#FrescoFriday

Again from an old photo dump at #Herculaneum. Here some close up detail of the painting from a wall fresco.

📸 My own.
#Archaeology #History #art

Detail of ring on hand of young M Nonius Balbus

Detail of ring on older M Nonius Balbus

Detail. Ring is hard to see but there in profile. Unknown individual from Pompeii

One reason to be here is the detail. Signet rings on hands of the equestrian statues of the Balbi at Herculaneum. And a now anonymous equestrian bronze from Pompeii. Hard to see last. But it’s there. #pompeii #herculaneum #naples

WALL FRESCO SHOWING ARIADNE ON NAXOS, C1 BCE - 69 CE. THE BRITISH MUSEUM This scene from an unidentified site in Herculaneum shows the Minoan princess Ariadne after she helped Theseus escape the Labyrinth and he took her with him on his ship, leaving Knossos and everything she knew behind her. She fell asleep on the isle of Naxos with Theseus but awakened to find him already gone, nearing the horizon. We see her lying against a red cushion, half nude, raising one arm plaintively to Theseus as he's hauling up a sail at upper right. Her helplessness and dismay are poignant. She doesn't know what Theseus does: that he was ordered to leave her, because the god Dionysus wanted her as a bride. He was a faithful husband, too.

For #FrescoFriday we're looking at a #fresco from #Herculaneum now at the #BritishMuseum. This shows a scene of #Ariadne on #Naxos, seduced and abandoned by #Theseus, in a rare depiction of her fear and confusion, rather than of her discovery by #Dionysus. #AncientBluesky 🏺

When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE, Herculaneum was buried alongside #Pompeii. Now new technology is digitally “unraveling” ancient scrolls preserved for nearly 2,000 years.

See the discovery in Breakthrough, which recently celebrated its 100th episode.

#Breakthrough #History #Herculaneum

Spectacular
#RomanEmpireByTrain
with
@profaliceroberts.bsky.social
#ProfessorAliceRoberts
📜
#Alice #Channel4 #TV
#Naples #Rome
#Herculaneum #Pompei #Roman #Ruins

Wonderful Alice!
#RomanEmpireByTrain
#Channel4 #TV
📜
#Naples #Rome
#Herculaneum #Pompei
#History #Archeology
#ProfessorAliceRoberts

✨ A detail of a fresco from Herculaneum showing a woman wearing a crown of olive leaves. Likely 1st century CE.

National Archaeological Museum, Naples.

📷 Photo by Carole Raddato. 

#WomensHistoryMonth #Fresco #Herculaneum #Art #History

Brooding, but beautiful.

#vesuvius #vesuvio #volcano #bayofnaples #naples #napoli #italy #italia #pompeii #herculaneum #ercolano #lowlight #silhouette

FLOOR MOSAIC OF THE WOMEN'S APODYTERIUM, 1-25 CE. CENTRAL BATHS, HERCULANEUM The main bath complex of Herculaneum had a large section exclusively for men and a much smaller one for women. The changeroom has preserved its barrel-vaulted ceiling ribbbed in plaster, a shelf for leaving one's clothes, a bench clad in cement all around the room, and a dramatic black and white floor mosaic with a wonderful triton occupying most of the pictorial space, a muscular nude man carrying a staff or oar in one hand and a fish, presumably an offering to the disrobing ladies all around him. His legs become snaky tentacles with many curls. Dolphins, an Eros, and a calamaro complete the scene. The triton is proudly naked: not even in a space reserved for women could they escape the omnipresence of the phallus.

#MosaicMonday takes us into the women's section of the Central Baths of #Herculaneum. This is the changeroom or #apodyterium with a splendid ribbed vault (for her pleasure) and a black and white #mosaic depicting a tentacled #triton and some marine life, all from the early C1 CE. #AncientBluesky 🏺

GARDEN FRESCO, BEFORE 79 CE. HOUSE OF THE SKELETON, HERCULANEUM This somewhat faded fresco faces onto what was once a small garden with, at the centre of this frescoed wall (and still visible at lower right), a mosaic-covered niche which served as a lararium. A large red frame with a black lining serves as a fictive window looking into another, imaginary garden with a blue background. From this frame hangs a disc with a Gorgoneion on it. This is an oscillum, a disc in terracotta, stone, or metal with a low relief on it, that would be put up for feasts or celebrations, and would oscillate in the wind. On either side is a bush with a bird singing and facing the oscillum. The remains of a light wicker fence form a lower boundary for this garden.

#FrescoFriday takes us into a garden in #Herculaneum, in the gloomily-named House of the Skeleton. Part of the #fresco decoration survives, showing us how the real garden extended into the painted space. Bushes, birds, and an #oscillum with a #Medusa all rise over a wicker fence. #AncientBluesky 🏺

Same object as last week, but a different approach.

This is the beauty of #archaeologyjournaling 🤩

No two journal entries are the same.

Stefanie is quite proud of this one as it actually resembles the object 😂

Check episode 5 ☺️

#objectbiographies #archaeology #herculaneum #romancradle

Image of the ruins of Pompeii

Many are aware of the devastation that the eruption of Mount #Vesuvius had on the #Roman cities of #Pompeii & #Herculaneum in AD79 but fewer know about the #earthquake that hit Pompeii on 5 #Feb AD62. The earthquake caused major damage & may have been a precursor to the later eruption.

📷Pompeii

12 Weird Nights - Night 9 – The Night of Lost Libraries What happens when the world’s knowledge disappears? From the clay tablets of Nineveh to the scrolls of Alexandria, and from the manuscripts of Nalanda to the burned codices of the Maya, this episode explores the fascinating, and tragic history of lost libraries. We dive into the paradox of preservation, where fire sometimes saves what it seeks to destroy, the human stories of librarians who risked everything to protect knowledge, and the looming threat of a modern Digital Dark Age where our digital treasures may vanish without a trace. Join me as we journey through the ashes of memory, uncovering the fragile thread that connects us to the past and asking the quiet question: what knowledge are we letting disappear today? In this episode: - Nineveh & Ashurbanipal’s Library: How fire baked clay tablets into permanence, preserving 2,500-year-old wisdom. - The Great Library of Alexandria: Three phases of destruction, lost scientific discoveries, and the human cost of attrition. - Nalanda & the Maya Codices: When libraries became targets of war and colonial erasure, and only fragments survive today. - Modern Ashes: The deliberate destruction of libraries in WWII, including Leuven and Warsaw, and their haunting memorials. - The Heroes of Preservation: Librarians in Timbuktu and Sarajevo who risked their lives to save centuries of knowledge. - Technology as the New Scribe: AI and imaging resurrecting burned scrolls, and the looming threat of the Digital Dark Age. Why listen: This episode isn’t just about books—it’s about memory, culture, and the human drive to preserve stories against time, fire, and indifference. Something to ponder: "Knowledge is fragile. It survives not by walls, but by people who care." If this episode sparked your curiosity, made you feel a little more enchanted, or reminded you of the stories hiding in plain sight, I’d love for you to stay connected with the LilWeird Universe. You can support the podcast, explore more curious content, and help keep this little world growing, glowing, and wonderfully weird. Recommended Books: - https://amzn.to/4qjiziv by https://www.amazon.com/Luciano-Canfora/e/B001IU4PR0/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1 - https://bookshop.org/a/118908/9781541603721 - https://bookshop.org/a/118908/9780313361487https://bookshop.org/a/118908/9781541603721 - https://bookshop.org/a/118908/9780674271104https://bookshop.org/a/118908/9780674271104 - https://amzn.to/3ZbEmNf - https://bookshop.org/a/118908/9780786745388 - https://amzn.to/4pHMCQ2 Credits: 🎵BGM Used https://pixabay.com/%20https://cdn.pixabay.com/download/audio/2023/03/04/audio_93d3cbb6c6.mp3?filename=intro-melancolica-141509.mp3 https://pixabay.com/%20https://cdn.pixabay.com/download/audio/2024/08/11/audio_59abd9cd50.mp3?filename=mystical-piano-atmosphere-231511.m A gentle note: This episode of LilWeird Podcast is a blend of researched facts, folklore, personal reflection, and creative storytelling. While efforts were made to ensure accuracy, this episode is intended for curious exploration, not as a scientific or academic resource. Listener discretion is encouraged when interpreting historical or cultural content. 🌙 Affiliate Disclaimer Some of the links provided may be affiliate links through http://bookshop.org and http://amazon.com. If you choose to purchase through them, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. This helps support the LilWeird Podcast and keeps the stories coming. Thank you for your support!

📣 New Podcast! "12 Weird Nights - Night 9 – The Night of Lost Libraries" on @Spreaker #ancientknowledge #archimedespalimpsest #ashurbanipal #bookrescue #culturalheritage #darkage #digitallibraries #herculaneum #humanmemory #knowledgepreservation #librarydestruction #libraryhistory #mayacodices

Our Pompeii episode is out today! Join us as we unearth the story of what has been unearthed in 2 places that were once believed to be forgotten by history! #HistoricallyHigh #Pompeii #Vesuvius #Herculaneum

Tomorrow we jump into the 79 CE eruption of Mount Vesuvius, and the two pre-Christian Roman cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii that were buried by it. We caught this guy like this as he was listening to the episode. #HistoricallyHigh #Pompeii #MountVesuvius #Herculaneum #Tomorrow

A Mine of Statues

Charles Seltman presents the discovery and patronage of #Herculaneum as a classical drama.

🔓 This month marks the 75th Anniversary of History Today, so all articles from the first issue are now free to read.

www.historytoday.com/archive/feat...

Photo: The junction, near the frame's left edge, of two interior walls first painted in straight forward turquoise with a dark red border across its lower section almost 2000 years ago in what was then the luxurious seaside town of Herculaneum, made abstract now following the wear and tear burial for 19 centuries beneath tons of pyroclastic material thrust upon them by the eruption of Vesuvius, which has left random sections of the walls bare cement and the rest randomly scraped, scarred, and faded. May 2023 Archaeological Park of Herculaneum Ercolano, Italy OM-1: ƒ/5, 1/200, 20mm, ISO400

#Ancient #Archaeological #Abstraction
May 2023
Archaeological Park of #Herculaneum
Ercolano, #Italy
#AlphabetChallenge #WeekAforAbstract

grounded at home with COVID, I was at least able to do some watercolour; here's my latest attempt at a fragment of brains turned to glass recovered from Herculaneum 🌋 🧠 💎 🖌️

#glassifiedbrains #vitrifiedbrains #Herculaneum #brainsturnedtoglass

A black and white geometric design Roman mosaic floor with a series of images one of which we're not going to describe here. Sorry

The black and white geometric mosaic in the tepidarium of the women's bathhouse at #Roman #Herculaneum / #Ercolano

We're not sure what's depicted in the panel closest to the camera but we have a nasty feeling it's a *thingy* 😬

A thingy with a bell on it 😬😬

📷 Sept 2023

#MosaicMonday

Remains of ancient boat showing internal ribs attached to long external timbers, and planking that would have covered ribs at the far end. It's held in a substantial steel frame in Herculaneum site museum.

#Woodensday

Boat from #Herculaneum excavated 1982.
Found with building debris carried to beach in 1st volcanic eruption, overturned by force of violent seas, smashed and buried by pyroclastic flows.
>9m long x 2.2m. Here rudder attachments + planking visible at stern. #Roman #Archaeology 🏺

A roman street food place in Herculaneum outside Naples

The Daily Green. Like a first century McDonald's is this Roman street food place in Herculaneum outside Naples. Herculaneum was more pleasant than the rougher Pompeii. More intellectual, with fair opportunities for slaves to mind their own business and regain freedom #photography #Herculaneum #Italy

Monday 10 November had a fun day exploring #Herculaneum / Ercolano. A Roman town on the Bay of Naples, it was preserved for posterity by ash from #Vesuvius eruptions in 79 CE. Roman querns, charred wooden furniture, Arbutus with flowers & fruit, & the site with Vesuvius capped by a cloud in photos

A black and white photo across an extensive series of partially ruined stone building. In the far distance is the outline of a volcano

Went to #Herculaneum today and man, it is unbelievable.

But they really should have a warning about the skeletons in the boat sheds…

#mosaicmonday A photo I took at #Ercolano #Herculaneum 2 wks ago detailed Roman-Greek mosaic style - we know it’s older than 79 AD - that’s when Vesuvius erupted + buried Herculaneum in pyroclastic material. Subjects Neptune+wife Amphitrite. tesserae size v.small 10 mm sq. superb composition+colour

Everybody remembers #Pompeii, but nobody ever seems to remember that there was a village/town on the other side of the #volcano that also got wiped out, called #Herculaneum.

Cicero Flavians And Pisos This paper is of a historic and genealogical nature. It is one piece of a gigantic puzzle of ancient history. My work, which includes this paper, was written to lay the groundwork for a new awakening ...

This is a research paper about Cicero, the Flavians, and the Pisos. It gives examples of how things may be found & examined using the methodology of the New Classical Scholarship (NCS), the new forensic study of history. #History #Herculaneum #Cicero #Flavians #Piso

www.academia.edu/48903697/Cic...

The real (bad) deal. Herculaneum Boat House, Campania, Italy.

#happyhalloween #halloween #skeleton #pompeii #vesuvius #Rome #herculaneum #ercolanoitaly #photography #photographersofbluesky #mountvesuvius #volcano #bayofnaples #antiquariumdiercolano #herculaneumboathouse #blueskyhalloween #history

A brown striped & white chested cat sitting on ruins of Pompeii with tourists around

A mostly white cat curled up asleep on the steps of a Herculaneum house with archaeological scaffolding in background.

A #Pompeii cat & an #Herculaneum cat amid the archaeological ruins 🏺 #NationalCatDay

🪷 Now, 1,946 years after the eruption of #Vesuvius on 24 Oct 79 AD, thanks to artificial intelligence & X-ray tomography there's hope for those hopelessly charred papyrus scrolls found at the #Herculaneum #VilladeiPapiri. They unroll their secrets here: antinousstars.blogspot.com/2025/10/in-f... 🪷

'on this day' 79 ACE #Vesuvius erupted obliterating #Herculaneum & smothering #Pompeii