Re-reading my own notes today: "a temple in the form described by Vesuvius". Sure, something like that.

Idly imagining dozens of Athenians loudly reciting their think pieces in the agora and tearing each other to shreds because a Euripides play riffing on the Trojan cycle didn't please every single citizen simultaneously.

Overnight, a masked bandit broke into our kitchen. Armed with opposable thumbs, he proceeded to sample everything on offer. I’d just visited the farmers market, so the menu was extensive. I can now share a highly specific peer-reviewed list of what this particular raider did & did not enjoy. 🧵

Raccoon's Evil Smile: 'Good, Good'

Alt: Raccoon's Evil Smile: 'Good, Good'

static.klipy.com

Half the planet is having a massive fight about how to correctly interpret an Ancient Greek poem but go ahead, close some more humanities departments.

Monday: bad writing day, couldn't concentrate Tuesday: good writing day! It's all coming together! Wednesday: wait, did I miss something really important? *Pause for small breakdown* Wait it's ok I think, found the thing I needed by total fluke. Lunch.

Also, lol.

I actually really enjoyed it, but also this. I ALSO really enjoy reading everyone's various nerdy expert takes on the boats, the weaving, the archery, the geography - so please keep on with all that, thank you. 😄

EMILY WILSON@emilyrcwilson.bsky.social · last wk.

10. Whatever one thinks of the film as a work of art, it's doing some good in the world, by generating big conversations, bringing new audiences to the cinema, and new readers to ancient literature. I hope it helps save the humanities.

This Reddit comment (on a post about whether it's appropriate to knit during a showing of the Odyssey) made me chuckle.

It won’t be too big of a surprise that ‘of’ and ‘off’ come from the same Old English word. However, if we go further back in time, it turns out they’re part of a huge word family that includes ‘after’, ‘ebb’, German ‘von’, ‘aber’, and Ancient Greek ‘apó’. Click my new graphic to learn more:

4) come on, Nolan, you got *that close* to actually name-checking Linear B... 5) thank god I'm not teaching my archaeology course next year, I'm not sure I could cope with what all the students would write in the essay about the "Late Bronze Age collapse" 😄😭🤣 #ClassicsBluesky 🏺

Thoughts of a Bronze Age Aegeanist watching the #Odyssey 1) nice pottery 2) Palace of Ithaca on the outside is totally the Evans concrete version of Knossos, right? 3) Polyphemus lives in the Cave of Nestor! 4) Nolan appears to think you can walk to Pylos from Ithaca? ... #ClassicsBluesky 🏺

Briefly excited to be invited to speak in Malta, but turns out the invite was meant for the similar-name-but-not-similar books Katherine Macdonald @katemacauthor.bsky.social (ps - let me know how to forward it to you 😂)

Odyssey thoughts, almost in order: - great horse - cheese! - WAIT NO ONE TOLD ME LUPITA WAS ALSO CLYTEMNESTRA I LOVE IT - ah yes how are we going to shoot through axes this time - really like Penelope's screen set up actually - yes magic is gross and weird, I agree

In other news, I've booked my trip to Potsdam for this conference, which looks like it's going to be (a) full of interesting people and (b) in an absolutely delightful setting. sites.google.com/view/mire26/...

MIRE 26

Multilingualism and Identities in the Roman Empire. November 18-20, 2026Potsdam, Germany

sites.google.com

OK, I'm seeing the Odyssey this afternoon. Important question: is it more of a popcorn film or a pick-and-mix film?

I don't like having fillings. However I do quite like the word "amalgam", which is English < French < Latin < Arabic < Greek.

My six-year-old is now on five PMs. I had finished a master's degree by that time.

Jonn Elledge@jonnelledge.bsky.social · 2w ago

King Charles III is about to welcome the fourth Prime Minister of his reign, which is not yet four years old.

About to press "submit" on a chapter but might need a cup of tea first.

Pretty sure I can justify seeing the Odyssey in working hours.

deeply annoying that creative breakthroughs don’t come on schedule from direct work but from things like “open-ended conversations with interesting people” and “doing nothing”

I cannot quote-post it, but the entire thread of @trungles.com reading Pride and Prejudice for the first time is absolutely delightful.

Darcy was at their wedding for some reason?? O…kay? Huh.

LOL just reading through comments from the copy-editor and, well, let's just say I'm not convinced that the copy-editor has really been doing much actual reading of my text here with these queries.. Screenshot of my paragraph for context here... Snort.

Love going to German conferences simply to be styled Assoc. Prof. Dr.

Any suggestions for a blackbird trapped in an office corridor? (No windows that open.)

My kingdom for a non-brioche burger bun. (Look, I LIKE brioche; but not with burgers.)

Epigraphy Peeps! Archaeological Site Photographers! Any one have a hi res of the bottom line? I want to look closer at the letter forms of MARTEI. This stone was found in the sanctuary of Apollo at Sikyon and now is in the local museum. Image source: www.jstor.org/stable/48775...

Why is it that Roman films are history films and Greek films are mythology/literature films? Where are all the Greek history films? Or Roman mythology films? (OK I admit that one is a bit harder.)

In my experience, scholars of a particular historical period are the LEAST uptight about "accuracy" in fictional representations of their period, which is why, as a medievalist, I can assure you that A Knight's Tale is the greatest movie set in medieval England that has ever been made.

In case anyone is interested in my directionality research, here is the paper I gave at the recent Grapholinguistics in the 21st Century conference in Reading: youtu.be/jeMAj0gsNYY?...

Philippa Steele, From linguistic to material approaches: interdisciplinary entanglement…

YouTube video by Yannis Haralambous

youtu.be