Dr Mike Beer

Ancient Greek Gymnasium in Agrigento Italy Reveals New Findings - GreekReporter.com Archaeologists resume excavations at the ancient Greek Gymnasium in Agrigento, Italy, uncovering new details about its ancient Greek origins.

greekreporter.com/2026/03/04/a...

Fair point.

Revenue protection officers escorted them off the train at Sheffield. Lots of raised voices but thankfully no raised fists.

All kicking off on the train in the seat behind me. Police been called for next station.

Off to Durham to give a paper at a conference tomorrow on approaches to teaching Greek tragedy within the prison system. A return to Durham has been long overdue!

Marking essays about land reform in the late Roman Republic on a very old and very slow train that is full of rubbish and smells strongly of urine. Living the dream.

Artemisia Gentileschi in 10 Paintings Let's look at 10 paintings by Artemisia Gentileschi, the most celebrated female painter of the 17th century.

www.dailyartmagazine.com/artemisia-ge...

YouTube video by Michelangelo da Caravaggio - A Rock Musical CARAVAGGIO, A ROCK MUSICAL - TRAILER 2024

What?

youtu.be/qF3oytxj8Ac

Putting the finishing touches to my session on the art of Van Gogh for my online OU teaching tomorrow. I like the fact that sometimes I get to teach non-Classical stuff, especially if it is art or architectural history. I can generally sneak something in about Caravaggio or Brutalism.

Scholar, seductress, alchemist: who was the real Cleopatra? The Egyptian queen has fascinated me from childhood, but following the archives led only to ancient gossip and Roman propaganda. Fiction was the way to liberate her from misogynist myth

www.theguardian.com/books/2026/f...

It’s very good! Made mine with Buffalo Trace bourbon and Cretan blossom honey

Hot or cold!

Rosatum (Rose Wine) The centerpieces of ancient Roman townhouses, peristyle gardens were lush and vibrant with decorative plants. Here, you can read about ancient Roman homes, the flowers grown in them, and a recipe f…

As enjoyed by the best emperors Nero and Elagabalus: rosatum. cibiantiquorum.com/rosatum/

It sounds EXACTLY my kind of drink.

Cocktail of the week: Nora’s baklava old fashioned - recipe | The good mixer Honey and cinnamon bring a warming, Istanbul-inspired spin to a classic

I shall make this tonight.

www.theguardian.com/food/2026/fe...

GELA (Cl). Il "Museo dei Relitti greci" apre con la più grande nave greca mai ritrovata. - Archeologia online - Archeomedia Inaugurato il Museo dei relitti greci nell’area demaniale di Bosco Littorio, a Gela, nel Nisseno.

www.archeomedia.net/gela-cl-il-m...

Time to start thinking about my paper for this year’s CA conference: Augustan coinage, the inscription on the Arch of Titus and this from the Temple of Isis at Philae in Egypt.

Back to translating sections of Cicero’s Pro Roscio. Current mood.

I like to imagine that this is what the Forum of Augustus was meant to look like.

Goodnight.

Lecture recorded and Durham paper mostly finished. That surely deserves Barolo?

Definitely not a fan of Neoclassical architecture, but I’ll make one exception.

This morning I’m recording a short lecture on Cicero’s consulship for a project I’m involved with. Needless to say, I shall be giving him a right old kicking, including his woeful poetry on the subject.

Out of Light, by Nicole Krauss Caravaggio, La Tour, and the art of attention

harpers.org/archive/2026...

Morning.

No teaching this week but a stack of university marking, a conference paper to finish, catching up with friends and back to learning conversational Arabic again.

First draft of my Durham paper on teaching Greek tragedy in prisons has avoided any references to Foucault but has one to J.G. Ballard's Crash. Hopefully it will make it to the finished version.

In pictures: Pompeii opens villa of Nero's wife to public during restoration Amid the remains of a sumptuous villa near Pompeii, the hard-hatted conservationist scraped away centuries-old ash to reveal a vibrant red fresco.

www.thelocal.it/20260213/in-...

Brutal but beautiful: Southbank Centre’s Grade II listing is the cherry on a concrete cake As one of the longest running battles in British heritage comes to an end, the listing of the London arts complex vindicates the audacity of this sensational droogs’ paradise

www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Goodnight.