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! Here’s a video about it. What do you think? Let me know.
Background. 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. …
It’s Halloween and another in the #NightofTheLivyDead miniseries. I hope you enjoyed the episode, here are some notes and bits I mentioned. The episode. Just in case you wanted to listen again (or have stumbled on it here). Hermes and the drinking spirits. I mentioned this is the episode towards the end. The lekythos (type …
As you might know for some time I have been carving a pumpkin each year at Halloween inspired by a Greek design or Roman mosaic. To start with here’s a video on the one I did last year. Previous designs. As you saw in the video, this was last year’s design. A mosaic from Fishbourne …
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 …
Long time listeners to the Ancient History Hound podcast may recall that each year I do a Halloween episode. Finding scary content from antiquity isn’t initially difficult, though once you’ve got past a couple of spooky stories and the whole werewolves in Arcadia bit then it does become a bit more challenging. I thought I’d …
The #NightofTheLivyDead podcast series. Halloween and horror in antiquity. Read More »
For the last 9 years (with one exception due to Covid) I have visited a school in Brighton to help with their topic on the Romans. The Year 3s (8 year olds) are the group I work with and initially it’s an overview of what a Roman soldier would wear and hold with an hour …
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: Statue of Artemis at Ephesus. I’m all about the …
The below image is a bit of a curious one. Halloween fancy dress or lycanthrope in casual attire? The answer is less fun but much more revealing, it’s a priest of official wearing a mask of Anubis. This jackal-headed deity belonged to the Egyptian pantheon, but this fresco was found far from the shores of …
As I’ve created a few podcasts and an article on Pompeii I thought I’d put these on one page along with the sources I have used. Podcasts. The original podcast I did focuses on the history of Pompeii, how it developed and what it was when disaster struck. Pompeii wasn’t a city Rome founded or …
