Very short notice (deadline 18 August) but we're advertising a 0.5fte lectureship in public history for next year. Covers my 3rd year undergraduate course on public history of Rome (ancient to modern) plus some MA public history teaching.

Historians and archaeologists have mixed feelings about the spectre haunting Christopher Nolan's latest blockbuster. www.iflscience.com/were-the-mys...

Yay! It’s here

Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees@badancient.bsky.social · 5d ago

The Bad Ancient team's interview with @iflscience.com is live! Inspired by the Odyssey film, it focuses on the question of the Sea Peoples and 'collapsing civilisations'. Also, it is the first time we have ever been called a 'ragtag team' and I like it. We should put that in a bio somewhere!

The Bad Ancient team's interview with @iflscience.com is live! Inspired by the Odyssey film, it focuses on the question of the Sea Peoples and 'collapsing civilisations'. Also, it is the first time we have ever been called a 'ragtag team' and I like it. We should put that in a bio somewhere!

Were The Mysterious “Sea Peoples” Lurking Throughout Nolan's The Odyssey Real? We Asked The Experts

Historians and archaeologists have mixed feelings about the spectre haunting Christopher Nolan's latest blockbuster.

iflscience.com

Like if the Powerpuff Girls fought bad history takes 💪

Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees@badancient.bsky.social · 5d ago

The Bad Ancient team's interview with @iflscience.com is live! Inspired by the Odyssey film, it focuses on the question of the Sea Peoples and 'collapsing civilisations'. Also, it is the first time we have ever been called a 'ragtag team' and I like it. We should put that in a bio somewhere!

The Bad Ancient team's interview with @iflscience.com is live! Inspired by the Odyssey film, it focuses on the question of the Sea Peoples and 'collapsing civilisations'. Also, it is the first time we have ever been called a 'ragtag team' and I like it. We should put that in a bio somewhere!

Were The Mysterious “Sea Peoples” Lurking Throughout Nolan's The Odyssey Real? We Asked The Experts

Historians and archaeologists have mixed feelings about the spectre haunting Christopher Nolan's latest blockbuster.

iflscience.com

Something a little different this week! Our new episode with @alexvandewalle.bsky.social talks about the various ways that video games treat and portray Greek myth, and it's more diverse than you might imagine! We discuss more than half a dozen games, from the good, the bad to the downright weird!

When I was governor of a local primary school, reading for pleasure was the latest obsession (rightly so). But every solution was to look like they were fostering a love of reading (posters, book reviews up on walls, etc) - not to actually do anything about it. This is great thread on the topic.

Louie Stowell@louiestowell.bsky.social · last wk.

Ok, it's time for Finally Read The Longread Tabs I Have Open Sunday! This one's a LONG one...the edcuation select committee report on reading for pleasure. publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5902/cm...

This has been sent off and was as difficult as you would expect. Nuance is hard at the best of times, but the Sea Peoples is a topic that is difficult to cover in enough detail to be fair, but also useful enough for a public audience to engage with! I hope we managed it.

Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees@badancient.bsky.social · 2w ago

The Bad Ancient team has been asked for an interview about Nolan's Odyssey and one particular topic it touches on*. I said of course, but did not anticipate the large debate between the archaeologists this topic has now caused 😅 Hope we reach a consensus before the deadline!

Bad Ancient is getting recognition in the academic world! The new website for the International Sparta Seminar has a 'resource' section that includes our Sparta articles, and I also spy a blog series by @bretdevereaux.bsky.social as well as some @askhistorians.bsky.social threads on there! 🏺🗂

Resources

Resources Useful Links These are a selection of suggested links to resources which provide current and well-researched information regarding the history, society, culture, and representation of anc…

internationalspartaseminar.org

Not sure if I will have to hand in my 'ancient historian badge' for this, but ... I did not enjoy this film.

The Bad Ancient team has been asked for an interview about Nolan's Odyssey and one particular topic it touches on*. I said of course, but did not anticipate the large debate between the archaeologists this topic has now caused 😅 Hope we reach a consensus before the deadline!

If the new Odyssey film has got you interested in the idea of ancient combat trauma and how it is described in our sources, here is an interview I did with The Ancients podcast on that exact topic!

Combat Trauma | The Ancients

From the 2000 historical blockbuster 'Gladiator' to the Total War series, brutal hand to hand warfare is something we commonly associate with antiquity. But do we have any ancient cases of psychologic...

shows.acast.com

This will challenge anyone who says accuracy does not matter in historically themed films #BadAncient

Matt Novak@paleofuture.bsky.social · 2w ago

This is the video Musk is quote-tweeting when he says he'll deliver a feature length version of The Odyssey, just in case you were curious how dogshit it is

And some military historians question the relevance of gender studies...

Toby Buckle@polphilpod.bsky.social · 2w ago

our elites want to abolish hard men

A phalanx is only strong if it is unified and cohesive. It only takes one false move for a phalanx to crumble in the face of competence. #BadAncient

PoliticsHome@politicshome.bsky.social · 2w ago

Labour MPs unhappy with the treatment of Starmer loyalists have warned they could make life hard for Burnham at the Budget “Andy’s Starmerite purge has created an incredibly powerful phalanx of skilled political operators who intimately know the government’s fiscal position" Harriet Symonds writes

A new episode dedicated to the birthday boy: Alexander the Great himself! Stephen Harrison jumps on the pod to talk about knotty source issues, cultural identity, military 'necessity', Andy Murray and the Great Man Theory. Think you know Alexander? Think again...

Ancient history has gone global. This is surely the most exciting development in the field in the last 30 years! But what "global antiquity" is and how we should study it—and why anyone should care—are all open (and challenging) questions. Some thoughts on all of this for @aeon.co.

Tutankhamun - the disabled Pharaoh! What conditions did he have? Listen to our episode with Alexandra Morris to find out what the discoveries made in his tomb tell us about the disability aids he used, how he managed his pain, and why some Egyptologists refuse to believe he was disabled at all!

'Ancient Sparta was a communist state'. I never knew this was a thing until recently, the whole having 2 kings thing is surely an issue? We ended up getting the world's leading Sparta scholar to debunk the idea: www.badancient.com/claims/spart...

Was Sparta a communist state?

Writers have often associated Sparta with a communist or proto-communist ideology, based in no small part on the writings of Plutarch. But is there any truth to this claim?

badancient.com

🔫Scott Martin🛼@youcaughtscott.com · 2w ago

I had a first-year history prof say that Sparta fell because it was communist. It wasn’t an off-hand comment. It was in the slides. A room full of 18-year-olds nodded solemnly and took notes. I felt like I was being pranked.

Back at work today and am very pleased to see my discussion about the Firearm Revolution out on the @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social podcast:

I am once again begging Hollywood to stop using the Greek alphabet for an Ancient World movie, if they can't afford to even throw a couple of quid at anyone with an inkling of the language. Unless they really think audiences are dying to see THS THDPSSSSPS

This should be a great episode. Anyone who has read the work of @disabledarchaeo.bsky.social knows this will be a good one, anyone who hasn't is in for a treat! #ancientbluesky 🏺

Ancient History 101 Podcast@ancienthistory101.org · 3w ago

Coming up tomorrow! @disabledarchaeo.bsky.social joins us this Disability Pride Month to chat about disability in the world of ancient Egypt!

My children had to suffer the embarassment of having their dad be the only one laughing at a joke about Medea opening a new child care facility. Oh well!

Bought at Lisbon Airport to while away the trip back. Very good so far

The Trung Sisters were, indeed, amazing! If you do not know the story, give them a look.

The mathematican's apprentice@mathapprentice.bsky.social · 4w ago

Just learned about the Trung sisters from Owen Rees' "The far edges of the known world". Hard not to conclude that they ruled, both figuratively and literally en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tr%C6%B...

⚠️NEW EPISODE⚠️ Jane Draycott talks about Fulvia, a woman with an astonishing impact on the late Roman Republic. In this biography episode, we discuss how Fulvia managed this from within the confines of ancient Roman gender roles - dangerous virago? Or ideal Roman wife and mother?

What military force in Greece could defeat a Spartan army? In the 4th century, that would be the Sacred Band. Our full episode on Theban myth and history with @profboeotia.bsky.social is available now on all platforms! www.ancienthistory101.org/p/thebes

Lovely to see this review of The Firearm Revolution in the WSJ

‘The Firearm Revolution’ Review: Shots Heard Around the World

On 16th-century battlefields, formidable mounted cavalry were overwhelmed by a military innovation: lines of foot soldiers armed with long-barreled guns.

wsj.com

This is a great listen. If you know the work of @debscavator.bsky.social, then you know how good this will be!

Ancient History 101 Podcast@ancienthistory101.org · 2mo ago

Ramps that allow people to get inside public buildings: who does it better? Ancient Greeks or modern societies? You might not get the answer you expected... Our full episode on Disability in the ancient Greek world with @debscavator.bsky.social is out now! www.ancienthistory101.org/p/disability...