Classics, Ancient History, Linguistics, Academia and more
This week on the CREWS project blog (which has a lovely redesigned website!), PhD student Natalia has written about the various different Greek and Roman myths relating to the creation of the alphabet. The most famous mythical progenitor of the alphabet is perhaps Cadmus, who is often credited with inventing or popularising the Greek alphabet.... Continue Reading →
Sometimes lunchtime conversations in the department are the best way to think about something from a new perspective, because everyone brings such different experience to the same question. This week I had a great conversation with my colleagues Richard Flower and Katharine Earnshaw about the connotations of the Latin word sacerdos. We all started out with... Continue Reading →
Next week, I'm presenting at the conference Parole per gli dei: dediche religiose in lingue epicoriche nel Mediterraneo Occidentale [Words for the gods: religious dedications in epichoric languages in the Western Mediterranean] at the Academia Belgica in Rome. I'm thrilled to be included in this conference which includes such an international range of scholars. Here is my... Continue Reading →
The Partial Historians podcast uses Roman historical sources to discuss the founding of Rome and the city's early history. This week, they use accounts by Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Livy to talk about the Roman relationship with their Oscan-speaking neighbours in the fifth century BC. I love the style of this podcast - their close... Continue Reading →
At 5pm on the 26th April, I will be presenting at the Newcastle Classics research seminar on "Writing women: understanding the goddess Reitia". I'll be talking about my recent work on literacy and the dedications to the goddess Reitia at Este, which I've spoken about already in Exeter. The seminar will take place in Room 2.50... Continue Reading →
Last week (just in time to coincide with both the "Greek in Italy" workshop and the triggering of Article 50) I was featured on a podcast series presented by my colleague Richard Flower. Distant Pasts: Adventures in an Alternative Antiquity looks at some of the more surprising, unusual and lesser known aspects of the ancient world,... Continue Reading →
I'm very excited to be speaking this week at the Historical Sociolinguistics Network Conference (HiSoN) 2017 in New York, hosted by NYU and CUNY Graduate Centre. I hugely enjoyed HiSoN 2015, and met some lovely people doing fascinating work there, so I'm looking forward to this year's conference hugely. I'm speaking on the first day of... Continue Reading →
I am currently conducting a survey, open to anyone working or studying in a Classics/Ancient History department in the UK. The aim is to find out about employment practices and contract types in use in Classics departments, and the impact these have on staff and students. The survey will be open until the 31st May... Continue Reading →
One of my academic specialisms is the study of inscriptions, otherwise known as epigraphy. Most of the material I work with is epigraphic, and sometimes this is one of the biggest challenges in my work. Learning how to read inscriptions is a skill that you need to learn by trial-and-error and, ideally, by having someone with... Continue Reading →
On the 29th March, the 'Greek in Italy' project will be hosting a workshop entitled 'The impact of Greek on the languages of Ancient Italy' at the British School at Rome. We are very privileged to have several great Italian linguistic scholars with us for the afternoon - you can see the full programme over... Continue Reading →
Katherine McDonald 