Nigel Moore
@tessellae.bsky.social
Fascinated by how Neolithic man became a social being and by the exquisite beauty of ancient mosaics, after 35 years in psychiatry. Alter ego @ostreology
Ich erinnere mich daran dass ich in 2007 besonders nach Karlsruhe gereist bin (ich wohne in Stockholm), um die erste Ausstellung über Göbekli Tepe zu sehen, und war völlig erstaunt
February 8, 2026 at 5:54 PM
Ich erinnere mich daran dass ich in 2007 besonders nach Karlsruhe gereist bin (ich wohne in Stockholm), um die erste Ausstellung über Göbekli Tepe zu sehen, und war völlig erstaunt
This photo from an article on bbbc.com caught my eye. It could translate as Psychiatric clinic but belongs to the entrance of the medieval Stiftsbibliothek in St Gallen, Switzerland which is a treasure house of old medieval manuscripts and books some over a 1000 yrs old. Fitting sign!
February 3, 2026 at 6:16 PM
This photo from an article on bbbc.com caught my eye. It could translate as Psychiatric clinic but belongs to the entrance of the medieval Stiftsbibliothek in St Gallen, Switzerland which is a treasure house of old medieval manuscripts and books some over a 1000 yrs old. Fitting sign!
#MosaicMonday - Mosaic Mystery
How could these two Alexandrian mosaics be produced mostly in stunning opus vermiculatum at the end of 3rd cent or beginning of 2nd BC when so few tessellated mosaics have ever been discovered anywhere from the 3rd cent? How could such expertise have been developed?
How could these two Alexandrian mosaics be produced mostly in stunning opus vermiculatum at the end of 3rd cent or beginning of 2nd BC when so few tessellated mosaics have ever been discovered anywhere from the 3rd cent? How could such expertise have been developed?
January 26, 2026 at 7:20 AM
#MosaicMonday - Mosaic Mystery
How could these two Alexandrian mosaics be produced mostly in stunning opus vermiculatum at the end of 3rd cent or beginning of 2nd BC when so few tessellated mosaics have ever been discovered anywhere from the 3rd cent? How could such expertise have been developed?
How could these two Alexandrian mosaics be produced mostly in stunning opus vermiculatum at the end of 3rd cent or beginning of 2nd BC when so few tessellated mosaics have ever been discovered anywhere from the 3rd cent? How could such expertise have been developed?
This is not a meander mosaic, only in the most trivial sense. The Hellenic society had a post about meanders two weeks ago and these are 2 photos in that thread
January 19, 2026 at 9:48 PM
This is not a meander mosaic, only in the most trivial sense. The Hellenic society had a post about meanders two weeks ago and these are 2 photos in that thread
The earliest known tessellated mosaic is from Morgantina, Sicily and has an extraordinary polychrome meander border. From late 3rd century BC
📷 Encyclopaedia of zGlobal Archaeology, Springer Link
📷 Encyclopaedia of zGlobal Archaeology, Springer Link
January 13, 2026 at 10:59 AM
The earliest known tessellated mosaic is from Morgantina, Sicily and has an extraordinary polychrome meander border. From late 3rd century BC
📷 Encyclopaedia of zGlobal Archaeology, Springer Link
📷 Encyclopaedia of zGlobal Archaeology, Springer Link
Talking of Populonia this souvenir bottle showing the oyster ponds of Baiae and the harbour front was found there (Piombino) in 1800/10
December 22, 2025 at 7:00 AM
Talking of Populonia this souvenir bottle showing the oyster ponds of Baiae and the harbour front was found there (Piombino) in 1800/10
#MosaicMonday
#Classics/AncientWorld
This pebble mosaic fragment from an andron in #Sinope is dated to the 5th cent BC! The authors argue that the mosaics found there may be the earliest figural mosaics with mythological themes, predating those in Olynthos!
acikerisim.uludag.edu.tr/server/api/c...
#Classics/AncientWorld
This pebble mosaic fragment from an andron in #Sinope is dated to the 5th cent BC! The authors argue that the mosaics found there may be the earliest figural mosaics with mythological themes, predating those in Olynthos!
acikerisim.uludag.edu.tr/server/api/c...
December 15, 2025 at 5:02 PM
#MosaicMonday
#Classics/AncientWorld
This pebble mosaic fragment from an andron in #Sinope is dated to the 5th cent BC! The authors argue that the mosaics found there may be the earliest figural mosaics with mythological themes, predating those in Olynthos!
acikerisim.uludag.edu.tr/server/api/c...
#Classics/AncientWorld
This pebble mosaic fragment from an andron in #Sinope is dated to the 5th cent BC! The authors argue that the mosaics found there may be the earliest figural mosaics with mythological themes, predating those in Olynthos!
acikerisim.uludag.edu.tr/server/api/c...
For #MosaicMonday
#AncientBlueSky
This white on black pebble mosaic from an andron in a private house shows Dionysos on a chariot drawn by two panthers and in a flowing chiton or chlamys led on by a naked male surrounded on all sides by a train of swirling, dancing maenads, some pulling small deer
#AncientBlueSky
This white on black pebble mosaic from an andron in a private house shows Dionysos on a chariot drawn by two panthers and in a flowing chiton or chlamys led on by a naked male surrounded on all sides by a train of swirling, dancing maenads, some pulling small deer
December 7, 2025 at 10:56 PM
For #MosaicMonday
#AncientBlueSky
This white on black pebble mosaic from an andron in a private house shows Dionysos on a chariot drawn by two panthers and in a flowing chiton or chlamys led on by a naked male surrounded on all sides by a train of swirling, dancing maenads, some pulling small deer
#AncientBlueSky
This white on black pebble mosaic from an andron in a private house shows Dionysos on a chariot drawn by two panthers and in a flowing chiton or chlamys led on by a naked male surrounded on all sides by a train of swirling, dancing maenads, some pulling small deer
Grey dusk shadows the sky
From the light of the lake
No sound is heard on high
Its brume still lies awake
From the light of the lake
No sound is heard on high
Its brume still lies awake
December 7, 2025 at 8:01 PM
Grey dusk shadows the sky
From the light of the lake
No sound is heard on high
Its brume still lies awake
From the light of the lake
No sound is heard on high
Its brume still lies awake
#MosaicMonday
#ClassicsBlueSky
#AncientBlueSky
Found only last year in #Eretria on the island of Evia in an andron where symposia would have taken place. With two satyrs, cronies of Dionysos, one of whom is playing the aulos and the other presumably dancing
#ClassicsBlueSky
#AncientBlueSky
Found only last year in #Eretria on the island of Evia in an andron where symposia would have taken place. With two satyrs, cronies of Dionysos, one of whom is playing the aulos and the other presumably dancing
November 30, 2025 at 11:36 PM
#MosaicMonday
#ClassicsBlueSky
#AncientBlueSky
Found only last year in #Eretria on the island of Evia in an andron where symposia would have taken place. With two satyrs, cronies of Dionysos, one of whom is playing the aulos and the other presumably dancing
#ClassicsBlueSky
#AncientBlueSky
Found only last year in #Eretria on the island of Evia in an andron where symposia would have taken place. With two satyrs, cronies of Dionysos, one of whom is playing the aulos and the other presumably dancing
For #MosaicMonday
This sumptuous pebble mosaic, made up of flowers, leaves and spirals, a wonder of symmetrical beauty and precision from the oikos of the palace in Aigai (modern Vergina) has four females in each corner whose dresses morph into a palmette. Middle of 4th cent BC
This sumptuous pebble mosaic, made up of flowers, leaves and spirals, a wonder of symmetrical beauty and precision from the oikos of the palace in Aigai (modern Vergina) has four females in each corner whose dresses morph into a palmette. Middle of 4th cent BC
November 10, 2025 at 4:31 PM
For #MosaicMonday
This sumptuous pebble mosaic, made up of flowers, leaves and spirals, a wonder of symmetrical beauty and precision from the oikos of the palace in Aigai (modern Vergina) has four females in each corner whose dresses morph into a palmette. Middle of 4th cent BC
This sumptuous pebble mosaic, made up of flowers, leaves and spirals, a wonder of symmetrical beauty and precision from the oikos of the palace in Aigai (modern Vergina) has four females in each corner whose dresses morph into a palmette. Middle of 4th cent BC
But like one of my old oriental rugs at home! Supposed to be melon forms , all in natural wool colours
October 27, 2025 at 7:06 PM
But like one of my old oriental rugs at home! Supposed to be melon forms , all in natural wool colours
Antoine-Chrysostome Quatremère de Quincy (1755-1849) - what a name too ! - was the first in 1806 to write about #polychromy in ancient Greek art m. And what a colourful life he led!
#ancientbluesky
#ancientbluesky
October 21, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Antoine-Chrysostome Quatremère de Quincy (1755-1849) - what a name too ! - was the first in 1806 to write about #polychromy in ancient Greek art m. And what a colourful life he led!
#ancientbluesky
#ancientbluesky
Birds of a feather!
From the Louvre (I’m assuming it’s still there😃)
Provenance Daphne near Antakya beginning of 3rd cent AD
#MosaicMonday
From the Louvre (I’m assuming it’s still there😃)
Provenance Daphne near Antakya beginning of 3rd cent AD
#MosaicMonday
October 20, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Birds of a feather!
From the Louvre (I’m assuming it’s still there😃)
Provenance Daphne near Antakya beginning of 3rd cent AD
#MosaicMonday
From the Louvre (I’m assuming it’s still there😃)
Provenance Daphne near Antakya beginning of 3rd cent AD
#MosaicMonday
Forgot to add the rep photos
October 7, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Forgot to add the rep photos
This statue also from Karahantepe plus the perhaps even older “Urfa Man” suggest human figures had their place in Neolithic iconography
October 6, 2025 at 8:33 PM
This statue also from Karahantepe plus the perhaps even older “Urfa Man” suggest human figures had their place in Neolithic iconography
Something different for #MosaicMonday a micromosaic! A copy of the mosaic of doves mentioned by Pliny but copied from the mosaic found in Hadrian’s villa, itself a copy. This micromosaic made of tiny glass tesserae, 56mm, in 1779 by Giacomo Rafaelli in Rome
📷 Trustees of British Museum
📷 Trustees of British Museum
September 22, 2025 at 8:20 AM
Something different for #MosaicMonday a micromosaic! A copy of the mosaic of doves mentioned by Pliny but copied from the mosaic found in Hadrian’s villa, itself a copy. This micromosaic made of tiny glass tesserae, 56mm, in 1779 by Giacomo Rafaelli in Rome
📷 Trustees of British Museum
📷 Trustees of British Museum
Details of the late 4th cent BC pebble mosaic in #Pella from an andron showing exquisite use of skiagraphia and chiaroscuro perhaps of the figures of Alexander (l) and his friend Hephaistos and signed by Gnosis
(Had the entire site to myself!)
#MosaicMonday
#Classics/AncientBlueSky
(Had the entire site to myself!)
#MosaicMonday
#Classics/AncientBlueSky
September 8, 2025 at 9:26 AM
Details of the late 4th cent BC pebble mosaic in #Pella from an andron showing exquisite use of skiagraphia and chiaroscuro perhaps of the figures of Alexander (l) and his friend Hephaistos and signed by Gnosis
(Had the entire site to myself!)
#MosaicMonday
#Classics/AncientBlueSky
(Had the entire site to myself!)
#MosaicMonday
#Classics/AncientBlueSky
September 1, 2025 at 11:52 AM
For those who can read Swedish my article in Svenska Dagbladet about pebble mosaics and the floor as a spectacle
#MosaicMonday
#MosaicMonday
July 28, 2025 at 4:20 PM
For those who can read Swedish my article in Svenska Dagbladet about pebble mosaics and the floor as a spectacle
#MosaicMonday
#MosaicMonday
In Pergamon and Alexandria. If Sosos was so renowned for his exquisite mosaics could he (and his colleagues?) have been responsible for pioneering the opus vermiculatum? It seems to have appeared from nowhere, although three dimensionality was an element of the late pebble mosaics in eg Pella
July 14, 2025 at 5:14 PM
In Pergamon and Alexandria. If Sosos was so renowned for his exquisite mosaics could he (and his colleagues?) have been responsible for pioneering the opus vermiculatum? It seems to have appeared from nowhere, although three dimensionality was an element of the late pebble mosaics in eg Pella
#MosaicMonday
Why was Sosos so famous acc to Pliny? He mentions two mosaics seemingly in the same room in Pergamon, both starting a mosaic meme as copies were made long after. None of his mosaics have survived (stolen as war booty as he was so celebrated?). This is a fragment of a mosaic ….1/
Why was Sosos so famous acc to Pliny? He mentions two mosaics seemingly in the same room in Pergamon, both starting a mosaic meme as copies were made long after. None of his mosaics have survived (stolen as war booty as he was so celebrated?). This is a fragment of a mosaic ….1/
July 14, 2025 at 5:09 PM
#MosaicMonday
Why was Sosos so famous acc to Pliny? He mentions two mosaics seemingly in the same room in Pergamon, both starting a mosaic meme as copies were made long after. None of his mosaics have survived (stolen as war booty as he was so celebrated?). This is a fragment of a mosaic ….1/
Why was Sosos so famous acc to Pliny? He mentions two mosaics seemingly in the same room in Pergamon, both starting a mosaic meme as copies were made long after. None of his mosaics have survived (stolen as war booty as he was so celebrated?). This is a fragment of a mosaic ….1/
In Pergamon and Alexandria. If Sosos was so renowned for his exquisite mosaics could he (and his colleagues?) have been responsible for pioneering the opus vermiculatum? It seems to have appeared from nowhere, although three dimensionality was an element of the late pebble mosaics in eg Pella
July 14, 2025 at 3:32 PM
In Pergamon and Alexandria. If Sosos was so renowned for his exquisite mosaics could he (and his colleagues?) have been responsible for pioneering the opus vermiculatum? It seems to have appeared from nowhere, although three dimensionality was an element of the late pebble mosaics in eg Pella
#MosaicMonday
#AncientBlueSky
An unusually early polychrome pebble mosaic of a female (deity?) from Epidamnos (Durrës, Albania). Second half 4th cent BC
📷 @albania360.com
#AncientBlueSky
An unusually early polychrome pebble mosaic of a female (deity?) from Epidamnos (Durrës, Albania). Second half 4th cent BC
📷 @albania360.com
June 23, 2025 at 4:02 PM
#MosaicMonday
#AncientBlueSky
An unusually early polychrome pebble mosaic of a female (deity?) from Epidamnos (Durrës, Albania). Second half 4th cent BC
📷 @albania360.com
#AncientBlueSky
An unusually early polychrome pebble mosaic of a female (deity?) from Epidamnos (Durrës, Albania). Second half 4th cent BC
📷 @albania360.com