Buffalo Calling Stones, Stinging, and Medicine Bundles: Fossil Legends of the Native Americans of the Plains The war between the Thunder Birds and the Water Monsters involved ranged warfare; they fired missiles at one another which the Sioux called kangi tame, or the blackened remains of lightning bolts.

How did Plains Indians explain and use fossils of long-extinct animals? Delighted to be cited in this fine article
www.distinctlymontana.com/buffalo-call...

Gods and Robots: Ancient Dreams of Technology | Adrienne Mayor YouTube video by The Long Now Foundation

Amazed that my talk about ancient robots
and the link between technology and tyranny
has more than 1,068,000 views!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=czj-...

Ancient Amazons loved their horses!
Check out these fine portraits
Kerch-style vases painted 2,400 years ago

I Work Very Hard, And I Would Like To Try Cake By A Horse Hello. I am a horse. I work very hard at my job of being a horse. When humans say move the heavy thing, I move the heavy thing. When humans sit on top of me and pull on my head, I carry them where they want to go. The main food the humans give me is hay and oats. But I am thinking it would be nice to have a different food. I am thinking I would like to try cake. Yes, yes. Cake. I know all about it. When humans eat cake, it is in glad times. It is the food for a celebration, such as when a woman becomes 47. I have seen cake on the Fourth of July. When humans have a cake, they stand around it and clap hands and smile and say happy birthday at each other. Sometimes there are beautiful markings on a cake, such as balloons or a pink shape. Sometimes the top of a cake is on fire and a boy must blow on the fire with mouth wind. This is the scariest cake. I do not want this kind. But I will eat any other cake. Any cake that is not the fire cake that tries to kill the boy. Please understand: I do not get money for doing work. I do not get to go inside the house. All I am either doing my horse job or standing in my pen or eating food off the floor. I always do these things. But I have never once gotten cake and I would like it very much. I have noticed that human children get to eat cake. But I am bigger than the children. I am more helpful to the farm. Children do not move the heavy things like me or let anyone ride on them. And yet they get cake. Maybe the humans will realize this. Maybe they will say, "You know who deserves cake? That horse. That horse whose back we are always on." Every day I dream about what it will be like if I get to eat cake. Here is what will happen. First, I will walk to the cake and putt my nose at it like hrrfff to make and stomping my hooves to make sure it is not a snake. Then I will trot in a circle to show that I am a horse and I am large. After that, I will nuzzle the cake to …

The horse op-ed is an instant classic. I can't tell you how much joy this piece gives me.

It should be taught in every introductory writing class in no small part because the horse arguments are so compelling. "I have noticed that human children get to eat cake. But I am bigger than the children."

Episode 22: James Romm on Plato and Tyranny The latest episode of The World in Time.

This week on the podcast, Donovan Hohn speaks with James Romm, historian and classicist, about his new book, PLATO AND THE TYRANT: THE FALL OF GREECE'S GREATEST DYNASTY AND THE MAKING OF A PHILOSOPHIC MASTERPIECE.

you can listen to my interview about The Amazons of Themiscyra and Wonder Women set to music by Scottish composer Erland Cooper for BBC's Cities of the Imagination:
www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/792rp...

you can listen to my interview about The Amazons of Themiscyra and Wonder Women set to music by Scottish composer Erland Cooper for BBC's Cities of the Imagination:
www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/792rp...

The Marbles & the Muses | James Romm A.E. Stallings’s reflections on the Elgin Marbles illustrate how beautiful objects have the power to inspire both the noblest effusions and the pettiest efforts at acquisition.

James Romm on the Elgin Marbles

The Centaur Excavations at Volos Using repatriation to stage an art heist

Ridiculous "repatriation" of a popular educational artwork at University of Tennessee
Serious misuse of NAGPRA
The Centaur of Volos by William Willers
socialstigma.substack.com/p/the-centau...

Could geology explain the lethal reputation of the Styx River, also known as the Black River/Mavroneri?
Why did people believe its water killed Alexander the Great?
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Having recently exchanged thoughts about criticism over human remains in UK collections, I hope this is not where we are heading (though there are some quite concerning parts about S Asian 1980s human remains trading, used to create part of this). Governance (or lack of it) is an issue here.

Infuriating. If there were questions, at the very least a DNA sampling seems in order.

Science Before Science with Adrienne Mayor Historian of science Adrienne Mayor on how fossils become folklore and how stories can save your life.

"Geomythology" 👀👀👀👀👀

by @amayor.bsky.social @asherelbein.bsky.social

heat-death.ghost.io/science-befo...

@artcrimeprof.bsky.social

The Centaur Excavations at Volos Using repatriation to stage an art heist

Ridiculous "repatriation" of a popular educational artwork at University of Tennessee
Serious misuse of NAGPRA
The Centaur of Volos by William Willers
socialstigma.substack.com/p/the-centau...

Amazon warrior helping her fallen companion, with worried horse
ancient cameo, Beazley Archives, Oxford

Amazon warrior helping her fallen companion, with worried horse
ancient cameo, Beazley Archives, Oxford

'El Aníbal de Oriente que desafió a Roma' lleva por título la reseña que hoy publica @zendalibros.bsky.social del libro 'El rey del veneno. Mitrídates el Grande, enemigo implacable de Roma', de Adrienne Mayor, cuya nueva edición está ya en librerías.
🔗 www.despertaferro-ediciones.com/revistas/num...

Excited for the Polish translation of Gods and Robots!
"Made, Not Born"

What Is It Like to Be a Machine? An unsettling argument from antiquity sounds a moral warning for the future.

What's it like to be a machine?
www.thefreedomfrequency.org/p/what-is-it...

Stanford students learn to lead with civic courage Led by political scientist Josiah Ober, the Stanford Civics Initiative aims to inspire democratic citizenship through courses and programs focused on civics education.

Civic courage is making a comeback!
Thanks to Josiah Ober and team
news.stanford.edu/stories/2025...

"Dan Edelstein, (Stanford) is joined by classical-political heavyweights Josiah Ober(Stanford), and Melissa Lane(Princeton, ICS), to excavate the deep past of an idea that still jolts headlines and rattles parliaments."

classicalwisdom.substack.com/p/the-revolution-to-come

Josiah Ober’s mission to revitalize democracy and civic education Using lessons from ancient Athens, the political scientist is inspiring a new way of thinking about civic responsibilities at Stanford and across the country.

Great piece on former CASBS fellow & board member Josh Ober

news.stanford.edu/stories/2025...

What Is It Like to Be a Machine? An unsettling argument from antiquity sounds a moral warning for the future.

What's it like to be a machine?
www.thefreedomfrequency.org/p/what-is-it...

Have you ever seen a baby Sphinx?
Sphinxes playing with fawns
ancient Greek vase painting, oil flask, 5th century BC

Paclitaxel: From ancient quivers onto the list of essential medicines There is a tree that is so poisonous that it has long been a symbol of poison itself.

@amayor.bsky.social Thank you so much for Greek Fire, Poison Arrows, & Scorpion Bombs. I loved it!
I also drew inspiration from it (and used it as a resource) for my own little article about the history of yew and paclitaxel.
open.substack.com/pub/pharmahi...

thank you! I enjoyed your excellent article

Minnesota Proved MAGA Wrong The pushback against ICE exposed a series of mistaken assumptions.

How Minnesota Proved MAGA Wrong

simple logo on left is best

BlueSky won’t let me share the video, but you can see one of the ICE agents rip a gun out of this man’s waistband *before* the shooting starts.

From this angle, it’s hard to see how this was anything but an execution, unless simply carrying a gun is now illegal in America.