As an academic I have major issues with AI. But I’ve just seen a Christmas ad for a certain high end jewellery brand that features baby panthers. They have managed to uncute the cutest thing in the world with AI. Unequivocal proof of its inherent evilness. Look at my baby panther instead.

This is such a brilliant article and includes my new favourite way of conceptualising women's work in (poorly done) previous studies as the 'whorification of female labour.'

I have been playing with the open source "UMap" along with CAWM & DARE Maptiles of the Roman Empire to help people make their own maps for websites, teaching, and books using ancient world data. Is there any interest in learning the basics of DIY maps? umap.openstreetmap.de/en/map/ancie...

I think you’d need more than a couple of scooters to get away for this one….

My students and I have spent the last two hours devising a new definition for ancient literacy. This is the good part of academia: engaged, thoughtful, and curious students who critique scholarship and ideas and come up with a better way. #tinyjoys #whyiteach

I have a very bad feeling about this...

Preserving Pompeii’s past, one step at a time www.nature.com/articles/d41...

100% woud let nibble.

All time classic

Genius. Definitely genius.

Archaeologists think they've found a mass grave of Roman soldiers from the Battle of Mursa (260 AD). 🧪🏺

Delighted to have a short piece in this week's TLS on Hades 2, gender, and modern myth making. www.the-tls.com/arts/hades-i...

6th annual Erich S. Gruen Prize for best graduate student paper on multiculturalism in the ancient Mediterranean world. Deadline for submissions: September 30. Spread the word! Or, better: throw your hat in the ring!

Are you working on relations between bodies (living/dead/human/animal/other!) & ritual in the #ancient #Roman world? If so, maybe you'd like to submit a 300-word abstract for the session 'Bodies in Ritual Practices' at RAC/TRAC Aarhus, 21-23 May 2026?! See www.romansocietyrac.ac.uk/ractrac-2026...

So pretty! #roadporn

Free lecture by Prof Jaś Elsner at Senate House on 10th October. Book on the link below. The 28th Denys Haynes Memorial Lecture Monument, movement and the ritual body: ancient Indian, Roman and Greek art | British Museum share.google/glf556KROUQV...

Live from Vicus Caprarius in #Rome! Visitors can explore the remnants of an ancient Roman residential complex, including a luxurious mansion (a domus) and an apartment building (insula). It includes a massive water reservoir, or castellum aquae, which was part of the Aqua Virgo aqueduct (1st c. CE)

Ptolemy II to the Alexandrians

There will be many casualties from UChicago ending ('pausing') PhD admissions in Humantities, but one which I am keenly aware of: this is close to a death sentence for teaching cuneiform in the United States (esp. Sumerian, Hittite, Elamite, Eblaite, Luwian) and it will affect the whole world.

For #MosaicMonday we thought we resurrect this famous Jim Henson scene.

For #MosaicMonday this fantastic photo of a mosaic (and a lovely fish 🐟) that was discovered in the submerged ruins of #Roman Baiae. Photo: Parco Archeologico Campi Flegrei

#AcademicSky #AcademicChatter #AcademicPublishing

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a... #AncientBluesky

Talk about the Vestal Virgins? Dr G is in! Catch the conversation over on Betwixt the Sheets 🥳 I was super excited to chat all things Vestals with Dr Kate Lister! Be warned, some of the stories are wild 😉 #AncientRome #AncientBluesky

More Evidence Suggests Villa on Mount Vesuvius Belonged to Augustus. 🏺 #ClassicsBluesky #BlueskyClassics #AncientBluesky 🏛️ archaeology.org/news/2025/07...

Channelling some #GreekMyth for current political commentary? YES PLEASE. #AncientBlueSky 🏺🏛️ @latenightseth.bsky.social‬

Erotic mosaic stolen by Nazi captain in second world war returned to Pompeii | Italy | The Guardian www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

Very pleased to announce that I will be returning to the Department of Classics, Ancient History, and Archaeology @unibirmingham.bsky.social for the 25-26 academic year.

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...

Prof. Stafford's review of the new Disney Hercules musical is out - complete with some great photos and video-links... Enjoy! theconversation.com/with-fresh-s...

My review of last year's "Legion" exhibition at the BM is now published (free to access). Spoiler alert: I was not a fan! www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

Really thrilled that my second book is now published! It explores the life of Tacfarinas, a C1st AD auxiliary soldier-deserter-bandit-rebel who came to lead a revolt against #Rome in NW Africa during the early reign of Tiberius. He is a truly fascinating figure in #Roman history! 🏺AncientBlueSky

This gorgeous little surprise arrived in the post this morning. Ecce! I’m a blurb! #romanhistory #ancientwomen #pompeii @brendafortheswim.bsky.social

#worldbeeday2025 A silver tetradrachm from Ephesus depicting a honey bee. The temple of Artemis, one of the 'Seven Wonders of the Ancient World' was located there and the priestesses were known as 'Melissae' or honeybees. Dated 370-360 BCE 📷ArchaiOptix. #ancientbluesky #classicsbluesky

The University flag is flying at half mast in honour of our much missed colleague Prof. Malcolm Heath, whose funeral takes place at 1pm today in St Michael's Church, Headingley. May the earth lie lightly on him 😥 secretariat.leeds.ac.uk/home/obituar...

I agree this is an important discovery but why are op-eds dissing Roman wives as apparently not being "contributing member[s] of Pompeiian society"? That disregards Roman understanding of wifehood which was by far not open to all women. And priestesses often *were* married women. 1/

Pompeii’s Paint Workshops Were More Sophisticated Than Once Thought, New Study Finds. The research also discovered a formerly unknown light green pigment. #ClassicsBluesky 🏺 news.artnet.com/art-world/po...

New discovery: Venice lagoon reveals submerged #Roman oyster farm: In the heart of the Venetian lagoon, a submerged area has revealed a secret: a brick and wood tank containing about 300 oyster shells, dating back to the first century AD www.finestresullarte.info/en/archaeolo... 🏺 #archaeology