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Reposted by Jan on a train 🚈

Jan on a train 🚈

@jottel.bsky.social

King Rhoimetalkes of Thrace, ca. 40 AD.

Description in the Alt-Text

#RomanHistory #AncientBlueSky #AncientHistory

Reconstruction of King Rhoimetalkes of Thrace, ca. 40 AD.

This one is based on the findings from a tomb in Vize (ancient Bizye, one of the major Thracian cities of the 1st century BC into the Roman principate).
The tomb is generally dated to the period before the Roman takeover of Thrace after the death of the last King Rhoimetalkes III (ca. 44 AD - Mansel (1940), ‚Les Fouilles de Thrace‘, p. 139).
First I wanted to depict the equipment found at Karanovo (Ignatov, Gospodinov (2013)) but it seems to remain unpublished and it’s hard to access literature on the analogous items of Thrace in the first half of the 1st century AD. The quality of the image of the helmet was very good in Mansel (1940), but I relied on the reconstruction of the hybrid armour of Negin (which I found in Wijnhoven (2022), p. 158), but chose to depict the original finding, which I saw in Miks (2015): ‚Eine späteisenzeitliche Spatha in des Kaisers Diensten‘, p. 297.
The tomb at Vize did not contain a shield umbo and the ones from Karanovo were unpublished so I chose the bronze umbo from Bryastovets, which is dated more towards the late of the 1st century AD, which I got from the Flickr pictures of Dan Diffendale. For the shield decoration I vaguely chose a number of somewhat contemporary Thracian rider as inspiration, but not a specific one.
Last but not least, I‘m no expert on Roman horse equipment, so I chose a minimalist approach, sticking to the drawing of a Tiberio-Claudian harness in M. Bishop‘s (1988): ‚Cavalry Equipment of the Roman Army in the First Century A.D.‘, p. 113 (though I think I remember seeing some similar elements in a burial from Serdica, which would be fitting) and checked the wall painting of Alexandrovo for some colour choices.

October 17, 2025 at 12:50 PM

Reposted by Jan on a train 🚈

Jan on a train 🚈

@jottel.bsky.social

Thracian Hoplite, 4th century BC.

Details in the ALT-Description

#ancientbluesky #art

Thracian Hoplite, 4th century BC.

When hearing Thrace, most of you probably have in mind the famous Thracians peltasts of the Classical Period, or the rhomphaia-bearing thureophoroi of the Third Macedonian War.
This reconstruction, however, is more speculative, working with the vague and unspecified mentions of “Thracian infantry“ or simply “Thracians“ in the literary records of the latter half of the 4th century BC and the ambiguous weapon‘s findings from the area. The shield remains are from Vishegrad Peak, Yambol region (Stoyanov 2015, p. 430), the machaira is from Kabile (also Yambol region), dated to the 4th century BC (Getov 1991, no. 55, in: Velkov, V. Kabile Vol. 2), and the helmet from Zareva Tumulus in the Kazanlak Valley (I did not find literature on it, though the helmet is shown by Archaeology Bulgaria here on Facebook, also dated to the 4th century BC). This type of helmet generally found a lot of popularity in Thrace, particularly in the Rhodopes, though occasionally findings of it - like this one - can be found beyond the mountain range. The scene of a fighting warrior with Phrygian-type helmet and aspis is from a quite obscure wall painting in the Alexandrovo Tomb, which I first saw in Webber‘s Gods of Battle (2011), but since I don’t own the work of Kitov on the Alexandrovo Tomb, I’ve not seen this particularly scene discussed very often. The switch of Thracians from using their native colourful clothing to the typical Macedonian Hellenistic chitons and exomides can be well observed in visual sources like Alexandrovo or Kazanluk.
Lastly, the spearhead and sauroter are from the site of Dragoevo castle, which contained a lot of significant military findings, among them 150 spearheads and 7 sauroter (Nankov (2021): Thracian Warfare, p. 229). (Photographs of the items from Dragoevo, among others, can be found in Atanasov, G. (1995), 29-91.

September 29, 2025 at 11:29 AM

Reposted by Jan on a train 🚈

Jan on a train 🚈

@jottel.bsky.social

Dardanian warrior of the late 4th century BC
(see alt text for more info)

#ancientbluesky

Last one of „Southern Illyria“ for a while now probably (unless I manage to convince myself to squeeze a horse into this format).

What we learn from the written sources about the Dardanian military is basically … nothing at all, except a few mentions here and there.
They are often handled a bit as their own thing though broadly understood as being Illyrian or Illyrian-related. This is also reflected in the archaeological findings. In modern Kosovo, where a large part of ancient Dardanian land was located, the archaeological findings of militaria are still pretty sparse, though the record often includes items and elements of the Glasinac-Mat culture. In terms of militaria, these include Illyrian type helmets, small knives, axes and a preference for spears.
Due to the scarcity of such findings, however, this piece is a bit cobbled together of items from the second Iron Age period of Dardania (6th-4th c. BC):
the helmet is a III-A2 type from Korishë
the bracelet is from Lubozhdë
the axe necklace from Gadine e Epërme, as is the 18cm large knife
the javelin tip (11.1 cm) is from Cernicê and the spear tip is from Përçevë
(Due to the hard accessibility of literature on items found in Kosovo, most info of these I got from the doctorate thesis of Premtim Alaj (2020): Les habitats de l‘âge de der sur le territoire de l‘actuel Kossovo)
Lastly, this reconstruction builds mainly on one finding: the coinage of Patraos: https://www.coinarchives.com/a/results.php?results=100&search=patara
I chose to identify this defeated warrior with a Dardanian though this is of course easy to argue against, hence my long preamble.
The small shield, the bare top and the javelin tip finding made me want to depict more of a skirmisher, though a heavy infantryman would’ve also made sense given the information in our sources. Since my last drawing was already a pikeman, however, I went for something more dynamic.

September 20, 2025 at 3:52 PM

Reposted by Jan on a train 🚈

Jan on a train 🚈

@jottel.bsky.social

Hellenistic South-Illyrian Hoplite, ca. 3rd-2nd century BC.

The main inspiration for this reconstruction is the belt plate found at Gostilj, on the northern shore of Lake Skadar, which would have been inside the territory of the Illyrian tribe of the Labeates, the centre of power of King Genthios (reign: 180-168 BC).
Hoplites among the Illyrians are already mentioned in the army of Kleitos, son of Bardyllis, and Glaukias, the king of the Taulantians at the battle of Pelion against Alexander the Great (335 BC, Arr. Anab. 1.5.12). This is increasingly emphasised in the Hellenistic Period, like in Akarnania (233 BC), where the heavy infantry of the Ardiaean king Agron rout the Aitolian forces due to the “weight of their arms [τὰ βαρέα τῶν ὅπλων.]“.(Pol. 2.3.3), at Sellasia (222 BC), where the Illyrians are paired with the Chalkaspides in alternating lines and pushed the Spartans off the Euas, who “were forced back by the weight of their adversaries‘ weapons and formation [βάρει τοῦ καθοπλισμοῦ καὶ τῆς συντάξεως]“ (Pol. 2.68.9) or on Pharos, where the Romans saw the Illyrians „advancing resolutely and in good order“ (Pol. 3.19.5).
A large amount of graves had been excavated at Gostilj and 130 of them recorded by Duro Basler in 1969 in the Bulletin Glasnik Zemaljskog Muzeja Bosne I Hercegovine U Sarajevu (GZM) Vol. 24 (pp. 5-107), which is available online on the website of GZM.
The speartip I used here is from grave 125 (approximate original length 300mm) and the sauroter from grave 126 (approximate original length 195mm). The coin is a typical Labeatan coin (Basler: Kenotaph 1/1, p. 44) of the helmet/shield type which - like the belt plate - depicts the Illyrian helmet without crest, and the helmet itself is from Dushk in the hinterland of ancient Epidamnos, dated to ca. the 4th century BC (Neritan Ceka, in: Arme Eggebrecht: Albanien. Schätze aus dem Land der Skipetaren (1988), p. 284).

September 18, 2025 at 8:59 AM

Reposted by Jan on a train 🚈

Jan on a train 🚈

@jottel.bsky.social

Illyrian warrior reconstructed from the Bosnian tomb of Arareva Gromila (excavated by Truhelka in 1890); second half of the 6th century BC.

September 14, 2025 at 4:24 PM

Reposted by Jan on a train 🚈

Jan on a train 🚈

@jottel.bsky.social

Illyrian Warrior based on findings from Rechitsa, from the 6th-5th century BC

#AncientBlueSky

September 13, 2025 at 8:02 PM

Jan on a train 🚈

@jottel.bsky.social

Welcome back artists!🖌🎨✨️
Quote Post with an old piece that you still like!

December 26, 2025 at 8:47 PM

Reposted by Jan on a train 🚈

Velite Aquila

@veliteaquila.bsky.social

Ligurian warrior of the 2nd Punic war

Private commission

December 23, 2025 at 9:58 AM

Jan on a train 🚈

@jottel.bsky.social

Because I’ve seen it pop up a couple of times @bretdevereaux.bsky.social there is an article by Roscoe which deals with the allegedly „ritualistic warfare“ on Papua New Guinea in „Dead Birds“ (umaine.edu/anthropology...)
The movie‘s battlefield was obstructed in contrast to usual PNG battles

Page from Paul Roscoe‘s article „Dead Birds: The “Theater” of War among the Dugum Dani“ which elaborates on the usual battles of Papua New Guinea, which include more casualties, pursuits into the opponent‘s settlement and more direct fighting

December 20, 2025 at 8:58 AM

Jan on a train 🚈

@jottel.bsky.social

There was a lot of cursing behind the scenes of this thread, it's truly one of the articles of all time

Velite Aquila @veliteaquila.bsky.social · 9d

This article has to be one of the most misinformed and irresponsibly written I've seen.

I recommend you read the article to catch what I'm about to say here, but a tldr:

"statues are poorly painted in reconstructions because academics are trolling the public"

December 18, 2025 at 9:13 PM

Reposted by Jan on a train 🚈

Velite Aquila

@veliteaquila.bsky.social

This article has to be one of the most misinformed and irresponsibly written I've seen.

I recommend you read the article to catch what I'm about to say here, but a tldr:

"statues are poorly painted in reconstructions because academics are trolling the public"

December 18, 2025 at 9:04 PM

Reposted by Jan on a train 🚈

Luis Illingworth

@heyraguio.bsky.social

"they don't know how to express the idea" here's rian johnson's storyboard for knives out

pick up a pencil and a napkin

December 18, 2025 at 4:58 PM

Jan on a train 🚈

@jottel.bsky.social

Julius Obsequens would like to know your location

BNO News @bnonews.com · 12d

WATCH: Replica of the Statue of Liberty topples due to strong winds in Guaíba, Brazil

December 15, 2025 at 11:04 PM

Reposted by Jan on a train 🚈

Dr. Jeremy Swist

@metalclassicist.bsky.social

Visited the @worcesterartmuseum.bsky.social today with @drchristinah.bsky.social & friends to see the new expanded exhibit of the Higgins Armory collection of armor & weapons from all sorts of eras & cultures. Here’s some classical examples.

Detail from a breastplate depicting the gods Mars and Venus.

Horse head armor plus a shield with a Gorgon head.

December 13, 2025 at 10:33 PM

Jan on a train 🚈

@jottel.bsky.social

It's not like they already told everyone their plans, is it?

Section of Project 2025: "Privacy Shield. For many years, the European Union (EU) has tried to force U.S. companies operating in Europe to follow its data privacy regulations. Misleading claims in the 2013 Snowden leaks destroyed the initial Safe Harbor Framework that allowed American companies to transfer data across the Atlantic; its successor, the Privacy Shield Framework,45 was struck down by European courts on the grounds that it provides insufficient protections for EU citizens against hypothetical U.S. government surveillance. Those same European courts exempted the intelligence services of EU member states from the standards applied to the U.S., suggesting that trade protectionism may be the real motive behind data privacy regulations."

December 7, 2025 at 11:29 PM

Jan on a train 🚈

@jottel.bsky.social

Just saw the new US security strategy.
My takeaway is that it's still only about money. A weak and divided (or destroyed) EU is easier for the tech companies in the government to exploit, so they don't have to pay attention to regulations and protection laws. All the ideological stuff is a farce

December 7, 2025 at 11:27 PM

Jan on a train 🚈

@jottel.bsky.social

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer. It’s not that I hadn’t read any good books before that, but the the way atmosphere was conveyed through the pages, often through pure implications, completely rewired my brain. Even thinking about „the tower“ still gives me instant goosebumps

Preeti Chhibber @runwithskizzers.bsky.social · Nov 11

performative reading, lack of reading skills, nobody's reading anymore -- NO!

tell me about a book that changed you

for me? the *extremely* ahistorical novel, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY which I read at 13 and was like, "Oh, art can be *everything* to a maker, for good and bad"

November 12, 2025 at 11:42 AM

Jan on a train 🚈

@jottel.bsky.social

Teaser of the new Dev Diary for our Etruscan faction Volsinii, that will come out with the new update next year.
Game: Rome Total War: Remastered
Mod: Rome Total Realism: Imperium Surrectum

Full Dev Diary can be found here:
discord.com/channels/714...

Images of two of the units that Volsinii will be able to recruit.

Images of two of the cavalry units that Volsinii will be able to recruit.

Teaser of the starting situation of Volsinii on the Campaign Map as well as its faction banner.

Two Screenshots of the new Etruscan units.

November 7, 2025 at 7:33 PM

Reposted by Jan on a train 🚈

Dr. Jeremy Swist

@metalclassicist.bsky.social

You can already pre-order it here from @bloomsburyclass.bsky.social:

www.bloomsbury.com

November 5, 2025 at 7:21 PM

Reposted by Jan on a train 🚈

Dr. Jeremy Swist

@metalclassicist.bsky.social

Got the editors' blessing to share this news. My chapter "National Socialist Black Metal & the Usurpation of Greece and Rome" will appear in the forthcoming volume "Abusing Antiquity? Classics and the Contemporary Far Right," edited by Helen Roche and @denisemccoskey.bsky.social!

Abusing Antiquity? Classics and the Contemporary Far Right, edited by Helen Roche and Denise Eileen McCoskey

November 5, 2025 at 7:19 PM

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Corrugated Cavalier

@corrugatedcavalier.bsky.social

I've had an article published! Thanks to @workingclassicists.bsky.social for the opportunity. This is an article about how the ancient Greek world viewed martial dance as training. Would love it if folks read and shared. It's short!
www.workingclassicists.com/zine/kd36lab...