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partialhistorians.bsky.social
The Partial Historians 🏺
@partialhistorians.bsky.social
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After surviving exposure at birth, these unconventional academics realised they were destined to found the greatest Ancient Roman History podcast! 🏛📯⚔️

📘‘Your Cheeky Guide to the Roman Empire’ is out now! https://linktr.ee/ThePartialHistorians
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partialhistorians.bsky.social
✨Paris and Helen✨

In this scene from the ‘House of Jason’ in Pompeii. We see Eros in a doorway apparently having engineered the meeting of Paris and Helen in Sparta. What happens next will shock you!
Image description: Paris sits in a chair in front of the palace at Sparta and meets Helen. Eros is depicted in the door of the palace. Originally part of the frescoes in the so-called ‘House of Jason’ at Pompeii, this fresco is now held by the MAN Napoli, inv. 114320.
January 23, 2026 at 9:21 AM
partialhistorians.bsky.social
✨The Gallic Sack of Rome - Part 4✨

We return to our mini-series on the events purported to be happening in 390 BCE. As the Gauls settle in for the siege, the Romans find themselves confined to the Capitoline Hill. It’ll take a honking turn though when Hera’s sacred geese get imvolved!
Image description: Colour lithograph after a now lost painting by Henri-Paul Motte (1883) depicting Juno's sacred geese warning the Romans while the Gauls approach the Capitol in 390 BCE.
January 22, 2026 at 7:52 AM
partialhistorians.bsky.social
✨Pan riding an ithyphallic mule✨

The Greek god Pan was connected with flocks and shepherds so it perhaps only fitting that he is depicted here upon a mule, who is faithfully rendered complete with phallus.
The relief shows Pan astride a mule walking past a column. Before them is a tree with an excited dog attempting to reach a small figure of Priapus who is bearded and holding a cornucopia.
January 22, 2026 at 6:15 AM
Reposted by The Partial Historians 🏺
partialhistorians.bsky.social
✨Cheeky Kitty✨

This #MosaicMonday celebrate the ancient cats and the birds in this glorious artwork. Such panels are thought to depict abundance and the suggestion of ingredients for a banquet.
In the upper register, the cat is depicted with a partridge in its mouth, with not a pear tree in sight! The lower register depicts two ducks, identified as a male Eurasian Teal, and a Common Shelduck. They are joined by some smaller birds, some fish, and shellfish.
January 19, 2026 at 7:43 AM
partialhistorians.bsky.social
✨Cheeky Kitty✨

This #MosaicMonday celebrate the ancient cats and the birds in this glorious artwork. Such panels are thought to depict abundance and the suggestion of ingredients for a banquet.
In the upper register, the cat is depicted with a partridge in its mouth, with not a pear tree in sight! The lower register depicts two ducks, identified as a male Eurasian Teal, and a Common Shelduck. They are joined by some smaller birds, some fish, and shellfish.
January 19, 2026 at 7:43 AM
partialhistorians.bsky.social
✨Roman Triumphs✨

We sat down with Liv to talk all things Roman triumph, from the way the triumph developed over time to how the visual symbols of triumph have been repurposed by western culture ever since.
Image: ‘Let’s Talk About Myths, Baby!’ Logo with part of episode title visible: “Conversations: Celebrating Imperial Violence, Roman Triumphs and Triumphal Arches w/ the Partial Historians”.
January 18, 2026 at 4:51 AM
Reposted by The Partial Historians 🏺
doccrom.bsky.social
#OnThisDay - 16 January - in AD 69 the Arval Brethren record that sacrifices were made at Rome to celebrate Otho's investiture with all the trappings of the Emperor, following his coup against Galba. #AncientHistory 🏺

Image: RIC Otho 20; ANS 1967.153.121. Link - numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric....
Obverse of a Roman aureus: Head of Otho, bare, right. Reverse of a Roman aureus: Ceres, draped, standing left, holding two corn-ears in right hand and cornucopia in left.
January 16, 2026 at 8:18 AM
partialhistorians.bsky.social
✨Diana✨

The goddess of the hunt prepares her bow and arrow in this scene from the Villa Arianna in Stabiae and now held by the MAN Napoli.

Image credit @chapps.bsky.social
Image is a fresco section depicting a female figure preparing to draw her bow. The figure is dressed in cream and yellow hues with velificatio which is a often a visual signal that the figure is a divinity, in this case the goddess of the hunt, Diana. Image credit to Stephen Chappell via Wikimedia Commons.
January 16, 2026 at 8:10 AM
partialhistorians.bsky.social
✨A monument of Delos ✨

If you’ve ever wondered where the Roman fascination for phalluses came from, look no further than Delos. The Greek island is home to some monumental phallic sculptures dedicated to the god of wine and revelry, Dionysus.
Photo of a large stone phallus (now partially broken) on top of a tall rectangular plinth with an animal (a cockerel?) with the head of a phallus. Image credit to the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World via Flickr.
January 15, 2026 at 9:31 AM
partialhistorians.bsky.social
✨Book Highlight✨

Our podcast is predicated on reading widely and engaging with the sources and sometimes that means going beyond our usual suspects writing about early Rome like Livy and Dionysius of Halicarnassus!

#AncientRome #Historians #Italy #Podcast
Book highlight: Italy before Rome by Katherine MacDonald. A collation of sources from Italic cueltures, such as Etruscan and Oscan that provide insights into thoughts and practices before the rise and dominance of Rome. Historians rating: five stars because we love engaging with ancient sources! This is a curated collection of ancient sources drawing upon a variety of the Italic languages beyond Latin. The book comes with maps for orientation as well as a detailed timeline to support a coherent appreciation of the evidence. The challenge of what Italic cultures were like prior to the rise of Rome is partly to do with language - we simply don’t have a full vocabulary or grammar for some of these languages. The other challenge is survival of evidence. This book seeks to open up the world of pre-Roman Italy with translations of evidence from treaties, tombs,and more.
January 13, 2026 at 9:07 PM
partialhistorians.bsky.social
✨The Chariot Race✨

This chariot race is part of the famously large mosaic found in Britain called the Horkstow mosaic. Featuring all the thrill of chariot racing including the spina (central island) and the metea (turning points). Happy #MosaicMonday indeed!

#AncientBluesky
Description from the Hull Museums Collection: “The mosaic panel at the bottom is unique in Britain and shows an eventful chariot race. The racecourse is indicated by the 'spina' or central island, and the 'metae' or turning posts. The four chariots may represent the four factions in the Roman racing world, each conventionally distinguished by the colour of the charioteers' tunics. The scene is laid out rather like a comic strip. One chariot has lost a wheel and overturned, pitching out the charioteer. An attendant dismounts to rescue him, while another lassos runaway horses. The charioteer who has successfully rounded the end of the 'spina' on the left gives his horses free rein, while the team approaching the other end are reined in for the turn. This scene, so full of action, movement and drama has to be one of the most engaging yet found in Romano-British art.” Description from the Hull Museums Collection: “The mosaic panel at the bottom is unique in Britain and shows an eventful chariot race. The racecourse is indicated by the 'spina' or central island, and the 'metae' or turning posts. The four chariots may represent the four factions in the Roman racing world, each conventionally distinguished by the colour of the charioteers' tunics. The scene is laid out rather like a comic strip. One chariot has lost a wheel and overturned, pitching out the charioteer. An attendant dismounts to rescue him, while another lassos runaway horses. The charioteer who has successfully rounded the end of the 'spina' on the left gives his horses free rein, while the team approaching the other end are reined in for the turn. This scene, so full of action, movement and drama has to be one of the most engaging yet found in Romano-British art.” Description from the Hull Museums Collection: “The mosaic panel at the bottom is unique in Britain and shows an eventful chariot race. The racecourse is indicated by the 'spina' or central island, and the 'metae' or turning posts. The four chariots may represent the four factions in the Roman racing world, each conventionally distinguished by the colour of the charioteers' tunics. The scene is laid out rather like a comic strip. One chariot has lost a wheel and overturned, pitching out the charioteer. An attendant dismounts to rescue him, while another lassos runaway horses. The charioteer who has successfully rounded the end of the 'spina' on the left gives his horses free rein, while the team approaching the other end are reined in for the turn. This scene, so full of action, movement and drama has to be one of the most engaging yet found in Romano-British art.” Description from the Hull Museums Collection: “The mosaic panel at the bottom is unique in Britain and shows an eventful chariot race. The racecourse is indicated by the 'spina' or central island, and the 'metae' or turning posts. The four chariots may represent the four factions in the Roman racing world, each conventionally distinguished by the colour of the charioteers' tunics. The scene is laid out rather like a comic strip. One chariot has lost a wheel and overturned, pitching out the charioteer. An attendant dismounts to rescue him, while another lassos runaway horses. The charioteer who has successfully rounded the end of the 'spina' on the left gives his horses free rein, while the team approaching the other end are reined in for the turn. This scene, so full of action, movement and drama has to be one of the most engaging yet found in Romano-British art.”
January 12, 2026 at 9:19 AM
Reposted by The Partial Historians 🏺
tessmachling.bsky.social
Better photos of torc & discs/terminals on #Carnyx.

Colour difference suggests torc might be gilded, although by no means certain.

From colour, I don't think it's solid gold & they didn't plate then. It could also be bronze, but with better preservation.

#Archaeology 🏺 #CarnyxCrazy

📷 ITV News
Close up of the torc around the neck of the carnyx Close up , showing the gold colour
January 10, 2026 at 10:44 AM
Reposted by The Partial Historians 🏺
killgrove.bsky.social
Dionysus looks wonderfully grumpy at being the top of a herm-shaped stylus. 🏺🧪
Dionysus and his erect penis depicted on 2,500-year-old bone stylus found in Sicily
Archaeologists in Sicily found a unique writing implement featuring a grumpy-faced god and his erect penis.
www.livescience.com
January 10, 2026 at 2:26 PM
Reposted by The Partial Historians 🏺
anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social
#SarcophagusSaturday today offers us a terracotta #cinerary #urn from #Athens, now in the #BritishMuseum. It dates from c. 300 BCE, and the painted and gilded #griffins show a strong #Persian influence, an inheritance from the by then divided empire of #Alexander the Great. #AncientBluesky 🏺
TERRACOTTA CINERARY URN, C. 300 BCE. THE BRITISH MUSEUM This terracotta urn has the form of a vase with a conical lid, and the summit of the lid has a pinnacle in the shape of a small vase serving as a handle. White paint, worn away in places, covers the surface. The only decoration is four painted and gilded bull-griffin protomes at the shoulder of the urn. In C5 BCE Athens this urn would be unthinkable, due to the strong Achæmenid Persian influence visible in the griffins, but the Athens of the end of the C4 BCE was quite different. It had lost even nominal independence and after the battle of Lamia in 323 was subject to Macedonian rule, but the empire of Alexander and his successors brought some cultural cross-pollination. The ashes and bone fragments of 2 people were found inside.
January 10, 2026 at 3:21 PM
Reposted by The Partial Historians 🏺
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
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doccrom.bsky.social
#OnThisDay - 9 January - in AD 400 Aelia Eudoxia, the wife of the emperor Arcadius, was elevated to the status of 'Augusta'. On the Obverse below she is shown being crowned by the 'Hand of God'. #AncientHistory 🏺

Image: RIC X Arcadius 15; ANS 1948.19.1945. Link - numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric....
January 9, 2026 at 10:08 PM
partialhistorians.bsky.social
✨Work at the Fullonica✨

This brilliantly coloured fresco is part of a series preserved on a pillar from the Fullonica Veranius Hypsaeus in Pompeii. The workers are putting out cloth for drying. Today this piece can be seen in the MAN Napoli (inv. 9974).

#FrescoFriday #AncientRome #History
Three figures are shown against a bright orange-red background. The one to the right is sitting down holding fabric while the other two are standing while holding a piece of fabric between them. Lines for cloth to hang up are visible above them.
January 9, 2026 at 8:57 AM
partialhistorians.bsky.social
✨The dance of the maenads✨

This is one of four reliefs depicting maenads dancing held by the Museo del Prado. The exceptional detail and sense of flowing movement is simply exquisite.
This relief depicts a maenad dancing wildly with her head thrown right back and her flowing gown swishing around her from the movement. She holds a thyrsus in her right hand, an object often connected with Dionysos in iconography.
January 8, 2026 at 7:12 AM
Reposted by The Partial Historians 🏺
killgrove.bsky.social
Exceptionally rare carnyx (Celtic battle trumpet) found in England. 🏺🧪
Rare 2,000-year-old war trumpet, possibly linked to Celtic queen Boudica, discovered in England
Archaeologists have announced their discovery of a metal hoard that contained an extremely rare example of a Celtic battle trumpet.
www.livescience.com
January 7, 2026 at 8:18 PM
partialhistorians.bsky.social
✨2025 Recap!✨

As we start to shape our plans for 2026, here’s a look back at some of the marvellous things we’ve achieved in 2025.
January 7, 2026 at 9:26 AM
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ancientblogger.bsky.social
Here's part 2 of the @partialhistorians.bsky.social episode I guested on where we discussed the spaces of Regal Rome. It includes a structure which I argue was the most important for Rome's growth.
#ancientrome #rome
sites.libsyn.com/105935/explo...
Ancient History Hound: Exploring Place in Regal Rome (Part 2).
This is the second of two episodes where I was a guest back in 2024 on the , a fantastic podcast which I suggest you check out. Over two epsiodes we discuss the places in ancient Rome linked to t...
sites.libsyn.com
January 7, 2026 at 8:34 AM
Reposted by The Partial Historians 🏺
theromansoc.bsky.social
Our new online course: 'The Idea of Decline: Make Rome Great Again?' starts Wednesday 14th January!

This course looks at the idea of decline in the ancient world as a concept whose resonances echo right down to the present day.

www.hellenicandromanlibrary.org/Events/Event...

#AncientBluesky 🏺
January 5, 2026 at 7:01 PM
Reposted by The Partial Historians 🏺
bwallower.bsky.social
1st #MosaicMonday of 2026 so wishing you best possible #NewYear + revelries galore w a Pompeiian panther + Dionysian symbols.
Collected by 18thC Neapolitan aristo Santangelo, whose vast piles of local artefacts rarely seen, even once MANN acquired in 1865.
But clxn now to be key part of new MANN2! 🏺
A square mosaic framed in wood, displayed as diamond w corners to N,S,E,W. A panther walks on a strip of ground with Dionysian symbols around it: cymbals and fennel stave (thyrsus), topped with a pine cone, to left; drinking horn under panthers paw, tree behind, fig leaves below. C1 AD.
January 5, 2026 at 5:46 PM
partialhistorians.bsky.social
✨Glass mosaic bowl✨

The provenance is uncertain, but this beautiful bowl is said to be from ancient Beroea (modern Aleppo) in Syria. This stunning mosaic bowl is thought to date somewhere within the C1st BCE and C1st CE.

#MosaicMonday #AncientRome #AncientSyria
Description from The Met: “Colorless, translucent purple, cobalt blue, turquoise blue, green, honey yellow, and semi-opaque white on body; color(s) of base ring uncertain. Horizontal everted rim with rounded edge; carinated side, with two convex curves, the upper being narrower and slightly angular, the lower being deeper and more rounded; convex bottom within applied outsplayed base ring with rounded edge. Composite mosaic pattern formed from polygonal sections of monchrome canes in different colors. Broken and repaired, with one hole in side; many pinprick bubbles; deep pitting, dulling, and brilliant iridescent weathering.“
January 5, 2026 at 7:18 AM
Reposted by The Partial Historians 🏺
drnwillburger.bsky.social
I think we all need a timeline cleanse right now….

An adorable #Greek rhyton in the shape of a #cow's head. Vessels such as this one were used in drinking parties. Since they didn't have a base, their contents had to be consumed before the vessel could be put down

Dating ca. 460 BC.

🧵1/2

🏺
An one-handled vessel designed as a cow's head, showing intricate detailing of the eyes, ears, and horns. On the side, a painted scene in classical Greek style features a robed figure in motion.
January 4, 2026 at 8:08 AM