Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Simon Bralee @simonbralee.com · 10h

Stepping out into the weekend

Terracotta figurine of a goddess riding on a lion from Roman Cologne #AncientBluesky

A terracotta of a goddess riding side-saddle on a lion. The details of the figure, including clothes, are worn away making it hard to identify with confidence but she appears to have solar rays or horns on her head. Lion looks very happy.

Reposted by Simon Bralee

Peter Tarras @petertarras.bsky.social · 21h

Recently gave a colleague feedback on a paper that was partly written with ChatGPT. What did I learn from this and how should we deal with cases like this? Here are some thoughts 🧵(1/x)

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Simon Bralee @simonbralee.com · 1d

Jaguar breaks records by swimming at least 1.3 km, possibly even 2.3 km. An important research story to think about animal agencies

Jaguar breaks records by swimming at least 1.3 kilometres

A 1.3-kilometre swim by a jaguar is the longest ever confirmed, but the cat's motives for making the journey are unclear

www.newscientist.com

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Reposted by Simon Bralee

London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 2d

‘The theme of exile guides the utilitarian design of the new show. Around a hundred archaeological finds from Gaza are laid out in a ground-floor bunker space, complete with strip lights, cold grey-blue walls and chilly steel benches.’

@josephinequinn.bsky.social: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Josephine Quinn · At the Institut du monde arabe: ‘Trésors sauvés de Gaza’

This show has excited controversy: should we even be talking about damage to antiquities in the context of so much...

www.lrb.co.uk

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Simon Bralee @simonbralee.com · 2d

Remember this well. The classic thread.

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Reposted by Simon Bralee

Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 4d

Shanghai sees its own mythology in ancient Egypt on.ft.com/4pXHwAe | opinion

Shanghai sees its own mythology in ancient Egypt

As one of the world’s ancient civilisations, China emphasises the continuity of its own history

on.ft.com

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Simon Bralee @simonbralee.com · 5d

A statue of a god with a much more famous wife, once owned by a man with a much more famous wife.

Marble bust of Serapis, 1st - 2nd century CE, formerly in the collection of William Hamilton, husband of Emma.

📷 Visions of Ancient Egypt exhibition, Sainsbury Centre, 2022 #AncientBluesky #Egyptology

A bust of a bearded man with a small discrete cylindrical modius hat on his head

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Reposted by Simon Bralee

Nina Willburger @drnwillburger.bsky.social · 5d

A marvellous #Egyptian #frog amulet, made of porphyry (height 1.2 cm).
Because of their numerous offspring, #frogs were considered a symbol of fertility.

Dating ca. 1295–1185 BC, New Kingdom.

📷Metropolitan Museum

🏺 AncientEgyptBluesky

A small frog-shaped amulet carved from dark reddish-brown porphyry, patterned with irregular white spots, shown in a crouching position against a plain light background.

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Reposted by Simon Bralee

Sarah E. Bond @sarahebond.bsky.social · 7d

At Roman Isarnodurum in France, they discovered a # of wooden writing tablets and some really cute wooden shoes at a newly identified woodworking (lots of boxwood) workshop. The area is already known for comb-making and this is just a great Roman economic find. www.labrujulaverde.com/en/2025/10/r...

The two maple wood soles, belonging to shoes of the sculponae type (shoes with a wooden sole to which a piece of leather is nailed). Credit: Flore Giraud / Inrap

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Simon Bralee @simonbralee.com · 8d

Devastating news from Manchester. My thoughts are with the Jewish community and everyone impacted by this vile deed. We need to group together and stamp out antisemitism.

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Reposted by Simon Bralee

Kevin Wilbraham @kpw1453.bsky.social · 8d

Statuette of the goddess Minerva which was found in the Commanding Officer’s house at Segedunum Roman Fort on North Tyneside. Now on display in the site museum. 📸 My own. #RomanFortThursday #RomanBritain #SegedunumRomanFort

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Simon Bralee @simonbralee.com · 9d

Story exploring cultural ownership and museum replica has won this year’s 4thWrite prize. A great read.

‘Provocative’ story about British Museum statue wins 4thWrite prize

Piyumi Kapugeekiyana’s tale explores repatriation and cultural ownership through a replica of the goddess Tārā

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Simon Bralee

The Godyssey Podcast @godysseypodcast.com · 9d

Excommunication could make one a werewolf, in medieval Christian lore, a curse no one wanted because in some regions of Europe, particularly the Balkans and Greece, a werewolf had a restless spirit even in death, leading to undead werewolves. #WyrdWednesday

An etching of a medieval werewolf, a man with a dog's head with a long tongue lapping, his hands seeming to gesture "Now what?"

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Simon Bralee @simonbralee.com · 9d

A very excited friend sent me this photo of the ‘From Toga to Robe’ catalogue. Last year’s exhibition in Slovenia featured the official dress of supreme court judges from 14 courts in the EU. An intriguing piece of classical reception. Has anyone else read it yet? #ClassicsBluesky #AncientBluesky

A hand clutches the From Toga to Robe catalogue.

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Reposted by Simon Bralee

Sarah E. Bond @sarahebond.bsky.social · 9d

Alright classicists and ancient historians, do you have someone you wish to nominate for the @scsclassics.bsky.social outreach prizes? The deadline is coming up on October 31, 2025, so please take a look at both the Forum and The Mary-Kay Gamel Outreach Prizes to see if your fav should be nominated.

Awards, Fellowships, and Grants | Society for Classical Studies

Awards Teaching and Advising Awards

www.classicalstudies.org

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Simon Bralee @simonbralee.com · 9d

I am imagining a foghorn leghorn style southern belle here 😹

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Simon Bralee @simonbralee.com · 10d

A temptress in the desert, but be careful. Check out those feet! The Temptation of St Antony by Master Girard (c.1470-1500) on display in Sam Fogg Gallery, London. #LateAntiquityBluesky

A 15th century painting depicting a grey bearded man in brown and black monk’s robes looking at a most comely woman in richly adorned contemporary fashions. The feet peeking out beneath the hem of her dress are birdlike talons, the feet of a devil in disguise.

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Simon Bralee @simonbralee.com · 10d

I see it as an adornment, although it has been suggested the statuette could have been an amulet, but feels too heavy for this.

I sometimes like to think he’s a Roman era precursor to Jacob Marley 😸

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Simon Bralee @simonbralee.com · 11d

Sad news about Terry Farrell. Some of his cheeky London po-mo buildings still bring a smile, especially TV-AM with its egg cups facing the Regents Canal.

‘Nonconformist’ architect of MI6 building Terry Farrell dies aged 87

Farrell was a key member of the hi-tech movement of the 1980s and 90s, with buildings including the TV-am studios and Embankment Place in London, and the Deep in Hull

www.theguardian.com

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Simon Bralee @simonbralee.com · 11d

Perfect little Roman period silver statuette of the Egyptian god Harpocrates with a tiny dog (or pard), hawk and tortoise, important animals possibly representing his powers over death. Found near London Bridge. 🏺 #AncientBluesky #Egyptology

A silver statuette of a young child with wings. His right hand is placed to his mouth. There’s a gold chain around his body. On the statuette base are three animals, now worn away: a dog or leopard, perhaps reflecting Anubis or Dionysus, a tortoise, the symbol of eternity, and a hawk, the traditional animal of the god’s Egyptian form.

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Simon Bralee @simonbralee.com · 12d

Relief from Corinium Museum depicting a horned god holding two friendly snakes in each hand, identified as the Celtic god Cernunnos. Possibly related to fertility or just Iron Age / Roman British rock n roll
🏺 #AncientBluesky

A worn stone relief depicting a human sat down with two large writhing serpents either side. Details on the face are just visible, including eyes and .

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Simon Bralee @simonbralee.com · 17d

Japanese figurine (Japan House, London) and ancient Egyptian figurine (Louvre).

A brightly painted clay figurine of a cat wearing traditional Japanese clothes on a white horse.

A terracotta figurine of a child riding on the back of a dog.

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Simon Bralee @simonbralee.com · 19d

No one makes a milk jug look quite as muddy and teeming with squirmy, slimy creatures as the Martin Brothers. (Currently on display in the Gallery of Everything.)

A small clay jug painted with an image of fish, eels and weeds in earthy hues.

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Reposted by Simon Bralee

Durotriges Dig @durotrigesdig.bsky.social · 21d

A goddess for #FindsFriday

In 1882 antiquary Edward Cunnington dug at the #Roman temple at Maiden Castle hillfort in #Dorset

Sadly his excavations were never published although one important find was this copper alloy plaque with repoussée figure, possibly Minerva

Now in @dorsetmuseum.bsky.social

Thin copper alloy sheet with a lightly hammered image of a female figure wearing an archaic Greek helmet and holding a spear in her right hand, the left resting on a shield

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Reposted by Simon Bralee

The Partial Historians 🏺 @partialhistorians.bsky.social · 23d

🏛️Funerary Relief Depicting a Gate🏛️

This gorgeous relief is in commemoration of the wife and children of a husband and father whose name is now lost. The gate is thought to symbolise the entrance into Hades’ realm.

#ReliefWednesday #AncientRome #AncientGreece

Inscription reads: “[this tomb was built by ...]
for his wife Aurelia Domitia and his children [...
[if anyone...] takes it upon himself and buries another (in it), he shall pay the most exalted [...
...] city to repentance [...
and the trading venue the same share.”

Description from the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna: “In contrast to many other funerary monuments from the Greco-Roman period, what is visible here is not the image of the deceased, but rather an architecture in the form of a gate. In the background, masonry with large ashlars is indicated, as is also documented for real architecture, such as temples. The gate is framed by two columns with foliate capitals, above which lies a crossbeam, a so-called architrave, with a tripartite structure and a Greek inscription. Ornamental stripes adorn the gate, which is accessible via three steps and symbolizes the entrance to the underworld, Hades. The Greek inscription names the owners of the tomb, mentions a prohibition against the use of the burial site by strangers, and specifies the associated fine. At the end, a greeting is written, addressed to passersby.“

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