“The sky over Tehran is black. Like the night sky…” a friend “i cannot breath, I am breathing through a wet towel”. My mum 10.000.000 people are being choked to death. Tehran is surrounded by mountains. There is very little wind.

Since many seem keen to explain to me the finer points of a moral war & bring historical examples of just wars, let me pitch the book I edited on history of war in ancient Iran.

First physical evidence of Hannibal’s ‘war machine’ elephants? buff.ly/0avdhq6 #archaeology #ancientRome #ancienthistory #carthage

Thinking about Rag-i Bibi rock relief of the #Sasanians with this magnificent #rhinoceros.

We #sco 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 supporters in disbelief but will take it #SCOvENG

Elephant Bone in Spain May Be Proof of Hannibal’s Tanks With Trunks www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/s...

Want to know more about the real story of ancient Carthage — doing a 4 session deep dive into Carthaginian history starting Feb 27th - come and explore

Why did the Sasanian empire fall? The brilliant @sasanianshah.bsky.social answers all m.youtube.com/watch?v=xTuk...

Want to know more about the real story of ancient Carthage — doing a 4 session deep dive into Carthaginian history starting Feb 27th - come and explore

And this - a rare elephant carpal bone from Punic period contexts - elephant in the oppidum (great title too 🐘) but what kind of elephant…. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Buckland wrote this despite understanding that women of his time, whether his wife Mary, or #MaryAnning whose work he benefitted from, were serious, skilled palaeontological fieldworkers & thinkers... Here's the @trowelblazers.bsky.social article on Mary Buckland trowelblazers.com/2014/05/09/m...

@gevemac.bsky.social on the ancient Mediterranean realities, myths and conquests of the Phoenicians.

“A novel is a minor conspiracy unto itself, a frenzied assembly of story and figures and motivations.” 5 book reviews you need to read this week. buff.ly/1Mfm05k

Good to see #Carthage in the @smithsonianmag.bsky.social www.smithsonianmag.com/history/stor...

Forthcoming 2026: Arabic Literature in Translation An ongoing list of Arabic literature in translation forthcoming in 2026.

Hello US #Carthage - readers. FYI Barnes and Noble is currently having a 25 percent discount on books coming out in 2026! And Carthage: A New History (published in North America by @w.w.norton ) is out on Jan 13th and can be ordered in advance

Out soon in North America #carthage a new history

My favourite story of the day…needs must 🍺

… Ottoni says Mediterranean civilisations during the first millennium BC were primarily responsible for the spread of African wildcats.. One population probably comprised wildcats from north-west Africa that were introduced to Sardinia… sounds like #Phoenicians to me…🐱.

Wonder if my @cardiffuni.bsky.social leaders understand this? It’s an amazing bit of research and impact. It’s what humanities scholars at universities are so good at and necessary.

‘One of the oldest urban centres on the planet’: Gaza’s rich history in ruins. My @guardian piece on the erasure of Gaza's past. As we mourn incalculable human losses, learning about its past can help us better understand the present www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

Very excited to be on this trip in Sept 2026 to explore Morocco from its Bronze Age through Roman history and archaeology with New Scientist Discovery Tours - come along for the journey www.newscientist.com/tours/bronze...

Shoes, shoes, shoes — a fine pair of flats I’d say

I strongly urge everyone to not just read this warning from @marcwatkins.bsky.social, but heed it, and be vocal and forceful pushing back against using AI to grade student writing. This must be anathema if we're going to have a world where learning means something. substack.com/inbox/post/1...

Excited for this and hope to see you there too! #carthage

@drmaimusie.bsky.social and me talking about #Carthage on Oct 2nd. Join us!

Oooh

The definitive evidence of Captain Janeway's extensive temporal interference 😉 Happy Star Trek Day! 🖖 Neolithic arrowheads on display at Archäologische Staatssammlung München 📷 me #StarTrekDay #Archaeology 🏺

"Not only history reclaimed, this is #history at its best!" Today's book pick from Damn History, a free monthly newsletter for readers/writers of #popularhistory. Congrats to author @gevemac.bsky.social! Read/subscribe to Damn History: damn-history-16d93f.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Happy Friday Folks!The sun ☀️ is finally shining and I’m super excited to be interviewing @gevemac.bsky.social on her latest book 📕’Carthage: A New History of an Ancient Empire’! A topic close to my heart 💜- reclaiming and re-centring African history. Book here: www.waterstones.com/events/carth...

Upcoming #Carthage book events: Sept. 5th @londonpodfest live with @ancientstristan (tickets shop.kingsplace.co.uk/31650/31654) Sept. 10th @nomad_books 781 Fulham Road, London 6.30-8.30pm Oct 2nd in conversation @maimusie at @waterstones Gower St at 6.30pm (www.waterstones.com/events/searc...)

Repeat repeat …

Nothing like a little time in #PEI to restore 🇨🇦🌊

Coming up on 5 September! I’ll be at @LondonPodFest at King's Place, 7pm! talking all things ancient CARTHAGE, with History Hit: The Ancients, Tristan Hughes Really hope to see you there! Get tickets 👉 kingsplace.co.uk/whats-on/words…

Buon #Ferragosto! Fresco from #Pompeii (possibly from Fullonica of Sestius Venustus) and a unique example of a group of just women celebrating in what looks to be a rather wonderfully rowdy dining scene with upturned glassware, music being played and a woman holding aloft a ladle.

Delighted to find that Dr Eve MacDonald @gevemac.bsky.social has a new book out on Carthage which uses the latest archaeological research. Her 2015 book Hannibal A Hellenistic Life is still the best biography of Hannibal for me because it placed him in a wider context than the military exploits.

Why should we care about #archaeology, #monuments, traditions, art, and architecture when survival itself is threatened? Read Morag M. Kersel's blog for the SAA's @saa-aap.bsky.social: ▶️ cup.org/46Ryg9X #culturalheritage #culturalproperty

New episode — a dive in life in ancient #Carthage open.spotify.com/episode/3nbl...

Since Messrs #Netenyahu & #Putin have both drawn from me Carthaginian peace analogies—& the prophetic warning of Bertold Brecht—it is fitting & humbling to commend this outstanding new history of Carthage from @gevemac.bsky.social—who 10yrs ago reframed the way we see Hannibal

While back here in Lunenburg county, Nova Scotia 🇨🇦 for summer I always take a moment to drop into the Laurie Swim gallery where this amazing quilt artist creates beautiful landscapes — stunning

I read a superb new history of Carthage by Eve MacDonald - a finer cicerone than Flaubert - for @thetimes.com. My lead review today: www.thetimes.com/culture/book...

I make it policy to never believe the #Romans Talking about #Carthage #PunicWars

Annoyingly ethical is going on my bio

Love this

This 🧐 A blatant attempt to attack qualified and committed scholars, researchers and public advocates for science — including the amazing toriherridge.bsky.social is insidious — an attempt to silence debate driven by corporate interests.

Of course it doesn't matter WHO is critiquing, it is the criticism that actually matters. When someone goes after the former, you can be pretty sure it's because they can't answer the latter.

Self-promo time — pre-order offer for #Carthage from @waterstones.bsky.social — #summer reads

Yay - celebrating migration, movement and multicultural London and the UK 👏👏👏

Decades of mechanistic talk about university degrees as if they were bundles of 'skills' and 'prep' are about to be proved completely wrong (obviously). Want to get a real boost? Do History or English.