I enjoyed talking about Athenian history, and Plato's life in a time of civil strife, to Jackson van Uden for his History with Jackson podcast - out now. Here's a link to his Spotify page: open.spotify.com/episode/4xFH...
Reposting this as a very proud Fitzwilliam syndic - great that the museum team’s work has been recognised by the Art Fund judges.
Thanks for posting this! TH White's writing was hugely important to me as a child and clearly to many later writers of fantasy and on nature. Next time I go down to the Piraeus I'll pay my respects too...
Full details of the publication here - Felix Budelmann and Eveline Krummen have done a great service to scholarship in preparing these two volumes: www.cambridge.org/core/books/s...
Two hardback books sitting on a wooden table. Both are titled 'Studies in Greek literature', with white lettering on a black background in Cambridge University Press style. The cover image of the first volume is a red-figure vase painting showing a group of women - one is sitting and reading a scroll while the others look on.
Two important volumes - the collected papers of Prof Pat Easterling, the first (and so far only) woman to hold the Regius Chair of Greek at Cambridge, an alumna & honorary fellow of @newnhamcollege.bsky.social, & a hugely important scholar on Greek tragedy. All online via Cambridge core...
The orange sun rises through clouds over a reasonably calm sea, casting an orange beam over the waves.
On the train to Manchester for the Classical Association conference, where I’ll be chairing a panel on Aristotle’s political thought on Saturday. Sad to leave the seaside behind - as seen earlier this morning.
Maybe even a commemorative cafe à la Scruton?
Remembering the great historian Averil Cameron - I heard her give the talk linked here to a @womeninclassicsuk.bsky.social event, inspiring and powerful.
Beware Thucydiocy - let @nevillemorley.eurosky.social be your guide…
A large oil painting depicting the god Bacchus being led on a sled by his followers including satyrs, maenad, a donkey and a very shiny goat. The god lies on a leopard skin and is being fed grapes. The figure on the right is a self-depiction of artist Michaelina Wautier.
Detail of Michaelina Wautier's Triumph of Bacchus, showing a very clean goat being led by two small boys, naked other than strategically draped cloth and foliage, and the hairy leg of a satyr.
Highlight of the Michaelina Wautier exhibition at @royalacademyarts.bsky.social is her monumental Triumph of Bacchus - she pictured herself as the maenad on the right, & clearly enjoyed painting the luxuriant textures of the god's symbols and followers. A great rediscovery for the history of art.
She was also a published translator of ancient Greek! Her translation of Xenophon's Apology of Socrates became a standard version, and she also translated his Socratic dialogues - at a time when they were a hugely important store of advice on how to be a gentleman.
Hah, glad it's not just me!
A page from a manuscript copy of Plato's dialogues, dated 895 and held in the Bodleian libraries. The parchment leaf shows neatly handwritted Greek text with multiple annotations in the margins.
As I'll be speaking in Oxford, have added some Oxford-based Plato content - the important manuscript held in the @bodleian.ox.ac.uk, a vase from @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social. And I might mention Jowett, as I usually do when thinking of Plato in Oxford.
Have just sent off my slides, so a good time to post a reminder that I'll be speaking about Plato and his life in fourth-century BC Athens at the Oxford Literary Festival on Wednesday next week - more details here, sorry about large author photo!: oxfordliteraryfestival.org/literature-e...
Louise Bourgeois' spider sculpture standing in front of an early modern tapestry displayed on a gallery wall; its central scene shows Leto turning people into frogs, and its border is a colourful riot of classical imagery. The gallery itself has a wooden floor and grey benches for visitors to sit and take in the details.
a detail from Poussin's 'Triumph of Ovid' showing the poet wearing a garland, and brandishing another with his right arm, while his left arm rests on books of his love poems.
Metamorfosen @rijksmuseum.bsky.social - a deep dive into the presence of Ovid's epic in art from antiquity to today, beautifully organised by mythical theme. If you can get to Amsterdam to see it (or to Rome, later in the year) strongly recommend!
The volume,Brill's Companion to the Reception of Xenophon, edited by Dustin Gish and Christopher Farrell, should be published this summer; full details of contents and contributors here: brill.com/display/titl...
Includes me on 'Meaning and Understanding in the History of Greek Political Thought', along with Melissa Lane and many other great contributors. Fond memories of a bizarrely hybrid post-Covid conference, and a splendid socially distanced dinner in honour of Professor Skinner.
A reassessment of Quentin Skinner's classic paper on its 50th anniversary, drawn from a @britishacademy.bsky.social conference - Meaning and Understanding in the History of Ideas and Beyond, edited by @adrianblau.bsky.social & open access at www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10....
The visual legacy of a counter-cultural moment at the start of the 1980s - includes posters for two of my favourite ever 7" singles, by Scritti Politti and Orange Juice. Artfully curated by the always interesting Philip Hoare for @theguardian.com.
Exciting! Looking forward to seeing the finished thing!
I did have the chance to revise and update the chapter two or three years ago, but proof-reading something written long ago when your thought and your writing style have moved on is not the most fun thing. Still, excited to see the volume move forward.
A page proof containing the following text: Chapter 3 Xenophon’s Reception in Aristotle and the Aristotelian Corpus Carol Atack There are clear shared themes within the political and ethical thought of Xenophon and Aristotle.1 Both are interested in human life in its extreme forms, from the slave to the absolute monarch, in the structure of the household and its relationship to the wider political and other responsibilities of the male citizen who was its manager, in the constitutions of cities, ideal and otherwise, and in the practicalities of implementing the ideals that underlay the politeia. However, Aristotle’s use of Xenophon’s texts has often been treated as limited to the extraction of useful data about, for example, Spartan educational and political practices, rather than as a critical engagement with Xenophon’s ethical and political thought itself.2 Common subject matter may simply be...
V excited to receive page proofs for a chapter I submitted in 2016 (!) for the forthcoming Brill's Companion to the Reception of Xenophon, on a topic which remains fascinating - Aristotle's use of Xenophon's thought and his exemplary narratives as a source for his own ethnical thought.
Our third blog post in our WCC and Me series is now live!! 🏛️🏛️
Click the link below to read our conversation with Dr Carol Atack
wcc-uk.blogs.sas.ac.uk/2026/02/23/w...
The Women's Classical Committee UK (@womeninclassicsuk.bsky.social) is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a series of interviews with those involved at the start - here's my contribution, thanks to @katherinemcdon.bsky.social's interviewing skills: wcc-uk.blogs.sas.ac.uk/2026/02/23/w...
Thanks - so glad this was useful for you and encourage you strongly to take a look at the book!
Book cover - a historical print imagining the American past as inscriptions on the columns of a classical temple, fading to the right into a light blue text from which the title and author name are reversed out: Epic Events: Classics and the Politics of Time in the United States since 9/11, Sasha-Mae Eccleston
Now online - my review of Sasha-Mae Eccleston's 'Epic Events:
Classics and the Politics of Time in the United States since 9/11', an exploration of the intersectional politics of classical reception (spoiler: I found it compelling and learned a lot) www.journals.uchicago.edu/eprint/HPQGZ...
Birkbeck, University of London, is seeking a Lecturer in Ancient History and Classics to join our dynamic team within the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Autumn 2026. As Lecturer in Ancient History and Classics, you will contribute to the teaching of ancient Greco-Roman history and Classics in the School of Historical Studies - this includes our BA Ancient History and Archaeology, BA Classics, BA Classical Studies, as well as MA Classical Civilisation and MA Classics. This post is offered on a permanent contract at Birkbeck, full time, 35 hours per week, with a salary of £44,247 rising to £60,858 per year. Teaching hours will vary from 6-9pm Monday to Friday. To be successful, you will bring research expertise in ancient Greek history, broadly understood (this could include the history of Greek-speaking lands under the Roman empire), as well as ancient Greek literature, and demonstrate a capacity to contribute to interdisciplinary research and teaching, participate actively in curriculum development, supervise doctoral students, and help shape the intellectual life of our vibrant academic community. We would also welcome applicants who could contribute to collaborative teaching programmes or research in the Faculty, in areas such as identity, race/ethnicity, or gender - experience of collaboration with cultural institutions, whether through research or teaching, is also welcome. The postholder could potentially take advantage of Birkbeck’s new Immersive Learning Centre for teaching or research. As Lecturer, your core responsibilities will initially include programme/module administration, teaching, supervision, assessment, student support and pastoral care. You will also be equipped to supervise doctoral students. With a PhD in any area of Ancient History/Classics relating to the ancient Greek world,...
We're hiring at Birkbeck!
Lecturer in Ancient History and Classics, full-time and open-ended. Closing date March 18th.
Details here: cis7.bbk.ac.uk/vacancy/lect...
Halfway through Athena’s Sisters - a vital read for anyone interested in the social history of classical Athens, and in questions of historical method.
A paperback copy of Plato: a civic life by Carol Atack sits on a wooden bookshelf, in front of a Megarian bowl, just glimpsed. The wall behind is off-white. The book cover is bright red and features the words of the title arranged at the top of three Doric columns.
Opening page of paperback edition of Plato: a civic life, containing comments from book reviews: 'Atack handles her material, as throughout, with a steady touch ... All in all, Atack's book is crisply written, shrewd, and well-informed... Readers of many kinds are likely to derive both pleasure and profit from reading this book? Bryn Mawr Classical Review 'In Plato: A Civic Life we journey through the philosopher's life - and, from the third chapter onwards, through his writings - learning as much about Athenian democracy, international relations, education and culture as we do about Plato himself... Anyone who finds raw Plato indigestible will welcome these accessible explanations of his work... Twenty-five years on from my last ancient philosophy exam, I am surprised to discover that I want to open his works again, thanks to this humanizing and carefully contextualized biography? ALICE KÖNIG, Times Literary Supplement 'Carol Atack's study of Plato achieves more in 240 pages than many other writers manage in biographies three times the length... A gem for anyone interested in this ancient Greek philosopher and the world he inhabited. Approachable, enlightening, informative? Bookmunch 'Atack excels, contextualizing the dialogues smoothly and authoritatively, with neither the gatekeeping condescension of the expert nor the oversimplifying condescension of the pedagogue... As a primer to the man, his works, and his time, the general-interest reader could scarcely ask for something better? Open Letters Review 'A richly enjoyable and illuminating account of Plato's life and its social and political contexts. Atack handles the wealth of scholarship with a deft touch: she provides considered support for her interpretations but never obscures the main, vivid narrative, into which she skilfully weaves a number of Plato's key ideas and arguments? ANGIE HOBBS, Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy, University of Sheffield
Actual physical paperback now sighted! Here it is, just as lovely as the hardback but with some lovely quotes from reviews added (all but one in alt text) - thanks to everyone who has read and commented. Head to @reaktionbooks.bsky.social or your local bookshop to preorder!
