Chapps
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chapps.bsky.social
Chapps
@chapps.bsky.social
3.8K followers 370 following 5.4K posts
Former tech drone, living in L.A. I now create digital reconstructions of ancient Greek and Roman sculpture. No, really. 🏳️‍🌈

Flickr account (museum photos, mainly, free to use and high res): https://www.flickr.com/photos/125386285@N02/
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chapps.bsky.social
Chapps @chapps.bsky.social · Nov 11
FYI, to anyone interested, I upload all of my high res photos to my Flickr account where they’re organized into albums and tagged with keywords, so they’re easy to search. All free to use, with credit. www.flickr.com/photos/chapp...

I’ll eventually upload my reconstructions! 🏺
Screen cap of my Flickr Photostream. Labeled ‘Stephen Chappell (aka Chapps)’, at the moment I took the pic, it included things like a terracotta figurine of two girls playing ephedrismos, a bronze Roman cavalry parade helmet, a gold Ptolemaic coin, an Egyptian faience vase, etc.
Reposted by Chapps
rogueclassicist.bsky.social
~70% of PHerc. 172 is now digitally unwrapped
scrollprize.substack.com/p/70-of-pher...
~70% of PHerc. 172 is now digitally unwrapped
Automatic unwrapping is starting to kick in
scrollprize.substack.com
January 14, 2026 at 8:05 PM
Reposted by Chapps
drnwillburger.bsky.social
A charming #Greek terracotta aryballos in the shape of a hedgehog 🦔.
The vessel was used to hold oil. Dating 6th century BC.

On display at Antikensammlung München.
A small vessel shaped like a hedgehog, with textured ridges on its body resembling quills. The object has earthy tones of green, brown, and beige, and features a flat, circular spout on top. It is displayed on a reflective surface in a museum setting
January 13, 2026 at 1:43 PM
chapps.bsky.social
The delicious orange-red color of this #Mycenaean sealstone almost distracts from its incredible engraved bull-leaping scene. The bull is realistically rendered, but the body of the leaper is elongated, shown in motion as he lets go of the bull's horns and prepares to land. 🏺 1/

1630-1440 BCE. 📸 me
This lentoid (lens-shaped) semitransparent orange-red carnelian sealstone is the largest seal from the grave of the Griffin Warrior at Pylos. Small scratches on the surface suggest it had been used to make impressions. The bull is realistically rendered, but the body of the leaper is elongated. The leaper is shown in motion as he lets go of the bull's horns, sails over the back of the bull, and prepares to land. A groundline is represented by downward-facing triangles between two parallel lines. Rather than being centered along the vertical axis, the string hole runs diagonally from the upper left to the lower right. Mycenaean, 1630/10-1450/40 BCE. From Pylos, Grave of the Griffin Warrior. Chora Archaeological Museum, Greece (SN24-0011) ------ On display at the Getty Villa Museum in Pacific Palisades, California, for the exhibition 'The Kingdom of Pylos'.
January 11, 2026 at 11:53 PM
chapps.bsky.social
This engraved Romano-Egyptian magical gem (green jasper) depicts the Egyptian god and psychopomp Anubis holding an ointment jar and standing over a lion-shaped bier. The mummified body of Osiris lies on top. 💀🏺 #ancientbluesky 1/

100-125 CE. #GettyVilla
📸 me
Oval green jasper gemstone with an engraved scene of the jackal-headed god Anubis standing behind a funerary bier, which is shaped like a striding lion. Anubis holds an ointment jar over the mummified body of his father, Anubis, who is fully wrapped in bandages.
January 11, 2026 at 1:28 AM
chapps.bsky.social
Dionysos has gone California blonde! 🏄‍♂️ Part of a rhyton (drinking horn), he's shown seated and holding a keras (horn) with strangely headless gods. The rim must have broken and been shaved down in antiquity. The yellow hair probably mimics gilded statues of the god. 🏺 1/

Greek, 500-490 BCE. 📸 me
Red-figure terracotta rhyton (drinking cup) supported in the lap of a blonde Dionysos. The scene on the bell of the drinking horn has been cut off by about a third - probably damaged in antiquity then cut off evenly in order to continue its use. The figures on the bell include Hermes (his name roughly inscribed, Έ]ρμής) holding a caduceus; Aphrodite in a long chiton, holding a tiny black swan; Apollo, playing a large kithara (his name inscribed, AΠOΛΛON, Άπόλλων); and, lastly, Artemis, playing on castanets (her name also inscribed, Αρ]τεμις). The cup is one-handled and in the form of a keras, a horn, supported on the knees of a blonde-bearded man in a long-sleeved chiton, himation, and shoes, and seated on a diphros (a folding stool without back and with four turned legs) covered with a panther-skin, a symbol of Dionysos. The figure of the man is painted in various colors, now more or less faded, direct on the clay. The flesh has been vermilion; the eyes white with black outline, the eyeball black, with perhaps a white ring around the pupil; the beard is modelled, with wavy black lines on the clay; the chiton purple, the himation sea-green, and shoes white, with details in fine black lines. Greek, made in Attica, probably Athens, about 500-490 BCE. Found in Capua, Campania. Height: 24.13 cm (9.5 in.) British Museum, London (1873,0820.267)
January 10, 2026 at 7:48 PM
chapps.bsky.social
Immediately recognizable as being in the form of a herm, although I’m curious as to the identification of Dionysus.
January 10, 2026 at 5:44 AM
chapps.bsky.social
'To sleep, perchance to dream.' The link between sleep and death is ever present in the ancient world. A popular motif was sleeping Eros, and this remarkably realistic Hellenistic version in bronze is one of the best. #ancientbluesky 🏺 1/

3rd-2nd c. CE #MetMuseum
📸 me
The Hellenistic period introduced the accurate characterization of age. Young children enjoyed great favor, whether in mythological form, as baby Herakles or Eros, or in genre scenes, playing with each other or with pets. This Eros, god of love, has been brought down to earth and disarmed, a conception considerably different from that of the powerful, often cruel, and capricious being so often addressed in Archaic poetry. One of the few bronze statues to have survived from antiquity, this figure of a plump baby in relaxed pose conveys a sense of the immediacy and naturalistic detail that the medium of bronze made possible. He is clearly based on firsthand observation. The support on which the god rests is a modern addition, but the work originally would have had a separate base, most likely of stone. This statue is the finest example of its kind. Judging from the large number of extant replicas, the type was popular in Hellenistic and, especially, Roman times. In the Roman period, Sleeping Eros statues decorated villa gardens and fountains. Their function in the Hellenistic period is less clear. They may have been used as dedications within a sanctuary of Aphrodite or possibly may have been erected in a public park or private, even royal, garden. Greek 3rd–2nd century BCE. Met Museum, New York (43.11.4)
January 9, 2026 at 6:57 PM
chapps.bsky.social
The iconic, delicately painted image on this kylix is of the goddess Aphrodite riding a goose through the air. Her hair is bound in a sakkos, and her transparent chiton is decorated with stars and bordered with a meander. 🏺 #ancientbluesky 1/

Greek, Attic, ca. 460 BCE. #BritishMuseum
📸 me
White-ground kylix (drinking-cup) with a delicate painting of Aphrodite, her hair bound in a sakkos, riding on a goose, the curling tendril of a plant held in her outstretched hand. The figures are outlined against the white background, with the inner details added in golden-brown glaze; purplish-red clay is used for the goddess's cloak and for the borders of her chiton (tunic). The painter's preliminary sketch is visible in places; the position and form of the tendril held by the goddess have been slightly altered from the original sketch, as have the outlines of the longest feathers on the end of each of the goose's wings. Two painted inscriptions read: ΑΦΡΟΔΙΤΕΣ and ΓΛΑΥΚΟΝ ΚΑΛΟΣ. The first inscription, over the wing of the goose, is 'Aphrodite'; the second inscription is a phrase - 'Glaukon kalos', meaning 'Glaukon is handsome/beautiful/good'. Greek, Attic, ca. 460 BCE, Fikellura grave 43, Kamiros, Rhodes. Attributed to the Pistoxenos Painter. Diameter: 24.10 cm (9.49 in.) Height: 10.75 cm (4.23 in.) British Museum, London (1864,1007.77)
January 8, 2026 at 5:10 PM
Reposted by Chapps
anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social
For a belated #MosaicMonday, a detail from the ceiling #mosaic of #SantaCostanza in #Rome, 340-345 CE. Here we have a grape harvest with tiny blue children climbing along the vines with a hooked staff, in competition with birds to get the fruit. Below, a child drives a tiny cart. #AncientBluesky 🏺
DETAIL, CEILING MOSAIC OF THE AMBULATORY, MAUSOLEUM OF CONSTANTINA, 340-345 CE. S. COSTANZA The mosaic that adorns the ceiling of the anular corridor around the central space of the mausoleum of Constantina and Helena changes pattern every few metres. Flanking the two portraits in clipei of the two sisters are scenes of winemaking. Here we see naked little boys, Erotes without the wings and in a bluish colour, trying to knock bunches of grapes into a cart driven by another tiny blue child, this one wearing a green tunic and urging a pair of tiny oxen forward. The cart is already full of grapes. Meanwhile, various birds up in the vines are also vying for the grapes. This is part of a simile for death - just as the grape is crushed to release the wine, the body dies to release the soul - which had been used by non-Christians before it was assimilated into the Christian tradition.
January 6, 2026 at 6:18 PM
Reposted by Chapps
tessmachling.bsky.social
Oh
My
Giddy
Aunt

😳😳😳❤️

#Archaeology 🏺

www.bbc.com/news/article...
Thetford dig unearths Iron Age war trumpet and boar standard
The discoveries are "extraordinarily rare", say the archaeologists who helped find them.
www.bbc.com
January 7, 2026 at 6:53 AM
Reposted by Chapps
caraacenter.bsky.social
Bronze helmet-mask, unearthed in the Roshava Dragana burial mound southwest of Stara Zagora, Thracian, 1st century AD. Archaeological Museum of Stara Zagora
December 24, 2025 at 4:39 PM
chapps.bsky.social
This well preserved Roman bronze cavalry 'sports' mask has some beautiful details. Thought to have been used for parades or tournaments - part of maintaining morale and fighting effectiveness - these masks may also have been used in battle. 🏺 1/ #ancientbluesky

2nd c. CE, #MetMuseum loan.
Frontal photo of a dark bronze mask. It has the features of a handsome young man wearing an elaborate diadem with floral scrolls. His hair is very curly, as it appears from beneath the diadem, and his sideburns are long and similarly curly. The eyeholes are long, and there are holes in the nostrils and a slit cut between the lips. There's no provenance, but the details on this mask are very reminiscent of one found in Homs, Syria, and now in the national museum in Damascus. Roman, 2nd century CE. No provenance. Met Museum (Collection of Shelby White and Leon Levy), New York (L.2007.8.1)
January 6, 2026 at 5:13 PM
chapps.bsky.social
Ringing out 2025, watching a screener of ‘Wicked: For Good’ at home, bundled on the couch with the dogs, my husband, and a bottle of champagne (listening to torrential rain outside). More trips and photos planned in 2026. Happy New Year!! 🍾 🎉

www.flickr.com/photos/chapp...
Screencap of my Flickr photostream first page, showing a lot of new photos, most from the British Museum. https://www.flickr.com/photos/chappspix/
January 1, 2026 at 4:55 AM
chapps.bsky.social
A Roman terracotta lamp with Victory holding a shield inscribed with a wish for a happy and prosperous new year. Around her are representations of things that were usually given as gifts to celebrate the New Year: money (here three coins), and dried fruit (dates and figs). 🥳 🏺 1/

#MetMuseum 📸 me
Winged Victory holds a shield inscribed with a New Year's wish for happiness: ANNV / NOVM FAV/STVM FEL/ICEM MI/HI, which transliterates as 'Annum Novum Faustum Felicem Mihi' - literally 'A happy, fortunate, and prosperous New Year to me'. It's a self-referential wish for happiness and good fortune in the new year. Around her are representations of things that were usually given as gifts to celebrate the New Year— money (in the form of three coins) and dried fruit (dates and figs). Roman, mold-made, 2nd half of 1st century CE. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (06.1021.291)
December 31, 2025 at 8:36 PM
Reposted by Chapps
pottedhistory.bsky.social
We're often asked 'how did Roman potters create the moulds that they used to make lamps & deity figurines?' The answer is that there were numerous methods used. In these 4 videos Sarah & I show one technique that we have identified.🏺#Archaeology #Pottery #Ceramics #Classics youtu.be/nJD9tCfv-7I?...
A Mould for a Goddess Pt 1 The Archetype
YouTube video by PottedHistory
youtu.be
December 31, 2025 at 2:08 PM
chapps.bsky.social
I am forever flogging ancient glass, because in my mind there’s nothing that shows so much beauty and color by simply aging. Once pure cobalt blue, this 3rd c. BCE bowl has gained golden iridescence over time. It now resembles lapis lazuli. 🏺 #ancientbluesky 1/

#BritishMuseum 📸 me
December 31, 2025 at 4:46 AM
Reposted by Chapps
anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social
#EpigraphyTuesday comes to us from #Florence this week, where we find this #altar with a dedication by a head postman to the Undefeated Sun and #Mithras from 183 CE. It first appeared in the #Maffei collection in #Rome and then entered palazzo #Medici #Riccardi. #AncientBluesky 🏺
ALTAR TO SOL INVICTUS AND MITHRAS, 183 CE. PALAZZO MEDICI RICCARDI, FLORENCE Soli inbicto Mitre (!) / M. Ulp(ius) Maximus prae/positus tabellari/orum aram cum / suis ornamentis / et bela domini / insicnis habentes (!) / n(umero) IIII / ut voverat d(onum) d(edit) This inscription dedicates the gift of this altar to the Undefeated Sun and Mithras by M. Ulpius Maximus, chief postman, along with its decorations, perhaps in metal, and four sails of lord (Mithras) that he had vowed. A smaller inscription above names one Sextus Creusina Secundus, a priest, as being present for the placing of the altar, as Maximus and his son Maximinus had vowed, when Commodus was consul for the fourth time and Victorinus was consul for the second time (ie, 183 CE). The regular replacement of "b" for "v" is interesting. The "vela" or sail was a Mithraic symbol, but here seems real, not symbolic. Postmen or messengers (tabellarii) were imperial workers, and this one might be the son of a freedman of Trajan's.
December 30, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Reposted by Chapps
chapps.bsky.social
It’s a wonderful mosaic. That’s a charioteer for the white faction. The others are the greens, the reds, and the blues.

flic.kr/p/2pHi4at
Mosaic pavement depicting the four charioteer factions of the Roman circus
This mosaic pavement depicts aurigae (charioteers) and lead horses of the four colored factions of the Circus Maximus in Rome. Clockwise from upper left, the factions are Greens, Reds, Blues, and Whit...
flic.kr
December 30, 2025 at 5:04 AM
chapps.bsky.social
In the ancient #Roman world, even steelyard weights (counterbalances) could be made with first class artistry. Here, this bronze weight is shaped into the bust of a man, perhaps a Greek philosopher (or maybe the merchant!). 🏺 1/

Romano-British, 1st or 2nd c. CE, from London. #BritishMuseum
📸 me
Bronze steelyard weight in the form of a bust of a bearded and balding man, possibly meant to represent a philosopher. The lid in the head allowed the hollow-cast bronze body to be filled with lead to achieve the desired weight. In its current state it weighs 6.812 kg (15.02 lbs.). The patina of the bronze is a dark brown, with patches of gold bronze peeking through, which is a striking look.
December 29, 2025 at 9:11 PM
Reposted by Chapps
alisonfisk.bsky.social
Something lovely for the weekend!

Beautiful blue glass beads from the late Bronze Age 💙

Ploughed up by a farmer in Denmark in 1885, analysis shows the beads were made in Mesopotamia, pointing to long-distance trade in luxury goods some 3,000 years ago.

📷 National Museum of Denmark

#Archaeology
The image shows fourty-four annular (ring-shaped) translucent turquoise blue glass beads strung on a modern circular thread and displayed against a black background. The glass beads were found in 1885 when a farmer ploughed up a cremation urn at Kongehøj in Denmark. The urn broke and was found to contain burnt bones, the 44 blue glass beads and two gold spiral rings. Recent analysis shows the beads were made in Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), indicating far-reaching trade in luxury goods some 3,000 years ago.
December 27, 2025 at 3:56 PM
chapps.bsky.social
The high quality of Hellenistic metalwork was applied to many everyday objects, including box mirrors, an example of which is below. This beautiful repoussé relief of a woman with a silver earring and necklace once covered a polished, reflective bronze surface within. 🏺 1/ #ancientbluesky

📸 me
This box mirror depicts a repoussé relief head of a woman’s right profile, her hair twisted or braided back. She’s wearing a silver earring and necklace. Her nose is quite long and slightly hawkish, and the patina of the bronze is a mix of shades of green and dark bronze. Greek, last quarter of the 4th century BCE. Met Museum, New York (1989.281.58a, b)
December 27, 2025 at 8:10 PM
chapps.bsky.social
Happy Boxing Day! 🎁

These thicc boys are basically bare-knuckling it, visibly bloodying one another, while even chonkier gents wrestle above them on the neck of this 6th c. BCE black-figure amphora. Ancient Greek athletics, folks. 🏺 1/

📸 me #BritishMuseum #BoxingDay
On the body of the amphora, two nude boxers wearing himantes (leather thongs wrapped around the hands for protection and support) are about to exchange blows; the boxer on the left bleeds heavily from his nose, while the one on the right has a bloody forehead. Between them is inscribed: NIKOΣΘENEΣEΠOIEΣEN (Νικοσθένης εποίησεν), translated as 'Nikosthenes made (this)'. On the neck of the jar are two thickly muscled and bearded naked wrestlers, with a brabeus (adjudicator) on either side, each bearded, with long hair, a fillet, an embroidered himation (cloak), and a wand in hand.
December 26, 2025 at 4:54 PM
chapps.bsky.social
If you liked the Wilton Diptych that I posted, you should view this fantastic video about this remarkable set of panel paintings. #arthistory
December 25, 2025 at 10:47 PM
chapps.bsky.social
What’s #Christmas without the stunning Wilton Diptych? A rare surviving set of tempera panel paintings, a portable set made for the private use of Richard II, King of England from 1377 to 1399. The brilliant blue garments of the angels are painted with ultramarine, made from lapis lazuli. 🎄 1/

📸 me
On the left panel (the two panels are hinged together, and there are paintings on the exterior panels as well), the young King, sumptuously dressed, kneels in a barren landscape. He is accompanied by three saints: John the Baptist, carrying the Lamb of God; Edward the Confessor, holding a ring; and Edmund with the arrow of his martyrdom in his hand. The saints present the King to the Virgin Mary and Christ Child, shown on the right-hand panel. They stand in a flowery meadow surrounded by angels, one of whom carries a white standard with a red cross. The richness of the tempera paintwork, the meticulously stamped gilding and the refinement of detail is extraordinary. The infant Christ is wrapped in cloth of gold, and stippled within his halo is a crown of thorns and three nails – symbols of the Passion.
December 25, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Reposted by Chapps
anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social
#ReliefWednesday gives us this lovely flat disc cut from a larger scene, with a #cameo in white and blue #glass, which in antiquity replaced the original pointed base of the #PortlandVase in the #BritishMuseum. It may show the #Trojan shepherd prince #Paris. 15 BCE - 25 CE. #AncientBluesky 🏺
BLUE AND WHITE GLASS CAMEO, 15 BCE - 25 CE. BRITISH MUSEUM The original amphora shape of the Portland Vase was considered inconvenient even in antiquity. The lower, undecorared part of the vase was removed and replaced with another piece of blue and white cameo work contemporary with the vase. Now what we see is the large figure of a handsome young man in profile facing right, sitting with his finger almost to his lips as he is trying to decide something. This must be Paris, son of Priam, prince of Troy, who was chosen to make the impossible choice between Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera for the title of most beautiful. He is wearing shepherd's clothes and a Phrygian cap, and his choice brought Helen, and then doom, to Troy.
December 24, 2025 at 11:40 AM