Kutlu Akalın kutkut16

Iranian here. The loudest voices in the room do not represent all of our voices. You can be against the regime AND not want a war.

The 49th Latin and Palaeography Summer School, 27-31 July 2026 The School, formerly the Keele Latin and Palaeography Summer School, returns for its 49th year. In 2025 The Ranulf Higden Society took over the organisation of the Latin and Palaeography Summer Sch…

Many medievalists and early modernists have fond memories of the Keele Palaeography Summer School - it lives on! Now in the convenient location of central Birmingham, organised with help from @ies-sas.bsky.social and @ihr.bsky.social Booking open now!

palaeography.uk/study/short-...

Buy soon, before the world ends!

A black - white cartoon explaining the different ways sites get buried

It's really fabulous to wake up to 9k followers 😮🥳. Diolch yn Fawr / thank you everyone 🙏

As a thank you - here is my 1994 Toby the Trowel explainer: 'How Sites Get Buried' 🤔

Surely the most common question ever asked of an archaeologist in a trench..🧐🏺

📷 My own, from younger days

Que sais-je? Michel de Montaigne, French Renaissance philosopher, whose gentle scepticism shaped European thought; born #OTD 1533. Many books originally in his library at Tour Montaigne are now in the University of Cambridge Library @theUL.bsky.social

marvelous quote aside, does anybody know why ‘Arab’ might have been borrowed into Syriac with initial aleph rather than ayin? my first thought is that Greek/Latin are at play, but the CAL notes that ʔarbāy with initial aleph appears only in *later* texts

Old Georgian word of the day
ცრემლო(ვ)ა
be teary, tearful, shed tears (ცრემლი tear) 😭

as in John 11:35 (pre-Ath)
და ცრემლოოდა იესუ
"and Jesus was tearful" (or "Jesus wept," if you like: ἐδάκρυσεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς)

Old Uyghur word of the day
/rasayan/ (< Skt. रसायन /rasāyana/, via TchA /rasāyaṃ/, acc. to Wilkens)
"elixir of life, nectar"

as in Totenmesse, ed. Röhrborn, 759-760

/nomlug rasayan-tatıgıg bulup/ (… /bolzun-lar/)

"May they get to taste Dharma's elixir!"

We are excited to host Samet Budak (Princeton) next Thursday 29 January at 5PM CET (note the unusual timeslot!).
The topic of his paper is Greek translations in the early Ottoman period!
If you are not yet on our mailing list, please register w/ @andyhilkens.bsky.social to receive the Zoom link.

The Classical Near East, with Kevin van Bladel - Medievalists.net A conversation with Kevin van Bladel on his proposal regarding “The Classical Near East,” a constellation of fields defined by the classical literary…

A new episode of Byzantium & Friends: The Classical Near East, with Kevin van Bladel www.medievalists.net/2026/01/the-... #history #NearEast

Hey Nathan, just read the small print. Wishing you the best of luck with it! Stay strong and tune in to days ahead as you progress decidedly towards full recovery. Sending you the best wishes! This too shall pass! 💐

You’re Dead To Me is going on tour! We’re playing London, Cardiff, Edinburgh & Manchester in the Spring — come along, it’s gonna be so much fun!
Www.YoureDeadToMeLive.com

A Latin Text of Caesar’s Gallic War VII 63-90 with Running Vocabulary and Commentary Paperback - $9.99 | Buy Online Download - Download PDF (Free) Julius Caesar’s Gallic War chronicles his nine-year conquest of Gaul (modern France and Belgium) from 58 to 50 BCE. This edition presents Book VII (Chapters 63-90) with Latin text, same-page vocabulary, and explanatory commentary. (For chapters 1-28, see Avaricvm; for chapters 29-62 see Gergovia.) Within these pages Caesar recounts the great battle at the town of Alesia, where his legions lay siege to Vercingetorix and his coalition army, only to find themselves besieged by a host of Gallic reinforcements. The freedom and the future of Gaul hang in the balance.

Look, Book VII of Caesar's Gallic Wars is pretty epic. The Battle of Alesia, especially. So it is nice to see a freely downloadable commentary (in three parts) and vocab for teaching Book VII to students. pixeliapublishing.org/book/alesia/

medieval worlds • no. 23 • 2025 A truly sensational find is presented in volume 23 of Medieval Worlds: a newly discovered Christian world chronicle in Arabic, which Adrian C. Pirtea examines in a preliminary case study. We furthermo...

"A truly sensational find" made by my friend and colleague Adrian C. Pirtea 👀👇
#Syriac
#ChristianArabic
#ChristianEast

"Geographical Definitions Illustrated, 1893" This is probably still the best visualisation of its kind that I've ever seen! Source: buff.ly/CMe6rYn

Ever blow-dried a labrador?

Just arrived.

@williamarmstrong.bsky.social I have an idea for a show!

Questioning AI Resource List Excellent summary of major problems with companies’ focus on AI written by expert in machine learning: https://ludic.mataroa.blog/blog/i-will-fucking-piledrive-you-if-you-mention-ai-again/ Another g...

I made this 19 page list of resources for questioning AI because I was so frustrated by this dynamic, the tipping point for me was an admin saying that people who were questioning the push for AI were being "emotional": docs.google.com/document/d/1...

I’m gonna name it. This isn’t a case of “legitimately differing opinions.” It is blatant professorial malpractice to adopt/allow genAI (or really *any* new edtech) just b/c we are told that we must. Especially in the humanities classroom, the only “ethical use” or reasonable stance is to keep it out

I saw a Facebook ad the other day promoting AI writing software that "does the grunt work so that you can create."

I have news for them. The grunt work is how you learn to create.

It is exhausting to sit in meetings a/b “AI” & to have colleagues who’ve got nothing but logical-fallacy-laden big tech pro-AI talking points basically project on you their own laziness & malpractice. Care to see my no-genAI policy, bud? It’s got dozens of carefully considered rationales & footnotes

Uploaded:

Read Nabataean!

HGV: P.Mich. 11 603 [source] [xml] Title Hire of Scribes Publications P.Mich. 11 603 More in series P.Mich.More in series P.Mich., vol. 11 Support/Dimensions Papyrus Post-Concordance BL Entries VIII 216; XI 132 Translations Migliardi, Vita privata e vita pubblica (1992), 14 Origin Ptolemais Euergetis (Arsinoites) More from Ptolemais Euergetis (Arsinoites) Material Papyrus Date 4. Febr. 134 More from the period between 134 CE and 135 CE Commentary Zur Datierung vgl. BL VIII, S. 216. Vgl. Kruse, Der Königliche Schreiber, S. 786f. Mentioned Dates Z. 15:132 - 133 Print Illustrations Plate I Subjects Vertrag; Schreiber; Kopieren von Laographialisten; zwei Kopien Images http://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/apis/x-1422... License Creative Commons License © Heidelberger Gesamtverzeichnis der griechischen Papyrusurkunden Ägyptens. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

February 4, 134 CE: A collective of nine scribes 🖋️ —named Diogenes, Euporos, Mystes, Marion, Sarapion, Sabinus, Herakleides, Harpokration, and Heliodoros—in Ptolemais Euergetis (Roman Egypt) sign a contract to copy gvmt tax & census lists (P. Mich 11 603): papyri-prod.lib.duke.edu/ddbdp/p.mich...

We are deeply grateful to everyone who helps Ukrainians survive this brutal winter. We are not alone in this horror.

Marat from Kazakhstan has opened up a yurt with heating for the residents of Desniansky district in Kyiv, hit very hard by Russian attacks on energy infrastructure.

Torridon

Reaching out

Publicly funded research should be publicly available!

Bithynian moonrises

This is a great example of what Marx called "the vampire thirst for the living blood of labour."

Panel 1: A cartoon worm appears out of a book, shocking the reader and saying "Greetings, booklover! I'm Wormy! Your virtual Reading companion!" Panel 2: Wormy continues "This is an enhanced Book! There's so much more to it than boring old words!" The reader says "I like the words." Panel 3: Wormy "Of course! I've promoted you to 'bibliophile' and added you to the 'hi-brow lit chat' group. You have 33 welcome messages!" Reader "I just want to read!" Panel 4: Wormy "Ok! I've set your status to 'monk-ish devotion?. You have earned 85 commitment stars and are now in the silver league!" Reader "Umm... How do I get into the gold league?" Panel 5: Caption "And so..." Wormy is saying "Congratulations! You won a (top networker' Trophy and 165 Community coins! Do you want to purchase membership of the 'diamond league Private library?" The reader has put the book aside and shouts excitedly "Yes! Yes!!"

My books cartoon for this week’s @theguardian.com