today’s the day!!

it’s officially book promo time! so, hey, i wrote this book; it comes out in a week! would you mind signal boosting and asking your library to buy it? if you’d like a copy, the code AUFLY30 will get you 30%off.

Attend: A Short History of the Entanglement between Syriac and Armenian Christianities, lecture by Andy Hilkens, Princeton University, November 13, 2025, 4:30–6:00 PM maryjahariscenter.org/blog/a-short...

Later today (at 1pm CET): Chance Bonar (Virginia), "Onesimus: Apostle and Martyr in Eastern Mediterranean Literature"

Since we mourn for the dead and fight like hell for the living, I’m bumping my thread about how from my perspective as a former Junior Olympic level track runner, this “fairness” transphobia is fucking bullshit blacksky.community/profile/did:...

A reminder that we have no colloquium event this week! However, our affiliated program, the Philadelphia Seminar on Christian Origins, is holding a book event on Zoom with Prof. Ellen Muehlberger (Michigan) from 6:30–8:00 pm on Thursday, Oct. 30. Details here: rels.sas.upenn.edu/events/2025/...

🗣️ PLEASE SHARE 🗣️ I'm writing an intro & sourcebook on late ancient Gazan literature for Dar al-Kalima University Press. The press and I plan to produce an Arabic translation to make Gazan literature more accessible to Palestinians. Help me compensate the Gazan translator! spot.fund/dn8t744sc

In today's post, Ephrem Aboud Ishac writes about using #AI to visually reconstruct and complete partially damaged or fragmented #Syriac manuscripts, exploring its benefits and the ethical obligations involved. 🔗 digitalorientalist.com/2025/10/21/s...

Also next week!

It’s hard to overstate how important these resources are!

Mind-numbing how many layers of history there can be to a single manuscript page: Syriac upper text (10th c.), Armenian undertext (pre-10th c.), Arabic material used for binding (11-12th c.?), Coptic foliation in the margin (date?), modern foliation at the bottom. Image: Leiden UL Or. 14236, link ⬇️

Next week!!!

God, Slavery, and Early Christianity is out in the real world with @universitypress.cambridge.org! I have some extra, so retweet this by the end of Oct. 19 if you’re interested in receiving a copy! Book info here: www.cambridge.org/core/books/g...

A new #review on AJR! Briana Grenert writes about A Memory of Violence: Syriac Christianity and the Radicalization of Religious Difference in Late Antiquity by Christine Shepardson #lateantiquity #syriacstudies @ucpress.bsky.social www.ancientjewreview.com/read/2025/9/...

i didn't get to include the epigraph i wanted but i really wanted y'all to know that i'd picked the following from terry pratchett's _the wee free men_: "it didn't stop being magic just because you found out how it was done." (a good choice, right? but alas, permissions.)

My friend wrote an Element! and a *really* cool one: it's a guide to the Arabic and Persian sources on Rūs death rituals, including new translations of them*. It's still free to download until 2nd October 2025 so get it now (and try not to forget about it...) www.cambridge.org/core/books/d...

Later today, at 4pm CET: Ángel Narro (València), "Thecla’s Increasing Authority from Early Christianity to Late Antiquity" genaut.univie.ac.at/?page_id=671

Thanks to Herman Teule, the Maurits Sabbe Library has recently acquired 11 new manuscripts in Syriac and Arabic, see theo.kuleuven.be/apps/press/t...

Exhibition of 15 Syriac manuscripts at KU Leuven on Thursday 11 September 2025 at 4 PM at the Maurits Sabbe Library in Leuven: "Treasures from the East: Syriac Manuscripts in the Collection of the Maurits Sabbe Library" Registration: bib.kuleuven.be/msb/over/nie...

A lot of people have mentioned they loved the 'Want to Know More?' section of my book – basically an annotated bibliography but with a clear statement on citation ethics (shout out to Sara Ahmed) and a focus on *accessible* scholarship. That means blogs, podcasts, books for a popular audience. 🧵

An actionable way for classicists and ancient historians in particular to support Gazan students in this moment

#Reminder! The deadline for our #cfa for new contributions, editors, and social media team members ends this Sunday (July 13)! Check out the details at the link below if you are interested in joining our team: digitalorientalist.com/2025/06/03/c...

It's not too late to sign up for this summer Coptic course! www.religiondepartment.com/coptic Begins July 8th. Available Asynch. or Synch. Lectures live Tuesdays at 10:00am Atlanta/EDT (3:00pm London/BST, 4:00pm Amsterdam/Zurich/CEST, 5:00pm Cairo/EEST, and 12:00am July 9th Australia/AEST).

Almost here!

Please also come by to our roundtable on Digital Prosopography! It will be fun, I promise! Digital Late Antique Prosopography, II: Between Fragmented Knowledge and Formal Methods - A Round Table Discussion @ International Medieval Congress 2025 imc-leeds.confex.com/imc/2025/mee...

1. that “Byzantium” and “Byzantine Empire” are both anachronistic terms to avoid the fact that the Roman empire kept going until 1453. 2. that they weren't the first terms people came up with to do this. 3. that this terminology actually creates *more* confusion, not less. A thread!

I *loved* writing this for @lollardfish.bsky.social and @profgabriele.com's newsletter - it highlights some longstanding shared ideas about power. It also offers a glimpse of some of the many connections West Asia has always had with Europe. For more, get the book! buttondown.com/ModernMediev...

Tomorrow!

There is a special place in my heart for the archaeological museums who have offered me images for the book with absolutely no charge. They have made both my day and my book infinitely better.

Peter Oakes and I have written about our Coptic Manuscripts & Community pilot project @thejohnrylands.bsky.social, where we share initial insights on how the manuscripts came to be in Manchester & how we might connect these ancient artefacts with folks today. rylandscollections.com/2025/06/13/f...

Free Workshop: Digital Encoding for Syriac Studies Syriaca.org invites applications for a virtual workshop on “Digital Encoding for Syriac Studies” on Tuesday, July 29th and Thursday, July 31, 2025. For details and registration information, see blog.syriaca.org/2025/06/digi...

It's publication day! What a surreal, amazing feeling this is.

🦚📜 Did you know that the father of Church History was Palestinian? To learn more about what his story teaches us about ancient Palestine and how it relates to the present, read @chancebonar.bsky.social's new #EOPalestine post! everydayorientalism.wordpress.com/2025/05/20/t...

Wrote a little bit of something about how humans look to the past for epic stories to take them forward, and how those stories are messier and more complex than we often expect. aspectsofhistory.com/epic-tales-t...

what a fab line up! thanks for organising @danbatovici.bsky.social

Okay since people are now reading my book(!!!), I am going to remind myself of the lovely things the early reviewers said when they read it. And maybe also encourage more of you to order a copy and read for yourselves! geni.us/AllRoadsLead...

Oh wow, people's copies of my book are starting to arrive ALREADY and I was not emotionally prepared for this 🥹🥹🥹

Today, I'm highlighting some of the historical people that feature in my book – that might give more a flavour than "not just Rome!" Let's kick off with Constantine the Great, founder of New Rome (Nea Rhome in Greek, Nova Roma in Latin). More commonly known as Constantinople, or Constantine's city.

5/15 graduate DH Fellow @loren325.bsky.social shares their year's work developing a multilingual, medieval digital edition: cal.lib.virginia.edu/event/14009691 (check her research blogging here!: scholarslab.lib.virginia.edu/people/loren...)

Coming soon: a history of Islamic engagements with Mary, mother of Jesus. From her appearances in the Qur’an, to medieval Muslim discussions of her status as a prophet, to her role in modern interfaith dialogue. Would be a nice addition to many kinds of classes! www.fortresspress.com/store/produc...

when in Rome, maybe grab a @rhigarthjones.bsky.social?

THEY'RE SELLING MY BOOK IN OSTIA ANTICA, I WILL ABSOLUTELY NOT BE CHILL ABOUT THIS

Okay, let's talk a bit about my book! I've said a few times that it's about Rome but Not Like That – what do I mean? The popular idea of ancient Rome is incredibly powerful – ask 100 people to summon up an image of ancient Rome and I bet most could and also that their ideas would be quite similar.

This is a good thread and I want to add something I learned when researching my book. It's about the connections between education and empire, and specifically about the myth of 'meritocracy' (read Khodadad's thread first).

My brilliant friend @rhigarthjones.bsky.social wrote a book!! You can pre-order a copy now!

For all friends of #apocrypha I have a special treat on my blog: A new early Arabic fragment (9th/10th century) of the Six-Books Dormition of the Virgin, translated on the basis of the longer Syriac version: medisi.hypotheses.org/6324

Next Thursday 27 February at 10 AM, we are entering the Palmyrene diaspora through its inscriptions with Antonietta Castiello (University of Oldenburg). As ever, if you are not yet on the mailing list, do not forget to register with @andyhilkens.bsky.social !

I can't quite believe I'm saying this but: I wrote a book! And it's being published this May! It's about Rome, its enduring appeal, the many different ways it has been interpreted, and how understanding this helps us see both the past and the world today more clearly. geni.us/AllRoadsLead...