Michael Edward Stewart

Typing page numbers into my index...who needs sleeping pills.

PACIFIC RIM ROMAN LITERATURE SEMINAR 34 - TRAGEDY MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, 20–22 JULY, 2026 To mark the revival of the Pacific Rim Roman Literature Seminar after its hiatus following the pandemic, the thirty-fourth meeting of the Pacific Rim Roman Literature Seminar will be held in Melbourne, Australia from 20-22 July 2026. The convenor invites proposals for papers addressing the theme of TRAGEDY, in any manifestation in ancient Roman literature. Topics might include the genre of tragedy itself (such as the plays of Seneca), or tragedy as a theme in any genre of Roman literature. Approaches might include literary analysis, textual criticism and paleography, historiography, ancient philosophy, medieval & Renaissance and neo-Latin studies, classical reception studies, performance studies, and more. Papers on other topics will also be considered. Papers should be 30 minutes in length, with fifteen minutes of discussion time. The Pacific Rim Seminar does not run parallel sessions, so that participants may attend any or all papers. Submissions are welcome from postgraduate students and early-career researchers as well as established academics. Abstract proposals of 200-300 words should be emailed to K.O. Chong-Gossard (pacrimlatin2026@gmail.com). Please submit abstracts by 1 April 2026. Earlier submissions are of course welcome. The seminar will be held in a venue in the city of Melbourne, and it is expected that a seminar registration fee for participants will be required to cover the costs. We might be able to offer a reduced registration fee for postgraduate students. If there is a large number of papers, the seminar might be extended for an extra day (23 July). A seminar website will be built in due course. Feel free to send enquiries to the Convenor, K.O. Chong-Gossard, Associate Professor in Classics (Ancient Greek & Latin), The University of Melbourne pacrimlatin2026@gmail.com

#CFP #PACRIM34 34th Meeting of the Pacific Rim Roman Literature Seminar. Theme: #TRAGEDY - Melbourne, July 20-22, 2026 - due by April 1 to pacrimlatin2026@gmail.com (Convenor: A/Prof. K.O. Chong-Gossard, Melbourne)

Two recent publications not to be missed!
Volumes 11 and 12 of the Brill’s Companions to Classical Studies series focus on ancient warfare, exploring the many faces of women’s involvement in military campaigns, and the conceptualization of courage and cowardice in the ancient Mediterranean world.

This has been a slog but I’m pleased to day that I’m currently checking the proofs, which means this book will soon be out in the wild!

Happy to have at last my own copy of my favourite journal issue I have every contributed to, with articles by Brian Croke, the late Dariusz Brodka, and Michael Whitby...brings up some sad feelings too, since it was Dariusz who invited me to contribute: journals.akademicka.pl/cc/issue/vie...

I’ve taken on a small side project: writing another review essay for Histos on this interesting book. It will give me the opportunity to reflect on what I see as a growing divide among scholars regarding the most productive methodological pathways forward for Procopian studies.

I know my recent and forthcoming books are a bit pricey, but my first book is available open access: kismet.press/portfolio/th...

It is unlikely that Euphemia wanted to bring attention to her own "disreputable" past, which despite being wiped away, would have been remembered. P, in SH, thus takes agency from Justin & obscures Euphemia's "true" reasons 4 objecting, which was based more on doctrinal issues than Theodora's past

For reasons I will elucidate further, I will suggest that if there was an issue with the union, it was Theodora's non-Chalcedonian views more than her earlier career as an actress that made Euphemia balk at the union. Moreover, as a staunch Chalcedonian, Justin, at 1st would have been against it.

Daube is also one of the few modern scholars skeptical about Procopius' portrait of Euphemia, though, ignoring the obvious satirical aspect of P's account of the former barbarian/slave, Euphemia, he follows consensus that she was the primary barrier to marriage, which went ahead only after she died.

It is likely that Anastasius granted Lupicina/Euphemia freeborn status as a way to reward Justin for his years of loyal service. This decree meant that the Augustan marriage restrictions did not apply to her and thus her union with Justin was therefore permitted and unassailable.

He demonstrates that Theodora's obtaining of the rank of Patrician prior to her marriage would not have been enough to overcome the Augustan ban on actresses marrying senators. Moreover, it answered my questions on why Justin was allowed to marry the former slave Lupicina/Euphemia

Daube's paper on Theodora & Justinian's marriage published in 1967, is a rare example of an article that has aged very well despite great advances in the past 60 years in our knowledge about the age of Justinian and Procopius the historian and rhetorician: scholarship.law.edu/lawreview/vo...

The Byzantinist John Melville-Jones has died. I’ll always remember, as a freshly minted PhD, John’s kind words to me after I gave a paper for AAABS in Brisbane on Narses. Those encouraging words gave me a real boost of confidence early in my career, when I need it. RIP John

Great thing is that it is free and openaccess!

Happy to announce that my latest paper "Masters of the Sea: Rhetoric and Reality in Procopius’ Depictions of Naval Power in Gothic Wars" will be the next article published in the new issue of Byzantina Symmeikta 36: ejournals.epublishing.ekt.gr/index.php/bz...

Volume 79 (2025) All of the articles in Dumbarton Oaks Papers 79 (2025).

Dumbarton Oaks Papers Vol. 79 (2025)
www.dopapers.org/for-readers/... #openaccess @dumbartonoaks.bsky.social
@chrysoboullon.bsky.social

Thanks John...

From the introduction to Mlambo & Lee (eds), Reflections of Trump (2167):

“It is clear that a conventional historical biography of the Last President is impossible; surviving written sources are dominated by lurid and fantastical anecdotes that were surely invented to show his unfitness to rule…”

Okay, I'm officially an Old Fart...setting up my transition to retirement account with my Super Annuation (401k for u Americans) account, will hopefully allow me to start taking
a few more trips back to the US and to Europe to see relatives and old friends before I'm too decrepit to travel!

I enjoy and respect the scholarship of Michael Whitby. He was, in fact, a most helpful reviewer of my 2012 DPhil. I find it odd, however, that so many recent book reviews in Plekos are written by him. Editors, there are plenty of other established and emerging scholars available!

Ex-Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura: “We’re a 3rd world country now. I know. I’ve been to ‘em. I spent 17 months in SE Asia while the draft dodger was playing golf… that’s what happens in a dictatorship. In comes the military. That’s what’s happening here.” 🇺🇸

𝗪𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝗟𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗔𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗠𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗹𝗲 𝗔𝗴𝗲𝘀
𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗪𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻 𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗡𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮
Éric Fournier, Maijastina Kahlos (eds)

More Info: bit.ly/49KnjI8

#Women #Antiquity #Medieval #Womensstudies #Europe #Africa #History #Medievalsky #Medievalists

journal cover

Speculum Vol. 101, No. 1 (2026) www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/spc/2026... Speculations: The Centennial Issue @medievalacademy.bsky.social @etreharne.bsky.social @clairedillon.bsky.social @ldevun.bsky.social @estherlcuenca.bsky.social @barbararosenwein.bsky.social @spencerstrub.bsky.social

Tyrannos y Hetaíra (τύραννος καὶ ἑταίρα): representaciones de género en el siglo VI bizantino. El caso de Justiniano I y Teodora en Historia Secreta de Procopio url:https://byzantion.uchile.cl/index.php/RBNH/article/view/76274

byzantion.uchile.cl/index.php/RB...

www.uni-muenster.de/Ejournals/in...

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Western Supremacy and “Byzantium” | Speculum: Vol 101, No 1 www-journals-uchicago-edu.ap1.proxy.openathens.net/doi/full/10....

A bright orange journal cover with 'Essays in Late Long antiquity' written in blue and cream text on a blue slim banner to the left, with text to the right reading 'An open Access journal in the field of first millennium studies and the broader Afro-Eurasian region, encouraging interdisciplinary and superregional approaches.'

NEW FOR 2026 | Essays in Long Late Antiquity
A new Open Access journal in first millennium studies, enticing interdisciplinary and superregional approaches to research in the second to the ninth centuries & broader Afro-Eurasian region: bit.ly/4f7BXZC @calthalas.bsky.social @sihonglin.bsky.social