Dr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃
@carrielarocco.bsky.social
Classicist at Oxford. Working on: female patronage in the late- and post-Roman west; epigraphy in Roman + Visigothic Iberia. Sometimes I make Roman recipes ☺️ (she/her) #MosaicMonday ♾️
Still feel so lucky that I get to do my research in the Old Library at St John’s (@stjohnsox.bsky.social) 🙂 Such a beautiful place.
October 17, 2025 at 11:05 AM
Still feel so lucky that I get to do my research in the Old Library at St John’s (@stjohnsox.bsky.social) 🙂 Such a beautiful place.
Was happy to give a talk on late Roman and Visigothic women in cinema + other art at St John’s College @stjohnsox.bsky.social, this weekend, as part of a panel on the Ancient World in Digital Media for Oxford Open Doors 2025. I talked about, e.g., Galla Placidia in Revenge of the Barbarians (1960).
September 15, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Was happy to give a talk on late Roman and Visigothic women in cinema + other art at St John’s College @stjohnsox.bsky.social, this weekend, as part of a panel on the Ancient World in Digital Media for Oxford Open Doors 2025. I talked about, e.g., Galla Placidia in Revenge of the Barbarians (1960).
I’ve been reading through Latin curse tablets (defixiones) and thought this one from Roman-period Britain was neat: someone seemingly cursing the person who stole their beehive ‘vas apium’)! 🐝 (Brit. 48.10 10; text and images: romaninscriptionsofbritain.org/inscriptions...; images by R.S.O. Tomlin)
July 18, 2025 at 9:58 PM
I’ve been reading through Latin curse tablets (defixiones) and thought this one from Roman-period Britain was neat: someone seemingly cursing the person who stole their beehive ‘vas apium’)! 🐝 (Brit. 48.10 10; text and images: romaninscriptionsofbritain.org/inscriptions...; images by R.S.O. Tomlin)
I was happy to speak at the Granada-St Andrews International Meeting ‘Sharing Perspectives on Late Antiquity’ at the University of St Andrews yesterday (@staclassics.bsky.social); I spoke about some aspects of the relationship between monasteries and crisis in late Roman and Visigothic Iberia
June 28, 2025 at 11:06 AM
I was happy to speak at the Granada-St Andrews International Meeting ‘Sharing Perspectives on Late Antiquity’ at the University of St Andrews yesterday (@staclassics.bsky.social); I spoke about some aspects of the relationship between monasteries and crisis in late Roman and Visigothic Iberia
Went to see the newly-reopened Roman gallery of the Ashmolean @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social; liked this marble portrait of Livia (wife of Augustus). Left to the museum by Sir Arthur Evans.
June 5, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Went to see the newly-reopened Roman gallery of the Ashmolean @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social; liked this marble portrait of Livia (wife of Augustus). Left to the museum by Sir Arthur Evans.
Two of my favorites from the late Roman silver found at Traprain Law (East Lothian, Scotland 🏴), supposed to have been buried sometime in the 5th century. One is a dish depicting a nereid in an aquatic scene. The other is a small image of a woman from a piece of cut-up silver (hacksilver).
May 1, 2025 at 9:33 AM
Two of my favorites from the late Roman silver found at Traprain Law (East Lothian, Scotland 🏴), supposed to have been buried sometime in the 5th century. One is a dish depicting a nereid in an aquatic scene. The other is a small image of a woman from a piece of cut-up silver (hacksilver).
I was really happy to be invited back to St Andrews 🏴 (@staclassics.bsky.social) to speak at the Centre for Late Antique Studies this week. I talked about some of the research I’ve done on female patronage in Visigothic Iberia since starting my fellowship at St John’s (@stjohnsox.bsky.social).
April 4, 2025 at 1:11 AM
I was really happy to be invited back to St Andrews 🏴 (@staclassics.bsky.social) to speak at the Centre for Late Antique Studies this week. I talked about some of the research I’ve done on female patronage in Visigothic Iberia since starting my fellowship at St John’s (@stjohnsox.bsky.social).
Some nice flowers outside the Chapel of St John’s College
February 28, 2025 at 10:23 AM
Some nice flowers outside the Chapel of St John’s College
Is it definitely FAC? To me it looks like it could be a different letter (E, B, P?) but maybe it’s just the photo
December 1, 2024 at 12:18 AM
Is it definitely FAC? To me it looks like it could be a different letter (E, B, P?) but maybe it’s just the photo
An old one, but one of my favourite pictures I’ve ever taken of the cathedral in St Andrews (for St Andrews Day today) 🏴
November 30, 2024 at 7:14 AM
An old one, but one of my favourite pictures I’ve ever taken of the cathedral in St Andrews (for St Andrews Day today) 🏴
Today I got the chance to speak at Oxford’s Late Roman Seminar, on some of the research I’ve been doing over the last few years on Christian spaces + patronage in late Roman and Visigothic Iberia. I feel very fortunate :)
November 28, 2024 at 9:45 PM
Today I got the chance to speak at Oxford’s Late Roman Seminar, on some of the research I’ve been doing over the last few years on Christian spaces + patronage in late Roman and Visigothic Iberia. I feel very fortunate :)
Yeah, it was so cool to see!! Hestia Polyolbos is there, too, which was even more complete 🤯 I went this summer when I went home to visit my family- definitely worth a visit if you’re around DC sometime
November 26, 2024 at 4:51 PM
Yeah, it was so cool to see!! Hestia Polyolbos is there, too, which was even more complete 🤯 I went this summer when I went home to visit my family- definitely worth a visit if you’re around DC sometime
A tapestry with two Nereids (one of them holding a mirror), which is thought to have come from 5th- or 6th- century Egypt (per Dumbarton Oaks, where it is on display, though the findspot is unknown). It was very cool to be able to get so close to it and see all of this detail. 🏺
November 26, 2024 at 10:39 AM
A tapestry with two Nereids (one of them holding a mirror), which is thought to have come from 5th- or 6th- century Egypt (per Dumbarton Oaks, where it is on display, though the findspot is unknown). It was very cool to be able to get so close to it and see all of this detail. 🏺
For #MosaicMonday: a throwback to this unimpressed Medusa from late 2nd-early 3rd century Tarraco (Tarragona). MNAT 2921. 🏺
November 25, 2024 at 5:39 PM
For #MosaicMonday: a throwback to this unimpressed Medusa from late 2nd-early 3rd century Tarraco (Tarragona). MNAT 2921. 🏺
Iron window frame and glass from the Roman fort at Bar Hill on the Antonine Wall - saw them at the Hunterian in Glasgow. 🏴 One of my favorite things I’ve seen this year!
November 24, 2024 at 3:30 PM
Iron window frame and glass from the Roman fort at Bar Hill on the Antonine Wall - saw them at the Hunterian in Glasgow. 🏴 One of my favorite things I’ve seen this year!
I am loving Hades II, btw!! 🎮
November 23, 2024 at 9:40 AM
I am loving Hades II, btw!! 🎮
I got to see this last month at the Mithraeum / Bloomberg space! :)
November 23, 2024 at 9:12 AM
I got to see this last month at the Mithraeum / Bloomberg space! :)
Another Roman recipe - I wrote a little blog post about the time I recreated Apicius’ pear patina recipe romanrecipes.co.uk/2024/01/02/r... 🗃️
November 21, 2024 at 2:24 PM
Another Roman recipe - I wrote a little blog post about the time I recreated Apicius’ pear patina recipe romanrecipes.co.uk/2024/01/02/r... 🗃️
#EpigraphyTuesday: 7th-century inscription found near Mérida’s Basilica of Santa Eulalia, documenting refurbishment of a cloister by a woman named Eugenia, who seems to have been an abbess (‘virgo virginu(m) mater’). Image (and text, bibliography, etc.): cil2digital.web.uah.es/ficha/943/14... 🏺🗃️
November 19, 2024 at 7:08 PM
#EpigraphyTuesday: 7th-century inscription found near Mérida’s Basilica of Santa Eulalia, documenting refurbishment of a cloister by a woman named Eugenia, who seems to have been an abbess (‘virgo virginu(m) mater’). Image (and text, bibliography, etc.): cil2digital.web.uah.es/ficha/943/14... 🏺🗃️
Some others from Carranque
November 18, 2024 at 10:35 PM
Some others from Carranque
I love Carranque!!! So many amazing mosaics :) one of the coolest ones (I think) is this one on the steps
November 18, 2024 at 10:32 PM
I love Carranque!!! So many amazing mosaics :) one of the coolest ones (I think) is this one on the steps
For #MosaicMonday, a geometric mosaic I photographed at Dumbarton Oaks. The museum lists it as 2nd-century, ‘Excavated at Antioch, Syria, 1937 (a1255-M128b; Seleucia, House of Cilicia (House 1 and Vicinity) in 19-K, Room 3)’.
November 18, 2024 at 9:07 AM
For #MosaicMonday, a geometric mosaic I photographed at Dumbarton Oaks. The museum lists it as 2nd-century, ‘Excavated at Antioch, Syria, 1937 (a1255-M128b; Seleucia, House of Cilicia (House 1 and Vicinity) in 19-K, Room 3)’.
Going to see Gladiator II today, so here is the Severan Tondo (featuring Roman Emperor Septimius Severus, his wife Julia Domna, and their sons Caracalla and Geta) at the Altes Museum in Berlin, with damnatio memoriae of Geta. Unfortunately of unknown provenance. 📸: me
November 15, 2024 at 8:56 AM
Going to see Gladiator II today, so here is the Severan Tondo (featuring Roman Emperor Septimius Severus, his wife Julia Domna, and their sons Caracalla and Geta) at the Altes Museum in Berlin, with damnatio memoriae of Geta. Unfortunately of unknown provenance. 📸: me
More late antique Iberian funerary inscriptions! This time, Anduires, a distinguished (inlis) woman who founded a church (hanc ecle[siam]) with her husband (viro suo) in Casa de Vildé (Burgos de Osma, Soria, Castilla y León) in the 6th or 7th century. (Illustration: me, after image from AEHTAM.) 🏺🗃️
![A drawing of a tall, thin stone with a Latin inscription ‘† in nomine Domin[I // loc]us Anduires inlis // [femina]e qui hanc ecle // [siam] cum viro suo // [. . .]uiro inluste // [---] fecerunt // [fue] runt par //[ticipes an]nos XXX // [quat]er nutri[vera]nt filios re // [cessit] supradicta // matrona in pace // et in summa ca[s] // titate cum cert[o.. .. ] //.’](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:3buxylwas5uj72zyjgd7ayqp/bafkreigsv24lexsl6fydmbv7qvyk42sescekjrua3gutorancnpxslwzce@jpeg)
November 14, 2024 at 11:21 AM
More late antique Iberian funerary inscriptions! This time, Anduires, a distinguished (inlis) woman who founded a church (hanc ecle[siam]) with her husband (viro suo) in Casa de Vildé (Burgos de Osma, Soria, Castilla y León) in the 6th or 7th century. (Illustration: me, after image from AEHTAM.) 🏺🗃️