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On Friday, February 17 at 9:30 AM

Warren Lawrence interviewed June about her latest Miriam bat Isaac book.

June's take on Roman forensics

This hand shows a most unusual case of polydactyly: two fully formed and functional thumbs.

​Antique Etruscan garnet earrings. Notice the intricate rope design in the gold work

​This model of H. G. Well’s time machine was designed for travel into the past or future.

Have a Latte with June at the Write Way Café

These personal hygiene sticks prove that in addition to tea, silk, and spices, infectious diseases were carried along China’s Silk Road.

English painter John William Godward (1861-1922) painted the Roman conception of beauty.

The Hand of the Philosophers is a 15th century alchemical symbol. Each feature of the hand corresponds to an aspect of the alchemical process.

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Most often, readers choose a book based on the recommendations of others. They also have to know what the book is about.

This cosmetic box is made of  wood, bronze and carved bone and was excavated from Pompeii. 

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: CONVERSATIONS WITH TODAY’S AUTHORS

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The fresco here shows even young children at work in a fuller’s workshop. They are stomping on garments soaking in a mixture of water and stale urine. This painting was found in Pompeii, in the workshop of Veranius Hypsaeus.

An open-air market in Rome illustrated by J Williamson.

Nero by Abraham

Janssens van Nuyssen (1620) 

Nero unleashed a cascade of rose petals that smothered one of his guests.

In this painting from Pompeii, you can see on the left a bronze mortar that was used for grinding black pepper.

The needles in this tattoo gun move quickly, from about 50 to 30,000 vibrations per minute.

[Image credit: Olena Yakobchuk/Shutterstock]

Miriam spots the Oceanus, a trireme, and remembers the ship’s expedition seven years ago.

The Nine Muses were the sister goddesses who gave philosophers, poets, and artists their inspiration to create.  

Archeologists find a Roman face cream. It was a mixture of animal fat, starch, and cassiterite, a mineral of tin.

CHECKOUT THE BIG THRILL 

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Another fresco from a fuller’s workshop in Pompeii. On the left, the man brushes the material. On the right, another carries the basket on which the materials will be bleached. At the top of the basket sits an owl, the symbol of Minerva, the patron of fullers.

Gold coin with yoked heads of Nero and his mother, Agrippina the Younger, Hunterian Museum, Glasgow

Join in the Perilous Adventures of

Miriam bat Isaac

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Roman Legionaries Laughing

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​ A boutique day spa promises to offer you, for a stiff price, an alchemical experience.

In ancient Rome, pale skin was considered beautiful. (a wall painting from Vila San Marco in Stabiae)

FORENSIC EVIDENCE, ROMAN STYLE

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June told Jacqueline Seewald’s audience about Roman Forensics

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Ursus and Achilles were both trained as a retiarius, the gladiator on the left who fights with only a net and trident.

Members of the Calliphoridae family, commonly

known as blow flies, blowflies, carrion flies,

bluebottles, or greenbottles, are the first to invade a corpse.

Poison needle rings usually have a large stone bezel set into the band of the ring. A small catch and hinge allow the stone to swing open and release the poison when the wearer makes a fist.

June Assists New Authors

Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky. It is known as the “dog star” because it is part of the constellation Canis Major, which is Latin for the “greater dog”. 

Julius Caesar

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In Death Comes as the End, Agatha Christie transports us back to ancient Egypt, more than 2000 years before Miriam bat Isaac’s time.

June was Kathleen Kaska's guest Blogger

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Rather than a pool of blood, Rhea likely meant a puddle of blood when she described the appearance of the corpse in “Believing is Seeing”.

Jupiter with his thunderbolt and scepter in the clouds, a fresco in Herculaneum ©ArchaiOptix

Consulting the Oracle, an oil painting on canvas by John William Waterhouse (1884)

Mark Twain once said, “Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer.”

Exterior of the amphitheater

A first-century CE warehouse in Caesarea

Creative ideas come from the imagination.

Alan R. Warren, Crime Writer and NBC Radio Host

Huey, Dewey, and Louie, as they are seen in the original Duck Tales animated series

June was a judge for the 2024 Claymore Award

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© 2025 by June Trop

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