Me this August, overwhelmed by my to-do list:

At my first White Sox game (!) and already one person in my section has been publicly shamed for putting ketchup on a hotdog 😂 #chicago

Looks like both sections (though I’m only teaching one) of Greek history here in the autumn are full, and there are only a couple open seats left in my “Roman Civil War between History, Memory, and Representation” seminar - huzzah!

If you're used to consulting the Manfred Clauss Latin epigraphic database at its old URL, update your bookmark to edcs.hist.uzh.ch The old site doesn't work anymore except for the landing page.

My Reacting to the Past microgame, "When Have Women Paid Taxes? The Roman Matrons' Protest of 42 BCE" is now available for download to members at reactingconsortium.org! If you've ever wondered what Brutus' mom or Marcus Antonius' wife were doing while their menfolk fought, this game is for you!

Off to see The Odyssey in 70mm later this afternoon so it feels only appropriate to spend the next few hours working on an upcoming talk on Polyphemus (in the Aeneid)!

First visit to the new Obama Presidential Center, just around the corner from us in Hyde Park! The Obamalisk is *slowly* growing on me, but I was really impressed by the thoughtful design of the complex as a whole.

Looks like I’ll be headed to the SCS in Boston in January! Excited to work more on this paper (“Plowing the Bones of the Dead: Disrupting Memory in Greek Epigram”) in the meantime, and hope to see some of y’all there!

Anthropeum.com · Jun 15 2026 🟦🟦🟦🟩🟦🟦🟨🟦🟨🟩 83,863 · top 1% of players today!

Anthropeum

A daily game that challenges our understanding of human cultures. Ten objects. 5,000 years of human history. Guess where and when each artifact was made. See how you rank.

anthropeum.com

Got word from the team @princetonupress.bsky.social that advanced copies of my book are arriving at the press (they sent me this photo of it in the wild)! So excited to be able to hold it in my hands!

have I mentioned that I teach first year writing here and that I am being laid off

Sarah Osment@smosment.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Hahahahahahahhahahahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

En route to Iowa City to attend the AAH! Hope to see some of y’all there!

Two pairs of gloves were definitely a necessity on this morning’s dog walk (love you, Chicago, but was not prepared for the 2°F/-17°C, feels like -13°F/-25°C, mornings)

The idea for this course has been slowly percolating for *years*, and I am so happy to finally teach it at UChicago this fall!

Congrats to the newly minted Dr. @heintgestae.bsky.social! So proud of her 😊

We’re off to the Bay of Naples for some much needed R&R—with plenty of ancient sites and delectable eats @heintgestae.bsky.social

A bit bittersweet to vote in what may be my last NYC election today but hyped to rank Mamdani as my #1!

So incredibly happy to be back in Rome for the first time since 2020 (and what a wonderful conference this has been!)

Jetlag is inexplicable. Or maybe it is just my excitement for the events of today that robbed me of my sleep. Anyway. I'm buzzing with excitement for perhaps the most important conference I've ever co-hosted. It is both in person and online: aarome.org/events/coins...

Amusing tidbit du jour (from E.J. Kenney's 1978 review of H. Dahlmann (1975), 'Cornelius Severus')

V. glad we decided to flee DC/depressing inauguration chaos this weekend for a peaceful respite back home in NYC

Oh goodness, no!

Zoe Fox@zoesfox.bsky.social · 2y ago

This is a nightmare

There are SLING BULLETS with FASCES. I'm losing my mind. This is so damn cool. Also, Sertorius was never elected consul, but that doesn't stop him being proconsul! doi.org/10.1017/S104...

Made the mistake of agreeing to the “big” sbagliato at our favorite Italian place in the neighborhood. Happy snow day from DC!

Working on a chapter for publication: The min amount of beeswax required to make five "ten" rams for Antony/Cleopatra's fleet is around 1,274 kg. This is 36.4% of the total amount of beeswax needed (~3,500 kg) to produce 200 rams for the Egadi fleet. Assuming no reuse of beeswax. Damn.

Good morning! Here's my last AIA/SCS post. Earlier Post in thread. 1/ livyarrow.org/2025/01/06/p...

Post Conference Reflections

Skip to the second half of this post if you just want notes on actual scholarly stuff. Most of this at the top is about the meta-experience of conferencing, but it does contain links to earlier pos…

livyarrow.org

The obligatory #AIASCS book haul, feat. some oldies but goodies and a couple of newer things I’m eager to dive into! (Many more new books that I wished I could buy, but will resign myself to being the first person to check them out from the library!)

Had such a fun time giving my paper on late Republican sling bullets & communication earlier today at the AIA/SCS - fantastic Qs & just great energy/interest all around. My last in-person SCS was way back in 2020 (!!), and it’s just been lovely to see/catch up with old friends & meet new folks!

More Thucydides today, this time the Mytilenean debate. We also discussed Paula Arnold’s “The Persuasive Style of Debates in Direct Speech in Thucydides” (Hermes 120, 1992). She makes a compelling case for why the speeches he puts in the mouths of historical actors are so tricky but worth reading 🧵

Them: Don't spend too much time on teaching. Focus on research. Me: