Today, 9am BST on BBC Radio 4! The brilliant Roman love poet Catullus is the poster boy for teen angst. He feels everything intensely, from the stealing of his favourite napkin to the death of his lover's pet sparrow… My guests are his biographer, Dr @daisydunn.bsky.social, and Prof Llewelyn Morgan!

1/7 Spanning three thousand years, from the first stirrings of Minoan Crete to the fall of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, #TheMissingThread by @daisydunn.bsky.social is a fantastic guide to ancient (especially Greco-Roman) history through an incredible cast of women who inhabited and often shaped it.

“We can trust these male writers” Thoughtful and serious discussion bwt @mathewlyons.bsky.social & @daisydunn.bsky.social on the challenges of ancient history - balancing contemporary questions about women's roles with understanding the past as a foreign place. open.substack.com/pub/mathewly...

Great interview with @daisydunn.bsky.social about writing about women in antiquity

Thanks to @peoplemag.bsky.social for inviting me to write about my fave women's history books and include my own. Featuring @marthasjones.bsky.social @thefrankiedlc.news @melissasevigny.bsky.social @drjaninaramirez.bsky.social @daisydunn.bsky.social

#TheMissingThread is out in UK paperback in 6 weeks with a regal new cover! A new history of the ancient world foregrounded by women: 3,000 years, 500 pages, £12.99. I'd be so grateful if you'd consider pre-ordering a copy from anywhere you like waterstones.com/book/the-mis...

Brilliant Alice Loxton asking James May, @thehistoryguy.bsky.social, @daisydunn.bsky.social @tomowolade.bsky.social & Ash Bhardwaj for their tips for 18-year-olds at the Festival last year 👇 We’re thrilled to have @historyalice.bsky.social back this year to discuss her book Eighteen - & much more!

Look how happy I was to see you! Thanks for continuing to be the best audience in radio last night. Extra thanks to my amazing guests, @daisydunn.bsky.social & @llewelynmorgan.bsky.social, brilliant Beth the producer, & the Broadcasting House team ✨🏛️ These will be hitting the airwaves this summer!

For years arguments have been made for dating the eruption of #Vesuvius in AD 79 to some time in autumn. Now, the pendulum is swinging back towards the 'official' date of 24 August. I'm happy to weigh in with some scepticism over this revision www.nytimes.com/2025/03/02/s...

Fascinating new study of teeth from the Roman Empire suggests that babies living in cities were breastfed until they were about 2 years old, whereas rural babies were typically weaned later, up to the age of 5 www.science.org/content/arti...

Thrilling discovery of a #Pompeii bathhouse! I'm also enthusiastic about the earrings which are of a style called 'crotalia'. They were v fashionable in the 1st century and made little rattling noises as the pearls swung together. Moralist Pliny hated them www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Is the study of Latin in peril? And what does the future hold for the ancient inheritance? 🗣️ @alastairbenn.bsky.social is joined by @daisydunn.bsky.social, @armanddangour.bsky.social, and @paullay.bsky.social to discuss the value of ancient languages. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/e...

Archaeologists uncover Roman ‘service station’ during roadworks in Gloucester www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

'Husbands moved to join their wives’ communities upon marriage, with land potentially passed down through the female line' - fascinating new research into ancient genetics pointing to the prominence of women (at least) in Celtic Britain www.thetimes.com/uk/science/a...

📽️ I’m part of the Gloucester History Festival Winter Warmer Digital Festival! Enjoy my conversations with: @susiedent.com @rentravailer.bsky.social @drjaninaramirez.bsky.social @corinnefowler.bsky.social @daisydunn.bsky.social + many more! www.gloucesterhistoryfestival.co.uk/winter-warme...

I met #NoreenRiols, who has died aged 98, in 2011 after going to hear her talk about her work in the SOE (for which my late grandfather was also an agent). I was completely captivated by her and her eloquence. Fascinating obituary of her here: t.co/0NeKbPCQSw

What better to listen to in the morning than the latest research into the social competence of pigs? My paean to #FarmingToday in this week's Spectator plus Simon Armitage on the poetry of slugs with penis-like antennae on BBC Radio 4 www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-...

Finally made it to #VanGogh #Poetsandlovers at the National Gallery (tickets are gold dust but obtainable like the Golden Fleece) and while I can't choose a favourite painting, I did admire these olive trees on a sunny January day. I suppose as a classicist I would.

My well-thumbed lexicon has saved my ass on many occasion. How can I not be excited to read this?

Our December book club read is The Missing Thread by @daisydunn.bsky.social & we meet on Sunday 29th December at 7pm (GMT). For the Zoom link, join the mailing list here: subscribepage.com/classicsacademy The programme for January-April is here: helenmcveigh.co.uk/book-club #Ancientbluesky

‘I am improving immensely in water transactions...& at cricket dare look at the ball without shutting mine eyes' – Henry Liddell, co-compiler of the Greek-English lexicon, was no sportsman, but boy did he live an interesting life. My review for @thetls.bsky.social www.the-tls.co.uk/regular-feat...

Io, #Saturnalia! I'm off to indulge in some delicious feasting and a spot of festive gambling. Have a lovely Roman holiday everyone

Very nice to find #TheMissingThread in this ace selection of books of the year in @the-independent.com ! www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...

The questions you google about #Pompeii answered for @history-hit.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBFA...

'Certain publishers and booksellers...have shoals of telegrams from women before Christmas for new medical books to be sent to their doctors — for lack of any other ideas on the subject' - The Times, December 9, 1924 www.thetimes.com/comment/regi...

If anyone's looking for some historical non-fiction for Christmas, my women's history of the ancient world #TheMissingThread comes with a glamorous recommendation!

I heard you were saucy at my gates

In this week's @thetls.bsky.social I've reviewed a biography of one of the most notorious #womenoftheancientworld. Phryne could be quite funny. To a client who presented her with a diminutive flask of 10-year-old wine, she quipped, 'It's small, considering its age'! www.the-tls.co.uk/classics/gre...

James Baldwin at 100; the real Reagan; growing up in a commune; George Smiley returns; philosophy and mysticism; Sherlock Holmes in the pub – and much more

Oh, look at Jess!

I'm currently obsessed with this 1st-century BC bronze bust, who is thought to be a Persian goddess, Anahita, in the guise of #Aphrodite. You have to imagine her with stone/glass eyes. I love the parting of her hair and how individual and unidealised she is #classicalart

We are thrilled to announce that the early Crucifixion painting by Fra Angelico, recently acquired thanks to a successful fundraising campaign, is now on public display for all to enjoy. See the painting in the Early Italian Art gallery on Level 2.

Please join me in supporting the educational charity Classics for All's #BigGive. A donation can help bring the wonders of classical education to schools across the UK. See more: bit.ly/CfABG24 #SupportEducation #ClassicsForAll #ChristmasChallenge #Classics #Christmasgiving

If you want to know more about Syria’s recent history, you might like this:

Fans of the 'I, Claudius' TV series, if you haven't yet caught #Emperor on Channel 5, you're in for a Livia-shaped treat....Airing Saturday nights and available on catch-up #ancientRome #Caesars

Thank you very much! I'm very grateful.

From Paris to India, King Richard II to the Commonwealth of England, here are our favourite books of 2024 w/ @josephinequinn.bsky.social @claremulley.bsky.social @josephhone.bsky.social @daisydunn.bsky.social @willdalrymple.bsky.social @alicehunt.bsky.social www.unseenhistories.com/our-favourit...

This exquisite 9th-century BC chest was found in the grave of a wealthy woman in Athens. The objects on top are model granaries & may symbolise her role in agricultural business as well as her high property class. Seals were also interred with her and we know of female farm managers at this time.

History Day is returning to West Horsley Place in #Surrey next spring on Sat 15 March. Come and meet Kate Williams, Anne Sebba, Giles Milton & myself and explore the manor & gardens. You may recognise them from BBC's #Ghosts! Booking has just opened #history www.westhorsleyplace.org/Event/histor...

Authors' Books of the Year. I chose a biography & a memoir... thespectator.com/book-and-art...

I was on Woman's Hour on Friday discussing female gladiators and the lamentable lack of them in #GladiatorII. Tacitus says that women who fought in the arena 'disgraced themselves'. Which makes me want to sign up for 'Gladiators' right now! www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

This morning I'm studying the Jockey of Artemision, an astonishing bronze which was made about 150 BC and went down in a shipwreck in Greece. Amazingly it was rediscovered only in the 1920s. It's now in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens #ancientgreece