Ancient History Seminars return Thurs 4.30pm, convened by Gabriel Bodard & Alessandra Rocchetti shorturl.at/QVBrW With a theme of Ancient magic & religion topics include: Privately Worshipping the Emperor: Colleges, Identity & Emperor Worship; Charaktêres & voces magicae in Curse Tablets; & more!

The University of Exeter has confirmed that it won’t proceed with compulsory redundancies “at this time”. This means colleagues do not need to complete the pro forma, and there will be no selection process.

Just watched Nolan's Odyssey (many, many thoughts), but the musical note that rings out when Od. plucks the bow string at the beginning and at the end, foreshadowing the simile in Od.21 (..."a note like a swallow's") was music to my eyes, and a finely Homeric ring composition move

Cuts "disproportionately concentrated in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS), where 85% of all staff placed at risk of redundancy (445 out of 523 FTE) are based" . www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

University of Exeter in talks to cut about 150 members of staff

The university says it is consulting with colleagues over "limited and specific potential changes".

bbc.co.uk

Marco Perale@mperale.bsky.social · 4mo ago

The University of Exeter announces a sweeping programme of job cuts that places well over 500 staff - 14% of all academic staff - at risk of compulsory redundancy in the run-up to Christmas. c.org/rsLn5wJK8L

Please sign this petition against the proposed job cuts at Exeter: c.org/K8dswVFGNd

Sign the Petition

Stop Redundancies at the University of Exeter

c.org

A brief appreciation thread for some of my colleagues in Classics at Exeter, who the University of Exeter have put at risk of redundancy @exeter.ac.uk. A few are on here, most are not, but I'm going to say nice things about them anyway.

"After all, what is a university? Clearly not the students; they pass through like mayflies [...]. Academic staff? They too are ephemeral, and a drain on our income streams. Our buildings are... award-winning, and we need more of them, but we also need to be ready to float free of ties"

Neville Morley@nevillemorley.eurosky.social · 4mo ago

Why are you concerned? Do you not trust your senior management team? Do you not love us? thesphinxblog.com/2026/06/24/t...

What's happening at the University of Exeter is a disaster for both the region and the country. The way the sector is set up, it is *inevitable* and *unstoppable* that this will continuously happen everywhere. We need to stop, get out a blank sheet of paper and start again.

🎙️ Tune in *today* to hear our very own Prof. Polly Low on ‘In Our Time’, chatting to Misha Glenny about The Delian League. 👩‍🏫 Prof. Low appears as an expert panelist alongside Dr Leah Lazar (Manchester) and Prof. Paul Cartledge (Cambridge). 🔗 www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

The Durham/Glasgow Learning from Ancient Letters project is looking for teachers to develop materials for UK schools related to ancient letters. Tell us what might be useful and help us test out materials we create! Contact andrew.morrison@glasgow.ac.uk. www.gla.ac.uk/schools/huma...

I’ve just learned that Michael Putnam has died. What a giant to pass from the earth. What an impact he made while here. I learned so much from him in graduate school.

No, I don't want your generative summary, I don't want your overview, your simplification, your AI assistant, your AI research tool, your Co-Pilot chat, for the love of all that is holy please let me read my stuff in peace

a man wearing a shirt that says schitts creek on the bottom

ALT: a man wearing a shirt that says schitts creek on the bottom

media.tenor.com

All famines are man-made, all famines are political. Historians of empire and humanitarianism have known this forever. Gaza is not starving, Gaza is being starved, by Israel, and this starvation is enabled by our government and by every other government that does not step in to force food and aid.

Publication day! Just in time for essential summer reading (preferably by a pool with a cool drink). @bloomsburyclass.bsky.social @openthanatology.bsky.social www.bloomsbury.com/uk/roman-mou...

New issue of Classical Philology Vol. 120, No. 3 (2025) www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/cp/2025/... @chicagojournals.bsky.social

Elephant hawk moth in the garden!!!!🦋💕 I’ve always wanted to see one in person - the pink is SO vivid

Peveril of the Peak, Manchester, painting by Yvette Earl. #WomensArt #NorthernArt.

berry proud of our crop #tinyjoys

It's going to be a warm few days in the UK. BL Harley 3469; Splendor Solis (an alchemical treatise); 1582; Germany; f.33v

Do I know anyone who has used the Archivio della Congregazione degli Affari Ecclesiastici Straordinari (and would be happy to offer some pointers on so doing)? Grazie mille!

The Next Ovid(s) | ScuolaNormaleSuperiore www.sns.it/it/evento/ne...

The Next Ovid(s) | ScuolaNormaleSuperiore

A link to attend the conference remotely is available upon request at ovidconference2025@gmail.com.ProgramThursday June 19Session I15:30    Welcome and Introduction15:45    Panel 1 – Politics and Poet...

sns.it

Please sign if you haven't already chng.it/BLjHGkMd22

Sign the Petition

Save Cardiff University Ancient History Degree

chng.it

A nifty, hungry feline in Boulogne-sur-Mer. Bibliothèque municipale des Annonciades, Ms. 45.

Close to TWO THOUSAND academics and educators say TRANS RIGHTS NOW. (Sorry if you've seen this (and the historians' letter!) too many times. The lack of an algorithm means we have to keep reposting it to catch people, and this really matters.)

Caroline Dodds Pennock@carolinepennock.bsky.social · last yr.

Heartened to see that close to 900 fellow academics and educators have already signed our letter in support of trans rights, trans wellbeing & trans inclusion, and against essentialist, anti-scientific, racialised & regressive views of womanhood. Please do read, share & sign! tinyurl.com/mud7va29

University of Manchester's Whitworth Park student residences, known as 'the Toblerones', 1976 (MMU archive).

Buon 25 Aprile! Buona festa della Liberazione! By @maurobiani.bsky.social

Breaking News: Pope Francis is dead at 88. The first Latin American and Jesuit pontiff, he championed a more inclusive Catholic Church.

Francis, the First Latin American Pope, Dies at 88

After decades of conservative leadership, Francis tried to reset the course of the Roman Catholic Church, emphasizing inclusion and care for the marginalized over doctrinal purity.

nytimes.com

Happy to share a review I wrote for Classical Review of a compelling edited vol. on ancient 'love’ letters, curated by @owenhodkinson.bsky.social and A.T. Drago. The collection offers a nuanced exploration of the emotional textures of epistolary writing in antiquity. Here: doi.org/10.1017/S000...

It's one of the greatest things I have ever seen.

Satan’s Niece@krissychula.bsky.social · 2y ago

This is high art