My institution, the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies, is currently advertising five nine-month fellowships to support the writing of a PhD funding proposal. Deadline 1 October. Any questions, do get in touch (my email is on my webpage :) www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/images/about...

Now at the round table on how we can and should study strong asymmetrical dependency in past and present organised by our very own @dependencybonn.de, in the amazing surroundings of Bonn’s Schlosskirche where Beethoven learned his trade.

We had a great discussion this morning about past and current power dynamics underlying the so-called “flagship” of the profession, the historical journal. Many thanks to our panel members and our very interested audience!

The Institute of History of the University of Bern is seeking to fill a full time professor position (open rank) in History of the Middle Ages with consideration of digital Methods, beginning 1 February, 2027. ohws.prospective.ch/public/v1/jo...

"A ‘Conclusion’ by @writinghelena.bsky.social draws out the themes of the volume (and is worth the price of admission on its own)." nice review by Robin Whelan of what looks like a fascinating volume on "empresses-in-waiting" bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2025/2025.09...

Publication – « The Cambridge Companion to Christian Heresy », éd. Richard Flower rmblf.be/2025/09/07/p...

Huge congratulations to my wonderful colleague and former University of Sheffield pal @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social !! Go read this book, the 11th century is the best century :)

Publication – Charles West, « Europe in the Eleventh Century. Beyond Revolution and Reform » rmblf.be/2025/09/01/p...

Delighted to see the latest article in special issue @genderandhistory.bsky.social ed. [email protected]; Lisa Hellman, Rachel Jean-Baptiste and me out! 🌟 Greg Downs investigates the experiences of Black rural working women at elections in South Carolina 1874-1895 doi.org/10.1111/1468...

In recent months, a significant amount of time has been devoted to our database of employees of the MGH since their founding in 1819. We are currently focused on documenting the genesis of our editions. All MGH editors will be included shortly. Have a look! data.mgh.de/databases/mg...

And now attention, late antique people! Today in Trier I was shown the Trier Ivory up close, from the front and - unseen before, at least by me- from the back! Note the strange markings, apparently by the craftsmen, and the hole for the elephant’s nerve reaching into the tusk

Today is Helena’s Catholic feast day! To celebrate I’ve been to Trier to witness the display of her relics, stolen from her mausoleum in Rome in the ninth century.

In einem Monat geht's los! 🤩 Wir freuen uns schon sehr auf den #Historikertag des #VHD in Bonn und auf das gemeinsame Panel mit Julia Hillner und Andreas Fahrmeir am Mittwoch um 8.30 Uhr. @vhdonline.bsky.social @historikertag.bsky.social @unibonn.bsky.social

Broken record, I know, but I do have to say one thing re: this otherwise excellent piece. Ando is right to lament the increased % of teaching done by “lecturers.” But framing them as “people with no formal contact with research” is misleading, and obscures a crucial piece of the puzzle. /1

And I also return to find proofs...all 1047 pages.

Back in my office I find this book in my mail. The field of “ancient carceral studies” really is growing (although in truth has been vibrant outside the Anglophone world for a long time already).

On holiday, I reread Umberto Eco‘s Il nome della rosa. What an extraordinary, mind boggling, deeply erudite, haunting, and exceedingly funny book this continues to be. And an ode to the Middle Ages, a beautiful, learned and brutal age that is our mirror and, as Eco says, “our common childhood”.

Absolutely stunning mosaics in the rotunda of Galerius in Thessaloniki. Probably 5th century?

Via Egnatia from above and from below. The latter courtesy of the brand new metro in Thessaloniki.

"A review written in transparent prose can be translated via Google or Deepl with great accuracy" Not sure whether forcing your colleagues to use AI just because language skills among Anlophones is collapsing is really a good look. bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2025/2025.05...

OUP's Women in Antiquity is such a good idea - with recent additions on Balthild, Radegund and Theodora. global.oup.com/academic/con...

Space... The Final Frontier... and coincidentaly the main subject of my essay that just came out in the Studies in Late Antiquity. online.ucpress.edu/SLA/issue/9/3

Take a look at the programme of our workshop on the subject of Elite Women and Systems of Dependency in Late Anitquity organised by Grace Stafford and yours truly, which will take place at the @dependencybonn.de next month.

Visiting my favourite empress at the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki. The small arch of Galerius features portrait busts of the emperor and what probably used to be a portrait of his wife, Valeria Augusta. After Licinius executed her for treason in this very city it was recarved as a Tyche.

Further adventures in wearable book covers: tie-dye Hormizd II #TTH @livunipress.bsky.social

Journal of Roman Studies review: "[This] is an admirably accessible volume... Many of these chapters will be top recommendations on my undergraduate and postgraduate reading lists. Overall, the volume is an impressive piece of work that makes a valuable and fresh contribution to the field."

You can find my article "Romano-Barbarian Amicitia Shaping the Discourse and Sustaining Political and Social Networks" in the volume 15 of Palamedes that just came out (do not be confused by the dates of the volume ;)).

Mosaic floor of the late antique church on the eastern necropolis of Serdica. The floor dates from the early fifth century, the church itself from the first half of the fourth. Perhaps the fraught council of Serdica was held here in 343. 1/

More ancient Serdica; Banya Bashi Mosque in the background

Sveti Georgi, a fourth-century church, with parts of ancient Serdica, allegedly Constantine‘s favourite city.

Wearable book covers! I turned a few of my Translated Texts for Historians cover drawings for @livunipress.bsky.social into summer attire.

📢Announcing the hosts of #CA2026 @manchester.ac.uk @manmetuni.bsky.social The CA Conference brings together everyone with an interest in the ancient world, from across the 🌎. See you in Manchester! We are delighted to be opening the call for Contributions from now until 15 September- link in bio.

🎧 If you missed our last Joseph C. Miller Memorial #Lecture by Phil Withington, you can now find the #recording on #Youtube! Follow the link 👉https://youtu.be/clxMJRv4GDM @unibonn.bsky.social @dfg.de @sheffielduni.bsky.social

Anlässlich der Restaurierung des Grabs von Theodor Mommsen lud die BBAW zu einer feierlichen Würdigung ein. Stefan Rebenich und Christoph Markschies sprachen Grußworte am Grab des Historikers auf dem Friedhof II der Dreifaltigkeitsgemeinde.(1/2)

New on the blog: Teaching Slavery in Late Antiquity - a reflection In a guest post, Jamie Wood (University of Lincoln) talks about his new undergraduate module on late antique slavery. We'll be publishing some of his students' work over the next few weeks. www.dosseproject.com/teaching-sla...

On my way to Erlangen to give a paper on Julian and his female relatives. There is so much textual and physical material, far beyond the usual Eusebia, that I had to cut most of it for a coherent 50-60 minute seminar paper! www.global-antiquity.phil.fau.de/2025/07/02/l...

Perhaps you wonder what challenges the digitisation of the PLRE entails? I can indulge your curiosity with an article I wrote with Jessica van 't Westeinde for Prosopografie 2024 volume edited by Elena Gritti: aisberg.unibg.it/handle/10446...

Interested in Dependency and Roman History? Our Cluster Professor Julia Hillner gives insights into her research & teaching here at BCDSS. For all statements, see: shorturl.at/xABzo ✍️ Apply until 15 September 2025 @unibonn.bsky.social @dfg.de #MAprogram #BCDSS #DependencyStudies #BonnUniversity

Coming to a bookshop or more likely a library near you later this year, in 2 volumes brill.com/display/titl...

Alle Infos zur Sektion:

And with the English Historical Review @enghistrev.bsky.social, the Rivista storica italiana, the Czech Historical Review and the Historische Zeitschrift. We will ask what makes for a „flagship“ journal, if we need them, how powerful they are and whether the above are actually ones.

Great initiative and we‘ve come a long way! I remember taking my youngest to the IMC in 2007 in a sling under my coat so no one would notice I was smuggling her into sessions and breastfeeding in a car park in between. 👍

Latest of @genderandhistory.bsky.social special issue on Gender & Segregation - ed. @writinghelena.bsky.social, Lisa Hellman & Rachel Jean-Baptiste & myself - is now out! Jens Carlesson Magalhães examines the case of the only Jewish girls' school in 19th Century Sweden 🌟 doi.org/10.1111/1468...

Inadvertently patristics coded at the pool 🏊‍♀️ (One of the many great things about Bonn: public lidos)

This is my favourite late Roman empress (from British museum website). Is that a similar necklace?

I am giving a paper on this and other curious stories around Julian and his women at the Diversity and Globalization in the Ancient World seminar series of the University of Erlangen on 16 July... I think I am indeed diversifying this run of seminars😉 www.global-antiquity.phil.fau.de

In February 360, the emperor Julian was almost crowned with a piece of jewelry that his wife Helena wore "on her head or around her neck" (Amm. Marc. 20.4.17). It's intriguing to think that it was similar to this late antique object that could be worn both as headband or as neckband. 1/