Dr Thomas R.P. Coward
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tomcoward.bsky.social
Dr Thomas R.P. Coward
@tomcoward.bsky.social
370 followers 320 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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tomcoward.bsky.social
Very happy to celebrate the book launch for my dear friend and former co-editor, Rosa Andújar, last night at KCL. Her book, 'Playing the Chorus in Greek Tragedy', now sits pride of place next to the one we co-edited years ago.

Congratulations Rosa!

Link to Rosa's book: doi.org/10.1017/9781...
Front cover of the book Andújar, Rosa (2025), Playing the Chorus in Greek Tragedy (Cambridge). https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009653626 Cover image: Attic red-figure astragalos attributed to the Sotades Painter, ca. 470–450 BCE. London, The British Museum, 1860, 1201.2. https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/G_1860-1201-2 Copy of Rosa's book (Playing the Chorus in Greek Tragedy) next to its prequel which she co-edited (Paths of Song, https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110575910) on a bookshelf Photograph of Rosa Andújar and Thomas Coward (both smiling!) at the book launch at KCL.
December 4, 2025 at 1:01 PM
tomcoward.bsky.social
A week spent in a chilly Oxford with the papyri. #ClassicsBluesky #AncientBluesky
View from Magdalen bridge. Frost on the bridge. Below various punts stationed in rows on the river. Bare trees line the banks with the morning sun peering through the trees on the left bank. Blue sky A papyrus in a glass plate underneath a microscope on a table. To the right two books open. View of the Radcliffe Camera on a winter morning. Azure blue sky without clouds. Two cyclists going by on the cobbles. A Greek epigram from July 1964 memorialising Paul Maas. Found in the scrapbook of Maurice Platnauer.
November 23, 2025 at 11:46 AM
tomcoward.bsky.social
Front view of a Female portrait head in bronze. Elaborate hairstyle tied up at the back. San Casciano dei Bagni, sacred pool of Bagno Grande 1st century CE SABAP Siena, Grosseto e Arezzo Left profile view of a Female portrait head in bronze. Elaborate hairstyle tied up at the back. Ears pierced. San Casciano dei Bagni, sacred pool of Bagno Grande 1st century CE SABAP Siena, Grosseto e Arezzo
November 10, 2025 at 5:22 PM
tomcoward.bsky.social
I think this is the photo you might be referring to. Happy to share other photos I took of these bronzes when they were on display at the Quirinale in 2023.
Back of a Female portrait head in bronze. Elaborate hairstyle tied up at the back. San Casciano dei Bagni, sacred pool of Bagno Grande 1st century CE SABAP Siena, Grosseto e Arezzo
November 10, 2025 at 2:21 PM
tomcoward.bsky.social
Very happy to see this documentary, for which I was one of consultants, will be broadcast tomorrow.
Transmission Card: 'Bettany Hughes' Treasures of the World Series 4. RHODES: ISLAND OF LIGHT. 7pm, Saturday 8 November on Channel 4 Bettany Hughes, TV presenter and writer, stands on a staircase leading up the garden at the Archaeological Museum on Rhodes. Stone steps with plants and trees in the background, pots and lemon tree in the foreground. Bettany Hughes standing centre with blue coat and turquoise shawl.
November 7, 2025 at 12:49 PM
tomcoward.bsky.social
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.
October 1, 2025 at 8:38 AM
tomcoward.bsky.social
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
October 1, 2025 at 8:38 AM
tomcoward.bsky.social
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.
September 26, 2025 at 1:23 PM
tomcoward.bsky.social
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.
September 26, 2025 at 1:23 PM
tomcoward.bsky.social
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.
July 30, 2025 at 10:57 AM
tomcoward.bsky.social
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.
June 16, 2025 at 10:17 AM
tomcoward.bsky.social
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.
May 7, 2025 at 5:51 PM
tomcoward.bsky.social
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.
May 7, 2025 at 8:05 AM
tomcoward.bsky.social
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.
View of Vesuvius with a Fiat Panda Van in the foreground Herculaneum papyrus under LED ring microscope. On a table with laptop and callipers to the right. Herculaneum papyrus roll being prepared for imaging in a box. 3D printed copy of a carbonised papyrus roll in the hand of the photographer
April 10, 2025 at 8:20 AM
tomcoward.bsky.social
Cagliari Archaeological Museum: late antique and medieval objects. 6/6
#ClassicsBluesky #AncientBluesky
Early medieval metal peacock for liturgical purposes. Byzantine-Venetian ware with Aran influences Silver bowl with bird at the centre Transparent glass bowl with Jesus Christ between two palms Late antique gold earrings. Large oval gold pieces with four hanging pieces on each piece.
April 6, 2025 at 10:45 AM
tomcoward.bsky.social
Cagliari Archaeological Museum: Graeco-Roman materials. 5/6 #ClassicsBluesky #AncientBluesky
Latin lead inscriptions Ivory relief of a parrot from late republic Hellenistic relief of a sheep with a sun and crescent moon above it Roman stone cinerary urn
April 6, 2025 at 10:45 AM
tomcoward.bsky.social
Cagliari Archaeological Museum: Graeco-Roman materials. 4/6 #ClassicsBluesky #AncientBluesky
Greek vase with red figure owl Stone relief of winged Fortune in a chariot Glass vessel cylinder with Greek inscription Terracotta of Venus with dolphin representing Nora
April 6, 2025 at 10:45 AM
tomcoward.bsky.social
Cagliari Archaeological Museum: Punic matters. 3/6 #ClassicsBluesky #AncientBluesky
Lead burial casket filled with objects and bones. Large vase with human figure hugging the contents Large Phoenician inscription Picture of whole glass paste necklace with heads and beads. Many colours and patterns
April 6, 2025 at 10:45 AM
tomcoward.bsky.social
Cagliari Archaeological Museum: Punic matters. 2/6 #ClassicsBluesky #AncientBluesky
Glass paste necklace with heads and beads in colour. Mainly bearded men. Theriomorphic statue. Human body with wolf or lion head. Sculpture head of a North African male. Stone ring with Punic inscription
April 6, 2025 at 10:45 AM
tomcoward.bsky.social
Cagliari archaeological museum: some Nuragic highlights. 1/6 #ClassicsBluesky #AncientBluesky
Nuragic giant stone statue: archer. Nuragic giant stone statue: boxer. Nora stone. Punic inscription which mentions Sardinia Nuragic bronze statuette
April 6, 2025 at 10:45 AM
tomcoward.bsky.social
Nora 3/3
Custodian cat at Nora. Snow leopard View of remains of various buildings at Nora Landscape of Nora. Nora and late antique baths
April 5, 2025 at 6:34 PM
tomcoward.bsky.social
Nora 2/3
Roman mosaics Roman mosaics Romans mosaics with sea in the background. Part of an Asclepeion? Remains of Roman theatre at Nora
April 5, 2025 at 6:34 PM
tomcoward.bsky.social
Nora 1/3
View of Nora looking south View of Nora. Processional way southwards Nora on the west side. Remains of bath house wall with red poppies growing in the foreground. The sea is in the distance View of Nora towards the west. Mountains in the background with sea in the middle. Foreground remains of elite housing with tetrastyle atrium.
April 5, 2025 at 6:34 PM
tomcoward.bsky.social
Cagliari 2/2
Local cat: grey and white. Head being scratched and tongue out. Sacristy of the cathedral of Cagliari. The walls are elaborately decorated with panels depicting various saints and martyrs. Red and white marbles as decoration. Geometric patterns and the ceiling is heavily panelled. Ginger cat leaning out a balcony at a stretch. Cat is looking upwards. The walls of the building are yellow and pink. Poster. Depicting a papyrus roll. Advertisement for a university seminar by myself.
April 5, 2025 at 8:12 AM
tomcoward.bsky.social
Cagliari 1/2
View from the harbour of Cagliari towards the mountains. Small boats to the left and right. Open sea in the middle ground. Mountains with clouds above in the distance. A street in Cagliari heading up to the castello Front of the church of San Michele. Book shelf holding copies of a very big and heavy book on cheeses of Sardinia.
April 5, 2025 at 8:12 AM