, captained by the Jewish Amarantus Navicularius, and recorded by christian Bishop Sinesius, which surely deserves film treatment 🏺 #AncientBluesky

Jenny Diski · Did Jesus walk on water because he couldn’t swim? Jewish Seafarers

lrb.co.uk

"[T]wo distinct ways of representing the animal and human worlds existed in prehistoric rock art... the coexistence of humans and wildlife [versus] hunting... [Perhaps] these scenes articulated a mythical reality or were metaphorical." #Egyptology #AncientBlueSky scienceinpoland.pl/en/news/news...

Ancient Egyptian rock art reveals two very different relationships between humans and animals

For thousands of years, prehistoric artists in Egypt’s Dakhleh Oasis carved humans and animals into desert rocks — but they did not always tell the same story. Some images show people and wildlife exi...

scienceinpoland.pl

Little crocodile, enjoying a Mediterranean lifestyle, resting by the waters of Canopus in Hadrian’s Villa in Italy (reinforced concrete replica of a marble statue now in the museum) 🏺 #AncientBluesky #Egyptology

WOW, new finds from the Ice Age! Two absolutely stunning Ice Age figurines from the Swabian Jura were found, dating back around 40,000 years. The tiny carvings, about the size of a thumbnail, depict two birds, rendered with remarkable attention to detail. Snow grouse, buzzard, or...🧵1/2

Fish mosaic with seabed from the garden of the church of San Lorenzo in Panisperna in Rome 100-75 BCE. The detail is breathtaking. 🏺 #MosaicMonday #AncientBluesky

Was interested to read Orwell’s description of Romford in Down and Out. Not a fan. But I didn’t realise the town was home to a small Irvingite chapel, a victorian apocalyptic and prophetic sect 📚

Head of a goat. Bronze #sculpture, Hellenistic period (c. 3rd century BC) #art #Greece

Large statues of sphinges, falcons and baboons were found in Benvento, Italy, originally from a temple to the goddess Isis set up in the town during the reign of the emperor Domitian.

A temple of magic in the middle of Italy

What is the secret of a town haunted for centuries by witches?

rhakotis.com

A Roman terracotta oil lamp shaped like a sandaled foot. A small but beautiful object from the 2nd/3rd century AD. 📷 Landesmuseum Württemberg 🏺

New museum opened on the route of the London Outer Orbital Path (LOOP) walk with rooms dedicated to the uber chic Sir Philip Sassoon and war-time spying. Perfect day out.

'Colourful and turbulent': Enfield's secret wartime base revealed

The house played a key role in Britain's intelligence battle with Germany during World War Two.

bbc.co.uk

Penguin have just republished Glastobury Romance by John Cowper Powys, a very long and slightly baggy book, but definitely worth a revival, especially within the current context of both climate and political crisis and folk/myth resurgence. 📚

A Glastonbury Romance

One of the great cult novels, a book that can be read and re-read throughout a lifetime, A Glastonbury Romance is John Cowper Powys' masterpiece. Set in a beautifully imagined fictional version of the...

penguin.co.uk

From Verona, a tiny bronze figurine of a goddess combining attributes of different deities for extra power and good luck. 🏺 #AncientBluesky

Went to the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration in its recently opened new location in Islington. An excellent Queer comics exhibition and a great permanent collection including this reimagining of the Cerne Abbas giant for Punch Magazine. Worth a visit.

Lion recumbent, after victory? Reconstruction of archaic statue based on traces of red on the tongue and lips, blue on the mane and ochre on the hide. (Sculpture restored by Peter Funder, Polychromy reconstructed by Uirike Koch-Brinkmann and Vinzenz Brinkmann Munich 2003) 🏺 #AncientBluesky

Natural history on canvas: Brueghel knew about bird-eating noctule bats Just published in @pnas.org, OA for all eyes Led by the one-and-only @romero-vidal.bsky.social, with the amazing @elena-tena.bsky.social and Sonia Sánchez-Navarro @ebdonana.bsky.social LINK: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Two important discoveries: Fourth century city with residential and religious structures, including church, plus Ostraca (records written on clay pots) excavated in the Dakhla oasis and 18 ancient tombs found at Marina el-Alamein, identified as Roman-period port of Leukaspis on Mediterranean coast.

The Guardian@theguardian.com · last mo.

Archaeologists uncover ancient Byzantine city in Egypt’s western desert

For me, Pete Seeger is one of the archetypal Americans. His introduction to Oh Mary Don’t You Weep from Rainbow Quest has always stayed with me: “right now, some of these pharaohs may get drowned too”. Power is no protection and justice will always win out.

Pete Seeger, Bernice Reagon & Jean Ritchie "Oh Mary Don't You Weep" (1965)

YouTube video by Gospel World

m.youtube.com

This painting, from the Mughal Empire, depicts five animal headed demons (jinns) dancing and playing musical instruments amidst the clouds. From the British Museum collection.

Cool water of Osiris, possibly held in ‘Osiris-Canopus’ vases like this one carried by a priest from what would have been the hyper decorated Isis Temple in Benevento, Italy 🏺 #AncientBluesky #egyptology

« Le chien d’Assiout » : sculpture datant de la fin de l’époque ptolémaïque ou du début de l’époque romaine (Ier s. av. J.-C.-ler s. ap. J.-C.). Provenant d’Assiout en Égypte, elle pourrait provenir des abords du cimetière d’animaux sacrés et appartient aux collections du Louvre.

🏺 Fell into a bit of a rabbit hole at work today after finding some mummified crocodiles in my research. Big fan of this one, currently at the Louvre. 📜

Mephitis the mysterious Oscan goddess of water, liminal spaces and foul smelling spaces. Venus later took over some of her temple sites (like in Pompeii) and possibly powers. If you smell something sulphurous, it’s probably her, casting love spells about.

I have been giving talks on my book for over a year now and the one thing that is guaranteed to get an audience reaction is the Berenike Buddha in Egypt. People seem amazed it exists and then what it tells us about the ancient world. So I wrote the whole thing up as a Bad Ancient article:

Were there Buddhists in ancient Egypt?

With the growth of Buddhism in ancient India, there were claims that the religion spread out towards the Mediterranean; but is there any clear proof this was the case?

badancient.com

Isis Pharia Musée du Louvre

Graffiti from Indian visitors to the Valley of the Kings from the Roman period when the two countries had direct trade links via the Red Sea #AncientBluesky

Debborah Donnelly@debborahdonnelly.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Graffiti in the Valley of the Kings Tamil Tourists #Egypt #archaeology #Egyptology archaeology.org/issues/july-...

“I feel simply divine”. The gods I feel.

A medal of Julian the Philosopher (Apostate) with imagery of the cult of Isis c.361-363 CE. Not the coin I was looking for but too good not to share! [RIC VIII Rome 494]

A Roman horse terracotta figurine found in Rottweil, dating 2nd or 3rd century AD. Horse figurines served as offerings in sanctuaries or domestic shrines and occasionally as grave goods. Their use and meaning shift depending on context but reflect associations with status/wealth or...🧵1/2 📷 me 🐎

Just saw two massive stag beetles in the vestibule area of my flat. Every summer we get a few, but these were even bigger than normal