It's so funny to me that right-wingers love to pretend to love the Middle Ages and the Crusades and all that and then complain that the Pope shouldn't get involved in politics.

From gladiators to grocery lists— the Roman world had it all. Come explore the ancient world with me this summer! 🏛️📜

I have a papyrology joke bu[t ca. 15 ].

“Clearly there was no real barrier to what the Emperor could spend. In practice his financial position tended to coalesce with that of the state, even if Emperors varied in their willingness to exploit this fact.”
Duncan-Jones, Money and Government in the Roman Empire, page 43.

Should I start a new series titled “Sentences I like”?

“The literary tradition is typically more concerned with moral stereotypes than with systematic description” Dunca-Jones, Money and Government in the Roman Empire, pg 16.

ALT: A large, framed, yellowing document. Text reads: "Harvard Law Paid $27 for a Copy of Magna Carta. Surprise! It’s an Original." Photo credit: Lorin Granger/Harvard Law School

Two British academics discovered that a "copy" of Magna Carta, held in Harvard Law School’s library for 80 years, is one of seven originals dating from 1300.

Read more: nyti.ms/4dkc3ma

old journal cover

New volume of the Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists Vol. 61 (2024) poj.peeters-leuven.be/content.php?... @irenin.bsky.social @cbzeichmann.bsky.social @richardbott.bsky.social

How to Evade Taxes in Ancient Rome? A 1,900-Year-Old Papyrus Offers a Guide. A manuscript discovered in the Judean desert contains trial notes on an intricate tax-evasion scheme that involved forgery, fiscal fraud and the false sale of slaves.

Tax and tax evasion!

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/14/s...

Felicidades!!!

Bass coin showing a bust of Agrippina surrounded by a legend in Greek, and Cybele seated left on the reverse,

occasionally in the Roman world women acted to sponsor local coinage, as here on a coin of Eumenea in Phrygia, struck by a high priestess named Bassa, daughter of Kleon. The obverse of the coin shows a bust of Agrippina II and the reverse shows the goddess Cybele. rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/1/3151

Thanks to the Hyperallergic team and my ever-supporting friend and colleague @sarahebond.bsky.social !

Rare Gold Tongues Found in Egyptian Burial Chamber | Artnet News A Spanish-Egyptian team of archaeologists has found a three-chamber burial site with fresh wall paintings, amulets, and golden tongues.

Pretty cool find out of Oxy!

news.artnet.com/art-world/ar...

Finally published in BASP 2024! This papyrological edition and commentary took a long time and a lot of work. I hope I did some justice to this important official document, which states the total size of cultivated land for the Oxyrhynchite nome.

Isn’t it a cool find!

On December 1st, 1948 the Costa Rican government abolished the army.

“Dichosa la madre costarricense que sabe que su hijo al nacer jamás será soldado”

Taking a break from academic life to celebrate my brother Andrés who was nominated for a Latin Grammy! Proud Costa Ricans :)

ah jajajjaa! shows how much I know about navigating bluesky!!!

Me please!!!

my collection of about 14,000 photos (and growing) of ancient Mediterranean (broadly construed) archaeological subjects with Creative Commons license available here:
www.flickr.com/photos/dandi...

Line graph. Y axis = income growth. X axis = percentile global income distribution. Line shows increase from 15th to 65th percentile, sharp decrease from 65th to 80th percentile, and increasingly sharp increases from 95th percentile and up.

Line graph with flat line from 1900 to 1930, steady rise from 1930 to 2000, and sharp increase from 2010 to present.

Two graphs that I have recently posted separately actually go together very well as a pair:

1. Global Income Growth by economic percentile, 1988-2008 (Milanovic's "elephant curve").

2. Increasing use of the term "authoritarian," 1900-2022 (Google N-gram).

1/3

So excited to speak with Harvard’s Econ Historians today!

Today’s topic in Roman Egypt:

“Class and Female Economic Performance in Roman Egypt: Obstacles and Resilience”

I love few things more than a good Roman-period Bes.

About 3,600 Roman coins discovered with metal detector in Limburg Some 3,600 Roman coins have been found in Limburg, the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands confirmed after reports by regional broadcaster L1. According to a spokesperson, these are mainly bro...

About 3,600 Roman coins discovered with metal detector in Limburg | NL Times - nltimes.nl/2024/09/21/3...

So many good objects at the Florence Archaeological Museum! The numismatic and textile collection alone were outstanding; I have all these ideas for classes etc. bustling in my head. Academia is hard so these little research and conference trips are good for the renewal of purpose and soul 🤗

New review of Peter Brown's *Journeys of the Mind* by Charles Maier, eminent historian of the modern international order.

It's a smart discussion, with several useful insights into how Brown's work can help us to understand "structures of order" (an incisive observation, I think)...

A package full of econ/numismatic offprints arrived from doktorvater. I feel like I am back in grad school with a reading list 📜📝🪙💰