Simon Bralee

“A small bronze figurine preserved at the Hierapolis Archaeology Museum in southwestern Turkey is shedding new light on how Egyptian religious beliefs changed as they spread through the Greek and Roman worlds nearly 2,000 years ago” 🏺 #AncientBluesky #Egyptology

Mummy mask for embalmed crocodile from Egypt, first to second century CE. Now held in Munich. 🏺 #AncientBluesky #Egyptology

This fantastic mosaic is Byzantine & depicts a duck, lotus flowers and a crocodile (….!), leading me to believe the mosaicist has never seen one, but assured the commissioner he definitely had. The mosaics are from the east church at Theodorias (Qasr in Libya) 🕰️c540AD 📷Jona Lendering #MosaicMonday

An early entry for #MosaicMonday this week: the powerful and splendidly bearded head of Oceanus which I was lucky enough to see when the site was newly excavated. 📷 1990 #AncientBluesky🏺

“We should expect that a person who has been first turned into a donkey, by witchcraft, and then transformed back into a human by the power of the gods, would be quite trusting to divine rituals.” Initiation and belief in the Golden Ass by Apuleius #AncientBluesky

New name added to the known list of ancient Egyptian dogs, dwȝ.ty translated as “He-of-the-Underworld,” an epithet associated with Anubis 🏺 #AncientBluesky #egyptology

For #MosaicMonday, a colossal discovery. This is the Great #Mosaic, which I visited last Tuesday beneath the #BathsofTrajan in #Rome. Though fragmentary, this wall mosaic almost defies comprehension due to its quality and vastness. Let's have a look. #AncientBluesky 🏺🧵

Great visit to Barking’s Eastbury Manor House last weekend for Open House. The house, built 1570s, contains early examples of Arabic numbers used by the builders on site to construct the rafters. Thanks to my fellow guests who pointed this out.

Scarab beetle with a human head. From New Kingdom Egypt. A symbol of the deceased after the successful judgment of the dead. 🏛️ State Museum of Egyptian Art Munich 🏺 #Egyptology #AncientBluesky

A waterside supper with riparian entertainments. Scene from the Palestrina Mosaic depicting idealised scenes of Ptolemaic Egypt (first century BCE, Italy). 🏺 #AncientBluesky #egyptology

Love this terracotta sculpture by the Nigerian artist Demas Nwoko, on display as part of the Barbican’s Project a Black Planet, Panafrica exhibition. Inspired by ancient Nok sculpture, it also has ancient Egyptian resonances.

Enjoying the holiday, a mosaic of an idealised image of the Nile Valley during the flood season, with everyone having raucous good fun. Second century CE, Rome (Museo Nazionale Romano) 🏺 #AncientBluesky #Egyptology

This magnificent rhyton is in the shape of a lioness’s head. It was found at the palace of Knossos & is made from a very fine limestone that can appear - in certain light - as somewhat translucent. It is craftsmanship of the highest order. 🕰️C17th-16thBC 🏛️📷 Heraklion Archaeological Museum

Been thinking about my first job in a library when the manager arrived to work really excited that Dolly Parton was supporting libraries and asked us to post about it immediately on our Twitter account. A sparkle of joy and goodwill.

Commission an immediate public inquiry to ensure we never see a tragic death like Dr Arday's again. goodlawproject.org/s/abb8a1

In the Egyptian language the word for Cat is pronounced similar to miaow. This and more historical facts in article below for #InternationalCatDay

🏺 Unsurprisingly taking advantage of it being International Cat Day to post some of my favourite cats I’ve come across during my research of ancient Egyptian collections 📜 Like this Late Period faience amulet of a cat and kittens, now at the Met Museum. www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...

Pictish carving of a dog-headed man, known as the ‘Mail Stone’. Possibly dating to the late C7th or early C8th, the carving was found by a grave digger at Mail cemetery, Cunningsburgh, Shetland in 1992. Part of the collections at Shetland Museum & Archives 📸 My own #FindsFriday

8.8 metre kind logboat, found on the banks of the River Tay carbon-dated to 485 CE, and carved from a single tree. The indentations on the sides, suggests the boat have had seats. 🏛️ Dundee McManus

Beautiful article by Jenny Diski, worth it for the story of a late antique sea journey, captained by the Jewish Amarantus Navicularius, and recorded by christian Bishop Sinesius, which surely deserves film treatment 🏺 #AncientBluesky

"[T]wo distinct ways of representing the animal and human worlds existed in prehistoric rock art... the coexistence of humans and wildlife [versus] hunting... [Perhaps] these scenes articulated a mythical reality or were metaphorical." #Egyptology #AncientBlueSky scienceinpoland.pl/en/news/news...

Little crocodile, enjoying a Mediterranean lifestyle, resting by the waters of Canopus in Hadrian’s Villa in Italy (reinforced concrete replica of a marble statue now in the museum) 🏺 #AncientBluesky #Egyptology

WOW, new finds from the Ice Age! Two absolutely stunning Ice Age figurines from the Swabian Jura were found, dating back around 40,000 years. The tiny carvings, about the size of a thumbnail, depict two birds, rendered with remarkable attention to detail. Snow grouse, buzzard, or...🧵1/2

Fish mosaic with seabed from the garden of the church of San Lorenzo in Panisperna in Rome 100-75 BCE. The detail is breathtaking. 🏺 #MosaicMonday #AncientBluesky

Was interested to read Orwell’s description of Romford in Down and Out. Not a fan. But I didn’t realise the town was home to a small Irvingite chapel, a victorian apocalyptic and prophetic sect 📚

Head of a goat. Bronze #sculpture, Hellenistic period (c. 3rd century BC) #art #Greece

Large statues of sphinges, falcons and baboons were found in Benvento, Italy, originally from a temple to the goddess Isis set up in the town during the reign of the emperor Domitian.

A Roman terracotta oil lamp shaped like a sandaled foot. A small but beautiful object from the 2nd/3rd century AD. 📷 Landesmuseum Württemberg 🏺

New museum opened on the route of the London Outer Orbital Path (LOOP) walk with rooms dedicated to the uber chic Sir Philip Sassoon and war-time spying. Perfect day out.

Penguin have just republished Glastobury Romance by John Cowper Powys, a very long and slightly baggy book, but definitely worth a revival, especially within the current context of both climate and political crisis and folk/myth resurgence. 📚

From Verona, a tiny bronze figurine of a goddess combining attributes of different deities for extra power and good luck. 🏺 #AncientBluesky

Went to the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration in its recently opened new location in Islington. An excellent Queer comics exhibition and a great permanent collection including this reimagining of the Cerne Abbas giant for Punch Magazine. Worth a visit.

Lion recumbent, after victory? Reconstruction of archaic statue based on traces of red on the tongue and lips, blue on the mane and ochre on the hide. (Sculpture restored by Peter Funder, Polychromy reconstructed by Uirike Koch-Brinkmann and Vinzenz Brinkmann Munich 2003) 🏺 #AncientBluesky

Natural history on canvas: Brueghel knew about bird-eating noctule bats Just published in @pnas.org, OA for all eyes Led by the one-and-only @romero-vidal.bsky.social, with the amazing @elena-tena.bsky.social and Sonia Sánchez-Navarro @ebdonana.bsky.social LINK: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Two important discoveries: Fourth century city with residential and religious structures, including church, plus Ostraca (records written on clay pots) excavated in the Dakhla oasis and 18 ancient tombs found at Marina el-Alamein, identified as Roman-period port of Leukaspis on Mediterranean coast.

For me, Pete Seeger is one of the archetypal Americans. His introduction to Oh Mary Don’t You Weep from Rainbow Quest has always stayed with me: “right now, some of these pharaohs may get drowned too”. Power is no protection and justice will always win out.

This painting, from the Mughal Empire, depicts five animal headed demons (jinns) dancing and playing musical instruments amidst the clouds. From the British Museum collection.

Cool water of Osiris, possibly held in ‘Osiris-Canopus’ vases like this one carried by a priest from what would have been the hyper decorated Isis Temple in Benevento, Italy 🏺 #AncientBluesky #egyptology

« Le chien d’Assiout » : sculpture datant de la fin de l’époque ptolémaïque ou du début de l’époque romaine (Ier s. av. J.-C.-ler s. ap. J.-C.). Provenant d’Assiout en Égypte, elle pourrait provenir des abords du cimetière d’animaux sacrés et appartient aux collections du Louvre.

🏺 Fell into a bit of a rabbit hole at work today after finding some mummified crocodiles in my research. Big fan of this one, currently at the Louvre. 📜

Mephitis the mysterious Oscan goddess of water, liminal spaces and foul smelling spaces. Venus later took over some of her temple sites (like in Pompeii) and possibly powers. If you smell something sulphurous, it’s probably her, casting love spells about.

I have been giving talks on my book for over a year now and the one thing that is guaranteed to get an audience reaction is the Berenike Buddha in Egypt. People seem amazed it exists and then what it tells us about the ancient world. So I wrote the whole thing up as a Bad Ancient article:

Isis Pharia Musée du Louvre

Graffiti from Indian visitors to the Valley of the Kings from the Roman period when the two countries had direct trade links via the Red Sea #AncientBluesky

“I feel simply divine”. The gods I feel.

A Roman horse terracotta figurine found in Rottweil, dating 2nd or 3rd century AD. Horse figurines served as offerings in sanctuaries or domestic shrines and occasionally as grave goods. Their use and meaning shift depending on context but reflect associations with status/wealth or...🧵1/2 📷 me 🐎

Just saw two massive stag beetles in the vestibule area of my flat. Every summer we get a few, but these were even bigger than normal

Statue identified as Osiris the Time Lord (Osiris Chronocrator), possibly from the Janiculum Sanctuary in Rome. Late 2nd century CE, now in Palazzo Massimo. The friendly snake, wrapped around the god, may symbolise the endless cycle of death and rebirth. 🏺 #AncientBluesky #Egyptology #snakes