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Dr Thomas R.P. Coward

@tomcoward.bsky.social

360 followers 310 following 160 posts

Marie-Curie Research Fellow at the University of Bristol. Writing a commentary on the Hesiodic Catalogue. Also works on the intellectual history of ancient Rhodes, and the Herculaneum papyri.

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Dr Thomas R.P. Coward @tomcoward.bsky.social · 8d

Back to Naples to speak at a conference on Herculaneum Papyri and Epicurean Theology with a visit to the MANN and a day at the Officina. Very happy to be a gifted a copy of my dear friend’s Claudio Vegara’s just published edition of Philodemus’ On Providence. 2/2
#ClassicsBluesky #AncientBluesky

Fresco of woman brushing her hair. MANN inv. 9088.
Stabiae, Ariadne’s Villa, Room 7. AD 54-69.

Back of one of the five bronze statues of Peplophorai/dancers/danaids/hydrophorai.

The so-called “Dancers of Herculaneum”, 5 statues of women wearing the Doric peplos a group of life-sized bronzes with inlaid eyes that were adapted Roman copies of originals from the fifth century BCE, all found in the Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum in 1754.

The back of this statue shows a peplos being pulled diagonally upwards across the back of the body of the statue conveying a sense of tension in the fabric.

MANN inv. 5603, 5604, 5605, 5619, 5620, 5621

Image is of a hardback book with a blue dust jacket. The book is the first edition of the On Providence attributed to Philodemus. A number of passages are published for the first time.

Vergara, C. (2025), [Filodemo], [La Providenza] (Bibliopolis, Napoli).

EAN: 9788870887372

Greek text with Italian translation and commentary.

View of a large wooden desk with a microscope with LED ring light on the left and a laptop computer on the right. Underneath is a cornice with three folios of paper on it with four pieces of carbonised papyrus affixed to it. An original cornice from February to March 1782.

Dr Thomas R.P. Coward @tomcoward.bsky.social · 8d

Back to Naples to speak at a conference on Herculaneum Papyri and Epicurean Theology with a visit to the MANN and a day at the Officina 1/2
#ClassicsBluesky #AncientBluesky

View from one side of the bay of Naples looking towards Mt Vesuvius over the water with a cloud passing over the peak. Blue sky otherwise with some haze.

Foreground is a pier with a rock shingle with some boats. On the pier a man has emerged from swimming and is playing with his four dogs which his partner has walked down to the pier. Two women sitting on the edge of the pier look towards the scene as the dogs prance and jump and scamper.

Updated shrine in the Toledo commemorating Napoli FC winning Serie A for a fourth time. Funerary notice for Milan football teams, a plastic bag full of rubbish to represent Juventus. A picture of Maradona with Vesuvius in the background. Cardboard cut outs of the two winning players for the third and four league wins. Football memorabilia with Italian flag crests with numbers 3 and 4 on them.

Cast bronze of a satyr riding a wine sack as a horse.

Conference programme

NUOVI TESTI PER VECCHI PROBLEMI.
UN DIALOGO TRA PAPIROLOGIA E STORIA DELLA FILOSOFIA SULLA TEOLOGIA EPICUREA
29 settembre 2025
Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, Università degli Studi Federico II
Via Porta di Massa, 1 - Aula DSU 5 (Scala C - 2° piano - 4° livello)
online: meet.google.com/ywt-adgs-kuy
SALUTI E INTRODUZIONE AI LAVORI
9:30 - 10:00 | Andrea Mazzucchi (Direttore del DSU); Chiara Renda (Responsabile della Sezione di Scienze dell'Antichità del DSU)
Giuliana Leone (Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II); Marzia D'Angelo (Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II); Enrico Piergiacomi (Technion - Israel Institute of Technology)
PRIMA SESSIONE. Novità dai papiri ercolanesi teologici
Presiede: Giuliana Leone (Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II)
10:00 - 10:45 | Marzia D'Angelo (Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II)
Il primo libro Sugli dei di Filodemo nel progetto LACUNA 10:45 - 11:30 | Holger Essler (Universität Würzburg)
Aus der Arbeit an der Neuausgabe von PHerc. 152/157
11:30 - 12:00 | Pausa caffè
12:00 - 12:45 | Claudio Vergara (Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II)
Anus fatidica Pronoea: la nuova edizione de La provvidenza di Filodemo 12:45 - 13:30 | Thomas Coward (University of Bristol)
An unpublished column in Philodemus On Piety: On the Nature of the Gods in Socrates and Plato?
13:30 - 14:45 | Pausa pranzo
SECONDA SESSIONE. Aspetti della teologia epicurea: ricostruzione, analisi, ricezione
Presiede: Lidia Palumbo (Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II)
14:45 - 15:30 | Francesco Verde (Sapienza Università di Roma)
Epicuro e la "teologia" del Timeo 15:30 - 16:15 | Giulia Scalas (CNRS - Centre Léon Robin)
Il piacere continuo: virtù e beatitudine nella teologia epicurea 16:15 - 17:00 | Enrico Piergiacomi (Technion - Israel Institute of Technology)
Emanazioni migliori. Epicuro, Attico e i viventi irrazionali

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Dr Thomas R.P. Coward @tomcoward.bsky.social · 12d

A recent trip to London and Oxford for even more papyri (with Tosca hosting in the latter) 2/2

View towards Radcliffe camera and st Mary’s church Oxford. Hertford College on the left. Photo taken from ground level. Similar image to ending credits plate photo of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (BBC TV 1979).

View looking down on to a table. A binocular microscope with a large glass place with papyrus pieces in it. To the left two books open, and on the right laptop with digital image of another papyrus.

View of a quad with clock tower in the centre. Corpus Christi College Oxford.

A black and white cat sitting up on its hind legs on a coffee table. Thoroughly enjoying a brush on the head with front paws up.

Dr Thomas R.P. Coward @tomcoward.bsky.social · 12d

A recent trip to London and Oxford for even more papyri (with Tosca hosting in the latter) 1/2

A library with brown varnished wooden bookcases, green and gold wallpaper and carpet with leather chairs and small wooden tables.

View of Senate House Library in Bloomsbury, London. White art deco skyscraper.

View of Braesnose College quad with Radcliffe Camera in the background. Foreground has large green grass. Weather cloudy but bright.

Tosca a black and white cat sitting in a wooden chair with bed basket and red blanket. Cat is looking through a bay window down towards a garden with trees and bushes. Sky blue with some clouds.

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Dr Thomas R.P. Coward @tomcoward.bsky.social · Jul 30

Another week spent in the Papyrology rooms @bodartlib.bsky.social and other nearby places. #ClassicsBluesky #AncientBluesky

A table. On it a piece of papyrus in a glass plate held together by bull clips under a binocular microscope with LED ring light. Digital infra red microscope is on top of the plate attached to a computer. To the right several books including an increasingly annotated copy of Merkelbach-West.

Tosca the black and white cat with half white moustache and her purple brush sitting upright on a table.

View of the lake at Worcester College Oxford. Large lake in foreground with lily pads and surrounded by trees with a blue sky with patchy white clouds

An oval box made of silver containing cheese crackers. Dedication by William Force Stead, an American priest, diplomat and poet who was friends with Elliot and Yeats. The now cracker box commemorates the Anglo-American victory in WW2.

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Dr Thomas R.P. Coward @tomcoward.bsky.social · Jun 16

A week in the P.Oxy. collection ahead. But said hullo to the On Vices roll beforehand.

Papyri in glass plates on a table. One under a LED ring microscope. Computer and critical edition next to the plates. Collations being taken and checked.

Carbonised Herculaneum papyrus roll in a 3D printed case. On display in the Weston Library in Oxford. Recent identified as a book of Philodemus’ On Vices.

The label reads:

102
Preserved by fire
The eruption of Vesuvius near Naples in the year 79 killed the citizens of the Roman holiday town of Herculaneum but preserved their belongings - carbonized. What looks like a charred lump is in fact a burnt scroll, from a rich private library in the city. Unread for more than 2000 years, its content is now opening to modern imaging technology: the mute treasure l l l reveals its secret: a lost work of the Hellenistic philosopher Philodemus.
MS. Gr. class. f. 25 (P). Philodemus, On vices (Herculaneum (?). before 79).

View of Radcliffe camera from Braesnose College.

Evening sunset from the Bisney area of Oxford on the way back from The Perch. River view reflecting the dusk light with tree in outline and shadow on the left.

Reposted by Dr Thomas R.P. Coward

Dr Ellie Mackin Roberts @elliemackinroberts.net · Jun 11

Hey look! My new article on the #Parthenon Frieze has been published! (Also; it’s open access!)

#ClassicsBluesky

(RE)APPRAISING THE PARTHENON FRIEZE: ‘DIVINESPACE’ AND ‘MORTALSPACE’ | The Classical Quarterly | Cambridge Core

(RE)APPRAISING THE PARTHENON FRIEZE: ‘DIVINESPACE’ AND ‘MORTALSPACE’

www.cambridge.org

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Dr Thomas R.P. Coward @tomcoward.bsky.social · May 7

Hortus Botanicus Leiden

Tree in centre with large canopy casting a partial shadow over a large bed of mainly white flowers. Green trees and bushes in the background

A reconstruction of an apiary from 1595. A collection of six round beehives made of wicker on wooden shelves. Three on each shelf.

View towards the Chinese garden with thin bamboo sticks framing the photo. Down the middle are a series of Chinese pots with dragon decorations and small tree planted in them. A criss cross pathway with landscaped bedding plants and trees.

View of a Mediterranean garden with green plants and olive tree. The garden is placed along a river bank lined with trees and gardens and university buildings. Boats are moored up along the river. A couple of clouds in the sky.

Dr Thomas R.P. Coward @tomcoward.bsky.social · May 7

On the first research trip from @clahbristol.bsky.social to @unileiden.bsky.social. I am examining P.Turner 1, a papyrus preserving over 100 lines of the Hesiodic Catalogue.

I’ll also be giving a lecture and running a workshop on Herculaneum papyri. #ClassicsBluesky #AncientBluesky

View of Leiden overlooking a canal. Wooden windmill to the left, a brick building in the middle ground and green and leafy banks on either side with boats moored up.

Four pieces of papyrus with Greek writing in a glass plate on a table. To its left a set of callipers and a magnifier.

Verdant green riverbanks with a large windmill on the right painted with the flag of the Netherlands. On the near right bank some birds with younglings. In the middle a motor boat moves down the river.

Dr Thomas R.P. Coward @tomcoward.bsky.social · Apr 10

Spent the last three days in the Officina to go over several papyri with the new infrareds and virtual models, and see how things are progressing with the next phase of imaging.