According to the ancient historian Eutropius (Brev. 2.27), today marks the anniversary of the Battle of the Egadi Islands, fought on March 10, 241 BCE. I have the privilege of working on the battle site itself, where excavations have recovered a remarkable range of material!
Screenshot of article abstract and title: Inscriptions, Writing Cultures, and Epigraphy as Play in Video Games Abstract: This article explores the intersection of epigraphy, archaeology, and game studies within the reception of writing cultures in video games. It argues that video games serve as a unique medium for experiencing ancient material culture, a medium wherein digital inscriptions act as intermediaries between designers and players for worldbuilding and immersive storytelling. We offer a cursory typology with which to research the variety of ways that historical writing cultures interact within both historical and fictive ludic settings: epigraphy in games (or the in-game representation of attested real-world inscriptions), epigraphy of games (or the fictional epigraphy creatively invented by and embedded in contemporary games), and epigraphy as games, where the act of deciphering, reading, and inscribing become gameplay mechanics that fosters a deeper, more active engagement with historical and fictional writing cultures. Ultimately, the article shows that these digital inscriptions shape player perception of historical "truth" and cultural depth, demonstrating that the interactive nature of video games provides a unique pedagogical space for experiencing the materiality of the past in an increasingly digitized world. Keywords: Video games, inscriptions, epigraphy, digital humanities, museum studies, archaeogaming, worldbuilding
Happy to report that @alexvandewalle.bsky.social's and my article will be published in the forthcoming inaugural issue of the American Journal of Classical Reception. Hopefully it serves as an entryway piece for anyone interested in the intersection of games, epigraphy, and digital humanities.
Congrats!
A big proofs day!!! I worked on this chapter for a long time and it’s so exciting to finally see it in this form! This is part of a wonderful volume edited by @chrissieplastow.bsky.social and @hilarylehmann. Shoutout to @dominicmachado.bsky.social @antiquethought.bsky.social
Registration for #ResDiff7 is now available:
resdifficiles.com/res-diff-7-2...
Dear Ms. Wolfe, Petitioner-Appellee Rümeysa Öztürk submits this Rule 28(j) letter to advise the Court that on January 29, 2026, the immigration court held that the Department of Homeland Security had not met its burden of proving removability, and the immigration court thereby terminated removal proceedings against Ms. Öztürk.' This development underscores the dangers of the government's interpretation of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Under the government's view, it could punitively detain any noncitizen in retaliation for her speech for many months, so long as it simultaneously institutes removal proceedings—no matter how unmeritorious—all without any federal court review of the lawfulness of detention at any time. To be clear, the termination of Ms. Öztürk's removal proceedings does not moot her habeas case. (By contrast, as Ms. Öztürk has argued, this appeal is moot. Br. 18-20.) Without habeas jurisdiction and the bail order that is currently in place, any government appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals would again subject Ms. Öztürk to re-detention. See 8 C.F.R. § 1003.6(a). For that reason, she continues to suffer the threat of continuing "now-or-never" First and Fifth Amendment harms. Br. in Opp. 55-57.
NEW: An immigration court has terminated removal proceedings against Tufts doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk, finding that DHS did not meet its burden of establishing that she was removable, her lawyers tell the Second Circuit. live-awp-vermont.pantheonsite.io/app/uploads/...
Katherine McDonald’s truly marvelous “Four footprints, two languages, one tile”deserves your time: “Two slaves, working in conditions that were no doubt very difficult, taking a little time to mess about as friends and enjoy each other’s company.” katherinemcdonald.net/2016/01/14/f...
The trying to introduce new letters to the alphabet also a tell.
Thousands of people filled the streets of downtown Minneapolis in protest of federal immigration enforcement for the second consecutive Friday.
📷️: Aaron Lavinsky
Palestinian journalist Bisan Owda with 1.4m followers reports TikTok ban
Palestinian journalist Bisan Owda with 1.4m followers reports TikTok ban https://aje.news/ljjuww
brass solidarity band performing “stand by me” in the streets of whittier next to alex pretti’s memorial. the crowd started chanting “the people united will never be defeated” so they incorporated it into the song. i love minneapolis
Singing
In the new »E-Journal degli Scavi di Pompei», new Pompeii graffiti come to light. pompeiisites.org/e-journal-de... I am stoked to see how far RTI has come + the discovery of the new ‘Erato amat [---‘ graffito is so cool. Also? Do not forget the Ancient Graffiti Project: ancientgraffiti.org/Graffiti/
Peopling Podcast logo with additional text reading "Season 5: Call for Contributors"
Peopling the Past is planning Season 5 of our podcast! We are looking for folks who are interested in appearing as episode guests: the theme of Season 5 will be the relevance of the ancient world to our understanding of important but challenging contemporary issues
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
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Photo of workers at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, who just won their union and our now members of UAW Local 2110.
🧵 Staff of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, NY, have voted by a 76% margin in a National Labor Relations Board election to unionize with UAW Local 2110. The ballot tally was 542 yes votes for the union with 172 votes against.
This is 10th-grader Arnoldo Bazan.
A citizen.
Immigration agents grabbed him and put him in a chokehold.
"We're from the United States bro!' he screamed.
Agents took and sold his phone
And when he finally got home hours later, his shirt was ripped, he neck had angry, red welts, and he sobbed.
New Past Lives: Abbas and the Roman Slave Trade (Parthia, 2nd Century AD). On May 24, 166 AD, a seven-year-old boy named Abbas was sold for 200 denarii at the port of Seleucia Pieria. How did Abbas end up there, and where did he go from there? www.pod.link/1852618120/e...
After federal troops forced a fugitive slave named Anthony Burns back into slavery in the 1850s, one Bostonian wrote, “we went to bed one night old-fashioned, conservative, Compromise Union Whigs and waked up stark mad Abolitionists.” The abuse of power radicalizes people. We are seeing that now.
ICYMI: Katharine Huemoeller's _The Child Follows the Womb_ comes out today!
This book is a game-changer for our understanding of enslaved women's reproductive labor in the Roman world
yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300...
Best TikTok thing going is the two dudes trying food from every country without leaving NYC. If you haven’t seen them yet, it’s incredible. My favorite so far is last week’s. Legit got me emotional.
New Past Lives: Eurysaces' Bakers and the Hell of Roman Industry. Rome alone required a million or more loaves of bread every day. Here we explore an industrial bakery owned by a man named Eurysaces, and try to understand the lives of the slaves who worked there. www.pod.link/1852618120/e...
ICE observers in the Twin Cities are in need of dash cams to prevent further intimidation and frivolous claims.
Cams are $110, memory cards $35, and ship to us directly via this wish list: www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/...
If you've been looking for a way to help, we'd sure appreciate it!
Graphic with photo of "The Mind of the Slave" by Nicole J. Giannella announcing it's now available.
Nicole J. Giannella's "The Mind of the Slave" is now available! The first volume of our Empire and After series investigates slave ownership and the limits of ownership in ancient Rome. Read more: press.umich.edu/Books/T/The-...
As 2025 comes to an end, we are sharing our 15 most-viewed publications of the year. Huge thanks to all the guest contributors for their trust and voices, as well as to all who read, watched, taught and engaged with us!
everydayorientalism.wordpress.com/2025/12/29/e...
New Past Lives: Terence, Slavery, and Ancient Rome's First Literature. Terence was one of the founders of Latin literature, a standard entry in Roman students' reading for centuries. He was also a former slave, an outsider to mainstream Roman culture. www.pod.link/1852618120/e...
So much great stuff coming on Past Lives:
12/24: Terence, Slavery, and Ancient Rome's First Literature
12/25: My Dad and History (I got emotional around the holiday)
12/31: Crixus, the Spartacus Rebellion, and Resistance to Slavery
1/7: Eurysaches' Baker and Industrial Work in Ancient Rome
On advance access: "Slavery, Prosperity, and Inequality in Roman Pompeii"
by @profbernard.bsky.social (@uoft.bsky.social)
#OpenAccess
doi.org/10.1093/past...
Friends, I couldn't be more excited about my new show Past Lives - here's what's coming up:
12/10: Sosias, Silver Mining, and the Athenian Golden Age
12/17: Neaira and the Lives of Sex Workers in Ancient Greece
12/24: Holiday break
12/31: Terence, Slavery, and Early Roman Literature
Also bonuses!!!
