Carol Atack

@carolatack

Ancient politics and political thought, modern art, Plato and Xenophon. Fellow of Newnham College, FRHistS. Cambridge and elsewhere. Recent books: Plato: a civic life (Reaktion) and Xenophon (Greece & Rome New Surveys in the Classics, Cambridge).

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Carol Atack@carolatack· 12d

Super sunflowers in the Newnham College gardens - not so #TinyJoys

A large yellow sunflower hosts bees; behind it a red brick building, above it, sky with clouds!

Carol Atack@carolatack· 12d

Work in progress sneak peak... Choosing a cover design while waiting for copy-editing queries on the Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Political Thought - hopefully reaching publication early next year!

A pile of printouts on a desk, showing potential cover designs for the Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Political Thought. The title text sits in a dark grey box in the centre, surrounded by abstract markings in orange, black and white.

Carol Atack@carolatack· 19d

Fascinated by the Etruscan death goddess and psychopompos Vanth, depicted on a group of late 4th century BCE vases in Orvieto's wonderful Museo Claudio Faina, and clearly one of antiquity's more kick-ass deities.

Red figure vase with a central band of imagery showing a winged female figure arrying a torch and with a determined stride and expression.

Carol Atack@carolatack· 28d

the Fitzwilliam Museum has re-arranged its Italian gallery and now has both its Nicolas Poussin paintings on display. Thanks to the curators for introducing their work and bringing out some drawings too - here’s Poussin possibly depicting Bacchus and Erigone

A drawing in sepia toned ink. A nude youth poses like a statue in the foreground, his left hand resting on a shaggy goat. Behind him a young woman fazes adoringly. The loosely sketched background suggests a woodland context.

Carol Atack@carolatack· Jul 8

New acquisition at London's @nationalgalleryuk.bsky.social - Angelica Kauffmann's detailed study of 'Achilles discovered among the Daughters of Lycomedes' - interesting to compare it with Poussin's versions of the same scene from Statius' Achilleid. Go see it in gallery 37!

An oil painting in a frame. In the centre of a group of girls one, in a pinkish-red long dress, brandishes a sword above her head, while a lyre lies on the floor at her feet. The others move around her, reacting to this surprising move. At the left, a bearded man in dark clothes (Ulysses) points to the girl with the sword (Achilles). In the foreground a golden helmet and red cloak perhaps hint at Achilles' future.

Carol Atack@carolatack· Jun 16

Just arrived: James Warren on 'Political Unity in Plato and Aristotle', an important & timely topic, with model acknowledgements to the author's intellectual community. Interested to set Warren's account of homonoia against political scientists' interpretations of Athenian democracy.

A book sitting on a wooden table. The book's grey cover bears the title 'Political Unity in Plato and Aristotle - James Warren' above an image in which a woman of superhuman size, Concordia (Latin for Homonoia) sits enthroned looking at a group of citizens in long robes.

Carol Atack@carolatack· Jun 3

Escape Room - the Greek pavilion at the Biennale is transformed into Plato’s Cave as an 80s nightclub, through which artist Andreas Angelidakis contemplates how communities are constructed and how the Greek pavilion at the Venice Biennale was initiated in the fascist 30s.

Video in Escape Room: under a red neon sign ‘Escape’ an image of an archway provides the background for the test ‘along the way, a hypothetical city is constructed’, part of a video discussing Plato’s Republic.

When Plato met Peggy - a garment bag hanging from a clothes rail is printed with this text and an image of a bust of Plato wearing the geometric sunglasses associated with Peggy Guggenheim, whose collection is displayed in Venice.

$Video wall in the installation with multiple refracted and pixelated images of a viewer standing on a glass floor lit by red LEDs.$

General view of the Escape Room dance floor, with soft sculptures printed with chains and oadlocks suspended over a glass floor lit by red LEDs.

Carol Atack@carolatack· Apr 14

Two important volumes - the collected papers of Prof Pat Easterling, the first (and so far only) woman to hold the Regius Chair of Greek at Cambridge, an alumna & honorary fellow of @newnhamcollege.bsky.social, & a hugely important scholar on Greek tragedy. All online via Cambridge core...

Two hardback books sitting on a wooden table. Both are titled 'Studies in Greek literature', with white lettering on a black background in Cambridge University Press style. The cover image of the first volume is a red-figure vase painting showing a group of women - one is sitting and reading a scroll while the others look on.

Carol Atack@carolatack· Apr 9

On the train to Manchester for the Classical Association conference, where I’ll be chairing a panel on Aristotle’s political thought on Saturday. Sad to leave the seaside behind - as seen earlier this morning.

The orange sun rises through clouds over a reasonably calm sea, casting an orange beam over the waves.

Carol Atack@carolatack· Mar 25

Highlight of the Michaelina Wautier exhibition at @royalacademyarts.bsky.social is her monumental Triumph of Bacchus - she pictured herself as the maenad on the right, & clearly enjoyed painting the luxuriant textures of the god's symbols and followers. A great rediscovery for the history of art.

A large oil painting depicting the god Bacchus being led on a sled by his followers including satyrs, maenad, a donkey and a very shiny goat. The god lies on a leopard skin and is being fed grapes. The figure on the right is a self-depiction of artist Michaelina Wautier.

Detail of Michaelina Wautier's Triumph of Bacchus, showing a very clean goat being led by two small boys, naked other than strategically draped cloth and foliage, and the hairy leg of a satyr.

Carol Atack@carolatack· Mar 17

As I'll be speaking in Oxford, have added some Oxford-based Plato content - the important manuscript held in the @bodleian.ox.ac.uk, a vase from @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social. And I might mention Jowett, as I usually do when thinking of Plato in Oxford.

A page from a manuscript copy of Plato's dialogues, dated 895 and held in the Bodleian libraries. The parchment leaf shows neatly handwritted Greek text with multiple annotations in the margins.

Carol Atack@carolatack· Mar 16

Metamorfosen @rijksmuseum.bsky.social - a deep dive into the presence of Ovid's epic in art from antiquity to today, beautifully organised by mythical theme. If you can get to Amsterdam to see it (or to Rome, later in the year) strongly recommend!

Louise Bourgeois' spider sculpture standing in front of an early modern tapestry displayed on a gallery wall; its central scene shows Leto turning people into frogs, and its border is a colourful riot of classical imagery. The gallery itself has a wooden floor and grey benches for visitors to sit and take in the details.

a detail from Poussin's 'Triumph of Ovid' showing the poet wearing a garland, and brandishing another with his right arm, while his left arm rests on books of his love poems.

Carol Atack@carolatack· Mar 2

V excited to receive page proofs for a chapter I submitted in 2016 (!) for the forthcoming Brill's Companion to the Reception of Xenophon, on a topic which remains fascinating - Aristotle's use of Xenophon's thought and his exemplary narratives as a source for his own ethnical thought.

A page proof containing the following text:
Chapter 3
Xenophon’s Reception in Aristotle and the
Aristotelian Corpus
Carol Atack
There are clear shared themes within the political and ethical thought of
Xenophon and Aristotle.1 Both are interested in human life in its extreme
forms, from the slave to the absolute monarch, in the structure of the household
and its relationship to the wider political and other responsibilities of the
male citizen who was its manager, in the constitutions of cities, ideal and otherwise,
and in the practicalities of implementing the ideals that underlay the
politeia. However, Aristotle’s use of Xenophon’s texts has often been treated as
limited to the extraction of useful data about, for example, Spartan educational
and political practices, rather than as a critical engagement with Xenophon’s ethical and political thought itself.2 Common subject matter may simply be...

Carol Atack@carolatack· Feb 21

Now online - my review of Sasha-Mae Eccleston's 'Epic Events: Classics and the Politics of Time in the United States since 9/11', an exploration of the intersectional politics of classical reception (spoiler: I found it compelling and learned a lot) www.journals.uchicago.edu/eprint/HPQGZ...

Book cover - a historical print imagining the American past as inscriptions on the columns of a classical temple, fading to the right into a light blue text from which the title and author name are reversed out: Epic Events: Classics and the Politics of Time in the United States since 9/11, Sasha-Mae Eccleston

Carol Atack@carolatack· Feb 13

Actual physical paperback now sighted! Here it is, just as lovely as the hardback but with some lovely quotes from reviews added (all but one in alt text) - thanks to everyone who has read and commented. Head to @reaktionbooks.bsky.social or your local bookshop to preorder!

A paperback copy of Plato: a civic life by Carol Atack sits on a wooden bookshelf, in front of a Megarian bowl, just glimpsed. The wall behind is off-white. The book cover is bright red and features the words of the title arranged at the top of three Doric columns.

Opening page of paperback edition of Plato: a civic life, containing comments from book reviews: 'Atack handles her material, as throughout, with a steady touch ... All in all, Atack's book is crisply written, shrewd, and well-informed...
Readers of many kinds are likely to derive both pleasure and profit from reading this book? Bryn Mawr Classical Review
'In Plato: A Civic Life we journey through the philosopher's life - and, from the third chapter onwards, through his writings - learning as much about Athenian democracy, international relations, education and culture as we do about Plato himself... Anyone who finds raw Plato indigestible will welcome these accessible explanations of his work... Twenty-five years on from my last ancient philosophy exam, I am surprised to discover that I want to open his works again, thanks to this humanizing and carefully contextualized biography?
ALICE KÖNIG, Times Literary Supplement
'Carol Atack's study of Plato achieves more in 240 pages than many other writers manage in biographies three times the length... A gem for anyone interested in this ancient Greek philosopher and the world he inhabited.
Approachable, enlightening, informative? Bookmunch
'Atack excels, contextualizing the dialogues smoothly and authoritatively, with neither the gatekeeping condescension of the expert nor the oversimplifying condescension of the pedagogue... As a primer to the man, his works, and his time, the general-interest reader could scarcely ask for something better? Open Letters Review
'A richly enjoyable and illuminating account of Plato's life and its social and political contexts. Atack handles the wealth of scholarship with a deft touch: she provides considered support for her interpretations but never obscures the main, vivid narrative, into which she skilfully weaves a number of Plato's key ideas and arguments?
ANGIE HOBBS, Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy, University of Sheffield

Carol Atack@carolatack· Jan 29

Fabulous Alexander the Great, painted by the Master of the Story of Griselda in the 1490s, currently visiting the Courtauld Gallery in London from the Barber Institute in Birmingham, originally from Tuscany.

Detail of tent with miniature Alexander standing in front of it.

Alexander the Great, depicted as a living statue with flowing blond hair, extremely fancy armour, hot pink stockings and a very sassy attitude, by the Master of the Story of Griselda, c. 1490s. Behind him a grassy scene with a military encampment- a miniature version of him stands in front of the left tent.

Detail of Alexander’s cuirass with gorgon head and mythical beasts picked out in gold.

Carol Atack@carolatack· Jan 27

I didn’t know this, um, remarkable depiction of the Cave, by 16th century Flemish artist Michiel Coxcie, leaning heavily on Michelangelo’s figures, now in the Musée de la Chartreuse de Douai.

Honestly don’t know what to say here… a group of semi-clothed muscular male figures are arrayed in an underground space, looking at shadows which appear on the wall behind them. It’s very colourful.

Carol Atack@carolatack· Jan 27

Fascinating Slade lecture in Cambridge from Professor Terry Smith, opening his series ’Frames of Vision: The Intelligence of Artists’ with ‘Visual Allegories of Seeing as Knowing, Plato and Giorgione’, showing how Plato’s Cave operates as a ‘hyper-icon’ across time and genre.

A grey-haired white man reads at a lectern. A screen on the wood-panelled wall behind him shows a 16th century imagining of Plato’s Cave.

Carol Atack@carolatack· Jan 19

For the start of term, here’s one of Axel Salto’s many takes on the story of Actaeon from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, currently on display at the Hepworth Wakefield in a fabulous show of his ceramic and other works.

Black and white print with strong graphic lines. A man’s face is transforming into that of a deer; one human eye with long lashes, one dark deer eye, both profiles side by side m.

Carol Atack@carolatack· Jan 7

One of my schools talks/taster lectures is called 'The Fragility of Democracy', and I've enjoyed sharing it with many school groups over the past few years, looking at how ancient Greek democracy handled political crises. Right now, am busy updating it for its next outing on Monday...

A view of the Athenian acropolis taken from the Hill of the Pnyx, meeting place of Athenian democracy. Behind an open space with grass and stone rises a hill with cypress trees and shrubs on its lower slopes, bare rock towards the top and the remains of a Greek temple visible, along with scaffolding and cranes. You can't see the small temple of Athena Nike because it was being restored when this photo was taken a few years ago.

Carol Atack@carolatack· Jan 6

The paperback of my 'Plato: a civic life' will be published on March 1st. I'll be doing some more talks and podcasts in support, and will add details to this thread as they're confirmed. More info and a pre-order link here: reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/plato

A book sits on a wooden shelf with a vase behind it. On the red cover three Doric columns are topped by the texts Plato: A civic life: Carol Atack

Carol Atack@carolatack· Jan 1

Happy New Year from the Yorkshire seaside. With best wishes to all for 2026 and especially those who’ll be spending the year completing overdue monographs…

A coastal landscape. Vigorous waves are rolling in across a rocky shore. In the distance, dark cliffs. The rising sun appears over the cliffs and its orange light illuminates the clouds.

Carol Atack@carolatack· Dec 21

Hearing from @polphilpod.bsky.social that my 'Plato's tyrant' episode has made the top 5 of his Political Philosophy podcast this year, remembered to post a picture of the 'Plato's tyrant' protest sign which the artist Peter Liversidge made for me at his sign-making studio installation in October.

Tucked in the corner of a room, two cardboard protest placards, one of which says 'Plato's tyrant', in black capital letters, the other, partially seen, says 'Bureaucracy accumulates'. To the right in front of them is a shelf of wooden model boats, made by the same artist, Peter Liversidge.

Carol Atack@carolatack· Dec 13

The rest of the museum is an extraordinary jumble of art, antiquities and artefacts from many cultures. Here’s the antiquarian’s studiolo…

Study in which an astonishing array of books and objects are piled on a wooden desk and a bureau, topped by a model sailing ship.

Carol Atack@carolatack· Dec 13

If you’re looking for wholesome family content how about Giuliano Bugiardini’s delightful family group with Leda, Castor, Clytemnestra and a rather tame swan? Painted in the 1520s and now on display in the Casa Museo Ivan Bruschi, Arezzo?

A nude woman reclines on the ground by a tree, her arm around a small nude cild. They are approached by another nude child, his (?) arm around the neck of a swan. Behind them the beautiful garden looks on to a lake, reflecting the blue sky.

Carol Atack@carolatack· Dec 1

A very exciting start to the month as the final contribution to the Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Political Thought arrived in my inbox - heading now to submission of a complete and formatted manuscript! Partial contents list as a teaser below:

Foreword: engaging with Greek political thought in the 21st century
Introduction and overview:
I Origins and beginnings
1 Before the Greeks: echoes of earlier societies’ thought on governance
2 Early Greek political thought in poetical texts: Hesiod, Theognis, lyric poets
3 Cosmology, order, and the political: the Presocratics
4 Political Thought in inscriptions, documents and other non-literary sources
5 The Politics of Political Theory in Athenian Drama

II Classical Greek political thought
6 Model constitutions: the emergence and development of the politeia tradition and typologies of political arrangements
7 Early Democratic Thought: Democritus, Anonymus Iamblichi, and Protagoras
8 Political Thinking in Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon
9 Socrates between City and Self: The Apologies of Xenophon and Plato
10 The concept of partnership in Plato's Republic
11 Civic Friendship and Virtue in Plato's Republic
12 Plato, politics and epistemology: the Republic and other dialogues
13 Building a new model for kingship in Plato’s Statesman
14 Plato's Laws: envisioning a new society
15 Criticisms of Democracy in Plato's Gorgias and Republic
16 Aristotle on the Partnership in Living Well and Living Together
17 Aristotle: defining the citizen
18 Aristotle on Justice, Friendship and Proportionate Reciprocity
19 Virtue and Politics: Isocrates and Xenophon
III Themes and contexts
20 Stasis, conflict and change in Greek political thinking
21 Mass participation in the polis: Ps-Xenophon, Plato, Aristotle, Isocrates, Plutarch
22 Citizenship and non-citizenship: status hierarchies in the polis
23 The Limits of Law: Nomos in Plato and Aristotle
24 Cities and their gods: religion in Greek political thought
25 Bad tyrants and good kings: single-person rule
26 Comparisons with others: Persia, Egypt and non-Greek societies in Greek political thought
27 Slavery and freedom as a political analogy
28 Sparta in Greek political thought: Xenophon, Plato, Aristotle, Plutarch

Carol Atack@carolatack· Nov 15

Warmly recommend Harold Offeh 'Mmm Gotta Try a Little Harder, It Could Be Sweet' at Kettle's Yard - a friendly & generous exploration of identity, playful & participatory - impossible not to dance along to Haroldinho's samba moves, fun to make your own Afrofuturist record cover art.

Exhibition gallery at Kettle's Yard waiting for visitors to interact with Harold Offeh's performances - in the foreground and colourful table with stools and paper, ink and stamps; on the walls an installation of American payphone booths with handsets for listening, a yellow curtain behind which are screens showing video. Large scale lettering on the wall in orange echoes the show's title.

Carol Atack@carolatack· Nov 13

Published today! Really pleased to see Aristophanes and the Current Moment in print via @bloomsburyacad.bsky.social. My contribution, 'Aristophanes and the Gendered Politics of Performative Assembly' applies Judith Butler's analysis of public protest to Aristophanes' Lysistrata and Ecclesiazusae.

Book cover - on a blue background the book title Aristophanes and the Current Moment is reversed out in white; beneath it a black and white photograph of a stage production. A man, looking rather bemused, rides a giant beetle stage prop which is being carried through the air on wires.

Carol Atack@carolatack· Nov 11

Another dedication made on behalf of a child - this small boy also holds a ball in his left hand, and is wearing a protective bulla (amulet) round his neck. Very moving to see parents' dedications on behalf of their children.

Bronze statue of a small boy, who is naked other than the protective amulet around his neck. He sits with his right hand raised, looking at something perhaps once held in his right hand; his left hand holdes a ball. Found in the sanctuary at San Casciano as part of the buried cache of statues and religious objects.

Carol Atack@carolatack· Nov 11

Another statue from San Casciano, showing a woman at prayer, with beautiful details of her dress.