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/
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...
Me in one image.
December 1, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Me in one image.
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/
Current status: Peak Midwest. ❄️
November 29, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Current status: Peak Midwest. ❄️
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.
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.
“… ‘I am Ozymandias, Candle of Candles / Look on my wicks, ye Mighty, and despair!’…”
jdandkateindustries.com/products/ozy...
jdandkateindustries.com/products/ozy...
November 27, 2025 at 10:05 PM
“… ‘I am Ozymandias, Candle of Candles / Look on my wicks, ye Mighty, and despair!’…”
jdandkateindustries.com/products/ozy...
jdandkateindustries.com/products/ozy...
November 27, ca. 110 or 112 CE: Happy birthday to Antinous, stunning boyfriend of emperor Hadrian. Make sure you get yourself a boyfriend who builds cities for you and then starts a cult in your honor if you were ever to fall into the Nile. 🐊 followinghadrian.com/2016/11/27/t... (See CIL XIV 2112).
November 27, 2025 at 12:37 PM
November 27, ca. 110 or 112 CE: Happy birthday to Antinous, stunning boyfriend of emperor Hadrian. Make sure you get yourself a boyfriend who builds cities for you and then starts a cult in your honor if you were ever to fall into the Nile. 🐊 followinghadrian.com/2016/11/27/t... (See CIL XIV 2112).
To know Susanna Elm is to stand in awe of her writing, kindness, & depth. Her new book from @ucpress.bsky.social is out now and open access: The Importance of Being Gorgeous: Gender and Christian Imperial Rule in Late Antiquity. I do love a tale of Theodosian beauty
luminosoa.org/books/m/10.1... 📕
luminosoa.org/books/m/10.1... 📕
November 26, 2025 at 9:16 PM
To know Susanna Elm is to stand in awe of her writing, kindness, & depth. Her new book from @ucpress.bsky.social is out now and open access: The Importance of Being Gorgeous: Gender and Christian Imperial Rule in Late Antiquity. I do love a tale of Theodosian beauty
luminosoa.org/books/m/10.1... 📕
luminosoa.org/books/m/10.1... 📕
Ancient Gujarati artisans were incredibly accomplished. Enjoying this new article by Pallavi Mohanan on the Carnelian trade between India, Eurasia, & the Mediterranean. Fun fact that Romans believed Carnelian helped blood 🩸 related diseases when used with magic or rings.
zenodo.org/records/1750...
zenodo.org/records/1750...
November 26, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Ancient Gujarati artisans were incredibly accomplished. Enjoying this new article by Pallavi Mohanan on the Carnelian trade between India, Eurasia, & the Mediterranean. Fun fact that Romans believed Carnelian helped blood 🩸 related diseases when used with magic or rings.
zenodo.org/records/1750...
zenodo.org/records/1750...
November 25, 1818: While Mary Shelley draws sketches of the Colosseum within the amphitheater during their Rome trip, Percy begins to pen his prose fragment, "The Coliseum." It is a romantic look at the ruins, overgrowth of plants & human hands that made the arena. Story: archive.org/details/essa...
November 25, 2025 at 12:23 PM
November 25, 1818: While Mary Shelley draws sketches of the Colosseum within the amphitheater during their Rome trip, Percy begins to pen his prose fragment, "The Coliseum." It is a romantic look at the ruins, overgrowth of plants & human hands that made the arena. Story: archive.org/details/essa...
Ive been following Harmonia Rosales for a long time and love this new interview @hyperallergic.com with her written by Nereya Otieno
"I decided to write how the Greeks wrote, as if Yorubaland were the whole world" Chronicles of Ori: An African Epic (2025) is out!
hyperallergic.com/1053216/harm...
"I decided to write how the Greeks wrote, as if Yorubaland were the whole world" Chronicles of Ori: An African Epic (2025) is out!
hyperallergic.com/1053216/harm...
November 24, 2025 at 10:17 PM
Ive been following Harmonia Rosales for a long time and love this new interview @hyperallergic.com with her written by Nereya Otieno
"I decided to write how the Greeks wrote, as if Yorubaland were the whole world" Chronicles of Ori: An African Epic (2025) is out!
hyperallergic.com/1053216/harm...
"I decided to write how the Greeks wrote, as if Yorubaland were the whole world" Chronicles of Ori: An African Epic (2025) is out!
hyperallergic.com/1053216/harm...
Headed into SBL-AAR with some Saint Joel vibes today. Hope to see everyone soon! ⚡️
November 22, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Headed into SBL-AAR with some Saint Joel vibes today. Hope to see everyone soon! ⚡️
Historian of Ancient Greece Claire Taylor has an important, open access article on "Women, gender and the ancient economy: towards a feminist economic history of the ancient Greek world" in JHS 🧶 I really like this as a method for recovering more invisible labor. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
![oinochoe
Object Type
oinochoe
Museum number
1873,0820.304
Description
Pottery: White-ground oinochoe.
A woman in a long sleeved, dotted chiton, a bordered himation, and sandals, with earrings, bracelets, and hair wound into a ball on the neck and fastened with a fillet, standing to right, twisting between the thumb and first finger of her right hand a thread from a hank of wool on a distaff which she holds up with her left. On…
Producer name
Attributed to: The Brygos Painter
Cultures/periods
Attic
Production date
490BC-470BC (circa)
Production place
Made in: Attica (Greece)
Europe: Greece: Attica (Greece)
Findspot
Excavated/Findspot: Locri (said to be from)
Europe: Italy: Calabria: Reggio di Calabria (province): Locri
Materials
pottery
Ware
White Ground
Dimensions
Height: 21.59 centimetres
Inscriptions
Inscription type: inscription
Inscription position: on shoulder/body of vase
Inscription language: Greek
Inscription script: Greek
Inscription content: HE ΠAIΣ KAΛΕ
Inscription transliteration: ή παΐς καλή
Inscription translation: the girl [is] beautiful
Inscription note: 'kalos' inscription, painted pre-firing
Curator's comments
BM Cat. Vases
The type of face is very similar to that of the Hera on the Brygos cup, BM Vase Ε65; the dotted dress also suit the style of this artist.
Bibliographic references
Vase / Catalogue of Vases in the British Museum (D13)
Location
On display (G69/dc5)
Exhibition history
Exhibited:
2006 8 Jun-4 Sep, Los Angeles, The Getty Villa, The Colors of Clay
2015, 26 Mar-5 Jul, The British Museum, Defining Beauty: the body in ancient Greek art.
Subjects
spinner/spinning
Acquisition name
Purchased from: Alessandro Castellani
Department
Greek and Roman
Registration number
1873,0820.304](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:byohyhodi6iknxngf3oypcge/bafkreihsroewt6kyxyjpimawkum3yfzw4eae2f3lluoed3t6v7lbvpzqki@jpeg)
November 22, 2025 at 11:26 AM
Historian of Ancient Greece Claire Taylor has an important, open access article on "Women, gender and the ancient economy: towards a feminist economic history of the ancient Greek world" in JHS 🧶 I really like this as a method for recovering more invisible labor. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Hanging with the best at the Harvard bookstore 📖 📕
November 21, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Hanging with the best at the Harvard bookstore 📖 📕
Etruscan tunnels are deeply interesting (sorry) and “the first complete mapping of the tunnels of the Etruscan city of Veii, a complex underground system comprising galleries, hydraulic structures, canals, cisterns, wells, and the large sacred pool” is now complete! cultura.gov.it/comunicato/2...
November 19, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Etruscan tunnels are deeply interesting (sorry) and “the first complete mapping of the tunnels of the Etruscan city of Veii, a complex underground system comprising galleries, hydraulic structures, canals, cisterns, wells, and the large sacred pool” is now complete! cultura.gov.it/comunicato/2...
The DARMC as designed by Harvard as a map of the Roman and Medieval world (mostly Europe) is, I believe, largely dormant as a DH project now (the DARE continues at a separate center: imperium.ahlfeldt.se), but I still use a ton of the early medieval layers, eg the monasteries. #HGIS arcg.is/1mvnaO0
November 18, 2025 at 7:14 PM
The DARMC as designed by Harvard as a map of the Roman and Medieval world (mostly Europe) is, I believe, largely dormant as a DH project now (the DARE continues at a separate center: imperium.ahlfeldt.se), but I still use a ton of the early medieval layers, eg the monasteries. #HGIS arcg.is/1mvnaO0
I was asked again today what book focused on ancient medicine I have undergraduates read. I gotta say, I adore Jane Draycott’s ancient prosthetics book. www.cambridge.org/core/books/p...
November 17, 2025 at 11:40 PM
I was asked again today what book focused on ancient medicine I have undergraduates read. I gotta say, I adore Jane Draycott’s ancient prosthetics book. www.cambridge.org/core/books/p...
The first rule of plutocrat AI competitions is 1. name your new company with a classical allusion or Tolkien reference. I see Bezos went with the former. How… great.
November 17, 2025 at 1:14 PM
The first rule of plutocrat AI competitions is 1. name your new company with a classical allusion or Tolkien reference. I see Bezos went with the former. How… great.
A little obsessed with this new project on the world of fragrances in ancient Arabia. “The starting point is an investigation of fragrances from the Tayma oasis in NW Saudi Arabia – a central hub in the ancient trade network between the Med. region & South Arabia.”
www.dainst.org/en/newsroom/...
www.dainst.org/en/newsroom/...
November 16, 2025 at 11:47 PM
A little obsessed with this new project on the world of fragrances in ancient Arabia. “The starting point is an investigation of fragrances from the Tayma oasis in NW Saudi Arabia – a central hub in the ancient trade network between the Med. region & South Arabia.”
www.dainst.org/en/newsroom/...
www.dainst.org/en/newsroom/...
“Faces in the Crowds: The So-Called Fayyum Portraits and the Aftereffects of Photography” From @emuehlbe.bsky.social’s new book, Things Unseen, on UC Press’ website for free!
www.luminosoa.org/chapters/m/1... A few of my own pics of Fayyum portraits below from Yale University Art Gallery.
www.luminosoa.org/chapters/m/1... A few of my own pics of Fayyum portraits below from Yale University Art Gallery.
November 16, 2025 at 3:48 PM
“Faces in the Crowds: The So-Called Fayyum Portraits and the Aftereffects of Photography” From @emuehlbe.bsky.social’s new book, Things Unseen, on UC Press’ website for free!
www.luminosoa.org/chapters/m/1... A few of my own pics of Fayyum portraits below from Yale University Art Gallery.
www.luminosoa.org/chapters/m/1... A few of my own pics of Fayyum portraits below from Yale University Art Gallery.
“I cannot describe it at all. It is possible that it does not exist. But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas.”
ia600508.us.archive.org/13/items/the...
ia600508.us.archive.org/13/items/the...
November 16, 2025 at 1:16 PM
“I cannot describe it at all. It is possible that it does not exist. But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas.”
ia600508.us.archive.org/13/items/the...
ia600508.us.archive.org/13/items/the...
Why were there so many sculptures (36 marbles and 16 bronzes) in the Antikythera wreck (70-50 BCE)? A great new, open access article by Brian Martens for ABSA argues they were for a gymnasion. www.cambridge.org/core/journal... A really interesting take 125 years after this monumental discovery.
November 16, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Why were there so many sculptures (36 marbles and 16 bronzes) in the Antikythera wreck (70-50 BCE)? A great new, open access article by Brian Martens for ABSA argues they were for a gymnasion. www.cambridge.org/core/journal... A really interesting take 125 years after this monumental discovery.
The eyes (of the Alexander sarcophagus) have it 👁️ 👁️
November 15, 2025 at 2:49 AM
The eyes (of the Alexander sarcophagus) have it 👁️ 👁️