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Brittunculus @brittunculus.bsky.social · 2d

Yes, the source of the river Exe also appears to have been ‘esk’ so it wasn’t just lack of imagination on the part of Legio II!

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Reposted by Brittunculus

Brittunculus @brittunculus.bsky.social · 3d

#FrescoFriday
Reconstructed ceiling painting found under Trier Cathedral, Germany. One of 15 figured panels, it may depict a personification of Wealth or a lady of the imperial family. When seen in person, the skill & patience of the restorers is staggering!
Early C.4, now in the Museum am Dom.
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The female figure is shown taking a string of pearls from a jewellery box, with her pinkie raised, as if showing it to the viewer. She wears a small golden crown, a laurel wreath, a chunky bejewelled necklace and a halo (nimbus) appears behind her head. The blue background was painted with expensive 'Egyptian blue' pigment, and the image is framed by bold red and green borders. It is made up of 100s of fragments of plaster.
(c) R. Scheider from the Museum am Dom website.
[Photography is forbidden in the museum.]

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Brittunculus @brittunculus.bsky.social · 3d

Before the move to Isca, the legion’s base was, er, a place called Isca (Exeter). Well, at least they could keep the stationery…

Lindsay Powell FRHistS @lindsaypowell.bsky.social · 3d

Reconstruction and plan of Isca (Caerleon), home to Legio II Augusta. The remains of barracks, baths and the amphitheatre can still be viewed. The excellent Roman Legion Museum is well worth visiting. #RomanFortThursday

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Brittunculus @brittunculus.bsky.social · 3d

Someone you know is already there (and he recommends the museum cafe)

Bust of Hadrian in the Marcus Aurelius exhibition.

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Brittunculus @brittunculus.bsky.social · 3d

Maybe not the safest place for a sheep with a nice neck to hide? 🔪 🏛️ 🫣

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Brittunculus @brittunculus.bsky.social · 3d

4/4 There's an interesting overview at 👇
en.visitmosel.de/cities-cultu...

Constantine ceiling paintings in the Cathedral Museum

A unique monument of late antique art awaits you in the Cathedral Museum Trier. It shows an important object of late antique art, which can only be juxtaposed

en.visitmosel.de

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Brittunculus @brittunculus.bsky.social · 3d

Archaeologists were forced to work in tunnels just 2 ft high under the Cathedral floor 😮 to extract the 30,000 fragments, which were then pieced together as a huge jigsaw over 10 years of work. Imprints left by the reed backing provided an essential guide.
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Image (c) R Schneider, Museum am Dom.

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Brittunculus @brittunculus.bsky.social · 3d

The ceiling originally decorated a large room in the imperial palace and each panel either depicts a richly-attired woman, an austere philosopher or pairs of squabbling chubby erotes (cupids).
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Visualisation from www.strassen-der-roemer.eu

Computer generated mock-up of the ceiling in situ.

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Brittunculus @brittunculus.bsky.social · 3d

#FrescoFriday
Reconstructed ceiling painting found under Trier Cathedral, Germany. One of 15 figured panels, it may depict a personification of Wealth or a lady of the imperial family. When seen in person, the skill & patience of the restorers is staggering!
Early C.4, now in the Museum am Dom.
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Brittunculus @brittunculus.bsky.social · 5d

Not yet deciphered unfortunately www.inrap.fr/artisanat-du...

Actualité | Artisanat du bois dans l’Antiquité : le cas d’Izernore (Ain)

Une équipe de l’Inrap a mis en évidence, en 2020, chemin des Trablettes, à Izernore (Ain), un quartier de l’agglomération antique d’Isarnodurum où se mêlent habitat et artisanat. Depuis cette fouille,...

www.inrap.fr

Brittunculus @brittunculus.bsky.social · 10d

It’s a slightly magical sort of place. A real sense of specialness and peace. Roman remains too of course!

Brittunculus @brittunculus.bsky.social · 10d

And loos!

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Brittunculus @brittunculus.bsky.social · 10d

Minerva?

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Brittunculus @brittunculus.bsky.social · 12d

#hillfortswednesday
Entering the hillfort at Lydney Park, Gloucestershire, through the north gateway. The 5 acre fort occupies a promontory on the edge of the Forest of Dean, high above the Severn estuary.
📸 May 2025

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Reposted by Brittunculus

Dr Crom @doccrom.bsky.social · 12d

#EpigraphyTuesday – A pretty damn fabulous copper alloy 'tabula ansata' with an inscription for Mars Medocius, discovered in Camulodunum (Roman Colcehester): ca. AD 222-235. #Latin 🧵🏺

Image: British Museum (1892,0421.1). Link – britishmuseum.org/collection/o...

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Reposted by Brittunculus

Duncan Mackay @theduncanmackay.bsky.social · 14d

Windows to the past.
Roman villa windows @butserancientfarm.co.uk

Replica Roman window with iron bars and pots on sill.

Replica Roman window with iron bars and mortaria mixing bowl on sill.

Replica Roman window with thin iron bars and pot on sill.

Replica Roman window with wooden shutters and wicker basket on sill.

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Reposted by Brittunculus

Roman Roads @romanroads.bsky.social · 18d

I suppose I'd better do something slightly more constructive that just nosy around.

So then, tomorrow evening 25 Sept, we have the return of our guest lectures.

For our first talk, Paddy Lambert, of Oxford Archaeology, talk is entitled Populus: the real people of Roman Britain.

Populus: The Real People of Roman Britain; by Paddy Lambert

Paddy will explore what archaeology reveals about the practicalities of living, working and dying in the province of Britannia

www.eventbrite.co.uk

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Brittunculus @brittunculus.bsky.social · 19d

I’ve just caught up with video. Very comprehensive and well shot, with several sites I wasn’t aware of. They’re now on my list!

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Brittunculus @brittunculus.bsky.social · 19d

The guy at bottom left has a rather more provincial cousin at Wroxeter 😀

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Reposted by Brittunculus

Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 19d

#EpigraphyTuesday 🏺
First known mention of #Roman Londoners - Londiniensium - on late 2nd/early 3rd C AD Turkish marble tablet of Tiberinius Celeranius a trader from Beauvais.
From important Tabard Square site in #Southwark excavated by @pcaarchaeology.bsky.social
In new London Museum expected 2026

Turkish marble tablet with Latin text, translated as:
To the spirits of the Emperors and to the god Mars Camulus, Tiberinius Celeranius, Citizen of the Bellovaci, Mortix of the people of London, first...[set up this monument].
Mars was an important god of place in Rheims, near Beauvais (Bellovaci). A mortix was a position related to trading or shipping.

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Brittunculus @brittunculus.bsky.social · 20d

On #TombTuesday a coloured reconstruction of Sextus Valerius Genialis' tombstone. He was a tribesman of the Frisii and joined the cavalry regiment of the Thracians. He died aged 40 in Britannia at Corinium ( #Roman Cirencester, Gloucs.)
#RomanBritain
@coriniummuseum.bsky.social

A Roman gravestone showing a cavalryman spearing a naked barbarian. The soldier wears a white tunic with red leggings. His brown horse is fitted out with a vivid green and red sadlecloth. A Latin inscription below the scene is picked out with red lettering and a red border. The effect is produced by projecting coloured light onto the bare stone.

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Brittunculus @brittunculus.bsky.social · 20d

I'm very much enjoying this series! Bearly able to contain my chuckling.

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Reposted by Brittunculus

Hannah Okon @han-okon.bsky.social · 27d

Returning from a week away with a #MosaicMonday from Somerset Museum. The East Coker mosaic. Showing two successful hunters carrying home a deer with their hunting dog. The hunters' clothing is typical of the second half of the 4th century AD.
#ClassicsBlueSky #AncientBlueSky #Archaeology #Roman

The East Coker mosaic, c. AD 360, East Coker, Somerset. Depicted is two successful hunters carrying home a deer from a pole by it's legs, with a hunting dog below. The hunter on the right is looking towards the observer and the one of the left is looking ahead. Both carry weapons. Below the right hunters is another section of mosaic, showing a red flower, the rest is sadly lost.

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Brittunculus @brittunculus.bsky.social · 21d

Last #MosaicMonday 's companion.

One of her sister Muses, perhaps Clio, the Muse of History, holding a scroll (and probably hiding some sandwiches under that hat).

Coincidentally, the etymology of the word Mosaic may ultimately be derived from the Greek mousa, ‘a Muse’.
#AncientBluesky

From Trier, Germany ( #Roman Augusta Treverorum). Mid-C.3rd and thought to be from the provincial Governor's palace. Now in the Rheinisches Landesmuseum. 📸 Me

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Brittunculus @brittunculus.bsky.social · 22d

#RomanSiteSaturday
Just over 100 hypocaust pillae (pillars) from one of the hot rooms at the Roman baths in Bath, Somerset. An indication of how large, and popular, the bathing complex erected around Minerva's sacred spring became in #RomanBritain. And a great place to visit today too.
#Bath 📸 Me

Regularly spaced rows of pillae, up to a metre high, made from towers of thin ceramic tiles. They would originally have supported the floor while hot air circulated in the voids between them. Ceramic was used because it could withstand the high temperatures without cracking. A stokehole is visible at the rear on the left.

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