It’s been a long time since I posted a blog entry! I do apologise to everyone who’s emailed to ask if I’m ok – sorry for worrying you! I am ok, but it’s been a hectic few months with a lot of Life Stuff – big changes and tricky decisions all popping up at once.

I’ll fill you in on the personal and professional changes of this new academic year in a future post, but today I thought I’d address the recent changes in the Weekend Reading landscape.

The big change is that Twitter (which was my major source of information and contacts) is no longer Twitter. It’s now X, and it’s not a very nice place to be. We always called it the “hellsite”, and warned people of its dangers – but now it’s so bad that people are leaving in droves.

Different groups of people are heading to different places, but it seems that the site of choice for classicists is BlueSky (which is very like Twitter, but currently free of the ads and a lot of the dodgier goings on). BlueSky is invitation only – you need an invite code to join. I have a stock of codes to give out, so if anybody wants to make the move and doesn’t have an invite, do drop me a message and I’ll help you get set up! And if you need a crash course in how to navigate Classics BlueSky, Alexandra has you covered.

I’m still around on Twitter though, and probably will be until the ship goes down. It’s where I “network”, for want of a better word. I’ve never (for a variety of reasons) been able to jump from conference to conference and make contacts in person, and I’m not part of an academic department, which means that the benefits of making online connections with people really are huge for me – particularly in the light of the changes I’ll tell you about next week… So I’m holding tight to what’s left.

I’m back to publishing my Weekend Reading every week (I hope!), but because of the changing online situation I might be a bit low on links for a while. However, as always the Rogue Classicist is doing a superb job of collating Online Classics and holding us all together, so do keep an eye on his daily round-up if you need more reading material!

I’m pretty busy myself this month, with the annual chaosfest that is #ClassicsTober. If you’re on social media, do look out for the hashtag! I’ll write it all up properly at some point, but this year is by far the biggest #ClassicsTober ever, with people and schools and organisations all over the world taking part. I’m helping to organise it, but I’m also producing my own daily illustration, every day this month. It’s keeping me out of trouble – for a while at least!

If you’d like to join in with #ClassicsTober yourself, you are of course welcome! Just post a response to the daily prompt on the internet somewhere, with the hashtag #ClassicsTober or #ClassicsTober23. We’ve got all sorts this year, across multiple social platforms: music, art, poetry, and of course the daily joy that is Minimus the mouse in the guise of various mythological figures.

Minimus as Medea, from the fabulous Helen Forte.

Here are the prompts (all myth-themed this year), and everybody is welcome to join in!

Oh, and if anyone happens to be in Durham this weekend for the Durham Book Festival, look out for me at the event with Jennifer Saint and Edith Hall, and say hello if you can! I’ll post pictures and a review next week.

That’s all for now, folks – but it feels good to be dusting the cobwebs off my trusty old website!

Weekend Reading

News

The big Classics-related news this week is about new technology reading scrolls and detecting colours. These are just a few of the many articles!

Researchers use AI on scrolls – The Guardian

21-year-old won $40,000 deciphering scroll – Yahoo Sports

Grand Prize now achievable – Vesuvius Challenge

The goddess’ new clothes – The Daily Mail

Hidden colours discovered – Live Science

Scientific analysis reveals true colours – Phys.org

AI and clay tablets – Phys.org

AI reveals what Ancient Greek sounded like – Greek Reporter

From the Rogue Classicist’s archives, posted for #ClassicsTober

Comment and opinion

How the Romans would have solved HS2 (?) – The Spectator

Thucydideeses! – The Sphinx

AI and Pandora, by Adrienne Mayor – Project Syndicate

Greek antiquities and the Nazis – Greek Reporter

On tour – A Don’s Life

Hymn to Hestia by Natalie Haynes – Perspective

Grief in the Iliad and WWI poetry – Antigone

Singing with the Frogs – Little Latin and More Greek

From the Rogue Classicist’s archives, posted for #ClassicsTober

Podcasts, video and other media

A Rome of One’s Own, with Emma Southon – Ancient History Fangirl

Gladiator – When Would We Die?

Why Cicero Matters – CANI

From the Rogue Classicist’s archives, posted for #ClassicsTober