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August 🤝 Sneaking Up On People

I do wonder sometimes whether Augustus gets upset that so many professors & teachers curse his month (as of 8 BCE) and thus name—once they actually remember what the date is. Good luck on your syllabus due in like two weeks, amici (*sobs into hands*).

I don’t support tiger skin rugs. 🐅 But I do support tiger skin mosaics that look like a rug. (Museum of Bardo, 200-399 CE, image by Roberto Piperno).

Please enjoy this medieval mosaic of two roosters capturing a fox from the twelfth-century floor of the Church of Santa Maria e San Donato in Murano, as taken by Iowa medievalist Shane Bobrycki. 🐓🦊🐓 Now this is some gallus humor.

Hello, dear βιβλιόφιλος ("booklover") 📚 The JMA has a open access article on "New Approaches to Identifying Roman Libraries," on two Late Antique Examples from Stobi (North Macedonia) & Fuente Álamo (Spain). Can we develop computational techniques to help us identify the grammar of libraries? Yes!

Investigadores de la UGR identifican en una villa romana de Córdoba la biblioteca más antigua de la Península Ibérica - Canal UGRInvestigadores de la Universidad de Granada descubren en la villa romana de Fuente Álamo (Córdoba) la biblioteca más antigua documentada de la Península Ibérica.canal.ugr.es

I have never wanted to see and only talk about the Hannibal movie more. Calling on @netflix.com to stop this nonsense and unpause this. We need a petition. And maybe elephants. screenrant.com/denzel-washi...

Denzel Washington’s Netflix Historical Epic Is “Effectively Dead,” Reveals ProducerThe actor won’t be reuniting with Antoine Fuqua.screenrant.com

July 30, 762 CE: The founding of Baghdad. The date and topography of the city were determined by astrologers & architects hired by the Abbasid caliph Al-Mansur, thus the city itself has a horoscope (such a Leo). 🌟 Read Ali Olomi’s essay on this (edited by myself and Stephanie Wong for Public Books).

Baghdad: The Once and Future City of Stars - Public BooksThe city testifies to the vast intellectual curiosity of medieval Muslims, and the splendor they translated from astrology into their designs.www.publicbooks.org

My dentist in rural Iowa asked me about the Odyssey controversy yesterday, in case you were wondering if the world is watching as classicists tear each other apart. I sincerely hope we can all try to now collectively act to show support for the humanities & save all departments under threat as well.

In Mary Sturgeon’s UNC grad course on Hellenistic architecture 🏛️, I wrote on the reception of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus in Late Antiquity. So seeing this new vol. is exciting (& 50x better than my grad essay—especially love the Crusader Castle portions). We do love the reception of a wonder #OA

The Afterlife of the Mausoleum of HalicarnassusCambridge Core - Architecture - The Afterlife of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassuswww.cambridge.org

I am teaching my graduate seminar on Slavery & Social Death (1200 BCE-1865 CE) again in the fall. We work a lot on the archaeology of enslavement—and the most emblematic object for Roman slavery is the Zoninus collar. J. Trimble has a great article on it. www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.3...

David Blight: “Madam Congresswoman, it’s because they believe that’s where you can control people’s minds, you can sustain a social order. You can control education. You can control the arts. You can control writing and creativity itself.“ youtu.be/mbz2spRcEiI?...

WATCH: David Blight makes opening statement in hearing on how Smithsonian presents historyYouTube video by PBS NewsHouryoutu.be

July 28, 450 CE: The death of Theodosius II after a riding accident. Between 429 and 438, commissions brought together 2529 imperial issues from Constantine in 311 to Theodosius II in 437. This law code is incredibly valuable to all of us who do Roman law! The most recent translation is Pharr et al.

The Theodosian code and novels : and the Sirmondian constitutions : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archivexxvi, 643 pages : 32 cmarchive.org

Hello from the Johnson County Fair (Iowa) Corgi Race. Congrats to Noodle, our new Corgi Queen.

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“Supposed be to be” = 18th-20th century men assumed they’d be thenoosphere.substack.com/p/archaeolog...

Archaeologists Keep Finding Women Where Men Were Supposed To BeEven when historical records already suggested they’d be therethenoosphere.substack.com

Come on, UNESCO! 🏛️ Also? All heritage is “political.” “Palestinian officials welcomed UNESCO's designation of Sebastia in the occupied West Bank as a World Heritage site, hoping it will prevent Israel extending ​its control at the ancient village, while Israel condemned it as a political ‌decision.”

Palestinians hope UNESCO designation halts Israeli push at West Bank sitePalestinian officials welcomed UNESCO's designation of Sebastia in the occupied West Bank as a World Heritage site, hoping it will prevent Israel extending ​its control at the ancient village, while I...www.reuters.com

The splendid Caitlin C Gillespie has a new book out on Livia with @yalepress.bsky.social: yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300... She was the wife of Augustus, but she also loved experimenting with figs, herbs, 🌿 gardens, and murder (okay, I admit that last one I added as an example of literary misogyny)

Livia’s Famous Figs: An Ancient Roman Guide to Good Eating  - Yale University PressEmpress Livia was known for her longevity and health, gifted by her own vibrant garden. However, her wisdom left her open to bad accusations.yalebooks.yale.edu