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Seth Bernard

@profbernard.bsky.social

1.4K followers 180 following 42 posts

Romanist who has just left the empire, prof at U of Toronto

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Seth Bernard @profbernard.bsky.social · Mar 18

Rarely post here, but check out my new, highly ambitious study of slavery and the Roman economy!

Past and Present @pastpresentsoc.bsky.social · Mar 18

New on advance access: "Slavery, Prosperity, and Inequality in Roman Pompeii"

by @profbernard.bsky.social (@uoft.bsky.social)

#OpenAccess

doi.org/10.1093/past...

Slavery, Prosperity, and Inequality in Roman Pompeii*

Abstract. Historians of premodern economies, in contrast to modern ones, have only infrequently contemplated the economic contribution of slavery. Here, I

doi.org

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Seth Bernard @profbernard.bsky.social · 2d

Happy to see my book reviewed in @antiquity.ac.uk!

Antiquity Journal @antiquity.ac.uk · 2d

📕 #BookReview

What did prehistoric people think about their past? Can #archaeology reveal 'historical culture' in societies without written literature? @profbernard.bsky.social's 'Historical culture in Iron Age Italy' breaks new ground on these questions 1/2

(£) doi.org/10.15184/aqy...

🏺

Cover of the book reviewed, depicting a ceramic jar with a lid shaped like a human head, with the text 'Book Review, Antiquity'.

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Seth Bernard @profbernard.bsky.social · 7d

Happy birthday, Carlos!

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Seth Bernard @profbernard.bsky.social · 12d

Always a pleasure, Carlos. By far the most exciting news from your visit is the launching of the Berkeley Global Antiquity Project: people, stay tuned!

Seth Bernard @profbernard.bsky.social · 25d

I also think, if (probably when) I flee academia.edu, I am going to make my own website. So another limitation right now is choosing a website title that is (a) available and discoverable and (b) not obnoxious (e.g. ProfessorBernardRules29BCE.com)

ProfessorBernardistheBest29BCE.com

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Seth Bernard @profbernard.bsky.social · 25d

I mean to do this, but can't bring myself fully to do it because non-anglophone communities (by which I specifically mean Italian archaeology) make heavy use of it to circulate some otherwise very obscure scholarship, and I don't see that changing.

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Seth Bernard @profbernard.bsky.social · Sep 11

Congratulations @darcytuttle.bsky.social on a superb study of a critical Roman monument!

Carlos Noreña @carlosfnorena.bsky.social · Sep 11

NEW: Darcy Tuttle, "Hoc Saxsum: History as Conversation inside the Tomb of the Scipios," *Journal of Roman Studies* 2025.

A fundamental reinterpretation of a major mid-Republican monumental complex, arguing that "history" was made and remade here through "an ongoing dialogue with the dead."

Hoc Saxsum: History as Conversation inside the Tomb of the Scipios | The Journal of Roman Studies | Cambridge Core

Hoc Saxsum: History as Conversation inside the Tomb of the Scipios

www.cambridge.org

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Seth Bernard @profbernard.bsky.social · Sep 11

We're happy to announce the latest volume of the Journal of Roman Archaeology #JRA now out in print and online! www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Latest volume | Journal of Roman Archaeology | Cambridge Core

Journal of Roman Archaeology

www.cambridge.org

Seth Bernard @profbernard.bsky.social · Sep 4

All for misanthropy. It seems the interaction you're describing is not the one I am!

Seth Bernard @profbernard.bsky.social · Sep 4

You certainly see more of these than me (makes sense), or maybe I'm a naive pushover susceptible to flattery (also makes sense), but I don't really mind chatting for 10-20 minutes with some 25 year old who bothered to slog through an article or two of mine

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Reposted by Seth Bernard

Michael J. Taylor @drmichaeljtaylor.bsky.social · Jul 15

Summer Beach Read #2: @profbernard.bsky.social 's *Historical Culture in Iron Age Italy.*

Fascinating survey of the material evidence for how Italians conceptualized their past, and how those conceptualizations changed alongside the development of urban states.

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Seth Bernard @profbernard.bsky.social · Aug 8

Thanks, Michael, means a lot to hear!

Seth Bernard @profbernard.bsky.social · Aug 8

New collaborative OA publication on the state of early Roman coinage studies www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Money and Mid-Republican Rome | The Journal of Roman Studies | Cambridge Core

Money and Mid-Republican Rome

www.cambridge.org

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Seth Bernard @profbernard.bsky.social · May 16

An institute with "top-tier chefs", huh? Tell me you've spent time on the Gianicolo recently without telling me you've spent time on the Gianicolo recently!

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Reposted by Seth Bernard

Hyperallergic @hyperallergic.com · May 5

How did Pompeii come to reach such levels of success and affluence? A new study argues that this was largely due to the labor of enslaved people, who were indispensable to the city’s growth until its demise in 79 CE.

New Research Shows Slavery’s Outsized Role in Pompeii’s Economy

It was the violent profitability of slavery as an exploitative labor system that allowed for the region to prosper, the study demonstrates.

hyperallergic.com

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Seth Bernard @profbernard.bsky.social · May 5

Here’s the study, free to download

Slavery, Prosperity, and Inequality in Roman Pompeii*

Abstract. Historians of premodern economies, in contrast to modern ones, have only infrequently contemplated the economic contribution of slavery. Here, I

academic.oup.com

Seth Bernard @profbernard.bsky.social · May 5

@sarahebond.bsky.social writes about my new @pastpresentsoc.bsky.social paper on #Pompeii slavery and inequality for @hyperallergic.com, great to see the study catching notice!

New Research Shows Slavery’s Outsized Role in Pompeii’s Economy

It was the violent profitability of slavery as an exploitative labor system that allowed for the region to prosper, the study demonstrates.

hyperallergic.com

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Seth Bernard @profbernard.bsky.social · May 1

Thanks, Sarah!

Seth Bernard @profbernard.bsky.social · Apr 13

This is horrible. The postdoc might contact us about a possible Toronto FAS postdoc to complete the work? Christer and I could co-sponsor? Dec 1 deadline, doesn’t start until summer 2026, so no instant cure but just thinking aloud.

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Seth Bernard @profbernard.bsky.social · Apr 8

Which is to say I would eat that with a spoon if need be!

Seth Bernard @profbernard.bsky.social · Apr 8

What needs explaining?

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Seth Bernard @profbernard.bsky.social · Apr 8

Maybe with mutton?

Seth Bernard @profbernard.bsky.social · Apr 8

Update, HRM is not at ai marmi this evening

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Seth Bernard @profbernard.bsky.social · Apr 8

Depends on when

Seth Bernard @profbernard.bsky.social · Apr 8

Hi from the other side of town, had lunch with friends at the BSR and then was shuffled out bc they (actually) “had to welcome the king”

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