Isabel Köster

Yes, that would be the ideal scenario, probably, if you can swing it logistically.

Everyone always proposes this as the answer without understanding that an oral exam requires very different skills than a closely argued research-driven essay. If you want to argue those skills don’t matter, then fine, argue that, but don’t pretend that oral argumentation is identical.

And it's also a very different logistical undertaking. In classes with 40+ students who all have other classes to worry about during finals as well, an oral exam is just not going to happen.

Good to know. Alas, 5 and second half is what I need (I've never been a Dido girl, but I like my boxing match)

(Or Turnus.)

RU Classics luvs LOL’able Facebook ‘Aeneid’ For parodies of Vergil, the Golden Age really was the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Or so it seemed, until University of Maryland Classics grad students Erika Grace Carlson and Heather Day …

Not that the young are on FB anymore... (More seriously, which abridged one did you go for? I may need something similar soon)

Yeah, I rolled my eyes so hard it hurt a little. Germany is generally very far gone on the AI side, but this is a lot even by those standards.

Also, because everything is terrible, yes, there is a GenAI Chronovisor attempt werkschau.hs-augsburg.de/ss-24/adrian...

The Chronovisor has one in German (get ready for Vatican conspiracy stuff to add to your day) de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronov...

RIGHT?! This is top 2025 internet material.

Thanks to @nevillemorley.bsky.social, we learned that Ernetti (19925–94) in fact claimed to have traveled to Rome, where he watched a performance of Ennius' Thyestes. He made transcript for posterity. He also took a photo of the crucifixion. He admitted both were fakes shortly before his death.

Well, speaking for those of us who just got their first introduction to the Chronovisor, I'm glad they didn't because this went from bonkers to totally bonkers.

You win the internet today.

Ok, I love the “classic” label. I can basically assume that it’s what I’ll need because that’s how my academic team rolls.

I just let Zotero generate a Chicago bibliography and had a "what on earth happened to publisher locations?" A lot has happened this year indeed... (now, step two will be "is this what I actually need to do here or has the press decided this is too much innovation?")

Yeah, I assume that letting it loose on lacunae would involve a similar “let it spit out a bunch of options and then see.” There’s some work on this with inscriptions already and it’s a lot of human lifting. Like I really hope no-one is going to let GenAI near this, though it could be funny.

The Inside Story behind Decoding an Ancient Herculaneum Scroll The Herculaneum scrolls, charred and preserved by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, were unreadable—until now

Also, www.scientificamerican.com/article/insi...

AI helps researchers read ancient scroll burned to a crisp in Vesuvius eruption Writing on PHerc. 172 papyrus, found at Roman mansion in Herculaneum, revealed after 3D X-rays and software competition

So, um, that kind of seems to be the plan? www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

On my end the year had a glacial first half and a breakneck second half. Like I don’t understand what’s been happening to time since early July.

Font of a Nation: Creating a National Graphic Identity for Qatar Words in Space is the work of Shannon Mattern.

Re: all the Calibri hoopla: of course some typefaces exist to enhance accessibility, just as there are typefaces that serve explicitly nationalistic and propagandistic purposes. One of my first-ever articles was about the design of Qatar’s national typeface :)

What is up with this “owl”?

This works both for needing to cut some words today and for a discussion elsewhere yesterday on having to cut the pages of a library book no-one has apparently used yet (a common thing to happen for classicists and sometimes a little terrifying because pages can be very thin)

Some things are Black Mirror episodes. Others are entire seasons. This creeps me out so much. (And never mind the dead... you can basically turn everyone into your perfect imaginary friend with this, which is just horrifying)

Well, that's something to see while taking a break from writing about Roman political insults... (though, I guess, Cicero doesn't use swear words. He's more of a fan of juicy descriptions of what his opponents do behind closed doors or in full view of the Roman people)

Cold (fill glass with ice, empty a can of Red Bull into it, add double espresso). And yes, I hung around to see how this would be made because I was curious, too.

Chamalières tablet - Wikipedia

E.g., a taster because this is where the Geeks of Wikipedia get to live it up: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamali...

On the one hand, cool. On the other hand, I have so many methodological questions (some brought on by spending too much time with "we haven't a clue what most of this says" Gaulish curses that are a freaking delight when you're working on the fringes of Roman religion)

Yeah, I assume this will prove counterproductive.

Hang around a university coffee place long enough and someone will order a new-to-you caffeine atrocity. Today: Red Bull with two shots of espresso.

Interlibrary Loan now asks me to confirm that I’ve verified that my requested item exists in the real world. That seems wise, but it’s also sad that they need to do this at a university.