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Mateusz Fafinski

@calthalas.bsky.social
6.9K followers 284 following 1.1K posts

Late antiquity, early Middle Ages, manuscripts, cities and monasticism. A bit of digital humanities and maps as well. Assistant Professor at the University of Erfurt

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Reposted by Mateusz Fafinski
Laury Sarti @laurysarti.bsky.social · 16h
Proofs!! “Bearded and long-haired kings. Representations of rulership on seals and coins”, hrsg. von Nadine Viermann und Johannes Wienand, Reading the Late Roman Monarchy, Studies in Ancient Monarchies, Stuttgart: Franz Steiner 2026, 97–118.
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Mateusz Fafinski @calthalas.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Dark Ages didn't happen
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Mateusz Fafinski @calthalas.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Well, given that Wales was the last direct successor state of the Western Roman Empire (up until the death of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd in 1282) nothing here comes as a surprise!
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Mateusz Fafinski @calthalas.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Dark Ages didn't happen
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Giulia Zornetta @gzornetta.eurosky.social · 30/09/2026
when the only reason you agree to do reviews is the financial incentive of getting your friends’ books
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Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
On tour with my lovely students and colleagues from ancient history @unibonn.bsky.social in Venetia et Histria. Day 6: Concordia Sagittaria, Grado and a small part of Aquileia (back there tomorrow)
View from above of a triconch structure with a cross shaped hole for relics in the centre, 5th century, Concordia SagittarisRelief with three male figures holding fasces, 1st century CE, museum of Concordia Sagittaria at PortogruaroThe Iulia Felix, a 2nd century CE wooden shipwreck found near Grado (and in a brand new museum)A sixth century manuscript of the Gospels from Forum Iulii, currently on display atAquileia
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Dr Danny Bate @dannybate.com · 28/09/2026
Greetings from the path from Prague to Stará Boleslav, where Czechs (and at least one Englishman) are gathering in honour of that "good king" from the carol. For the day that's in it, here's a new piece about why his name in English has an N, but not so in Czech. dannybate.com/2026/09/28/g...
dannybate.com
Good King Václav
Every September 28th, thanks to a brutal fratricide over a thousand years ago, the Czech Republic gives itself a day off. The victim of that crime was Wenceslaus, ruler of Bohemia from 921 to maybe…
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Francois Soyer @fsoyer.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
First proofs of the forthcoming book have arrived in my email inbox from Bloomsbury. In classic fashion: in the middle of frantic marking and at the start of the school holidays. 🤦🏻‍♂️
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Ellen Muehlberger @emuehlbe.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I am convinced that the way out of this isn't to make the humanities easier, endlessly flexible to meet the demands of people who might otherwise blow them off---it's to make them harder and more disciplined in effort
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Sarah E. Bond @sarahebond.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I can’t believe my ancestors are badmouthed as hicks for making moonshine in bathtubs but it’s all *totally cool* if Romans do it.
labrujulaverde.com
A Roman Bathhouse Was Secretly Turned Into a Wine and Olive Oil Factory in Late Antiquity at Antiochia ad Cragum
A modest Roman bathhouse on Turkey's southern coast spent its retirement very differently from how it began. Constructed in the late 2nd or early 3rd century CE, it stopped functioning as a bath somet...
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Sam Ottewill-Soulsby @samottewillsoulsby.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
The village of Waldenbuch, including the castle, which belonged to the Dukes of Württemberg and the fourteenth-century church of St Vitus, a site of pilgrimage for those suffering from St Vitus’ Dance.
Photo of the castle from above under a blue sky, with white plaster walls, red tile roofs and a tower peaking behind it.Photo from the small but charming town square, with a fountain in the foreground and a yellow stone church in the background with a red-tiled roof and a white tower.Photo of the town square from the other side. The fountain is surrounded by red flowers. In the background are traditional historic timber buildings.
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Mateusz Fafinski @calthalas.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Axiomatic
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Neville Morley @nevillemorley.eurosky.social · 26/09/2026
Stick to Polish fermentation.
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Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
"The pope is visiting the basilica of St-Denis"
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Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Crikey, hadn't realised this was already happening.
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Mateusz Fafinski @calthalas.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
In the time of enshittification of, well, everything the role of higher education is not to teach students how to enshittificate more efficiently. It is to provide them with hard skills like source criticism, languages, writing or critical reading that will allow them to survive all of this.
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Χοδαδαδίος Ρεζαχανίδης, PhD, KRT, Duc de Téhéran @sasanianshah.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Two recent publications, on the more “public facing” side of academia, thanks to the good graces of a couple of friends, including @rhigarthjones.bsky.social
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Mateusz Fafinski @calthalas.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
A great opportunity for Timothée Chalamet!
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Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
On tour with my lovely students and colleagues from Ancient History @unibonn.bsky.social in Venetia et Histria. Day 2: Verona
Roman Marble Arch, Arco dei GabiView of Arena, Verona from outside View over Roman theatre, the river Adige and the city of VeronaRoman city gate, Porta dei Borsari, Verona
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Mateusz Fafinski @calthalas.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
We will always share our publications with you! For free! And you might even ask questions!
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Sita Steckel @steckel.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
1/2 Heute sind tolle Sachen passiert. Gerade schon geteilt: Unser Band zu ‚Political Medievalism. Gebrauch und Missbrauch des Mittelalters bei der extremen Rechten‘ ist erschienen und Open Access zugänglich: www.degruyterbrill.com/de/document/... #medievalsky #skystorians #rechtsextremismus
degruyterbrill.com
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Mateusz Fafinski @calthalas.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I will be teaching with this piece and this collection next semester and so should you!
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Matt Gabriele @profgabriele.com · 23/09/2026
please to see that my latest academic article is out now: "Ghost in the Machine. Crusade Medievalisms in the 21st-century United States" I take on the ghost of Samuel Huntington and some right-wing tropes in scholarship open access so free to read --> www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...
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Linda Duits @lalalalinder.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Interessant voor iedereen (zoals ik) die het gevoel heeft dat we nu een soort eindtijd leven
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Jay Hulme @jayhulmepoet.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
POV: You've just very loudly and confidently said something that's not true about a historic site.
Jay looks through a hole in a ruin. He has a disgusted look on his face.
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Sarah E. Bond @sarahebond.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
There is a Reddit user who made went 🏺 to the Met and polycam 3D scanned various Greek amphorae. Now they are making one to scale completely out of gingerbread. This is truly delectable reconstructive archaeology. www.reddit.com/r/blender/s/... Greeks did love imported ζιγγίβερις from India!
reddit.com
From the blender community on Reddit: we used blender to make a greek vase out of gingerbread
Explore this post and more from the blender community
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Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Great news, and looking forward to a book historian becoming Chief Exec of the UK Space Agency sometime soon in this brave new world!
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Jon Dell Isola @medievaljon.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
#medievalsky
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Matt Gabriele @profgabriele.com · 18/09/2026
this is such a good article. Mateusz was kind enough to send me an early PDF and it's really good!
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Sarah May @sarahmay1.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
This is a delightful essay, and quite accessible to non-specialists (like me)
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Mateusz Fafinski @calthalas.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Given the distinctive westwerk my 3-year old placed in his church I am starting to suspect he might be a Carolingianist
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Sarah E. Bond @sarahebond.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Thanks so much to @jacoprisco.bsky.social at @cnn.com for speaking to me about the new research on Roman roads 🛣️ coming out of Itiner-e.org. However! I wanted to add a few predecessors that allowed Itiner-e to exist in the impressive form it does now. www.cnn.com/2026/09/18/s...
cnn.com
Why all roads don’t lead to Rome | CNN
An analysis of the Roman Empire’s road network disputes the myth “all roads lead to Rome,” citing the importance of other cities and reviewing long-held assumptions.
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Eugene Smelyansky PhD 🇺🇦 @eugene-smelyansky.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Excellent article! I am teaching a survey of Ancient Rome again in the spring and right into the reading list it goes!
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Surprised Eel Historian, PhD @greenleejw.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
It's 1100. You're a peasant in Harmston, England. Congrats! It's a fine place to live. But at what cost? Eels. That's what. Each spring, the village owes Earl Hugh 75,000 eels in rent. So every fall your life becomes all about the eels.* Welcome to Harmston. Here's your net. 🗃️🧪
Meme. Medieval colored drawing showing a figure in a small boat with a large green fish attached to his head. A second fish has a grip on his oar. The figure is likely a man, but this is uncertain. His name is even less certain, but we'll call him Yedward. He seems like he's in trouble, honestly.

Yedward is wearing a long orange shirt, and is paddling his boat across a body of blue water. There are clouds in the background. He might have been wearing a hat at some point, but if he was, the fish has eaten it. He seems very concerned, and you would too. That fish on his head is no joke.

The fish has it's jaws around Yedward's head, and is arching its back so far that its tail will soon touch the top of its head. It's fins are thrust out, and it looks very graceful. We can't really see the other fish much; just it's head, with it's jaws locked around the end of the paddle in the same way that a toddler's eyes lock onto a bag of halloween candy.

It's unfair to name the man but not the fish, so we'll call the head-fish Merwena. She was raised on tales of Jonah & Moby Dick, & longs to be like her literary heroes. She's going to eat this man if it takes all day. He can't paddle forever. Especially with a hole in his head.

The oar-fish (different than an oarfish) is likely named Intercesilly, and seems like someone who's good at sudoku but not parties.

Meme text reads:
"It's gonna be a long fall"
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Sarah E. Bond @sarahebond.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Thanks, friend! And thanks too to @janesancinito.bsky.social for the review. Here is a free copy via Google Drive, if you’d care to read. drive.google.com/file/d/11mdY...
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Matt Gabriele @profgabriele.com · 18/09/2026
hey follow my podcast! it's good and my guests are really fun and smart! check it out --> americanmedieval.com
americanmedieval.com
American Medieval Podcast
A podcast about the Middle Ages (with an American twist), hosted by Professor Matthew Gabriele.
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Mateusz Fafinski @calthalas.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Me, all the time
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American Medieval Podcast @americanmedieval.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
8 followers from a cool 1k...
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Mateusz Fafinski @calthalas.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
"In some places Rome does not fall at all. In others, such as Italy, there are multiple, sometimes repeated farewell parties, where the guests do not want to leave and the host does not switch the music off." How do we think about the Fall of Rome today? www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
cambridge.org
Towards and beyond the ‘Fall’: rethinking Rome’s end | The Journal of Roman Studies | Cambridge Core
Towards and beyond the ‘Fall’: rethinking Rome’s end
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Jane Sancinito @janesancinito.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
It is always a pleasure to read @sarahebond.bsky.social, but this time around I got to review her, too. It's in the latest AHR: academic.oup.com/ahr/article-...
academic.oup.com
Sarah E. Bond. Strike: Labor, Unions, and Resistance in the Roman Empire.
There is a long tradition of caution among Roman historians. Anachronism, modern terms, values, and frameworks can all easily overwhelm our fragmentary sou
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Mateusz Fafinski @calthalas.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Great portents were seen in Rome where the Pope Leo of the Overseas Saxons was granted a relic of Saint Orb. It rained frogs and crickets for three days until the pope decided to build a basilica for the saint at the Via Alii Tricocci by the stadium of the game Romans call "basipila".
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Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
It’s incredible to have ‘Silence of the Gods’ shortlisted for @wolfsonhistory.bsky.social, and I’m so pleased that the largely forgotten history of northern and eastern Europe’s last pre-Christian religious traditions is finally receiving the attention it deserves 📚
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Dan Batovici @danbatovici.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
I'm pretty chuffed by this collab with Giorgia Nicosia!
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Francesca Tinti @francescatinti.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
At long last, my article on Languages, Identities and Communication in the Age of Bede has come out in the EHR. And it is open access! academic.oup.com/ehr/advance-...
academic.oup.com
Languages, Identities and Communication in the Age of Bede*
Abstract. This article seeks to address the underexplored role of language as a marker of identity in the early medieval period by focusing on England in t
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Rory Naismith @rorynaismith.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Highly recommend this important new article by @francescatinti.bsky.social in @enghistrev.bsky.social on language and identity in England in the age of Bede (late 7th/early 8th centuries). Open Access too! academic.oup.com/ehr/advance-...
academic.oup.com
Languages, Identities and Communication in the Age of Bede*
Abstract. This article seeks to address the underexplored role of language as a marker of identity in the early medieval period by focusing on England in t
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Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦 @kfduggan.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
What an outstanding article! I particularly enjoyed this bit from their conclusion.
This is all to say that not everything points towards empire as a necessary framework, and that many aspects of the period are better understood without it. One empire’s crisis, limited in geographical scope, need not be read as an all-encompassing event. In some places Rome does not fall at all. In others, such as Italy, there are multiple, sometimes repeated farewell parties, where the guests do not want to leave and the host does not switch the music off.
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