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Ryan Denson

@seamonsterscholar.bsky.social
102 followers 117 following 53 posts

Holder of a PhD on sea monsters from the University of Exeter | Currently researching Byzantine nature at the University of Silesia in Katowice | First gen. For CV and listing of works see: silesian.academia.edu/RyanDenson/Cu…

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Ryan Denson @seamonsterscholar.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Latest academic book review out from me in the Bryn Mawr Classical Review this morning!
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Ryan Denson @seamonsterscholar.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Another new journal article out from me! 📝 This one is for Greece & Rome, examining the hippocamps and the other imaginary animals of Greco-Roman culture that are 'sea versions' of terrestrial animals in art and literature. Open access as well: doi.org/10.1017/S001...
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Ryan Denson @seamonsterscholar.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Newest book project in the works! 📖 I can announce that I've signed a contract for a third book project, entitled The Folklore of Herodotus: Translation and Commentary. This will be published with the University of Exeter Press in their Folklore and Traditional Narrative in Antiquity series.
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Ryan Denson @seamonsterscholar.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Latest academic book review from me, which I was delighted to be asked to write for the journal Folklore. This one is an impressively wide ranging volume that explores the concept of Promethean Horror. doi.org/10.1080/0015...
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Ryan Denson @seamonsterscholar.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
As a reminder, there’s still plenty of time to submit an abstract for our online conference on Byzantine hybrids and imaginary animals. This takes place in November and being organized us here at the Centre for Byzantine Studies at the University of Silesia. www.academia.edu/166258740/CF...
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Ryan Denson @seamonsterscholar.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
New conference alert! And it's on a topic perfectly timed for the upcoming spooky season! 🎃 👻 This one Is entitled: An Extraordinary Substance: A History of Blood and Demons Across Time.
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Bloomsbury Classical Studies & Archaeology @bloomsburyclass.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Let's talk about sea monsters, baby! Dr Ryan Denson, the author behind 'A Zoobiography of the Ancient Sea Monster', chatted ancient and mythical sea creatures with @mythsbaby.bsky.social. Check out the episode and an exclusive pre-order discount on Ryan's book 👇 bit.ly/4gjmQPu
bit.ly
Conversations: The Wonders of the Ancient and Mythical Mediterranean, More Sea Monsters w/ Dr Ryan Denson
Let's Talk About Myths, Baby! | Greek Mythology & the Ancient Mediterranean · Episode
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Ryan Denson @seamonsterscholar.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Newest podcast interview out now! 🎙️ And it’s a very special one to promote the book! [See the comments for our only ancient Greco-Roman depiction of a shark that we talk about here]
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Ryan Denson @seamonsterscholar.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Final Call for Contributions 🚨 The deadline for the CFC for the deserts imaginative landscapes and otherworlds volume by Charlotte Spence and myself is this weekend!
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Ryan Denson @seamonsterscholar.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Proofs in for this very fun chapter! This’ll be in the Christian Political Cultures In Late Antiquity volume for LUP, edited by Robin Whelan, Richard Flower, and Meaghan McEvoy, and out this December.
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Ryan Denson @seamonsterscholar.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Another publication in the mail last week! The editor, Jessica Hemming, also very kindly let me recommend a cover image for this issue of Folklore. It’s one very good depiction of a Nereid riding a sea-bull on a second century BCE sculptural relief.
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Ryan Denson @seamonsterscholar.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Final stages of this one with Charlotte Spence! 📚
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Ryan Denson @seamonsterscholar.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Final call for abstracts! 🚨 The deadline for abstracts for our online conference on demons and blood closes in just under one week! This is being organized by Tiana Blazevic, Charlotte Spence and myself. The link to the abstract submissions and conference website: sites.google.com/view/bloodan...
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Ryan Denson @seamonsterscholar.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
New publication today! 🚨 I had the fantastic opportunity to write this ecotheological piece comparing the traditions of sea monsters in ancient Judaism and Greco-Roman mythology. The full volume here: www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...
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Ryan Denson @seamonsterscholar.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Proofs in for another article - to be published for Greece & Rome. I was surprised how there’s never been an article to directly examine the hippocamps, given how ubiquitous they are, not just in ancient art, but also in later medieval and modern media. So I had to write such an article myself 😊
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Ryan Denson @seamonsterscholar.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
New series alert! 🚨 This one from UEP and led by Daniel Ogden. Especially in the current climate of attacks on the humanities, it comes as a good reminder of the brilliant things Exeter academics are putting out into the world. Series page: www.exeterpress.co.uk/collections/...
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Ryan Denson @seamonsterscholar.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Call for Contributions out today from Charlotte Spence and I for a volume that we’re proposing for UEP! For a PDF of this, see: www.academia.edu/169383930/Ca...
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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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Lewis Wade 🗃️ @wadehistory.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
🚨 PLEASE SHARE WIDELY 🚨 If you are an Exeter alumnus, and wish to express your horror at the proposed cuts to the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, please sign the Google Doc petition below. Not an alumnus? You can still help by signing the Exeter UCU petition at c.org/msXfsb2g5b 🗃️
docs.google.com
Alumni petition against the cuts to the Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
Any Exeter alumni who wish for their names to be added to the petition below should please complete the form at this link: https://forms.gle/SpdYvmmsCaJbmZft6. If you are not an alumnus, but still wis...
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Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
If you asked me, off the top of my head, to name a non-Oxbridge university in England synonymous with excellence in the Humanities - I would probably think of Exeter first. This feels like a very deliberate, targeted and ideological Bonfire of the Humanities
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Ryan Denson @seamonsterscholar.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Newest academic publication out now! This one is a article for the journal Folklore, centered around a legend from Nearchus’ lost historiographical work, but getting to do a lot with Nereids up to a pair of Byzantine/medieval references. Full text here: doi.org/10.1080/0015...
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Ryan Denson @seamonsterscholar.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
The final reminder for registration on the 2026 iteration of the Imaginative Landscapes and Otherworlds conference on the theme of The Alterity of Deserts and Arid Environments. The (free) registration link: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/imaginativ...
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Ryan Denson @seamonsterscholar.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
My book review of Jeremy McInerney’s Centaurs and Snake-Kings. Hybrids and the Greek Imagination (2024), now out for Sehepunkte: www.sehepunkte.de/2026/05/4064...
sehepunkte.de
SEHEPUNKTE - Rezension von: Centaurs and Snake-Kings - Ausgabe 26 (2026), Nr. 5
Rezension über Jeremy McInerney: Centaurs and Snake-Kings. Hybrids and the Greek Imagination, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2024, XVI + 354 S., Diverse Farbabb., ISBN 978-1-009-45910-5, EUR 35...
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Ryan Denson @seamonsterscholar.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
The proofs now in for our edited volume, The Christian and the Supernatural in Late Antiquity - and will be out later this year!
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Ryan Denson @seamonsterscholar.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Delighted to put out the programme for our 2026 iteration of the Imaginative Landscapes and Otherworlds (ILO) conference! This year we received a fantastic variety of topics on desert/arid spaces To attend, register here to receive the Zoom link the day before: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/imaginativ...
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Ryan Denson @seamonsterscholar.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
New Call for Papers! This one being for an online conference in the fall being organized by us here at the Centre for Byzantine Studies at the University of Silesia. www.academia.edu/166258740/CF...
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Ryan Denson @seamonsterscholar.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
New book contract acquired! This one should be particularly fun to work on. It’ll be a monograph, entitled Triton. This’ll be examining the ambiguous figure of Triton (and his pluralized form), while also exploring his reception in the medieval, Byzantine, and modern imaginations.
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Ryan Denson @seamonsterscholar.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
Received an email notification from PSU that our Preternature special issue on has now been put up on Scholarly Publishing Collective! They’ve kindly provided the below link to put up on social media as well that allows for free access for 90 days scholarlypublishingcollective.org/psup/pretern...
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Ryan Denson @seamonsterscholar.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
Final(ish) Call for Papers for the ILO 2026 Conference on The Alterity of Deserts and Arid Environments. The abstract deadline is Monday (April 20). We've received fascinating wonderfully diverse set of abstracts so far! Full CFP Link: www.academia.edu/146003339/IL...
academia.edu
ILO 5 CFP
ILO 5 CFP
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Ryan Denson @seamonsterscholar.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
Call for Papers for our newest conference venture! This one is co-organized by Tiana Blazevic, Charlotte Spence and myself, and the start of larger project on cultural ideas of demons and blood over a long timespan. The link to the abstract submissions website: sites.google.com/view/bloodan...
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Ryan Denson @seamonsterscholar.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
Newest academic book review from me! This one in The Medieval Review on an insightful volume devoted the examining the understudied short oral narratives within the Late Antique and Early Byzantine worlds. scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/ind...
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Ryan Denson @seamonsterscholar.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
A reminder that the CFP deadline for the Imaginative Landscapes and Otherworlds 2026 conference closes in just under a month.This year’s theme being on deserts and other arid environments. We’re received a fantastic set of abstracts so far, and there’s still room for more!
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Ryan Denson @seamonsterscholar.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
Nice to see the sea monsters book now up on the Kindle store for pre-order too, and set to be out in August (a month before the physical copies’ release date), along with a pair of very kind academic endorsements already!
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Ryan Denson @seamonsterscholar.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
Proofs to start off the week! This one will be published in Folklore as part of their June issue. It was a very fun one to write, especially for this interdisciplinary context.
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Ryan Denson @seamonsterscholar.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
. . . And just got the front/back cover proofs now as well!
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Ryan Denson @seamonsterscholar.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
Proofs in for the sea monsters book with Bloomsbury! www.bloomsbury.com/uk/a-zoobiog...
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Ryan Denson @seamonsterscholar.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
Just sent off the finalized chapters for Charlotte Spence’s and my edited volume with Trivent. This has been fantastic working on a very international volume with contributors currently living in eight different countries. And, likewise, they’ve supplied a phenomenal variety of topics!
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Ryan Denson @seamonsterscholar.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
Following up on the recent publication of a special issue of Preternature (Spring 2026), which was based on papers from the ILO 2024 conference, we're happy to announce the upcoming theme for ILO 2026. The theme now turns from such aquatic spaces, to more desert-like environments!
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Yale Classics Library @yaleclassicslib.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
Preternature: Critical and Historical Studies on the Preternatural Vol. 15, No.1 (2026) muse.jhu.edu/issue/56223 @projectmuse.bsky.social @psupress.bsky.social @seamonsterscholar.bsky.social @drpolina.bsky.social
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Ryan Denson @seamonsterscholar.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
Can happily say that we now have a (tentative) release date of September for the ancient sea monsters book with Bloomsbury Academic! 🐋🦈📚 It’s now been put up on their website for pre-orders as well, should anyone want to go ahead and reserve a copy . . . www.bloomsbury.com/uk/a-zoobiog...
bloomsbury.com
A Zoobiography of the Ancient Sea Monster
Examining a vast corpus of literary references and artistic representations, this volume offers a comprehensive study of the ketos - the type of sea monster ima…
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Ryan Denson @seamonsterscholar.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
New bit of public outreach stuff out from me! I was very much delighted to be interviewed for National Geographic on the uncertainties around identifying Procopius’ sea monster that he claims terriorized the ships around Constantinople for fifty years! www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/arti...
nationalgeographic.com
This sea monster sank ships off Constantinople for 50 years—was it an orca?
The historian Procopius described how a creature called Porphyrios terrified sixth-century sailors for 50 years. But what was it?
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Ryan Denson @seamonsterscholar.bsky.social · 18/09/2025
Exciting news on the academic publications front! Charlotte Spence’s and my Trivent edited volume,The Christian and the Supernatural in Late Antiquity, now has a finalized cover design! I wonder how many people can name which biblical episode this is depicting off-hand?
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(Mar)Chella Ward @luxmea.bsky.social · 05/07/2025
We should note the language of “invasion” in her email (feels kinda Islamophobic ngl?!) as well. I’m a professional classicist, I have as much right to be on that listserv as Zionist professors, I’m not invading anything. 🤷🏼‍♀️ What she calls our “cabal” is actually… a research group, like any other. 😂
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Ryan Denson @seamonsterscholar.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
Excited to finally put out the programme for the conference we’re organizing here in Katowice! Email bizancjum@us.edu.pl to request request a Zoom link All times listed here are CEST (GMT + 2) A PDF version of the programme with the full abstracts is at: www.academia.edu/129598297/Pr...
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Ryan Denson @seamonsterscholar.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
Finally putting this programme out into the world for the next iteration of the ILO conference - to be held online on June 14 (all times BST). Eventbrite registration: www.eventbrite.com/e/imaginativ...
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Ryan Denson @seamonsterscholar.bsky.social · 03/05/2025
Officially have a cover design finalized for the sea monsters book being published for Bloomsbury’s Ancient Environments series! The lovely depiction is from a fourth-century mosaic from Roman Sicily. They’ve also put it up on their website for pre-orders. 😊 www.bloomsbury.com/us/a-zoobiog...
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Jana Bacevic 🌲🌳✊🏴 @unsocialtheory.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
Wrote up a few reading suggestions, for possum comrades janabacevic.net/2025/02/18/r...
janabacevic.net
Reading (on) resistance
I’ve been in the US for about a week. The feeling of utter shock, panic, and disarray – qualitatively different from what could be discernible back when I was across the pond, qualitati…
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Ryan Denson @seamonsterscholar.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
Delighted to put our CFP for a summer conference on nature in hexaemeral literature out into the world. It’s being run by us here in the Center for Byzantine Studies, but we’re broadening our horizons for this one to attract a wider scope of papers on the subject beyond the usual suspects alone.
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Matthew Hoskin, Professional Nerd @mjjhoskin.bsky.social · 30/01/2025
Nature is satisfied with very little, while nothing satisfies avarice. -Boethius, Consolation 3 Prose 3
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Laurence Totelin @ltotelin.bsky.social · 30/01/2025
I will not post much on this topic, but I'm the Head of Ancient History and Religion at Cardiff University. Our staff and students are nothing short of amazing. Those who know me will know that I'm doing all I can.
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