Fiona Mitchell

I haven't been on Bluesky in a while, but I felt the need to come back at least to let my classics and ancient history buddies know that Sweaty Betty now lets you go to the gym dressed as a Cambridge Classical Text...

Time and Chronology in Creation Narratives This book explores the ways in which the origins of time, of the gods, and processes associated with time were conceptualised in antiquity, examining a variety of ancient sources from across the ancie...

Since there are so many new people on here, I thought I'd go for a couple of rounds of shameless self promotion.

@skil.bsky.social and I recently published our edited collection, Time and Chronology in Creation Narratives.

We're very proud of it and all the authors who contributed to it.

Oh, I'd do almost anything else. Washing up is the worst

Is anyone here studying or writing about alt-right/fascist use of Latin? E.g. Pete Hegseth's tattoo, the Learn Latin account on X, Musk's Novus Ordo tweet? #classics #Latin

Yeah. And given some of the strange emails I got as an academic (e.g. all myths derive from gestures you can make with a hand), you'd be extremely suspicious. It would def be the discussion point in the corridors.

I want to have been there for the conversation with the translator.

'We need a translator for a large number of texts in [ancient language]'

'What period?'

'20th century'

'...'

I love this example

Nice when random posts reaffirm decisions you've just made.

Could have done with this months ago.

It's also genuinely interdisciplinary in terms of the different areas of the ancient world that are examined by the different authors, even if it skews more towards Greek/Roman sources.

I think that's part of what makes the different chapters to read together.

One of the things I'm most proud of in this collection is that the contributors span the range of academic career from some who are ECRs (and PhD students when it started) to emeritus professors. And it was edited by two people who are now both independent researchers.

It took 6 years from conference to final collection. Between teaching intensive contracts, Covid and leaving my academic job, I wasn't entirely sure I was actually going to get this finished.

But thanks to very patient contributors and an excellent co-editor, @skil.bsky.social, it now exists!

Time and Chronology in Creation Narratives This book explores the ways in which the origins of time, of the gods, and processes associated with time were conceptualised in antiquity, examining a variety of ancient sources from across the ancie...

I am so happy to be able to say that my edited collection is finally out 🎉

www.routledge.com/Time-and-Chr...

New publication: “Matrilineal succession in Greek myth” — MYTHLAB In a newly-published article, Greta Hawes and Rosemary Selth consider the phenomenon of matrilineal succession in its full complexity.

Just published with Rosemary Selth: a study of the role of women in mythic kingship -- tl;dr: using big-ish data to find examples not usually discussed essentially shows us that the phenomenon of matriliny is not what we think it is
www.manto-myth.org/blog/new-pub...

Have realised there's no messaging system here (well done, Fiona). So you can contact me on LinkedIn instead. Yes it is a horrible site, but it means I don't have to give out my direct contact details.

www.linkedin.com/in/fiona-mitchell-

'X will be taking on that role in the next academic year. For the benefit of continuity, feel free to contact them about this issue'.

Probably easier to get away with this from June onwards.

Forgot one of these:
- I am ill so much less often! Not catching freshers flu has really improved my wellbeing during the autumn.*

* I am aware parents with children of school age will not have this luxury because of all the bugs passed around there.

If you're about to leave academia or thinking about it (especially if you're an ECR), feel free to message me. I have no expertise beyond my own experience, but am happy to provide any info I can.

Recommendation: if possible, do not move house the same week you change job. This is very not fun and does not assist with the transition.

The toughest ones:
- I had a pretty strong identity crisis (which says something about how academia depends on you identifying with your job)
- I felt immediately booted out of a community. While I have some contact through research and social media, the network I built felt like it just fell away

The tougher ones:
- I miss the feeling of being an expert in my area of work and being viewed as one
- I miss the sense of value from my teaching and supervision
- There was a pretty substantial culture shock in terms of both work and how to get it

- No marking, meaning there is much less of a sense of impending doom in Jan/Feb
- I have done about as much research as I did during my teaching-focused work (edited collection out soon!)

The good points:
- Much better work life balance: I do not work at weekends/evenings or think about doing so
- More flexibility for taking leave when I want to, making holidays much easier and more frequent
- I get to live where I want and don't do the ridiculous academic commute

I keep seeing post about people back in the horror show of applying for academic jobs while being in a(nother) temporary contract.

I left academia (unwillingly) about 18 months ago.

Some thoughts based purely on my own experience:

Exactly this

When framing accessibility things, I often want to say 'you will probably need this too' or some version of it

Oooh, what are you writing about? I'm a bit obsessed with ancient representations of it at the moment.

Some exciting post today!

Eugh. That film. Racist, sexist, ableist, homophobic (any many more). And there are some weird choices made so that many different racisms can be mashed on top of each other. The more I think about it the more gross it is.

The 2024 Belfast Summer School offers a dedicated beginners ancient Greek class
* for 10-14 year olds
* online 15th-19th July
* 2 hours of classes each afternoon (BST).
* taught with age-appropriate resources prepared by the tutor
helenmcveigh.co.uk/product/belfastsummerschool2024
🏺Ancientbluesky

I *adore* this vase. The minotaur is adorable.

But I also like that you get an image of this myth that is so domestic. It's normally so violent and there is a real nastiness to a lot of the images related to the minotaur and Thesues.