Roger Pearse
@rogerpearse.bsky.social
Have a quick English translation (from Italian) of the funeral oration of Procopius of Gaza, d. ca, 536 AD, delivered by his pupil and successor Choricius.
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2025/...
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2025/...
Choricius of Gaza, Oration 7 (Funeral oration for Procopius of Gaza) - now online in English
After learning about the 6th century orator, Procopius of Gaza, in my last post, I wanted to know a bit more about him. Unfortunately the details of his life are known to us only from his letters, an...
www.roger-pearse.com
December 19, 2025 at 4:57 PM
Have a quick English translation (from Italian) of the funeral oration of Procopius of Gaza, d. ca, 536 AD, delivered by his pupil and successor Choricius.
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2025/...
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2025/...
Reposted by Roger Pearse
Town centre
Artist: Frank Hampson
(Stories of our Christmas Customs, 1964)
Artist: Frank Hampson
(Stories of our Christmas Customs, 1964)
December 16, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Town centre
Artist: Frank Hampson
(Stories of our Christmas Customs, 1964)
Artist: Frank Hampson
(Stories of our Christmas Customs, 1964)
Reposted by Roger Pearse
For anyone who happens to know: what's the earliest surviving epistolary collection of a pope? Damasus?
December 16, 2025 at 9:16 PM
For anyone who happens to know: what's the earliest surviving epistolary collection of a pope? Damasus?
A modern controversy brings to light a passage in pseudo-Epiphanius, Praises of the Theotokos.
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2025/...
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2025/...
Pseudo-Epiphanius, "Or. de Laid. Deip."
An email today enquiring what is the work of Epiphanius (d. 403) which is referred to below, by A. Liguori in the Italian edition of Le glorie di Maria (1839), p. 359:
Ma benché Maria sin dacché fu ...
www.roger-pearse.com
December 15, 2025 at 8:29 PM
A modern controversy brings to light a passage in pseudo-Epiphanius, Praises of the Theotokos.
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2025/...
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2025/...
The 174 letters of the sophist Procopius of Gaza (early 6th century) to his friends are really very charming. One of them even found its way among the letters of St Jerome. There is a beautiful Italian translation by Federica Cicciolella.
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2025/...
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2025/...
Jerome and the letters of Procopius of Gaza
Among the few untranslated letters of St Jerome, Epistle 150 is a very short item which is completely spurious. This is because it is from Procopius of Gaza, the late 5th-early 6th century sophist. ...
www.roger-pearse.com
December 11, 2025 at 8:10 PM
The 174 letters of the sophist Procopius of Gaza (early 6th century) to his friends are really very charming. One of them even found its way among the letters of St Jerome. There is a beautiful Italian translation by Federica Cicciolella.
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2025/...
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2025/...
Reposted by Roger Pearse
Look what my awesome @simmonsuniversity.bsky.social Library Science students did! This year, we studied a manuscript broken in the 1980s (likely by Ferrini, but we don't know for sure). It's generally known as the Hours of St. Alexis because many of the roundels illustrate scenes from his Vita...
December 9, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Look what my awesome @simmonsuniversity.bsky.social Library Science students did! This year, we studied a manuscript broken in the 1980s (likely by Ferrini, but we don't know for sure). It's generally known as the Hours of St. Alexis because many of the roundels illustrate scenes from his Vita...
Reposted by Roger Pearse
#DigiBodAdvent day 3. Everybody loves fragments, and St John's have digitized a whole collection for you (MS. 235). Here are nos 72, Augustine In Evangelium Iohannis, and 18, "unidentified scholastic philosophy" 📜
digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/fa67...
digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/1627...
digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/fa67...
digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/1627...
December 3, 2025 at 6:58 PM
#DigiBodAdvent day 3. Everybody loves fragments, and St John's have digitized a whole collection for you (MS. 235). Here are nos 72, Augustine In Evangelium Iohannis, and 18, "unidentified scholastic philosophy" 📜
digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/fa67...
digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/1627...
digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/fa67...
digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/1627...
How many letters of St Jerome remain untranslated? Surprisingly few!
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2025/...
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2025/...
How many letters of St Jerome remain untranslated into English?
In my last post, I gave a few notes on the letters of St. Jerome, which number 154 in the Hilberg edition in the Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum series, vols.54, 55 and 56. It seems that...
www.roger-pearse.com
December 9, 2025 at 2:02 PM
How many letters of St Jerome remain untranslated? Surprisingly few!
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2025/...
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2025/...
Reposted by Roger Pearse
Ladybird Artists Advent Calendar
Window 7
‘Frost’
Artist: CF Tunnicliffe
Window 7
‘Frost’
Artist: CF Tunnicliffe
December 7, 2025 at 8:26 AM
Ladybird Artists Advent Calendar
Window 7
‘Frost’
Artist: CF Tunnicliffe
Window 7
‘Frost’
Artist: CF Tunnicliffe
Reposted by Roger Pearse
Last weekend I resumed blogging and have done another post today; I hope to maintain a weekly schedule.
The two new posts concern illuminated leaves from the collections of Victor Goldschmidt and Count Stroganoff.
mssprovenance.blogspot.com
The two new posts concern illuminated leaves from the collections of Victor Goldschmidt and Count Stroganoff.
mssprovenance.blogspot.com
November 22, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Last weekend I resumed blogging and have done another post today; I hope to maintain a weekly schedule.
The two new posts concern illuminated leaves from the collections of Victor Goldschmidt and Count Stroganoff.
mssprovenance.blogspot.com
The two new posts concern illuminated leaves from the collections of Victor Goldschmidt and Count Stroganoff.
mssprovenance.blogspot.com
Reposted by Roger Pearse
This is the feast of Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, d. 397. 🕯️ BNF lat. 1732 is an early-8th-c. Uncial MS of several of his works. The headings to the various items have lovely colors and some fun beasties. The Uncial is very mannered: look at the loops on those As! #medievalsky
December 7, 2025 at 2:38 PM
This is the feast of Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, d. 397. 🕯️ BNF lat. 1732 is an early-8th-c. Uncial MS of several of his works. The headings to the various items have lovely colors and some fun beasties. The Uncial is very mannered: look at the loops on those As! #medievalsky
Reposted by Roger Pearse
A pair of gold armbands from the Colchester Fenwick hoard, buried before Boudica’s attack in AD60. As the Roman last stand took place where Colchester Castle now sits, the owner may have perished where their jewellery is now displayed @ColMuseums.bsky.social
#FindsFriday #BoudicaFriday #Echolands
#FindsFriday #BoudicaFriday #Echolands
November 28, 2025 at 3:45 PM
A pair of gold armbands from the Colchester Fenwick hoard, buried before Boudica’s attack in AD60. As the Roman last stand took place where Colchester Castle now sits, the owner may have perished where their jewellery is now displayed @ColMuseums.bsky.social
#FindsFriday #BoudicaFriday #Echolands
#FindsFriday #BoudicaFriday #Echolands
Reposted by Roger Pearse
It wasn't all wretched though. These documents record a religious festival (possibly the oldest written evidence for a midsummer celebration in England) at the fort, where beer, wine, pork, fish sauce and more was consumed!
Learn how Roman fish sauce was made in Antiquity 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
Learn how Roman fish sauce was made in Antiquity 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
November 27, 2025 at 4:02 PM
It wasn't all wretched though. These documents record a religious festival (possibly the oldest written evidence for a midsummer celebration in England) at the fort, where beer, wine, pork, fish sauce and more was consumed!
Learn how Roman fish sauce was made in Antiquity 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
Learn how Roman fish sauce was made in Antiquity 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
Reposted by Roger Pearse
El Deir fortress (El Munira monastery), Roman fortress in Kharga oasis, Egypt. It was built at the very end of the third century AD. It is surrounded by a Roman cemetery. #RomanFortThursday
November 27, 2025 at 3:44 AM
El Deir fortress (El Munira monastery), Roman fortress in Kharga oasis, Egypt. It was built at the very end of the third century AD. It is surrounded by a Roman cemetery. #RomanFortThursday
Reposted by Roger Pearse
Images of the manuscript, a scroll over 14ft long in Manichaean script, are available at idp.bl.uk/collection/1...
Collection object "Or.8212/178" • Manichaean manuscript, Xwastwanift
manuscript, ink on paper
idp.bl.uk
November 27, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Images of the manuscript, a scroll over 14ft long in Manichaean script, are available at idp.bl.uk/collection/1...
Reposted by Roger Pearse
This stunning head is part of a life-sized, free-standing sculpture and exemplifies an idealized portrayal of a ruler. This head has been attributed to Pharaoh Amasis (570-526 BC), who ascended to the throne through a military revolt. His rule then brought a new era of peace to the country.
📷 me
🏺
📷 me
🏺
November 26, 2025 at 6:45 AM
This stunning head is part of a life-sized, free-standing sculpture and exemplifies an idealized portrayal of a ruler. This head has been attributed to Pharaoh Amasis (570-526 BC), who ascended to the throne through a military revolt. His rule then brought a new era of peace to the country.
📷 me
🏺
📷 me
🏺
Reposted by Roger Pearse
The Internet Archive just released tens of thousands of seed catalogs, spanning over two centuries!
They are both lovely and interesting. Check them out!
archive.org/details/usda...
🗃️ #c18th #c19th #c20th #illustration
They are both lovely and interesting. Check them out!
archive.org/details/usda...
🗃️ #c18th #c19th #c20th #illustration
November 26, 2025 at 8:45 PM
The Internet Archive just released tens of thousands of seed catalogs, spanning over two centuries!
They are both lovely and interesting. Check them out!
archive.org/details/usda...
🗃️ #c18th #c19th #c20th #illustration
They are both lovely and interesting. Check them out!
archive.org/details/usda...
🗃️ #c18th #c19th #c20th #illustration
Reposted by Roger Pearse
A mummy portrait from #Roman Egypt, depicting a bearded young man dressed in a white tunic with dark red stripes. We don't know his name, but he probably lived & died towards the end of the C2nd AD, & may well have been a soldier in life 🏺 #AncientBlueSky
November 24, 2025 at 6:52 PM
A mummy portrait from #Roman Egypt, depicting a bearded young man dressed in a white tunic with dark red stripes. We don't know his name, but he probably lived & died towards the end of the C2nd AD, & may well have been a soldier in life 🏺 #AncientBlueSky
Reposted by Roger Pearse
November 20, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Had to buy an academic book today. Couldn't find a PDF, didn't think an interlibrary loan would do much any time soon. But luckily all the ex-review copies are unsold, so it was cheap. Hurrah for selling off review copies!
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2025/...
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2025/...
From my diary
I posted yesterday about a number of breviaries containing the “Life” of St Botolph in abbreviated form. A kind commenter drew my attention to a publication unknown to me – Englis…
www.roger-pearse.com
November 19, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Had to buy an academic book today. Couldn't find a PDF, didn't think an interlibrary loan would do much any time soon. But luckily all the ex-review copies are unsold, so it was cheap. Hurrah for selling off review copies!
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2025/...
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2025/...
Still trying to finish up the text and translation of the Life of St Botolph. Today... three breviaries containing versions of the Life spring out at me, from where they were hiding. One in Nidaros/Trondheim, one from York, one from Hereford. Aaarrgh!
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2025/...
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2025/...
Breviaries, breviaries, is there no end of them?
Yesterday I finally located an image online of the page of the Botolph legend from a manuscript in Norway, in Bergen University Library, to be precise. Today I collated that with Folcard’s &…
www.roger-pearse.com
November 18, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Still trying to finish up the text and translation of the Life of St Botolph. Today... three breviaries containing versions of the Life spring out at me, from where they were hiding. One in Nidaros/Trondheim, one from York, one from Hereford. Aaarrgh!
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2025/...
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2025/...
Reposted by Roger Pearse
Good to see the problems facing our colleagues @britishlibrary.bsky.social being raised here by @hetanshah.bsky.social (of @britishacademy.bsky.social). If this had happened in France it would be considered a national problem to be urgently addressed! www.cityam.com/the-british-...
The British library is in crisis: why does nobody care?
The widespread indifference to the British Library's crippling cyberattack demonstrates a perilous failure to value the knowledge infrastructure vital for national prosperity
www.cityam.com
November 18, 2025 at 7:58 AM
Good to see the problems facing our colleagues @britishlibrary.bsky.social being raised here by @hetanshah.bsky.social (of @britishacademy.bsky.social). If this had happened in France it would be considered a national problem to be urgently addressed! www.cityam.com/the-british-...