Dr Francesca Santoro
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phyllida.bsky.social
Dr Francesca Santoro
@phyllida.bsky.social
1.7K followers 780 following 3.2K posts
Greek & Roman history, politics, art history, literature. Music: Mahler, DSCH, opera, chamber music. Have lived in Rome & Amsterdam. Love languages, theatre, museums in general, Shakespeare, London, the House of Commons, Rowson cartoons, in particular.😊
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phyllida.bsky.social
Decodex 2025-12-12

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Time: 1:20

@lightacandle.bsky.social @tonylarch.bsky.social

Beginning to end, the palindrome in this quotation will get you nowhere, except back to the beginning.🥴

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December 12, 2025 at 2:50 AM
Reposted by Dr Francesca Santoro
ukulady.bsky.social
I walk past these beauties every time I walk up the garden path. #RoseWednesday #Bloomscrolling #Dailyflowers
December 10, 2025 at 10:19 PM
phyllida.bsky.social
Decodex 2025-12-11

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Time: 1:O7

@lightacandle.bsky.social @tonylarch.bsky.social \

KAHVFORO! KAHVFORO!!😉

Play here: playdecodex.com
Decodex – A Daily Cryptogram Puzzle Game
Decode a quote a day! Play the daily cryptogram at playdecodex.com.
playdecodex.com
December 11, 2025 at 2:10 AM
Reposted by Dr Francesca Santoro
thetnholler.bsky.social
NASHVILLE JUDGES request heightened security from @GovBillLee after Rep Andy Ogles posts their pics with the phrase “we are at war”

A sitting congressman putting judges in danger. Pinocchiogles is going get people hurt. A disgrace to the office. www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...
December 10, 2025 at 2:38 AM
Reposted by Dr Francesca Santoro
mdstamper.bsky.social
“Through the Looking-Glass” by Louise Jopling (English) – Oil paint on canvas / 1875 – Tate Britain (London, England) #WomenInArt #LouiseJopling #Jopling #TateBritain #TateMuseum #VictorianArt #WomensArt #WomanArtist #WomenArtists #art #artText #arte #BlueskyArt #mirror #EnglishArtist #SelfPortrait
Painted when British artist Louise Jopling was an ambitious young professional—and pregnant with her son Lindsay, this self-portrait insists on seeing her as a working artist rather than a decorative sitter. She stages herself “through the looking-glass,” riffing on Lewis Carroll’s recent novel to suggest a passage between private and public identities as a woman who sits in her studio and the public painter whose image will hang in exhibitions. She depicts herself as a light-skinned woman artist sitting as she paints on an easel with her body turned slightly to the side so her gaze meets ours in a calm, steady look. She wears a pale blue dress with ruffled trim, a high white collar, and a matching blue-and-white cap perched over dark hair. A spray of yellow and russet flowers hangs at her chest, echoed by warm tones in her cheeks. Jopling balances a wooden palette loaded with bright dabs of paint on her lap, a fan of brushes gathered in her right hand as she works at an unseen canvas. We realize we are looking into a tall, dark-framed mirror. Behind her, a red-brown studio wall, a painted folding screen crowded with tiny figures, a yellow chest of drawers, a draped chair, and the vertical bar of her easel describe a lived-in, professional studio space. Jopling sent this picture to the Society of Lady Artists in 1875, while her companion canvas "A Modern Cinderella" appeared at the Royal Academy, evidence of her determination to claim space in institutions that still excluded women from membership. The folding screen, patterned textiles, and fashionable blue dress signal her place in cosmopolitan Victorian culture, yet the direct gaze, firm posture, and active hands quietly challenge assumptions about women’s roles. Shown in "Now You See Us: Women Artists in Britain 1520–1920," the painting restores Jopling to the story of British art as a pioneer who built an art school for women and helped future generations step through the glass of professional exclusion.
December 10, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Reposted by Dr Francesca Santoro
owensgrandpa.bsky.social
🌹 random rose 🌹
December 9th 2025
December 10, 2025 at 4:29 AM
Reposted by Dr Francesca Santoro
kellymorrisonmn.bsky.social
Doctor here 👋 There's no such thing as a "preventative MRI."
December 10, 2025 at 9:33 PM
Reposted by Dr Francesca Santoro
rogueclassicist.bsky.social
Anatolia’s only known ‘Good Shepherd’ Jesus fresco uncovered in Iznik, crafted in Roman style - Türkiye Today
www.turkiyetoday.com/culture/anat...
Anatolia’s only known ‘Good Shepherd’ Jesus fresco uncovered in Iznik, crafted in Roman style - Türkiye Today
In a frescoed tomb at Iznik’s Hisardere Necropolis, a rare Good Shepherd image of Jesus offers a new glimpse into Early Christian faith in Anatolia
www.turkiyetoday.com
December 10, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Reposted by Dr Francesca Santoro
merisi-vienna.bsky.social
VIENNA IN DECEMBER
Waiting for High Noon
Nothing that happens here is really important.
Inner City, First District
Image © Merisi Vienna
#EastCoastKin #Photography
#ClassicMono #Monochrome
A row of comfy, sheepskin covered chairs and small tables.
December 10, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Reposted by Dr Francesca Santoro
pixelsandalchemy.bsky.social
I put my white goose down comforter on but did not wrestle a duvet on it. Maui has this little fuzzy blanket he sleeps on at the foot of the bed, but instead of using it he crashed on the white comforter. 🥹 I used his little blanket to cover him.
#WhiskersWednesday #MauiCruz21 #Photography
December 10, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Reposted by Dr Francesca Santoro
partialhistorians.bsky.social
✨A woman makes an offering✨

This #FrescoFriday we travel to the Villa San Marco in Stabiae to enjoy this beautiful depiction of a woman carrying a tray that has food an implements associated with making a ritual offering.

Photo credit to @chapps.bsky.social ☺️
Description from Wikimedia Commons: “The peplos-clad woman in this fresco is labeled as an 'offerant', which is appropriate since she's carrying a silver offering tray with herbs, food, and other implements to perform a ritual offering to the gods. Found in the diaetae ('day rooms') facing the gardens at the ancient Villa San Marco, in Stabiae.” This artefact is held by the MAN Napoli, inv. 8890a. Image credit to Chapps.
December 5, 2025 at 6:48 AM
Reposted by Dr Francesca Santoro
chapps.bsky.social
These blown glass bowls were frequently decorated with horizontal opaque white trails, with some applied vertically on the ribs. Colors could be saturated, below right (mid-1st c. CE), or used as a light tint, below left (1st-3rd qtr of 1st c. CE). 🏺 2/ #ancientbluesky

Both #MetMuseum. 📸 me
Translucent pale streaky reddish amethyst rippenschale bowl with trails in opaque white. Roman, 1st-3rd quarter of 1st century CE. Said to be from Piedmont, north Italy. Met Museum, New York, (17.194.277) Translucent deep purple rippenschale ribbed glass drinking bowl, with a slightly flaring rim. Cream colored horizontal trails spiral around the body. Bowls of this type that are found in the west are usually made in rich, deep colors with opaque white trail decoration. In the east, they preferred lighter translucent colors with no opaque decorations. Roman, mid-1st c. CE. Met Museum, New York (91.1.1268)
December 6, 2025 at 5:28 AM
Reposted by Dr Francesca Santoro
chapps.bsky.social
The polos seems to have only been worn by deities in classical art, so the question is … did it physically exist at all? None have been found in archaeological excavations, but that could mean they were woven. There are some cases where the figure might be human, though. 🤷‍♂️ (see ALT for details)
This Boeotian Greek terracotta of a woman has hardly any description in the public information from the British Museum. She seems to be wearing a hair net or turban, or just stylized hair, retaining its orange-red pigment, under a large ‘polos’ crown or hat. The polos usually indicated that its wearer was a goddess. Here, the woman sports a belted chiton (tunic) with a red vertical border. She seems to be pulling aside her long veil - perhaps her cloak worn over the head - and holds a double floral garland (I think) in her left hand. Her face still exhibits the white slip base layer and pinkish-red blushing cheeks. Greece, Boeotia 390-370 BCE Terracotta British Museum (1907,0518.12) A great deal of the original pigments survive on this terracotta bust of a blonde woman or goddess wearing a polos (high cylindrical crown) and brightly colored clothes. A polos is most often seen in portrayals of goddesses of the ancient Near East and Anatolia and it was adopted by the ancient Greeks for depictions of the mother goddesses Rhea, Cybele and Hera. Note the finely painted black scrolls and palmettes on her polos. Tanagra, in Boeotia, central Greece, was famous for its polychrome (painted) terracottas. Boeotia, 420-390 BCE Said to be from Tanagra British Museum (1895,1029.3)
December 9, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Reposted by Dr Francesca Santoro
paulinepark.bsky.social
#ElisabethSchwarzkopf was born #OnThisDay in 1915, one of the greatest sopranos of the 20th c., starring in operas & operettas such as "Die Lustige Witwe" of Franz Lehár; here's Schwarzkopf singing "Vilja" from "The Merry Widow":

www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2jR...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabe...
December 10, 2025 at 2:17 AM
Reposted by Dr Francesca Santoro
duh4healthcare.bsky.social
www.change.org/p/deliver-un...
America's healthcare system is proof that we'll let people die before we'll let corporations lose money. @blackvneck Deliver Universal Healthcare, Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Necessary Medical Sign Petition
December 10, 2025 at 2:21 AM
phyllida.bsky.social
Decodex 2025-12-10

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Time: 0:50

@tonylarch.bsky.social @lightacandle.bsky.social

Back when Americans were not only patriotic statesmen, but also used Common Sense!🤨😼😉

Play here: playdecodex.com
Decodex – A Daily Cryptogram Puzzle Game
Decode a quote a day! Play the daily cryptogram at playdecodex.com.
playdecodex.com
December 10, 2025 at 2:27 AM
Reposted by Dr Francesca Santoro
byteseu.bsky.social
Ancient Roman Wedding Ring Unearthed In Bulgaria

https://www.byteseu.com/1611187/

Weighing a whopping 23 grams, this ring is adorned with parallel grooves on each side as well as an image of a married couple in the center. Rosen Mladenov/BTA PhotoThe wedding ring was found 20 feet below the …
Ancient Roman Wedding Ring Unearthed In Bulgaria - Bytes Europe
Rosen Mladenov/BTA PhotoThe wedding ring was found 20 feet below the surface and dates to roughly the second or third century C.E.
www.byteseu.com
December 9, 2025 at 7:00 AM
Reposted by Dr Francesca Santoro
chapps.bsky.social
This really lovely molded polychrome terracotta depicts the goddess Aphrodite and her winged little son, Eros. Her himation (cloak) is pulled over her head in a veil, covering her polos hat (Eros has a tiny polos as well). 🏺 1/

Abt. 300-100 BCE, from Boeotia, East Greece, or Asia Minor. 🤷‍♂️ 📸 me
Terracotta group depicting the goddess of love Aphrodite and her son, the child Eros. Aphrodite is standing, her left elbow leaning on a pillar to her left, her right hand lying by her side, both hands grasping folds of her himation (cloak) which has been pulled up over her head as a veil. She's wearing a low polos (hat) on her head, and her centrally parted wavy hair falls loose to her shoulders. The diminutive winged Eros is standing with crossed legs on top of the pillar, leaning against his mother's shoulder, naked apart from a low polos (hat). Composed of coarse light brown clay with a white slip coating; pigments include red on the hair of Aphrodite and Eros, rose-madder on Aphrodite's himation, blue on her right shoe and Eros' wings, and yellow on Aphrodite's polos.
December 9, 2025 at 4:40 AM
Reposted by Dr Francesca Santoro
lat611.bsky.social
Good morning Bluesky. Pastels for miles. Enjoy the soft and gentle ebb and flow of this scene.
December 9, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Reposted by Dr Francesca Santoro
brymo.bsky.social
Huckle and Razz
The Berry Brothers enjoy a late morning snuggle.
#cats
#orangecats
#photography
Two orange cats, one with his eyes closed and the other laying on top of him and looking at the camera
December 9, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Reposted by Dr Francesca Santoro
forbes.com
Geomagnetic storms caused by a coronal mass ejection from the Sun could cause the aurora borealis to appear brighter and visible from the continental United States.
Northern Lights Forecast: Geomagnetic Storms Could Produce Brighter Aurora, Visible From Up To 18 States Monday
Geomagnetic storms caused by a coronal mass ejection from the Sun could cause the aurora borealis to appear brighter and visible from the continental United States.
www.forbes.com
December 8, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Reposted by Dr Francesca Santoro
ianriddler.bsky.social
You call that a Whoosh?

That's not a Whoosh. THIS is a whoosh.
(And if you didn't see yesterday's post, this will make very little sense!)

--
#Twizel, #NewZealand
--
"Look with your eyes. See with your Soul."

#Aurora #Night #EastCoastKin #nightsky #astrophotography #Landscape #BrucketList #Epic
December 9, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Reposted by Dr Francesca Santoro
kellymorrisonmn.bsky.social
The American people deserve to feel protected by their president. Not attacked by him.
December 7, 2025 at 6:11 PM
phyllida.bsky.social
Decodex 2025-12-09

🟢🟢🟢🟢🟢🟢🟢🟢

Time: 1:28

@tonylarch.bsky.social @lightacandle.bsky.social

I quite like this one!😊

Play here: playdecodex.com
Decodex – A Daily Cryptogram Puzzle Game
Decode a quote a day! Play the daily cryptogram at playdecodex.com.
playdecodex.com
December 9, 2025 at 1:40 AM
phyllida.bsky.social
😼😼https://www.nytimes.com/badges/games/v1/bee.html?d=2025-12-08&l=abeiptz&p=103&r=Queen%20Bee&c=466c5bfa165ac0df5c9c7f6aa67f4761&smid=url-share 👑🐝🤗Challenge: Make the first word a Pangram. One that uses all 7 letters! Bonus Points😼!!
I got Queen Bee!
How many words can you make with 7 letters?
www.nytimes.com
December 8, 2025 at 11:41 PM