Rhiannon Garth Jones
@rhigarthjones.bsky.social
Teaching Fellow in Global Medieval History, Uni of Leeds. PhD in early Abbasid visual language of power & relationship to Rome, general geek, chronically ill. I want to live on a boat again. She/her.
*All Roads Lead to Rome* out now with Aurum Press.
*All Roads Lead to Rome* out now with Aurum Press.
Pinned
I can't quite believe I'm saying this but: I wrote a book! And it's being published this May!
It's about Rome, its enduring appeal, the many different ways it has been interpreted, and how understanding this helps us see both the past and the world today more clearly.
geni.us/AllRoadsLead...
It's about Rome, its enduring appeal, the many different ways it has been interpreted, and how understanding this helps us see both the past and the world today more clearly.
geni.us/AllRoadsLead...
Reposted by Rhiannon Garth Jones
I heard a story about a female academic giving a paper at the IHR who, after receiving a long and aggressive question from a senior male professor, simply leaned back with her hands behind her head and replied “Oh, do fuck off.”
One of my colleagues went to a seminar at Berkeley and when someone asked a question Derrida brushed it off saying ‘what you ask may be important but it is not interesting’.
This path leads to chaos.
November 27, 2025 at 6:16 PM
I heard a story about a female academic giving a paper at the IHR who, after receiving a long and aggressive question from a senior male professor, simply leaned back with her hands behind her head and replied “Oh, do fuck off.”
Reposted by Rhiannon Garth Jones
Y’know, believing there’s a kind of racism that isn’t hurtful or insulting is itself quite revealing.
November 25, 2025 at 7:44 AM
Y’know, believing there’s a kind of racism that isn’t hurtful or insulting is itself quite revealing.
My book is about the past obsessions with the Roman empire that shaped the world today:
- why we think of Rome a certain way,
- why it matters,
- and the many interpretations of Rome we dismiss.
It's basically a v fun history of (a lot of) Afro-Eurasia. Buy it here!
uk.bookshop.org/p/books/all-...
- why we think of Rome a certain way,
- why it matters,
- and the many interpretations of Rome we dismiss.
It's basically a v fun history of (a lot of) Afro-Eurasia. Buy it here!
uk.bookshop.org/p/books/all-...
November 27, 2025 at 7:26 AM
My book is about the past obsessions with the Roman empire that shaped the world today:
- why we think of Rome a certain way,
- why it matters,
- and the many interpretations of Rome we dismiss.
It's basically a v fun history of (a lot of) Afro-Eurasia. Buy it here!
uk.bookshop.org/p/books/all-...
- why we think of Rome a certain way,
- why it matters,
- and the many interpretations of Rome we dismiss.
It's basically a v fun history of (a lot of) Afro-Eurasia. Buy it here!
uk.bookshop.org/p/books/all-...
Reposted by Rhiannon Garth Jones
I've written a few, mostly scholarly, but this is probably the most publicly accessible. A short book written to introduce readers to how archaeologists get stories out of dirt, bones, and broken things
November 27, 2025 at 3:15 AM
I've written a few, mostly scholarly, but this is probably the most publicly accessible. A short book written to introduce readers to how archaeologists get stories out of dirt, bones, and broken things
Reposted by Rhiannon Garth Jones
Publication day! I spent so long building a mahoosive dataset and GIS that it would be a waste not to share the results. The Greeks didn't build many amphitheatres, but gladiatorial epigraphy has been found on huge numbers. Where did eastern gladiators fight?
www.researchgate.net/publication/...
www.researchgate.net/publication/...
(PDF) Venues for Spectacle in the Greek East: Architectural Adaptation and Cultural Adoption
PDF | The scarcity of canonical amphitheatres in the culturally Greek eastern parts of the Roman empire has been used as evidence to suggest a... | Find, read and cite all the research you need on Res...
www.researchgate.net
November 26, 2025 at 6:11 PM
Publication day! I spent so long building a mahoosive dataset and GIS that it would be a waste not to share the results. The Greeks didn't build many amphitheatres, but gladiatorial epigraphy has been found on huge numbers. Where did eastern gladiators fight?
www.researchgate.net/publication/...
www.researchgate.net/publication/...
Reposted by Rhiannon Garth Jones
So I am running the London Lea Valley 50km in March and trying to raise some money for Step Forward - a youth centre in Tower Hamlets, Kiddo attends their LGBTQIA+ group and it's been such a brilliant and supportive space for them, which feels so important when trans youth are under constant attack.
Ellie's fundraiser for Step Forward (Tower Hamlets)
Help Ellie Mackin Roberts raise money to support Step Forward (Tower Hamlets)
www.justgiving.com
November 26, 2025 at 2:46 PM
So I am running the London Lea Valley 50km in March and trying to raise some money for Step Forward - a youth centre in Tower Hamlets, Kiddo attends their LGBTQIA+ group and it's been such a brilliant and supportive space for them, which feels so important when trans youth are under constant attack.
Reposted by Rhiannon Garth Jones
Some of you may know that I curate a huge reading list if Palestinian fantasy, science fiction, and horror. It is not up to date… Please comment if you identify as Palestinian, or if you know of something that should be in the list! Please share for visibility. soniasulaiman.com/readpalestin...
Read Palestinian Speculative Fiction Reading List
The following is a growing reading list for the #ReadPalestinianSpecFic challenge. This is a work in progress to create a list of all available Palestinian speculative fiction. Novels: Novels by Na…
soniasulaiman.com
November 26, 2025 at 2:44 AM
Some of you may know that I curate a huge reading list if Palestinian fantasy, science fiction, and horror. It is not up to date… Please comment if you identify as Palestinian, or if you know of something that should be in the list! Please share for visibility. soniasulaiman.com/readpalestin...
Reposted by Rhiannon Garth Jones
News to me, but apparently this article is out now in #openaccess!
I study the perfuming and ritualization of spaces associated with the memory of the Prophet Muhammad in early Islamic Medina. Part of a special issue on Scents in Medieval Material Culture
www.brepolsonline.net/doi/abs/10.1...
I study the perfuming and ritualization of spaces associated with the memory of the Prophet Muhammad in early Islamic Medina. Part of a special issue on Scents in Medieval Material Culture
www.brepolsonline.net/doi/abs/10.1...
November 26, 2025 at 3:08 AM
News to me, but apparently this article is out now in #openaccess!
I study the perfuming and ritualization of spaces associated with the memory of the Prophet Muhammad in early Islamic Medina. Part of a special issue on Scents in Medieval Material Culture
www.brepolsonline.net/doi/abs/10.1...
I study the perfuming and ritualization of spaces associated with the memory of the Prophet Muhammad in early Islamic Medina. Part of a special issue on Scents in Medieval Material Culture
www.brepolsonline.net/doi/abs/10.1...
Reposted by Rhiannon Garth Jones
Today's Love Letter is a stunning meditation on birdwatching and the loss of a friendship, from the one and only @amalelmohtar.com
stone-soup.ghost.io/love-letter-...
stone-soup.ghost.io/love-letter-...
Why I Need the Birds
A Love Letters Feature by Amal El-Mohtar - November 2025
stone-soup.ghost.io
November 25, 2025 at 11:33 PM
Today's Love Letter is a stunning meditation on birdwatching and the loss of a friendship, from the one and only @amalelmohtar.com
stone-soup.ghost.io/love-letter-...
stone-soup.ghost.io/love-letter-...
Reposted by Rhiannon Garth Jones
Each week on my patreon, I write about maps and about the process of drawing maps for books.
I'm hoping to get membership up over 500 subscribers, and we're close! It's free, so if you're curious, go read some articles. If you like it, please consider subscribing!
patreon.com/SurprisedEel
I'm hoping to get membership up over 500 subscribers, and we're close! It's free, so if you're curious, go read some articles. If you like it, please consider subscribing!
patreon.com/SurprisedEel
Surprised Eel Maps | Patreon
Custom Maps, Artwork, and History
patreon.com
November 25, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Each week on my patreon, I write about maps and about the process of drawing maps for books.
I'm hoping to get membership up over 500 subscribers, and we're close! It's free, so if you're curious, go read some articles. If you like it, please consider subscribing!
patreon.com/SurprisedEel
I'm hoping to get membership up over 500 subscribers, and we're close! It's free, so if you're curious, go read some articles. If you like it, please consider subscribing!
patreon.com/SurprisedEel
Reposted by Rhiannon Garth Jones
Or, if you prefer, 26 large employers in a range of places - some of them without other large employers - could not be here this time next year leaving their employees and students (numbering 10s of thousands, btw), out of work or with course half complete.
“exiting the market”
November 25, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Or, if you prefer, 26 large employers in a range of places - some of them without other large employers - could not be here this time next year leaving their employees and students (numbering 10s of thousands, btw), out of work or with course half complete.
Reposted by Rhiannon Garth Jones
Heavy rain floods Gaza, as hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians, already living in crowded tent camps and half-destroyed buildings, struggle to cope with the cold and the worsening conditions.
Videos by Omar El Qattaa and others
Videos by Omar El Qattaa and others
November 25, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Heavy rain floods Gaza, as hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians, already living in crowded tent camps and half-destroyed buildings, struggle to cope with the cold and the worsening conditions.
Videos by Omar El Qattaa and others
Videos by Omar El Qattaa and others
Reposted by Rhiannon Garth Jones
"Some people refer to the long Covid experience as a 'journey.' I wish they would stop. I’m pinned down by it, stuck with it. I feel like I’m getting nowhere." www.statnews.com/2025/11/25/c...
I have long Covid. Don’t call my chronic disease a ‘journey’
A “journey” is something you choose. No one chooses chronic illness.
www.statnews.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:44 PM
"Some people refer to the long Covid experience as a 'journey.' I wish they would stop. I’m pinned down by it, stuck with it. I feel like I’m getting nowhere." www.statnews.com/2025/11/25/c...
Reposted by Rhiannon Garth Jones
This is a late ancient (5-7th c.?) Greek account of the life of a rich woman who was raised Jewish, converted to Christianity when her parents died, lived for 20 years as a male monk named John, was discovered & made head of a woman's monastery, & was later martyred
well, what the heck. it's the tuesday before thanksgiving, and whoever is on here deserves a treat: the first new translation I've posted in a long while: the Life and Martyrdom of Susanna:
andrewjacobs.org/translations...
andrewjacobs.org/translations...
Life and Martyrdom of Susanna
andrewjacobs.org
November 25, 2025 at 3:27 PM
This is a late ancient (5-7th c.?) Greek account of the life of a rich woman who was raised Jewish, converted to Christianity when her parents died, lived for 20 years as a male monk named John, was discovered & made head of a woman's monastery, & was later martyred
Reposted by Rhiannon Garth Jones
So hey, I wrote a book!
So Rugby, What's That? is a grand adventure through all things rugby- From the great game's origins over a thousand years ago, to Ilona's USA and Siya's Springboks, stopping off at Jonah, Johnny, and the endless joy along the way!
Pre-Order NOW at sorugbywhatsthat.co.uk
So Rugby, What's That? is a grand adventure through all things rugby- From the great game's origins over a thousand years ago, to Ilona's USA and Siya's Springboks, stopping off at Jonah, Johnny, and the endless joy along the way!
Pre-Order NOW at sorugbywhatsthat.co.uk
November 25, 2025 at 5:00 PM
So hey, I wrote a book!
So Rugby, What's That? is a grand adventure through all things rugby- From the great game's origins over a thousand years ago, to Ilona's USA and Siya's Springboks, stopping off at Jonah, Johnny, and the endless joy along the way!
Pre-Order NOW at sorugbywhatsthat.co.uk
So Rugby, What's That? is a grand adventure through all things rugby- From the great game's origins over a thousand years ago, to Ilona's USA and Siya's Springboks, stopping off at Jonah, Johnny, and the endless joy along the way!
Pre-Order NOW at sorugbywhatsthat.co.uk
Reposted by Rhiannon Garth Jones
If the Pergamon Altar and Miletus Gate were from poleis situated in modern Greece instead of Turkey, this article would be calling for their return. Instead, Berlin has the "best museum in Europe" greekreporter.com/2025/11/23/g...
November 25, 2025 at 7:26 AM
If the Pergamon Altar and Miletus Gate were from poleis situated in modern Greece instead of Turkey, this article would be calling for their return. Instead, Berlin has the "best museum in Europe" greekreporter.com/2025/11/23/g...
Reposted by Rhiannon Garth Jones
Haven't received as many contributions as usual for this year's lists--could be many things, but one aspect is surely that our ability to get this in front of people is much diminished. If you know folks whose stuff should be on here, please suggest it! contingentmagazine.org/yearly-pub-l...
Publications by Non-Tenure-Track Historians
Since we began publishing in 2019, Contingent has published end-of-year lists of books and articles by non-tenure-track historians released in the past calendar year. To submit something for inclusion...
contingentmagazine.org
November 24, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Haven't received as many contributions as usual for this year's lists--could be many things, but one aspect is surely that our ability to get this in front of people is much diminished. If you know folks whose stuff should be on here, please suggest it! contingentmagazine.org/yearly-pub-l...
Reposted by Rhiannon Garth Jones
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... - my new article, if of interest please share.
I endured an English public school. But that’s not the only reason I’m unsurprised about the Farage allegations |
Let’s put aside the schooldays accusations and look, instead, at the Reform leader’s path since then. I think a pretty clear picture of the man emerges, says author and podcaster Musa Okwonga
www.theguardian.com
November 24, 2025 at 7:03 AM
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... - my new article, if of interest please share.
Reposted by Rhiannon Garth Jones
With the semiquincentennial behind us, launching the next 250 with my 251st #ScholarSunday thread of great public scholarly writing & work, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the last week. Add more below, share as widely as possible, & enjoy, all! 🗃️
blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...
blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...
#ScholarSunday Thread 251 (11/23/25) – Black and White and Read All Over
With the semiquincentennial behind us, launching the next 250 with my 251st #ScholarSunday thread of great public scholarly writing & work, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the last week...
blackwhiteandread.com
November 23, 2025 at 12:56 PM
With the semiquincentennial behind us, launching the next 250 with my 251st #ScholarSunday thread of great public scholarly writing & work, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the last week. Add more below, share as widely as possible, & enjoy, all! 🗃️
blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...
blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...
Reposted by Rhiannon Garth Jones
Long ago to a disappointed soul: ‘Let their bigoted imaginations be their limit, not yours. Never yours.’
November 23, 2025 at 6:56 AM
Long ago to a disappointed soul: ‘Let their bigoted imaginations be their limit, not yours. Never yours.’
Reposted by Rhiannon Garth Jones
I had a point where walking left me in enormous pain. I went to one doctor whose main answer was "stop being fat" and just...didn't ask anyone else about it for a long time.
I tried so many things.
I tried so many things.
November 23, 2025 at 1:05 AM
I had a point where walking left me in enormous pain. I went to one doctor whose main answer was "stop being fat" and just...didn't ask anyone else about it for a long time.
I tried so many things.
I tried so many things.
Reposted by Rhiannon Garth Jones
If you’d like to join our board, drop us a line!
Contingent Board Nominations
Contingent is looking for some new board members! We’re looking for folks who are committed to the magazine’s mission and want to help us shape how we carry it out in a changing media and academic lan...
contingentmagazine.org
November 22, 2025 at 9:47 PM
If you’d like to join our board, drop us a line!
Reposted by Rhiannon Garth Jones
hey guys i made a seasonal meme
November 22, 2025 at 5:41 AM
hey guys i made a seasonal meme
Reposted by Rhiannon Garth Jones
Read more about it here:
www.historians.org/perspectives...
www.historians.org/perspectives...
November 20, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Read more about it here:
www.historians.org/perspectives...
www.historians.org/perspectives...
Reposted by Rhiannon Garth Jones
Well this 2,600-year-old clay letter was a journey.
It comes from the archive of a goldsmith named Nabû-zeru-iddin in the heart of ancient Assyria. We’ve got someone left on read, a lawsuit, a mean step-mom, and people who get drunk and steal silver.
It comes from the archive of a goldsmith named Nabû-zeru-iddin in the heart of ancient Assyria. We’ve got someone left on read, a lawsuit, a mean step-mom, and people who get drunk and steal silver.
November 21, 2025 at 9:16 AM
Well this 2,600-year-old clay letter was a journey.
It comes from the archive of a goldsmith named Nabû-zeru-iddin in the heart of ancient Assyria. We’ve got someone left on read, a lawsuit, a mean step-mom, and people who get drunk and steal silver.
It comes from the archive of a goldsmith named Nabû-zeru-iddin in the heart of ancient Assyria. We’ve got someone left on read, a lawsuit, a mean step-mom, and people who get drunk and steal silver.