Dr. Anne LaGatta
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annethecat.bsky.social
Dr. Anne LaGatta
@annethecat.bsky.social
VAP in Art History at Kenyon College. Interested in ancient history, Roman imperial art, Tacitus, and dogs. Talk to me about Julio-Claudians.
You know, I really wish I could read an account by Tacitus of the events in the USA this year. I mean…he thought Tiberius was juicy subject matter…jeez. Can you imagine…
November 15, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Calling all ancient art historians! I am planning on making my CAA debut in Chicago this February 2026 and I'll be co-chairing a panel! Now soliciting proposals. Please consider submitting an abstract if interested, and feel free to share...
Session: Redefining Portraiture in the Ancient Mediterranean (CAA 114th Annual Conference)Preliminary Program
caa.confex.com
July 16, 2025 at 1:54 PM
FINALLY…my name is in print, and I can hold this book in my hands at last!!!
July 9, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Reposted by Dr. Anne LaGatta
Children have always enjoyed making noise: a some 4,000 years ago, a kid in Egypt was buried with this rattle, so the child might play with it in the afterlife.

On display at Neues Museum Berlin

📷 me
June 11, 2025 at 2:17 PM
🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨ALERT!!!!!!!🚨🚨🚨🚨THIS IS NOT FAKE!!! I am going to appear on Jeopardy! Tune in on Thursday, May 29 to watch me play.
May 14, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Reposted by Dr. Anne LaGatta
In community, there is courage. Strength. Hope. This Saturday, April 5, a major national mobilization will resist Trump & Musk’s illegal power grab. With 1,000+ events nationwide, resistance is gaining momentum (!!).

Find your local #HandsOff event here: www.mobilize.us/handsoff/map/
April 2, 2025 at 6:42 PM
In my Western art survey course, we had a debate yesterday on the use of icons in religious devotion. I had students roleplay as Byzantine theologians. They took their roles very seriously. One got so impassioned that he let out an F-bomb. I don't think a Byzantine clergyman would have said that!
March 27, 2025 at 12:37 PM
Hello #academicbluesky, what feelings come up when you contemplate writing? I’m trying to see something
March 25, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Reposted by Dr. Anne LaGatta
In honour of #NationalPuppyDay, a #Roman sculpture from #Pompeii of four little pups curled up together & sleeping peacefully - a lovely piece of ancient art, made more than 2000 years ago #Archaeology #RomanArchaeology AncientBlueSky 🏺
March 23, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Reposted by Dr. Anne LaGatta
#OnThisDay - 23 March - in AD 59 Agrippina the Younger, one of the most significant figures of the Julio-Claudian period, was assassinated on the orders of her son, the emperor Nero. #Agrippina #AncientHistory 🏺

Image: RIC Nero 6; Münzkabinett Wien (RÖ 5469). Link - numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric....
March 23, 2025 at 12:38 PM
In my two cents, his death was 100% natural. Seneca, a contemporary, doesn’t mention anything about murder in his account of Tiberius’ death 😊
#OnThisDay - 16 March - in AD 37 Emperor Tiberius died at Misenum. Tacitus (Ann. 6.50) notes that at one point he seemed to return to life... so Macro, the Praetorian Prefect, had him smothered with a pile of clothes. #AncientHistory 🏺

Image: RIC Tiberius 27. Link - numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric....
March 16, 2025 at 11:10 PM
Patiently waiting for someone to choreograph a country line dance to “The Giver.”
March 15, 2025 at 5:54 PM
We are about to enter perhaps the most significant sequence of dates in the entire year.
March 14: Pi Day
March 15: Ides of March
March 16: The anniversary of Tiberius' death
March 17: St. Patrick's Day
March 13, 2025 at 4:35 PM
I am finishing up grading students' art analysis papers, and at least five or six of them wrote "tempura" instead of "tempera" 🤣
March 2, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Hello #ancientbluesky! A student in my ancient to medieval art history survey told me he wants to read more about Bronze Age stuff (I assume Greece), which is admittedly not really my area. Anyone know some good books on the art, history, architecture, etc. for him?
February 22, 2025 at 11:00 PM
Reposted by Dr. Anne LaGatta
February 17, 2025 at 5:23 PM
It's happened again...my classes are aligned in terms of where we are in content. I've had to talk about portraits of Vespasian and the Arch of Titus three times today...help...
February 19, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Because of the way my course schedules have worked out...I have to talk about the Domus Aurea three times today. 🤦‍♀️
February 17, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Watching the new season of Love is Blind (don't judge); one of the ladies tells her date that she has a tattoo which says "sine metu," or "without fear" in Gaelic, she says! Should someone tell her...?
February 17, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Reposted by Dr. Anne LaGatta
#OnThisDay - 30 January - in 9 BC the Senate declared a public holiday to celebrate the dedication of the Ara Pacis Augustae - 'The Altar of Augustan Peace'. The Altar had been decreed by the Senate on 4 July 13 BC in celebration of Augustus' return from Spain and Gaul. #Rome #AncientHistory 🏺
January 30, 2025 at 9:25 AM
Reposted by Dr. Anne LaGatta
#OnThisDay - 30 January - in 58 BC Livia Drusilla was born. Wife of Augustus and mother of Tiberius, she was an astute politician and "more than a match for her husband's wiles" (Tacitus, Annals 5.1). #AncientHistory 🏺

Image: RIC Claudius 101; ANS 1978.27.5. Link - numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric....
January 30, 2025 at 9:25 AM
Reposted by Dr. Anne LaGatta
For anyone wondering, some possible dog names have survived from cuneiform sources.

On tiny dog figurines found buried under a palace in Nineveh, Iraq are inscriptions that seem to be names.

dan rigiššu “loud is his bark”

munaššiku gārîšu “biter of his foe”

mušēṣi lemnūti “expeller of evil”
January 30, 2025 at 10:13 AM
Reposted by Dr. Anne LaGatta
#OnThisDay - 27 January - in AD 6, Tiberius re-dedicated the rebuilt Temple of Castor and Pollux, linking it to him and his brother Drusus. The original - dedicated 15 July in 484 BC - had been damaged by fire. #Rome #AncientHistory 🏺

Image: 📸 Allan T. Kohl. Link - jstor.org/stable/commu...
January 27, 2025 at 12:44 PM