iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

So much agree with this take! All well illustrated in the current Royal Academy 'Painting the French Riviera' exhibition.

110

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Was so disappointed by the lack of a translation in the British Museum’s Bayeux Tapestry display- as @wmarybeard.bsky.social shows, the Latin text is a fascinating part of this important object - and a window into the world in which it was made.

0467

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Pleased to see 'Plato: a civic life' featured among the best-selling biographies in @reaktionbooks.bsky.social's new catalogue - and sure that Plato would be intrigued by some of the company he is keeping here!

page 60 from the Reaktion books spring 2027 catalogue, titled at the bottom 'Bestselling backlist - biography'. Eight books are featured, with their covers displayed and publication details. Lives include are Thomas Becket, Qaddafi, Enver Hoxha, Gutenberg (left column); Mao, Katherine Mansfield, Plato and Maurice Ravel (right column). The covers of the Mao, Hoxha and Plato books all have a striking red background.

021

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

And the series editors (of whom I'm one) are always keen to hear about potential submissions to the series - more details on the page linked above.

010

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Two further volumes in the Bloomsbury Ancient Politics series, exploring popular political participation from archaic Greece to later antiquity, via the Hellenistic world and the Roman empire. Great contributions including 'From hamlet to polis' by the late Kurt Raaflaub.

Two books: on the left, Popular Political Participation from Archaic Greece to the Late Hellenistic Period: The Assemblies of the Greek Cities beyond Athens, with a brown cover and image of a ruined Greek theatre on a sunny day. On the right, with a green cover, Popular Political Participation from the Early Roman Empire to Late Antiquity, with a cover photo of a less ruined looking Roman-era theatre. Both edited by Thierry Oppeneer and Arjan Zuiderhoek.

272

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

The last of the summer borders in the @newnhamcollege.bsky.social gardens, as term approaches.

A floral border is a riot of colour - orange, pink, red - picking up the red tones of the brick buildings behind. The grass is green and the sky is a deep blue - this is not normal September weather and while enjoying the beauty I fear for the planet.

041

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Also very impressive exhibition design and crowd funnelling from the British Museum - the view down to the tapestry as you queue lets you see it in its totality before you get to enjoy the details. I wouldn't like to be one of the attendants ushing people along, though...

010

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Odd that the interpretation doesn't include a translation of the Latin text, but it's not very difficult Latin - 'Isti mirant stella', in my favourite scene. Note the boats in the lower margin, which does a lot of narrative foreshadowing as the story unfolds.

A scene from the Bayeux tapestry. A group of men standing at the entrance of a castle of some sort point to a star with a tail, high in the sky. the caption reads 'isti mirant stella', these men are looking at the star. In the lower margin, boats on the sea foreshadow the coming invasion.

150

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Just back from seeing the Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum. Was at least as interested in the visitor experience as the tapestry itself but was blown away by the object itself as I walked along it and the story unfolded - from the cute details to the brutal depiction of battle.

The entrance to the Sainsbury gallery with banners for the Bayeux tapestry exhibition within it.

1110

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Key thing to remember is that Plato wrote all of it and chose the words himself. And he's very good at doing that. My next paper will be on how Plato builds worlds within his dialogues. He's an amazing writer.

060

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Full marks from me to Concord Indivisible for their telling name - Concord is the English translation of homonoia, the ancient Greek word for political unity and likeminded agreement between citizens. Citizen consensus was the basis of ancient Greek democracy.

000

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

A bit of an adventure but I'm back from the American Political Science Association in Boston. Interesting after our panel on the conceptual history of autocracy to visit Concord MA, and find the terms we'd been discussing out there on the street - no kings, no tyrants...

A political yard sign stands at the end of a lawn in Concord MA. A roundel shows a version of the statue of the famer preparing to fire the 'shot heard round the world' which stands nearby at North Bridge, with the text 'It's our turn to fight tyranny! A further label above says 'Do more than vote! Concordindivisible.org'

131

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

It's reported dialogue so it's all Socrates' (or rather Plato's) words. Polemarchus is being a bit presumptuous; the repetition of the verb shows him using his slave as a human tool/extension of himself. We might take away that Plato is commemorating fondly a dead friend who thought he was the boss.

150

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

It's not the first line... but note that the verb in appears three times in the sentence, first Polemarchus ordering (ἐκέλευσε) his slave to run and give his command (κελεῦσαι) to Socrates and friends, then the slave doing so (κελεύει). So the status distinctions are a bit blurry.

150

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Ah no the 8.58, which left 20 minutes late because of crowd management. Hope you’re well on your way now!

010

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

You may be on the same train as I am - just very happy to be heading home after flying to Paris not Heathrow overnight!

100

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Agree with your other discussant that DNA would have likely gone further with environmental commentary and activism though. But Cambridge irony and whimsy do not reliably immunise against extremism.

120

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Not so confident. And he was a bit of a tech fanboy (at least when I went with my editor to interview him back in 1987, for Your Computer).

100

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

A tribute from @newnhamcollege.bsky.social to the late Professor Pat Easterling, with contributions from @wmarybeard.bsky.social and Lucilla Burn, among others: newn.cam.ac.uk/newnham-news...

newn.cam.ac.uk

A tribute to Pat Easterling (1934-2026)

051

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

And you can read about another painting in the series, Albrecht Altdorfer's Alexanderschlacht, on the project blog from my old Anachronism and Antiquity project, as well of course in Koselleck's historiography, which we disagreed with... anachronismandantiquity.wordpress.com/2018/08/13/l...

anachronismandantiquity.wordpress.com

From Issus to Lepanto: battle scenes and temporality in the history of art

Artistic depictions of historical events involve a certain amount of temporal flattening. In some cases, visual artists can select a critical moment in the unfolding of an event, in which a specifi…

021

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

You can see this and a generous selection of the other paintings in the series at the Alte Pinakothek in Munich for another couple of weeks: www.pinakothek.de/en/how-pictu...

pinakothek.de

How Pictures Tell Stories:

110

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Here's a bit of obelisk and statue detail - fun to figure out the inspiration for some of the groups, and the architectural models.

Detail of Refinger's Marcus Curtius, showing architecture and sculptural details of a complexity hard to describe, but includes obelisk, a statue that might be derived from the Laocoon, and inventive use of classical orders.

110

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Ludwig Refinger's 1540 imagining of Rome with Marcus Curtius offering himself to the ominous void in the forum. Part of the historical cycle of paintings of heroes and battles commissioned by Wilhelm IV of Bavaria. But (as with all the series) it's the fantastical detail that captivates...

A crowded city square - the Roman forum - in which a huge crack has opening in the ground. A heroic youth on a white horse is about to throw himself into it as the citizenry watch in horror. The details of the city are depicted with loving detail - there are many statues decorating the space and the buildings, an obelisk with an inscription explaining the scene, and a vista to a distant hill, perhaps representing the Capitoline? By Ludwig Refinger, 1540, currently on display in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich.

173

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

A lovely tribute to Professor Pat Easterling, former Regius Professor of Greek and fellow of @newnhamcollege.bsky.social.

071

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

All is not well in the world, but Patrick the Heron is fishing in the weir by the Hepworth in Wakefield and I have excellent coffee to power me through edits to my next conference paper.

In the foreground water cascades down a weir, white grey and bright in the sun. A heron stands in the middle, watching for fish. A concrete bridge passes over the water (the Calder navigation) and in the background are red brick industrial buildings.

0101

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

I linked the wrong page above - for more on the telescope see this page newn.cam.ac.uk/newnham-news...

newn.cam.ac.uk

The Newnham telescope

One exciting aspe

010

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

though I loved the film's critical engagement with Virginia Woolf and many of its creative choices - it made the situation of aspiring women scientists look worse than it was, by ignoring the work and community of actual women scientists. Much worse than leaving the Phaeacians out of the Odyssey!

130

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Indeed, a character in the novel (absent from the film) is working on her Latin with a view to attending Newnham (I approve). So I'm a bit perplexed that a film whose plot revolves around women's access to education misrepresents the historical situation and erases the work of early feminists.

110

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

It was hard to be a woman scientist in the 1900s. And women were excluded from Cambridge's science facilities, as Katherine Hilbery is in the film. But the women's colleges built their own! She could have come to @newnhamcollege.bsky.social and used its telescope... newn.cam.ac.uk/event/celebr...

newn.cam.ac.uk

Celebrating Dr Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin and Astronomy at Newnham

2025 marks 125 ye

132

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Movie adaptations and historicity - some thoughts on Tina Gharavi’s 'Virginia Woolf's Night and Day', a charming film with lovely performances, but which erases important historical context, namely feminist achievement in women's education, even more central to movie than the original book!

130

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Super sunflowers in the Newnham College gardens - not so #TinyJoys

A large yellow sunflower hosts bees; behind it a red brick building, above it, sky with clouds!

081

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Eventually there'll be a paperback at reasonable price but before then there'll be online access if you have a university log-in.

110

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Work in progress sneak peak... Choosing a cover design while waiting for copy-editing queries on the Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Political Thought - hopefully reaching publication early next year!

A pile of printouts on a desk, showing potential cover designs for the Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Political Thought. The title text sits in a dark grey box in the centre, surrounded by abstract markings in orange, black and white.

1163

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Fascinated by the Etruscan death goddess and psychopompos Vanth, depicted on a group of late 4th century BCE vases in Orvieto's wonderful Museo Claudio Faina, and clearly one of antiquity's more kick-ass deities.

Red figure vase with a central band of imagery showing a winged female figure arrying a torch and with a determined stride and expression.

091

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Was it a Trojan Horse exploit? (Odysseus would have been an excellent hacker)

120

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

the Fitzwilliam Museum has re-arranged its Italian gallery and now has both its Nicolas Poussin paintings on display. Thanks to the curators for introducing their work and bringing out some drawings too - here’s Poussin possibly depicting Bacchus and Erigone

A drawing in sepia toned ink. A nude youth poses like a statue in the foreground, his left hand resting on a shaggy goat. Behind him a young woman fazes adoringly. The loosely sketched background suggests a woodland context.

022

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

I'll be drawing on my book Plato: a civic life (Reaktion, 2024) and years of reading Plato's dialogues with students at Cambridge and elsewhere, and look forward to engaging with new discussants. press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

press.uchicago.edu

Plato

Now in paperback, a new reading of Plato’s philosophy that reveals it as deeply shaped by his experiences in Athens. Plato is a key figure from the beginnings of Western philosophy, yet the impact o...

010

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Over three sessions, starting September 18, I'll work through Plato's life and thought, exploring how events and the political culture of Athens impacted his ideas and writing, from his commemoration of Socrates to his construction of imaginary communities.

131

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

My inbox is full of AI-generated messages telling me I'm not doing enough to promote my work... So here's some promotion for an online course I'm teaching in September, via Roundtable by The 92nd Street Y: 'Plato and Classical Athens: The Philosopher in the City'. roundtable.org/live-courses...

roundtable.org

Plato and Classical Athens: The Philosopher in the City

One philosopher described the whole Western philosophical tradition as footnotes to Plato, the philosopher who lived and worked in classical Athens. This class looks at Plato’s thought as a product of...

172

Reposted by Carol Atack

Dr Stuart McKie @bigfridge224.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

These numbers are grim, but really just confirm what precarious academics have known all along. A 30% drop in Classics ECR numbers since 2012/13. At the same time, a 29% increase in professorships. Our discipline is eating its young.

Within the humanities, several subject areas have shown particularly marked long-term decline in early career staff numbers between 2012/13 and 2024/25:

History -32%
Classics -30%
English Studies -19%.
These declines at early career level have been accompanied by stable or slightly increasing numbers at mid career/established and senior levels, and substantial growth at professor level (23% for History, 29% for Classics, and 25% for English Studies), indicating a particularly concerning trend for the future talent pipeline in these disciplines.

47216

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

New acquisition at London's @nationalgalleryuk.bsky.social - Angelica Kauffmann's detailed study of 'Achilles discovered among the Daughters of Lycomedes' - interesting to compare it with Poussin's versions of the same scene from Statius' Achilleid. Go see it in gallery 37!

An oil painting in a frame. In the centre of a group of girls one, in a pinkish-red long dress, brandishes a sword above her head, while a lyre lies on the floor at her feet. The others move around her, reacting to this surprising move. At the left, a bearded man in dark clothes (Ulysses) points to the girl with the sword (Achilles). In the foreground a golden helmet and red cloak perhaps hint at Achilles' future.

173

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

This a highlight for me of the show - some of the religious scenes a bit cloying for me - and I would love to see it with the (much later) Fantin-Latour tea cup from the Fitz in Cambridge.

010

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Looking forward to speaking to the International Xenophon Society - on Xenophon, masculinity and the environment - on June 30, online, 5pm UK time, along with Flavia Palmieri. Come and hear about Cyrus' garden and man's relationship with nature and order: xenophonsociety.org?post_type=tr...

xenophonsociety.org

International Xenophon Society (IXS) Online Colloquium – Carol Atack and Flavia Palmieri – IXS

031

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

I think our starting point was that Platonic homonoia is very much a political term? Anyway, nice to discuss this with you.

200