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Daniel C. Smith

@dcsmith.bsky.social
2.3K followers 628 following 430 posts

Assistant Professor at Whitman College. Writing on bodies, rituals, and social history in the Roman Empire

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Reposted by Daniel C. Smith
Yale Classics Library @yaleclassicslib.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
October 8 2026 4:30PM BST = 11:30 AM EDT Online @ics.bsky.social Jessica L. Lamont @yale.edu Magic in Roman and Late Antique Corinth ics.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...
ics.sas.ac.uk
Magic in Roman and Late Antique Corinth
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Daniel C. Smith @dcsmith.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Academic pals, if you were building a reading list on Ancient Medicine for a very capable undergraduate senior, what would you be sure to include? (Good with Ancient Greek/Latin, but no Modern languages other than English)
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Dr. Krista A. Milne @kmilne.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Just wanted to share this new post about my work on medieval disability studies! 🦮 🏰 #medievalsky communities.springernature.com/posts/why-ca...
communities.springernature.com
Why care about medieval guide dogs?
How medieval disability studies can help us approach modern social issues
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ReMeDHe @remedhe.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
If you're an early career scholar looking for mentorship, or a seasoned scholar willing to help mentorr others in the fields of religion/medicine in Late Antiquity, consider participating in our mentorship program! You can still apply today to get matched in September!: www.remedhe.com/events
remedhe.com
Events | ReMeDHe
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Peter Sagal @petersagal.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
I recommend to you this podcast series about Dolly Parton by Jad Abumrad (creator of Radio Lab). You may ask: how did a MacArthur Award winning pub radio guy meet Dolly? Because she personally funded his father's vaccine research, that's how. www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/dol...
wnycstudios.org
Dolly Parton's America : Episodes | WNYC Studios | Podcasts
The story of a legend at the crossroads of America’s culture wars.
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Daniel C. Smith @dcsmith.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
If you are teaching something in the broad world of Ancient Mediterranean religion and are looking for someone to virtually pop into your class, feel free to reach out! I have the immense gift of a sabbatical this academic year and would be happy to chat with your students.
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Daniel C. Smith @dcsmith.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Received my first “we want to feature your book in our very real book club” AI scam solicitation today, which means at least one thing: The web page is up!: www.eisenbrauns.org/books/titles...
eisenbrauns.org
An Exotic Apocalypse: Revelation and the Appropriation of Judaism in the Roman Empire By Daniel C. Smith
The book of Revelation has long fascinated readers with its strange symbols, dramatic visions, and apocalyptic warnings. Yet debates about whether it is fundamentally a Christian or Jewish text obscur...
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Daniel C. Smith @dcsmith.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Nothing better than reading the work of brilliant friends like @nathanleach.bsky.social Nathan's book, on John's Apocalypse in the context of ancient divinatory performance, has finally arrived!!
A copy of Nathan's book, Revelation as Divination, on an end table next to a lit candle. It is a hardback book that definitely has not been opened owing to the fact I'm blind and will instead read the pdf, making this in essence a somewhat pricey bit of home decor.
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Sonja Drimmer @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Given that we are all upset today about Anthropic-shredding-books, I’ll add that I address this here, and it’s part of the same infrastructure threatening the preservation and profession of history but people don’t want to talk about that if the same industry is paying for their research.
It may be tempting to see value in projects
such as the Schmidt Foundation - that's
Eric Schmidt of Google - funding a fellowship in Al at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, or the Musk Foundation's support of the Scroll Prize to use Al in reconstructing ancient texts in the burnt scrolls of
Herculaneum. But these projects are simply two among countless others that have been seeding Al into museums and historical research for well over a decade. Even more egregious is the case of Al companies buying and destroying rare books en masse in the process of scanning them for data. In the context of the dire austerity we are witnessing, the juggernaut of tech money seems impossible to resist. But the public should know the dangers of ceding the
precious work of peering into the past to those whose chief aims are to exploit it for data and build visions of our collective history
to their own liking.
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Andrew Jacobs (he/him) @drewjakeprof.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
friends and neighbors, the newest Element in Religion in Late Antiquity is now *live* and *free to download* through August 4! The inimitable Virginia Burrus on "Martyrdom as Witness in Late Ancient Christian Literature"! www.cambridge.org/core/element...
cambridge.org
Martyrdom as Witness in Late Ancient Christian Literature
Cambridge Core - Religion: General Interest - Martyrdom as Witness in Late Ancient Christian Literature
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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
‘Thousands of university job cuts in humanities and social sciences are creating widespread cold spots for languages, classics and theology degrees, the British Academy has warned’ www.theguardian.com/education/20...
theguardian.com
Humanities among degrees being ‘extinguished’ by hard-up universities
Exclusive: Experts fear rise in education ‘cold spots’ and social immobility as 4,000 academic posts lost in one year
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Biblical Archaeology Review @biblicalarchaeology.org · 10/07/2026
Check out our recent interview with Colossae excavation director Barış Yener. www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/a…
biblicalarchaeology.org
Colossae: A Biblical City of the Classical World
Excavations at the ancient Phrygian city of Colossae in Turkey are uncovering new insights into the history of early Christian communities.
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Daniel C. Smith @dcsmith.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
What on earth
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rsutaustin.bsky.social @rsutaustin.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
The Department of Religious Studies is pleased to announce a new addition to its faculty, Dr. Matthew Larsen! We're excited to have him join our outstanding faculty cohort as an Associate Professor of Ancient Mediterranean Religions. Read more about him at the link. tinyurl.com/2s3bs2yp
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Francesca Stavrakopoulou @proffrancesca.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
I’d love it if you’d sign this. It might not prevent me and my colleagues losing our jobs, but it will draw attention to the ideological vandalism being perpetrated by the wealthy execs running our university. Stop Redundancies at the University of Exeter - sign the petition below! c.org/NpvY4sR9gH
c.org
Sign the Petition
Stop Redundancies at the University of Exeter
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Daniel C. Smith @dcsmith.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
As a scholar of the book of Revelation I want everyone to understand that hydration/commercial breaks are actually all four horsemen of the apocalypse
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Greg Given @greggiven.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
University admins, very solemnly: “To protect the mission, it is our sacred duty to ensure that this pile of money survives—nay, grows!—for the rest of human civilization.“ Also university admins: “We’re noticing that books are kinda out rn? So we’re 86’ing three of the four libraries.“
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Seth Cotlar @sethcotlar.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Just had Canvas stop working as I was typing comments on a student paper. I now can’t access anyone’s work or grades. Strangely, this never happened back when I used a grade book and had students email me their papers, a system no shareholders extracted money from.
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Daniel C. Smith @dcsmith.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Cannot wait for a presidential candidate in 2048 to be dogged by questions based on their 2026 Canvas discussion board posts.
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Daniel C. Smith @dcsmith.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
"vanity, vanity, all of life is vanity," he says to himself while trapped in a Syriac copy editing doom loop.
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Daniel C. Smith @dcsmith.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
Question for my NT colleagues: does anyone have easy access to the Jewish Annotated New Testament and could tell me the print page numbers of David Frankfurter's Revelation introduction?
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Monika Amsler @monikaamsler.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Last day of free download! 😱
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Krista Dalton @kristadalton.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Calling all Professors of Religion! Do you teach an intro to the study of religion course? If so, would you be willing to share your syllabus? Collecting for research purposes.
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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
Rip to every president who lost a war in the middle east but I’m different. And better. Maybe even good enough to win a war in the middle east
RIP to everyone killed by the gods for their hubris but im different. and better. maybe even better than the gods
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Daniel C. Smith @dcsmith.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
Senior thesis advising has to be the most rewarding part of undergraduate teaching. And now that I think of it, that is probably why the work functionally amounts to unpaid labor.
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Daniel C. Smith @dcsmith.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
What the students don't know (and surely don't care to know) is that all my clever little titles for class sessions are actually just pithy titles of books I like.
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Greg Given @greggiven.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
The TA is, far and away, the strongest NTT faculty union contract I've ever seen. Includes not just the 20% raises (as if that weren't enough!) but: - Paid prof development leave (i.e., sabbaticals) - Course releases for union service - Union security (fair share fees) - PI rights - Academic Freedom
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Andrew Jacobs (he/him) @drewjakeprof.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
🗣️ new Element in Religion in Late Antiquity! 🗣️ @monikaamsler.bsky.social's EDUCATION IN RELIGIOUS CONTEXTS OF LATE ANTIQUITY ⚡⚡⚡ free through April 8! ⚡⚡⚡ www.cambridge.org/core/element...
cambridge.org
Education in Religious Contexts of Late Antiquity
Cambridge Core - Religion: General Interest - Education in Religious Contexts of Late Antiquity
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Dan Conway @magisterconway.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
So, um... this is bad. Really bad. I looked at the letters that were translated by the AI, and the very first one I found was almost entirely hallucination. Thread:
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Sarah Porter @portersf.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Parts of Antioch's cemeteries were erratically excavated in the 1930s. I gathered that data and published it, most of it for the first time. If your research touches on Antioch's cemeteries, have fun exploring this piece and the supplementary appendices! ajaonline.org/article/exhu...
ajaonline.org
Exhuming the Archive: Examining the Cemeteries of Antioch-on-the-Orontes Through Legacy Archaeological Research | April 2026 (130.2) | American Journal of Archaeology
Parts of ancient Antioch (modern Antakya, Türkiye) were excavated from 1932 to 1939 by a team led by Princeton University. Key findings were published in five volumes, but much more data remains in th...
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Mateusz Fafinski @calthalas.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
And now he is dropping late antique references? And correctly on top of that?
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Sarah E. Bond @sarahebond.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
My latest for @hyperallergic.com is on Egyptian Blue—& a new study by Mishael Quraishi which prices out the Roman cost & manual labor needed to paint the “Blue Room” at Pompeii. Shout outs & thx: @hilarybeckertxny.bsky.social , @diffendale.bsky.social , @chapps.bsky.social, @valentinadl.bsky.social!
hyperallergic.com
How Much Did It Cost to Paint a Pompeii Room Egyptian Blue?
The price of covering a room in the prized pigment was equal to between 50% and 90% of a Roman legionary's annual salary, a new study estimates.
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Ian Petrie @icpetrie.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
A LATE-BREAKING TT JOB..... Assistant Professor, Near Eastern Archaeology, University of Toronto Archaeology of the Levant (from south-central Türkiye to northwestern Saudi Arabia) during the Bronze and Iron Ages (3,000 to 500 BCE), universityaffairs.ca/search-jobs/...
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Daniel C. Smith @dcsmith.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
Among the many delights in this preview is a reminder of the lovely days I got to spend in Naples. If anyone would like me to return to Naples to talk about literally anything, I shall gratefully accept your invitation.
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Daniel C. Smith @dcsmith.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
My colleague @rhcraig.bsky.social is in the next issue of JAAR with a fascinating comparative study of Early Christian preaching manuals, African-American homiletics, and early Buddhist preaching: academic.oup.com/jaar/article...
academic.oup.com
Preacher and Audience Studies: Reading the Dharmabhāṇakaparivarta and Sukhavihāraparivarta of the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka-sūtra as Homiletic Manuals
ABSTRACT. The study of homiletics, preachers, and their audiences constitutes an important subfield in Christian studies. In Buddhist studies, the study of
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R F Kennedy (not Jr.) @kataplexis.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
An amazing review essay of Scheidel’s What is Ancient History and Padilla Peralta’s Classicisms and Other Phobias. planudes.medium.com/the-chains-t...
planudes.medium.com
The Chains that Bind: Two Visions for the Future of Ancient Greek and Roman Studies
Classicism and Other Phobias by Dan-el Padilla Peralta (Princeton University Press, 2025)
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Daniel C. Smith @dcsmith.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
"H was approached about early retirement shortly after. He then requested a centennial professorship, which comes with an endowment used at the prof’s discretion...and a salary of $250k through 2012, at which point he would retire and drop legal claims against UT." thedailytexan.com/2026/02/10/f...
thedailytexan.com
Former professor requested thousands from Jeffrey Epstein Foundation to fund campus rape policy conference
Content warning: This story contains discussion of pedophilia, sexual assault, harassment, rape and suicide. A former UT Classics professor requested over $10,000 from Jeffrey Epstein’s charitable org...
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Daniel C. Smith @dcsmith.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
I feel...hope? about...our field?? What a boon for Biblical Interpretation.
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Seth Cotlar @sethcotlar.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
The parents of a 7 year old, all of whom are in the process of applying for asylum, took their daughter to the ER when her nose wouldn't stop bleeding. ICE picked them up near the hospital and they are now in detention in Texas, presumably awaiting deportation. www.oregonlive.com/portland/202...
oregonlive.com
ICE detains family seeking emergency care for child at Portland hospital
The Venezuelan parents and their 7-year-old daughter entered the U.S. legally.
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Joe @joealv.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
Here’s the report from KARE. The boy is five-year-old Liam Ramos.
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Daniel C. Smith @dcsmith.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
I'll confess that I actually really enjoy peer review, despite the significant time investment it takes to do it well. For me (someone with stable employment at a SLAC), it's both a responsibility and a real opportunity to engage with the field.
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Hannah Čulík-Baird @opietasanimi.com · 06/01/2026
happy publication day, @curtisdozier.bsky.social !
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Daniel C. Smith @dcsmith.bsky.social · 20/12/2025
Of the endless possible topics for their final papers in my course, "The Bible and the Body: Gender, Race, Disability, Affect," a surprising number of my students chose to write about Paul. Where did I go wrong?? WHo will rescue me from this Canvas marathon of death?
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Daniel C. Smith @dcsmith.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
My book, _An Exotic Apocalypse: Revelation and the Appropriation of Judaism in the Roman Empire_, is officially forthcoming with Penn State University Press. It'll be the inaugural book in their _Religions in the Ancient Mediterranean_ series.
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Daniel C. Smith @dcsmith.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
Academics, I'd appreciate feedback on this: For a scholarly monograph, which should an author prioritize? a) Footnotes with full bibliographic entries on first use + "select bibliography" at the end of the book OR b) short citations in all the footnotes + full bibliography at the end of the book.
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Daniel C. Smith @dcsmith.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
Amid the atmospheric river of academic austerity nonsense lately, I must admit that students presenting their final papers and excitedly discussing them with one another remains such a source of joy.
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Yale Classics Library @yaleclassicslib.bsky.social · 08/12/2025
New issue of the Journal for the Study of the New Testament - Vol. 48, No. 2 (2025) journals.sagepub.com/toc/jnta/48/2 @sagepub.com @jaxhidalgo.bsky.social @ntright.bsky.social @clarissabreu.bsky.social @lhuber.bsky.social The Future of Revelation and Gender Studies
journals.sagepub.com
Journal for the Study of the New Testament - Volume 48, Number 2
Table of contents for Journal for the Study of the New Testament, 48, 2
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Daniel C. Smith @dcsmith.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
After reading Ignatius to the ROmans and Perpetua & Felicity this week, my class discussed the logics of ancient martyrdom. Students were ...uh... quite enthusiastic about contemporary parallels. The first time I think I've ever replied "no comment" to a student's question.
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