Association for Roman Archaeology
@romanarchaeouk.bsky.social
The ARA is a UK charity that supports & promotes Roman history & archaeology. Members get magazines & go on tours. Interested in joining? Visit our website
http://www.associationromanarchaeology.org
http://www.associationromanarchaeology.org
Reposted by Association for Roman Archaeology
Archaeologists working in the ancient city of Amastris in the district of Amasra in Bartin have brought to light a rare smiling depiction of Medusa on the ceiling blocks of a monumental Roman stoa, a columned gallery.
www.turkiyetoday.com/culture/rare...
www.turkiyetoday.com/culture/rare...
Rare smiling Medusa unearthed in Türkiye's ancient city founded by Queen Amastris - Türkiye Today
A rare smiling Medusa on a Roman stoa in Amasra’s ancient city of Amastris gives archaeologists fresh hope for revealing the city’s peaceful and prosperous past
www.turkiyetoday.com
December 9, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Archaeologists working in the ancient city of Amastris in the district of Amasra in Bartin have brought to light a rare smiling depiction of Medusa on the ceiling blocks of a monumental Roman stoa, a columned gallery.
www.turkiyetoday.com/culture/rare...
www.turkiyetoday.com/culture/rare...
Reposted by Association for Roman Archaeology
Every 9th Dec. emperors would lay down their 'tribunician powers' only to be granted them again the next day: a nice legal fiction that harked back to the #Roman Republic.
But also handy for dating. The abbreviation TRIB POT XIIII in this 😍 dedication dates it neatly to 129/130.
#EpigraphyTuesday
But also handy for dating. The abbreviation TRIB POT XIIII in this 😍 dedication dates it neatly to 129/130.
#EpigraphyTuesday
December 9, 2025 at 8:11 AM
Every 9th Dec. emperors would lay down their 'tribunician powers' only to be granted them again the next day: a nice legal fiction that harked back to the #Roman Republic.
But also handy for dating. The abbreviation TRIB POT XIIII in this 😍 dedication dates it neatly to 129/130.
#EpigraphyTuesday
But also handy for dating. The abbreviation TRIB POT XIIII in this 😍 dedication dates it neatly to 129/130.
#EpigraphyTuesday
Reposted by Association for Roman Archaeology
For #TrimontiumTuesday we have this well preserved #amphora handle found at the fort site. Amphorae were used to carry food & drink in bulk across the #Roman Empire. This particular example came from southern Spain & would have carried olive oil.
On loan from #HistoricEnvironmentScotland.
On loan from #HistoricEnvironmentScotland.
December 9, 2025 at 1:31 PM
For #TrimontiumTuesday we have this well preserved #amphora handle found at the fort site. Amphorae were used to carry food & drink in bulk across the #Roman Empire. This particular example came from southern Spain & would have carried olive oil.
On loan from #HistoricEnvironmentScotland.
On loan from #HistoricEnvironmentScotland.
Reposted by Association for Roman Archaeology
The Myster-E Box is back! Throughout December, a series of limited-time themed Myster-E Boxes will be available, each containing five PDF eBooks carefully selected around a different subject area.
Today's theme: Ancient Rome
Link: tinyurl.com/yc7taksw
Today's theme: Ancient Rome
Link: tinyurl.com/yc7taksw
December 9, 2025 at 11:04 AM
The Myster-E Box is back! Throughout December, a series of limited-time themed Myster-E Boxes will be available, each containing five PDF eBooks carefully selected around a different subject area.
Today's theme: Ancient Rome
Link: tinyurl.com/yc7taksw
Today's theme: Ancient Rome
Link: tinyurl.com/yc7taksw
Reposted by Association for Roman Archaeology
#MosaicMonday - Central panel of a mosaic floor with the head of Medusa. From Rome, via Ardeatina. Dated to the 1st-2nd century AD.
National Museum of Rome, Baths of Diocletian, Rome.
National Museum of Rome, Baths of Diocletian, Rome.
December 8, 2025 at 3:44 PM
#MosaicMonday - Central panel of a mosaic floor with the head of Medusa. From Rome, via Ardeatina. Dated to the 1st-2nd century AD.
National Museum of Rome, Baths of Diocletian, Rome.
National Museum of Rome, Baths of Diocletian, Rome.
Reposted by Association for Roman Archaeology
This beautiful #Roman fibula, made in the SW of England & found near the #AntonineWall dates to AD80–165. Bronze, inlaid with silver - @nationalmuseumsscotland
✨ Want more Roman Scotland? Our Romans in #Scotland 12-week online course starts 6 January — details on our website!
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
✨ Want more Roman Scotland? Our Romans in #Scotland 12-week online course starts 6 January — details on our website!
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
December 8, 2025 at 10:00 PM
This beautiful #Roman fibula, made in the SW of England & found near the #AntonineWall dates to AD80–165. Bronze, inlaid with silver - @nationalmuseumsscotland
✨ Want more Roman Scotland? Our Romans in #Scotland 12-week online course starts 6 January — details on our website!
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
✨ Want more Roman Scotland? Our Romans in #Scotland 12-week online course starts 6 January — details on our website!
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Reposted by Association for Roman Archaeology
It's #MosaicMonday and miserable in the UK so here's an early Winter personification from Bignor Roman villa. It's from a room that had underfloor heating and was probably a dining room.
www.romansociety.org/Imago/Image-...
www.romansociety.org/Imago/Image-...
December 8, 2025 at 6:09 PM
It's #MosaicMonday and miserable in the UK so here's an early Winter personification from Bignor Roman villa. It's from a room that had underfloor heating and was probably a dining room.
www.romansociety.org/Imago/Image-...
www.romansociety.org/Imago/Image-...
Reposted by Association for Roman Archaeology
This mosaic portrait of a Roman woman from #Pompeii is a real rarity. The tesserae are quite small, allowing for a painterly effect - we can even see that her pearl necklace and pearl and gold earrings are Julio-Claudian in design. 🏺 1/
Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli (MANN)
📸 me
Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli (MANN)
📸 me
December 8, 2025 at 9:35 PM
This mosaic portrait of a Roman woman from #Pompeii is a real rarity. The tesserae are quite small, allowing for a painterly effect - we can even see that her pearl necklace and pearl and gold earrings are Julio-Claudian in design. 🏺 1/
Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli (MANN)
📸 me
Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli (MANN)
📸 me
Reposted by Association for Roman Archaeology
Ancient Egyptian pleasure boat found by archaeologists off Alexandria coast 🤿⛏️🇪🇬 www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...
Ancient Egyptian pleasure boat found by archaeologists off Alexandria coast
First-century luxury vessel matches description by the Greek historian Strabo, who visited city around 29-25BC
www.theguardian.com
December 8, 2025 at 12:53 PM
Ancient Egyptian pleasure boat found by archaeologists off Alexandria coast 🤿⛏️🇪🇬 www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...
Reposted by Association for Roman Archaeology
What better way to start the week than with a lovely Roman face pot - this one was found in York and dates from the early third century. It's features resembles those of the empress Julia Domna and it may have been made to commemorate her time spent there in 208-211 CE.
December 8, 2025 at 7:55 AM
What better way to start the week than with a lovely Roman face pot - this one was found in York and dates from the early third century. It's features resembles those of the empress Julia Domna and it may have been made to commemorate her time spent there in 208-211 CE.
Reposted by Association for Roman Archaeology
For this #MosaicMonday in the run-up to Christmas, the next in a short series of attractive geometric mosaics. Although we often focus on the figured floors - which tell us so much - patterns of varying complexity were by far the most numerous. 1/2
#AncientBlueSky 🏺
#AncientBlueSky 🏺
December 8, 2025 at 12:57 PM
For this #MosaicMonday in the run-up to Christmas, the next in a short series of attractive geometric mosaics. Although we often focus on the figured floors - which tell us so much - patterns of varying complexity were by far the most numerous. 1/2
#AncientBlueSky 🏺
#AncientBlueSky 🏺
Reposted by Association for Roman Archaeology
Fascinating pattern in #Roman 5th C #MosaicMonday floor:
Central cross w clessidra motif, from which 3D perspective parallelepipeds (love that word) project w geometric patterns.
Below, intersecting circles above large lozenge w 4 petal flower + shields at edges.
in MArTA Arch Museum Taranto 🏺
Central cross w clessidra motif, from which 3D perspective parallelepipeds (love that word) project w geometric patterns.
Below, intersecting circles above large lozenge w 4 petal flower + shields at edges.
in MArTA Arch Museum Taranto 🏺
December 8, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Fascinating pattern in #Roman 5th C #MosaicMonday floor:
Central cross w clessidra motif, from which 3D perspective parallelepipeds (love that word) project w geometric patterns.
Below, intersecting circles above large lozenge w 4 petal flower + shields at edges.
in MArTA Arch Museum Taranto 🏺
Central cross w clessidra motif, from which 3D perspective parallelepipeds (love that word) project w geometric patterns.
Below, intersecting circles above large lozenge w 4 petal flower + shields at edges.
in MArTA Arch Museum Taranto 🏺
Reposted by Association for Roman Archaeology
#MosaicMonday the elegant patterns of Tripolis.
December 8, 2025 at 10:05 AM
#MosaicMonday the elegant patterns of Tripolis.
Reposted by Association for Roman Archaeology
Mosaic of a gorgon's head from the bathhouse at Bignor Roman Villa in Sussex. This strategically placed emblem averted the evil eye when bathers were naked in the changing room, vulnerable to malign influence. Her snaky hair has been writhing since the early C.4th.
📸 mygf
#MosaicMonday #RomanBritain
📸 mygf
#MosaicMonday #RomanBritain
December 8, 2025 at 7:56 AM
Mosaic of a gorgon's head from the bathhouse at Bignor Roman Villa in Sussex. This strategically placed emblem averted the evil eye when bathers were naked in the changing room, vulnerable to malign influence. Her snaky hair has been writhing since the early C.4th.
📸 mygf
#MosaicMonday #RomanBritain
📸 mygf
#MosaicMonday #RomanBritain
Reposted by Association for Roman Archaeology
#MosaicMonday
Mosaic of the 9 #Muses - from the entrance to a #Roman villa in Torre de Palma, Monforte, Portalegre - 4th C AD - Museu Nacional de Arqueologia, #Lisbon, #Portugal.
At the base of the mosaic there is a legend: SCO [pa a] SPRA TESSELLAM LEDERE NOLI VTERI F [elix]
Mosaic of the 9 #Muses - from the entrance to a #Roman villa in Torre de Palma, Monforte, Portalegre - 4th C AD - Museu Nacional de Arqueologia, #Lisbon, #Portugal.
At the base of the mosaic there is a legend: SCO [pa a] SPRA TESSELLAM LEDERE NOLI VTERI F [elix]
December 8, 2025 at 8:41 AM
#MosaicMonday
Mosaic of the 9 #Muses - from the entrance to a #Roman villa in Torre de Palma, Monforte, Portalegre - 4th C AD - Museu Nacional de Arqueologia, #Lisbon, #Portugal.
At the base of the mosaic there is a legend: SCO [pa a] SPRA TESSELLAM LEDERE NOLI VTERI F [elix]
Mosaic of the 9 #Muses - from the entrance to a #Roman villa in Torre de Palma, Monforte, Portalegre - 4th C AD - Museu Nacional de Arqueologia, #Lisbon, #Portugal.
At the base of the mosaic there is a legend: SCO [pa a] SPRA TESSELLAM LEDERE NOLI VTERI F [elix]
Reposted by Association for Roman Archaeology
#MosaicMonday from Winchester City Museum!
This section of a mosaic with a dophlin was discovered in the city in the 19th Century.
Winchester was known as Venta Belgarum in the Roman period.
#AncientBlueSky🏺
This section of a mosaic with a dophlin was discovered in the city in the 19th Century.
Winchester was known as Venta Belgarum in the Roman period.
#AncientBlueSky🏺
December 8, 2025 at 9:31 AM
#MosaicMonday from Winchester City Museum!
This section of a mosaic with a dophlin was discovered in the city in the 19th Century.
Winchester was known as Venta Belgarum in the Roman period.
#AncientBlueSky🏺
This section of a mosaic with a dophlin was discovered in the city in the 19th Century.
Winchester was known as Venta Belgarum in the Roman period.
#AncientBlueSky🏺
Reposted by Association for Roman Archaeology
Second century AD mosaic floor panel from Roman Daphne, near Antioch. The female figure may be the personification of ‘abundance’ and ‘good living’. The mosaic is now part of the collections at the Met in New York. 📷 My own. #MosaicMonday
December 8, 2025 at 7:28 AM
Second century AD mosaic floor panel from Roman Daphne, near Antioch. The female figure may be the personification of ‘abundance’ and ‘good living’. The mosaic is now part of the collections at the Met in New York. 📷 My own. #MosaicMonday
Reposted by Association for Roman Archaeology
Between 1828-9 Samuel Hasell excavated a villa at Pitney #Somerset
Sheds were built to protect the villa but sadly they had gone by 1836 and so had the mosaics 😞
All we have left are lithographs like this one by Hasell of Cadmus thrashing a python*
*don't Google this 😬
Happy #MosaicMonday
Sheds were built to protect the villa but sadly they had gone by 1836 and so had the mosaics 😞
All we have left are lithographs like this one by Hasell of Cadmus thrashing a python*
*don't Google this 😬
Happy #MosaicMonday
December 8, 2025 at 8:48 AM
Between 1828-9 Samuel Hasell excavated a villa at Pitney #Somerset
Sheds were built to protect the villa but sadly they had gone by 1836 and so had the mosaics 😞
All we have left are lithographs like this one by Hasell of Cadmus thrashing a python*
*don't Google this 😬
Happy #MosaicMonday
Sheds were built to protect the villa but sadly they had gone by 1836 and so had the mosaics 😞
All we have left are lithographs like this one by Hasell of Cadmus thrashing a python*
*don't Google this 😬
Happy #MosaicMonday
Reposted by Association for Roman Archaeology
Serious Pac Man vibes...
#MosaicMonday
#MosaicMonday
December 8, 2025 at 8:47 AM
Serious Pac Man vibes...
#MosaicMonday
#MosaicMonday
Reposted by Association for Roman Archaeology
See the full story in Britannia www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Troy Story: The Ketton Mosaic, Aeschylus, and Greek Mythography in Late Roman Britain | Britannia | Cambridge Core
Troy Story: The Ketton Mosaic, Aeschylus, and Greek Mythography in Late Roman Britain
www.cambridge.org
December 7, 2025 at 3:44 PM
See the full story in Britannia www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Reposted by Association for Roman Archaeology
This is such brilliant archaeology. There's a bit of a persistent story that Britain was somehow culturally separate from europe in the Roman empire when it was so intertwined and connected by people and goods travelling.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Rare mosaic in Rutland reveals forgotten Trojan War tale - BBC News
A paper by experts at the University of Leicester has been described as a "fascinating development".
www.bbc.co.uk
December 7, 2025 at 2:48 PM
This is such brilliant archaeology. There's a bit of a persistent story that Britain was somehow culturally separate from europe in the Roman empire when it was so intertwined and connected by people and goods travelling.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by Association for Roman Archaeology
Exquisite Roman glass cup signed by master glassmaker ‘Ennion’. AD 30-70.
Ennion was the first glassmaker to ‘brand’ his work by incorporating his name into the mould’s design, some 2000 years ago!
Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Adria 📷 Leonardo.disimone
#Archaeology
Ennion was the first glassmaker to ‘brand’ his work by incorporating his name into the mould’s design, some 2000 years ago!
Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Adria 📷 Leonardo.disimone
#Archaeology
![Photo of an intact Roman two-handled translucent cobalt blue glass cup dated AD 30-70. The cup has a cylindrical body with vertical sides and two narrow strap handles attached to each side as ear-shaped loops. The cup is mould-blown with relief decoration on the body which incorporates two inscriptions in Greek, one on each side of the cup. One side reads ‘ENNIWN/ENOIH/CEN’ (‘Ennion made [it]'). The other side reads ‘MNHOH/O AOPA/ZNW translated as ‘May the buyer be remembered’.
Dimensions: Height 2½ in. (6.4 cm), diameter (rim): 3% in. (9.5 cm)
Collection Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Adria, Italy.
Incredibly this is one of two matching cups blown from the same mould, found together in a Roman tomb at Cuora, near Adria, Italy, in the early 1900s. The matching cup is now part of the collections at the Corning Museum of Glass](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:j56ydp325adovobhwpkzc6sp/bafkreieyzv5zqbzdfqwmjq2voan57tagx23eg734blorwveesickcrkg4i@jpeg)
December 7, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Exquisite Roman glass cup signed by master glassmaker ‘Ennion’. AD 30-70.
Ennion was the first glassmaker to ‘brand’ his work by incorporating his name into the mould’s design, some 2000 years ago!
Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Adria 📷 Leonardo.disimone
#Archaeology
Ennion was the first glassmaker to ‘brand’ his work by incorporating his name into the mould’s design, some 2000 years ago!
Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Adria 📷 Leonardo.disimone
#Archaeology
Reposted by Association for Roman Archaeology
Sleeping Eros about to be robbed of his quiver by Psyche. From Samandağı in Turkey from the third century AD. #MosaicMonday
December 8, 2025 at 6:28 AM
Sleeping Eros about to be robbed of his quiver by Psyche. From Samandağı in Turkey from the third century AD. #MosaicMonday
Reposted by Association for Roman Archaeology
Today we focus on Lunt Roman Fort. Following Boudicca's rebellion in 60AD, many timber defensive positions were built. Most were later rebuilt in stone, but not Lunt! Eventually abandoned c.80AD, it has been fully excavated & partially reconstructed.
📷
Main gate
Granary
📷
Main gate
Granary
December 6, 2025 at 10:25 PM
Today we focus on Lunt Roman Fort. Following Boudicca's rebellion in 60AD, many timber defensive positions were built. Most were later rebuilt in stone, but not Lunt! Eventually abandoned c.80AD, it has been fully excavated & partially reconstructed.
📷
Main gate
Granary
📷
Main gate
Granary
Reposted by Association for Roman Archaeology
Pic of the year 6! Lararium, archaeological museum, Stabiae!!! Minerva in attendance! @romanarchaeouk.bsky.social @alexharvv.bsky.social @davidebb.bsky.social @thehistoryguy.bsky.social @romanscotland.bsky.social @romansinscotland.bsky.social
December 6, 2025 at 7:33 AM
Pic of the year 6! Lararium, archaeological museum, Stabiae!!! Minerva in attendance! @romanarchaeouk.bsky.social @alexharvv.bsky.social @davidebb.bsky.social @thehistoryguy.bsky.social @romanscotland.bsky.social @romansinscotland.bsky.social