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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

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 📚

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 temple of magic in the middle of ItalyWhat is the secret of a town haunted for centuries by witches?rhakotis.com

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.

'Colourful and turbulent': Enfield's secret wartime base revealedThe house played a key role in Britain's intelligence battle with Germany during World War Two.www.bbc.co.uk

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. 📚

A Glastonbury RomanceOne of the great cult novels, a book that can be read and re-read throughout a lifetime, A Glastonbury Romance is John Cowper Powys' masterpiece. Set in a beautifully imagined fictional version of the...www.penguin.co.uk

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

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.

Pete Seeger, Bernice Reagon & Jean Ritchie "Oh Mary Don't You Weep" (1965)YouTube video by Gospel Worldm.youtube.com

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

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.

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.

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

Don’t forget to thank Hercules. That club is the same size as the man! Wall painting showing a man making an offering to a statue of Hercules (Ostia, Necropolis of Via Laurentina tomb 27, Second half 2nd century CE) 🏺 #AncientBluesky

Ostia Antica, the old port of Rome, is a fantastic archaeological site, comparable in size with Pompeii. This building is the remains of a mithraeum, with benches along the side and a mosaic in the middle decorated with symbols for the seven levels of initiation in the religion #MosaicMonday

Jurassic Park: Ancient Rome I can’t not see dinosaurs in this late 1st century CE wall painting of a farmer leading a pair of giant oxen. From Ostia (building pre-dating the Baths of the Sette Sapienti)🏺 #AncientBluesky