John Dugan
@sicsicsinefine.bsky.social
Classicist, Buffalonian, Boston native, US and Irish citizen. Posts mostly about my dog, travel, food, drink, and unwise fitness activities. aetate iam adfectus, sed tamen exercitatione robustus.
Beekeepers, beehives, and the extraction of honey, with Virgil beneath in the initial 'P'(rotinus) at the beginning of Book IV of the Georgics Bodleian Library MS. Rawl. G. 98; Virgil, Georgics; 15th century, middle; Italy, Milan; f.49v @bodleian.ox.ac.uk
Wonderful mid-century cover design on this edition of Huizinga’s Homo Ludens from 1950. Acquired from a retired colleague.
It's a source of great sadness to me that my university library has largely stopped buying actual books.
When I think of Homer, I think of the Homer statue at the University of Virginia—and the fact that for over 25 years, Ted Lendon has been making students (including me, once) learn how to march in a phalanx on the lawn. ⚔️
At an antiquarian bookshop came across a set of Leo’s Kleine Schriften that Eduard Fraenkel had inscribed to my PhD advisor Gordon Williams. Tucked in the pages was a copy of Gordon’s review of same, with an addition in the hand I knew so well. The universe was telling me to give them a good home.
People on Bluesky sigh and talk about The Discourse as if it were something required of them instead of something they opt to partake in, day in and day out. You really don't have to. Post about your favorite cheese
I kept thinking about that while watching the film. (my review if you haven't seen it pghrev.com/nolans-odyss...)
Nolan’s Odyssey and the Constraints of the Past - Pittsburgh Review of Books
I was apprehensive when I went to see Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey last week. Not because I’m one of those classical scholars who obsesses over errors and
pghrev.com
With Sinon and the Horse still fresh in our minds, this is a good time to (re)read Ralph Hester’s dazzling analysis of Mr “If-Not” (Si-Non). escholarship.org/content/qt1h...
escholarship.org
Flipping through the Odyssey pop book a former Buffalo grad student got my son from a bookstore in Tunisia where he was digging. Marvelous book, wonderful memories.
The last time the Red Sox won 15 in a row was 80 years ago and this kid was batting third:
Enjoy your fleeting moment in the spotlight of popular attention, dear Homerists. Once Nolan reads my pitch for a film version of the greatest story ever told, Cicero’s exile and return (obv.), it’ll be Ciceronians clogging your socials wall-to-wall.
Monitoring the movements of Sea Peoples in Wellfleet harbor.
Splendid morning biking the dunes in Provincetown, finishing at Race Point Beach.
Made me recall how my father read me Beowulf when I was young. www.theatlantic.com/family/2026/...
Reading a 3,000-Year-Old Poem to a 3-Year-Old Boy
“The Odyssey” is not, strictly speaking, a children’s book. I thought my son might enjoy it anyway.
theatlantic.com
Feeling happy (and ancient) to see this prize named in honor of a grad school pal. Congrats Kristina!
Asian and Asian American Classical Caucus@aaacc.bsky.social · 3mo agoThe AAACC is proud to announce the launch of our brand-new Kristina Chew Paper Prize! Please share widely within your networks and encourage your students and colleagues to submit!
Imagine travelling thousands of miles just to spend your evenings doing zoomies over the same few houses... It's hard not to be impressed 👇 #SwiftAwarenessWeek
Rochefort on my bread. A nice dry Rosé. Summer ain’t bad.
The Ambassadors, by Hans Holbein the Younger, 1533, 📸 by @jp_lavs
For once it might just not be fucking Philodemus again.
Hetan Shah@hetanshah.bsky.social · 2mo ago‘Researchers uncovered 20 columns of previously hidden text covering more than a metre of charred papyrus without physically unrolling the scroll. The work discusses stoic philosophy on ethics, art & human behaviour & dates to the second or late-third century BC’ www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
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.
“Norway is imposing a near ban on the use of generative AI tools by elementary school pupils while also restricting their use in the education of older children to prevent a negative impact on learning, the country's prime minister said on Friday." @jackiantonovich.bsky.social
Norway imposes near ban on AI in elementary school
Norway is imposing a near ban on the use of generative AI tools by elementary school pupils while also restricting their use in the education of older children to prevent a negative impact on learni...
reuters.com
He signed an unconditional surrender at Versailles? Come the fuck on.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2mo agoTrump: "It's signed. I signed it in Versailles. I just signed it."
For no particular reason, I am thinking of the Roman emperor Domitian, who launched unsuccessful wars against two external foes (Chatti, Dacians) and was also obsessed with building triumphal arches (Suet. Dom 13).
Grumpily reading a recent book by a brilliant Latin literature scholar who is deliberately obscuring their (often) excellent ideas with all sorts of self indulgent winking-to-the-in-crowd tangents. These are not the days for cutesy self-referential bullshit. Treat readers’ time with respect …
