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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller)

@armchairclassicist.bsky.social
3.8K followers 4.5K following 2.8K posts

Ancient history and lit, photos of my cats. Writer, reader, fantasy, sci-fi, 🏳️‍🌈Ally, No🚫GenAI content. Lawyer by day. Probably followed you for mentioning reading, history, or writing in your profile. "Armchair Classicist: The Page" on FB

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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Chaucer getting a nap in while I read.
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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
*piles. support piles. 📚💙 By Natalie Dupille
A cartoon panel of one person telling their partner  "Don't move those, that's my emotional support style of unread books!"
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Reposted by Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller)
Rachel Deering @racheldeering.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
‘The waies, through which my weary steps I guyde, In this delightful land of Faery… My tedious trauell doe forget thereby; And when I gin to feele decay of might, It strength to me supplies and chears my dulled spright.’ ~ Spenser #BookWormSat
🖼️ Prince Arthur and the Fairy Queen by Johann Heinrich Füssli, c. 1788
Painting, The Fairy Queen stands centrally in a cream gown with a teal bow. Her arm is outstretched. Prince Arthur is kneeling to the right in deep shadow.
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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
I love a good Ea-Nasir joke.
ea-Nasir jokes are like good quality copper, not everyone gets them.
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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Kash Patel is probably in some bar right now pounding wild turkey.

He might also be having a drink.
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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
We can add mothers and daughters to the original language of Herodotus.
No one could be so foolish as to prefer war to peace: in peace sons bury fathers; in war fathers bury sons.
Herodotus 1.87.4
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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Izzy enjoying a bit of sun [and my reading chair] 🐈‍⬛📷
Small tabby cat on a green chair in sunlight
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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Whenever I see this meme, I can hear Brian Blessed shouting "Quintilius Varus, where are my eagles?!" #classics
Meme shows a "select all squares" log-in test. This one instructs the user to select all squares with Germanic warriors. The image is a northern European forest.
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Reposted by Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller)
The Godyssey Podcast @godysseypodcast.com · 15/09/2026
Aesop's Fables comments on the intelligence of crows in "The Crow and the Pitcher," which is not so much a fable on perseverance and cleverness, as it is an observable fact that crows are problem-solvers. #FairytaleTuesday
A drawing depicting a crow standing on a rock, putting a stone into an ancient Greek pitcher, showing a farmer and his cow on it
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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
"You are mistaken, my friend, if you think that a man who is worth anything ought to spend his time weighing up the prospects of life and death. He has only one thing to consider in performing any action--that is, whether he is action rightly or wrongly, like a good man or a bad one?"
"You are mistaken, my friend, if you think that a man who is worth anything ought to spend his time weighing up the prospects of life and death. He has only one thing to consider in performing any action--that is, whether he is action rightly or wrongly, like a good man or a bad one?"
spoken by Socrates, in Plato's "Apology"
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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
The poetry of Sapho, translated by Andrew Miller. 💙📚
"You came, and I was yearning for you; you plunged my heart into coolness when it flamed with longing."
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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Truth
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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Enjoying that early evening sun. #Cats 🐈‍⬛📷
Two large cats on a tile floor in a beam of sunlight
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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Another current read: “Life of Pi” by Yann Martel. 📚💙 This orange leather version is by Suntup Editions.
Cover of described bookSpine and cover of described book
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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
My sense of humor summed up in a single meme:
Photo is of a Tweet that begins by having Gandalf and Jesus as two 'speakers' who are both silent.

Then Jesus says: lol, I just realized after I died and came back people started saying I was white too.
Gandalf: we don----we don't have to bond over stuff.
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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
One of the books I’m reading this weekend. This is research for my “real property and title law in ancient Mesopotamia” presentation.
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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Weekend reading. That bottom title may be hard to read. It’s “The Game of Saturn” by Peter Mark Adams about the Solar System-Busca tarocchi card set. 📚💙
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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Happy #Caturday from my giant fluffy bookmark. 🐈‍⬛📷 📚💙
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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Top panel: "Reading for Pleasure implies the existence of reading for pain. 
Middle panel: "Duuuuuude."
Bottom panel: "WTF do you think grad school is?"
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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
If I could pick a “superpower”, it would be the ability to read fluently in every language.
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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
From Fool of a Took on facebook. I'm hanging on these days by the grace of dark memes and the miracle of croissant bread.
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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Regular followers, question for research purposes: Do you all know the names of the two cats I frequently post photos of? I've had these cats for 4 and 6 years now and my mother listens to me talk about them at least once a week. She still has not bothered learning either name.
Two cats
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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Zora giving me a look. #Cats #CatsOfBlueSky 🐈📷
Brown tortoiseshell longhair cat looks straight at camera while sitting on a cat tree.
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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
The home library was the cleanest its been in months so I took some photos. Will post some closeup photos throughout the week where you can actually read titles. 📚💙 (Because people always ask, the barndoor is to an ensuite bathroom. This is an extra bedroom in our house)
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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
How does the greatest of Greek warriors pass the time while refusing to fight for Agamemnon? He plays the lyres and sings of deeds of past heroes. #mythology #poetry #classics 📚💙
Left side of image is a photo of an Athenian red figure vase that shows a figure playing the lyre. The right side of the image contains a quote about Achilles playing the lyre from Book IX of the Iliad.
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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Zora doing some tech support this morning. 🐈📷
Brown tortoiseshell cat sits on a desk printer.
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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Brutal comic combining current events at #classics by @joeheller.bsky.social yesterday.
Comic shows a ship labeled the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln with text bubbles reading "I'm worried we're far from home on a long tour with lousy conditions" and then "Relax! The Pentagon sent us the latest hit movie to help with morale!"
The movie is shown to be "The Odyssey"
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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Part of the methodology of Herodotus: either the 'father of history' or the 'father of lies' depending on your viewpoint: #history 📚💙
“I will cover minor and major human settlements equally, because most of those which were important in the past have diminished in significance by now, and those which were great in my own time were small in times past. I will mention both equally because I know that human happiness never remains long in the same place.”

Herodotus 1.5, translated by Robin Waterfield.
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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Happy #Caturday from the literary kitties. 🐈‍⬛📷 #Cats 📚💙
Two large cats by a large bookshelf.
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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Zora says that exercise is exhausting. #Cats #CatsOfBlueSky 🐈📷
Brown tortoiseshell long haired cat naps on the seat of an exercise bike.
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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
I finished this short biography of one o Mesopotamia's most famous rulers over the weekend. Marc Van De Mieroop is a Professor of Ancient Near Eastern History at Columbia University, and he has written a number of books. 1/8 #HistoryBooks #History #Mesopotamia 📚💙 🧵
A photo of the cover of the book King Hammurabi of Babylon by Marc Van De Mieroop, published by Blackwell
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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Chaucer helps with note taking. 💙📚
Large gray cat naps on an open book on a desk
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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
📚💙
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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Truth. #History
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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Zora 🐈📷 #CatsOfBlueSky
Brown longhaired tortoiseshell cat in a box labeled "crumbled bacon"
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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
N.C. Wyeth's illustration of "Penelope Mourning" from the George Herbert Palmer translation of the Odyssey, originally published in 1929. #Odyssey #Art #myth 📚💙
Penelope sits on a simple chair with pastel wall colorings behind her.
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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
#Caturday bliss with @foliosociety.bsky.social packing material. Everyone is happy on book delivery day. "A Canticle for Leibowitz" by Walter M. Miller, Jr., and Folio's new edition of Herodotus, translated by Robin Waterfield. 📚💙 🐈📷
Two cats and packing papera photo of the two described books
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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Cat owners know
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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
I did not enter 2026 expecting to reference both Emily Wilson and Joyce Carol Oates in the same meme, but I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. #Classics #Odyssey 📚💙
Danny glover carrying pizza walks into a brawl meme. 

Glover is labeled “people who just want to see Matt Damon try to get home.”

Below is labeled “Emily Wilson, Joyce Carol Oates, Elon Musk, and Culture War.
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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Chaucer 🐈‍⬛📷 He was hacking up hairballs everyday despite regular brushing, so I’ve been keeping his coat short this summer. Has worked well.
Large gray cat
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Reposted by Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller)
Jack Grimes @jackapedia.design · 16/07/2026
Furious that Chris Nolan would disregard historical accuracy in adapting The Odyssey by making a "movie" with "cameras" instead of memorizing the entire story and then going on a nationwide tour to sing it to us while tripping on ergotized barley
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Reposted by Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller)
Anthony Majanlahti @anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
For #FrescoFriday, let’s trace how #Rome systematically rewrote its early history to erase humiliating #Etruscan victories. We begin in Vulci at the François Tomb (340-330 BCE), where vivid murals depict a brutal truth Roman historians later spent centuries trying to suppress. #AncientBluesky 🏺
MACSTARNA FRESCO FROM THE FRANÇOIS TOMB, 340-330 BCE. VILLA GIULIA

​A C4 BCE Etruscan wall painting from the François Tomb in Vulci. It depicts a dramatic combat scene where the Etruscan hero Macstarna (traditionally identified as Rome's future king, Servius Tullius) uses a small dagger to cut the ropes binding the wrists of his ally, Caelius Vibenna (Caile Vipinas). Both figures are rendered with muscular, athletic frames and intense expressions, set against a pale background. The scene captures a historical reality of Etruscan warlords actively dominating early Rome, an inglorious truth that later Roman historiography completely suppressed or sanitised.
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Reposted by Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller)
Lindsay Powell FRHistS @lindsaypowell.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
For your weekend reading, "Marcus Agrippa: The True Story'. Details how to order your copy in Comments below. #AncientBluesky #Agrippa
For your weekend reading, "Marcus Agrippa: The True Story'.
Details how to order your copy in Comments below.
#AncientBluesky #Agrippa
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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
In addition to his 'Life of Alexander', Plutarch wrote other essays on the famed ruler. This quote comes from his 'On the Fortunes of Alexander." #Classics #History 📚💙
"Greatness lies, not in the possession of good things, but in our use of the, since even infant children inherit their father's kingdoms and dominions."
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Reposted by Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller)
elfzie.bsky.social @elfzie.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
A Celebration of Female Artists Susan McKenna #Mythology Mermaid (date unlisted) by Danish artist, Malene Reynolds Laugesen (born in 1969). Watercolor, gouache, and pencil
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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Long girl #CatsOfBlueSky 🐈📷
A very tall dark turquoise Maine Coon cat stretches up to a cat tree.
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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Zora resting on her dedicated shelf to prepare for #Caturday tomorrow 📚💙 🐈📷
A long haired brown tortoiseshell cat naps on an empty book shelf surrounded by shelves full of Greek history books
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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Zora capturing my mood to stat Wednesday. Can we just spend today cat lounging please?? 🐈📷
Brown tortoiseshell Maine Coon cat lays belly up on the floor.
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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Chaucer claiming ownership of my arm. 🐈📷
Large gray cat with his arms on a human arm.
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