Carol Atack

Last line of the screenshot which wouldn't fit in the Alt text: '29 Parrhesia and the Critique of Rhetoric in the Classical Polis'. Thanks to all the authors who've come on this long journey with me! More soon; now to settle on a cover image...

Rabbits, as my Grandma would have said!

Foreword: engaging with Greek political thought in the 21st century Introduction and overview: I Origins and beginnings 1 Before the Greeks: echoes of earlier societies’ thought on governance 2 Early Greek political thought in poetical texts: Hesiod, Theognis, lyric poets 3 Cosmology, order, and the political: the Presocratics 4 Political Thought in inscriptions, documents and other non-literary sources 5 The Politics of Political Theory in Athenian Drama II Classical Greek political thought 6 Model constitutions: the emergence and development of the politeia tradition and typologies of political arrangements 7 Early Democratic Thought: Democritus, Anonymus Iamblichi, and Protagoras 8 Political Thinking in Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon 9 Socrates between City and Self: The Apologies of Xenophon and Plato 10 The concept of partnership in Plato's Republic 11 Civic Friendship and Virtue in Plato's Republic 12 Plato, politics and epistemology: the Republic and other dialogues 13 Building a new model for kingship in Plato’s Statesman 14 Plato's Laws: envisioning a new society 15 Criticisms of Democracy in Plato's Gorgias and Republic 16 Aristotle on the Partnership in Living Well and Living Together 17 Aristotle: defining the citizen 18 Aristotle on Justice, Friendship and Proportionate Reciprocity 19 Virtue and Politics: Isocrates and Xenophon III Themes and contexts 20 Stasis, conflict and change in Greek political thinking 21 Mass participation in the polis: Ps-Xenophon, Plato, Aristotle, Isocrates, Plutarch 22 Citizenship and non-citizenship: status hierarchies in the polis 23 The Limits of Law: Nomos in Plato and Aristotle 24 Cities and their gods: religion in Greek political thought 25 Bad tyrants and good kings: single-person rule 26 Comparisons with others: Persia, Egypt and non-Greek societies in Greek political thought 27 Slavery and freedom as a political analogy 28 Sparta in Greek political thought: Xenophon, Plato, Aristotle, Plutarch

A very exciting start to the month as the final contribution to the Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Political Thought arrived in my inbox - heading now to submission of a complete and formatted manuscript! Partial contents list as a teaser below:

Such sad news. I loved my lilac and silver mini dress from Pam Hogg's 1980s Kensington market stall. A truely original creative spirit.

the point is that the character M is pretty much the same width as height in regular typefaces. And it’s character width that matters for old-tech typesetting.

To be precise, the sizes of the capital letter forms N and M (my journalism training came at the end of the era of traditional typesetting).

My review of Ryan Balot's 'Tragedy, Philosophy, and Political Education in Plato's Laws' now published by Sehepunkte (in English); while I wasn't sure about the book's overall claim about the dialogue's philosophical coherence, I found much valuable analysis in it. www.sehepunkte.de/2025/11/4010...

Exhibition gallery at Kettle's Yard waiting for visitors to interact with Harold Offeh's performances - in the foreground and colourful table with stools and paper, ink and stamps; on the walls an installation of American payphone booths with handsets for listening, a yellow curtain behind which are screens showing video. Large scale lettering on the wall in orange echoes the show's title.

Warmly recommend Harold Offeh 'Mmm Gotta Try a Little Harder, It Could Be Sweet' at Kettle's Yard - a friendly & generous exploration of identity, playful & participatory - impossible not to dance along to Haroldinho's samba moves, fun to make your own Afrofuturist record cover art.

Other contributors include Mario Telò, Isabel Ruffell, Amy Coker, Dan-el Padilla Peralta, Jon Hesk, and the editors Samuel Gartland and Constanze Güthenke. If you're looking to refresh your thinking on Aristophanes' politics, lots to enjoy here. www.bloomsbury.com/uk/aristopha...

Book cover - on a blue background the book title Aristophanes and the Current Moment is reversed out in white; beneath it a black and white photograph of a stage production. A man, looking rather bemused, rides a giant beetle stage prop which is being carried through the air on wires.

Published today! Really pleased to see Aristophanes and the Current Moment in print via @bloomsburyacad.bsky.social. My contribution, 'Aristophanes and the Gendered Politics of Performative Assembly' applies Judith Butler's analysis of public protest to Aristophanes' Lysistrata and Ecclesiazusae.

I hope she'll come to see it in the Fitz!

I only found it because I spotted an ad on the S-Bahn! Worth checking what's in the gallery in future - it's the newish temporary exhibition space for the archaeology museums, in the building which will one day be a visitor welcome centre for the Pergamon Museum along with its neighbours.

Very pleased to see the WCC UK restate its commitment to the support of trans and non-binary folk in the discipline, particularly in light of the current political climate.

Bronze statue of a small boy, who is naked other than the protective amulet around his neck. He sits with his right hand raised, looking at something perhaps once held in his right hand; his left hand holdes a ball. Found in the sanctuary at San Casciano as part of the buried cache of statues and religious objects.

Another dedication made on behalf of a child - this small boy also holds a ball in his left hand, and is wearing a protective bulla (amulet) round his neck. Very moving to see parents' dedications on behalf of their children.

Bronze statue of a woman, dramatically lit in an exhibtion case. She raises her arms in prayer. She wears a long dress, heavily draped, and her braided hair can be seen below here covered head.

Another statue from San Casciano, showing a woman at prayer, with beautiful details of her dress.

A bronze statue of a child wearing a tunic and holding a ball in its left hand - the ball was originally separate, and now returned to the hand it fits perfectly. The statue was originally dedicated at the healing sanctuary at San Casciano in Tuscany before being buried after the sanctuary was hit by lightning; the cache of sculptures and other objects discovered recently, and this statue excavated in 2024. Shown on display at the James Simon Galerie in Berlin as part of an exhbition organised by the Antikensammlung there.

Lucky to catch the last weekend of the stunning San Casciano bronzes' visit to Berlin - these sculptures were ritually buried at a Tuscan healing sanctuary in the 1st century CE after a lightning strike, & were excavated in the last few years. So revelatory about ancient religious practice

Congratulations!

Magazine cover of Shearsman 145 and 146; the cover image is a painting of St Ceciia, wearing a read dress and white head wrap, playing the viol with her gaze turned upwards, by Guido Reni.

'Nanti time like the present. come on, let's get it on...'. Loving Prof Jennifer Ingleheart's trio of translations of Catullus into Polari, the old language of gay Londoners, in Shearsman 145-6. www.shearsman.com/shearsman-ma...

Lost grave of daughter of Black abolitionist Olaudah Equiano found by A-level student Fitzwilliam Museum has uncovered student’s work from 1977 that revealed Cambridgeshire location of child’s burial place

Cambridge’s Black Atlantic connections, a major research project for the Fitzwilliam Museum - commemorating Olaudah Equiano’s Cambridgeshire family, www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Programme for 'The Line of Beauty' at the Almeida Theatre, featuring Jasper Talbot in character as Nick Guest, wearing a white vest with his arms raised.

The Almeida Theatre adaptation of Alan Hollinghurst's The Line of Beauty captures the glamour and grime of 1980s London, where financial buccaneering, racial inequality and the AIDS crisis upended lives, but we all danced to excellent music. Five stars from me especially for the cast & the design.

London museum identifies black Waterloo veteran in rare 1821 painting ‘Honourable’ bandsman Thomas James will feature in display at National Army Museum highlighting service of black soldiers in Napoleonic wars

Great story and important history from the National Army Museum in today's @theguardian.com - a newly acquired portrait shines a light on a Black veteran of Waterloo, one of several Black soldiers honoured for their service in the Napoleonic wars. www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...

Have cheated but of course! That makes a lot of sense.

If you can't access BBC iPlayer, Myles' interview is also on Youtube...

BBC Four - Remembers..., Professor Angie Hobbs Remembers... The Great Philosophers Professor Angie Hobbs gives a modern view on Bryan Magee’s highly influential 1987 series.

On BBC4 tonight, Angie Hobbs on Bryan Magee's series the Great Philosophers, first broadcast in 1987, followed by the first three interviews: Myles Burnyeat on Plato, Martha Nussbaum on Aristotle, and Anthony Kenny on mediaeval philosophy: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Also, excellent programme notes from @alexandrahardwick.bsky.social and @lucycmmjackson.bsky.social as well as a fascinating foyer display about past NT productions of Greek plays.

Bacchae | National Theatre Indhu Rubasingham (The Father and the Assassin) directs Nima Taleghani's (Heartstopper) version of the classic tragedy to the stage.

Mixed verdict on the @nationaltheatre.org.uk Bacchae - amazing staging and design, loved the chorus, some great performances. Deeply unconvinced though by the back-story given to Pentheus, and some of Dionysus' story - and the omission of Cadmus. www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/productions/...

Small statuette of a man holding a container. He is wearing a wrapped garment inscribed with Egyptian hieroglyphics, which reveal that he was part of the court of the pharaoh Psammtek (Psammetichus, to readers of Herodotus)

Unmissable new exhibition at the Fitzwilliam in Cambridge - Made in Ancient Egypt explores this ancient culture through the makers of objects, their skills & the materials they used. Some exquisite objects - I liked this statuette. On show until April 2026.

I've been podcasting again! This time I spoke about how 'Plato: a civic life' provides the historical background to Plato's thought and helps to explain how his ideas developed - with Morteza Hajizadeh from New Books Network: newbooksnetwork.com/plato

Coming late to this but we're spoilt for choice! The Old Oligarch's pamphlet would be my suggestion; explicitly ideological.

My little Plato: a civic life, as reviewed in the New York Sun earlier this year - paywall but you can read one article for free.