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Dr. Virginia L. Campbell

@vlcampbell.bsky.social
2K followers 480 following 283 posts

Ancient historian, archaeologist, writer, lecturer at The Open University and University of Birmingham. All things Pompeii, Rome, and epigraphy. pompeiinetworks.wordpress.com

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Reposted by Dr. Virginia L. Campbell
Sarah E. Bond @sarahebond.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
As I revamp my Ancient & Medieval slavery ⛓️ seminar for the fall, I wanted to note that my fav. book this year so far is Katharine Huemoeller's _The Child Follows the Womb: Gender, Reproduction, and Roman Slavery_ www.jstor.org/stable/jj.37... (access it here or buy through @yalebooks.bsky.social).
The Child Follows the Womb
Gender, Reproduction, and Roman Slavery
by Katharine P. D. Huemoeller

224 Pages, 6.12 × 9.25 in, 20 b-w illus.

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9780300284867
Published: Tuesday, 13 Jan 2026
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$32.50$65.00

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9780300289510
Published: Tuesday, 13 Jan 2026
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Description
Authors
Praise
A new and incisive exploration of female slavery and reproduction in ancient Rome
 
One of ancient Rome’s most significant legacies is a legal framework for hereditary slavery. Under the Roman principle that would come to be known as partus sequitur ventrem (the offspring follows the womb), enslaved women bore enslaved children regardless of the identity of the child’s father. For centuries, across the globe, this legal doctrine was invoked to justify control over enslaved women’s reproductive labor.

This is the first book to examine the development and practice of the partus principle in its original Roman context, tracing the lives of five women subject to different forms of corporal control, from coerced reproduction to concubinage to forced marriage. These women’s stories—recovered from fragments of papyrus, stone monuments, wooden tablets, and more—reveal the diverse ways that slaveholders used the partus principle to their advantage. Offering an intimate, nuanced account of the sexual and reproductive dimensions of slavery across the vast Roman Empire, Katharine P. D. Huemoeller reveals the particularities of female enslavement in the Roman world and the long history of reproductive injustice.
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Dr. Virginia L. Campbell @vlcampbell.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
Probably my all time favourite student spelling error is Caesar’s assignation. I mean, it’s not entirely wrong is it? #marking
media.tenor.com
a man and a woman are standing next to each other and the woman is wearing green eyeshadow
ALT: a man and a woman are standing next to each other and the woman is wearing green eyeshadow
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Reposted by Dr. Virginia L. Campbell
Greg Jenner (Historian) @gregjenner.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
This is a lovely archaeological discovery! An ancient Iron Age war trumpet dating to the time of Boudica’s rebellion against Rome www.theguardian.com/science/2026...
theguardian.com
‘Extraordinary’ iron age war trumpet find in Britain may have Boudicca links
Bronze instrument or carnyx dug up in Norfolk in area inhabited by Celtic tribe led by warrior who fought Romans
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The Classics Library @theclassicslibrary.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
New discoveries at Hadrian's Wall are changing the picture of what life was like on the border of the Roman Empire www.livescience.com/archaeology/...
livescience.com
New discoveries at Hadrian's Wall are changing the picture of what life was like on the border of the Roman Empire
The British northern frontier was the edge of the Roman world — and a place of violence, boredom and opportunity, experts told Live Science.
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Dr. Virginia L. Campbell @vlcampbell.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
This sounds amazing. Damn my teaching timetable.
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Reposted by Dr. Virginia L. Campbell
Past and Present @pastpresentsoc.bsky.social · 08/12/2025
On advance access: "Slavery, Prosperity, and Inequality in Roman Pompeii" by @profbernard.bsky.social (@uoft.bsky.social) #OpenAccess doi.org/10.1093/past...
doi.org
Slavery, Prosperity, and Inequality in Roman Pompeii*
Abstract. Historians of premodern economies, in contrast to modern ones, have only infrequently contemplated the economic contribution of slavery. Here, I
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Dr. Virginia L. Campbell @vlcampbell.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
As an academic I have major issues with AI. But I’ve just seen a Christmas ad for a certain high end jewellery brand that features baby panthers. They have managed to uncute the cutest thing in the world with AI. Unequivocal proof of its inherent evilness. Look at my baby panther instead.
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Dr. Virginia L. Campbell @vlcampbell.bsky.social · 22/11/2025
This is such a brilliant article and includes my new favourite way of conceptualising women's work in (poorly done) previous studies as the 'whorification of female labour.'
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Dr. Virginia L. Campbell @vlcampbell.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
I think you’d need more than a couple of scooters to get away for this one….
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Dr. Virginia L. Campbell @vlcampbell.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
My students and I have spent the last two hours devising a new definition for ancient literacy. This is the good part of academia: engaged, thoughtful, and curious students who critique scholarship and ideas and come up with a better way. #tinyjoys #whyiteach
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Mark Hamill @markhamillofficial.bsky.social · 27/10/2025
I have a very bad feeling about this...
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rogueclassicist ~ david meadows @rogueclassicist.bsky.social · 27/10/2025
Preserving Pompeii’s past, one step at a time www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
Preserving Pompeii’s past, one step at a time
Art conservator and restorer Ludovica Alesse works to safeguard Ancient Roman remains unearthed in the latest excavations to ensure the city’s story will never fade.
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Classical Studies Memes for Hellenistic Teens @csmfht.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
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Classical Studies Memes for Hellenistic Teens @csmfht.bsky.social · 18/10/2025
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Dr. Virginia L. Campbell @vlcampbell.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
100% woud let nibble.
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Classical Studies Memes for Hellenistic Teens @csmfht.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
All time classic
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Dr. Virginia L. Campbell @vlcampbell.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
Genius. Definitely genius.
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Kristina Killgrove @killgrove.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
Archaeologists think they've found a mass grave of Roman soldiers from the Battle of Mursa (260 AD). 🧪🏺
livescience.com
Skeleton-filled well in Croatia likely holds remains of Roman soldiers, study finds
Archaeologists have discovered a mass grave of Roman soldiers hidden inside an ancient well in Croatia.
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Dr Kate Cook @katexe.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
Delighted to have a short piece in this week's TLS on Hades 2, gender, and modern myth making. www.the-tls.com/arts/hades-i...
the-tls.com
Hell with other people
Video games are often the first and most common way that many people now encounter the classical world. Hades, a critical hit following its release in
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Reposted by Dr. Virginia L. Campbell
E-J Graham @e-jgraham.bsky.social · 18/09/2025
Are you working on relations between bodies (living/dead/human/animal/other!) & ritual in the #ancient #Roman world? If so, maybe you'd like to submit a 300-word abstract for the session 'Bodies in Ritual Practices' at RAC/TRAC Aarhus, 21-23 May 2026?! See www.romansocietyrac.ac.uk/ractrac-2026...
romansocietyrac.ac.uk
Call for Papers « Roman Archaeology Conference
Roman Archaeology Conference
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Dr. Virginia L. Campbell @vlcampbell.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
So pretty! #roadporn
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Dr Vicky Donnellan @vickydonnellan.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
Free lecture by Prof Jaś Elsner at Senate House on 10th October. Book on the link below. The 28th Denys Haynes Memorial Lecture Monument, movement and the ritual body: ancient Indian, Roman and Greek art | British Museum share.google/glf556KROUQV...
share.google
Monument, movement and the ritual body: ancient Indian, Roman and Greek art
Join one of Britain's leading art historians, Jaś Elsner, for a look at the religious context of some of the great monuments of antiquity.
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Rome and Beyond @romebeyond.bsky.social · 03/09/2025
Live from Vicus Caprarius in #Rome! Visitors can explore the remnants of an ancient Roman residential complex, including a luxurious mansion (a domus) and an apartment building (insula). It includes a massive water reservoir, or castellum aquae, which was part of the Aqua Virgo aqueduct (1st c. CE)
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Classical Studies Memes for Hellenistic Teens @csmfht.bsky.social · 02/09/2025
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Eduardo García-Molina @egarcmol.bsky.social · 02/09/2025
Ptolemy II to the Alexandrians
Rupaul badly photoshopped with a stock pharonic crown in front of the library of Alexandria from assassin’s creed Origins. Speaking, text reads “The library is open.”
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Dr. Nick Posegay @nposegay.northsky.social · 27/08/2025
There will be many casualties from UChicago ending ('pausing') PhD admissions in Humantities, but one which I am keenly aware of: this is close to a death sentence for teaching cuneiform in the United States (esp. Sumerian, Hittite, Elamite, Eblaite, Luwian) and it will affect the whole world.
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Fishbourne Roman Palace @romanpalace.bsky.social · 18/08/2025
For #MosaicMonday we thought we resurrect this famous Jim Henson scene.
A Roman mosaic showing female figure in a state of semi-undress. She appears to be holding a cornucopia, although on second glance this could be cartoon frog in an unwelcome embrace.Miss piggy with her arm around Kermit.
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Nina Willburger @drnwillburger.bsky.social · 18/08/2025
For #MosaicMonday this fantastic photo of a mosaic (and a lovely fish 🐟) that was discovered in the submerged ruins of #Roman Baiae. Photo: Parco Archeologico Campi Flegrei
The photo was taken underwater. It shows a partially uncovered mosaic on the ground of the sea and a fish swimming above it.
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Classical Studies Memes for Hellenistic Teens @csmfht.bsky.social · 14/08/2025
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Gordon Hodson @gordonhodsonphd.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
#AcademicSky #AcademicChatter #AcademicPublishing
calving & hobbes cartoon, modified. Calvin beats chest and proclaims he's Tarzan (equivalent to submitting paper to journal), next pane Susie mocks his underpants and asks if his mother knows he's over here like this (equivalent to getting reviews)
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Sophie Ploeg @sploeg.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a... #AncientBluesky
theguardian.com
Homes of ‘working-class Romans’ discovered during Rome metro dig
Experts say the relics at Piazza Venezia appear to resemble a multistorey complex of homes and shops
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The Partial Historians 🏺 @partialhistorians.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
Talk about the Vestal Virgins? Dr G is in! Catch the conversation over on Betwixt the Sheets 🥳 I was super excited to chat all things Vestals with Dr Kate Lister! Be warned, some of the stories are wild 😉 #AncientRome #AncientBluesky
Image is the logo for Betwixt the Sheets in yellow, red, and purple with text below which reads, “Catch Dr G in conversation with Dr Kate Lister to talk all things Vestals!”
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The Classics Library @theclassicslibrary.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
More Evidence Suggests Villa on Mount Vesuvius Belonged to Augustus. 🏺 #ClassicsBluesky #BlueskyClassics #AncientBluesky 🏛️ archaeology.org/news/2025/07...
archaeology.org
News - More Evidence Suggests Villa on Mount Vesuvius Belonged to Rome's First Emperor - Archaeology Magazine
SOMMA VESUVIANA, ITALY—Japanese archaeologists found further evidence that a large ancient villa buried on the […]
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Dr. Virginia L. Campbell @vlcampbell.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
Channelling some #GreekMyth for current political commentary? YES PLEASE. #AncientBlueSky 🏺🏛️ @latenightseth.bsky.social‬
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rogueclassicist ~ david meadows @rogueclassicist.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
Erotic mosaic stolen by Nazi captain in second world war returned to Pompeii | Italy | The Guardian www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...
theguardian.com
Erotic mosaic stolen by Nazi captain in second world war returned to Pompeii
Wehrmacht officer gave relic to German citizen whose family contacted Italian heritage officials after his death
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Dr. Virginia L. Campbell @vlcampbell.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
Very pleased to announce that I will be returning to the Department of Classics, Ancient History, and Archaeology @unibirmingham.bsky.social for the 25-26 academic year.
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Working Classicists @workingclassicists.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
After announcing it at the Classical Association Conference over the weekend, today we launch our Working Classicists Guide to Event Accessibility. In it, we suggest ways to equalise access and eliminate anxieties around event attendance. Read more: www.workingclassicists.com/zine/working...
workingclassicists.com
Working Classicists Guide to Event Accessibility — Working Classicists
This weekend past we were delighted to host our first panel at the Classical Association Conference in St Andrews. The panel, featuring contributions from Jordan Lynch, Alex Imrie, and Sam Newingt...
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Classics at Leeds @leedsclassics.bsky.social · 30/06/2025
Prof. Stafford's review of the new Disney Hercules musical is out - complete with some great photos and video-links... Enjoy! theconversation.com/with-fresh-s...
theconversation.com
With fresh songs and a spectacular set, Disney’s Hercules musical goes the distance
The muses must spend the whole evening on costume changes, appearing in a series of fabulous frocks, each more spectacular than the last.
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Zena Kamash @zenakamash.bsky.social · 29/06/2025
My review of last year's "Legion" exhibition at the BM is now published (free to access). Spoiler alert: I was not a fan! www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
journals.uchicago.edu
For Men, About Men: A Review of Legion: Life in the Roman Army Legion: Life in the Roman Army, curated by Richard Abdy. British Museum, London. 1 February–23 June 2024. Legion: Life in the Roman Army,...
The review presents a critical examination of the British Museum’s Legion exhibition from the perspective of a British-Iraqi, female archaeologist. While acknowledging that the exhibition brought toge...
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Dr Jo Ball @drjeball.bsky.social · 30/06/2025
Really thrilled that my second book is now published! It explores the life of Tacfarinas, a C1st AD auxiliary soldier-deserter-bandit-rebel who came to lead a revolt against #Rome in NW Africa during the early reign of Tiberius. He is a truly fascinating figure in #Roman history! 🏺AncientBlueSky
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Dr. Virginia L. Campbell @vlcampbell.bsky.social · 14/06/2025
This gorgeous little surprise arrived in the post this morning. Ecce! I’m a blurb! #romanhistory #ancientwomen #pompeii @brendafortheswim.bsky.social
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Elizabeth Saint C @esaintc.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
#worldbeeday2025 A silver tetradrachm from Ephesus depicting a honey bee. The temple of Artemis, one of the 'Seven Wonders of the Ancient World' was located there and the priestesses were known as 'Melissae' or honeybees. Dated 370-360 BCE 📷ArchaiOptix. #ancientbluesky #classicsbluesky
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