Arke Blog
Arke Blog Posts
Browse the numerous contributions by experts from a wide range of fields related to classics and ancient world studies
‘Not another statue!’ Keeping museum visits engaging for our uninterested (but supportive) friends and family
If you’re like me, you have a bemused family that doesn’t really know what you’re doing but wants to be supportive. This support can take the form of accompanying you to museums and galleries while travelling or at home. Eventually, despite their best efforts, they get bored and fail to…
Keep reading
ASCS 46 2025: Showcasing the future of the field
The annual meeting of the Australian Society for Classical Studies was held in Canberra this year, at the start of February. As well as bringing many visitors to the Pompeii exhibit at the National Museum of Australia (which we absolutely recommend!), the range of papers lead to a jam-packed week…
Keep reading
GenAI and assessment in ancient history
By Dr Aimee Turner As 2024 wraps up, a lot of academics (those not enjoying a much deserved break!) are starting to look towards the new year. One of the major concerns in academia remains the impact of AI, and particularly on assessment. From conversations I’ve had and my own…
Keep reading
Crap Slides: How to Avoid Them and Make Your Presentation Effective
Penelope Carpentier Historians by and large don’t get trained in how to do slide presentations. Primarily we learn by observing our elders in scholarship, those who have been around for longer and presented at more conferences. Surely, we think, they know what they’re doing. But they’ve been working on the…
Keep reading
ASCS 2024
Conference: ASCS 2024 The Annual Conference of the Australasian Society for Classical Studies (ASCS) is always an exciting event for the ancient world studies crowd in Australia, New Zealand and the surrounding regions, and 2024 was no exception. With 120 papers delivered over 3 days, hosted by Australian Catholic University…
Keep reading
Christmas ideas for the Classicist in your life
Whether you celebrate Christmas, Saturnalia, or one of the many other holidays of the season, it is the time of year for our last minute present ideas. Shopping for Christmas presents can be difficult – it is often difficult to find something that we know our loved one will enjoy.…
Keep reading
Workshop: Review Writing
On the 9th August, a workshop ran online that contained vigorous discussion about the best practice in revising academic and fictional work. These are the key points the workshop agreed upon: Academic reviews: Fictional reviews: In addition, for an edited volume, a few lines outlining the content of each chapter…
Keep reading
Outside the Museum Walls: Archaeological Finds at the Athens Metro
When I packed my bags to head to Athens for a research trip, I was excited to visit the Acropolis and as many museums as I could manage. My aim was to view in-situ the artefacts that I examine in my PhD thesis, but I was unaware of the many…
Keep reading
She held the same place
Ancient women in the catalogues of the Italian Renaissance Aimee Turner I recently had the opportunity to present at the Challenging the Patriarchy conference. Having had to rush through my paper to keep it within the 20 minute time-limit, I thought I would share record it and share it with…
Keep reading
Pedagogical Reflections: Marking for the first time in Classics and Ancient History
Marking is often one of the first tasks undertaken by graduates in the academic world, and also one of the most fraught. I was lucky – the first time I marked undergraduate essays, I’d already had marking experience as a high school teacher. For most though, there is no training…
Keep reading
Roman Army? or Roman Armies?
Ewan again (again), this time looking at the popular presentation of the Roman Army as a uniform monoculture…
Keep reading
New Directions in Classics Teaching at The University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia
New Directions in Classics Teaching at The University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia Reflecting on the effects of the pandemic on tertiary education delivery throughout 2020-2021, the Ancient History teaching staff at The University of Newcastle presented their experiences in several venues during the end of 2021 and the beginning of…
Keep reading
An introduction to Agency (with a Tombstone)
Ewan again, this time musing about agency in the past and demonstrating how it is preserved within a Roman tombstone.
Keep reading
Ceramics and Swantaurs
Ceramics and Swantaurs A favourite preoccupation of mine during the pandemic has been looking for images of Swantaurs, the weird in-between state where a man is transforming into a swan. The most well known man-to-swan isn’t really a man at all, but rather, Zeus/Jupiter transforming into a swan to rape…
Keep reading
Conference reflections: Preparing to present
Conference reflections: Preparing to present Academic conferences are a huge part of research – they are where you share your research and get feedback from peers. A good conference leaves you feeling stimulated and psyched up to get back to your work, with new ideas and approaches and texts and…
Keep reading
Making Ink
Making Ink As part of my research into Renaissance collections of antiquities, I often find myself reading manuscripts and archival documents that have been written by hand. The distinctive sepia brown ink used in these texts can be recognised as iron gall ink, which was originally black but has faded…
Keep reading
Community, COVID and Tombstones
As we now emerge from lockdown how can we nourish new and enriching senses of community, perhaps even more fruitful than before? Members of legio vii and their tombstones could provide some valuable insight.
Keep reading
Athens in the Hellenistic World
Athens in the Hellenistic World By Ian Worthington First published in the World History Encyclopedia 11 November 2020 (with different illustrations) Athens After Empire: A History from Alexander the Great to the Emperor Hadrian (OUP 2021) By Ian Worthington When we think about ancient Athens it is almost always about…
Keep reading
The Mind is its own Place
The Mind is its own Place As a Melbournian, I am currently in the midst of Lockdown 6. We’ve been through more than two hundred days of lockdown and you’d think that we’re getting better at it. Haha, nope. The isolation, the cancellation of plans and the stress of trying…
Keep reading
Pedagogical Reflections: Tutoring For the First Time and/or Outside your Subject Area in Classics & Ancient History
Pedagogical Reflections: Tutoring For the First Time and/or Outside your Subject Area in Classics & Ancient History The decreased availability of casual tutoring positions for Australian postgraduate students means that, more than ever, many of us are grasping at roles that we feel we are far from qualified to teach,…
Keep reading
Midway upon the journey of our life
Midway upon the journey of our life Hello, I’m Lauren Murphy and I am a PhD candidate at La Trobe University. At the invitation of Aimee, I have come to blurt out my winding and hazard-prone path into studying a PhD in Classics and Ancient History. I’ve chosen the opening…
Keep reading
O Livia, the places you will go…
O Livia, the places you will go… I mentioned in my last post that my research is in the literary reception of Livia Drusilla, the first imperial consort of Rome (and yes, I know that this is debated, but that’s a different post!). Looking in various Latin databases for references…
Keep reading
Why study the ancient world?
Why study the ancient world? I often get asked why I study the ancient world. Everyone you ask this question will have a different answer. I thought I’d start this blog off with my answer to that so common question. My story starts, as I’m sure most do, with my…
Keep reading