Dr Sophie Hay
@pompei79.bsky.social
Just an archaeologist who works at the Archaeological Park of Pompeii
Reclining is definitely a common position at mealtimes - the ‘triclinium’ or dining room is so-named for its three couches on which you’d recline and dine. And this skeleton is from such a room. As for the arm… I saw that relaxed pose in a fresco from Stabiae and not sure what it infers.
November 2, 2025 at 9:36 AM
Reclining is definitely a common position at mealtimes - the ‘triclinium’ or dining room is so-named for its three couches on which you’d recline and dine. And this skeleton is from such a room. As for the arm… I saw that relaxed pose in a fresco from Stabiae and not sure what it infers.
Happy #Halloween!
A wonderful 2nd century AD Roman mosaic found near Antioch, Turkey showing a skeleton, cup of wine in hand, reclining on the floor of a dining room in a house reminding guests to enjoy life: ‘ευφρόσυνος’
A wonderful 2nd century AD Roman mosaic found near Antioch, Turkey showing a skeleton, cup of wine in hand, reclining on the floor of a dining room in a house reminding guests to enjoy life: ‘ευφρόσυνος’
October 31, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Happy #Halloween!
A wonderful 2nd century AD Roman mosaic found near Antioch, Turkey showing a skeleton, cup of wine in hand, reclining on the floor of a dining room in a house reminding guests to enjoy life: ‘ευφρόσυνος’
A wonderful 2nd century AD Roman mosaic found near Antioch, Turkey showing a skeleton, cup of wine in hand, reclining on the floor of a dining room in a house reminding guests to enjoy life: ‘ευφρόσυνος’
I particular like the colours of Vesuvius looking as though someone has fashioned it out of a lump of smooshed-together-different-coloured Play-Doh.
October 25, 2025 at 11:47 AM
I particular like the colours of Vesuvius looking as though someone has fashioned it out of a lump of smooshed-together-different-coloured Play-Doh.
Was too busy admiring the bricks & marvelling at the fact cars can drive over the Roman road paving beneath the Arco Felice (Bacoli) this evening to take a photo of the Roman arch but it seems forgivable all things considered.
Here’s an 1896 photo instead (fotografia.cultura.gov.it/iccd/item/MP...)
Here’s an 1896 photo instead (fotografia.cultura.gov.it/iccd/item/MP...)
October 9, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Was too busy admiring the bricks & marvelling at the fact cars can drive over the Roman road paving beneath the Arco Felice (Bacoli) this evening to take a photo of the Roman arch but it seems forgivable all things considered.
Here’s an 1896 photo instead (fotografia.cultura.gov.it/iccd/item/MP...)
Here’s an 1896 photo instead (fotografia.cultura.gov.it/iccd/item/MP...)
Surprisingly yet pleasingly complex - the tile elements required to reconstruct a Roman roof over the House of the Faun, #Pompeii. Beautiful watercolour, pencil, and ink illustrations by Pasquale Maria Veneri dating to 1843 on display in the National Archaeological Museum
In Naples.
In Naples.
October 5, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Surprisingly yet pleasingly complex - the tile elements required to reconstruct a Roman roof over the House of the Faun, #Pompeii. Beautiful watercolour, pencil, and ink illustrations by Pasquale Maria Veneri dating to 1843 on display in the National Archaeological Museum
In Naples.
In Naples.
That magical moment when the pumice is gently cleared away revealing, for the first time in nearly 2000 years, a white mosaic.
#MosaicMonday #Pompeii
#MosaicMonday #Pompeii
September 22, 2025 at 10:54 AM
That magical moment when the pumice is gently cleared away revealing, for the first time in nearly 2000 years, a white mosaic.
#MosaicMonday #Pompeii
#MosaicMonday #Pompeii
The fragments of the Forma Urbis – the marble map of Rome made towards the end of Emperor Severus’ reign – set into Nolli’s beautiful 18th century map of the city is breathtaking.
Fun to spot existing monuments but wondrous to see the now missing buildings.
www.sovraintendenzaroma.it/content/il-m...
Fun to spot existing monuments but wondrous to see the now missing buildings.
www.sovraintendenzaroma.it/content/il-m...
September 19, 2025 at 5:44 AM
The fragments of the Forma Urbis – the marble map of Rome made towards the end of Emperor Severus’ reign – set into Nolli’s beautiful 18th century map of the city is breathtaking.
Fun to spot existing monuments but wondrous to see the now missing buildings.
www.sovraintendenzaroma.it/content/il-m...
Fun to spot existing monuments but wondrous to see the now missing buildings.
www.sovraintendenzaroma.it/content/il-m...
#Pompei by night
A wonderful initiative by the Archaeological Park of Pompeii inviting visitors to visit a few houses by night. It’s an incredibly evocative experience as from the depths of darkness, light glows from rooms as if someone is at home.
Info here: pompeiisites.org/comunicati/i...
A wonderful initiative by the Archaeological Park of Pompeii inviting visitors to visit a few houses by night. It’s an incredibly evocative experience as from the depths of darkness, light glows from rooms as if someone is at home.
Info here: pompeiisites.org/comunicati/i...
September 9, 2025 at 6:25 PM
#Pompei by night
A wonderful initiative by the Archaeological Park of Pompeii inviting visitors to visit a few houses by night. It’s an incredibly evocative experience as from the depths of darkness, light glows from rooms as if someone is at home.
Info here: pompeiisites.org/comunicati/i...
A wonderful initiative by the Archaeological Park of Pompeii inviting visitors to visit a few houses by night. It’s an incredibly evocative experience as from the depths of darkness, light glows from rooms as if someone is at home.
Info here: pompeiisites.org/comunicati/i...
‘Below the Clouds’. A beautiful trailer for what looks to be a beguiling film by Gianfranco Rosi about Naples.
The title reminded me how Vesuvius somehow heightens the drama of the cloud formations above it.
Watch the film trailer here: youtu.be/eF_RPx6CXFw
The title reminded me how Vesuvius somehow heightens the drama of the cloud formations above it.
Watch the film trailer here: youtu.be/eF_RPx6CXFw
August 31, 2025 at 10:26 AM
‘Below the Clouds’. A beautiful trailer for what looks to be a beguiling film by Gianfranco Rosi about Naples.
The title reminded me how Vesuvius somehow heightens the drama of the cloud formations above it.
Watch the film trailer here: youtu.be/eF_RPx6CXFw
The title reminded me how Vesuvius somehow heightens the drama of the cloud formations above it.
Watch the film trailer here: youtu.be/eF_RPx6CXFw
Honouring all the young tesserae that didn’t grow up to be a mosaic.
A reused amphora housing thousands of loose white tesserae in the House of the Thiasus, #Pompeii.
#MosaicMonday
A reused amphora housing thousands of loose white tesserae in the House of the Thiasus, #Pompeii.
#MosaicMonday
August 25, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Honouring all the young tesserae that didn’t grow up to be a mosaic.
A reused amphora housing thousands of loose white tesserae in the House of the Thiasus, #Pompeii.
#MosaicMonday
A reused amphora housing thousands of loose white tesserae in the House of the Thiasus, #Pompeii.
#MosaicMonday
Goodness knows how I had never been in the House of the Red Walls, #Pompeii but I hadn’t until today.
The two rooms decorated with a rich red background engulf you, spindly architecture lift the space, and the figurative panels are little windows of brightness. Utterly stunning.
The two rooms decorated with a rich red background engulf you, spindly architecture lift the space, and the figurative panels are little windows of brightness. Utterly stunning.
August 22, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Goodness knows how I had never been in the House of the Red Walls, #Pompeii but I hadn’t until today.
The two rooms decorated with a rich red background engulf you, spindly architecture lift the space, and the figurative panels are little windows of brightness. Utterly stunning.
The two rooms decorated with a rich red background engulf you, spindly architecture lift the space, and the figurative panels are little windows of brightness. Utterly stunning.
Skies over Pompeii can be so dramatic like in this photo of mine:
August 15, 2025 at 10:42 PM
Skies over Pompeii can be so dramatic like in this photo of mine:
Buon #Ferragosto!
Fresco from #Pompeii (possibly from Fullonica of Sestius Venustus) and a unique example of a group of just women celebrating in what looks to be a rather wonderfully rowdy dining scene with upturned glassware, music being played and a woman holding aloft a ladle.
Fresco from #Pompeii (possibly from Fullonica of Sestius Venustus) and a unique example of a group of just women celebrating in what looks to be a rather wonderfully rowdy dining scene with upturned glassware, music being played and a woman holding aloft a ladle.
August 15, 2025 at 11:39 AM
Buon #Ferragosto!
Fresco from #Pompeii (possibly from Fullonica of Sestius Venustus) and a unique example of a group of just women celebrating in what looks to be a rather wonderfully rowdy dining scene with upturned glassware, music being played and a woman holding aloft a ladle.
Fresco from #Pompeii (possibly from Fullonica of Sestius Venustus) and a unique example of a group of just women celebrating in what looks to be a rather wonderfully rowdy dining scene with upturned glassware, music being played and a woman holding aloft a ladle.
You can almost hear the crowd roar as the gladiator fells a fellow combatant who looks at him in mercy from the sandy arena floor.
A graffito etched into the wall of a room in the House of Obellius Firmus, #Pompeii
A graffito etched into the wall of a room in the House of Obellius Firmus, #Pompeii
August 10, 2025 at 3:54 PM
You can almost hear the crowd roar as the gladiator fells a fellow combatant who looks at him in mercy from the sandy arena floor.
A graffito etched into the wall of a room in the House of Obellius Firmus, #Pompeii
A graffito etched into the wall of a room in the House of Obellius Firmus, #Pompeii
Not at all! After checking it wasn’t Vesuvius I was keeping an eye on both fires too.
August 6, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Not at all! After checking it wasn’t Vesuvius I was keeping an eye on both fires too.
No spoilers but I adored working with the film crew and they did such magnificent justice to the dig team and of course the continual archaeological surprises revealed on site making Pompeii and its ancient inhabitants the true stars of the programme.
August 4, 2025 at 7:34 PM
No spoilers but I adored working with the film crew and they did such magnificent justice to the dig team and of course the continual archaeological surprises revealed on site making Pompeii and its ancient inhabitants the true stars of the programme.
Not that I know of but one I know was certainly in the process of being repaired… badly.
July 21, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Not that I know of but one I know was certainly in the process of being repaired… badly.
What a privilege to see the wild boar mosaic up close. The blood spot in the eye, the redness in the mouth and the blueish tesserae making up the diffused shadows.
Quite the welcome in the entrance hall of the recently conserved House of the Boar, #Pompeii
Quite the welcome in the entrance hall of the recently conserved House of the Boar, #Pompeii
July 15, 2025 at 5:49 AM
What a privilege to see the wild boar mosaic up close. The blood spot in the eye, the redness in the mouth and the blueish tesserae making up the diffused shadows.
Quite the welcome in the entrance hall of the recently conserved House of the Boar, #Pompeii
Quite the welcome in the entrance hall of the recently conserved House of the Boar, #Pompeii
Late evening of work in Pompeii yesterday but the reward of an empty site bathed in glorious warm light was a privilege.
July 1, 2025 at 6:19 AM
Late evening of work in Pompeii yesterday but the reward of an empty site bathed in glorious warm light was a privilege.
The BBC series ‘Pompeii: The New Dig’ just won a Gold Tower at the New York Festivals TV & Films Awards!🏆
Well deserved honour for all who brought the wonder of an excavation to life through those who worked on site & the incredible stories they unravelled
tvfilm.newyorkfestivals.com/Winners/Winn...
Well deserved honour for all who brought the wonder of an excavation to life through those who worked on site & the incredible stories they unravelled
tvfilm.newyorkfestivals.com/Winners/Winn...
June 9, 2025 at 8:29 PM
The BBC series ‘Pompeii: The New Dig’ just won a Gold Tower at the New York Festivals TV & Films Awards!🏆
Well deserved honour for all who brought the wonder of an excavation to life through those who worked on site & the incredible stories they unravelled
tvfilm.newyorkfestivals.com/Winners/Winn...
Well deserved honour for all who brought the wonder of an excavation to life through those who worked on site & the incredible stories they unravelled
tvfilm.newyorkfestivals.com/Winners/Winn...