Classics, Ancient History, Linguistics, Academia and more
I'm very excited to be able to flag the publication of Oscan inscriptions (this does not happen every day, or even every year). In 2024, there was big new find of five new inscriptions in the Greek alphabet at the Rossano di Vaglio sanctuary in Basilicata. Considering the site only has about sixty inscriptions total,... Continue Reading →
I'm very honoured to have been named among the winners of the Philip Leverhulme Prize for Classics this year. Not only am I in amazing company on a list of great Classicists in the UK, but I am extremely excited to kick-start a new project using the money awarded by the Leverhulme Trust. From 2025,... Continue Reading →
If you're looking for something to listen to as we start 2023, have a look at the Radio 3 Free Thinking episode I recorded back in October, which is still available through the BBC website. There's also still plenty of time to catch the British Museum exhibition Hieroglyphs: Unlocking Ancient Egypt referred to in the... Continue Reading →
Developing and teaching new modules is probably one of my favourite parts of my job. It doesn't come around very often, and it's hugely fun to think about presenting cutting-edge research to undergraduates, who are so open to new ideas and take them to pieces very effectively. So I was very excited to be asked,... Continue Reading →
I'm very pleased to say that my new sourcebook, Italy Before Rome, is out on Friday. If you want to use the discount code below, which is valid until the end of 2021, then you can order direct from the publisher on this link: https://routledge.pub/ItalyBeforeRome So you can get an idea of what the book... Continue Reading →
On Tuesday, we held the second half of the Digital Italy seminar. Like last time, I wanted to post a links round-up so that people can find these great projects and resources and see how they develop over the coming years. Luca Rigobianco (Venice) - Building a digital corpus and a computational lexicon of the... Continue Reading →
This week is all about numbers (specifically the number 270). As we all sit here waiting for the counting to happen, I thought I'd share one of the most intriguing little pieces of detective work in Etruscan studies: the number system. As we've discussed before, it's not difficult to read Etruscan - we know what... Continue Reading →
From 24th October to 4th February, the Fitzwilliam Museum and the Museum of Classical Archaeology are putting on a joint exhibition called Codebreakers and groundbreakers. The exhibition was inspired by the links between linguistics and codebreaking, and the links between Classical linguistics and Bletchley Park. As the Fitz puts it: A pioneering and interdisciplinary exhibition, Codebreakers and... Continue Reading →
I'm very excited to announce that I have a featured article in November's History Today, out on Thursday. The title of my feature is 'Latin Lesson', and it explores the languages of the Roman empire, from its earliest history to the development of the Romance languages. It looks particularly at the Romans' attitudes to other languages,... Continue Reading →
It's always nice to receive a new publication in the post! The book Creating Orthographies for Endangered Languages, edited by Mari C. Jones and Damien Mooney, is an edited volume arising in part from Mari's work with the Cambridge Endangered Languages and Cultures Group and its associated Cambridge Conferences on Language Endangerment. I always enjoy conferences which... Continue Reading →
Katherine McDonald 