Benjamin Anderson

Better than the Joy of Cooking -

The Encounters Series February 26, 2026, 12 pm: A talk by Byron Hamman; Response by Benjamin Anderson

More details (including link to Zoom) here -

buellcenter.columbia.edu/programming/...

Very much looking forward to this conversation!

“Rome-Tenochtitlan: Nahua Encounters with Ruined Cities in the 1520s”
February 26, 2026, 12 PM EST
300S Buell Hall and online

Byron Hamann
Response by Benjamin Anderson

International Center of Medieval Art ICMA Annual Book Prize We are delighted to announce the recipient of the 2025 ICMA Annual Book Prize:

Here’s a link to the announcement & citation 📣 www.medievalart.org/icma-news/20...

Congratulations 🎉 to Andrew Griebeler & Botanical Icons 🌱 on winning the 2025 ICMA Book Prize!

A black poodle mix with a snowy snout sports a pair (two pairs) of red boots.

Happy holidays from our doodle to yours! 🐩

Same

"Years and years ago, there was a production of The Tempest, out of doors, at an Oxford college on a lawn, which was the stage, and the lawn went back towards the lake in the grounds of the college, and the play began in natural light. But as it developed, and as it became time for Ariel to say his farewell to the world of The Tempest, the evening had started to close in and there was some artificial lighting coming on. And as Ariel uttered his last speech, he turned and he ran across the grass, and he got to the edge of the lake and he just kept running across the top of the water — the producer having thoughtfully provided a kind of walkway an inch beneath the water. And you could see and you could hear the plish, plash as he ran away from you across the top of the lake, until the gloom enveloped him and he disappeared from your view. And as he did so, from the further shore, a firework rocket was ignited, and it went whoosh into the air, and high up there it burst into lots of sparks, and all the sparks went out, and he had gone. "When you look up the stage directions, it says, 'Exit Ariel.”

Eleven years ago, I wrote to Tom Stoppard to ask about this coup de théâtre from 1949. It took me down an unexpected rabbit hole - in memory of Stoppard, here's what I found.

So much in there!

ἐκ τῶν Ἱµερίου χαρτουλαρίου: -ου / -ου is nothing, but I think -ερι- / -αρι- is something. Curious if folks will agree!

Not that I’ve found! Name & rank are both plausible, & I think the rhyme is intentional.

Luke 22:40 - nicely translated here, and I suggest that one could also read “consider these things truly, lest you end up on trial.”

Here too I read it as farce, like a pedant in Moliere: “I find it in the works of Demosthenes….”

Note that the malign influence is inferred!

This latter gets its own section in the new essay. The irony is key, as is the slapstick! The whole thing reminds me of (what we know about) Byzantine mime shows - not least because it takes place in a theater. 🎭

Lots more boars 🐗 in the article - go have a look via this link! brill.com/view/journal...

Rather than treat these stories as evidence for “Byzantine” or “Haitian” beliefs, I propose that we see them as testimonies to the sensible qualities of the statues at their respective centers.

I focus on a story about Emperor Alexander’s strange doings with a bronze boar in the Hippodrome in Constantinople, and compare it to another statute story, this one from 21st-century Port-au-Prince.

I’m thrilled to share my new article, online and open access in Medieval Encounters! It’s called “Beyond Belief: Byzantine Statue Stories and their Absent Objects,” but it could be called “A Tale of Two Boars” 🐗 🐗

Sign the Petition Save Greek and Latin at the University of Ottawa!

The petition is LIVE! uOttawa suspended Greek & Roman Studies without consultation ending advanced ancient languages teaching and Ontario's only ancient languages programme in French. Please sign, share widely and follow for updates. buff.ly/hjj4J7u #SOSClassicsUO #SaveHigherEd #ONfr #Ottawa

But don’t take my word for it, see for yourself! Here is a link 🔗 academic.oup.com/arthistory/a...

This has consequences not just for Romanists, but also for art historians more broadly. Note, for example, Jess’s re-reading of a key image in Panofsky’s essay on perspective.

Jess compares ancient plaster to modern plastic. “More than a substance, plastic is the very idea of its infinite transformation … it is ubiquity made visible. And it is this, in fact, which makes it a miraculous substance: a miracle is always a sudden transformation of nature” (Barthes).

What a thrill to read Jess Plant’s article on “Plastic Approaches to Roman Design” - open access, in the new issue of Art History!

Hagia Sophia in the Long Nineteenth Century Hagia Sophia in the Long Nineteenth Century

Here’s the link - edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-hagia-s...

Our Hagia Sophia book is now out in paperback! 30% discount with the code PAPER30 -

Ottomans and the Supernatural: Nature and the Limits of Knowledge in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire Abstract. Man is part of nature, we say, and perhaps for most of us nature includes all that exists (at least in a tangible way—i.e. if we want to exclude

My latest book, on open access!

Ottomans and the Supernatural: Nature and the Limits of Knowledge in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire url: academic.oup.com/book/61617

Beginning soon! (In person & online) -

Shocking news from uOttawa: Greek & Roman Studies closed to new students without consultation. Teaching of ancient languages to end. Open letter coming soon - follow for how you can help. #DefendClassicsUOttawa #Ottawa #AncientHistory #SaveHigherEd #HigherEdCuts #AncientGreek #Latin

Hope to see you there!