Pinned
Ash (she/her)
@ashley1205.bsky.social
· Nov 27
Onfim's world
Child artists in history
resobscura.substack.com
Profile pic:
For more unhinged medieval marginalia - "snail fights," "murderous rabbits," etc. - see:
weirdmedievalguys.substack.com/p/an-800-yea...
Banner:
If anyone ever mounts an Onfim + Darwin's kids exhibition, I will pay.
resobscura.substack.com/p/onfims-wor...
For more unhinged medieval marginalia - "snail fights," "murderous rabbits," etc. - see:
weirdmedievalguys.substack.com/p/an-800-yea...
Banner:
If anyone ever mounts an Onfim + Darwin's kids exhibition, I will pay.
resobscura.substack.com/p/onfims-wor...
Reposted by Ash (she/her)
My Jamuqa does similarly. And wait until the WIP.
One out of 12 rams is uninterested in females. Deemed “non-procreative" by farmers, they're typically sent to slaughter. German farmer Michael Stücke rescues the gay rams. His company Rainbow Wool, sells fabulous wool products from his flock of gay sheep. rainbow-wool.com
January 12, 2026 at 11:46 PM
My Jamuqa does similarly. And wait until the WIP.
Reposted by Ash (she/her)
The Virgin Ideologue: "It was always Israel!"/"It was always Palestine!"
The Chad Neo-Assyrian Emperor: "I crushed Israel, Palestine, Judah, Tyre, Sidon, Moab, Que, and Damascus. I saw them driven before me and heard the lamentations of their women."
The Chad Neo-Assyrian Emperor: "I crushed Israel, Palestine, Judah, Tyre, Sidon, Moab, Que, and Damascus. I saw them driven before me and heard the lamentations of their women."
January 15, 2026 at 9:11 PM
The Virgin Ideologue: "It was always Israel!"/"It was always Palestine!"
The Chad Neo-Assyrian Emperor: "I crushed Israel, Palestine, Judah, Tyre, Sidon, Moab, Que, and Damascus. I saw them driven before me and heard the lamentations of their women."
The Chad Neo-Assyrian Emperor: "I crushed Israel, Palestine, Judah, Tyre, Sidon, Moab, Que, and Damascus. I saw them driven before me and heard the lamentations of their women."
Reposted by Ash (she/her)
Et si vous voulez en savoir plus sur Enheduana, cet épisode du podcast "La Nymphe et la Sorcière" auquel j'ai eu le plaisir de participer est fait pour vous !
lanympheetlasorciere.com/2025/02/21/e...
lanympheetlasorciere.com/2025/02/21/e...
January 13, 2026 at 6:23 PM
Et si vous voulez en savoir plus sur Enheduana, cet épisode du podcast "La Nymphe et la Sorcière" auquel j'ai eu le plaisir de participer est fait pour vous !
lanympheetlasorciere.com/2025/02/21/e...
lanympheetlasorciere.com/2025/02/21/e...
Reposted by Ash (she/her)
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
Exceptionally rare carnyx (Celtic battle trumpet) found in England. 🏺🧪
Reposted by Ash (she/her)
A new year ad for Amgalant
'a story so realistic and so true that it pulls you into the Mongol world body and soul... I haven't read such an enjoyable and intelligent historical fiction series since McCullough's Rome and I thought I would never find her equal. Now I have.'
payhip.com/b/2ERGv
'a story so realistic and so true that it pulls you into the Mongol world body and soul... I haven't read such an enjoyable and intelligent historical fiction series since McCullough's Rome and I thought I would never find her equal. Now I have.'
payhip.com/b/2ERGv
Against Walls (Amgalant One)
In the steppes of High Asia, the year 1166… ‘What is a Mongol? – As free as the geese in the air, as in unison. The flights of the geese promise us we don’t give up independence, to unite.’The hundred...
payhip.com
January 5, 2026 at 10:03 PM
A new year ad for Amgalant
'a story so realistic and so true that it pulls you into the Mongol world body and soul... I haven't read such an enjoyable and intelligent historical fiction series since McCullough's Rome and I thought I would never find her equal. Now I have.'
payhip.com/b/2ERGv
'a story so realistic and so true that it pulls you into the Mongol world body and soul... I haven't read such an enjoyable and intelligent historical fiction series since McCullough's Rome and I thought I would never find her equal. Now I have.'
payhip.com/b/2ERGv
Reposted by Ash (she/her)
Mothers and infants are generally underrepresented in historical accounts. Examining mother and infant burials from Iron Age and Roman England allows us to observe the multi-generational impact of Roman occupation on health #WednesdayWisdom 🏺 #Archaeology
🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
December 31, 2025 at 9:35 PM
Mothers and infants are generally underrepresented in historical accounts. Examining mother and infant burials from Iron Age and Roman England allows us to observe the multi-generational impact of Roman occupation on health #WednesdayWisdom 🏺 #Archaeology
🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
Reposted by Ash (she/her)
🎵 The party's on
The spirit's up
We're here tonight
And that's enough
Simply having a
The spirit's up
We're here tonight
And that's enough
Simply having a
December 24, 2025 at 8:51 PM
🎵 The party's on
The spirit's up
We're here tonight
And that's enough
Simply having a
The spirit's up
We're here tonight
And that's enough
Simply having a
Reposted by Ash (she/her)
Present-reading now.
A lot of reviews start with 'not a gimmick' and it isn't. This quickly won me over with its imitation of Homeric style and on p.2 an apostrophe of the poet to his character (I love that 2nd person in epic). Obvs this classics prof and Star Wars fan has had the time of his life.
A lot of reviews start with 'not a gimmick' and it isn't. This quickly won me over with its imitation of Homeric style and on p.2 an apostrophe of the poet to his character (I love that 2nd person in epic). Obvs this classics prof and Star Wars fan has had the time of his life.
December 26, 2025 at 2:30 AM
Present-reading now.
A lot of reviews start with 'not a gimmick' and it isn't. This quickly won me over with its imitation of Homeric style and on p.2 an apostrophe of the poet to his character (I love that 2nd person in epic). Obvs this classics prof and Star Wars fan has had the time of his life.
A lot of reviews start with 'not a gimmick' and it isn't. This quickly won me over with its imitation of Homeric style and on p.2 an apostrophe of the poet to his character (I love that 2nd person in epic). Obvs this classics prof and Star Wars fan has had the time of his life.
Reposted by Ash (she/her)
All the Odyssey movie “inaccurate” versus “who cares” arguments are both fun and exhausting. But the trailer shows them rowing a clinker built Viking ship. That is like depicting Columbus crossing the Atlantic in a Chinese junk.
December 22, 2025 at 10:50 PM
All the Odyssey movie “inaccurate” versus “who cares” arguments are both fun and exhausting. But the trailer shows them rowing a clinker built Viking ship. That is like depicting Columbus crossing the Atlantic in a Chinese junk.
December 20, 2025 at 10:45 PM
Reposted by Ash (she/her)
My latest for @hyperallergic.com looks at a new article in JRA on Berenike, Indo-Roman trade, and of course some pet monkeys which may have had pet piglets or kittens? 🐵 Really this is just amazing research showing us the extensive connections between the Mediterranean and India. #GlobalAntiquity
Pet Monkeys Were Popular in Ancient Rome, Burials Reveal
The recent archaeological discovery also deepens our understanding of trade networks between India and the Roman Empire.
hyperallergic.com
December 17, 2025 at 10:01 PM
My latest for @hyperallergic.com looks at a new article in JRA on Berenike, Indo-Roman trade, and of course some pet monkeys which may have had pet piglets or kittens? 🐵 Really this is just amazing research showing us the extensive connections between the Mediterranean and India. #GlobalAntiquity
Reposted by Ash (she/her)
It's time! Behold the Christmas hedgehog! From Verdun, Bibl. mun., ms. 0107, f. 008. Our thanks as always to @etreharne.bsky.social who found her.
December 18, 2025 at 3:29 PM
It's time! Behold the Christmas hedgehog! From Verdun, Bibl. mun., ms. 0107, f. 008. Our thanks as always to @etreharne.bsky.social who found her.
Reposted by Ash (she/her)
Astonishing finds excavated at Berenike in Egypt include Buddha images & other artifacts from India and some made locally in Indian style, plus a bilingual Sanskrit & Greek dedicatory inscription found near a marble Buddha head in an Isis temple courtyard.
publications.dainst.org/journals/jdi...
publications.dainst.org/journals/jdi...
December 2, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Astonishing finds excavated at Berenike in Egypt include Buddha images & other artifacts from India and some made locally in Indian style, plus a bilingual Sanskrit & Greek dedicatory inscription found near a marble Buddha head in an Isis temple courtyard.
publications.dainst.org/journals/jdi...
publications.dainst.org/journals/jdi...
Reposted by Ash (she/her)
SKULL OF THOMAS AQUINAS: TAKE A LEFT NOW
PRIEST: No, the GPS says we have to keep going—
SKULL: I KNOW A SHORTCUT
PRIEST: Do you remember the last ti—
SKULL: FOR THOSE WITH FAITH, NO EVIDENCE IS NECESSARY; FOR THOSE WITHOUT IT, NO EVIDENCE WILL SUFFICE
PRIEST: No, the GPS says we have to keep going—
SKULL: I KNOW A SHORTCUT
PRIEST: Do you remember the last ti—
SKULL: FOR THOSE WITH FAITH, NO EVIDENCE IS NECESSARY; FOR THOSE WITHOUT IT, NO EVIDENCE WILL SUFFICE
'Skull of St. Thomas Aquinas being transported to Fossanova Abbey.'
Photograph by Daniel Ibanez
Photograph by Daniel Ibanez
December 10, 2025 at 5:10 PM
SKULL OF THOMAS AQUINAS: TAKE A LEFT NOW
PRIEST: No, the GPS says we have to keep going—
SKULL: I KNOW A SHORTCUT
PRIEST: Do you remember the last ti—
SKULL: FOR THOSE WITH FAITH, NO EVIDENCE IS NECESSARY; FOR THOSE WITHOUT IT, NO EVIDENCE WILL SUFFICE
PRIEST: No, the GPS says we have to keep going—
SKULL: I KNOW A SHORTCUT
PRIEST: Do you remember the last ti—
SKULL: FOR THOSE WITH FAITH, NO EVIDENCE IS NECESSARY; FOR THOSE WITHOUT IT, NO EVIDENCE WILL SUFFICE
Reposted by Ash (she/her)
Trying out a new PCP's office, and their "preferred language" dropdown on the intake form is time-traveler inclusive.
December 8, 2025 at 8:06 PM
Trying out a new PCP's office, and their "preferred language" dropdown on the intake form is time-traveler inclusive.
Reposted by Ash (she/her)
This is not a birth certificate and that footprint does not belong to the child discussed on the tablet. They're not even from the same city; the footprint is from Nippur, the text is from Ur.
So why did the Penn Museum bring these objects together like this since 2016?
So why did the Penn Museum bring these objects together like this since 2016?
Sumerian birth certificate. A clay tablet found at the Sumerian city of Nippur in southern Iraq.
Estimated to be around 2000-1600 BC. Contains a birth announcement, its gender, the names of its parents, and a footprint of the newborn.
@menavisualss #globalmuseum #history #Sumerian #archaeology
Estimated to be around 2000-1600 BC. Contains a birth announcement, its gender, the names of its parents, and a footprint of the newborn.
@menavisualss #globalmuseum #history #Sumerian #archaeology
December 5, 2025 at 5:53 AM
This is not a birth certificate and that footprint does not belong to the child discussed on the tablet. They're not even from the same city; the footprint is from Nippur, the text is from Ur.
So why did the Penn Museum bring these objects together like this since 2016?
So why did the Penn Museum bring these objects together like this since 2016?
Reposted by Ash (she/her)
A beautiful #Roman glass bowl, cobalt blue with an irregular white swirling pattern - it must have looked fantastic on an ancient table! (📷 Bonhams) 🏺 #AncientBlueSky
December 3, 2025 at 8:05 PM
A beautiful #Roman glass bowl, cobalt blue with an irregular white swirling pattern - it must have looked fantastic on an ancient table! (📷 Bonhams) 🏺 #AncientBlueSky
Reposted by Ash (she/her)
Reposted by Ash (she/her)
The Formation of the Sasanian Empire: Administration and Elites in Comparison with the Roman Empire
Purwins, Nils. 2025. Der Aufbau des Sasanidenreiches: Administration und Eliten im Vergleich zum Römischen Reich (Ancient Iran Series 18). Leiden: Brill. The work provides in two volumes the first…
Purwins, Nils. 2025. Der Aufbau des Sasanidenreiches: Administration und Eliten im Vergleich zum Römischen Reich (Ancient Iran Series 18). Leiden: Brill. The work provides in two volumes the first…
The Formation of the Sasanian Empire: Administration and Elites in Comparison with the Roman Empire
Purwins, Nils. 2025. Der Aufbau des Sasanidenreiches: Administration und Eliten im Vergleich zum Römischen Reich (Ancient Iran Series 18). Leiden: Brill. The work provides in two volumes the first comprehensive overall concept of the administrative and social structure of the Sasanian Empire (5th-7th century). In more than 1.000 contemporary leather documents, seals, ostraca, inscriptions and texts, which are brought together here for the first time, the subjects of the king of kings report in words and pictures on their lives in the various provinces of the empire, on the organisation of the military, civil and religious administration and on the circles of power at the court of their ruler.
www.biblioiranica.info
December 1, 2025 at 8:59 AM
The Formation of the Sasanian Empire: Administration and Elites in Comparison with the Roman Empire
Purwins, Nils. 2025. Der Aufbau des Sasanidenreiches: Administration und Eliten im Vergleich zum Römischen Reich (Ancient Iran Series 18). Leiden: Brill. The work provides in two volumes the first…
Purwins, Nils. 2025. Der Aufbau des Sasanidenreiches: Administration und Eliten im Vergleich zum Römischen Reich (Ancient Iran Series 18). Leiden: Brill. The work provides in two volumes the first…
Reposted by Ash (she/her)
This annotated bibliography makes accessible a body of material that can seem forbidding to non-specialists and reveals how valuable it can be for our understanding of the Roman empire -- well beyond histories of the Jews, rabbinics, or ancient Judaism more generally.
Super valuable contribution.
Super valuable contribution.
November 30, 2025 at 11:45 PM
This annotated bibliography makes accessible a body of material that can seem forbidding to non-specialists and reveals how valuable it can be for our understanding of the Roman empire -- well beyond histories of the Jews, rabbinics, or ancient Judaism more generally.
Super valuable contribution.
Super valuable contribution.
Khipus really feel like they push the definition of "writing." The few "world writing systems" books I’ve read don't really mention them. Even Andrew Robinson's highly readable book gives a whole chapter to Chinese and Japanese writing but not a word on khipus.
www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...
www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...
Unraveling the Secrets of the Inca Empire
For hundreds of years, Andean people recorded information by tying knots into long cords. Will we ever be able to read them?
www.theatlantic.com
December 1, 2025 at 6:52 AM
Khipus really feel like they push the definition of "writing." The few "world writing systems" books I’ve read don't really mention them. Even Andrew Robinson's highly readable book gives a whole chapter to Chinese and Japanese writing but not a word on khipus.
www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...
www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...
Reposted by Ash (she/her)
A plaster cast of the 'Venus of Dolní Věstonice', a Palaeolithic female figure made from a mix of charred powdered bone and clay. The original is c.30,000 years old, making it one of the earliest known manmade ceramic objects & was discovered in a mammoth hunter’s dwelling in Czech Republic in 1925.
September 28, 2025 at 4:34 PM
A plaster cast of the 'Venus of Dolní Věstonice', a Palaeolithic female figure made from a mix of charred powdered bone and clay. The original is c.30,000 years old, making it one of the earliest known manmade ceramic objects & was discovered in a mammoth hunter’s dwelling in Czech Republic in 1925.
A fascinating (but gruesome) read. Without jumping to conclusions, I do believe what we're seeing is the emergence of human sacrifice. What's interesting is how quickly these practices spread.
A comparative study of similar developments in other prehistoric societies might shed some light on this.
A comparative study of similar developments in other prehistoric societies might shed some light on this.
"Why did violence break out all across the LBK at the same time, and with such lasting consequences?"
Very interesting reminder of how early European farming was quite peaceful -- until it wasn't.
www.science.org/content/arti...
Very interesting reminder of how early European farming was quite peaceful -- until it wasn't.
www.science.org/content/arti...
Headless bodies hint at why Europe’s first farmers vanished
Wave of mass brutality accompanied the collapse of the first pan-European culture
www.science.org
November 30, 2025 at 7:54 AM
A fascinating (but gruesome) read. Without jumping to conclusions, I do believe what we're seeing is the emergence of human sacrifice. What's interesting is how quickly these practices spread.
A comparative study of similar developments in other prehistoric societies might shed some light on this.
A comparative study of similar developments in other prehistoric societies might shed some light on this.
Reposted by Ash (she/her)
Really enjoyed the Manchu crash course by @iskandarding.bsky.social
Mongolia has quite a few Manchu experts, one of whom - Oyunjargal Ochir in her interview to Mongolian National Broadcaster would say "Manchu is the easiest foreign language to learn for Mongols".
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt64...
Mongolia has quite a few Manchu experts, one of whom - Oyunjargal Ochir in her interview to Mongolian National Broadcaster would say "Manchu is the easiest foreign language to learn for Mongols".
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt64...
A Crash Course on ᠮᠠᠨᠵᡠ ᡤᡳᠰᡠᠨ Manchu, China’s Former National Language - Iskandar Ding | PG 2024
YouTube video by Polyglot Gathering
www.youtube.com
November 29, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Really enjoyed the Manchu crash course by @iskandarding.bsky.social
Mongolia has quite a few Manchu experts, one of whom - Oyunjargal Ochir in her interview to Mongolian National Broadcaster would say "Manchu is the easiest foreign language to learn for Mongols".
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt64...
Mongolia has quite a few Manchu experts, one of whom - Oyunjargal Ochir in her interview to Mongolian National Broadcaster would say "Manchu is the easiest foreign language to learn for Mongols".
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt64...
Reposted by Ash (she/her)
The memory, or forgetting, of the Achaemenids in Sasanian late antiquity and the medieval period is a robust debate. I wrote a rather longish blog about it here:
iranologie.com/2025/11/29/d...
iranologie.com/2025/11/29/d...
Did Sasanians Remember the Achaemenids… or Should They Have?
(Any unauthorised quotations, copying, or use of the following is strictly prohibited) The scholarly debate on whether the Sasanians, particularly the early Sasanians like Ardashir I, had any memor…
iranologie.com
November 29, 2025 at 1:56 AM
The memory, or forgetting, of the Achaemenids in Sasanian late antiquity and the medieval period is a robust debate. I wrote a rather longish blog about it here:
iranologie.com/2025/11/29/d...
iranologie.com/2025/11/29/d...