📣The registration page for the 2026 Celtic Conference in Classics is now live!

shop.maynoothuniversity.ie/index.php?ap...

Explore the 2026 Conference webpage here⬇️
cccmaynooth2026.mailerpage.io

A pedimented structure supported by four columns, with an inscription on the lowest level of the entablature. A blue sky flecked with clouds is visible behind.

Today AIO launches 112 inscriptions: all remaining letters of Roman emperors, inscriptions & graffiti connected with the Roman Agora (including AIO's first obscenity!), milestones, dedications to Demeter, Kore, Herakles. For all today's new entries see: www.atticinscriptions.com/browse/bypub...

News: we're thrilled to have received £80,000 of funding from the BFI to help us digitise a remarkable archive of agricultural films and make them available to the public!

Read more on the @uniofreading.bsky.social website:

www.reading.ac.uk/news/2026/Un...

Semester 2 2026 Reading Classics Research Seminars We are pleased to announce the launch of our Reading Classics Seminar Series for Semester 2 2026, which will boost our Wednesday afternoons with constructive and stimulating lectures and discussion…

We are pleased to announce the schedule for our Semester 2 2026 seminar series. Take a look at the full details here:

blogs.reading.ac.uk/classics-at-...

Absolute Units podcast - The Museum of English Rural Life Come for the big sheep. Stay for the history of rural England and its people.

Absolute Units returns tomorrow!

We continue reflecting on our origin story while looking specifically at our links to British colonial agriculture. Plus, how do we want to be remembered in another 75 years' time?

Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

merl.reading.ac.uk/explore/abso...

Conversations with a Curator: Professor Conor Carville Join us for a free online talk with Professor Conor Carville on artworks depicting the famous Irish writer, James Joyce.

Our friends at @unirdg-artcol.bsky.social return with another online fine art talk this Thursday!

Join Professor Conor Carville (University of Reading) for a deep-dive into the University's artworks of James Joyce.

Free to join. RSVP:

merl.reading.ac.uk/whats-on/con...

A telegram to James Joyce in Paris on his 49th birthday, sent from Dublin by Samuel Beckett. Beckett wishes James Joyce a happy birthday using a quote from ‘Work in Progress’  (later known as Finnegans Wake). [SSJ A/1/2/1]

A fountain pen with a gold charm given to Joyce on his 57th birthday in 1939 by his family to celebrate the forthcoming publication of his book ‘Finnegans Wake’. [SSJ-OBJ/002]

A fountain pen with a gold charm given to Joyce on his 57th birthday in 1939 by his family to celebrate the forthcoming publication of his book ‘Finnegans Wake’. [SSJ-OBJ/002]

The first edition of the groundbreaking novel ‘Ulysses’ was published on Joyce’s 40th birthday, in France in 1922.

Happy Birthday to James Joyce!🎉 🎂

Joyce was born on 2nd February 1882 in Rathgar, Dublin. Joyce loved having a big celebration for his birthday.

Come and catch the exhibition of James Joyce’s personal archive at University of Reading Special Collections @themerl.bsky.social !

🚨 SAVE CLASSICS AND MEDIEVAL STUDIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY! 🚨
University leadership has rejected an innovative new program developed by faculty in good faith, citing budget constraints.
This decision would eliminate the Classics major at Calgary!

Read more : 👉 www.cac-scec.ca/2026/01/supp...

Divers Uncover World’s Largest Late Roman Hoard with 50,000 Coins Hidden Beneath the Mediterranean A forgotten treasure hidden for centuries beneath the sea is reshaping the story of Rome’s reach across the Mediterranean.

Divers Uncover World’s Largest Late Roman Hoard with 50,000 Coins Hidden Beneath the Mediterranean dailygalaxy.com/2026/02/worl...

Obverse of a Roman dupondius: Head of Augustus, radiate, left.

Reverse of a Roman dupondius: Livia, draped, wearing a wreath of corn-ears, seated left on an ornamented throne, holding corn-ears in right hand and long torch in left.

#OnThisDay - 30 January - in 58 BC Livia Drusilla was born. Wife of Augustus and mother of Tiberius, she was an astute politician and "more than a match for her husband's wiles" (Tacitus, Annals 5.1). #AncientHistory 🏺

Image: RIC Claudius 101; ANS 1978.27.5. Link - numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric....

Did you know we acquire 2,500-3,000 new volumes each year?

53 new books will be appearing onto the shelves today—here's a selection!

A clay pot displayed in a museum case. The rounded vessel has facial features forming a tired, weary expression.

"I hope this email finds you well"

How this email found me:

Interested to see the latest application of natural language processing in Python to numismatic descriptions to greatly enhance searchability (with Wikidata integration)? I'll be giving a zoom presentation to ANS members on Friday.

The Call for Papers for the 13th annual Nomisma/ECFN meeting in Bari is now open. 15-18 Sept 2026. Come and join us! www.13ecfn-nomisma.org/call-for-pap...

A map showing the campaigns of Hannibal and Marcellus in central Italy in 216 BCE, showing complex movements as the Carthaginian and Roman armies jockeyed for position around Capua and Nola.

I'm excited to share that the Ancient World Mapping Center has just released Livy Study Maps: Book 23, the latest entry in our series of maps to assist students and teachers working with Livy's History of Rome.

awmc.unc.edu/2026/01/21/l...

#AncientHistory #maps #DigitalHumanities

KOINON VIII 2025 is out! This Volume begins with two tributes to the late David MacDonald (1943-2025) which are available OA. For details of KOINON VIII, and for submission to KOINON IX, please visit:
archaeopresspublishing.com/ojs/index.ph...
#archaeopress.bsky.social

Monetary CHANGE in Ancient Anatolia (630-30 BC) CHANGE is an interdisciplinary project to research the monetary history of ancient Anatolia from the beginning of coinage in the 7th century to the absorption of the region by Rome circa 30 BC

The CHANGE project is in Istanbul next month, courtesy of the wonderful Pera Museum. Do join us: www.peramuseum.org/event/moneta...

An episode of our @themerl.bsky.social pod in which I confess to not having read much Austen. Then, for some utterly harebrained reason, I recite my own poetry after discussing one of the world’s most celebrated writers! Thankfully @joevaughan.net edits me to sound less stupid than I clearly am!

Huge undersea wall dating from 5000 BC found in France The 120 metre wall was either a fish-trap or a dyke for protection against rising sea-levels, archeologists believe.

Wow, “French marine archaeologists have discovered a massive undersea wall off the coast of Brittany, dating from around 5,000 BC”.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

1,800-year-old 'piggy banks' full of Roman-era coins unearthed in French village An excavation in a small French village reveals three jars with thousands of Roman coins.

More than 40,000 #Roman #coins🪙💰 may have been unearthed in a french village!🇫🇷🏺

But the true jackpot lies in the extraordinary archaeological context, which is certain to reveal astonishing insights!📏🔎 via @livescience.com

#numismatics #numismatique
www.livescience.com/archaeology/...

The new baby book Knock Iveagh has arrived. A book with a cover showing a hilly landscape , very quintessentially Irish

That opening page !

Its always nice to see the actual hard copy !

A set of mugs and coasters, decorated with artwork of an extremely large pig. There is a choice of two captions. One says 'big hog, bigger dreams.' The other says 'moisturised, in my lane, flourishing'.

"The perfect mug does not exist."
The perfect mug:

The Royal Belgian Society for Numismatics (KBGN) is pleased to announce the next edition of its quadrennial Numismatic Prize, awarded since 1981. This prize rewards an original scholarly work in the field of numismatics. TARGET GROUP The prize is open to candidates who are no more than 35 years old at the time of submission. It is intended for young researchers contributing significantly to numismatic research. CONDITIONS • The submitted work must be original and unpublished. • The subject must clearly fall within the field of numismatics or sigillography. • The dissertation must be at least 75 pages long. • The work may be written in Dutch, French, German, English, Italian, or Spanish. SUBMISSION Submissions must be received by 31 May 2026. The manuscript must be submitted as a fully completed PDF - including all images, tables, appendices, and full bibliography. Each submission must also include a short summary of the work and a curriculum vitae of the author. All documents must be sent digitally to Pierre Petit (Pierre.Petit@ulb.be) and Fran Stroobants (fran.stroobants@kbr.be), with subject line « Submission - Numismatic Prize 2026». An acknowledgement of receipt will be sent after submission. EVALUATION & AWARD CEREMONY Evaluation is carried out by a jury composed of the members of the Editorial Board of the Belgian Journal of Numismatics and Sigillography, possibly supplemented by experts in the field. The prize will be awarded during the General Assembly in October 2026. The laureate receives a monetary prize of €2.000 and official recognition by the Society.

Under 35?! Find yourself writing about coins? Have an longish unpublished piece you'd like to see get some attention?! Perhaps you have student who recently submitted a kickass numismatic thesis you want to promote?

All documents must be sent to Pierre Petit (Pierre.Petit@ulb.be) and Fran Stroobants (fran.stroobants@kbr.be), with subject line « Submission – Numismatic Prize 2026 ». An acknowledgement of receipt will be sent after submission.

The prize is open to candidates who are no more than 35 years old at the time of submission.The unpublished dissertation must be at least 75 pages long, in Dutch, French, German, English, Italian, or Spanish.
Submissions must be received by 31 May 2026 (+ short summary and CV).

QUADRENNIAL NUMISMATIC PRIZE 2026
The Royal Belgian Society for Numismatics is pleased to announce the next edition of its quadrennial Numismatic Prize. This prize of €2.000 rewards an original scholarly work in the field of numismatics.

We’re excited to share that 𝐀𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 is now the 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝𝐰𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐫 of all print books from 𝐂𝐨𝐭𝐬𝐰𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐀𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐞𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲 — a leading force in UK archaeology for 35+ years.

✨ 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨𝐨𝐧 — subscribe for first notice:
tinyurl.com/ms9u67n6

@cotswoldarch.bsky.social

My photo shows two owls which decorate the neck of an ancient Greek pottery rhyton (drinking cup). The owls stand with their bodies shown in profile facing each other, whilst their heads are turned full-face towards the viewer. The owls are painted red against a black slip background, with their details painted in black slip. Each owl has two large round eyes consisting of a black dot inside a thick black circle. The wings are painted in outline, and black dots represent feathers on their wings and bodies. Below the red-figure decoration on the neck of the drinking cup, is the main body of the vessel which is in the form of an owl - this is not seen in my photo. Rhyton dimensions: Height: 27.5 cm; Diameter: 11.7 cm. Dated c. 460-450 BC.

Happy Monday!

Here are two lovely little owls decorating an ancient Greek ceramic drinking cup made in Athens around 2,500 years ago!
🦉😍

Louvre, Paris 📷 by me

#Archaeology

On August 29 at 6.00pm AEST, Dr. Andrew Burnett (Royal Numismatic Society) asks why the region of Lycia in south-western Asia Minor abandoned its local coinage for the imperial currency system of the western Roman Empire. On September 23 at 6:00 PM AEST, Dr. Clare Rowan (University of Warwick) will deliver a lecture for students and teachers studying Agrippina the Younger at high school (though all are warmly invited to attend). On October 23 at 6.00pm AEDT, Dr. Sam Moorhead will discuss the imperial coinage minted for Carausius and Allectus, two breakaway emperors in Roman Britain. On November 21 at 6:00 PM AEDT, Dr. Philippa Walton (University of Leicester) will discuss a remarkable assemblage of 1,444 Roman coins recovered over three decades by two divers from the River Tees at Piercebridge, northern England. Feel free to share the program attached with students or colleagues interested in the study of ancient coins: students, researchers, curators and collectors are welcome and encouraged to join NUMISMA. A selection of past lectures can be viewed on our YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@ACANSMQ/videos). We look forward to seeing you on August 29. To receive a registration link please contact Dr Charlotte Mann (charlotte.mann@students.mq.edu.au)

for the numismatically inclined, this term's ACANS Numismatics talks, including one by yours truly aimed at teachers in high school classrooms teaching Agrippina the Younger. Times are given in Australian time, but recordings of the series are also available at www.youtube.com/@ACANSMQ/vid...