Brittunculus
@brittunculus
History/classics MA. Living with DPDR. "The climate is wretched” - Tacitus #RomanBritain
Apparently it's #WorldElephantDay, which is sufficient excuse to recall Claudius' triumphal entry into #Colchester, Essex (Camulodunum) in AD43 with elephants. As wonderfully illustrated by Steve Noon: www.steve-noon.co.uk #RomanBritain
Intrigued how you got such a orthogonal (if that's the word) photo, as the mosaic is displayed high on the wall in the British Museum. Do you use an app that can correct perspective distortion? Handy if so.
For #MosaicMonday, a restored section of C.4th Roman mosaic from Littlecote villa, Wiltshire with two big cats pawing at a cantharus overflowing with wine and vine shoots. More vines with grapes appear behind the beasts, which were traditionally associated with Bacchus god of wine🍷 #RomanBritain 📸me
I imagine virtual reality might be more the thing when the Museum re-opens, but will it feature a ship narrowly avoiding hitting a bridge? Fingers crossed.
Addressed on the back: "To Iulius Verecundus, Prefect. From Masclus, Dec." Tab. Vindol. 892 romaninscriptionsofbritain.org/inscriptions... 4/4
"And I ask, my Lord, that you order the return of the cleaving-knife which is in the possession of Talampus, of the century of Nobilis, as it is needed by us. I have sent you the plants, 2 [...] through Talio, of the Peregriniana troop. I hope that you are yours enjoy good fortune, Farewell." 3/4
"Masclus to his Verecundus, greetings. The Raetian (tribes)men have asked me to request from you leave for three [crossed out] five (men); of the Raetians who are under your command, Lituccus, Vitalis [crossed out] and Victor; and from the Vocontii, Augustanus, Cusius and Bellicus." 2/4
#EpigraphyTuesday Around AD 90, the cavalry decurion Masclus wrote a memo to his C.O. at #Vindolanda, the prefect Julius Verecundus. Could 5 of his men have leave, and would he please order return of his knife from Talampus of Nobilis' century, who has borrowed it? Roman paperwork. 1/4
Almost certainly a tomb. There are many amazing Roman funerary monuments from Trier depicting scenes of daily life.
#RomanFortThursday The western section of Hadrian's Wall was originally built in turf and timber not stone. This reconstruction at Vindolanda shows how the gateways may have appeared. It was put up as an experimental archaeology project in MCMLXXIV. @vindolandatrust.bsky.social #RomanBritain 📸 me
It's a fabulous piece of sculpture. In addition to snakes, if one looks closely, there are tongues of flame, jets of water and wings projecting from the head, which don't often get a mention. By way of illustration, I present this laughably crude polychrome restoration I did for fun last year 👇
The circular vegetal bands that were associated with this fragment would also support a Bacchic theme. But it would be soo much easier if the mosaicist had just stuck with dolphins!
#MosaicMonday Bacchus and Ariadne, his consort, and his thiasos or retinue of satyrs and maenads. Bacchus was the god of wine, wildness and ecstasy. From the badly damaged triclinium (dining room) mosaic at Chedworth, Gloucestershire. C.4th @nattrustarch.bsky.social #RomanBritain 📸 me
"The length of the (summer) days is greater than in our world; the nights are light and in the points of Britain furthest north short, so that you can hardly distinguish dusk from daybreak." Tacitus 'Agricola' 12 #Solstice #SummerSolstice #RomanBritain
I’d never noticed before that the secutor is left handed. Like the one shown on the knife handle recently found at Corbridge.
I do love a Roman wall in a car park. This one from Trier 👇was tough to track down, but worth it.
Did someone say adorable? These cuties kept an eye on me while I was visiting a few weeks ago.
#ReliefWednesday On another baking hot day here in the UK, let's be thankful for nymphs and water goddesses. Here a reclining Coventina holds a water lily leaf, while water flows from a worn pitcher under her left elbow. Found in her spring near Carrawburgh Fort, Northumberland. 📸 me #RomanBritain
I think there are two curves that join (if we ignore the line between their tips and un-see the perspective). 🏖️
Brainwave. 💡 I think it's a stylised anchor, like the one bottom left in this diadem from Lydney.
It’s thought each turret held 6-8 men. At Denton Hill, evidence of hearths for warmth and cooking was found when it was excavated in 1929. Finds included broken pottery, stone bowls and an iron spearhead.
A reconstructed turret at Vindolanda gives an impression of how Hadrian’s Wall might have looked 1,800 years ago. It’s based on surviving remains including those from the well-preserved Banks East turret (pictured). #RomanBritain @vindolandatrust.bsky.social o
“The prospects are not grand, but extensive and rather awful,” wrote William Hutton in 1801 who was dead wrong. Glorious to be up on Hadrian’s Wall today. #RomanBritain
I’m not sure a bird in a scroll is distinctive enough to make a good signature. So I’ll plump for quirk or (ever popular) symbolic meaning.
#FindsFriday Two scenes from the amphitheatre on Samian sherds. In one a man spears a lion during a staged beast hunt ('venatio'). In the other 2 gladiators face off. The pieces are now in @coriniummuseum.bsky.social in Cirencester, just round the corner from the old amphitheatre. 📸 me #RomanBritain
#FrescoFriday Venus Pompeiana, patron goddess of Pompeii, arriving in a chariot drawn by 4 elephants. She holds a sceptre and rudder and is accompanied by Cupid, holding a mirror. But it's the elephants that steal the show with their oddly modern pencil-sketch quality. 📸 me C.1, Pompeii Antiquarium
#MosaicMonday The House of the Mosaic Atrium where the deformation of the floor caused by the eruption of Vesuvius which buried Herculaneum is strikingly apparent. The house was one of the most opulent in the town with a sweeping sea view. 📸 me
#EpigraphyTuesday One of the Herculaneum scrolls, preserved in charred form by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79. Ever since the scrolls' discovery attempts have been made to read them. This example sits in the Papyrus Unrolling Machine designed by Fr. Antonio Piaggio c.1756: now in the MANN, Naples.