a lovely new addition to the Classics at Warwick Sketchfab account is this lead token showing a Roman woman! If you want to bring more tokens, and more women, into your life and teaching, have at it. :-) skfb.ly/pDu7X

My son just sent me a picture of a pub cat in a RUFF and how could I not post it for all the rest of you?

The current REF system really encourages temporary staff to burn down their own careers - either you complete research because you need it for your CV, but an institution can claim any resulting outputs before making you redundant so you've nothing to take elsewhere, or...

Someone at a Russell Group university was moved to almost-poetry by their Faculty Meeting… Can anyone do better?

Médaillon de vase représentant des arbitres interrompant un combat de gladiateurs. À droite le gladiateur blessé quitte l’arène (retrouvé à Fourvière, IIe-IIIe s.). Il a été présenté dans l’exposition « Spectaculaire ! Le divertissement chez les Romains » au musée Lugdunum à Lyon.

If anyone is interested, at the next Money and Medals online talk I'll be discussing how to engage school groups with coins and tokens (i.e. numismatic collections). 26 November, 12.30-1.30pm online, more info available here: events.teams.microsoft.com/event/dfc5df...

Most university branding is just so aggressively mid: bland, interchangeable, says nothing about what institutions do. Who does it even appeal to?

Occasionally I like to recall the FT’s finest hour: www.ftadviser.com/opinion/2021...

My GP just gave me a new response the next time something goes wrong at work

#ReliefWednesday! A Roman marble relief of a warship. Found in the necropolis of Praeneste (Latium), late 1st century BC. The relief presumably belonged to the tomb of a Roman veteran who had served on Octavian’s side at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. 📷 me 🏺 #archaeology

"I DON'T NEED YOU TO FUCKING REWRITE WHAT I'VE JUST WRITTEN!"

In huge positive news, the Australian government just ruled out handing the work of their country’s creatives to AI companies for free 🙌 They resisted the well-funded tech lobby & shut down proposals to upend copyright law. Other governments should do the same! www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

After submitting a FOIA request UKRI, I obtained success rates by three grant call scheme and I can only say that I am disheartened by the results: - AHRC Responsive Mode 2025: 2% - ESRC New Investigator Grant 2025: 1% - ESRC Research Grant Round 2025: 1%

I wrote about the stupid white paper. In summary, with these people in the driver's seat and apparently unbothered by consequences, we're so cooked.

🚨 Calling all Latin, Greek & ClassCiv enthusiasts🚨 Please help us to spread the word & let people know that registration for the 32nd @jactdurham.bsky.social is open! We have residential & non-residential options available. We also offer bursaries for those who need them! www.durhamglss.org

The 2026 Warwick numismatic day is 'Women, Power and Money'. If you work on coin-like things (broadly defined) and women, you might be interested in the call for papers below. warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/cla...

Maybe its not really theft because they needed them to train their AI

Bronze Portrait of Marcus Aurelius. AD 160-170 AD. Found at a Roman frontier fort at Dunaszekcsó (ancient Lugo) on the banks of the Danube in Hungary. Currently at the state exhibition, Rheinisches landesmuseum, Trier. On loan from Janus Pannonius Museum, Pécs. 📷 by me #FindsFriday #Archaeology

Random numismatic objects found in the course of a data search.... a Hollywood 'swing club' member token (?). numismatics.org/collection/1...

struggling to budget both myself & a decent post-doc under the ukri grant caps (given the massive overheads unis charge) & wondering how others are managing. Then I see all the 0.4 fte for 15 months precarious post-docs being advertised & realise that’s the only way to do it. I hate it, thanks.

At @ihr.bsky.social we can now offer PhD by Publication in History! For those with a substantial body of existing published research (within past 10 years), but without a PhD, should be of particular interest to #heritage professionals and independent scholars!

Warwick taking far more students this year means bus hunger games every morning. Will I make my 9am? Will the queue reach a third city block? Do the scheduled buses actually exist? How many buses will drive past (2 and counting atm) To everyone trying to get onto campus this morning....

Given recent industrial relations over the last several years at Leicester..... this does not inspire confidence. le.ac.uk/news/2025/oc...

A week today! - Our first research seminar of the year with Dr Simon Glenn on ‘The Bactrian Mirage: coins and history in Hellenistic Central Asia’ on 16 October, 17:15-18:30 UK time. More details in the thread below. Please note the change of on campus venue to Michael Sadler 1.01. All welcome!

Are Roman hippopotami the best hippopotami? Below a Roman token showing a lizard and one delightful rendered hippopotamus (the tail! 😍) Now in the British Museum www.britishmuseum.org/collection/o...

I had cause to be reminded of what I still consider to be @carlosfnorena.bsky.social 's greatest ever twitter thread. I just read it out to a room of postgrads. All agreed.

Have you ever heard of the emperor Domitianus? This remarkable coin discovered on farmland near Chalgrove in 2003 provides proof that a man named Domitianus claimed to be emperor in the early 270s CE. It was fused in a mass of nearly five thousand coins within a partially intact Roman jar.

preparing seminars for students and rediscovering just how much I love Fronto. Not so #tinyjoys Here's hoping the students will share the love. Since they are gonna get quite a dose of him!

This should also be how universities reply to the AI thing btw

the next Money and Medals online talk will feature two speakers from the British Museum, Miriam Dafydd and Michael Laposata, on Documenting and Digitising Numismatic Collections, 15 October. More information below! warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/cla...

Fab for freelancers, self-employed, independent researchers:

School's back in a broken UK HE. theboar.org/2025/09/acco...

@ancient-tokens.bsky.social Warwick Classics Xmas/Saturnalia etc Cake prep!

My neighbour's sunflower is totally giving Muppet Show or alien vibes.

Bleak times at Macquarie Uni, as management moves to implement large scale job cuts in arts and science (because who needs that expertise, right?). Amanda’s threat outlines the lies that underpin these changes. We need urgent governance reform now: but is the government listening?

The first Augustus themed coin box of enlarged 3D printed replicas is off the manufacturing line and ready to go into a school next week! 🙌 a joint project between classics and design studies at Warwick. ☺️

There's the intrusive/insulting issue here, but it also emerges from completely muddled/siloed thinking. Those REF 4* publications you want necessitate leaving the office. That teaching that funds this place generally and your nonsense management post particularly necessitates leaving the office.

Very much enjoying the culture of trust and respect implicit in the installation of room usage monitoring devices on academics' office doors today. Imagine my shock on discovering that managers' doors remain unsullied…

So I am talking on Agrippina the Younger in one week, 6pm Sydney time, 9am UK time. Sign up here if you are interested! macquarie.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

some of the lead tokens from Rome are really wonderful quality. This piece in the BM shows an empty quadric facing front, and a ram (associated with Mercury) on the other side. www.britishmuseum.org/collection/o...

The #Manchester Word Square: a piece of Roman pottery with a Latin inscription that is part puzzle and potential Christian symbol. (See the Alt text for more.) Made circa 180, found in the city centre in 1978, now on display in Manchester Museum. #RomanBritain #MuseumMonday #Lancashire 📷 My own.

when you've got all your herms lined up in a row! 🙌 With bonus stick figure 'weary Hercules' on the other side. Token now in British Museum (Rost. 2491), www.britishmuseum.org/collection/o...

in today's 'where Rostovtzeff feared to tread in the British Museum' we have this piece - two male figures on either side of a very large lit altar and on the other side two figures in some sort of structure..... if only it weren't so worn! www.britishmuseum.org/collection/o...

ok on this token a nice goddess type figure seated left and on the other side...... ???????????????????????????????????????? Any guesses welcome! www.britishmuseum.org/collection/o...

a token design that Rostovtzeff overlooked, now in the British Museum. The legend reads FOR (a legend also found with a palm branch and palm tree) and the other side of the token shows a figure walking with a sack or something on their shoulder. www.britishmuseum.org/collection/o...

Absolutely astounded that the UCU and Unison branches at Kent and Greenwich were not consulted, and that staff only found out about the merger this morning via BBC news and Kent Online. Solidarity to all colleagues.

'Kentwich' is absolutely the superior couple portmanteau.

Bravo Banksy. 👏 “A new mural by elusive street artist Banksy has appeared on the side of the Royal Courts of Justice building in central London.”

An... interesting attempt at an elephant from one ancient #Roman mosaic maker - not sure in this case that they had ever actually seen one before though! 🐘 #MosaicMonday #Archaeology AncientBlueSky