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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

This quote comes from an ode Pindar wrote in honor of a winner at the Pythian games. There were 3 other great panhellenic games besides the Olympics: the Pythian at Delphi, the Isthmian on the isthmus connecting the Peloponnesus to central Greece, and the Nemean near Argos. #classics

"A dishonest citizen cannot utter weighty words in good men's company, but such a man will fawn on everyone, weaving his webs of delusion. I wish no part in his audacity." Pindar, Second Pythian Ode

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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 · 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?"

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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 · 06/09/2026

Another current read: “Life of Pi” by Yann Martel. 📚💙 This orange leather version is by Suntup Editions.

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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

The water ordeal in Ancient Mesopotamia was the opposite of later witch trials. Surviving the trial by swimming or holding your breath was taken as a sign that the oath you swore was true. Conditions could be set, such as you must stay underwater for X minutes, and if you’re still alive after

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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

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.

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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 · 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 · 12/08/2026

The Modern Library’s “Best Novels of the 20th Century” [written in English] list came out when I was a precocious high schooler and I decided to try and read them all. Made it through about 40 of them before I lost the list with my progress ages ago. My interests have shifted a bit since then.

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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Van De Miroop offers an extremely well researched and cited, but somehow still fast moving, short biography of one of the ancient world's most important leaders. 8/8

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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

addressed to the king of Mari, discussing the various things Hammurabi does and says. We have a rich amount of material for this period and Van De Miroop is extremely familiar with all of it. Using his masterful command of the ancient textual and epigraphic sources, 7/8

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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Mari was first an ally of Hammurabi in his campaigns against the Elamites and then his enemy when he started expanding against other Mesopotamian cities. Because of this archive, we have hundreds of documents written by diplomats and administrators, 6/8

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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

The 'Code' came at the end of his career after four decades of military conquest and expansion. It begins with a recitation of all of the cities that are now under Hammurabi's control. We know an exceptional amount about this king by the archives at a city called Mari that have survived. 5/8

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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Hammurabi was an extremely capable diplomat and military leader. He organized coalitions of other local Mesopotamia cities and led them in a series of campaigns that pushed the Elamites out of Mesopotamia, which resulted in Hammurabi's Babylon becoming the new hegemonic power in Mesopotamia. 4/8

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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

was at a low point. Elamites and other peoples from modern-day Iran had invaded parts of the region and the old dynasty of Ur III and its short-lived successors were gone. The point is that Babylon was fairly inconsequential and unimportant at the time. It was not yet the Babylon you know of. 3/8

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Armchair Classicist (Ryan Schaller) @armchairclassicist.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

People who recognize Hammurabi's name almost certainly do so because of his eponymous 'Code', but in reality, the 'Code' was far from the greatest achievement of this king who ruled Babylon for 43 years. When Hammurabi succeeded his father to the throne, the local power of south Mesopotamian 2/8

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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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