Rambling Readers

The Partial Historians

It’s #PhallusThursday and here’s to the ancient Greek lady tending to her own phallic garden. Could this bring her good fortune? We certainly hope so! This red-figured pelike dates to c. 440 BCE and, while Attic in origin, it was found in Nola, Campania.

#AncientGreece #History @AimeeMaroux

Description from the British Museum: “Pottery: red-figured pelike. A girl, with long sleeved chiton, himation knotted around her waist, and hair looped up with fillet, leans forward to right, holding in her left a rectangular box; with her right she sprinkles with seed (?) four objects in the form of phalli set upright in the ground, around which are leaves (?) springing up. Above her on left hangs a sash, on right a looped fillet. Museum number: 1865,1118.49. © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.”

The Partial Historians

It’s #WorldBeeDay and we’re celebrating in style with this jaw-dropping gold wreath that has a bee and teo cicadas amongst the oak leaves and acorns. Found in Turkey, this wreath is believed to be from the Hellenistic period c. 350–300 BCE.

#AncientGreece #History

Close up of the part of the gold wreath that depicts a bee. The bee sits on the branch that forms the round of a wreath, hold acorns and gold oak leaves surround the gold bee.

Description from the British Museum: “Gold oak wreath with a bee and two cicadas. This wreath consists of two branches. At the back the stems have obliquely cut end-plates; at the front the two branches are held together with a split pin fastener that has a bee as its cap. The branches are made of sheet-gold tubes, over a modern copper core. Each branch has six sprays with eight leaves and seven or eight acorns, as well as a cicada. In addition, there are about a dozen single leaves set straight into each branch. The leaves are of three different sizes and are made in one piece with their stalks. The acorns are made in left and right die-formed halves; the cups are cross-hatched and there is a point on the top of the fruit. The cicadas are constructed from four separate sheets of gold - lower body, upper body, two wings.” Image credit: © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

The Partial Historians

🌟Aphrodite of Aphrodisias🌟

The cult image of Aphrodite of Aphrodisias is packed with gorgeous details and is our pick for #ReliefWednesday on account of the relief decoration along her body that reflect different aspects of her divinity including: the Three Graces, Selene and Helios, Aphrodite as a sea-goat with Tritons, and three winged Erotes.

#AncientRome #AncientGreece #History

Description from the Aphrodisias Excavations website: “The statue stands stiffly and frontally, like an old Anatolian goddess, and was designed to recall that earlier identity, now subsumed in Aphrodite. The figure wears a tall headdress and veil and a thin dress covered by thick, hard cladding. The cladding is divided into a chest area and four lower zones. Each of the four zones contains figured decoration that concerns different aspects of Aphrodite: (1) the Three Graces, her handmaids; (2) Selene (Moon) and Helios (Sun), the permanent temporal extent of her realm; (3) Aphrodite in classical form on a sea-goat with tritons; and (4) three winged Erotes, her children and agents, engaged in sacrifice. The iconography of the statue was designed to combine the archaic aspects of the old local goddess with ideas of the classical and hellenistic Aphrodite.” Photo credit to wneuheisel via Flickr

The Partial Historians

Perseus’ rescue of Andromeda is complicated by his murder of Medusa. Here Andromeda appears in a yellow gown and Perseus is clearly identifiable from his winged boots and the head of Medusa…

#AncientGreece #AncientRome #History

Description from The World History Encyclopaedia: “Fourth style fresco depicting Perseusfreeing Andromeda from her chains on the rock, from the House of the Dioscuri in Pompeii, National Archaeological Museum, Naples.
Andromeda, chained helplessly on the rock, a prey to pacify a sea monster sent by Poseidon to punish Cassiopeia, Andromeda's mother, who had boasted of her daughter's beauty. Perseus comes face to face with the beautiful Andromeda, immediately falls in love with her and rushes off to kill the sea monster. Photo credit: Carole Raddato.”

The Partial Historians

We’re not saying you definitely need to visit Delos, but we’re not not saying that either 😉

Happy #PhallusThursday to all those who celebrate 🥳

#AncientGreece #History @AimeeMaroux

Description from the World History Encyclopaedia: “Two columns topped by a phallus, each carrying relief scenes of Dionysos and Pan, c. 300 BCE. The phallus was a typical symbol of the cult of Dionysos. They stand as part of the Stoivadeion, a rectangular exedra.”

Anna Anthro

#Anthropology #forensics #archeology #trojanwar #ancientgreece

‘Peering into the eyes of the past’: reconstruction reveals face of woman who lived before Trojan war https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/apr/05/peering-into-the-eyes-of-the-past-reconstruction-reveals-face-of-woman-who-lived-before-trojan-war

Erotic Mythology 🌹

What is our favourite #ancientGreek play?

Mine is The Frogs by Aristophanes. 🐸

#WorldTheatreDay #ancientGreece #ancientGreekReligion #theatre

A humorous comic of a dialogue between Dionysos and Herakles from The Frogs by Aristophanes. Dionysos and Herakles are represented by bronze statuettes of Dionysos and Herakles respectively. The dialogue goes as follows:
Dionysos: As I'm reading to myself the Andromeda, a sudden pang of longing
shoots through my heart, you can't conceive how keenly.
Herakles: Caused by a woman?
Dionysos: No.
Herakles: A boy?
Dionysos: No, no.
Herakles: A man?
Dionysos: *sighs*
Herakles: Was it for Kleisthenes?
Dionysos: Don't MOCK me, brother.

Erotic Mythology 🌹

Since today is #WorldTheatreDay – you all know this already – but #Dionysos is the God of Theatre!

#Theatre performances were held in his honour and probably evolved from the jokes made during the Dionysia's procession of phalloi 🎭

@mythology @pagan #PhallusThursday #ancientGreece #ancientGreekReligion

Stone phallus atop a stone column in the remains of the Temple of Dionysos on the island of Delos.

The Partial Historians

“Top of the Thursday to you,” said Silenus to the passersby on the way to Athens. Such a sign as the one offered by Silenus is surely a positive one! While the Greeks preferred sophrosyne for themselves, the ways of the divine were clearly different.

#PhallusThursday #AncientGreece #History

Statue of Silenus, a satyr and minor god of drunkenness, dated from 540-530 BCE. Held at the National Archaeological Museum, Athens, Greece. (Photo by Prisma/UIG/Getty Images)

The Partial Historians

This #ReliefWednesday we are enamoured of this gorgeous fragment that shows an almost nude man on a horse. Both are superbly detailed but the question of comfort for rider (and horse) lingers in the air…

#AncientGreece #History @antiquidons

Description from The Met: “This relief of a pacing horse with a nude rider is a tour de force of almost excessively sensitive surface texture and exaggerated anatomical detail. Decorative showiness takes precedence over organic unity, in a style often found in classicizing works of the first century B.C. The piece may copy one that was well-known in antiquity, for two others are preserved that show an almost identical horseman followed by another rider on a horse with the same pacing gait.” Object Number: 07.286.111

Erotic Mythology 🌹

Do you live in ancient Athens and have a son or daughter to marry off?

With this handy guide you'll make a great match in no time!

https://eroticmythology.com/wedding-guide-ancient-athens/

#wedding #ancientGreece @antiquidons

Erotic Mythology 🌹 replied to Erotic Mythology 🌹's status

@pagan @antiquidons The last day of the #Anthesteria is called #Chytroi or #Khýtroi, 'The Pots'. It's a festival of the dead where fruit or pulse is offered to the souls of the dead, who are then bidden to depart, and to #Hermes Chthonios, who should guide them back to the underworld. No one is supposed to eat the pottage, which is food of the dead. A rehearsal to select the players for the City Dionysia also takes place on this day.

#ancientGreece #HellenicPolytheism #HelPol #Athens

Photograph of a ceramic pot with cooked pulse.

Erotic Mythology 🌹

Today is the #Pithoigia, the first day of the Athenian #Anthesteria festival in honour of #Dionysos. It lasts three days, from the 11th to the 13th of the month of Anthesterion.

The Anthesteria festival celebrates the beginning of Spring and in particular the maturing of the wine stored at the previous vintage, whose pithoi (storage-jars) were now ceremoniously opened. Spring flowers decorate the house and drinking vessels.

@pagan @antiquidons
#ancientGreece #HellenicPolytheism #HelPol

A photo of several open pithos jars filled with wine.

Greenseer

Okay, I couldn't let #superbowl pass without indulging in personal show n tell 🦉

Some ancient Athenian Owl coins. 5 silver tetradrachms and one small Athenian bronze. Only the reverses are shown. The other side of each bears the bust of Athena

Dates - Main box and 1st two in top row were struck 454 to 404 BCE. Top Right: 393 to 294 BCE. Centre left column: 170 BCE. Bottom Left: 166 to 157 BCE

#numismatics #ancientgreece

Collage of 6 ancient coins with an Owl motif. Only the reverse 'tails' sides are shown. Main box lower right and 5 smaller boxes bordering. Description as main text other than to mention that style varies according to era

Erotic Mythology 🌹

Watch out on your way back from the party tonight.

"One day #Sokrates came home from a dinner at a late hour of the night. Some badly behaving youths learned of his movements in advance and lay in wait for him. They carried lighted torches and wore masks of the Erinyes, it being their habit to misuse their leisure by playing tricks on other people. Sokrates was not frightened when he saw them; he stopped and began asking them questions."

@antiquidons #AncientGreece #Socrates