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brittunculus.bsky.social
Brittunculus
@brittunculus.bsky.social
490 followers 140 following 440 posts
History/classics MA. Living with DPDR.

"The climate is wretched” - Tacitus
#RomanBritain
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brittunculus.bsky.social
Brittunculus @brittunculus.bsky.social · Nov 19
A fragment of a military intelligence report from the Roman fort at Vindolanda, on the northern frontier of #RomanBritain. The thin, postcard-sized wooden tablet describes the fighting style of the native Britons, disparagingly referred to as BRITTUNCULI or 'Little Brits.'
#EpigraphyTuesday
brittunculus.bsky.social
Fighting erotes (cupids) from Bignor #Roman Villa in W. Sussex. One is dressed as a retarius gladiator (net and trident) and the other as a secutor (sword and shield).
3rd/4th century
#MosaicMonday
#RomanBritain
The secutor has discarded his helmet and rushes at the wounded retarius.
February 16, 2026 at 8:17 AM
Reposted by Brittunculus
brittunculus.bsky.social
Among the otherwise low flint walls of Littlecote #Roman Villa’s residential buildings, a stepped cold plunge pool and a hypocausted hot tub bring home that real people once lived, shivered and luxuriated here. 1,700 years ago.
📷 me
#RomanSiteSaturday
#RomanBritain
The cold plunge with a flight of steps leading down from the right, an ‘opus signinum’ floor and a patch of surviving wall plaster on the left. Apsed hot bath with terracotta box flue tiles around the periphery (to draw heat from a hypocaust up the walls). Box flue tile (in suspiciously good condition, so maybe a modern replica). Artist’s impression of the villa’s main wing in the mid 4th century. By Luigi Thompson. (There is an aptness to the boy practicing his archery as the site is now in the grounds of a hotel where guests can try it out - along with other outdoor activities.)
February 13, 2026 at 11:07 PM
brittunculus.bsky.social
Among the otherwise low flint walls of Littlecote #Roman Villa’s residential buildings, a stepped cold plunge pool and a hypocausted hot tub bring home that real people once lived, shivered and luxuriated here. 1,700 years ago.
📷 me
#RomanSiteSaturday
#RomanBritain
The cold plunge with a flight of steps leading down from the right, an ‘opus signinum’ floor and a patch of surviving wall plaster on the left. Apsed hot bath with terracotta box flue tiles around the periphery (to draw heat from a hypocaust up the walls). Box flue tile (in suspiciously good condition, so maybe a modern replica). Artist’s impression of the villa’s main wing in the mid 4th century. By Luigi Thompson. (There is an aptness to the boy practicing his archery as the site is now in the grounds of a hotel where guests can try it out - along with other outdoor activities.)
February 13, 2026 at 11:07 PM
Reposted by Brittunculus
romanscotland.bsky.social
A recreated Roman watchtower from Burgsalach on the German frontier. Similar structures existed across the Gask Ridge in Perthshire
February 13, 2026 at 8:18 PM
Reposted by Brittunculus
buildlikearoman.bsky.social
Episode 5 is now available:

Roman Timber: Roofs, Doors and Forgotten Walls

#romans #rome #history #archaeology #brick #tiles
Roman Timber: Roofs, Doors and Forgotten Walls
Podcast Episode · Build Like a Roman · 12/02/2026 · 21m
podcasts.apple.com
February 12, 2026 at 9:28 PM
Reposted by Brittunculus
pcaarchaeology.bsky.social
For #FindsFriday we’re celebrating the Roman festival of Fornacalia, the Feast of Ovens, held each February.

Baking hearths were honoured as the goddess Fornax to ensure good bread & large ovens in the City of London show how commercial baking fed Roman London, with an iron shovel found with them.
An iron bread shovel used to take bread in and out of the ovens. Tile-built base of a large Roman bread oven, one of two constructed within a shared open room, indicating commercial-scale bread production rather than domestic use. Detail of third-century mosaic from St-Romain-en-Gal showing a Roman bread oven in use.
February 6, 2026 at 11:36 AM
brittunculus.bsky.social
A sinuous tinned-bronze brooch in the shape of a greyhound found at Fulbeck, Lincolnshire in 2005. His sinuous form was characteristic of Romano-British art and his eye might originally have been inlaid with enamel, a British speciality.
This good boy dates from the 2nd C.
#FindsFriday
#RomanBritain
A plate brooch in the shape of a sitting greyhound. His waist is exaggeratedly thin and his head is overlarge. The head is turned back to look at the viewer with a large round eye, giving him quite a cute appearance.
February 6, 2026 at 7:57 AM
Reposted by Brittunculus
durotrigesdig.bsky.social
An iron dagger (with wooden handle) and iron scabbard (with gold and silver inlay) found in the 1960s excavation of the mid 1st c AD #Roman fort at Waddon Hill #Dorset

Hopefully not used on any of the Durotriges ! 😬

Now in the fantastic Bridport Museum

📷 Feb 2023

#RomanFortThursday
A museum display case with iron dagger, parts of a wooden handle and an iron scabbard with gold and silver / niello inlay
February 5, 2026 at 8:12 AM
Reposted by Brittunculus
brittunculus.bsky.social
This partly-restored wall painting showing Cupid in an architectural fantasia is reminiscent of frescos from Pompeii. But it was found in Southwark, #Londinium and originally decorated a 2nd Century bathhouse. Materials included gold leaf and fancy imported red cinnabar.
#FrescoFriday
#RomanBritain
From 'Below Southwark: the archaeological story' by Carrie Cowan
January 30, 2026 at 8:49 AM
brittunculus.bsky.social
This partly-restored wall painting showing Cupid in an architectural fantasia is reminiscent of frescos from Pompeii. But it was found in Southwark, #Londinium and originally decorated a 2nd Century bathhouse. Materials included gold leaf and fancy imported red cinnabar.
#FrescoFriday
#RomanBritain
From 'Below Southwark: the archaeological story' by Carrie Cowan
January 30, 2026 at 8:49 AM
brittunculus.bsky.social
Enjoyed watching this talk tonight, from the splendidly gothic Prof. Ronald Hutton. #Mithras 🌤️
www.youtube.com/live/Cl8_X89...
Mithras: Master of Mystery - Ronald Hutton
YouTube video by Gresham College
www.youtube.com
January 28, 2026 at 10:38 PM
Reposted by Brittunculus
brittunculus.bsky.social
'Victory' and inscription recording construction of a section of the Antonine Wall, AD140s.

"For the Emperor Caesar Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pius, father of his country, a detachment of the 20th Legion Valeria Victrix built 4,411 feet."

RIB 2208.
#EpigraphyTuesday
#ReliefWednesday
A personification of Victory reclining languidly, framed within a temple. She has a palm leaf in her left hand, elbow resting on a globe, and holds a huge wreath with her right. The inscription is split into three with the name and titles of the emperor in the pediment, the reference to the legion in the wreath and the distance constructed in a tablet at the base. The boar shown running across the tablet was the emblem of Leg XX VV. (And maybe brags of how quickly the legion built their section?) The slab marked the western end of the Wall near Old Kilpatrick. Photo - The Hunterian, University of Glasgow
January 27, 2026 at 8:03 AM
Reposted by Brittunculus
tonydivey.bsky.social
For #TowerTuesday here’s the tower from St Albans Cathedral. For a bonus #TilesonTuesday there’s also plenty of reused Roman tiles
January 27, 2026 at 2:45 PM
brittunculus.bsky.social
Paging @wittspat.bsky.social 📢
nattrustarch.bsky.social National Trust Archaeology @nattrustarch.bsky.social · 21d
🔍 New clues to Chedworth's lost 1860s archive!

Martin Papworth shares news on research being undertaken by Chedworth volunteer Jeanette, including the discovery of articles in newspapers and letters relating to the 1864-1868 excavations.

Read more about the archive here: bit.ly/4qNZd5u
Mosaic in the Dining Room at Chedworth Roman Villa depicting Bacchus and Ariadne © National Trust Images / Ian Shaw
January 27, 2026 at 12:03 PM
Reposted by Brittunculus
lindsaypowell.bsky.social
Come on a virtual tour of the House of the Tragic Poet (also called The Homeric House or The Iliadic House) in #Pompeii care of Flyover Zone's Yorescape. #AncientBluesky
superspl.at/view?id=6431...
House of Tragic poet - SuperSplat
The House of the Tragic Poet (also called The Homeric House or The Iliadic House) is a Roman house in Pompeii, Italy dating to the 2nd century BCE. The house...
superspl.at
January 27, 2026 at 12:54 AM
brittunculus.bsky.social
'Victory' and inscription recording construction of a section of the Antonine Wall, AD140s.

"For the Emperor Caesar Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pius, father of his country, a detachment of the 20th Legion Valeria Victrix built 4,411 feet."

RIB 2208.
#EpigraphyTuesday
#ReliefWednesday
A personification of Victory reclining languidly, framed within a temple. She has a palm leaf in her left hand, elbow resting on a globe, and holds a huge wreath with her right. The inscription is split into three with the name and titles of the emperor in the pediment, the reference to the legion in the wreath and the distance constructed in a tablet at the base. The boar shown running across the tablet was the emblem of Leg XX VV. (And maybe brags of how quickly the legion built their section?) The slab marked the western end of the Wall near Old Kilpatrick. Photo - The Hunterian, University of Glasgow
January 27, 2026 at 8:03 AM
brittunculus.bsky.social
#MosaicMonday
The Orpheus mosaic from Littlecote #Roman Villa in Berkshire. Its obscure iconography has been seen as evidence of the pagan revival in late C.4th #RomanBritain, as Orpheus charms circling animals, seasons & goddesses with his music. Much restored, the floor has significant wow factor.
Overhead view showing the mosaic in its triple-apsed hall, a unique architectural style in Roman Britain. The visitor would have entered the hall from an antechamber bottom right, onto the lower half of the mosaic with 4 geometric flower motifs bordered by panels showing canthari (wine cups) flanked by panthers, sea-panthers and dolphins. An unusual zig-zag panel marked the transition to the upper part of the mosaic, probably representing a pool of water (maybe the 'pool of memory' in Orphic cosmology). The circular Orpheus group in the upper part is framed by the 3 apses, each containing a shell motif. The circle has Orpheus at its centre, playing his lyre, accompanied by a leaping dog (good boy). The 4 quadrants around Orpheus contain goddesses and beasts: Venus and a deer; Nemesis and a panther; Ceres and a bull; and Proserpina with a goat. The animals race round anti-clockwise at full gallop while the goddesses stand (?dance) in front of them. Photo (c) Wilts & Swindon History Centre The animals wheel around Orpheus. A deer and Venus (holding a mirror) are shown in the nearest panel. Proserpina holds out a hand to her mother, Ceres, in the panel to the left, symbolising her descent alone into the underworld bringing death and winter. A spindly-legged goat gallops round behind her.
January 26, 2026 at 8:19 AM
brittunculus.bsky.social
A wonderful combination of Roman realism and Celtic linear decoration. And a decapitated barbarian too. 🤩
lindsaypowell.bsky.social Lindsay Powell FRHistS @lindsaypowell.bsky.social · 24d
"A copper-alloy ornament of a panther resting its paws on a severed head dates from AD43-200 ... [is] a "striking example of a Romano-British design", fusing pre-conquest Iron Age geometric patterns with Roman imagery."
#AncientBluesky
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Why is the discovery of Roman carriage fitting in Essex important?
A Romana-British metal artwork of a panther is believed to show the severed head of a barbarian.
www.bbc.com
January 24, 2026 at 10:56 PM
Reposted by Brittunculus
followinghadrian.bsky.social
Happy 1950th birthday, Hadrian! 🎂 #Hadrian1950
followinghadrian.com/2026/01/24/f...
Felicem diem natalem, Hadriane! 🎂 FOLLOWING HADRIAN
Happy 1950th birthday, Hadrian! In keeping with tradition, I baked Hadrian a birthday cake. This year, I chose Cato’s recipe for savillum (a kind of cheesecake), one of my favourite sweet cakes fro…
followinghadrian.com
January 24, 2026 at 6:05 PM
brittunculus.bsky.social
🤩Online tickets are free🤩
January 16, 2026 at 10:52 PM
brittunculus.bsky.social
Repost for #FindsFriday ⚔️
tonydivey.bsky.social Tony Divey @tonydivey.bsky.social · Jan 15
For #RomanFortThursday here’s a projectile (ballista bolt?) point from Wroxeter. My 📷 object in care of EH
January 16, 2026 at 9:29 PM
brittunculus.bsky.social
Meanwhile in Gaul...
romaaeterna.bsky.social 🏛️ Roma Aeterna 🏛️ @romaaeterna.bsky.social · Jan 15
#Ruinoftheday : la « pierre de Couhard » près d’Autun en #Bourgogne. Ce monument en forme de pyramide est un monument funéraire, peut-être du Ier s., dont les vestiges conservés atteignent encore 25m.
January 16, 2026 at 9:13 PM
Reposted by Brittunculus
davidrobertsarch.bsky.social
Our @antiquaries.bsky.social Low Ham book (myself, Roger Leech and @thepostexcox.bsky.social ) is now available OA - library.oapen.org/handle/20.50... - the first synthetic publication of one of Britannia's largest villas, with reports on strat, finds, & enviro remains, & fully contextualised. 1/10
The purple cover of a large book entitled 'The Romano-British villa and prehistoric settlement at Low Ham, Somerset'. A blurb explaining the contents is on the back, along with sponsors logos. A reconstruction of the villa is the cover image. This image and all others from the book.
January 13, 2026 at 4:49 PM
brittunculus.bsky.social
Like the cheeky gorgoneion peeking out from under her armpit
January 16, 2026 at 4:24 PM
brittunculus.bsky.social
The Roman jackboot
classicalalan.bsky.social Dr Alan Montgomery @classicalalan.bsky.social · Jan 16
Discovered in a bog near Hawick in the south of Scotland in 1820, this larger-than-life bronze leg once belonged to a Roman statue of an emperor or general on horseback. #FindsFriday
A shiny bronze sculpture of a leg and foot wearing a sandal, cut off just below the knee.
January 16, 2026 at 4:13 PM