@Pythika

'My words should and can be brief lest by dwelling on your great deeds I treat them unworthily.'

Joined February 2014
  • Tweets21.7K
  • Following2.5K
  • Followers8.6K
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Recreation of Helen of Troy's maquillage based on 13th BC Mycenaean plaster head, Nat Arch Mus Athens. #WorldGothDay
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Yes, exactly! And how we splice together quite disparate bits of evidence for religious ritual into some sort of narrative and convince ourselves that we understand what people were doing and why.
Elo-Mall Toomet@EloMallOct 5
I continuously find it strange how often not taking it seriously seems to be considered a requirement for researching ancient religion. As if we somehow know better and can explain what people "really" experienced when they spoke of an encounter with something divine.
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At my first school they read at the end of term: "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report... The "whatsoevers" made it.
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I do like our new(ish) Pope! He makes me want to 'do' better - not just selfishly 'be' better. I'm a bit lapsed but aren't we all! Nice to be back and Am Yisrael Chai to Jewish friends x
Pope Leo XIV
@PontifexOct 5
Replying to @Pontifex
Our age needs men and women who have the courage to do good even when it comes at a cost. Draw close to those who are alone, support those who are weary, and seek out those who have drifted away. Have the courage to forgive, to begin again, and to engage in dialogue.
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A fantastic set of results in the ICCG for our Beginners' class of '26 at the Liverpool Greek Academy! Congratulations to all! Read more and find out how you can join this year's cohort, here: classicsforallnorth.org.uk/n…

Liverpool Greek Academy - congrats to our super Beginners' class!

Our fabulous Beginners' Class of 2026 have just received their results in the Intermediate Certificate in Classical Greek.

classicsforallnorth.org.uk
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Once again, students at the Liverpool Greek Academy have achieved fantastic A-level results, and greatly increased the proportion of state-school Classical Greek A-level! Congratulations!!! We will miss you! Blog-post here: Liverpool Greek Academy | Classics for All North
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Pavement shoal in old Hull.
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Last year I read Kristin Lavransdatter, Sigrid Undset's epic early C14th Norwegian trilogy; I've just read it again. It's so blindingly good, the best historical novel I've encountered. So, I recommend! Have you read Kristin? Tell me what you think.
Pythika@PythikaMay 18
Nothing beats the novels we read as teenagers and return to throughout our lives: Middlemarch, War & Peace, all of Austen, Jane Eyre, Moby Dick, the Magic Mountain. What do you still love?
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What the design proves is that the Minoans were discrete drinkers who when drinking wine (especially on Zoom meetings) wanted to make it look as though they were just having a cup of tea
Alison Fisk
@AlisonFiskAug 1
Sipping my coffee ☕️ and thinking about these marvellous Minoan cups! They look so modern it’s incredible to think they were made by Bronze Age potters some 3,800 years ago! Heraklion Archaeological Museum, Crete. 📷 by me #Archaeology
My photo collage shows five cylindrical Minoan cups each with a single handle and a slightly flaring rim. Each cup has a black slip background decorated with a different geometric polychrome motif painted in white, red and orange colours. This type of Minoan pottery is known as Kamares Ware, after the Kamares Cave in central Crete where this kind of pottery was first found. Kamares Ware vessels were luxury items produced by palace workshops mainly at Phaistos and Knossos. These five cups were excavated at Phaistos and are dated 1800-1700 BC.

ALT My photo collage shows five cylindrical Minoan cups each with a single handle and a slightly flaring rim. Each cup has a black slip background decorated with a different geometric polychrome motif painted in white, red and orange colours. This type of Minoan pottery is known as Kamares Ware, after the Kamares Cave in central Crete where this kind of pottery was first found. Kamares Ware vessels were luxury items produced by palace workshops mainly at Phaistos and Knossos. These five cups were excavated at Phaistos and are dated 1800-1700 BC.

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Today is Lammas, an Anglo-Saxon harvest festival celebrated on 1 August. The name comes from the Old English word 'hlafmæsse', 'loaf-mass', so it's a festival of bread - perhaps a day for blessing loaves of bread made from the first wheat of the harvest. patreon.com/clerkofoxford/po…
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The 7th century church of St Paul’s at Jarrow. The home of Bede and once home too to Wilfrid, Ceolfrith and St Cuthbert. 🕯️
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This but in Greek.
Theo Nash@theo_nashJul 17
This but unironically.
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Pythika retweeted
Theo Nash@theo_nashJul 18
One aspect of Nolan’s Odyssey I’ve not seen noted is his use of mediaeval/Venetian castles rather than Classical or Bronze Age citadels — Methone for Sparta and the Acrocorinth for Mycenae. These are much more visually striking, and some of the most underrated sites in Greece.
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If @odysseymovie were anything as good as Daniel Mendelsohn's translation I'd give it a go... I've not heard anything positive from friends who've seen it - any contrary reviews?
Daniel Mendelsohn@DAMendelsohnNYCJul 19
My review of @odysseymovie in @nybooks now online nybooks.com/online/2026/07/1…
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You know what? Whatever you think of @odysseymovie, lovers of #literature, #Homer, #Classics, the #Odyssey & #Iliad shd be rejoicing. If you’d told me 5 years ago that the entire planet would be talking abt this 2,700-year-old Greek text, I’d have laughed. So let’s be grateful.
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Booking for the inaugural Heneb Wrexham Roman Conference, 2-4 October now open. See heneb.org.uk/event/arcc2026-…

ArCC2026 - The Wrexham Roman Conference - Heneb: The Trust for Welsh Archaeology

We are delighted to announce the inaugural Archaeology Conference Cymru (ArCC) which will take place in Wrexham from 2nd-4th October 2026. This first conference is a collaboration between PAS Cymru...

heneb.org.uk
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We found a sprite-hat in the garden
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If we win, we return the body of Cuthbert to its rightful resting place
Joseph 🕊️
@CaudilloXIVJul 6
8th century ass match
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Mysterious Celtic La Tène sword found deposited in a well at the sanctuary of Zeus at Nemea, in the Peloponnese
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Victoria Moul. "Like the eagle of Zeus, one softened wing / Over his head as he sleeps, as I sing."
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Pythika retweeted
Helen Castor@hrcastorJun 17
While watching the leopards of Congo and waiting for the lions of England, why not find out why England’s three lions are actually leopards and the story of Henry of Bolingbroke’s cheetah Link ⬇️
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