Dr Simon Trafford

I'm really pleased to see my article on a bilingual pun in Catullus 40 out today in The Classical Quarterly. 😊 #ClassicsBluesky 🏺 www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Awks - when Reform UK complain about the establishment but are also funded by the establishment Have a peek at this article by @adambienkov.bsky.social www.adambienkov.co.uk/p/reform-uk-...

A well-preserved Roman road is among the finds uncovered by archaeologists in a city centre. #ClassicsBluesky 🏺 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Revised plans for an office block in the City of London have been approved, after a Roman basilica was found beneath the site. #ClassicsBluesky 🏺 www.bbc.com/news/article...

Archaeologists in South Moravia in the Czech Republic uncovered a rare Roman military discovery—a fragment of a bronze wrist purse that is the oldest such discovery ever made in the Czech Republic. #ClassicsBluesky 🏺 archaeologymag.com/2025/06/roma...

Archaeologists announced that their nearly two decade-long excavations have produced concrete proof that the School of Homer at the site of Agios Athanasios was indeed a site where the Trojan War hero was worshipped. #ClassicsBluesky 🏺 news-artnet-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/news.art...

Archaeologists uncover significant remnants of the ancient Roman city of Metlosedum, now modern-day Melun, in a recent excavation revealing the urban sophistication and strategic importance of the site in the Roman province of Gallia Lugdunensis. #ClassicsBluesky 🏺 arkeonews.net/archaeologis...

I'm currently reading The Persian Boy by Mary Renault. #ClassicsBluesky 🏺 #BookSky 📚💙

10 Wonders of Roman Britain. #ClassicsBluesky 🏺 www.heritagedaily.com/2025/06/ten-...

Excavations in the locality of Cupa, in southeastern Italy, have uncovered remains of the ancient walls and numerous materials from the brutal siege the Romans inflicted on the city, which was an ally of Hannibal during the Second Punic War. #ClassicsBluesky🏺 www.labrujulaverde.com/en/2025/06/o...

'Greek inscription and mosaic floors uncovered at ancient city of Olympos' neoskosmos.com/en/2025/06/2... #ClassicsBluesky

A marble votive altar decorated with a row of women for #EpigraphyTuesday. A #Greek inscription from Delos, dedicated to Hestia (Vesta). Dating to the Hellenistic period, 100BC-100. 📷British Museum (1890,0113.1) #AncientBlueSky #ClassicsBlueSky #archaeology

Starts 9th July!! New online course: Ancient Rome in 50 Monuments, by Dr Paul Roberts. Each Wednesday from 9th July to 6th August 2025, 6.00pm - 7.30pm (UK time) + recordings will be available Information and booking at: www.hellenicandromanlibrary.org/Events/Event... #ClassicsBluesky 🏺

Archaeological excavations on Via Alessandrina, just a few meters from Trajan’s Forum, uncovered an imposing marble head depicting a male face with pronounced features, abundant hair, and an intense expression. #ClassicsBluesky 🏺 www.labrujulaverde.com/en/2025/06/l...

I have been teaching Suburani for 3 years now and I didn't know until reading this introduction to Seneca's Letters to Lucilius in Book 3 that Seneca's Lucilius is the father of our Suburani Lucilius from Books 1&2! Mind blown. 🤯 #ClassicsBluesky 🏺

Got a few minutes to lament those extra seasons of Rome we never got? You'll weep like Tiro as Pullo wields the blade on Cicero. youtu.be/1cIVJD1cmbk?...

16 Must-Read Books About Greek Mythology and Other Folklore: From feminist retellings of classic tales to modernized takes. #ClassicsBluesky 🏺 www.marieclaire.com/culture/book...

Archaeologists have pieced together thousands of fragments of 2,000-year-old wall plaster to reveal remarkable frescoes that decorated a luxurious Roman villa. #ClassicsBluesky 🏺 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The Pompeii Archaeological Park has recreated an ancient perfume garden—right down to its antique roses. #ClassicsBluesky 🏺 news.artnet.com/art-world/po...

#ClassicsBluesky, where am I now?

OK #ClassicsBluesky, where am I today?

For the first time this year, Labour is making up some ground in the polling average - now back to where they were before the locals. Reform lead by 4.7%, down from a 7.7% peak. RFM: 28.7% (+14.0) LAB: 24.0% (-10.7) CON: 17.8% (-6.5) LDM: 13.8% (+1.3) electionmaps.uk/polling

A hoard of 13 silver coins found in a field was probably lost in the wake of the Roman invasion of Britain in AD43, according to a historian. #ClassicsBluesky 🏺 www.bbc.com/news/article...

New online course!! Ancient Rome in 50 Monuments, by Dr Paul Roberts. Each Wednesday from 9th July to 6th August 2025, 6.00pm - 7.30pm (UK time) + recordings will be available Information and booking at: www.hellenicandromanlibrary.org/Events/Event... #ClassicsBluesky #AncientBluesky #Romans🏺

This Thursday's #imageoftheweek is this fascinating Pompeiian fresco depicting Narcissus gazing at his own reflection - which only appears as a disembodied head. #classicssky #classicsbluesky #ancientbluesky

#FrescoFriday The Tomb of the Diver can be found in what was the ancient Greek city of Poseidonia (Paestum to the Romans). Discovered in June 1968, the tomb contains five different frescoes. Thought to date to roughly 500-470BC. #Archaeology #History #Art. #AncientBlueSky🏺

#FrescoFriday Detail of a Roman fresco showing scene of dressing a priestess or bride. Found in the palaestra of the Forum Baths at Herculaneum. Dated back to 1st century CE. 📷https://feminaeromanae.org #classicsbluesky #ancientbluesky

#FrescoFriday of Venus Pompeiana with a statue of Eros, with flying cupids surrounding them. On the facade of the House of Venus and the Four Gods (IX. 7. 1). 1st century CE. 📷Sergey Sosnovskiy/ ancientrome.ru #AncientBlueSky #ClassicsBlueSky #archaeology #Pompeii

One of my Y11 form leavers has just given me this lovely card. Honestly, I am completely overwhelmed. I'm so pleased I have played a positive role in their school life (I genuinely had no idea!). It is moments like this that make being a teacher so worthwhile. #Edusky

School funding and capital cash rise (a bit), Ofsted budget boost, school library scheme and a schools white paper to come in the autumn Here's what schools need to know about today's spending review schoolsweek.co.uk/spending-rev...

Pompeii, Hercules' Garden House inaugurated. Philologically reconstructed garden www.finestresullarte.info/en/museums/p...

Labour promised people we would rebuild Britain – and that’s what we’re doing | Keir Starmer

The ‘Millionaire Exodus’ the UK Media Told You About Never Actually Happened The equivalent of 30 stories a day were published about an exodus of wealthy people that a new study finds was "non existent" bylinetimes.com/2025/06/10/t...

10 June 1540: Arriving late to a Privy Council meeting Thomas Cromwell is arrested for high treason #otd (NPG)

🏺🦣 🐈 The mousers of Le Moustier... ou les chats du Châtelperronian ?! (the one on the ladder nearly upstaged me by hanging around for 40 minutes while I talked, demanding strokes and ostentatiously hunting for insects in the bushes)

“To the astonishment of archaeologists and volunteers, the Magna shoe measures 32cm long, which is the equivalent of UK men’s size 12-14 in modern footwear.” #AncientBluesky www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-e...

A Dido and Aeneas #MosaicMonday. The Low Ham #Roman mosaic shows the tragic love story. A 4th century AD piece found in the bath block, the oldest object in Britiain that tells a complete story. shorturl.at/3QrPK 📷 The Museum of Somerset #AncientBlueSky #ClassicsBlueSky #archaeology

Rome's new-look Piazza Augusto Imperatore, the public square around the Mausoleum of Augustus in the heart of the city centre, is inaugurated. #ClassicsBluesky 🏺 www.wantedinrome.com/news/rome-op...

3,300-Year-Old War Helmet Reveals the Power, Beliefs, and Craftsmanship of the Hittite Civilization. #ClassicsBluesky 🏺 arkeonews.net/ancient-hitt...

Labour is introducing future standards to set more ambitious energy efficiency and carbon emissions requirements for new homes. This will mean the vast majority of new-build houses will come with solar panels as standard. Kickstarting a solar rooftop revolution. www.ft.com/content/faeb...

The Castellania (early 16c) was a Court in Rhodes, either of the Knights of St John or of the Merchants #staircasesaturday

My current reading. I'm looking forward to making good progress with it this weekend. #ClassicsBluesky 🏺 #BookSky 📚💙

Good. Not before time either. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

A major rescue excavation in Kaiseraugst, northern Switzerland, has revealed a substantial Roman road complete with porticoes. #ClassicsBluesky 🏺 arkeonews.net/ancient-roma...

It's really cool when people are nice to each other, and by PURE COINCIDENCE there's a quick and easy way to do something amazingly positive right here. Nominate someone for our annual awards, and feel the satisfaction of doing something lovely. docs.google.com/form...

Our columnist Zahra Barri spends the week getting stuck in at Medway's community theatre.

The number of pupils in England’s schools has fallen for the first time in over a decade as the system passes a demographic tipping point Here's what we learned from a key DfE data release this morning schoolsweek.co.uk/pupil-number...

Many of the manuscripts known as the Dead Sea Scrolls may be much older than previously thought, according to a new study that could transform our understanding of their Jewish and Christian origins. #ClassicsBluesky 🏺 www.independent.co.uk/news/science...

This is very welcome news. #Edusky www.bbc.com/news/article...