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Evangelical

2025-08-08T10:25:26-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Signs of the Time— Durham Days

Last updated on: August 8, 2025 at 10:25 am By Ben Witherington

What you are looking at is two mementos from our years in Durham England. The first is the picture of the high altar in Durham Cathedral, the most spectacular Norman church in the world, built after the famous William the Conqueror came to England in 1066 winning the battle of Hastings in that year, and establishing a Norman presence in England, the most impressive of which is seen in this remarkable cathedral. You will notice the small curio below it... Read more

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Ah those Durham Days

2025-08-03T15:00:56-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Women of Pompeii– Part Nine

Last updated on: August 3, 2025 at 3:00 pm By Ben Witherington

The women of Pompeii did indeed participate in a variety of kinds of religious expressions and cults, including the mystery cults, depicted at the Villa of the Mysteries at Pompeii. And rituals required religious equipment so to speak… Here is a woman with a kiste box probably, containing incense or myrrh. Are these items to be used to add music to the rituals or something else? Almost always in these villas we find jewelry of various sorts, and again... Read more

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O Woman where hast thy soul gone?

2025-08-03T14:28:46-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Women of Pompeii- Part Eight

Last updated on: August 3, 2025 at 2:28 pm By Ben Witherington

We have not discussed women and their gardens, but various of these villas had both flower and fruit gardens. The semi-tropical climate allowed the residents to have fruit trees, This peristyle garden in Pompeii may well have had both flowers and fruit but today it is just a flower garden. One of the more surprising finds is the watering systems. Not only have pipes and sprinkler systems been found in these gardens, but the use of gravity, by having large... Read more

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Ars longa

ARS LONGA VITA BREVIS

2025-08-03T09:02:20-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Women of Pompeii– Part Seven

Last updated on: August 3, 2025 at 9:02 am By Ben Witherington

This is a fascinating and whimsical fresco— we have a mother playing dolls with her daughter, we have a slave hanging out the laundry, and we have a man or angelic. figure in a bird cage with the bird on top of the cage….! This is Poppaea, born in Pompeii but she became the second wife of Nero, noted for her beauty. Next to her is an amphora… This last figure is the most beautiful on exhibit and it... Read more

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What price curly hair?

2025-08-03T08:36:02-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Women of Pompeii– Part Six

Last updated on: August 3, 2025 at 8:36 am By Ben Witherington

There is plenty to see in the streets of Pompeii, including graffiti, advertisements, shop names, and lots of statues, including statues that have been turned into fountains… hence the big mouth on the statue….. Check out the items below. The baby appears to be holding a little bird, and I’ve seen a little statue elsewhere in Italy with such a motif. The statue has next to it a mask which represents comedy. Read more

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The writings on the wall

2025-08-03T15:00:08-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Women of Pompeii– Part Five

Last updated on: August 3, 2025 at 3:00 pm By Ben Witherington

There is so much to see in this exhibit, and various of the items are probably on loan from the nearby archaeology museum in Naples. Here below is a very interesting statue of a woman, which I’m not sure what it signifies. Women along with their servants were normally in charge of most tasks within the house, including in charge of food, cleaning of various items including glass items. Believe it or not the item below is a loaf of... Read more

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Just slightly over cooked

2025-08-03T07:22:31-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Women of Pompeii– Part Four

Last updated on: August 3, 2025 at 7:22 am By Ben Witherington

Sometimes matrons in a villa would sit for a portrait of some sort, sometimes in the form of a large cameo— But normally they would go with frescoes of other male or female figures…. If your wondering about the heads these figures are holding in their hands they are images of comedy or tragedy, i.e. the usual masks suggesting the matron is a patron of the arts. Below however is a matron sitting for a traditional portrait, and below that... Read more

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2025-08-03T07:10:05-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Women of Pompeii– Part Three

Last updated on: August 3, 2025 at 7:10 am By Ben Witherington

Some of the most fascinating things at this stellar exhibit off the palestra or main town square are the frescoes rescued from various villas, though some were left in situ….. Most of these involve scenes from Greek or Roman mythology. Most often one would find such frescoes in a place where guests would be entertained, namely in the triclinium where dining happened, but also in other ‘public’ rooms in a house. But one would also find, interesting decorative objects like... Read more

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The brightly colored walls of Pompeii

2025-08-03T06:27:09-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Women of Pompeii– Part Two

Last updated on: August 3, 2025 at 6:27 am By Ben Witherington

For the elite, education of children normally would happen in the home. Here is a lovely fresco of a young girl with her stylus and her practice pad— a diptych made of wood into which was inserted wax so one could practice one’s letters and words. The family would hire a tutor, preferably a Greek one so the child could learn Greek to go with the Latin spoken in the home. Here is an explanation. Occasionally one finds busts of... Read more

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Practice your alpha betas

2025-08-02T21:35:33-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Women of Pompeii– Part One

Last updated on: August 2, 2025 at 9:35 pm By Ben Witherington

At Pompeii we arrived in time for this opening exhibit on women of that city before the disaster. Pompeii was the ancient equivalent of a resort city, the difference was the elites had slaves, lots of domestic slaves, and in some cases agricultural slaves that worked the vineyards and other crops. But the women who left remains such as jewelry or busts or statues, rather than just ashes are what this exhibit is of course mainly about. There are not... Read more

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I don't know where we gonna go when the volcano blow

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