🥳Cover reveal for 'Gladiators in the Greek World: How a Roman Bloodsport Took Ancient Greece by Storm'🥳 Now officially available to pre-order with an early bird discount (though I'm not sure the release date on the website is 100% set in stone yet) www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Gladiators-i...

The popped champagne. Look at the unbridled joy, which is nothing more than rampant, racist bloodlust. Israel is a nest of monsters. novaramedia.com/2026/03/31/i...

A lot of academic ink has been spilled on Greece and Rome, we know. But in the times we live in, can we still find relevance when we look to the past? Listen to the full episode with @drdanstewart1.bsky.social - "What is 'Classics', Anyway?"

Our episodes have already been downloaded by listeners is 41 countries! We can't believe it!

Did you know we're part of an independent podcast network? Learn more about the network and our sister shows here: www.mythsbaby.com/mnemosyne/po...

A new DOUBLE episode for you this week! @mikebeer.bsky.social joins Alexandra to take a fresh, critical look at the life and career of Augustus. Think you know him? You might just know the image Augustus *wanted* you to know...

Augustus and his reboot of Rome... Listen to the full episode of Augustus' life and career with Dr Mike Beer wherever you get your podcasts!

Coming up this Wednesday! We chat with @lejenksbrown.bsky.social about the essential role played by the Gods in the stories told in epic poetry...

Subscribe to the podcast on your preferred platform and never miss an episode! Find all of the relevant links, as well as links to our website, other socials, and online bookshop here: linktr.ee/ancienthisto...

Checks out. Needs Phoenicians though, and no, Carthage doesn’t count.

We have journalists who can't differentiate between countable and uncountable nouns, but by all means let's continue to chip away at the substance of our curriculum. More fucking about outside with pine cones, less boring thinking.

Merry Christmas!

Did you ever sit waiting for a train and decide to pass the time in some people watching, only to be confronted with the dawning realisation that you're entirely repulsed by humanity?

Well, I've bitten the bullet and become the owner of www.ancientalexandra.co.uk

The Guardian Angels, but it's just me setting fire to any business thar puts Christmas shit up before December 1st.

New blog post tomorrow on TheShelbiad.blogspot.com 🔮

For those who want to dip their toes into the world of Latin, Malta Classics Association are once again running courses. All online, with expert instructors, and competitively priced: classicsmalta.org/lingua-latin...

'I can't express how little I care that it's your birthday.' 'I will outlive all of you.' 'Cruelty is the default mode of nature.' All things I've said to a bunch of 12 year olds this week. Teaching is wild.

I planned a once-in-a-lifetime road trip, but could Turkey live up to my expectations? ancientalexandra.weebly.com/blog/a-turki...

Here's a tale for anyone who'd like to know what I've been up to over the last year... and if you're able to help/share, I'd really appreciate it. Autistic StoryTime – Classical Studies Support share.google/0XfKZucMCoAr...

Why are all your suitcases so big? Are people packing multiple down jackets or something? Currently on a train and watching a procession of cargo crates on wheels failing to navigate the aisle through the carriage...

Regarding the Kimmel situation, an overlooked but urgent cause for concern is the fact that nobody seems to know what 'preempt' means. From the initial statement by ABC or whoever, to actual journalists deploying the word in the same incorrect sense, the implications for modern literacy are dire.

What movie do consider to be perfect? If you know, you know. It's the vibe.

I became a teacher for three reasons: to set up course management systems, worry about AI dissolving my profession, and be broke in my 40s.

'Mark Strong's voice coach inviting me to see him play Oedipus on Broadway' was not on my 2025 bingo card, but here we are...

Not sure I'm qualified for this job. I wonder if they have any warehouse jobs for people with no chill?

Psychology of Education: 'Examine Dweeks theory of normative, conformative, performative identity creation in relation socio-linguistic, socio-economic, and socio-sidereal factors; what challenges do the implications of Spoon-Marigold's transplanar model of self enactment pose to their conclusion?'

If you can, make time to watch Hayao Miyazaki and the Heron on Netflix. It's two hours long, 85% of which consists of Miyazaki at his desk or kitchen counter staring with subdued intensity into the distance. But it's also a beautiful meditation on aging, loss and creativity. Stunning.

Presented without comment...😂 www.instagram.com/reel/DNL6zVe...

Breaking: AI company shocked to discover law also applies to it just as much as to all the little people AI industry horrified to face largest copyright class action ever certified - Ars Technica share.google/CcnJTES3leU2...

Half empty carriage, I'm sole occupant of a cluster of four seats around a table. Window seat. Woman comes in and sits right beside me. Not directly cross, not on the aisle seat opposite. Right next to me. Why!!!??? Sociopathic behaviour.

Still some last minute tickets left for my Folklore & Women event in Manchester on the 6th August! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/folklore-w...

What better way to get back into work than with a blog post? This is the final instalment of the Mythic Masculinities series & it's the wandering wonder himself: Odysseus! 🚣‍♂️ #classicssky #blogger theshelbiad.blogspot.com/2025/07/anci...

Free ebook! (co-edited by my brother-in-law) 🎉

A big thank-you to @joewatstein.bsky.social for pulling this together!

There goes the neighbourhood... The promise held out by AI is 'a bit shit, but much less effort'. Is that an idea people want associated with their scholarship? share.google/pMv2nbkXmLsG...

You know you made an impression at your last place of work when you visit and find your old staff pass displayed in the break room in a place of shrine-like prominence.😂

"Tourist shocked that other tourists exist, frustrated that an iconic attraction was crowded at noon in summer" www.businessinsider.com/colosseum-ro...

So pleased to have an article out (open access) this week about designing for autistic students! 🎉 Do take a look, if you're a teacher interested in accessibility... The relaxed tutorial project: designing synchronous online tutorials for autistic students www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Have a look at the face of mindless destruction, the face of the modern age. Four years each. Some will say too long, some too short. There's no way to calculate the magnitude of their offence, no firm basis from which to judge. They've destroyed something beautiful which can never be recovered.

Has anyone ever had a prolonged break for their research/ writing? I had hoped keep my head in the thesis a bit more than I have, but unforeseen family matters (illnesses, hospital stays, etc) have meant that I really haven’t touched it for along time. Any advice on returning to it?

Is the place to find all the books still completely gone? Is there anywhere else we can use?

I wish there had been something like this when I began going to conferences! Brilliant work as usual.

After announcing it at the Classical Association Conference over the weekend, today we launch our Working Classicists Guide to Event Accessibility. In it, we suggest ways to equalise access and eliminate anxieties around event attendance. Read more: www.workingclassicists.com/zine/working...

Fun fact: I was asked if I wanted to join a CA2025 panel and I couldn't because a) it's too expensive to go as an indie with no fancy funding and b) attending in '24 made me a nervous wreck. Read this guide, and use it.

Curious as to what exactly it is going to take for our governments to say, you know what, we think this might be a genocide. BBC News - Children queuing for supplements killed in Israeli strike in Gaza, hospital says www.bbc.com/news/article...

Very sick of job applications now

"The scale of institutional ownership in certain places is staggering. In Ireland, nearly half of all units delivered since 2017 were purchased by investment funds. …[W]hen the aim is to make money from housing it can mean only one thing: prices go up." www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Week 238 of being glad I'm no longer subscribed to the Liverpool List. It's the kind of comfort you feel when you're tucked up warm inside listening to howling wind and lashing rain outside. Bliss.

Shocker