Fascinated by the Etruscan death goddess and psychopompos Vanth, depicted on a group of late 4th century BCE vases in Orvieto's wonderful Museo Claudio Faina, and clearly one of antiquity's more kick-ass deities.
Carol Atack
@carolatack.bsky.social
Ancient politics and political thought, modern art, Plato and Xenophon. Fellow of Newnham College, FRHistS. Cambridge and elsewhere. Recent books: Plato: a civic life (Reaktion) and Xenophon (Greece & Rome New Surveys in the Classics, Cambridge).
the Fitzwilliam Museum has re-arranged its Italian gallery and now has both its Nicolas Poussin paintings on display. Thanks to the curators for introducing their work and bringing out some drawings too - here’s Poussin possibly depicting Bacchus and Erigone
My inbox is full of AI-generated messages telling me I'm not doing enough to promote my work... So here's some promotion for an online course I'm teaching in September, via Roundtable by The 92nd Street Y: 'Plato and Classical Athens: The Philosopher in the City'. roundtable.org/live-courses...
Plato and Classical Athens: The Philosopher in the City
One philosopher described the whole Western philosophical tradition as footnotes to Plato, the philosopher who lived and worked in classical Athens. This class looks at Plato’s thought as a product of...
roundtable.org
These numbers are grim, but really just confirm what precarious academics have known all along. A 30% drop in Classics ECR numbers since 2012/13. At the same time, a 29% increase in professorships. Our discipline is eating its young.
The British Academy@britishacademy.bsky.social · 3w agoWhat can we learn from data about the current trends in university staffing in the humanities, social sciences and arts subjects? 🧵 Read on for key insights or see the full analysis: www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/policy-and-r...
New acquisition at London's @nationalgalleryuk.bsky.social - Angelica Kauffmann's detailed study of 'Achilles discovered among the Daughters of Lycomedes' - interesting to compare it with Poussin's versions of the same scene from Statius' Achilleid. Go see it in gallery 37!
Looking forward to speaking to the International Xenophon Society - on Xenophon, masculinity and the environment - on June 30, online, 5pm UK time, along with Flavia Palmieri. Come and hear about Cyrus' garden and man's relationship with nature and order: xenophonsociety.org?post_type=tr...
International Xenophon Society (IXS) Online Colloquium – Carol Atack and Flavia Palmieri – IXS
xenophonsociety.org
Just arrived: James Warren on 'Political Unity in Plato and Aristotle', an important & timely topic, with model acknowledgements to the author's intellectual community. Interested to set Warren's account of homonoia against political scientists' interpretations of Athenian democracy.
Escape Room - the Greek pavilion at the Biennale is transformed into Plato’s Cave as an 80s nightclub, through which artist Andreas Angelidakis contemplates how communities are constructed and how the Greek pavilion at the Venice Biennale was initiated in the fascist 30s.
introduce yourself with 10 bands / musicians you've seen live: The Smiths The Ramones Prince Run DMC The Cocteau Twins Kate Bush The Sisters of Mercy The Violent Femmes Johnny Thunders New Order
Chris Brooke@chrisbrooke.bsky.social · 3mo agointroduce yourself with 10 bands / musicians you've seen live Emmylou Harris Mano Negra Marc Ribot & the Rootless Cosmopolitans Joan Baez Cowboy Junkies Laura Cantrell Dolly Parton Gillian Welch Buddy Guy Austin Lounge Lizards
Interesting article on William Morris as a thinker for the present moment - resonant with ideas in play for the forthcoming Fitzwilliam Museum exhibition 'A Call to Art: William Morris & the Pre-Raphaelites'.
Kye@kyebarker.bsky.social · 3mo agoIf you've ever thought to yourself, "I wish there were a theorist of ecological communism who also made great wallpaper," then I have an article just for you. doi.org/10.1177/1474...
In my first week as a reporter @simoncraven.bsky.social took me with him to interview Douglas Adams, for the unlamented Your Computer - Dirk Gently was about to launch & we had a tenuous angle talking about Adams’ fascination with technology…
(Still) An(gr)i Bundel@anibundel.com · 3mo agoWe lost Douglas Adams 25 years ago today. This has made a lot of people very sad and has been widely regarded as a bad move.
Reposting this as a very proud Fitzwilliam syndic - great that the museum team’s work has been recognised by the Art Fund judges.
University of Cambridge@cam.ac.uk · 4mo agoThe Fitzwilliam Museum has today been announced as one of five finalists for Art Fund Museum of the Year 2026, the world’s largest museum prize! 🎨 🖼️ 🏛️ Explore what the nomination means: www.cam.ac.uk/news/the-fit...
Two important volumes - the collected papers of Prof Pat Easterling, the first (and so far only) woman to hold the Regius Chair of Greek at Cambridge, an alumna & honorary fellow of @newnhamcollege.bsky.social, & a hugely important scholar on Greek tragedy. All online via Cambridge core...
On the train to Manchester for the Classical Association conference, where I’ll be chairing a panel on Aristotle’s political thought on Saturday. Sad to leave the seaside behind - as seen earlier this morning.
Remembering the great historian Averil Cameron - I heard her give the talk linked here to a @womeninclassicsuk.bsky.social event, inspiring and powerful.
Pauline Stafford@pstafford.bsky.social · 4mo agoThe great historian of Late Antiquity Averil Cameron, who has died, reminding us that class matters alongside gender in British society wcc-uk.blogs.sas.ac.uk/2017/05/22/s...
Highlight of the Michaelina Wautier exhibition at @royalacademyarts.bsky.social is her monumental Triumph of Bacchus - she pictured herself as the maenad on the right, & clearly enjoyed painting the luxuriant textures of the god's symbols and followers. A great rediscovery for the history of art.
Have just sent off my slides, so a good time to post a reminder that I'll be speaking about Plato and his life in fourth-century BC Athens at the Oxford Literary Festival on Wednesday next week - more details here, sorry about large author photo!: oxfordliteraryfestival.org/literature-e...
Plato: A Civic Life | Oxford Literary Festival
Carol Atack - Plato: A Civic Life
oxfordliteraryfestival.org
Metamorfosen @rijksmuseum.bsky.social - a deep dive into the presence of Ovid's epic in art from antiquity to today, beautifully organised by mythical theme. If you can get to Amsterdam to see it (or to Rome, later in the year) strongly recommend!
A reassessment of Quentin Skinner's classic paper on its 50th anniversary, drawn from a @britishacademy.bsky.social conference - Meaning and Understanding in the History of Ideas and Beyond, edited by @adrianblau.bsky.social & open access at www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10....
Meaning and Understanding in the History of Ideas and Beyond | Home
Adrian Blau is Professor of Politics at King’s College London. His research interests include the history of political thought and other issues in political theory/philosophy, including corruption, democracy and rationality.
liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk
The visual legacy of a counter-cultural moment at the start of the 1980s - includes posters for two of my favourite ever 7" singles, by Scritti Politti and Orange Juice. Artfully curated by the always interesting Philip Hoare for @theguardian.com.
The Guardian@theguardian.com · 5mo ago‘Cultural monstrosities!’ The thrilling visual legacy of punk and post-punk – in pictures
V excited to receive page proofs for a chapter I submitted in 2016 (!) for the forthcoming Brill's Companion to the Reception of Xenophon, on a topic which remains fascinating - Aristotle's use of Xenophon's thought and his exemplary narratives as a source for his own ethnical thought.
Our third blog post in our WCC and Me series is now live!! 🏛️🏛️ Click the link below to read our conversation with Dr Carol Atack wcc-uk.blogs.sas.ac.uk/2026/02/23/w...
WCC and me – Dr Carol Atack - WCC-UK
As part of our tenth anniversary celebrations, we are writing a series of blog posts in which members tell us about their experiences with the WCC UK. Our third interviewee is Dr Carol Atack. Carol At...
wcc-uk.blogs.sas.ac.uk
The Women's Classical Committee UK (@womeninclassicsuk.bsky.social) is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a series of interviews with those involved at the start - here's my contribution, thanks to @katherinemcdon.bsky.social's interviewing skills: wcc-uk.blogs.sas.ac.uk/2026/02/23/w...
WCC and me – Dr Carol Atack - WCC-UK
As part of our tenth anniversary celebrations, we are writing a series of blog posts in which members tell us about their experiences with the WCC UK. Our third interviewee is Dr Carol Atack. Carol At...
wcc-uk.blogs.sas.ac.uk
Now online - my review of Sasha-Mae Eccleston's 'Epic Events: Classics and the Politics of Time in the United States since 9/11', an exploration of the intersectional politics of classical reception (spoiler: I found it compelling and learned a lot) www.journals.uchicago.edu/eprint/HPQGZ...
We're hiring at Birkbeck! Lecturer in Ancient History and Classics, full-time and open-ended. Closing date March 18th. Details here: cis7.bbk.ac.uk/vacancy/lect...
Halfway through Athena’s Sisters - a vital read for anyone interested in the social history of classical Athens, and in questions of historical method.
Cambridge University Press@universitypress.cambridge.org · 6mo agoWatch as illustrator Katie Idle recreates her cover design for 'Athena’s Sisters' @cambridgebookshop.bsky.social 🎨🤩 Katherine Backler's new book transforms our understanding of Classical Athenian culture and society by approaching it from women's perspectives. Read more 🔗 https://cup.org/3MwAzY5
American Psycho at the Almeida - the Guardian has it right, Brett Easton Ellis's novel caught something about 80s culture that was not good then... interesting to hear the audience last night laugh at some dated references, gasp at others which have become more salient in the present moment...
The Guardian@theguardian.com · 6mo agoAmerican Psycho review – yuppies making a killing offers a chilling origin story for our corrupt times
Fabulous Alexander the Great, painted by the Master of the Story of Griselda in the 1490s, currently visiting the Courtauld Gallery in London from the Barber Institute in Birmingham, originally from Tuscany.
