Sarah E. Bond
@sarahebond.bsky.social
Roman historian, digital humanist & contributor at Hyperallergic
Book 📕 Strike: Labor, Unions & Resistance in the Roman Empire (Feb. 2025) : https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300273144/strike/
Pasts Imperfect:
https://pasts-imperfect.ghost.io/
Book 📕 Strike: Labor, Unions & Resistance in the Roman Empire (Feb. 2025) : https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300273144/strike/
Pasts Imperfect:
https://pasts-imperfect.ghost.io/
Pinned
Pasts Imperfect (11.20.25)
This week, media psychology and classical reception specialist Kristen Leer discusses Ancient Egypt in horror movies and the problems surrounding "Egyptomania." Then, mapping the thousands of miles of...
pasts-imperfect.ghost.io
The latest Pasts Imperfect is out! This week, Kristen Leer discusses Egyptomania in Europe. Then, mapping tarot cards and Platonic philosophy, opium in Ancient Egypt, @profarumpark.bsky.social discusses Classics and Asia, new ancient world journals from @yaleclassicslib.bsky.social, and much more.
Reposted by Sarah E. Bond
Hi, friends! We are hosting the Association of Ancient Historians meeting here in April (16-18, 2026) and today is the last day to submit an abstract to present. Whether you give a paper or not, tho, you should come! Registration is also open. aah.conference.uiowa.edu See you in the IC, y'all.
AAH Annual Conference 2026 | The University of Iowa
CFP: Association of Ancient Historians Meeting 2026: Iowa City: The 2026 AAH Annual Meeting will take place in person at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, IA from April 16-18, 2026. We invite abstr...
aah.conference.uiowa.edu
December 1, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Hi, friends! We are hosting the Association of Ancient Historians meeting here in April (16-18, 2026) and today is the last day to submit an abstract to present. Whether you give a paper or not, tho, you should come! Registration is also open. aah.conference.uiowa.edu See you in the IC, y'all.
People are always mocking bag wine like Franzia as if ancient wineskins weren't basically the same thing. Jesus drank bag wine, you guys. 🍷👝 collections.mfa.org/objects/1867...
December 1, 2025 at 5:18 PM
People are always mocking bag wine like Franzia as if ancient wineskins weren't basically the same thing. Jesus drank bag wine, you guys. 🍷👝 collections.mfa.org/objects/1867...
Reposted by Sarah E. Bond
Me in one image.
December 1, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Me in one image.
Hi, friends! We are hosting the Association of Ancient Historians meeting here in April (16-18, 2026) and today is the last day to submit an abstract to present. Whether you give a paper or not, tho, you should come! Registration is also open. aah.conference.uiowa.edu See you in the IC, y'all.
AAH Annual Conference 2026 | The University of Iowa
CFP: Association of Ancient Historians Meeting 2026: Iowa City: The 2026 AAH Annual Meeting will take place in person at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, IA from April 16-18, 2026. We invite abstr...
aah.conference.uiowa.edu
December 1, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Hi, friends! We are hosting the Association of Ancient Historians meeting here in April (16-18, 2026) and today is the last day to submit an abstract to present. Whether you give a paper or not, tho, you should come! Registration is also open. aah.conference.uiowa.edu See you in the IC, y'all.
Reposted by Sarah E. Bond
My latest for National Geographic on the pervasive myth that everyone in the ancient world was ableist and eugenist. Featuring the work of @debscavator.bsky.social
www.nationalgeographic.com/history/arti...
@unibirmingham.bsky.social
www.nationalgeographic.com/history/arti...
@unibirmingham.bsky.social
Did the ancient Romans really abandon people with disabilities?
New archaeological evidence is helping rewrite old myths about disabled people in the ancient world.
www.nationalgeographic.com
November 30, 2025 at 9:23 PM
My latest for National Geographic on the pervasive myth that everyone in the ancient world was ableist and eugenist. Featuring the work of @debscavator.bsky.social
www.nationalgeographic.com/history/arti...
@unibirmingham.bsky.social
www.nationalgeographic.com/history/arti...
@unibirmingham.bsky.social
Reposted by Sarah E. Bond
It’s really fun to be a historian. We are fun at parties. We will absolutely not ruin your traditions by explaining the history of them.
Them: You know the Olympic torch relay just began.
Me: Yeah, the flame is ancient but the relay itself was invented by Hitler to connect Ancient Greece to Germany for the Berlin Olympics
Them: Always a ray of sunshine
Me:
www.forbes.com/sites/drsara...
Me: Yeah, the flame is ancient but the relay itself was invented by Hitler to connect Ancient Greece to Germany for the Berlin Olympics
Them: Always a ray of sunshine
Me:
www.forbes.com/sites/drsara...
A Short History Of Torches And Intimidation
The carrying of torches to suggest power and project intimidation has a long and sordid history.
www.forbes.com
December 1, 2025 at 12:31 PM
It’s really fun to be a historian. We are fun at parties. We will absolutely not ruin your traditions by explaining the history of them.
Them: You know the Olympic torch relay just began.
Me: Yeah, the flame is ancient but the relay itself was invented by Hitler to connect Ancient Greece to Germany for the Berlin Olympics
Them: Always a ray of sunshine
Me:
www.forbes.com/sites/drsara...
Me: Yeah, the flame is ancient but the relay itself was invented by Hitler to connect Ancient Greece to Germany for the Berlin Olympics
Them: Always a ray of sunshine
Me:
www.forbes.com/sites/drsara...
A Short History Of Torches And Intimidation
The carrying of torches to suggest power and project intimidation has a long and sordid history.
www.forbes.com
December 1, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Them: You know the Olympic torch relay just began.
Me: Yeah, the flame is ancient but the relay itself was invented by Hitler to connect Ancient Greece to Germany for the Berlin Olympics
Them: Always a ray of sunshine
Me:
www.forbes.com/sites/drsara...
Me: Yeah, the flame is ancient but the relay itself was invented by Hitler to connect Ancient Greece to Germany for the Berlin Olympics
Them: Always a ray of sunshine
Me:
www.forbes.com/sites/drsara...
Reposted by Sarah E. Bond
Son (13): What memes were popular when you were my age
Me (47): I was a teenager in the time before memes.
Me (47): I was a teenager in the time before memes.
December 1, 2025 at 12:40 AM
Son (13): What memes were popular when you were my age
Me (47): I was a teenager in the time before memes.
Me (47): I was a teenager in the time before memes.
Sigh. So, scabies has been around since before Aristotle. It is not a “medieval” disease and this rhetoric contributes to the idea that the Middle Ages was unclean. The Roman physician Celsus is the 1 who named it—from the Latin scabere (“to itch”). Stop making the Middle Ages into a backward period
Medieval skin disease outbreak in the UK leaves patients’ skin ‘crawling’
Several cases of scabies have been reported in schools in Devon
www.ladbible.com
November 30, 2025 at 11:44 PM
Sigh. So, scabies has been around since before Aristotle. It is not a “medieval” disease and this rhetoric contributes to the idea that the Middle Ages was unclean. The Roman physician Celsus is the 1 who named it—from the Latin scabere (“to itch”). Stop making the Middle Ages into a backward period
Reposted by Sarah E. Bond
I'm writing a textbook for the study of medieval manuscripts in the 21st century & am developing a framework that will be referenced throughout the book: ten touchpoints for medieval book history in Europe with six drivers of change. Here's how it will play out... (image: Codex Amiatinus) 🧵
November 30, 2025 at 5:46 PM
I'm writing a textbook for the study of medieval manuscripts in the 21st century & am developing a framework that will be referenced throughout the book: ten touchpoints for medieval book history in Europe with six drivers of change. Here's how it will play out... (image: Codex Amiatinus) 🧵
You can’t use Cicero to represent the universal Roman perspective for 60 million people in the empire & you can’t use a Reddit comment as emblematic of all 340 million Americans. Paying historians to do proper research & paying journalists to conduct proper interviews are two sides of the same coin
November 30, 2025 at 3:50 PM
You can’t use Cicero to represent the universal Roman perspective for 60 million people in the empire & you can’t use a Reddit comment as emblematic of all 340 million Americans. Paying historians to do proper research & paying journalists to conduct proper interviews are two sides of the same coin
Reposted by Sarah E. Bond
University of Iowa Center for the Book fosters annual kozo tree harvest for Japanese-style paper 📜
www.thegazette.com/news/univers...
www.thegazette.com/news/univers...
This special paper is used to preserve the Constitution — and it's made in Coralville.
Every fall in Coralville, the University of Iowa's Center for the Book hosts one of only two mulberry harvests by universities in the country. The ancient Japanese tradition remains a key to preservin...
www.thegazette.com
November 30, 2025 at 1:38 PM
University of Iowa Center for the Book fosters annual kozo tree harvest for Japanese-style paper 📜
www.thegazette.com/news/univers...
www.thegazette.com/news/univers...
This 👇
Or @hsteffen.bsky.social, in “Adjunct,” giving a concise, bullet-pointed definition of neoliberalism that can go right onto a classroom handout or union meeting flyer — I’ll teach it next week 🙏
November 30, 2025 at 2:13 PM
This 👇
All signs for the new Assassin’s Creed point to the Fire of 64 CE, methinks. www.engadget.com/entertainmen...
Netflix's Assassin's Creed TV show could kick off in ancient Rome
An exclusive report claims that Netflix's TV series adaptation of Assassin's Creed will start with Ancient Rome.
www.engadget.com
November 30, 2025 at 1:46 PM
All signs for the new Assassin’s Creed point to the Fire of 64 CE, methinks. www.engadget.com/entertainmen...
November 30, 1817: Birthday of the great Theodor Mommsen, perhaps the best Roman epigrapher and legal expert of all time. In addition to having epic hair, Max Weber was Mommsen’s star pupil. If you have time, check out the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL) via the BBAW database. cil.bbaw.de/en/
November 30, 2025 at 12:28 PM
November 30, 1817: Birthday of the great Theodor Mommsen, perhaps the best Roman epigrapher and legal expert of all time. In addition to having epic hair, Max Weber was Mommsen’s star pupil. If you have time, check out the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL) via the BBAW database. cil.bbaw.de/en/
Reposted by Sarah E. Bond
I didn’t want to overreact, and took time to read this. Having done so, I’m adding Northwestern to the list of places I won’t visit or speak. The concessions re: international students and gender-affirming care are not merely symbolic.
Here’s the text of the Northwestern settlement with the DoJ, which includes a $75 million financial component / payoff (cc @profmarkovic.bsky.social):
November 29, 2025 at 5:10 AM
I didn’t want to overreact, and took time to read this. Having done so, I’m adding Northwestern to the list of places I won’t visit or speak. The concessions re: international students and gender-affirming care are not merely symbolic.
Current status: Peak Midwest. ❄️
November 29, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Current status: Peak Midwest. ❄️
Reposted by Sarah E. Bond
“The people whose rights are being violated don’t have a lot of power, and the people responsible for the pollution are huge mega corporations with a lot of power…And they’ve been getting away with this for decades now.”
'The Precedent Is Flint': How Oregon's Data Center Boom Is Supercharging a Water Crisis
Amazon data centers constructed in eastern Oregon's farmland have worsened a water pollution problem that’s been linked to cancer and miscarriages.
www.rollingstone.com
November 29, 2025 at 3:01 PM
“The people whose rights are being violated don’t have a lot of power, and the people responsible for the pollution are huge mega corporations with a lot of power…And they’ve been getting away with this for decades now.”
Reposted by Sarah E. Bond
How the Ancient Romans cooked mussels. Recipe in the Tasting History coookbook: amzn.to/42O10Lx
September 5, 2025 at 2:28 PM
How the Ancient Romans cooked mussels. Recipe in the Tasting History coookbook: amzn.to/42O10Lx
I’d beg to differ. I would say that many books in the New Testament, countless martyrdom texts, Philo, and Josephus are all extremely direct, ancient critiques of Roman Imperialism. Don’t just stick to Tacitus or Suetonius. Roman literature is much broader than just a few imperial historians.
The most famous ancient critiques of Roman imperialism today are those written by the Romans themselves and put into the mouths of their victims (eg Tacitus “make a desert and call it peace”); Revelation is a critique of Roman imperialism *by* its victims in their own idiom. Underappreciated IMO!
November 29, 2025 at 1:05 PM
I’d beg to differ. I would say that many books in the New Testament, countless martyrdom texts, Philo, and Josephus are all extremely direct, ancient critiques of Roman Imperialism. Don’t just stick to Tacitus or Suetonius. Roman literature is much broader than just a few imperial historians.
Reconstructing emotional languages is an area that the digital humanities method known as sentiment analysis is good at. A new article by Liisa Jalkanen & Samuli Simelius applies it to Pompeii graffiti. My only worry is the corpus is too small in one house? www.sciencedirect.com:5037/science/arti...
November 29, 2025 at 12:46 PM
Reconstructing emotional languages is an area that the digital humanities method known as sentiment analysis is good at. A new article by Liisa Jalkanen & Samuli Simelius applies it to Pompeii graffiti. My only worry is the corpus is too small in one house? www.sciencedirect.com:5037/science/arti...
Medusa is often more of a protector than a monster within Roman culture—apotropaic. This is particularly true in domestic mosaics and on military cuirasses. I love this Antioch mosaic now at the Princeton Art Museum, which I photographed a few years ago.
![LATE 2D CENTURY A.D.
Head of Medusa
From "The House of the Red Pavement" [y1965-212]
FLOOR:
LATE 3D CENTURY A.D.
Apollo and Daphne
From "The House of Menander" [y1965-219]
FOUNTAIN:
LATE 3D CENTURY A.D.
Cupids Riding Dolphins, Surrounded by Marine Creatures From "The House of the Boat of Psyches"
[У1940-437]
Gift of the Committee for the Excavation of Antioch to Princeton University, 1939](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:byohyhodi6iknxngf3oypcge/bafkreicxfsial2qy4pecmyairothxi5kq6jxl6kzfv2zgqi3hxqcx3ypxq@jpeg)
November 28, 2025 at 9:55 PM
Medusa is often more of a protector than a monster within Roman culture—apotropaic. This is particularly true in domestic mosaics and on military cuirasses. I love this Antioch mosaic now at the Princeton Art Museum, which I photographed a few years ago.
Reposted by Sarah E. Bond
and by “certain cultures,” we knows he means “majority Muslim.”
meanwhile, Islamophobic hate crimes have been on the rise for several years, alongside every other variety of hate crime.
meanwhile, Islamophobic hate crimes have been on the rise for several years, alongside every other variety of hate crime.
Stephen Miller is now arguing that assimilation is fundamentally impossible and that certain cultures are not compatible with Western civilization
November 28, 2025 at 1:45 PM
and by “certain cultures,” we knows he means “majority Muslim.”
meanwhile, Islamophobic hate crimes have been on the rise for several years, alongside every other variety of hate crime.
meanwhile, Islamophobic hate crimes have been on the rise for several years, alongside every other variety of hate crime.
I tell my students that maps are rhetorical documents. And the rhetoric in this one? All lies. Southerners need to stand up for the sweet potato pie.
November 28, 2025 at 2:01 PM
I tell my students that maps are rhetorical documents. And the rhetoric in this one? All lies. Southerners need to stand up for the sweet potato pie.
At Brent Nongbri’s Variant Readings, he has a great post on a Callimachus dipinto (painted inscription) from the Esquiline Hill now @ the Capitoline Museum brentnongbri.com/2025/11/10/c... Also note Trismegistos’ literary papyri database for more ancient authors: www.trismegistos.org/index_disamb...
Callimachus on the Walls
At the Capitoline Museum in Rome, there are a series of rooms dedicated to finds from the various garden areas uncovered in the area of the Esquiline hill in the late nineteenth century. Tucked awa…
brentnongbri.com
November 28, 2025 at 1:05 PM
At Brent Nongbri’s Variant Readings, he has a great post on a Callimachus dipinto (painted inscription) from the Esquiline Hill now @ the Capitoline Museum brentnongbri.com/2025/11/10/c... Also note Trismegistos’ literary papyri database for more ancient authors: www.trismegistos.org/index_disamb...