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Dr Victoria Austen

@vickyausten.bsky.social

Assistant Professor of Classics at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Public Engagement Coordinator for @peoplingthepast.bsky.social Gif Enthusiast. My own unique mix of 🇬🇧🇨🇦🇺🇸 victoriaausten.com

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Aparna Nair@disabilitystor1.bsky.social · 6h ago

I think we can agree that AI detectors are out. But universities are ignoring the fact that faculty cannot really out-design assessments to meet the challenges of this moment. We need sustained institutional support to be the best teachers we can be, and we aren't getting it.

Inside Higher Ed @insidehighered.com · 6h ago

AI Detectors Are Out, New Assessments Are In A growing number of universities have prohibited AI detectors, arguing they are ‘unreliable’ indicators of cheating. But where does that leave faculty, who know all too well that cheating is rampant in the age of AI? https://bit.ly/4wGitF7 #EDUSky

A photo illustration of three humanoid robots standing in front of a college entrance gateway.
Jessica Ellis@baddestmamajama.bsky.social · last wk.

Oh did a female academic with an extensive history of study and practice in a particular area of literature make a reasoned critique of a male filmmaker’s movie? I’m sure this will be handled with maximum normality.

lauren@lauren.rotatingsandwiches.com · last wk.

by portraying helen of troy in a contemporary setting and garb that reflect the values of their own times, these 15th century venetian FUCKS really give away their contempt for classical civilization and western heritage

painting of helen of troy dashing off in the night in some pretty un-spartan sailing traditions. dunno about the period authenticity of the jester lookin mf eitherthe story of helen of troy at the walters in baltimorePAINTINGS FOR A VENETIAN PALACE: A TALE OF TWO QUEENS The display in this gallery is meant to evoke chambers in a Venetian palace of the mid-140os and focuses on a series of three remarkable paintings that recount a critical event in the life of Helen of Troy, celebrated in the Renaissance as in antiquity as the most beautiful woman in the world. The paintings are attributed to Dario di Giovanni (ca. 1420-before 1498), an Italian painter who trained in Padua, a town near Venice that was then a major artistic center. Dario's works included altarpieces and wall paintings for chapels and palaces, often for noble families. Secular (non-religious) paintings on this immense scale were sometimes commissioned for private palaces, but these are the only ones surviving from before the 1490s in Venice. In this case, the panels were commissioned to hang in a palace of the Corner family, on the Grand Canal in Venice, to commemorate the strategic marriage in 1468 of their daughter Caterina to the king of Cyprus. These paintings link the story of Helen of Troy with the marriage of the queen of Cyprus.Helen wears a splendid ruby hair brooch at her fashionably high hairline. Rubies were sometimes given to brides. This ship, a three-masted merchantman, is a reminder of the importance of maritime trade for Venice at this time. The pennant attached to the mast bears a large "C," marking it as the personal ship of the queen, Caterina, whose family commissioned these paintings.
Ryan Boyd@ryanboyd.bsky.social · last wk.

The waste of teaching talent caused by universities’ obsession with low-wage contract work (which drives people out of the profession long-term) is almost unimaginable. A societal disaster.

psudonym@psudonym.bsky.social · 2w ago

Okay one more odyssey post. Really loved the movie. But I for one am willing to stop rescuing Matt Damon. At some point we’re just going to have to collectively agree that if Matt Damon gets lost again we just have to let him go.

Tom Pepinsky@tompepinsky.com · last wk.

Americans have more confidence in higher education than in big tech companies, and the gap is growing rather than shrinking. The higher ed-doomsday pundits need to get on board with the real vibe shift in public trust that is happening right now.

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Mark Copelovitch@mcopelov.bsky.social · last wk.

I look forward to all the reports & coverage about all of the internal problems & mistakes of all of these other institutions, in the same way that universities are constantly blamed (& blaming themselves) for “declining trust.” “Compared to what?” news.gallup.com/poll/712436/...

Curtis Dozier@curtisdozier.bsky.social · 2w ago

All kinds of reviews of Nolan's film have been written (including by me) but if the kind you want is an expert meticulously detailing departures from/similarities with sources (and who's also smart about the political implications of those choices) no one is better than @spencermcdaniel.bsky.social

Spencer McDaniel@spencermcdaniel.bsky.social · 2w ago

I have a master's degree in Ancient Greek and Roman Studies, I've studied the 'Odyssey' in Ancient Greek, and I've been writing about the ancient world for over a decade. This is my exhaustive review of Christopher Nolan's 'The Odyssey'. #Odyssey #classics talesoftimesforgotten.com/2026/07/23/a...

Dr Victoria Austen@vickyausten.bsky.social · 2w ago

Lucky enough to hear a snippet of this material when @caeliambulator.bsky.social spoke at UIUC earlier this year! Run don’t walk to order yourself a copy!

Princeton University Press@princetonupress.bsky.social · 2w ago

How goods and people in motion across the ancient world were entangled through consumption. Sea of Treasures by @caeliambulator.bsky.social is now available (15 September UK/EU pub). Learn more: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco... #AncientWorld #AncientHistory #History

Sea of Treasures: A Cultural History of Ancient Indian Ocean Trade by Jeremy A. Simmons
Meredith Rose@mrose.ink · 2w ago

(record scratch) Odysseus, face down in the mud while Princess Nausicaa stands over him: You may be wondering how I ended up here

Dr. Stephanie@punkrockscience.bsky.social · 2w ago

I just saw a meme that said “get in losers, we’re reclaiming the emdash”. People. PEOPLE. Where are your STANDARDS? It CLEARLY should be “get in, losers — we’re reclaiming the em dash.”

"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux@bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 2w ago

It really does just come from this inchoate sense, derived from the film 300 and half-remembered high school history, that the Spartans were the most manly men to have ever manned and that's it. It is that thick-headed and anti-intellectual. There is no grappling with the actual Sparta.

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò@olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 2w ago

I am endlessly fascinated by right wingers' obsession with Sparta. I can understand an initial vibes based appeal I guess - like if you opened the first page of a book on timocracy and were twelve. but the thing about history is you can find out what happened to those guys

Alex von Tunzelmann@alexvont.bsky.social · 2w ago

This thread is right that the convention that historical films written in English are performed with English/Brit accents makes no logical sense. It’s a fascinating quirk of English language film, though – over the last century it became such a norm that people find it jarring when films don’t do it

Paul Cornish@paulgcornish.bsky.social · 2w ago

Interesting bit in this Variety article about The Odyssey where the American writer takes issue with the characters' American accents, dismisses Greek accents as "a bit much", & argues that British (I assume he really means English) accents would have been fine. variety.com/2026/film/ne...

Every character in Nolan’s film not only has an American accent but does little to adjust their tone of voice. It’s especially jarring in the cases of Benny Safdie’s ruthless warrior Agamemnon, since Safdie doesn’t exactly have the most imposing of voices (the film also goes through great pains to avoid showing Safdie’s face), and Jon Bernthal’s Menelaus, king of Sparta, who sounds just like, well, streetwise Jon Bernthal. Having every actor affect a Greek accent would be a bit much, so perhaps the British-accent route, a la “I, Claudius,” would prove less distracting.