"We are all Classicists - we come into touch with the Classics daily: in our culture, politics, medicine, architecture, language, and literature."
For a more in-depth introduction, see:
Classics: A Very Short Introduction by Mary Beard & John Henderson, 2020, OUP
This Very Short Introduction to Classics links a haunting temple on a lonely mountainside to the glory of ancient Greece and the grandeur of Rome, and to Classics within modern culture-from Jefferson and Byron to Asterix and Ben-Hur.
A Classic Book Reading List: 101 Timeless Masterpieces You Must Read Before You Die by Legacy Creative Press, 2025
With bite-sized summaries and just enough info, you’ll know exactly which classics are right for you—no sweat!
101 Must-Reads, Made Easy: This isn’t a dense academic textbook—it’s a fun, approachable list to help you explore the classics at your own pace.
New paper on machine learning for #epigraphy
Assael, Yannis, Thea Sommerschield, Alison Cooley, et al. “Contextualizing Ancient Texts with Generative Neural Networks.” Nature, July 23, 2025, 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09292-5.
"Human history is born in writing. Inscriptions are among the earliest written forms, and offer direct insights into the thought, language and history of ancient civilizations. Historians capture these insights by identifying parallels—inscriptions with shared phrasing, function or cultural setting—to enable the contextualization of texts within broader historical frameworks, and perform key tasks such as restoration and geographical or chronological attribution1. However, current digital methods are restricted to literal matches and narrow historical scopes. Here we introduce Aeneas, a generative neural network for contextualizing ancient texts. Aeneas retrieves textual and contextual parallels, leverages visual inputs, handles ..."
“Aeneas helps historians interpret, attribute and restore fragmentary Latin texts,” said Dr Thea Sommerschield, a historian at the University of Nottingham. “That’s the grand challenge that we set out to tackle.”
#classics #Latin #History
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/jul/23/google-ai-tool-roman-inscriptions-aeneas
Dune by Frank Herbert
Very good right up until the end, where it felt like Frank suddenly realized he had to actually finish the book. Definitely worth the read though.
#Books #BookReview #Sci-fi #Classics #Fiction #Literature #Dune
CfP DIGITAL CLASSICIST SEMINAR BERLIN 2025/26.
All info here: https://digital-classicist.bbaw.de/cfp. Deadline: 16 August 2025.
This year's series focuses on the theme of **“Potential and Limits of Digital Methods”**. Digital methods offer enormous potential: they enable the precise documentation and analysis of sources and finds and facilitate access to data via digital platforms. They open up new perspectives on cultures from early times to late antiquity and allow for innovative research questions. At the same time, however, limitations are also apparent, for example due to technical and legal requirements, data incompatibilities, or methodological challenges. Possible topics could include: visualizations and their epistemic value; the application and long-term reusability of digital methods; reproducibility of results; challenges of big data, etc. We particularly encourage early career researchers to submit a paper! #digiclass #classics #digitalhumanities @antiquidons
Classics librarian job: The University of Cincinnati Libraries seek to fill the position of Head of the John Miller Burnam Classics Library. The Head of the Classics Library provides services to the internationally recognized Classics Department, researchers, faculty, and students. The successful candidate for this tenure track position will continue to enhance the library’s reputation as a world-class, top-ranking research library for Classics scholars at UC and globally.
(On a personal note, I can vouch that this is one of the top Classics libraries in the US. It has an individual endowment that has enabled it to maintain a vigorous acquisition policy in an era of library funding cuts.)
More information at the link below.
https://jobs.uc.edu/job/Cincinnati-Head-of-the-John-Miller-Burnam%2C-UCL-Classics-Librarian-OH-45201/1281640300/
"The legendary arcade and family entertainment brand Chuck E. Cheese has just announced that it has launched a new set of arcades across the US geared specifically towards adults."
#weird #weirdnews #retro #nostalgia #pizza #games #classics #gaming #food #fun
https://www.timeextension.com/news/2025/07/iconic-arcade-chain-chuck-e-cheese-launches-new-locations-aimed-at-nostalgic-adults
This is a series of stories based on a famous real-life judge in China during the Song dynasty. It was written centuries ago, and one of the defining memories of my childhood is my dad giving me these very books to read. It has pictures but also Chinese and English writing. Rereading them and am amused by the fact that as a kid, I was reading about tortures, poisonings and how every story's "happy" ending ends with a decapitation of a bad guy. We Chinese kids have quite a morbid and grim diet for bedtime stories, looks like
In that sense, I think we have something in common with the Germans
#TheGreatDictator is an anti-Nazi satire. It's also 85 years old and as relevant as ever. #review #movies #Classics
https://oldaintdead.com/the-great-dictator-1940-charlie-chaplins-first-talkie/
Prospective students who are interested in the #ISAWNYU Doctoral Program in the Ancient World are invited to attend a "virtual" open house on November 5, 2025. A Zoom link will be provided via email to registered participants.
Details, schedule, and registration info here: https://isaw.nyu.edu/events/open-house-2025
Boosts appreciated.
Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Classics (2026-2028), Dartmouth College
"We seek candidates with specialization in any of these fields: Comparative slavery studies in ancient cultures broadly defined (e.g. Egypt, Mesopotamia, China); Queer studies; Disability studies; Critical reception studies (e.g. Africana receptions, Luso-Hispanic, Asian/Asian-American). For all of these fields, we will prioritize candidates whose research is informed by digital humanities methods."
Loving this film, thank you
DONE! My translation is just a wee bit different than Fagles and Lombardo.
"Next, [Bellerophon] fought against the renowned Solymi, who were renowed in battle in the past. Thus, at any rate, it was said to be the strongest battle he had ever entered into. And thus furthermore, lastly, he slew the Amazons, who were a match for men."
And yes, if my translation sounds FORMAL, that's because Homeric Greek is FORMAL!
#Classics #Histodon #AncientGreece #BronzeAge #WarriorWomen #AncientHistory
#WomenInTheAncientWorld
today's #earworm:
Hollis P. Monroe - I´m Lonely (Original Mix)
This one is for my Classics and Archaeology peeps:
The conservative counter-protesters (all 20 of them) at the Budapest Pride this weekened were trying to hold up the march with a sign that said THIS IS SPARTA!
Let that sink in. It has layers.