Carol Atack
@carolatack.bsky.social
Ancient politics and political thought, modern art, Plato and Xenophon. Fellow of Newnham College, FRHistS. Cambridge and elsewhere. Recent books: Plato: a civic life (Reaktion) and Xenophon (Greece & Rome New Surveys in the Classics, Cambridge).
Pinned
Carol Atack
@carolatack.bsky.social
· Oct 25
It's here! My little 'Plato: a civic life', beautifully produced by @reaktionbooks.bsky.social. Thank you to everyone who helped along the way, especially @josephinequinn.bsky.social and Angie Hobbs for the generous quotes, and to Malcolm Schofield, who made Plato possible for me.
Such sad news. I loved my lilac and silver mini dress from Pam Hogg's 1980s Kensington market stall. A truely original creative spirit.
Pam Hogg, fashion designer with a rock’n’roll spirit, dies at 66
Pam Hogg, fashion designer with a rock’n’roll spirit, dies at 66
‘100% party girl’ and key part of 1980s London club scene designed for Rihanna, Björk, Kylie Minogue and Debbie Harry
Pam Hogg, the fashion designer who brought together fashion and music on the catwalk in the 1980s, has died aged 66, her family have said.
Hogg, whose bold, futuristic designs were worn by stars including Rihanna, Kate Moss and Blondie’s Debbie Harry, died “surrounded by the loving care of cherished friends and family”, her family posted on Instagram. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 26, 2025 at 9:28 PM
Such sad news. I loved my lilac and silver mini dress from Pam Hogg's 1980s Kensington market stall. A truely original creative spirit.
My review of Ryan Balot's 'Tragedy, Philosophy, and Political Education in Plato's Laws' now published by Sehepunkte (in English); while I wasn't sure about the book's overall claim about the dialogue's philosophical coherence, I found much valuable analysis in it. www.sehepunkte.de/2025/11/4010...
SEHEPUNKTE - Rezension von: Tragedy, Philosophy, and Political Education in Plato's Laws - Ausgabe 25 (2025), Nr. 11
Rezension über Ryan K. Balot: Tragedy, Philosophy, and Political Education in Plato's Laws, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2024, XIV + 425 S., ISBN 978-0-1976-4722-6, GBP 78,00
www.sehepunkte.de
November 17, 2025 at 10:51 AM
My review of Ryan Balot's 'Tragedy, Philosophy, and Political Education in Plato's Laws' now published by Sehepunkte (in English); while I wasn't sure about the book's overall claim about the dialogue's philosophical coherence, I found much valuable analysis in it. www.sehepunkte.de/2025/11/4010...
Warmly recommend Harold Offeh 'Mmm Gotta Try a Little Harder, It Could Be Sweet' at Kettle's Yard - a friendly & generous exploration of identity, playful & participatory - impossible not to dance along to Haroldinho's samba moves, fun to make your own Afrofuturist record cover art.
November 15, 2025 at 11:36 AM
Warmly recommend Harold Offeh 'Mmm Gotta Try a Little Harder, It Could Be Sweet' at Kettle's Yard - a friendly & generous exploration of identity, playful & participatory - impossible not to dance along to Haroldinho's samba moves, fun to make your own Afrofuturist record cover art.
Published today! Really pleased to see Aristophanes and the Current Moment in print via @bloomsburyacad.bsky.social. My contribution, 'Aristophanes and the Gendered Politics of Performative Assembly' applies Judith Butler's analysis of public protest to Aristophanes' Lysistrata and Ecclesiazusae.
November 13, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Published today! Really pleased to see Aristophanes and the Current Moment in print via @bloomsburyacad.bsky.social. My contribution, 'Aristophanes and the Gendered Politics of Performative Assembly' applies Judith Butler's analysis of public protest to Aristophanes' Lysistrata and Ecclesiazusae.
Reposted by Carol Atack
Very pleased to see the WCC UK restate its commitment to the support of trans and non-binary folk in the discipline, particularly in light of the current political climate.
WCC Supports Trans People - WCC-UK
Following a unanimous vote at the 2025 AGM, the Women’s Classical Committee UK wishes to reiterate its unwavering support for trans and non-binary people. We are deeply concerned at the harmful implic...
wcc-uk.blogs.sas.ac.uk
November 11, 2025 at 9:22 AM
Very pleased to see the WCC UK restate its commitment to the support of trans and non-binary folk in the discipline, particularly in light of the current political climate.
Lucky to catch the last weekend of the stunning San Casciano bronzes' visit to Berlin - these sculptures were ritually buried at a Tuscan healing sanctuary in the 1st century CE after a lightning strike, & were excavated in the last few years. So revelatory about ancient religious practice
November 11, 2025 at 7:43 AM
Lucky to catch the last weekend of the stunning San Casciano bronzes' visit to Berlin - these sculptures were ritually buried at a Tuscan healing sanctuary in the 1st century CE after a lightning strike, & were excavated in the last few years. So revelatory about ancient religious practice
'Nanti time like the present. come on, let's get it on...'. Loving Prof Jennifer Ingleheart's trio of translations of Catullus into Polari, the old language of gay Londoners, in Shearsman 145-6. www.shearsman.com/shearsman-ma...
November 4, 2025 at 1:57 PM
'Nanti time like the present. come on, let's get it on...'. Loving Prof Jennifer Ingleheart's trio of translations of Catullus into Polari, the old language of gay Londoners, in Shearsman 145-6. www.shearsman.com/shearsman-ma...
Cambridge’s Black Atlantic connections, a major research project for the Fitzwilliam Museum - commemorating Olaudah Equiano’s Cambridgeshire family, www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Lost grave of daughter of Black abolitionist Olaudah Equiano found by A-level student
Fitzwilliam Museum has uncovered student’s work from 1977 that revealed Cambridgeshire location of child’s burial place
www.theguardian.com
November 1, 2025 at 8:40 AM
Cambridge’s Black Atlantic connections, a major research project for the Fitzwilliam Museum - commemorating Olaudah Equiano’s Cambridgeshire family, www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
The Almeida Theatre adaptation of Alan Hollinghurst's The Line of Beauty captures the glamour and grime of 1980s London, where financial buccaneering, racial inequality and the AIDS crisis upended lives, but we all danced to excellent music. Five stars from me especially for the cast & the design.
October 31, 2025 at 9:32 AM
The Almeida Theatre adaptation of Alan Hollinghurst's The Line of Beauty captures the glamour and grime of 1980s London, where financial buccaneering, racial inequality and the AIDS crisis upended lives, but we all danced to excellent music. Five stars from me especially for the cast & the design.
Great story and important history from the National Army Museum in today's @theguardian.com - a newly acquired portrait shines a light on a Black veteran of Waterloo, one of several Black soldiers honoured for their service in the Napoleonic wars. www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...
London museum identifies black Waterloo veteran in rare 1821 painting
‘Honourable’ bandsman Thomas James will feature in display at National Army Museum highlighting service of black soldiers in Napoleonic wars
www.theguardian.com
October 21, 2025 at 5:43 AM
Great story and important history from the National Army Museum in today's @theguardian.com - a newly acquired portrait shines a light on a Black veteran of Waterloo, one of several Black soldiers honoured for their service in the Napoleonic wars. www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...
On BBC4 tonight, Angie Hobbs on Bryan Magee's series the Great Philosophers, first broadcast in 1987, followed by the first three interviews: Myles Burnyeat on Plato, Martha Nussbaum on Aristotle, and Anthony Kenny on mediaeval philosophy: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
BBC Four - Remembers..., Professor Angie Hobbs Remembers... The Great Philosophers
Professor Angie Hobbs gives a modern view on Bryan Magee’s highly influential 1987 series.
www.bbc.co.uk
October 13, 2025 at 1:26 PM
On BBC4 tonight, Angie Hobbs on Bryan Magee's series the Great Philosophers, first broadcast in 1987, followed by the first three interviews: Myles Burnyeat on Plato, Martha Nussbaum on Aristotle, and Anthony Kenny on mediaeval philosophy: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
Mixed verdict on the @nationaltheatre.org.uk Bacchae - amazing staging and design, loved the chorus, some great performances. Deeply unconvinced though by the back-story given to Pentheus, and some of Dionysus' story - and the omission of Cadmus. www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/productions/...
Bacchae | National Theatre
Indhu Rubasingham (The Father and the Assassin) directs Nima Taleghani's (Heartstopper) version of the classic tragedy to the stage.
www.nationaltheatre.org.uk
October 4, 2025 at 9:20 AM
Mixed verdict on the @nationaltheatre.org.uk Bacchae - amazing staging and design, loved the chorus, some great performances. Deeply unconvinced though by the back-story given to Pentheus, and some of Dionysus' story - and the omission of Cadmus. www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/productions/...
Unmissable new exhibition at the Fitzwilliam in Cambridge - Made in Ancient Egypt explores this ancient culture through the makers of objects, their skills & the materials they used. Some exquisite objects - I liked this statuette. On show until April 2026.
October 2, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Unmissable new exhibition at the Fitzwilliam in Cambridge - Made in Ancient Egypt explores this ancient culture through the makers of objects, their skills & the materials they used. Some exquisite objects - I liked this statuette. On show until April 2026.
I've been podcasting again! This time I spoke about how 'Plato: a civic life' provides the historical background to Plato's thought and helps to explain how his ideas developed - with Morteza Hajizadeh from New Books Network: newbooksnetwork.com/plato
Carol Atack, "Plato: A Civic Life" (Reaktion, 2025) - New Books Network
newbooksnetwork.com
September 27, 2025 at 3:02 PM
I've been podcasting again! This time I spoke about how 'Plato: a civic life' provides the historical background to Plato's thought and helps to explain how his ideas developed - with Morteza Hajizadeh from New Books Network: newbooksnetwork.com/plato
My little Plato: a civic life, as reviewed in the New York Sun earlier this year - paywall but you can read one article for free.
Plato, the Philosopher Poised Between Oligarchy and Philosophy
📌 buff.ly/PSJcnsR [£]
📚 buff.ly/UnQMhFK
📌 buff.ly/PSJcnsR [£]
📚 buff.ly/UnQMhFK
Plato, the Philosopher Poised Between Oligarchy and Philosophy
Plato's well known skepticism of democracy seems the result of his fear of what happens when you put things to a vote. That's how Socrates died — voted…
buff.ly
September 20, 2025 at 10:55 AM
My little Plato: a civic life, as reviewed in the New York Sun earlier this year - paywall but you can read one article for free.
'Histories' by Kerry James Marshall at London's Royal Academy - a powerful survey of the American artist's work, his long practice of exploring Black experience and challenging simple stories. Full of humour and moments of delight as well as profound commentary, as in 1994's 'Great America'.
September 17, 2025 at 6:54 PM
'Histories' by Kerry James Marshall at London's Royal Academy - a powerful survey of the American artist's work, his long practice of exploring Black experience and challenging simple stories. Full of humour and moments of delight as well as profound commentary, as in 1994's 'Great America'.
Made in Ancient Egypt - Laura Cummings in the Observer on the artists and makers of ancient Egyptian art & the research that underpins the forthcoming Fitzwilliam Museum exhibition: observer.co.uk/culture/art/...
Face to face with the pharaohs’ tomb artists | The Observer
The painters and stonemasons of ancient Egypt have been erased from history, but a groundbreaking new exhibition brings them fully to life
observer.co.uk
September 15, 2025 at 9:30 AM
Made in Ancient Egypt - Laura Cummings in the Observer on the artists and makers of ancient Egyptian art & the research that underpins the forthcoming Fitzwilliam Museum exhibition: observer.co.uk/culture/art/...
Important story about systemic failures - from the tragic state of Scarborough’s once magnificent Grand Hotel to the policy failures which have been exploited by private providers, at huge cost to the good of both communities and those in need.
FT mag piece from me: Spent a long time looking into the Britannia hotel chain, beneficiaries of a vast amount of taxpayer money via the asylum system
on.ft.com/47HEE46
on.ft.com/47HEE46
The crumbling seaside palaces at the centre of Britain’s asylum crisis
[FREE TO READ] How one hotelier built an empire from beloved community assets — and a government struggling to cope with a surge in migration
on.ft.com
September 13, 2025 at 9:07 AM
Important story about systemic failures - from the tragic state of Scarborough’s once magnificent Grand Hotel to the policy failures which have been exploited by private providers, at huge cost to the good of both communities and those in need.
It entirely passed me by that this @wsj.com article from February is in part a review of my Plato book!
‘Plato’ and ‘Phocion’: Athens Beyond Democracy - WSJ
www.wsj.com/arts-culture...
www.wsj.com/arts-culture...
‘Plato’ and ‘Phocion’: Athens Beyond Democracy
In the complex and often violent political arena of ancient Greece, ideals of civic engagement and self-determination mingled uneasily with the realities of power.
www.wsj.com
September 7, 2025 at 8:32 PM
It entirely passed me by that this @wsj.com article from February is in part a review of my Plato book!
Reposted by Carol Atack
Given the news about Melvyn Bragg stepping down from In Our Time, now might be a good time to share this list (thanks to Paul Cartledge for the reminder!) keenerclassics.wordpress.com/classics-in-...
Classics In Our Time Podcasts
This is a list of podcasts from BBC In Our Time. I originally posted this as a Blog Post in 2017, but now updating it to a Page to make it easier to edit. Latest update: 4 September 2025 Greek…
keenerclassics.wordpress.com
September 5, 2025 at 6:15 AM
Given the news about Melvyn Bragg stepping down from In Our Time, now might be a good time to share this list (thanks to Paul Cartledge for the reminder!) keenerclassics.wordpress.com/classics-in-...
From Burton Agnes Hall, a glorious late Elizabethan (1590s-1600s) country house near Bridlington, a riot of religious and moralising imagery with some classical moments, including a door jamb decorated with Saturn and Jupiter, in which Saturn is devouring a child...
August 29, 2025 at 4:29 PM
From Burton Agnes Hall, a glorious late Elizabethan (1590s-1600s) country house near Bridlington, a riot of religious and moralising imagery with some classical moments, including a door jamb decorated with Saturn and Jupiter, in which Saturn is devouring a child...
Reposted by Carol Atack
Plato's Tyrant with Carol Atack
YouTube video by Political Philosophy Podcast
youtu.be
August 23, 2025 at 1:35 PM
I've closed replies to my previous post, not because I don't care about the unhappy situation UK law on single-sex employment recruitment is in (I do), or about trans rights (am not going to list my bona fides here). If you need more information, contact the college directly.
August 21, 2025 at 2:40 PM
I've closed replies to my previous post, not because I don't care about the unhappy situation UK law on single-sex employment recruitment is in (I do), or about trans rights (am not going to list my bona fides here). If you need more information, contact the college directly.
The @newnhamcollege.bsky.social research fellowship competition is now open - if you're a woman looking for a 3-year postdoc in one of this year's subjects (see next post), please apply! Our research fellows bring so much to the life of the college & get great support. newn.cam.ac.uk/research/res...
Research Fellowships
newn.cam.ac.uk
August 21, 2025 at 10:41 AM
The @newnhamcollege.bsky.social research fellowship competition is now open - if you're a woman looking for a 3-year postdoc in one of this year's subjects (see next post), please apply! Our research fellows bring so much to the life of the college & get great support. newn.cam.ac.uk/research/res...
The best news this morning! An important work by Barbara Hepworth, key to her artistic development, saved for the nation and heading to Wakefield's Hepworth Gallery. www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
Barbara Hepworth’s Sculpture with Colour saved for nation
Created in 1943, abstract wooden carving marked a breakthrough in ‘genius’ British artist’s career
www.theguardian.com
August 19, 2025 at 7:05 AM
The best news this morning! An important work by Barbara Hepworth, key to her artistic development, saved for the nation and heading to Wakefield's Hepworth Gallery. www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...