As the pandemic known as COVID-19 grips the globe, thousands of instructors in the United States and elsewhere have been asked to transition their courses online for the remainder of the semester. To some instructors, such as the superb Classics professors at the Open University, distance learning has become a normalized pedagogy. To many othersContinue reading “Working Together to Transcribe Ancient Documents During COVID-19”
Tag Archives: papyri
Taking a Sapphic Stanza: Papyri, Digital Humanities, and Reclaiming the Work of Ancient Women
This semester, I am teaching our department’s Archaic to Classical Greek Survey. I specialize in late antique Roman history and GIS, and thus this has been a departure from my normal research interests–and just one reason we are searching for a Homerist with DH skills right now. However, reading and teaching Greek does not mean thatContinue reading “Taking a Sapphic Stanza: Papyri, Digital Humanities, and Reclaiming the Work of Ancient Women”
Picturing the Patriarch: Resources for Finding Illustrated Papyri and the Case for Image Licensing
Ancient and medieval papyri not only transmitted text, some even held illustrations. Mathematical, scientific, and magical papyri often had accompanying images meant to enhance the understanding of a text or perhaps to depict someone being cursed. Some historical and literary papyri (e.g., those of Homer) had illustrations as well. I was reminded of this fact this morning,Continue reading “Picturing the Patriarch: Resources for Finding Illustrated Papyri and the Case for Image Licensing”
‘Can I Get Your Autograph?’: A Short History of Signature Collecting
When I was a kid, I was obsessed with collecting the signatures of the Atlanta Braves baseball players. It was a point of pride to show my friends the signatures of John Smoltz or Greg Maddux, and they provided me with a little residual cachet. Turns out that Romans had much the same reaction. The naturalContinue reading “‘Can I Get Your Autograph?’: A Short History of Signature Collecting”
Amo, Amas, Amat: Greco-Roman School Exercises
The first line of Euripides’ Bacchae reads: ‘ἥκω Διὸς παῖς τήνδε Θηβαίων χθόνα‘ I, the child of Zeus, have come to the land of the Thebans Although it was written by the playwright at the end of the 5th c. BCE, while in Macedonia, the words of Euripides continued to echo in schoolrooms throughout the Mediterranean.Continue reading “Amo, Amas, Amat: Greco-Roman School Exercises”
Third Eye Blind: The Cyclops in Late Antiquity
Born around the year 490 CE in the city of Philadelphia, John the Lydian had a lot to say about Roman corruption and civil servants. His book, On the Magistracies of the Roman State, provides insight into the sausage factory that was late antique bureaucracy. Though living in Constantinople at the time, he addressed a story from his hometown (3.59):Continue reading “Third Eye Blind: The Cyclops in Late Antiquity”
History From Below 