Sophie Ploeg
@sploeg.bsky.social
Art Historian. Ancient Rome. Early Modern. Ex artist. Also spaniels, tech and books. 🇬🇧🇳🇱 https://www.sophieploeg.com
We're so back. Sorry about the website issues earlier. @emilyrcwilson.bsky.social’s 𝘖𝘥𝘺𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘺 review is now fully available online. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Emily Wilson · An Uncomplicated Man
As they say at the awards shows, I was humbled to learn that Christopher Nolan has read at least the first line of my...
lrb.co.uk
'The university declined to confirm why the tradition had ended. It said arrangements had been made for graduations to "take place as smoothly as possible".' And with reduced risk of repetitive stress syndrome for the tappers.
Edinburgh University ditches 150-year-old graduation cap tradition
The Geneva Bonnet, also known as the John Knox Cap, will no longer be used to tap the head of graduating students.
bbc.co.uk
Quiet Sunday morning drive to uni library to do some work, with this not-so-quiet album on. That was fun. Dynamic, exciting, lively and layered. Great album. #classicalmusic #applemusic #Dvorak
The Porta Nigra at Trier (Augusta Treverorum) in Germany. Constructed during the late second century, it is considered to be the best preserved Roman city gate north of the Alps. 📸 My own. #RomanSiteSaturday #PortaNigra #Trier
A financial Institution just sent me an AI generated email response, telling me that because I am married I have to use my husband’s name and suggested I change my name everywhere else in my life to match the account name using my husband’s name. #AI
Are you a 15th century king? Do you want to show that you’re down with this humanism stuff that your scholars keep talking about, but you’re also terrified of your own people & the damn French? Ask your architect if Fancy Renaissance Gate Sandwiched Between Existing Medieval Towers is right for you.
In March 2026 the University of Exeter was boasting of its top 100 QS World Rankings status for arts and humanities. Now it is devastating the same areas with drastic cuts. Something is seriously wrong. Solidarity to all the excellent colleagues affected by this. news.exeter.ac.uk/university/e...
Exeter records sweeping successes in QS World Rankings by Subject
The University of Exeter has recorded sweeping success in the latest prestigious international ranking, reflecting its strong teaching and research excellence. Exeter has recorded significant, double-...
news.exeter.ac.uk
The planned closure of the Archaeology institute at Humboldt-Universität Berlin is still on the table. So if you haven't signed the petition yet, please do (and share). Archaeology has been a part of Humboldt-Universität's academic tradition for almost 200 years weact.campact.de/petitions/sc...
Schließung des Instituts für Archäologie an der HU-Berlin
Die Archäologie gehört seit fast 200 Jahren zur wissenschaftlichen Tradition der Humboldt-Universität. Ihre Schließung bedeutet den Abbruch einer gewachsenen Forschungstradition und eine dauerhafte Sc...
weact.campact.de
I would gladly buy tickets to this contemporary ballet.
It's dense and there is a lot to unpack but also very interesting and enlightening (and of course, depressing). www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4... #academicchatter #universities #humanities
Stefan Collini · Squadrons of Pigs: Bonfire of the Universities
The problems with Britain’s universities are systemic and deep-rooted, not just local or contingent. Yet political and...
lrb.co.uk
🔸 One reason I’m fascinated by ancient Rome is its culture of memory. Portraits, genealogy, and rituals connected the living with the dead and gave people a sense of continuity. Perhaps that is why we write: not to defeat time, but to enter into a conversation with it 🔸
....just bibliography and images.... then ready to submit for now.... Phew. Chapter 1 draft nearly done. 22K words under the belt. 🤓 #phd #academicchatter #writing
My Dutch niece is looking for a student room in Groningen.... anyone know of anything for her? Pls pass on. #Groningen #universiteitvanGroningen #students #kamerzoeken #studentenkamer Mijn nichtje is op zoek naar een kamer in Groningen. Kan je helpen?
It just never is in the right order. I end up shuffling the sentences until it feels right. I seem to be able to write everything down that I want to say. #phdlife #writing #academicchatter #classics
Ok Gina Davis is a bit weird with her mouth glued closed but The Borough is highly entertaining
www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
I knew my writing students were using AI. Their confessions led to a powerful teaching moment | Micah Nathan
The problem wasn’t just the perfectly polished, yet mediocre prose. It’s what’s lost when we surrender the struggle to translate thought into words
theguardian.com
Cardiff Uni wants to scrap the 2nd floor of the Arts and Social Studies Library. We're talking 7km of books and vital study space gone to make way for classrooms. Please help us save this crucial campus resource before it's ripped out in June! Add your name here: you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/sa...
Stop Cardiff University from scrapping the ASSL's second floor!
thousands of books and crucial study spaces are at risk. Cardiff Uni wants to repurpose the busiest library on campus into classrooms. Help protect our library and sign the petition today.
you.38degrees.org.uk
For #EpigraphyTuesday, AD 2nd C stele in Latin & Palmyrene script, #Rome. To the spirits of the departed Habib, son of Annubat, originally from Palmyra, who lived 32 years, 5 months, 21 days; (his) brother Heres set this up. Syrians settled in Rome in the imperial period. #TombTuesday 📷 my own.
So off-peak return train ticket for early September from Bristol Parkway to London £105. Ticket to Bayeux Exhibition £33 apparently. Add parking at station, tube return, and spot of lunch and that makes for a very expensive day out. World is getting smaller. www.britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/...
The Bayeux Tapestry
For the first time since it was made nearly 1,000 years ago, the Bayeux Tapestry is returning to England.
britishmuseum.org
AI is not always a baddie
Isabel Picornell Garcia@picornell.eurosky.social · 3mo agoA doctor caught while trying to flee the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD, carrying the tools of his profession. The finding is the latest extraordinary discovery at the Archaeological Park of #Pompeii, made more than sixty years after the excavation of the Orto dei Fuggiaschi. #Archaeology
A stunning #Roman amber flask, found in Aquileia, dating 1st/2nd c. AD. Aquileia's position at the end of a main amber trade route resulted in its becoming a centre for the carving and distribution of Baltic amber across the Roman Empire. 📷 Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Aquileia 🏺
The ‘Pioneer Helmet’ - an Anglo-Saxon crested helmet found at Wollaston in Northamptonshire. Dating from the 7th and 8th centuries, the helmet was excavated in March 1997 and is now part of the collections at the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds. 📸 My own. #FindsFriday
