Stephen Bryan

Siege question @bretdevereaux.bsky.social : I was reading Josephus recently, and noticed that when he talks about battering rams, he says that they were aimed and walls or towers, but not at gates. Is the battering ram against the gate a misconception, or just a different technique?

Great! I might join in a couple weeks then. Can you send me the info?

Is this a one off or a recurring thing? I’m interested, but unsure about my availability tomorrow.

😬

Started attempting to go through Byock again the other day (tried a few years go and lost steam). How do you pace it when you use it for your class? And are there additional exercises or readings you do as you go, or just the exercises in the book?

I’m also planning on doing a similar activity with my 8th Grade history students using Carolingian Minuscule. What was your process with making the manuscripts? This is my first time doing the manuscript day, so I would love ideas to make it better and more fun!

I did a similar thing in one of my Latin classes in grad school (minus the quill pens!) Was a lot of fun! I learned that in the Middle Ages I would probably not have been one of the monks working in the scriptorium 😆

My very short search on @logeiongklat.bsky.social found that blacte is maybe from blatta, which could be a roach or a moth. Make sense with the cocoon I guess 🤷🏻‍♂️

Thanks for the quick reply!

I’ve done Greek, Latin, and enough Syriac to stumble through Matthew (I did the Syriac I Online class through Beth Mardutho in 2023). But I don’t really have a linguistics background. I can hang with a grammar translation method, but enjoy more immersive books like Ørberg’s LLPSI.

This looks fun! But for someone like me who has 2 kids under 3 yrs old and can’t do an in person class like this, what would be some good resources for independently learning Armenian? Books or maybe online courses?

Hana Videen’s The Word Hord: Daily Life in Old English and The Deor Hord: An Old English Bestiary.

Just finished reading @hanavideen.bsky.social’s two delightful books on Old English. I’ve been dabbling in OE the past couple years, and these books are a fun little glimpse into the lives of people in medieval England. I highly recommend them whether you’re learning OE or just want a fun read.

Gotcha. Was curious, bc of a footnote in Evagrius’ Ecclesiastical History (6th cent.) that mentioned a textual variant that had υιου instead of βιου (or vice versa), implying maybe β and υ were both pronounced as v or f, sorta like modern Greek. Made me wonder about shifting pronunciation over time.

Do you have recs for books/resources for learning Ge’ez? I’ve done a little bit of Syriac, so I have a little bit of Semitic language background. I took a look at an intro to Ge’ez book a while back, but the writing system seemed daunting. What’s a good place to start?

How late is this inscription? Is the ε in place of αι a sign of Greek vowel sounds shifting? Like how modern Greek ε and αι are pronounced the same?

Just finished Osweald Bera the other day, and I loved it! It’s a delightful story and an effective approach to teaching OE. All of my OE study has been on my own, and I’ve stumbled my way through a few different books. By far this has been my favorite!

Any ETA on the audiobook or the workbook?

Just read the first chapter of The Word Hord: Daily Life in Old English. So far a fun read! Looking forward to hoarding more Old English words! @hanavideen.bsky.social

What book do you use for teaching the Old Norse language? I’ve stumbled my way through a few chapters of Jesse Byock’s Viking Language, but I’m curious if there’s something else out there.

What would be a good edition for the Anglo Saxon Chronicle in Old English? I’ve been working on learning OE over the last couple years, so it would be fun to dive into the original text.

Thanks for all this!

Wanting to learn more about early medieval Britain, esp. the Angles and Saxons. What are
essential texts I should start with?Esp. re religion @colingorrie.bsky.social @phil-lol-ogist.bsky.social

I learned Latin on Ørberg’s LLPSI and taught from it for 4 years, so I’m a big fan of story-based language intros like this. And animal characters are always a plus!

Can’t put Osweald Bera down! Already on chapter 9 after just over a week. I’ve dabbled in Old English some over the past 5 or 6 years, and this has been my favorite OE book thus far! Loving the story so far and finding the pedagogy effective, too. @colingorrie.bsky.social

Got my copy of Osweald Bera last weekend and just finished Ch 8 today. I thought Ch 7 was a pretty clever combo of recapping the story and introducing new forms of past vocab (e.g. using past tense forms of verbs that only appeared in present tense in previous chapters).