One of my professors in grad school (late '90s) used to point to the abandoned churches that are ubiquitous in American cityscapes as a warning that we should not take the permanence of modern universities for granted. Prescient, I think.

Michael Whitby. Single-handedly channeling the rage every editor of a collective volume has ever felt throughout generations.

I suppose I should mention that my book on the Polis has a chapter on reading the Iliad and the Odyssey historically: portrayal a diverse, fluid world poised btw lordly power and community claims; a failed feudal turn (thank God).

I rarely give papers, but I made an exception here for a conference on Belisarius dedicated to the memory of Dariusz Brodka. Unfortunately, not able to attend in person.

Journal of the Australian Early Medieval Association Vol. 21, No. 1 (2026) search.informit.org/toc/jaema/21/1 @jaema.bsky.social

Google Books now has an extensive preview of my new book: books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&...

The latest ICS newsletter is here with news and announcements, updates on blogs, events, and publications: mailchi.mp/sas/ics-news... Receive future editions by subscribing here: mailchi.mp/sas/ics-news...

My review of this interesting book is now up on early view: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Buildings/Secret History/Wars

"Late Antiquity" was not created out of thin air by a singular genius. Ahem. Nevertheless, I think we can identify a relatively small circle of foundational figures who built the field into the behemoth that it has become. On *any* reckoning, Averil Cameron belongs in that small circle. 1/4

My academic hero Averil Cameron has died...We first started corresponding back in the early 2000s, mainly about Procopius...later we frequently conversed on Twitter about a myriad of things Late Antique and more. She could be tough on young scholars, but a compliment then meant even more...RIP

A fascinating paper on the discovery in Scandinavia in 2025 of what may the earliest surviving solidus from the reign of Leo I: www.researchgate.net/profile/Svan...

New issue of the Journal of Late Antiquity:

Paperback of my book on the Polis

Did King Harold Really Sail to the Battle of Hastings? I'm not convinced... www.marcmorris.org.uk/2026/03/did-...

I rarely give papers these days, but I made an exception for the conference in Krakow in May focussing on Belisarius & honouring Dariusz Brodka. My paper is “Family Strategy and Succession in the House of Belisarius”. It's based on a chapter from a book I'm working on that will appear in 2028.

In a world with fewer academic jobs for younger scholars, the power of the old guard to gatekeep has grown significantly. Younger scholars, both in private conversations and in print, are warned not to ruffle feathers or apply “radical” methodologies to their topics, lest they risk academic exile.

Publishing isn't the finish line - it's the starting point for new conversations. Your work's real impact happens when others build on your ideas.

After Constantine Studies in Early and Byzantine Christianity No. 6 (2026) afterconstantine.org/archive #openaccess

Final proofs and index submitted....

Typing page numbers into my index...who needs sleeping pills.

#CFP #PACRIM34 34th Meeting of the Pacific Rim Roman Literature Seminar. Theme: #TRAGEDY - Melbourne, July 20-22, 2026 - due by April 1 to [email protected] (Convenor: A/Prof. K.O. Chong-Gossard, Melbourne)

Two recent publications not to be missed! Volumes 11 and 12 of the Brill’s Companions to Classical Studies series focus on ancient warfare, exploring the many faces of women’s involvement in military campaigns, and the conceptualization of courage and cowardice in the ancient Mediterranean world.

This has been a slog but I’m pleased to day that I’m currently checking the proofs, which means this book will soon be out in the wild!

Happy to have at last my own copy of my favourite journal issue I have every contributed to, with articles by Brian Croke, the late Dariusz Brodka, and Michael Whitby...brings up some sad feelings too, since it was Dariusz who invited me to contribute: journals.akademicka.pl/cc/issue/vie...

I’ve taken on a small side project: writing another review essay for Histos on this interesting book. It will give me the opportunity to reflect on what I see as a growing divide among scholars regarding the most productive methodological pathways forward for Procopian studies.

I know my recent and forthcoming books are a bit pricey, but my first book is available open access: kismet.press/portfolio/th...

Daube's paper on Theodora & Justinian's marriage published in 1967, is a rare example of an article that has aged very well despite great advances in the past 60 years in our knowledge about the age of Justinian and Procopius the historian and rhetorician: scholarship.law.edu/lawreview/vo...

The Byzantinist John Melville-Jones has died. I’ll always remember, as a freshly minted PhD, John’s kind words to me after I gave a paper for AAABS in Brisbane on Narses. Those encouraging words gave me a real boost of confidence early in my career, when I need it. RIP John

Happy to announce that my latest paper "Masters of the Sea: Rhetoric and Reality in Procopius’ Depictions of Naval Power in Gothic Wars" will be the next article published in the new issue of Byzantina Symmeikta 36: ejournals.epublishing.ekt.gr/index.php/bz...

Dumbarton Oaks Papers Vol. 79 (2025) www.dopapers.org/for-readers/... #openaccess @dumbartonoaks.bsky.social @chrysoboullon.bsky.social

From the introduction to Mlambo & Lee (eds), Reflections of Trump (2167): “It is clear that a conventional historical biography of the Last President is impossible; surviving written sources are dominated by lurid and fantastical anecdotes that were surely invented to show his unfitness to rule…”

Okay, I'm officially an Old Fart...setting up my transition to retirement account with my Super Annuation (401k for u Americans) account, will hopefully allow me to start taking a few more trips back to the US and to Europe to see relatives and old friends before I'm too decrepit to travel!

I enjoy and respect the scholarship of Michael Whitby. He was, in fact, a most helpful reviewer of my 2012 DPhil. I find it odd, however, that so many recent book reviews in Plekos are written by him. Editors, there are plenty of other established and emerging scholars available!

Ex-Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura: “We’re a 3rd world country now. I know. I’ve been to ‘em. I spent 17 months in SE Asia while the draft dodger was playing golf… that’s what happens in a dictatorship. In comes the military. That’s what’s happening here.” 🇺🇸

𝗪𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝗟𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗔𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗠𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗹𝗲 𝗔𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗪𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻 𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗡𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮 Éric Fournier, Maijastina Kahlos (eds) More Info: bit.ly/49KnjI8 #Women #Antiquity #Medieval #Womensstudies #Europe #Africa #History #Medievalsky #Medievalists

Speculum Vol. 101, No. 1 (2026) www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/spc/2026... Speculations: The Centennial Issue @medievalacademy.bsky.social @etreharne.bsky.social @clairedillon.bsky.social @ldevun.bsky.social @estherlcuenca.bsky.social @barbararosenwein.bsky.social @spencerstrub.bsky.social

Tyrannos y Hetaíra (τύραννος καὶ ἑταίρα): representaciones de género en el siglo VI bizantino. El caso de Justiniano I y Teodora en Historia Secreta de Procopio url:https://byzantion.uchile.cl/index.php/RBNH/article/view/76274

Western Supremacy and “Byzantium” | Speculum: Vol 101, No 1 www-journals-uchicago-edu.ap1.proxy.openathens.net/doi/full/10....

NEW FOR 2026 | Essays in Long Late Antiquity A new Open Access journal in first millennium studies, enticing interdisciplinary and superregional approaches to research in the second to the ninth centuries & broader Afro-Eurasian region: bit.ly/4f7BXZC @calthalas.bsky.social @sihonglin.bsky.social

Xmas Party Season....my yearly reminder that I don't drink too often for a reason...fun nevertheless

A fantastic-and better yet-Open access book by Susanna Elm : www.ucpress.edu/books/the-im...

It's here at last: www.routledge.com/Portraits-of...

Including a review article by Zuckerman of Kruse and Kaldellis CUP volume

New volume of Byzantion Vol. 94 (2024) poj.peeters-leuven.be/content.php?... @peeterspublishers.bsky.social

For my new Routledge book, I'm investigating the early days of Justinian and Theodora's relationship. Yes, it has been combed through extensively by Croke/Pazdernik/Potter among others but my angle is that it was Justin rather than Euphemia who was the primary early obstacle to their marriage....