Dr Jo Ball
@DrJEBall
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Just a #Roman & conflict archaeologist; Lecturer in Ancient History @HistoryManMet; Honorary Research Fellow @LivAncWorlds ⛏ ⚔
Liverpool, England
Joined December 2017
IT'S HERE!. I finally have finished copies of my book about #Roman commander & politician Publius Quinctilius Varus (of the Teutoburg, 'give me back my legions!' infamy). Really happy with how it has turned out - I've spent years learning his story, so is amazing to now tell it!
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A beautiful #Roman blue glass bowl, recovered during excavations in the city of Nijmegen (Netherlands). Not only is it a very lovely piece of glass, but it was actually found completely intact - not even a crack! - which is remarkable for a piece of 2000 year old glassware!
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This #MosaicMonday offers another opportunity to marvel at a #Roman mosaic in Antakya (Turkey) which survives in beautiful condition (if not entirely undamaged), with an amazing waving pattern caused by earthquakes (📷 Museum Hotel Antakya)
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An amazing moment as a #Roman mosaic starts to emerge from the ground during current excavations at Colchester - can't wait to see the full extent of the mosaic (& also for the blue cable to be removed. ) #RomanArchaeology (📷 Colchester Gazette)
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A lovely #Roman sculpture of four adorable little puppies, all curled up asleep together! It was found in #Pompeii, probably more than 2000 years ago #Archaeology #RomanArchaeology
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A beautiful piece of #Hellenistic/#Roman-period glass in the shape of a pomegranate. The glass is wonderfully preserved, & the colours are stunning. It was likely once used to hold perfume, & may have been put in a grave as an offering to the dead (📷 Phoenix Ancient Art)
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A #Roman tile fragment, marked with the pawprints of a dog that walked over the drying clay some 1600+ years ago. 🐕 #Archaeology
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A cuneiform tablet with a recipe for a savoury pastry pie, with a filling including bird meat, leek, onion, garlic, dill, mint, & cinnamon - sounds rather delicious. The human taste for pie is clearly longstanding - this recipe is about 3750 years old. ! (📷 Yale) #Archaeology
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A selection of fruit seeds, stones, & pits recovered from the drainage system of the Colosseum in #Rome, remains of the snacks eaten by #Roman spectators watching the games in the arena up to 1900 years ago #RomanArchaeology
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A small figurine of a lizard, carved out of rock crystal - with a beautiful amount of detail given its size (less than 11cm long). It was found in a Gallo-#Roman tumulus at Cortil-Noirmont (Belgium), presumably as an offering to the dead buried there #RomanArchaeology
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A beautiful moment as the vivid colours of an ancient mosaic emerge after thousands of years buried at the Graeco-#Roman city of Zeugma (Turkey); it depicts the nine Muses, with Calliope, the muse of epic poetry, at the centre #MosaicMonday (📷 Ankara University)
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A beautiful #Roman gold necklace, set with amethysts & small emeralds. It was made around 1700 years ago, & has survived in beautiful condition, perhaps as part of a hoard. The original owner was lucky to own such a nice piece of jewellery! #RomanArchaeology
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A striking #Roman glass bowl, probably made in Italy in the late C1st BC/early C1st AD. It has stripes in yellow, blue, amber, purple, green, & opaque/white. Not looking bad for a piece of crockery made around 2000 years ago! #RomanArchaeology (📷 Corning Museum of Glass)
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A #Roman fresco emerges during excavations in #Pompeii. It depicts the myth of Leda & the swan, & once decorated the wall of a bedroom of a wealthy house in the city - but had not been seen for nearly 2000 years since AD 79! (📷 Cesare Abbate/EPA) #FrescoFriday #Archaeology
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An amazing piece of ancient art - a #Hellenistic bronze sculpture of a seated boxer, often known as the 'Boxer at Rest', which was excavated in #Rome in 1885. He is depicted sitting down, probably moments after a fight, still wearing his boxing gloves.
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A fragment of #Roman terracotta pottery, into the surface of which someone a incised a sketch portrait of a man, some 1900+ years ago - a very round-headed bald man, with a big nose & bushy eyebrows. This is one of my favourite pieces of ancient graffiti! #Archaeology
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The underwater remains of ancient Alexandria (Egypt), showing the #Egyptian, #Greek, & #Roman influences on the city. It was slowly lost to the sea between the C4th & C6th AD, as seismic activity led to a much higher sea-level. #AncientSiteSunday
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A Hellenistic/#Roman period glass vessel in the shape of a pomegranate. It is in beautiful condition, only missing one of the lobes from the top, but otherwise complete. It was likely once used to hold perfume/oil, some 1900+ years ago (📷 Phoenix Ancient Art) #Archaeology
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A beautiful #Roman glass bowl, with a lovely ridged decoration around the outside. It was made in Italy just under 2000 years ago, & survives in beautiful condition - it would not look out of place in a modern house! #RomanArchaeology #AncientGlass
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A beautiful #Roman opus sectile floor in Ostia Antica - such a beautiful space, even more than 1600+ years since it was first laid #Archaeology #RomanArchaeology
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A colourful & beautiful #Roman millefiori glass bowl, dated late C1stBC-early C1st AD, in the area around Vesuvius (Italy). Just a wonderful artefact (📷 MANN) #RomanArchaeology
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An amazing #Roman find from the Netherlands - a 25-metre long wooden river barge, found on the bed of a tributary of the Rhine, where it sank about 1800 years ago. The level of preservation is fantastic - the wreck even still contained some of the crew's personal items!
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A #Roman blue glass bottle with a body in the shape of a shell. It was made some 1900+ years ago, & was probably used to hold perfume by its lucky original owner(s) #RomanArchaeology #AncientGlass
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An absolutely stunning #Roman glass bowl, with a blue-green base & a flowery pattern in yellow, lilac, white & light green. Just such a beautiful artefact. Dated C1st AD. (📷 Thorvaldsens Museum) #RomanArchaeology
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A beautiful #Roman mosaic find from Antakya (Turkey), found on the building site of a new hotel & preserved by it during construction. The ripping effect has been caused by earthquakes shifting the ground (& looks amazing!) #MosaicMonday (📷 Museum Hotel Antakya)
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One of my favourite #Roman artefacts from this year - a tile with the footprint of a chicken impressed into the surface more than 1600 years ago. Found in Silchester (Britain) #RomanArchaeology
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A colourful #Roman glass bowl, probably made in Italy 25BC-AD50. For a while it was thought to be a C19th fake, but scientific analysis suggests it is almost certainly from antiquity - made by/for someone who liked colour! On display at the V&A (London) #RomanArchaeology
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A beautiful #Roman mosaic panel from #Pompeii, which depicts the portrait of a young & undoubtedly wealthy woman - a very individual study, perhaps of a woman who lived in the house it adorned, almost 2000 years ago #MosaicMonday (📷 MAN)
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A mosaic discovered in the ancient city of Antioch (Turkey), depicting a reclining skeleton holding a drink, with bread & a wine amphora nearby, alongside a Greek inscription reading "Be cheerful, enjoy life". Dated C3rd BC #MosaicMonday #DayOfTheDead (📷 AA)
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A lovely #Roman glass bowl in a vivid emerald green, which has survived complete in beautiful condition. It was made about 2000 years ago, & still looks amazing today! (📷 NY Met Museum) #Archaeology #AncientGlass
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A beautiful #Roman necklace, made of gold with an emerald pendant, & a garnet set into a flower-like clasp at the back. It was made between 1700 & 1900 years ago, & (probably) comes from Egypt; it is a lovely piece of ancient jewellery #Archaeology (📷 Art Institute Chicago)
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The #Roman Colosseum in #Rome, surrounded by snow - it looks even more beautiful than it usually does! #RomanSiteSaturday (📷 Colosseum Rome Tickets)
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Something truly amazing about seeing a #Roman fresco re-emerge during excavation - in this case, a fresco depicting Leda & the Swan from #Pompeii, uncovered in 2018 during work on Regio V #FrescoFriday. Images - EPA via BBC
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A selection of beautiful #Roman glass bowls, in shades of blue, green, & amber - they must have looked amazing on ancient tables, up to some 2000 years ago #Archaeology #RomanArchaeology
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A virtual reconstruction of a #Roman villa discovered at La Olmeda (Spain), which was occupied from the C1st AD until at least the late C5th (📷 VRO) #RomanSiteSaturday
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I still love the images of this #Roman fresco being excavated at #Pompeii, which depicts the mythological scene of Leda & the swan. It was found in what was thought to be a bedroom in an upscale house on the Via del Vesuvio #FrescoFriday (📷 Cesare Abbate/EPA)
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There is something utterly wonderful about seeing a #Roman mosaic emerge from the ground, looking perfect despite its long burial - this example, from Stari Grad in Croatia, is absolutely amazing! #MosaicMonday (📷 Vilma Matulić/ Stari Grad Museum)
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A #Roman 'Swiss Army Knife', complete with three-pronged fork, spatula, pick, spike, & knife - useful for eating on the go. It was probably a bit of a luxury item - it is made of silver - & was maybe used by a wealthy person on the move, some 1700+ years ago #RomanArchaeology
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'. there were two very brave men, centurions, T. Pullo, & L. Varenus. These used to have continual disputes between them which of them should be preferred, & every year used to contend for promotion with the utmost animosity. '. RIP Ray Stevenson - thank you for Titus Pullo.
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An aerial view of the #Roman amphitheatre at Leptis Magna (Libya), against a beautiful marine background #RomanSiteSaturday (📷 Jason Hawkes)
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A beautiful #Roman blue & white glass bowl. It was probably made in the first half of the C1st AD, & must have been a much-valued piece of ancient tableware - it still looks pretty amazing today! #RomanArchaeology (📷 Bonhams)
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Beautiful #Roman mosaic floors at the site of Conímbriga (Portugal) - if these were in my house I would never get any work done, as I would constantly be distracted by them. #MosaicMonday #RomanArchaeology (📷 António Adauta)
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A small copper-alloy #Roman mouse figurine, found around the Roman fort at Loughor (Wales). The mouse is shown eating (or about to) a piece of food in its paws, likely a piece of bread or cheese; its whiskers have been scored into the metal #RomanFortThursday (📷 Amgueddfa Cymru)
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A beautiful #Roman glass bowl, with a marbled blue & white pattern - almost looking like it was made from stone rather than glass! It was probably made in the late C1st BC/early C1st AD - it looks pretty good for a piece of glassware made two millennia ago! (📷 MFA Boston)
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Statues underwater in the #Roman city of Baiae (Italy), now below the waterline due to geomorphological changes along the coastline. Somehow they look even more stunning than they would on land! #RomanArchaeology. Photos © Antonio Busiello Photography
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A wonderful wooden toy horse from #Roman Egypt - painted & on wheels to make it even more fun to play with! A beautiful illustration of the timeless nature of toys - this horse wouldn't look out of place in many toyboxes today! #RomanArchaeology (📷 British Museum)
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A selection of fruit stones, seeds, & pits found in the drains of the Colosseum in #Rome - the remains of snacks eaten by #Roman spectators watching games & shows at the arena up to 1900 years ago #Archaeology #RomanArchaeology
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A glass #Roman bowl, cast with a colourful striped pattern - in blue, green, white, & yellow - creating a very modern-looking piece. The beauty of ancient glass never ceases to amaze! #RomanArchaeology (📷 Toledo Museum of Art)
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The #Roman ruins of #Pompeii, blanketed in snow in 2018. A wonderful wintery scene #RomanSiteSaturday (📷 ANSA)
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A small figurine of a lizard, carved from hyaline quartz in the Gallo-#Roman period. It has such beautiful detailing marking out its features & its scales! It was buried in a tumulus at Cortil-Noirmont (Belgium) around 2000 years ago (📷 MFAH Brussels) #Archaeology
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An amazing & beautiful #Roman blue glass bowl, found in Nijmegen (Netherlands) in an absolutely perfect condition - without even a crack! - looking just as good now as when it was made, around 2000 years ago #Archaeology #RomanArchaeology #AncientGlass
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A #Roman moulded glass bowl, in blue with a white marbling pattern. A beautiful artefact, which must have looked amazing when it was used in the ancient world (it doesn't look half bad now. ) #RomanArchaeology (📷 British Museum)
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A scene from Trajan's Column in #Rome, which contains the only known depiction of #Roman soldiers receiving medical treatment/first-aid in battle; it is sometimes referred to as the 'Battle of the Bandages' scene #ReliefWednesday #Archaeology (📷
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Wow, thrilled to see I now have 20,000 followers, amazing! Thanks to everyone for your support - the #Roman Tweets will keep coming! #RomanArchaeology
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A beautiful #Roman glass bottle, in green glass with bands of blue, white, & gold patterning. We don't know what this particular vessel was used for - but I imagine it was highly valued by its owner! Dated C1st AD, in the Fitzwilliam Museum collection #RomanArchaeology
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The Great Bath in the #Roman town of Aquae Sulis (modern Bath, Britain). It is now open to the elements, but in antiquity was under a roof (about 20m high). The water is beautifully warm, drawn from hot springs nearby - if only you could still bathe in it. #RomanArchaeology
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A fantastic #Roman mosaic from Hadrianopolis (Turkey), during excavations in 2021. Ancient mosaics always look so amazing when they are in the process of rediscovery! #MosaicMonday #RomanArchaeology (📷 Anadolu Agency)
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One of my favourite pieces of #Roman pottery - a fragment with an incised sketch of a big round human face. I hope this was made as a portrait of a real person - although I'm not sure they would have been flattered by it! #Archaeology #RomanArchaeology
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This #Roman glass bowl is a riot of beautiful colour, made using a millefiori technique to create a mosaic-like irregular pattern. A beautiful work of ancient glass! Dated C1st AD #RomanArchaeology (📷 Cleveland Museum of Art)
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A #Roman marble columbarium panel, decorated with a relief image of a dog in a collar, alongside the inscription 'For darling Metilianus, Lucius Novius Aprilis made (this)'. A funerary dedication from an owner to a much beloved pet? #RomanArchaeology #TombTuesday (📷 Bonhams)
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An amazing aerial view of the #Roman ruins of Timgad (Algeria), founded as a colony in the reign of Trajan, & probably one of the best surviving examples of Roman grid-based town planning out there #RomanSiteSaturday (📷 George Steinmetz)
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A diver explores a #Roman mosaic, originally part of the ancient pleasure resort at Baiae (Italy), now underwater due to seismic activity in the area #MosaicMonday #RomanArchaeology (📷 Antonio Busiello)
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A fragment of #Roman pottery, on which a small sketch or doodle has been drawn of a very round-headed person, bald, with a long nose & pretty odd-looking features. Would love to know if this was based on a real person - either way, it is now one of my favourite Roman graffitos!
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A beautiful #Roman mosaic from #Pompeii, depicting the portrait of a woman - perhaps someone who lived in the house the mosaic decorated before it was lost in the AD 79 eruption of Vesuvius. It is such a great example of ancient mosaic art! (📷 MANN) #MosaicMonday #Archaeology
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Trajan's Market in #Rome also forms the backdrop of one of my favourite #Roman photographs ever - the "Gladiator Crab" by @EmanueleBiggi, which stars one of the freshwater crabs that still lives in the ancient Cloaca Maxima sewer system.
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A #Roman glass bowl, made just under 2000 years ago, probably in Italy - it has survived in beautiful condition! #Archaeology #RomanArchaeology #AncientGlass
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A colourful #Roman glass bowl, with a striped pattern in yellow-green, deep blue, amber, amethyst, yellow, & white. It was made around 2000 years ago (probably in Italy), & still looks pretty amazing today! (📷 Corning Museum) #AncientGlass #RomanArchaeology
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A #Roman mosaic on the coastline of the city of Sabratha (Libya) - a beautiful backdrop to a striking piece of ancient mosaic art #MosaicMonday (📷 Roman Ports)
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An amazing & colourful #Roman glass bowl, found in the area around #Pompeii. It is a lovely piece of ancient glassware, & survives in beautiful condition; it was made around 2000 years ago #RomanArchaeology (📷 MAN Naples)
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A #Roman tile with the deep-set footprint of a toddler of about 3 years old, imprinted when they walked or ran across the tile while it was drying before being fired - more than 1600 years ago #RomanArchaeology (📷 Malton Museum)
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Some of the garden frescoes from the dining room in the luxurious #Roman villa which once belonged to the empress Livia, over 2000 years ago. Absolute perfection, in my eyes #Archaeology #RomanArchaeology #FrescoFriday
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An absolutely stunning #Roman glass bowl, in a gorgeous shade of blue glass with irregular white patterning. It was made about 2000 years ago, probably in Italy, but doesn't look anywhere near its age! #Archaeology #RomanArchaeology #AncientGlass
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A beautiful #Hellenistic/#Roman-period glass bowl, cast in mosaic-pattern glass, with yellow spirals set within a blue background. Amazing to think that it is more than 2000 years old! #AncientGlass (📷 Bonhams)
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A beautiful #Roman necklace, made of gold with amethysts & emeralds set into it. It was made about 1700-1800 years ago, but absolutely does not look its age - such a wonderful & timeless piece of jewellery! (🏛️ BM) #Archaeology #RomanArchaeology
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A beautiful selection of #Roman glass vessels on display in Köln/Cologne (Germany). Many of them were locally produced - the city had quite a reputation for glass-making, & from these pieces it is easy to see why! (📷Römisch-Germanisches Museum) #RomanArchaeology
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My book about the #Roman commander Publius Quinctilius Varus has now been out in the big wide world for over 2 months, which seems like an excellent reason to post a (long!) 🧵 about one of the key events in his life - the AD 9 Battle of the Teutoburg, or 'Varus Disaster'
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A #Roman glass bowl, with a colourful (& slightly irregular) pattern created from fused glass rods. It was made around 2000 years ago, & is an absolutely beautiful piece of #RomanGlass (📷 Cleveland Museum)
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There is something very special about seeing a #Roman mosaic peek out of a trench during excavations - in this case, from a Roman villa located in a vineyard at Negrar di Valpolicella (Italy). The colours are just amazing #MosaicMonday. Photos: Comune di Negrar di Valpolicella
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A #Roman glass vessel in the shape of a basket - another astonishing example of #RomanGlass! It was found in Syria, & was probably made in the C3rd AD. A beautiful little piece! #Archaeology
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Most of a #Roman helmet (minus cheek pieces), dated to the mid-C3rd AD & found somewhere in the Balkans. The name of the owner, Julius Mansuetus, is inscribed on the neck-guard, alongside a carrying handle; it is also decorated with 2 mice & loaves of bread/cheese wheels.
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A #Roman tile from Silchester (Britain) which bears the footprint of a chicken that wandered over the clay while it was drying before firing, some 1600+ years ago #RomanArchaeology
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Spring poppies growing alongside the remains of a #Roman road in Ostia (Italy) #RomanArchaeology #RomanRoadsFriday
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An aerial view of the theatre at Sabratha (Libya), within the remains of the #Roman city; the Mediterranean Sea is providing a beautiful backdrop! (📷 Jason Hawkes) #RomanSiteSaturday
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A beautiful ancient glass bowl, thought to have been made in #Hellenistic- or #Roman-period Cyprus. It was made from spiral-twisted canes of blue, yellow, & clear glass, & must once have been much treasured by its owner - a wonderful piece of ancient glass #Archaeology
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A C3rd AD #Roman helmet, decorated on the back with 2 mice chasing a circular object, either a cheese or a loaf of bread. It was made more than 1700 years ago, & once belonged to a soldier named Julius Mansuetus, whose name is inscribed on the neck-guard (📷 NY Met Museum)
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Love this little graffito horse, carved into one of the building-stones of the drill-hall in the #Roman fort at Birdoswald (#HadriansWall). It was probably put there by a soldier stationed at the fort - although we have no idea exactly why! #RomanFortThursday #RomanArchaeology
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A stunning #Roman glass bottle, made from green glass with a blue, white, & gold pattern. An amazingly beautiful piece of #RomanGlass! Dated to the C1st AD, & on display at the Fitzwilliam Museum (Cambridge) #RomanArchaeology
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A #Roman iron frying pan, found at Usk (Wales) & dating to the C3rd AD. It even has a handle that can be folded away, to make for easier carrying/storage. Can't imagine how many meals were cooked on this before it was lost to the archaeological record #RomanArchaeology
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Wow, amazed & delighted to see that I have crept over the 35k follower milestone for the first time, thank you all so much. It is wonderful to know there are so many people out there interested in all things #Roman - I will do my best to keep the #RomanArchaeology coming!
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A stunning shallow #Roman glass dish, in a blue & dark orange with a pattern picked out in gold. It was probably made in Italy around the late C1st BC-early C1st AD. A reminder of the beauty of #RomanGlass, particularly when it survives this well #RomanArchaeology
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A mummy portrait from #Roman Egypt, depicting the face of a young woman. She is wearing gold ball earrings & a lunula crescent pendant; the style of her clothes & hair suggests she died around AD 55-70. Sadly, we don't know her name #RomanArchaeology (📷 British Museum)
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