iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Took my 11yo to the videogaming museum in Sheffield today and found these two beauties! Wasn't happy to see things in glass cases as exhibits that I distinctly remember playing as a kid. That was just rude.

Video game set up with an old tv and console. They sit on top of a blue table and a red stand for the tv. The creen is small with a pixellated image of Mickey and Minnie Mouse in a forest.

A tv and beige Commodore 64 sit on top of a black sand. A purple seat is in the foreground. The screen is black and blue with some white text. The game's name is Anarchy.

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Working through a draft of a new Bad Ancient article submitted by a new contributor. Always an exciting prospect, but I am particularly happy because this question on Spartan religion has been in our backlog for years!

Screenshot of a webpage with a black background and white writing. The website is BadAncient.com and the article is titled 'Was Ares the Patron God of Ares?'. There is a colour photo of some stone ruins on an ancient temple on a grassy hill.

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

New books have arrived so I can practice my Sanskrit (I'm definitely not procrastinating from the book I need to finish). Very excited to find that there is a Loeb-like edition of some texts (i.e. dual language), less excited to have numerous book retailers claim to have then but actually not!

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Not sure if I will have to hand in my 'ancient historian badge' for this, but ... I did not enjoy this film.

The door of an elevator with an image of Odysseus from the film poster on it. Odysseus stands in armour and holding a sword, with flames and a large wooden horse in the background. Toward the top of the door is a blue sign that says 'Out of Order' because the elevator does not work.

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Went to a press night with my family for the greatest portrayal of ancient Greece you will see this year, if not this decade:

A theatre stage with a blue backdrop and a set that looks like ancient Greek ruins. The ruins are made to look like marble with a reddish hue. In the middle between three arches is a black keyboard for the musicians. Above the arches is a large yellow title that reads: Thespians. The I in the word is designed to look like an ancient pillar with a flame on top. In the foeground are the backs of peoples' heads.

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

My children had to suffer the embarassment of having their dad be the only one laughing at a joke about Medea opening a new child care facility. Oh well!

A well lit theatre stage with blue background and a redish hue to some Greek ruins that form the scenery. In the middle, behind the three arches, can be seen a keyboard for the musicians. Above the scenery is the word Thespians in capital letters, with a pillar and flame making up the letter I.

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Gave a talk last night at Wolfson College (Cambridge) all about my book. Always fun when it is done as a conversation ... I never know what I am going to say at any given moment 😅.

Two white men sat at the front of a classroom environment. Behind them is a projection screen with a picture of an ancient world map, woth two brown doors either side. In the foreground are rows of chairs and people sat facing the speakers.

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

Just been into Waterstones on Gower Street, where there are now signed copies of my book!

A bool shop photo of a table covered in a variety of ancient history books. Beneath the table is a red carpet. In the background is a wall of green and also blue books.

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

Turkish translation of my book is out! 🥳

Light blue book cover with a Turkish title in white text. There are three globes partially visible in the top left, right hand side, and bottom of the cover.

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

Had this email appear in the Bad Ancient inbox, which is a bit depressing. Reader numbers have sunk in the past year due, in no small part, to GenAI and this email kind of sums it all up really.

Screen shot of an email - white background with black text. It is to BadAncient.com and says: why should I ask you and not directly the AI?

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

Recently been thinking about the fear of cancel culture and people believing that comedy used to be free to say what it wanted - and I reckon not enough people know about a UK sitcom that made it to air for 1 episode, called 'Heil Honey, I'm Home!'

A cartoon Adolph Hitler, wearing khaki clothes, stands by an opened red door with a mirror beside him hanging on a yellow wall. The text 'heil honey I'm home' is in in red and purple.

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

It occured to me, late last year, that I had not read a single book cover-to-cover through all of 2025. Not wanting to repeat that in 2026, I am trying to finish books - I do not find it easy, but I have finished my first of the year!

Book cover (white with a brown image of a stone sculpture in the centre). The title at the top says 'Ashoka: Portrait of a Philosopher King'. In the backgrund is a grey sofa with a small white dog sat on top.

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

Had time to waste, so I popped into @waterstones.bsky.social in Manchester and signed a few of my books. Had a nice chat with a bookseller, who did classics at @uonclassarch.bsky.social and loved it.

Books fill 2 shelves in a book shop display. The carpet is textured and grey, the shelves are solid and a dark wood painted black

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

Spent the evening with my 11yo at a book talk by @mackeza.bsky.social. It was a great talk about a great book: 'Super Nintendo'.

Photo in the 2nd row of an audience, inside a book shop. White woman with short blond hair in a blue t-shirt sitting on a stool. Holding a microphone in her right hand.

Inside a book shop. 3 blue banners stand vertically, with a high table and two stools. A speaker sits on the floor.

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

By-election - it is crunch time! Anything Reform can do ... more letters from political parties.

Two letters one on blue paper and one on white paper. They sit atop a wooden table.

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 22/02/2026

By-election, the final countdown. Political leaflets are getting bigger and quite weird (once again, no policies):

A white letter with black text rests on a blue door mat. It is in front of a white door with a bronze letter box.

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

Most of my work gets written while I am waiting for someone. Today, I am in a lobby of Manchester Museum while my 13yo goes around the exhibits with her friends. If she is anything like her Dad, I have a long day of writing ahead of me!

A grey laptop sits open on a wooden table. Other tables and chairs are in the background, and a red wall that has the word Cafe written in white.

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

Gorton and Denton by-election update: Labour out again this morning (haven't seen Reform or Greens for a while now). This time we need to fear Tommy Robinson. I'm not sure right now is the best time for Labour to talk about criminals backing other parties ...

Political Leaflet. The top half has a yellow background and black text with a picture of a white man with short hair holding a microphone and a rather smug look on his face. The bottom half has a red background with white text saying how only Labour can beat Reform.

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

One of these books is not like the others! It is sad to see pseudohistory topping the list for prehistory: support your local, friendly historians!

Screen shot of a google search. 3 books lined up: on the left is a light beige coloured cover with black, red and beige text; in the middle is a black cover with gold text; on the right has a glass looking pyramid sat on a sandy ground, and with a blue cloudy sky above.

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

Getting ready for the 2nd podcast interview of the day. This morning was all about Xenophon and why he is the greatest writer of the ancient world, with @ancienthistory101.org. Next up, a chat about my book and ancient nomads with @nomadspod.bsky.social!

A black laptop sits on a brown wooden table. A black microphone is in the foreground

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

It's taken directly from Greek vases. Its use is up for debate - but can't men have pretty things too! Eg:

Red figure Greek vase of a soldier holding a sword, with his shield and helmet propped up on a seat in front of him.

Red figure Greek vase of a hoplite in battle holdong a shield and spear. His arm is outstretched and the inside of his shield is visible.

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

Academics to their students: 'Don't leave things to the last minute, submit your work before the deadline day' Academics submitting an abstract due on Sunday:

Screenshot of an inbox with many emails all sent on Sunday. Blue text on a black background.

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

Apropos of nothing, if anyone ever wants help with ancient world building for a game ... I would definitely be up for that! And would probably be the first time I ever impressed my kids

Screenshot with black text on a white background. It is from an game making forum advising the book Far Edges of the Known World for people wanting to build a game focusing on the ancient world.

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

Just got home from a great talk by the one and only @belovedofoizys.bsky.social who I finally got to meet in person. Took my 13yo daughter too who had a great time!

A woman with long dark hair is standing behind a podium. She is in a red room with a large projector screen behind her on the wall. The rest of the wall has four painting hanging up.

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

Pleased to announce we are celebrating a new leadership agreement for the Returning Solider Network with a 1-day symposium focusing on 'Forgotten Veterans', at Birmingham Newman University in April. Here is the CfP!

Word document with a white background, black text, and coloured logos along the bottom. It is a call for papers for the Returning Solider Network Symposium, on the 9th April 2026 hosted at Birmingham Newman University.

The theme is 'Forgotten Veterans' and they are looking for papers 20mins in length on research related to any relevant discipline and covering any time period.

See the second post for a link to the CfP on a webpage with more details.

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

The German translation has arrived! See the next post for a link to order.

Three books are sat in a light brown box. The covers show a coastal landscape with ancient ships in the sea.

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 12/10/2025

Some houses near me appear to be locked in a battle of faux-patriotism. Whenever one flag goes up, another puts up two. This guy seems to be 'winning':

A red bricked house with cars parked out front. There is a grass verge and a pavement in the foreground. The focus of the photo is a stretch of fencing with has 6 union flags, one saint George's flag, and one flag for the extreme far right group Britain First.

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

Just received my author copies for the north american version of my book! Pre-order here (release date 30th Sept): wwnorton.com/books/978132...

Books on a brown wooden table. Three black books lay down, flanked by a black book standing on the left and a beige book on the right. They are all titled 'Far Edges of the Known World'.

Behind the books is a full book shelf and white walls.

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

So great to see my book out in translation. Sandwiched between two great books by @drdragases.bsky.social (thanks for sending this to me!) and @jldraycott.bsky.social.

A table of ancient history books on a shelf surrounded by dozens more. They are written in or translated into Dutch.

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 28/06/2025

Gus has been sat by my side while I learned to be a dad, when I wrote my first book, when we moved across the country, through the PhD and beyond. He was always with me through everything, and today I was with him one last time. Goodbye to the best old dog.

A small black dog (west Highland terrier crossed with a Lhasa Apso) stands on green grass in the sunshine.

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

Bad Ancient is getting its first public event as part of Chalke Valley History Festival next Weds. The website has been growing since its inception in 2020, can't wait to talk about it. But I will have been on the move since 4.30am and its my 3rd talk of that day, so hoping the adrenaline kicks in!

Screenshot advertising a talk about Bad Ancient. The background is a cream colour with a green banner. An authors photo sits sin a small circle on the left hand side - it is a white male with short dark hair wearing a pink long-sleeved top.

Screenshot advertising a talk about being history writers for Bloomsbury. The background is a cream colour with a green banner. Authors photos sit in small circles - one woman and three men.

Screenshot advertising a talk about Ptolemaic Egypt. The background is a cream colour with a green banner. Authors photos sit in small circles - all three are white men with short hair.

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 18/06/2025

I am going to guess most, if not all, historians have an origin story. Mine starts around the time I got hold of these two beauties as a kid!

Book cover: orange edging. Title reads - The Greek News: Alexander Victorious. A colour image of Alexander the great on his horse in battle. On the right hand side are 3 small images depicting 'top stories inside'.

Book cover: dark edging made to look like inscribed marble. Title reads - The Roman News: The greatest newspaper in civilization. A colour image of Julius Caesar being killed by a crowd of senators wielding knives. On the bottom are 6 small images depicting themes in the book.

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

Italian translation has just arrived today!

Book cover showing a sunset over grasslands, looking through a stone arch. The book is on a wooden table.

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

During class yesterday I was asked about Medical Humanities and what they were. It gave me an excuse to wax lyrical about a mentor of mine (@helenking.bsky.social) and her new book, as a good example of what it's all about. Then, this morning, it arrived at my door!

Spine of a book is visible inside an envelope, which is sat on top of a wooden table. The tilte is in blue: Immaculate Forms

A coulourful book with a plant based design, which is sat on top of a wooden table. The tilte is in blue: Immaculate Forms: uncovering the history of women's bodies.

Orientation of the photo is on its side.

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 30/04/2025

When your two great interests align! The founder of Kosmos offered me the chance to try out their kit, which is ancient Greek themed! The name of the Judo gi is Stoa... I haven't yet asked why, I presume because of the logo?

A white judo gi top and trousers lie on a brown, wooden table. The gi has a black design of a stylised pillar,and a black and white design on the inside as well.

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

My holiday 'to read' pile. I only get time to read books, cover to cover in one go, about once a year - so I have to make it count!

Three books on a wooden (pine coloured) table: Between two rivers; Plato: a civic life; Men who hate women. On the left is a grey light switch.

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

The glamorous life of an ancient historian! My last book was mostly written in a car whilst waiting for my wife to run marathons around Yorkshire. My latest work will be written, it seems, while waiting for my daughter to enjoy seeing her friends.

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

It is always nice to get Bad Ancient fan mail. Apparently I need to sack all of the Egyptologists now, so I suppose I should get on with doing that.

a screenshot of an email voicing disapproval about the articles covering ancient Egypt on the website BadAncient.com.

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

Survived my first literary festival 'author talk' today in Oxford. Seemed to go well. I was really pleased to see @helenking.bsky.social in the audience, who was such a big influence on me early on in my studies. Bonus: my book appeared in this shop window! Near to @moudhy.bsky.social no less.

Window front for a book shops with a dark brown framing. An array of non fiction hardback books are set out in rows.

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

Time to indulge a teenage obsession of mine as I spend time in 16th century Japan!

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 16/03/2025

I was out in Manchester today and spotted 'Holy Places' by @drkathrynhurlock.bsky.social on the shelf!

White books shelves with a variety if history books in hardback. In the middle is a Blue cover with the main title: Holy Places.

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

The search brings up images that come close, so we are looking for an exact match. Spotted here: 4/5

A screen shot showing various matches on the Google search. A red arrow points to an exact match, a red circle beneath the image identifies the page the image comes from: a Reddit forum.

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

Click on it and it will allow you to edit the search field to focus on key elements. Make sure the core elements are inside the search area (so as much of Matt Damon and the Greek alphabet as possible). 3/5

A screen shot showing the image and possible matches online beneath it.

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

Click on the image and download it to your desktop. Open up Google (I use the web browser version, not the app) and in the search bar you will see this icon to search images: 2/5

A screenshot of the Google search bar. A red arrow points at the small camera icon on the right hand side.

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

I saw a lot of people reposting this image, which looks like a poorly thought through advert for the new film version of the Odyssey. But, as has since become apparent, it was not an authentic film poster, so let's do a quick thread on how to check. 1/5

Matt Damon stands dressed in a fantasy-style ancient Greek armour set, with a white and red painted wall in the background. White text is at the top and bottom giving the credits of a movie. The central title say The Odyssey but is written incorrectly in the Greek alphabet.

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

3 days until publication, but copies have already been spotted in the wilds of London!

A set of book shelves with the black heading above saying 'Highlights'. Multicoloured book covers fill each shelf, three across. They are all history titles. In the background are a table with more white books stacked up and a shop till with a cashier wearing grey.

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Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees @badancient.bsky.social · 05/02/2025

Received my early copies! Am still shocked to see these endorsements from people whose books line my shelves: @helenking.bsky.social @josephinequinn.bsky.social @digkabri.bsky.social @jldraycott.bsky.social @amayor.bsky.social

A book (the back cover facing forwards) stands in front of a vase of flowers, on top of a wooden table. There is a grey laptop and a black headset on the table aswell.

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