I like to use a variety of games, from strategy to role playing, when I teach. The good folks at IU wrote up a little article about this teaching method. I share here for all who might be interested: connectedprof.iu.edu/articles/202...

Today on Ancient Office Hours, Dr. @byzantineprof.bsky.social , a professor of history at Indiana University Northwest, discusses the challenges in academic offerings in late antiquity, his work on Belisarius & Antonia, and the impact of digital records on future historical studies.

Save Greek and Latin at the University of Ottawa! www.change.org/p/save-greek...

I am at beautiful High Point University, to give 3 talks in 3 days: 1. The Destruction of Italy in Late Antiquity: How, Why, and Who? 2. The Practice and Challenge of Researching Ancient and Medieval History. 3. Byzantium and the First Crusade: Opportunities Realized and Lost.

"I understand we are surrounded, by both Blues and Greens we're hounded, oh the tumult from inside the Hippodrome! This purple shroud is mine to lose, but dear, it's also the color, I'll wear no other, it's also the color of a bruise." Lyrics from new, original music about Theodora. 👀

The AHR is doing a special issue on pre-modern history. Worth flagging up because so many of us are frustrated that AHR in particular and AHA in general have become so focused on modern history. I hope some of my very clever colleagues will submit for this. www.historians.org/news-publica...

Belisarius & Antonina: Love and War in the Age of Justinian. By David Alan Parnell. New York: Oxford University Press. 2023. 260 pp. £19.99. ISBN 9780197574706. - Kennedy - 2025 - Early Medieval Europe - Wiley Online Library onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

I am making the pilgrimage to Leeds next week to speak about a topic to which I have given a lot of thought lately: that at least some in formerly Roman North Africa and Italy *wanted* Justinian's restoration, and that modern scholars too often ignore them. I expect debate!

Colleagues, the inimitable Leonora Neville has written a short book on the name of the "Byzantine Empire" with the evocative title "Sailing Away from Byzantium toward East Roman History." Currently open access and free to download! www.cambridge.org/core/element...

Unboxing the paperback of Belisarius & Antonina! On sale now. Particularly proud of this one because it's my first book ever to come out as a paperback. 🥹

When I get this kind of email from Quality Matters, of all organizations, I know the end is nigh for us. Kind of speechless, actually. Use AI to generate our course content, QM? Really?

Belisarius & Antonina is getting a paperback edition! Release date is May 15th. Priced at $19.99. Here's a sneak peak of the new back cover with some praise for the book.

Wouldn’t be LEGIONS of Metal without a couple (late) Roman Empire experts rocking out & talking shop. @byzantineprof.bsky.social

This Friday the inimitable Florin Curta will be speaking on Zoom. Title is "Imperial borderlands to the north and to the west of the Black Sea, 6th to early 7th centuries." Michael Decker and yours truly will offer comments. Join us!

JOB ALERT! My department at Indiana University Northwest is hiring a tenure-track, Assistant Professor of American History. I realize most of my mutuals here are medievalists and classicists, but please pass the news on to any Americanist colleagues you have. jobs.chronicle.com/job/37789466...

A year after the original acceptance of publication in a different venue, it looks like this will finally see the light of day!

My new popular history book Fulvia: The Woman Who Broke All the Rules in Ancient Rome will be published in exactly 3 months! It's available to pre-order now 📚

#AncientSiteSunday - The 6th-century AD Byzantine fortress in Ammaedara in North Africa (Haïdra, Tunisia), built during the rule of Justinian. It is the largest Byzantine fort in the Maghreb, measuring c. 195x125m with 10m-high walls, several towers & a wall walk running along the top of the walls.

New volume of Classica Cracoviensia Vol. 27 (2024) journals.akademicka.pl/cc/issue/vie... #openaccess @byzantineprof.bsky.social @conorwhately.bsky.social

Let me add here a shout-out to the editors of Classica Cracoviensia. They run a very efficient journal! I submitted this to them in July 2024, it went through peer review, editorial review, page setting, and was published by the end of 2024. Incredible speed.

My New Year's gift to all: my newest article (open access!) in Classica Cracoviensia. I make an argument that the sixth-century historian Procopius resented the power and success of Belisarius' wife Antonina. journals.akademicka.pl/cc/article/v...

Hi everyone, the Society for Military History is pleased to be here and contribute to this space. Join us as we work to advance the study of military history! www.smh-hq.org

My New Year's gift to all: my newest article (open access!) in Classica Cracoviensia. I make an argument that the sixth-century historian Procopius resented the power and success of Belisarius' wife Antonina. journals.akademicka.pl/cc/article/v...

This is grim.

"Alexander at the Tomb of Cyrus the Great" by Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes. Spotted today at @artinstitutechi.bsky.social.

Belisarius & Antonina: a book that’s been on my list for months, finally in my collection! Merry Christmas folks!

At this time of year, I like to imagine that the 2nd verse of "O Come, All Ye Faithful" was written by St. Nick after he slapped the heresiarch Arius at Nicaea: "God of God, Light of Light, lo, He abhors not the Virgin’s womb; Very God, begotten, not created."

Raze it to the ground and then salt the earth it was built on.

“Nowadays,when the affairs of the cities no longer include leadership in wars or acts ofalliances, what opening for a conspicuous and brilliant public career could ayoung man find? There remain the public lawsuits and embassies to the emperor.” - Plutarch, ca. 100 AD

I will be presenting at IMC Leeds this coming July! Title: "Longing for Roman Restoration in 6th-Century Africa and Italy." There will be plenty of loud crowing about Roman identity in the paper. Hope to see many of you there!

In 403 BC, the citizens of Athens passed a remarkable resolution: "We will remember past offenses no more." It is noteworthy that this followed a devastating Spartan siege of the city, a pro-Spartan oligarchy that killed 1,500 without trial, and a civil war to restore democracy.

In addition to my article in the latest issue of the magazine, I am thrilled to be featured in an author spotlight on the magazine's blog. Here I share some thoughts on the importance of talking about history to non-academic audiences. www.karwansaraypublishers.com/en-us/blogs/...

Issue 8 of Medieval World: Culture & Conflict has been published, and it includes a long, feature article by me entitled "The Emperor Did Not Rule Alone: Justinian, Theodora, Belisarius, and Antonina." www.karwansaraypublishers.com/products/med...

Hello all! I am in the process of setting up this account as my bolthole in case the artist formerly known as the bird site implodes. Will try to remember to cross-post material here.