iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Katie Turner @katieturnerphd.com · 10/09/2026

Publication day is one of my favourite days! Even better when its shared with a friend (@josephscales.bsky.social) Hot off the presses: "Did the Romans Think Jews Wore Trousers?" brill.com/view/journal...

Abstract
It is well established that Jews in the ancient Mediterranean were indistinguishable from their neighbours in terms of their dress behaviours. As Greco-Roman clothing (of the Second Temple era) did not include trousers, one should not expect to see representations of Jewish bodies in artwork of the period where they are depicted as wearing trousers. Yet, there are three such representations of Jewish trouser-wearers claimed in scholarship. The first is found on the enigmatic Bacchius Iudaeus issue, the second on a Titus capta issue, while the third is found on a Flavian period cuirass. This article will examine whether any of these images can credibly be claimed to be depictions of captured or submissive Jews, which would imply that Roman and particularly Flavian authorities intended to use the image of the trousers to associate the Jews with “barbarians,” most particularly in their defeat.

Keywords: Judaea Capta; Bacchius Iudaeus; clothing; dress; propaganda; Flavians; iconography

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Katie Turner @katieturnerphd.com · 02/09/2026

How could I forget Ziggy!! Her moment of stardom:

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Katie Turner @katieturnerphd.com · 15/07/2026

The (Protestant) Christian impulse to focus on the internal state of one's soul and whether they sought forgiveness from God – rather than on the impact of their actions and whether they enacted repentance through repair – is how we end up here.

Post from Jamelle Bouie: "It is very funny the number of people who have replied to my column on Lindsey Graham with some version of 'but he was a nice guy!' Yeah, who cares."

Screenshot of text below that reads: "In striving to write with honesty, fairness, and in good faith, you might reconsider Lindsey Graham in light of two personal qualities: raising his sister and his modest net worth after years of public service. I have always thought arson easy and construction difficult."

Posted 15 July 2026

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Katie Turner @katieturnerphd.com · 24/06/2026

Honestly, I'm not sure. This is the description given:

"According to Pliny the Elder, it was a common sight in the countryside to see women spinning, both inside and outside a house. Spinning women may, however, not have been considered to be professional spinners as this could be a mere part of women’s ordinary, daily work routines in a household."

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Katie Turner @katieturnerphd.com · 16/06/2026

Absolutely love this from Ulrike Roth, “Thinking Tools” (p 57)

Gendering the Evidence
One of the problems with writing the female slave into the history of Roman agriculture from the archaeological evidence is the difficulty in recognising the female in the material remains.
How can we know that a specific artefact has been worked by a woman? Or how can we know which material remains (and under what conditions) are evidence for female labour? The answer is, we cannot. There is nothing inherent in the evidence that can tell us the answers to these and similar questions; the archaeological evidence by itself, as pointed out more generally in Chapter 1, is silent over the social mode of production. This does not mean, however, that we cannot see the female in the material remains. After all, there is equally nothing intrinsically
'male about a threshing floor or a wine press - none of which has stopped us from recognising the exploitation of male labour in these and other agricultural implements. In other words, allocation of male or female labour to specific archaeological artefacts is a process that does not happen on the ground, but on average about five to six foot up, i.e. in our heads. The decision to recognise male labour in a whole array of material remains has long been made; that of recognising female labour is, in contrast, only just in the making.

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Katie Turner @katieturnerphd.com · 05/04/2026

The hats – used to costume the Jewish priesthood – are referencing 16thC turbans worn by the sultans (and high officials) in the Ottoman Empire. Islamic material culture has influenced artistic depictions of the biblical world for a 1000 yrs (bc orientalism). Descriptions of image examples in alt.

Late 16th century painting of "Christ before Caiaphas" (a scene from the New Testament) by Palma il Giovane (Jacopo Negretti). Sitting in the foreground of the image are three Temple priests wearing robes and turbans in the style of the 16th century Ottoman court. All three have white, bulb-shaped turbans with taj in the centre.

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Katie Turner @katieturnerphd.com · 12/03/2026

How many books with male authors were produced with explicit (and extensive) help from their wives? And what of the reverse – how often did/do women rely on their husbands for "invaluable aid" with their manuscripts?

Dedication page from a book. Text reads, "I am indebted to David I. Lichtman for research assistance and to Mrs. Genevieve Linebarger, Professor Willian A Marina, Theodore Lit and my beloved wife, Sylvia Castleton Weyl, for invaluable aid in editing the manuscript."

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Katie Turner @katieturnerphd.com · 04/03/2026

If you happen to be in Leuven this July, come see my provocatively titled paper yet! #eabs2026

Screenshot of an email reading, “Dear Katie Turner,

We are pleased to inform you that your proposed abstract,““F*ck You, I Won’t Do What You Tell Me”: A Practical Look at Historical Consultation for Biblically Based Media”, has been accepted for the upcoming EABS Annual Conference 2026 Leuven.

We look forward to your presentation!”

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Katie Turner @katieturnerphd.com · 20/02/2026

This is my favourite example of size as social status. The small standing figure may be an enslaved child, but it's equally possible that her diminutive size simply indicates her enslavement (or servitude). www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...

Limestone funerary monument of a seated woman with a smaller, standing figure at her left. The standing figure is considerably smaller than the seated figure: her shoulders are a few inches shy of the seated figure's shoulder line.
Both figures are missing features (much of the face of the seated woman has been worn away, while the head and left hand of the standing figure are also missing). The deceased woman has tight curls framing her face: a style made fashionable in the court of the Flavian emperors at Rome toward the end of the first century CE. Behind the curls, her hair is veiled. She wears a long, pleated tunic, bound under the bust line, and a draped mantle over both shoulders.
The standing figure wears a long, pleated tunic belted at the waist (an indicator of a lower social status). She holds a jewelry chest in her right hand; a round object that resembles a mirror hangs from her left arm.
The face of the plinth on which the servant stands is inscribed: "Zoilos of Golgoi made [it]."

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Katie Turner @katieturnerphd.com · 16/02/2026

Yup! Caro's longer elucidation of this point, about Johnson specifically:

But although the cliché says that power always corrupts, what is seldom said, but what is equally true, is that power always reveals. When a man is climb-ing, trying to persuade others to give him power, concealment is necessary: to hide traits that might make others reluctant to give him power, to hide also what he wants to do with that power; if men recognized the traits or realized the aims, they might refuse to give him what he wants. But as a man obtains more power, camouflage is less necessary. The curtain begins to rise. The revealing begins.
When Lyndon Johnson had accumulated enough power to do something-a small something-for civil rights in the Senate, he had done it, inadequate though it may have been. Now, suddenly, he had a lot more power, and it didn't take him long to reveal at least part of what he wanted to do with it. On the evening of November 26, the advisers gathered around the dining room table in...

his home to draft the speech he was to deliver the following day to a joint session of Congress were arguing about the amount of emphasis to be given to civil rights in that speech, his first major address as President. As Johnson sat silently listening, most of these advisers were warning that he must not emphasize the subject because it would antagonize the southerners who controlled Congress, and whose support he would need for the rest of his presidency—and because a civil rights bill had no chance of passage anyway. And then, in the early hours of the morning, as one of those advisers recalls, "one of the wise, practical people around the table" told him to his face that a President shouldn't spend his time and power on lost causes, no matter how worthy those causes might be.
"Well, what the hell's the presidency for?" Lyndon Johnson replied.

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Katie Turner @katieturnerphd.com · 30/01/2026

I also want to highlight this bit. I wish far more people understood this, especially at a time of ever-increasing antisemitism, bc of the way antisemitism is deeply, intrinsically entwined with other racisms and prejudices *at their origin points*.

"That's the whole point: these are all related phenomena. European antisemitism influenced the way in which European colonialism and imperialism operated against indigenous population in the Americas."

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Katie Turner @katieturnerphd.com · 30/01/2026

These are Martin Shuster's words but they could easily be mine. It's something I think about daily lately...

"At least this is what 'Never Again' has meant and means to me: it does not mean only never again for me or other Jews. And it does not mean never again only something that looks exactly like the Nazi genocide. I think also, btw, that this is what it meant for Otto Frank, who spent time *editing* his daughter's diary so that it could be available to anyone, not only to Jews."

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Katie Turner @katieturnerphd.com · 06/01/2026

Helping The Kid with some research for a school project, and read this in one of his books. 🫠

A block on text on an illustrated page, reads:
“The Crusades
In the Age of Knights, Christians from many lands travelled to the Holy Land to pray in the places where Jesus had lived and taught.
They were called pilgrims.
The Arabs who ruled the Holy Land were not Christians. But they let the pilgrims come and go in peace. Then fierce raiders called Saracens attacked the Holy Land and captured Jerusalem. They began to kill and rob the peaceful pilgrims.
Christian knights from many countries joined to fight the Saracens. They called their wars Crusades. Crusade means 'war of the cross' The Crusaders wore the cross of Jesus on their armour.
After many fierce battles, the Crusaders captured Jerusalem. They built huge castles where they could live in safety. They protected the pilgrims who came to the Holy Land and cared for the poor and sick.
After nearly one hundred years the Saracens forced the Crusaders to leave Jerusalem. There were more Crusades, but the knights never captured Jerusalem again.”

The illustration shows Crusader knights fighting “Saracens”.

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Katie Turner @katieturnerphd.com · 15/12/2025

"…Hanukkah is the insistence that light is not a metaphor. It is a responsibility. A candle does not negotiate with darkness. It pushes back, stubbornly, flame-first." Thinking of Ahmed el-Ahmed as we welcome the second night. Happy Chanukah! 🕎

Three menorahs, each with three lit candles, on a shelf next to a window.

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Katie Turner @katieturnerphd.com · 24/11/2025

Cannot stop laughing at this clip from The Chosen of Romans carrying a chanukiah out of the Temple (during its destruction c70).

screenshot from The Chosen (s5 ep1) showing two Roman soldiers carrying a large, golden chanukiah (candelabra with 9 branches) through a smoky haze with small fires burning around them.

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Katie Turner @katieturnerphd.com · 15/07/2025

Considering you ignored the references I shared to back up my post and then accused me of not "backing up my claim". And are now saying you can't find either substack, I don't think anything you're saying is in good faith, but fwiw:

Screenshot of Richard Spencer's substack

Screenshot of Richard Hanania's substack

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Katie Turner @katieturnerphd.com · 11/07/2025

Husband works in tech doing accessibility design. Over 20 yrs in the field he's heard so. much. nonsense. Most recently, "disabled people don't drive" THESE ARE THE PEOPLE BUILDING OUR DIGITAL WORLD including self-driving cars! It's genuinely terrifying. His advice: question everything. Also this:

"Apropos of nothing, it's worth remembering that the Luddites were not opposed to technology, or even technological change. They were however very aware of how the benefits of such change were (and indeed still are!) not equally distributed.

Rioting, machine-breaking, and wider sabotage were really the only means of protest available to them, in a time before workers' rights and widespread industry. Fortunately in the 21st century, that picture is a little different.

So, as change happens around you at work, embrace it as much or as little as you want. Just remember that ultimately it's not being introduced for your benefit! Which doesn't mean you should go smashing up your place of work, but definitely consider joining a union, and definitely keep in the back of your mind, 'who are these changes good for, and who do they harm?'"

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Katie Turner @katieturnerphd.com · 03/07/2025

Had a voucher for my local indie bookshop. Got myself a present.

“A Cultural History of Color in Antiquity” edited by David Wharton sits on a brightly-coloured table, next to a cup of coffee.

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Katie Turner @katieturnerphd.com · 20/05/2025

Pausing in case you're like, "What do you mean the mitre is shaped like horns?" The 12th C the mitre was positioned such that 2 peaks sat vertically over each temple. In time it rotated 90 deg, got a bit larger and more ornate - but still, 2 peaks called cornea. www.newadvent.org/cathen/10404...

A depiction of each stage of development of the Bishop's mitre of the Roman Catholic Church. The first is a sort of conical helmet shape (c. 10th C). Next, a domed helmet shape (c. 11th C). Next, a vertical band has been extended across the crown from front to back creating two soft mounds on either side (c. early 12th C). Next, the vertical band has been removed and the two soft mounds are stiffened into two peaks (c. 12th century). Next, the hat is the same shape but has been rotated so one peak is in front, and one peak is behind (13th c).
A caption under the image reads: Development of the Mitre
from the Eleventh to Early-Twentieth Century, The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume X. 1913. page 405.

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Katie Turner @katieturnerphd.com · 24/04/2025

Not just Egypt! These are fragments of a linen sock found at Masada (IAA No: 2001-9052). When we think about Jesus, we should be thinking: Socks. With sandals. I got to talk about ancient socks and other aspects of Roman-era clothing on Biblical Time Machine: open.spotify.com/episode/05Bw...

Museum catalogue photograph of two fragments from a knit sock (one is from the toe) made from undyed linen.

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Katie Turner @katieturnerphd.com · 23/04/2025

Ziggy is fine! But my brother had to say goodbye to his beautiful Abbott today. He was a particularly special pup and will be hugely missed. Here he is in happier times...

A beautiful white and tan cocker spaniel with a spectacular head of hair, wearing a polka-dot birthday hat.

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Katie Turner @katieturnerphd.com · 08/04/2025

Bagel and schmear, potato knish, roast beef and pastrami on rye, soup dumplings, a slice of pizza, cheesecake, and a cup of coffee in one of these…

A blue coffee cup with white meander decorating the top and bottom. An image in the centre of the cup shows three steaming coffee cups (in silhouette) and the words, “We are happy to serve you”.

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Katie Turner @katieturnerphd.com · 05/04/2025

My mom sent me her favourite sign from #handsoff NY 1 I’m there in spirit!

An older white man, walking in a protest march, holding a large yellow sign that reads, “Know Your Parasites”. Three images with labels below. From left to right: “Deer tick”, “Dog Tick”, “Luna Tick”. The last one is accompanied by a picture of Trump.

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Katie Turner @katieturnerphd.com · 15/03/2025

No cheating. Post the last photo of your pet.

A red cocker spaniel with a white stripe up her nose, resting her head on a blanket and staring straight at the camera.

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Katie Turner @katieturnerphd.com · 04/02/2025

This is frivolous in relation to…everything, but last wk I was interviewed in the Royal Shakespeare Company costume stores for a documentary & it was amazing! Didn’t do my best public speaking ever (nerves!) so I hope it comes together in the edit. If it’s rubbish, well, I did it for the costumes 😍

Photo of a large, professional camera, sitting on a tripod, in between two large racks of costumes. To the right of the camera, a Roman tunic and toga are set up on a mannequin.

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Katie Turner @katieturnerphd.com · 27/01/2025

In Christ Crowned with Thorns, a late-15th century metal-cut by the Master of Jesus in Bethany, one of the tormentors wears a circular yellow badge on his chest, identifying him, and his fellow tormentors by association, as 'Jews'. www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...

Jesus is seated in the centre of the image, wearing a loose, long-sleeved, dark grey tunic. His bare left foot is visible beneath his tunic. Two tormentors push the crown of thorns onto Jesus' head using wooden rods. They are both wearing tights and form-fitting, waist-length jackets. A third tormentor kneeling at the front of the image is also in a tight, short jacket. His tights have slipped, revealing a bare buttock and thigh. All three tormentors have strange hats on their heads. The tormentor at the back right, has a yellow circle on his chest (upper, left-hand side)

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Katie Turner @katieturnerphd.com · 27/01/2025

Depictions of the badge are found in marginal illustrations of Jewish figures from the Pleas of the Forest, Essex, 1277 (E 32/12, m.2d) The badge wasn't necessary for long tho; Jews were expelled from England in 1290 after 2 centuries of persecution, eg. www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places...

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Katie Turner @katieturnerphd.com · 27/01/2025

Importing a 🧵of mine from the Bad Place - for #IHRD The yellow Magen David is one of the most recognisable symbols of the #Holocaust. Intended to stigmatise & degrade AND also to aid in segregation & deportation, this Nazi-era Jewish badge followed a long history of similar forced markers.

Museum catalogue image of a yellow badge issued during the Nazi era. It is a six-pointed yellow fabric star, discoloured from age and with fraying edges. Black stitching outlines the Magen David (Star of David): two triangles overlapping in opposite directions. In the centre, the German word 'Jude' ('Jew) is also embroidered in black thread.

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Katie Turner @katieturnerphd.com · 24/01/2025

In Julia Donaldson, "A Squash and a Squeeze", an old lady, who lives all alone, is unhappy about her little house. She seeks out a "wise old man" (who looks suspiciously like a rabbi) for advice, who tells her to bring her chickens into her house. Familiar? +

Hardcover copy of "A Squash and a Squeeze". The cover illustration shows an old lady, with her grey hair in a bun at the top of hear head, wearing an apron and holding a chicken. Standing next to her is the "wise old man" with a long white beard, wearing a black, wide-brimmed hat, and long black coat, grey trousers and black shoes. A goat, a pig, and a cow stand in the background. In the distance is a small white cottage with a red tile roof.

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Katie Turner @katieturnerphd.com · 23/01/2025

18. Not research related. Ziggy.

A brown cocker spaniel with a pale snout, curled up and relaxing against a pile of cushions.

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Katie Turner @katieturnerphd.com · 23/01/2025

17. The time I learned how to identify textiles fibres using burning (because different materials burn differently). Synthetic fibres (petrol based) make terrifying falling balls of fire. ☄️

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Katie Turner @katieturnerphd.com · 23/01/2025

16. Experimental archaeology. Here is cochineal-dying wool and silk using different mordents (Alum, tin, iron, copper) to arrive at different colours.

A table with 15 jars in three rows of three. Each jar has a small tuft of dyed wool or silk sitting on the opening. Each tuft if a different colour: mostly dark reds and purples. Two samples are so dark they appear black, one is a mustard colour.

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Katie Turner @katieturnerphd.com · 23/01/2025

15. The petasos worn by Brian in Life of Brian (also, just, Life of Brian).

Screenshot from Life of Brian in a colosseum showing Brian (far left) in the foreground of the image, carrying a tray of snacks, wearing a white, long-sleeved tunic, and a white, wide-brimmed sun hat (petasos).

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Katie Turner @katieturnerphd.com · 23/01/2025

14. This tuft of bright purple murex (snail) -dyed wool from the Iron Age. Read more about it: Purple Dyed Textile from Timna Valley (Israel)”, PLOS ONE. Vol 16, Issue 1 (2021).

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Katie Turner @katieturnerphd.com · 23/01/2025

13. This "button" (circled in red) from a collection of c. 1st century linen clothing fragments from Qumran [that I helped connect to the DQCAAS]. dqcaas.com/2019/11/03/q...

A collection of small linen fragments. They are all a yellow-brown colour from age, but would have appeared white originally. A large fragment at the top of the image shows a tidy hem and a seam. At the bottom right, a knot of the fabric forms a "button".

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Katie Turner @katieturnerphd.com · 23/01/2025

I should've numbered these... 12. Small clay figurine of a man wearing a white tunic with purple clavi (just like the tunic remains above!) under a white toga with purple border. c. 1st century, Pompeii

Clothing as described in post. The figure is male, bald and portly.

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Katie Turner @katieturnerphd.com · 23/01/2025

This tunic (c. 134/5 CE), made from bleached wool and decorated with two vertical purple stripes (clavi). This tunic (along with many similar finds) demonstrates that Roman-era Jews dressed in Greco-Roman clothing. Provenance: Cave of Letters, Nahal Hever

As described. The tunic is made from two rectangular sheets. They are laid out to demonstrate where they would have been stitched together along the shoulders (leaving a neck opening). As such, the sides are not stitched together. One sheet is far more fragmented than the other but they are both very well-preserved given their age.

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Katie Turner @katieturnerphd.com · 23/01/2025

The 18th C costumes for Annas and Caiaphas from the Oberammergau Passion play. They demonstrate: 1. Just how 'East' biblical orientalism could go; 2. That art may help us understand drama + vice versa, but art and drama are doing very diff things (& pulling from related but diff visual traditions).

Two costumes, each featuring wide-legged trousers with golden embroidery; short, open-front coats with long sleeves; and hats in the shape of a large crescent or pair of horns (depending on your perspective). The embroidered decoration on the trousers and on the coats is in a distinct Chinoiserie style. One coat is red with silver embroidery and a silver belt. The other is blue with gold and red embroidery.

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Katie Turner @katieturnerphd.com · 23/01/2025

This 12th century chess piece. Musée de Cluny - Musée national du Moyen-Âge, CL23885

Carved ivory bishop chess piece. There is a seated bishop in full vestments, holding a staff of office in his right hand and a prayer book in his left, carved into a rounded piece of ivory.

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