Dr Jo Ball
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drjeball.bsky.social
Dr Jo Ball
@drjeball.bsky.social
6.7K followers 1.4K following 570 posts
#Roman & conflict archaeologist; Lecturer in Ancient History at Manchester Met University; University Teacher at the University of Liverpool; Early Career Research Fellow at the Centre for Integrative Research in Conflict Archaeology.
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drjeball.bsky.social
Dr Jo Ball @drjeball.bsky.social · Jun 30
Really thrilled that my second book is now published! It explores the life of Tacfarinas, a C1st AD auxiliary soldier-deserter-bandit-rebel who came to lead a revolt against #Rome in NW Africa during the early reign of Tiberius. He is a truly fascinating figure in #Roman history! 🏺AncientBlueSky
drjeball.bsky.social
A cat chilling in the #Roman ruins of #Pompeii.
November 9, 2025 at 9:51 AM
drjeball.bsky.social
A #Roman oil lamp in the shape of a gladiator helmet (of a Thraex gladiator); the green glaze makes it a really unusual example! #AncientBlueSky
November 7, 2025 at 11:56 PM
drjeball.bsky.social
A #Roman helmet with a bit of a decorative surprise - on the back, it features two little mice chasing after loaves of panis quadratus bread.

Made about 1850 years ago, it once belonged to a soldier named Julius Mansuetus - did he choose this unusual decoration? 🐭 (📷Christies) 🏺 #AncientBlueSky
November 4, 2025 at 11:05 PM
Reposted by Dr Jo Ball
anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social
#MosaicMonday takes us back to the #MuseodelleCiviltà in #Rome, this time to look at the dazzling #opussectile floor of the #domus of #PortaMarina from #OstiaAntica, 385-388 CE. Its complex #geometric design makes it the most perfect floor of its kind in #LateAntiquity. #AncientBluesky 🏺
OPUS SECTILE FLOOR, 385-388 CE. MUSEO DELLE CIVILTÀ This extraordinary opus sectile pavement only finds comparisons in the House of Cupid and Psyche in Ostia and in the Diocletianic opus sectile floor of the Curia Senatus, which has been heavily restored. Here we have a background of giallo antico and a complex pattern of polygonal shapes with three recurrent themes, the circle, the four-pointed star, and the strange pelta or C-shaped shield. At the centre of each four-pointed star is a circle of alternating porphyry and serpentino set inside a round frame, or a circle of those marbles inset with a square of giallo antico or brecciated white marble. Within the octagons created between the stars, on a background of pavonazzetto, are circles framed with porphyry, with four peltæ in serpentino. This is a sophisticated and expensive floor, and the room must have had a public or ceremonial function.
November 3, 2025 at 11:23 PM
Reposted by Dr Jo Ball
drnwillburger.bsky.social
A tiny but very charming #Etruscan amber pendant in the shape of a squatting #monkey, height 4.7 cm.
Found in Vetulonia, #Italy, dating late 8th/early 7th century BC.

Photo: Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Toscana

🏺 #archaeology
Small translucent amber figurine carved in the shape of a squatting monkey. The figure has a detailed face with expressive eyes and rests its chin on its hands, appearing thoughtful. It sits atop a rectangular platform supported by four rounded, balloon-like legs.
November 4, 2025 at 7:14 AM
drjeball.bsky.social
A lovely #Roman mosaic found in the grounds of a villa in Rabat, Malta, with a popular 'drinking doves' design - two doves drinking from a large bowl #MosaicMonday #AncientBlueSky
November 3, 2025 at 8:06 PM
drjeball.bsky.social
The beautiful #Roman ruins of Ostia Antica, a port city located just a short distance from #Rome - such an amazing & well-preserved site! 🏺 #AncientBlueSky #AncientSiteSunday
October 26, 2025 at 9:13 AM
drjeball.bsky.social
The tombstone of a #Roman woman named Curatia Dinysia, who died at the age of 40 in Deva Victrix (modern #Chester, Britain); she is pictured on the stone in a banqueting scene. Her tombstone later became part of the city wall #AncientBlueSky
October 21, 2025 at 7:43 PM
drjeball.bsky.social
In the #Roman world, roads & crossroads had their own guardian spirits - the Lares Viales (roads) & the Lares Compitales (crossroads). Travellers would offer them sacrifices in the hope of arriving & then returning home safely (travel was dangerous back then!) 🏺 #AncientBlueSky #MythologyMonday
October 20, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Reposted by Dr Jo Ball
drsueoosthuizen.bsky.social
Such empathy with these huddled beasts on a 10th/11thC whalebone chesspiece, perhaps a rook or a bishop, snuggling up against cold and damp autumn days…
www.britishmuseum.org/collection/o...
October 19, 2025 at 9:40 PM
drjeball.bsky.social
A beautiful #Roman glass bowl, with striped bands in blue, yellow, & clear/white glass. It was made about 2000 years ago, & was found in the area around Mount Vesuvius, after being buried in the AD 79 eruption 🏺 #AncientBlueSky #Archaeology
October 19, 2025 at 10:48 PM
drjeball.bsky.social
A beautiful #Roman glass bottle in a beautiful shade of amber-orange with white swirly decoration - a beautiful piece of ancient glass made more than 1600 years ago.
October 16, 2025 at 6:58 PM
drjeball.bsky.social
An adorable little #Roman figurine of a mouse playing a trumpet - because, why not?

#Archaeology #AncientBlueSky
October 14, 2025 at 9:27 PM
drjeball.bsky.social
A #Roman figurine of a dog, shown lying down with its back legs curled underneath, looking at something behind it. Dogs feature quite prominently in Roman everyday art, associated with loyalty & healing, & valued for their companionship (just like today!) 🐶 🏺 #AncientBlueSky #Archaeology
October 13, 2025 at 7:38 AM
Reposted by Dr Jo Ball
chapps.bsky.social
I imagine this guy shouting at museum patrons with a squeaky little voice, ‘C’mon, you think you can take me? Look what I did with the last guy!’.

This green-glazed terracotta gladiator is ready to rumble, but only his competitor’s foot remains. 🏺 1/

Roman, 1st c. CE, #BritishMuseum
📸 me
Terracotta gladiator group, with an olive-green enamel glaze. Two gladiators once opposed each other on the long base, one now missing, save his left foot. The remaining gladiator stands with his right leg advanced, his scutum (shield) held before him in his right hand. He holds a sica (short curved sword) in his left hand and wears a crested visored helmet and extra long greaves which cover his entire legs.
October 10, 2025 at 6:51 PM
drjeball.bsky.social
The story deepens! We now know the person who brought a #Roman tombstone to New Orleans was a US soldier stationed in Italy during WW2; I like to think that Sextus Congenius Verus - the tombstone 'owner', & a military man himself - would have understood...

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Roman grave marker found in New Orleans yard left there by US soldier’s granddaughter
Erin Scott O’Brien says grandfather Charles Paddock brought back artifact with him from second world war
www.theguardian.com
October 10, 2025 at 2:59 PM
drjeball.bsky.social
A #Roman glass cup, in amber glass with irregular blue, red, & white splodgy decoration #Archaeology #RomanArchaeology #AncientBlueSky
October 8, 2025 at 7:31 PM
drjeball.bsky.social
Wow, #Roman tombstones really do get around - this one was rediscovered in New Orleans, after being transported across the Atlantic by unknown persons in the chaotic aftermath of WW2...

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
New Orleans couple discovers ancient Roman grave marker in their yard
Discovery of 1,900-year-old headstone dedicated to Roman sailor sets off effort to repatriate item to Italy
www.theguardian.com
October 7, 2025 at 10:28 AM
drjeball.bsky.social
Thinking today about some less well-known (but still important!) ancient #Roman deities:

Cardea: goddess of door hinges
Suadela: goddess of persuasion
Fornax: divine personification of ovens & properly-baked bread
Verminus: god who protected cattle from worms

🏺 #AncientBlueSky #MythologyMonday
October 6, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Reposted by Dr Jo Ball
archaeohawke.bsky.social
#MosaicMonday

As we move into Winter proper. A final look at summer 👀

Lullingstone floor mosaic depicts the mythical figure of Summer wearing a garland of corn.

#AncientBlueSky🏺
#Archaeology #History
Lullingstone Roman Villa is a villa built during the Roman occupation of Britain, situated in Lullingstone near the village of Eynsford in Kent, south-eastern England. The villa is located in the Darent Valley, along with six others, including those at Crofton, Crayford and Dartford. Constructed in the 1st century, perhaps around AD 80–90, the house was repeatedly expanded and occupied until it was destroyed by fire in the 4th or 5th century. The villa was occupied over various periods within the Romano-British period, but after its destruction, it is only thought to have been reoccupied during the medieval period. The occupants were most likely wealthy Romans or native Britons who had adopted Roman customs.
October 6, 2025 at 7:00 AM
Reposted by Dr Jo Ball
alisonfisk.bsky.social
A 3,500 year-old Egyptian glass cosmetic jar with two little duck heads!

Glass was a relatively new material at that time, so this jar would have been a precious possession.

From Merit’s beauty case, found inside Theban tomb (TT8) of Merit and her husband Kha in 1906. 📷 Museo Egizio

#Archaeology
Museo Egizio Turin photo showing a small, dark-blue, core-formed, round glass jar which tapers in at the shoulders below the neck. It has yellow, white, and light blue festoon decoration trailed around the main body. There is a single yellow trail just below the neck of the jar. There is a dark-blue circular glass lid, the top of which is adorned with two dark-blue duck heads with yellow bills, a yellow trailed stripe on the top of each duck’s head, and indents for their eyes. The jar is displayed on a perspex (?) stand against a grey background. Glass jar dimensions: 7.6 cm x 9.6 cm. Core-forming is one of the earliest glassmaking techniques. Glassmakers shaped the body of the vessel around a core, wound colored trails around it. They then let the vessel cool and removed the core.
October 5, 2025 at 10:23 AM
drjeball.bsky.social
A #Roman dodecahedron, found in the Netherlands; they look so cool - now if only we knew for sure what they were for! 🏺 #AncientBlueSky
October 5, 2025 at 5:46 PM
drjeball.bsky.social
A metal face mask from a #Roman cavalry helmet; the blank expression is quite off-putting even now, & must have been pretty intimidating in antiquity (whether or not they were ever worn in battle) 🏺 #AncientBlueSky
September 30, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Reposted by Dr Jo Ball
mselheimer.bsky.social
The Baths of the Seven Sages are a public bathing complex in Ostia Antica, ancient Rome’s port city. Named for frescoes depicting Greek philosophers, it features a rotunda with a well-preserved mosaic floor in its frigidarium (cold room) dating to the Hadrianic period (117-138 CE). #mosaicmonday
September 29, 2025 at 6:24 PM
drjeball.bsky.social
A beautiful #Roman mosaic wall-niche, containing a garden scene with lush plants & birds, including a peacock. About 2000 years ago it decorated the garden or courtyard of a luxurious home in Baiae (near Naples, Italy) 🏺 #AncientBlueSky #MosaicMonday
September 29, 2025 at 5:35 PM