Charity
At this time of year, it’s important to think about other people less fortunate. If you are able, please donate time, skills, old items or money to charity.
If you know you will need to get rid of items (including kids toys), why not donate them before the holidays.
I also encourage everyone to donate to charities like UNWRA, which are supporting Palestinian refugee families, ensuring that food is delivered and that children are cared for.
Fashions
Keep the Royal Peculiars away.
Look tidy with this Hellebore sweater, decorated with an illustration by W Graham Robertson for Wind in the Willows from 1908. Recently, a person was kicked out of Westminster Abbey for wearing this statement piece.
Hellebore is a magazine specialising in folklore, folk horror and magic and would also be a good gift.
Justified, stylish
Prepare to meet the King of the Dead in style with this gorgeous t-shirt from the British Museum.
Stole from the Louvre
Wrap yourself in this stylish wool stole from the most luxurious museum gift shop in Paris and imagine you’re instantly a frazzled French woman (or man) who’s just discovered a ladder outside his museum… Also available in silk.
The still point of this moving world
Centre yourself in yoga practice with Im Pei Pyramid branded grey sweatshirt.
Thot accessories
You can make anything look good with the right accessories and this Thot badge from the V&A is just the ticket.
Objects for the home
You can’t go wrong with Anubis. You can get a gorgeous gold Anubis figurine or a black plaster Anubis statuette from the British Museum. Timeless pieces.
Stoic chic
Dominate online meetings and events with a polychrome resin bust of Marcus Aurelius strategically placed behind you. Recalling ancient busts created from different marbles, this object evokes that perfect balance of philosophic calm and absolute power.
Wipe dry your pots and save them from the ravages of time, with a tea towel from the Sir Josh Soane museum decorated with the accumulated treasure of the ages.
The original Christmas Tree?
A splendid wall ornament decorated with the Cerne Abbas Giant, created by Dr Aisling Tierney (lecturer at Bristol University). Would look gorgeous during the festive period and throughout the year.
Release the goddess within
A mirror decorated with the Willendorf Venus, created by Dr Aisling Tierney.
Stonehenge Range
Stonehenge candle
Light this candle, relax and ponder history with this Stonehenge candle. JD & Kate Industries specialise in historical themed candles. They claim it will help solve longstanding archaeological questions.
Historically accurate model of Stonehenge
Aliens beamed down from the mothership, building the mighty stone circle, an image etched on our collective memories. A fun piece. This fancy light will help you relax and is a real statement piece. A great gift for the business executive in your life.
Kids corner
The pyramid awaits with this fun educational toy from Playmobil, with secret chambers and more.
Riddle me this
Escape the far-famed-fearsome labyrinth, with this wooden game.
Join the gang
The chic present for cool kids of all ages, an enamel pin badge of the Egyptian gods from the British Museum.
Be the dread messenger between the powers above and the powers beneath the earth
Create your own Egyptian God Mask: Relive your favourite scene from Apuleius’ Golden Ass, with this fantastic gift.
Strategize the return of disputed objects, with this cute mini museum playset from the Ashmolean.
You’ve got a lovely present for the Asterix fan in your life with this plush wild boar.
Teach kids that it’s all been downhill since our ancestors crawled out the seas (or least left the caves) with this boardgame from always popular Horrible Histories series.
Books
- All Roads Lead To Rome by Rhiannon Garth Jones focusing on the long influence of ancient Rome and what it says about us.
- Strike: Labor, Unions, and Resistance in the Roman Empire by Sarah Bond an eye opening study of organised labour in the ancient world.
- The Far Edges of the Known World by Owen Rees a tour of the lesser known areas and stories from ancient history
- The Cleopatras by Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones gossipy, but academically rigorous history of the Ptolemaic queens.
- The Fall of Egypt and the Ride of Rome by Guy de la Bedoyere Egypt and Rome, the star-crossed lovers of antiquity. A great introduction to the topic.
- The Last Dynasty: Ancient Egypt from Alexander the Great to Cleopatra by Toby Wilkinson The Ptolemaic period of Egyptian history, told for a general readership, largely from the perspective of Egyptian sources.
- What to Expect When You’re Dead: An Ancient Tour of Death and the Afterlife by Robert Garland A fun, short, learned history of ancient history. The perfect stocking filler.
- Medea by Eilish Quin novelisation of the much maligned, reviled and written about figure of myth.
- No Friend to This House by Natalie Haynes, Medea as you’ve never seen here.
- Fulvia: The Woman Who Broke All the Rules in Ancient Rome by Jane Draycott a fascinating study of the important political figure in late Republic Rome.
- And if you enjoyed that, you might live Fulvia, a novel, by Kaarina Parker.
- Augustine the African by Catherine Conybeare an important new study on the celebrated late antique bishop.
- The African Emperor: A Life of Septimus Severus by Simon Elliott one of the seminal emperors of the later Roman period gets his moment.
Rhakotis 