Roel Konijnendijk

Thanks very much! I never played any of the God of War games so I don't really know how they "do" the Greek gods. But games are definitely kind of a next frontier. I'm waiting for Echoes of History to release the deep dive I recorded with them on AssCreed Odyssey

Kyroupaideia is also dripping with it. Gosh if only we could be ruled by the best man ever, it would be so ace, we would conquer the world.

Boringly I think this should probably go to Aristotle's Politics, but if the question is about narrowly *Athenian* ideology I'd agree with @badancient.bsky.social. Funny how both authors are metics.

I'll look forward to seeing you there!

It sadly won't be published Open Access, but I will no doubt be yapping about it across various platforms...

A weekly reminder from @wejustinnocentmen.bsky.social

a woman and a stuffed animal are looking at each other in front of a tv Alt: GIF from a children's TV show. A puppet says to the woman presenter, "we're just normal men"; she unintentionally cracks up

Writing a piece on Greek masculinity and I have now written the word 'man' so often it has become ridiculous. Men: ridiculous

Once people started quoting Brinell hardness at me and talking about the shatter gap, I kind of lost interest. I'm not put on this earth to do physics. Just tell me if you have enough horsepower to lug your tonnage and enough armour penetration at 1500m to kill Nazis

There is something defiant about the idea that people were told to go someplace where the air was bullets and fire, so they shrugged, cut themselves a thick steel coat and brought a bigger gun than the other team.

But also tanks are a neat package of comparable numbers to soothe our nerd brains.

Save the date! Late October @roelkonijn.bsky.social is giving a lecture and a workshop. #AncientHistory #MilitaryHistory

I don't mean these fine gentlemen, I'm just quoting what he said in the podcast!

Screenshot of a podcast on youtube. A man wearing a baseball cap talks into a microphone. The automatic captions (incorrectly) read "...qui est cette historien des irlandais" meaning "who is this historian of the Irish"

I've heard a lot of people say that my accent sounds Irish and apparently YouTube captions agree

(He definitely said "historien néerlandais"...)

Love to find myself and my ditch opinions mentioned as a favourite of amateur military historians in this podcast by @andreloez.bsky.social & friends

Screenshot of a thread on Twitter. Quote-tweeting an announcement by the Lithuanian Ministry of Defence about a new plan for defense in depth, user @CasualArtyFan posts a picture of my face with no further comment. Journalist Jimmy Rushton points out "This is incredibly niche content."

A fun moment on the ol' hellsite

To be fair it looks like that first painter had never seen a Herakles either

So the Iliad presents Agamemnons power as justified by his strength and excellence while later Athenian tragedy calls him a tyrant. Stories have to be seen in the context from which they emerge!

It's because initially (Archaic period) people flattered big men and exalted great power, but later they developed more inclusive systems of government and came to abhor unaccountable one-man rule.

Minos is a mythological figure, not a real king (let alone 2). What we're dealing with here is stories changing as the image of kings & monarchy changes. Some later Greek tyrants (Periander of Corinth) similarly were known both as great sages and cruel despots

I can't reply there but she should check out the Cambridge History of Strategy (2025), which covers most of the world from ~550 BC to now.

YouTube video by History Hit Battle of Thermopylae: Spartan Defeat | As It Happened

Back on HistoryHit for a live interview with Dan Snow (at his fabulous central London flat) - all about the battle of Thermopylai in excruciating detail
www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7_k...

It was Nestor's idea according to the Iliad (7.337-43). Greeks knew what they were doing: "Close by, around the outside of the wall, the long-haired Greeks dug out a great big trench, both wide and deep, and stuck sharp stakes inside it" (7.439-41 trans. @emilyrcwilson.bsky.social)

Ex-ac/alt-ac is wise. I recommend it to any and all. Many thanks for your good wishes!

Among them, chiefly, getting to work at as august and discerning and institution as @ox.ac.uk (twice!) and fulfilling my lifelong ambition of shouting at historical movies without being told to shut up

My PhD turns 10 today🥳

When I passed the viva I could not have imagined that I would be spending the next 10 years (and who knows how many more) searching for a permanent position. It is clear now that I have made many mistakes. But I have also achieved things I would never have thought possible

Good stuff! I see that ditch, I see it

It is real & predates Napoleon. You can find one on Google maps (not the one my family gets its name from, but not far away)

I may not be well known among scholars but I take pride in being well known among DnD players

YouTube video by Why Wars Happened History Podcast INTERVIEW: Reddit r/AskHistorians mod Talks Ancient Greek Warfare with Us [Guest Roel Konijnendijk]!

I had a great time on the Why Wars Happen podcast talking about all things Greek warfare
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pn0Z...

Yes, if I felt like being generous, I'd say it's refreshing to see a reference to Greek history beyond Thermopylai and Alexander the Great. And one that isn't even factually incorrect! But on the other hand, do I feel like being generous to Musk? No I do not.