Leave a Comment / Mesopotamia, Night of the Livy Dead / ancientblogger
Sulak might not be an entity you’d have heard much about but it’s fair to say that he was very much in the mind of those visiting the toilet in parts of ancient Mesopotamia. Sulak and Mesopotamian mythology. The Mesopotamian view of the world included a range of what might be considered gods and demons. […]
Sulak – the Babylonian toilet lurker. Read More »
In book 3 of his work Histories Herodotus refers to sheep which had big tails (3.113). So big in fact that the shepherds would make small carts which could carry the tails. Was it another Herodotus special? Well, probably not. The fat-tailed sheep is a real species. These are located in Arabia, which is a […]
Herodotus and a sizeable sheep tale. Read More »
Aulos – for work and play. The aulos was a double-pipe played in ancient Greece and which features on a number of vases. The aulos was used for entertainment but also possibly to keep marching hoplites in step. In the below two images this is shown, the second image shows the aulos player to the
Aulos – double pipe playing. Read More »
Haloa – some notes. First of all – if you haven’t listened to the episode on the Haloa then here’s my podcast (you can find it on most platforms). I hope you enjoyed it, it would certainly be on my to-do list if I ever have a time machine and a good disguise. Eleusis. Here’s
Haloa Minisode: Episode Notes. Read More »
I always relish coming across a new artist who is creating scenes from antiquity. I’ve got a wardrobe of tshirts to evidence this and have been adding prints on the walls in my pseudo office. Well, here’s another artist I’ve stumbled upon and just so you know I’m not earning commission or getting any freebies
Tyler Myles Lockett – fab ancient art! Read More »
Pumpkin stylings. This year I used a design from a 6th century Greek vase for my pumpkin. You can read about it here. Here’s the original image from the Francois Vase. Here are some pics of the pumpkin! Here’s a video about it. What do you think? Let me know.
Halloween Pumpkin 2022! Read More »
Potnia Theron translates as ‘animal queen’ and has also been referred to as ‘mistress of the animals’. Depictions of her vary, but the central theme is a female figure flanked by animals, occasionally holding them (as you’ll see below). This representation is found in Greek art, but this was by no means uniquely Greek. The
Potnia Theron, Artemis and Greek Art. Read More »
The Underworld, Hades and a bit more content. It’s Halloween and another in the #NightofTheLivyDead miniseries. I hope you enjoyed the episode, here are some notes and bits I mentioned. Hermes and the drinking spirits. I mentioned this is the episode towards the end. The lekythos (type of vase) with this image dates to 470
The Greek Underworld, episode notes. Read More »
With Halloween approaching you may well notice a few references to werewolves within the context of ancient Greece. But what are they referring to? Allow me to give a brief overview, I’ve also included a recent minisode I did on exactly this and included some general resources on it all at the bottom. Lykaon. The
Arcadian Werewolves. Read More »
Artemis and Dr Ionescu. You can find Dr Ionescu’s podcast ‘The Goddess Project‘ on Spotify, Youtube and most platforms (or just use the link). Insta here – artemisexpert Twitter – also @artemisexpert Her book is ‘She Who Hunts’ – go find it and get reading! Here’s the episode: [libsyn_podcast id=24351372] Statue of Artemis at Ephesus.
Artemis – Podcast notes. Read More »
Piracy and ancient Greece – some added bits. I’ve got his work cited in the reading list below but Phil De Souza’s ‘Piracy in the Graeco-Roman World‘ made this episode possible. If you’ve the faintest interest in piracy in antiquity you’ll need it! Don’t forget to check out The History Buffs Corner – find it
Piracy in ancient Greece – Episode notes. Read More »
Motya – Sicily’s first Phoenician settlement. Around the 8th century BC the Phoenicians, masters of maritime commerce, committed to founding a settlement on the western tip of Sicily. It was highly likely that the Phoenicians had known and traded with the inhabitants of Sicily for some time. After all they had been founding trading posts […]
Motya and a star filled pool? Read More »
Phoenician whale finds. The island of San Pantaleo sits a kilometre or so off the western tip of Sicily. Protected by a small chain of islands to the west it rests in a natural lagoon and in antiquity it was home to a Phoenician trading settlement called Motya. For the Phoenicians, a people who excelled
The whale and the ancient Mediterranean. Read More »
Don’t worry, this isn’t about aliens. Well not really, you see I recently came across a fantastic site which allows you to see what types of spaceships (and other vehicles) would look like when overlayed on a map. The site is called www.parkmyspaceship.com so make sure you check it out. Anyway, here’s a few examples
A spaceship and ancient sites. Read More »
As you may know each year I carve a pumpkin with designs from antiquity (see here for a recent article I did which includes a how-to guide). It gets difficult each year to find something which is both within my capabilities and will work. A curious Etruscan plate. The design this year was taken from
Etruscan pumpkin for Halloween 2023. Read More »
Another Halloween and another Night of the Livy Dead episode. I’ve been working on these for several years and as mentioned you can find previous episodes on any podcasting platform which you use to listen to my podcast. Keeping with the Halloween vibe here’s a recent bit on the ancient history themed pumpkins I have
Night of the Livy Dead VII – episode notes. Read More »
Over the past several years I have carved pumpkins using a design from a Greek vase (though there is also a Roman mosaic in there as well). I’m still deciding what design to use but in the meantime here are some previous ones and a bit about them. If you want to have a go
Greek Vase pumpkin 2023. Read More »
The Brygos painter is a celebrated name attached to a number of Athenian pieces dating to the early 5th century BC. On occasion artists might sign their pieces, but this was something potters might do as well. As such Brygos could be the name of the potter, and to complicate things further it could even
The Brygos skyphos- what’s he hiding? Read More »
Sometimes an object give us an insight into the past which isn’t initially obvious and here is one such example. The helmet below is a bronze Etruscan one, it dates to circa 500 BC and is doubtless a fascinating object purely on this basis alone. However, as you can see there’s an inscription on the
An Etruscan helmet with a message. Read More »
Owning armour means you are always trying to maintain it and it’s an ongoing fight with rust. Lorica segmentata was one type of armour which the armies of ancient Rome wore – we have some surviving pieces of it from the Corbridge hoard. This was an incredible find and I will have to visit the
Cleaning the lorica segmentata. Read More »
I hope you enjoyed the episode and here is the extra content. I mentioned an episode all about Mad Honey at the end of it and here’s a link to it. https://ancientblogger.libsyn.com/mad-honey Images. Below is a diagram of the earliest depiction of apiculture in Egypt. Here’s a good site with a bit more about
Bees BC – episode notes Read More »
