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Reposted

Brigit Strawbridge

@brigitstrawbridge.bsky.social

Some of Stirlingshire artist @cstrawbridgeart.bsky.social's new range of prints.

More of Charlotte's beautiful artwork, (scroll down past her originals to see prints), here: www.charlottestrawbridge.co.uk/art?cid=bf2c...

#art #wildlife #nature #wildlifeart

April 3, 2025 at 8:07 AM

Reposted

Alison Fisk

@alisonfisk.bsky.social

Roman souvenir from Hadrian’s Wall!

Much nicer than a modern-day fridge magnet! 🤩

The Staffordshire Moorlands Pan. Small cast copper-alloy ‘trulla’ with Celtic-style decoration and enamel inlay, inscribed with names of 4 forts on Hadrian’s Wall. C2nd AD.
📷 by me

#RomanFortThursday
#Archaeology

My photo shows a replica of the Staffordshire Moorlands Pan at the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery. It is a small cast copper-alloy ‘trulla’ which is missing its handle and base. The circular bowl has a beaded rim and raised foot-ring. The convex wall of the pan is decorated with a band of Celtic-style curvilinear ornament inlaid with red, blue, turquoise and yellow-coloured enamel. Above this band of decoration there is an engraved Latin inscription, inlaid with turquoise enamel. The inscription runs around the pan in an unbroken and unpunctuated sequence of 56 letters which reads:

MAISCOGGABATAVXELODVNVMCAMMOGLANNARIGOREVALIAELIDRACONIS

This is a list of four forts at the western end of Hadrian's Wall: MAIS (Bowness-on-Solway) COGGABATA (Drumburgh) VXELODVNVM (Stanwix) and CAMMOGLANNA (Castlesteads).

According to the British Museum, the part of the inscription which reads RIGORE VALI AELI DRACONIS is more difficult to interpret:
“Rigore vali’ seems to be a direct reference to Hadrian’s Wall, for in Roman times it was known as ‘the vallum’. ‘Aeli’ may also belong with that phrase, specifying ‘the wall of Hadrian’, for Aelius was Hadrian’s family name. Alternatively, ‘Aeli’ could belong with the word ‘Draco’, forming the personal name Aelius Draco (or Dracon). He may have been a soldier or junior officer, of Greek origin, who acquired his citizenship under the emperor Hadrian, and who had the pan made as a souvenir of his military service on the Wall. An alternative explanation has been preseted by Breeze & Flugel (2021). They offer an alternative interpretation which argues that 'rigor' is a technical terms for a line between two points. They also suggest that Draco was involved in surveying the wall and had the nomen Aelius. Their suggested reading is 'The line of the wall (the work of) Aelius Draco, was drawn from Maia to Coggobata, (from there) to Uxelodunum (and from there) to Cammogianna' (ibid., 58).”

This Roman pan was a metal detecting find in 2003.

April 3, 2025 at 1:36 PM

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Brigit Strawbridge

@brigitstrawbridge.bsky.social

Delight! - woodcut by printmaker, Diana Catchpole

More of this artist's delightful prints, here: dianacatchpoleart.bigcartel.com

#art #printmaking #wildlifeart

March 28, 2025 at 4:02 PM

Reposted

Jen Cross

@jencross.bsky.social

Warbler season is coming! 2020 was a weird year for lots of reasons, but that year my yard(!) was brimming with these colorful migrants. Hasn't been the same since then, but it made for a nice treat that year.
#WarblerWednesday
Canada, Black-throated Blue, Black and White, and Yellow Warblers