Classics, Ancient History, Linguistics, Academia and more
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 →
This Wednesday, I am giving the Classics and Ancient History research seminar at Exeter. The paper will be based on brand new research I have been doing on the dedications to the goddess Reitia at Este. Here is the abstract: The epigraphic culture of the Veneto region is full of contrasts, particularly between its two... Continue Reading →
I'm really pleased that Venetic and the goddess Reitia have been included on the CREWS project blog. Many thanks to Pippa Steele for writing this post, making such good use of my photos (and Anna's delicious cake). As Pippa points out, Venetic gives us lots of important and unparalleled evidence for how people learned to... Continue Reading →
Around the time of the EU referendum, I wrote a review of Moving Romans: Migration to Rome in the Principate by Laurens E. Tacoma. Ancient migration has been very prominent in my work recently: the Greek in Italy project just hosted a conference on ancient migration and mobility in May this year, and this book helped... Continue Reading →
The Greek in Italy project is advertising for a new fixed-term post doctoral research associate. I've worked on the project for the last three years, and it is a fantastic team to be a part of! You can find the details of the ad below. Please get in touch if you have any questions about the... Continue Reading →
I mentioned that at Geoff Fest last week I gave a paper on the "reception" of Oscan - mainly consisting of mentions of Oscan in slightly unexpected contexts from the sixteenth century onwards. One of those instances was in An Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language, written by John Wilkins in 1668. Wilkins was a... Continue Reading →
This weekend we celebrated the retirement of our Professor of Comparative Philology, Geoff Horrocks. I've worked with Geoff for a number of years, during which he's been my second PhD supervisor and a co-investigator on the Greek in Italy project. As the speeches at last night's dinner attested, everyone has their favourite memories of Geoff's... Continue Reading →
