Sarah E. Bond

@sarahebond

Roman historian, digital humanist & contributor at Hyperallergic Book 📕 Strike: Labor, Unions & Resistance in the Roman Empire (Feb. 2025) : Pasts Imperfect:

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Sarah E. Bond@sarahebond· 20d

A few yrs ago, @nyashajunior.bsky.social & I went after people using AI to do “historical” polychromy reconstructions that made ppl think we know skin tones based on little to no evidence. Elon’s Musk announcement (below) is 1 ex. of how racists weaponize AI images. hyperallergic.com/how-racial-b...

Film
Elon Musk says Grok Imagine will make
'historically accurate' AI adaptation of Homer's
Odyssey

Sarah E. Bond@sarahebond· 20d

Roman sling bullets uncovered at Cerdanya in the Spanish Pyrenees. They have the name of Augustus’ rep. in Hispania Citerior during a rebellion in 39 BCE: ‘CN(eus) D(omitivos).’ Kind of like maiming an enemy and then signing your name on the wound—a true insult to injury. www.uab.cat/web/sala-de-...

Roman sling bullets with the signature of Governor Domitius Calvinus found at the Collet de Jovell site.

Sarah E. Bond@sarahebond· 21d

Dr. @carlosfnorena.bsky.social: “It is not just that the new global antiquity is opening up countless new paths of historical enquiry into the deep past. It is that this new field is also generating a richer & more layered context for thinking about our own globalised world.” aeon.co/essays/uncov...

Sarah E. Bond@sarahebond· 21d

July 21, 257 BCE: Menes, catcher of enslaved persons, sends a letter to Zenon in Hellenistic Egypt (C.Ptol.Sklav. I 65) noting he caught an enslaved man named Stachys & handed him over papyri.info/ddbdp/p.zen..... Note the Corpus der ptolemäischen Sklaventexte: babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=md...

HGV: P.Zen. Pestm. 36 [source] [xml]
Title Letter from Menes to Zenon
Publications P.Zen. Pestm. 36 More in series P.Zen. Pestm.
P.Mich. I 18
C.Ptol.Sklav. I 65
Support/Dimensions Papyrus
Post-Concordance BL Entries BL-online; IX 154; Konk. I 118
Origin Arsinoites More from Arsinoites
Material Papyrus
Date vor 21. Juli 257 v.Chr. More from the period before 257 BCE
Mentioned Dates
Z. 8-9:21. Juli 257 v.Chr.
Subjects Brief (privat); Menes an Zenon; Wiedererscheinen eines entlaufenen Sklaven
Images http://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/apis/x-1881...
License Creative Commons License © Heidelberger Gesamtverzeichnis der griechischen Papyrusurkunden Ägyptens. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Trismegistos: 1867 [source]
Publications P. L. Bat. 20 36 (Tait, W. John; 1980) = CPS 65 (Scholl, Reinhold; 1990) = P. Mich. Zen. 18 (Edgar, Campbell Cowan; 1931)
Inv. no. Ann Arbor, Michigan University, Library P. 3217; Cairo, Egyptian Museum fr. [36]
Date BC 257 Jul 21 before (P02, year 29, Daisios 21)
Language Greek
Provenance Egypt, L00 - Arsinoe Dionos[destination]; Egypt, 00a - Philadelpheia (Gharabet el-Gerza)[found]; Egypt, L00 - Alexandria[written]
Archive Zenon son of Agreophon
People mentioned people
Places mentioned places
Catalog Record: michigan.apis.1881 [xml]
Title Business Letter
Author Menes
Summary Letter from Menes to Zenon, to inform him of the capture o f a slave named Stachys, a few days after the capture of three others (see P.Lond. VII, 1951)
Citations Rep Editor - Scholl R; Rep Ser. - C.Ptol.Sklav. I; 1990; No. 65 Edgar CC, PMich I, 18, 1931 Tait WJ, Pap.Lugd.Bat. XX, 36, 1980
Inv. Id P.Mich.inv. 3217
Support/Dimensions 1 papyrus ; 16.2 x 10.3 cm
Condition P.Mich. inv. 3217 is broken off on the right side; P.Cair. inv. unknown, on the left side, leaving the central part of the text missing
Lines Recto - 4;;Verso - 3
Recto/Verso Source of description: Recto
Hands Recto written across the fibres; in a fairly broad format (Tait)
O…

Sarah E. Bond@sarahebond· 23d

A small but mighty exhibition—“Costume as Art”—is on at the Met now. Fashion has always been Art, as @aimeehindsscott.bsky.social has long argued. And I finally got to see the famous Eupheme dress from Dolce & Gabbana’s Fall/Winter 2019–20 Alta Moda collection. 🌟 www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/...

Cuirass display of ancient and modern breastplates at the Met’s Costume as Art

Greek Ceramics and white dresses at the Met’s Costume as Art

Detail of the Eupheme"
Design House Dolce & Gabbana Italian
Designer Domenico Dolce Italian
Designer Stefano Gabbana Italian
fall/winter 2019–20 alta moda
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 099

Sarah E. Bond@sarahebond· 23d

We’re all deep in Odyssey discourse, but I loved Kim Bowes’ book on the 90% of Rome & reviewed it for The Past. It’s a good reminder that side hustles & just surviving have sadly always been a part of life. the-past.com/review/books... Also? Got to discuss one of my favorite graffiti (CIL 4 10150).

Sarah E. Bond@sarahebond· 23d

lol. Our trip to see the Odyssey in NYC made it into @variety.com. And I had to dir at this snippet from @sentantiq.bsky.social: variety.com/2026/film/ne... This is a great review.

"We had a really robust debate," says Joel
P. Christensen, editor of "The Oxford Critical Guide to Homer's Odyssey." Christensen was accompanied by retired Homer scholars (often referred to as Homerists), editors, professors, historians and various public intellectuals. "And my wife is a dentist," he adds, "so she was the red herring in the crowd."

Sarah E. Bond@sarahebond· 23d

It’s fine. Everything is fine here in the Berkshires. 🐻

Sarah E. Bond@sarahebond· 24d

Reading: Tamara Lewit, "“Not Just a Housekeeper: A New Look at the Work of the Roman Vilica.” Journal of Roman Archaeology, 2026, 1–37 (open access) doi.org/10.1017/S104... Adding this to my ancient slavery reading list.

Fig. 7 long description.
Scene of grape treading inside a building with an upper gallery, 3rd-c. CE calendar mosaic of Saint-Romain-en-Gal, Musée d’Archéologie Nationale, Saint-Germain-en-Laye. (Photo Carole Raddato under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 [CC BY-NC-SA 2.0] license.)

Sarah E. Bond@sarahebond· 25d

New York has never been home, but it is where a lot of my chosen family is. Thanks to @candidamoss.bsky.social, @sentantiq.bsky.social, @artcrimeprof.bsky.social, & everyone who came together last night to see the Odyssey. I stopped to see κτίσις this morning & am grateful for a lovely few days.

Fragment of a Floor Mosaic with a Personification of Ktisis, 500–550 CE, with modern restoration, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA.

center broach detail, Fragment of a Floor Mosaic with a Personification of Ktisis, 500–550 CE, with modern restoration, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA.

Sarah E. Bond@sarahebond· 26d

NYC Library 📚 walks are Borges.

All things are words of some strange tongue, in thrall To Someone, Something, who both day and night Proceeds in endless glbberish to write The history of the world. In that dark scrawl Rome is set down, and Carthage, I, you, all, And this my being which escapes me quite, My anguished life that's cryptic, recondite, And garbled as the tongues of Babel's fall.
Jorge Luis Borges (1921 - 1986), "Compass
translated by Richard Wilbur
guydome

Sarah E. Bond@sarahebond· 28d

Iliad is vastly more popular than Odyssey. Also just want to note that if you search papyri.info by author and book, here are the papyri hits for the Odyssey—266. papyri.info/dispatch/sea... and here is @trismegistostm.bsky.social Homer's author record: www.trismegistos.org/authors/deta...

Artwork Details
Object Information

Overview

Provenance

Exhibition History

References
Title: Ostrakon with Lines from Homer’s Iliad
Date: 580–640
Geography: Made in Thebes, Byzantine Egypt
Culture: Coptic
Medium: Limestone with ink inscription
Dimensions: 4 3/4 x 3 9/16 in. (12 x 9.1 cm)
Classification: Miscellaneous-Stone
Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1914
Object Number: 14.1.140
Curatorial Department: Medieval Art and The Cloisters

Sarah E. Bond@sarahebond· 29d

I am aware that writers don’t pick titles in the NYT but I’d like to suggest that Gibbon’s magnum opus isn’t “the definitive” book on empires. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/13/o... (🎁🔗) Why? Well, I don’t believe “exotic” foreigners introduce “moral decay” & I think the Byzantine Empire is worthy of note.

What the Definitive Book on Empires Says About America loday
July 13, 2026
DECLINE
FALL

Sarah E. Bond@sarahebond· Jul 10

_The Iconography of ‘Otherness’ in Pre-Modern Visual Art: A Cross-Cultural Approach_ Edited by: Martin Bentz and Patrick Zeidler is out now, open access (free). www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...

DE GRUYTER
THE ICONOGRAPHY OF 'OTHERNESS' IN PRE-MODERN VISUAL ART
A CROSS-CULTURAL APPROACH
Edited by Martin Bentz and Patrick Zeidler
UNIVERSITAT BONN
BONN CENTER
FOR DEPENDENCY AND SLAVERY
STUDIES
DEPENDENCY AND SLAVERY STUDIES

Sarah E. Bond@sarahebond· Jul 8

Double feet from the British Museum. 👣

Pair of bronze foot-guards
Greek or Italian, about 520-480 BC From Ruvo
Few examples of foot-guards survive; they may have proved too cumbersome to be of practical benefit.
Bequeathed by Sir William Temple
BM Cat Bronzes 2869m

Sarah E. Bond@sarahebond· Jul 8

A game board from the forum of Timgad (Algeria) is a more Roman spin on the trite ‘Live, Laugh, Love’ sign. Replacing hunting w/cheese & and I am in, y’all. ‘venari lavari / ludere ridere / (h)oc{c} est / vivere’: ‘to hunt, to bath, to play, to laugh — This is to live!’ (CIL VIII, 17938). 🛁

A famous board from the forum of Timgad, for instance, gives us an idea of fun pastimes in and around the city: ‘venari lavari / ludere ridere / (h)oc{c} est / vivere’: ‘to hunt, to bath, to play, to laugh — This is to live!’ (CIL VIII, 17938).

Sarah E. Bond@sarahebond· Jul 8

Selfeet: (noun) an accidental selfie of one's own feet in museum photos. A frequent danger for academics visiting sites or museums and attempting to avoid glare by taking pictures from above. (My Birkenstocked feet and an inscribed lead pipe of Theodosius, 5th c. CE, Crypta Balbi, Rome).

(My Birkenstocked feet and an inscribed lead pipe of Theodosius, 5th c. CE, Crypta Balbi, Rome).

Sarah E. Bond@sarahebond· Jul 6

Returning to work after a three day weekend like

The Medusa mosaic, made of colorful marble using the "opus sectile" technique, at the ancient city of Kibyra, Burdur, Türkiye,

Sarah E. Bond@sarahebond· Jul 5

One of the most gorgeous cameos to survive from Roman Antiquity is this one (15 BCE-25 CE), now at the British Museum. It’s likely a depiction of Paris pondering the beauty contest that would lead to the Trojan War. As a Templar knight once said—he did not choose … wisely (image is my own).

a young man
Cameo glass, probably made in Rome
About 15 BC - AD 25
The original pointed base of the vase was broken in ancient Roman times, and was replaced with this disc, made from a large flat plaque of cameo glass.
The disc may show a scene from mythology in which Prince Paris of Troy judges a 'beauty contest' between three goddesses Juno, Minerva and Venus. His choice of Venus over Juno helped to spark the Trojan War.
From Rome, formerly in the Barberini and Portland Collections GR 1945.9-27.2

Sarah E. Bond@sarahebond· Jul 5

As I rework my premodern Middle East course, I am enjoying Allen James Fromherz’s _The Center of the World: A Global History of the Persian Gulf from the Stone Age to the Present_ 🌍 www.ucpress.edu/books/the-ce...

The Center of the World
A Global History of the Persian Gulf from the Stone Age to the Present
by Allen James Fromherz (Author)
Hardcover
eBook
Price: $29.95 / £25.00
Publication Date: Sep 2024
Edition: 1st Edition
TITLE DETAILS:
Rights: World
Pages: 360
ISBN: 9780520398559
Trim Size: 6 x 9
Illustrations: 17 b&w figures, 1 map
ENDOWMENTS:
Simpson Imprint in Humanities

Sarah E. Bond@sarahebond· Jul 5

July 5, 328 CE: Inauguration of Constantine’s new 2400+ meter bridge for crossing the Danube river between Sucidava (present-day Corabia, Romania) & Oescus (modern Gigen, Bulgaria). It was a stunning feet of engineering—& twice as long as Trajan’s! See: d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/112160999/So...

Reverse of a special medallion of Constantine commemorating the bridge.

АЕ Medallion, 37.5 mm, 33.27 g, axis 6 h. KHM Vienna, no. RÖ 32.345.
Rome mint, traditional dating in ca. AD 327–331, but according to P. Bruun, in
RIC VII, 281 – more precisely in AD 329.
Type: Gnecchi 1912, 134, no. 8, pl. 130, 6; Bruun, RIC VII, 331, no. 298 (Roma)

Sarah E. Bond@sarahebond· Jul 2

I have said it before, but I like to teach ancient texts topographically. That's what makes ToposText so fun. Every toponym from Livy, Thucydides, and over 800 more authors—plus trans. & links to the original Greek or Latin—from Spain to India. Such a cool thing to teach & read with. topostext.org

Map interface for Topostext, which geotags ancient texts and visualizes them.

Sarah E. Bond@sarahebond· Jul 2

Something that bothered me about Justice Thomas’ comments is the idea that the exclusivity of citizenship is linked to the dignity of the institution. That notion was wrong in Ancient Athens & Ancient Rome (until 212 CE). Exclusive citizenship only breeds cultural elitism & inequality—not dignity.

G 4
"I am not sure that today's opinion will stand the test of time.
The Citizenship Clause 'added greatly to the dignity and glory of American citizenship.' Today's opinion devalues that citizenship.
I respectfully dissent."
JUSTICE CLARENCE THOMAS
+
NEWSMAX

Sarah E. Bond@sarahebond· Jul 1

Lascaux caves! 17,000 to 22,000 years ago. 🐂

Lascaux painting
Object type
image
Genre
animal art Edit this at Wikidata
Description
Aurochs, horses and deer painted on a cave
Date
February 2006
Medium
CEVA
Dimensions
7000000000 KM X 989999999999999 KM
Collection
LIDL
Current location
NB
Source/Photographer
Own work
Permission
(Reusing this file)
The author permits further using of the picture for private, public or commercial purposes. The author's name has to be mentioned in a visible manner.

Sarah E. Bond@sarahebond· Jun 30

Just a few of my favorite cave paintings: Hands at the Cuevas de las Manos on the Río Pinturas, near the town of Perito Moreno in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina (photo public domain via Wikimedia Commons). 🖐️

Hands at the Cuevas de las Manos on the Río Pinturas, near the town of Perito Moreno in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina (photo public domain via Wikimedia Commons)

Sarah E. Bond@sarahebond· Jun 30

Rereading before mid-July! And to be clear, I love Prof. @emilyrcwilson.bsky.social’s translation, but also hold Peter’s next to my heart because he gave it to me a few years before he died. Cheers to all rereading (or reading for the first time) 1 this summer! *Odysseus tied to a mast emoji*

Sarah E. Bond@sarahebond· Jun 29

June 29 is the feast of Saints Peter & Paul—patron saints of Rome. It’s an amazing day in Roma (fireworks), but it’s also a good day to read about the construction of martyrdom (esp. whether the Neronian persecution happened) by Dr. @candidamoss.bsky.social: yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300... 📕

Christ between Sts Peter and Paul

400-20
Fresco
Catacombs of Marcellinus and Peter, Rome

Image from the web gallery of Art: https://www.wga.hu/html_m/zearly/1/2mural/2marcell/marcel12.html

Sarah E. Bond@sarahebond· Jun 28

In 2010 on this day, there was a huge lightning storm and this photo was taken by @petrosgiannopoulos.bsky.social for the AP. Still my favorite Parthenon image! ⚡️

Picture by Associated Press photographer Petros Giannakouris, in 2010 an electrical strike illuminated the Parthenon.

Sarah E. Bond@sarahebond· Jun 28

Good morning, ancient Egyptians believed boiling hedgehog 🦔 💙quills with crocodile fat was good for balding & Greco-Romans thought they predicted weather. I call this little faience guy (1938-1700 BCE, Deir el Nawahid, Egypt, at the @brooklynmuseum.org now) Sonic. www.brooklynmuseum.org/objects/3735

Title
Hedgehog
Date
ca. 1938–1700 B.C.E.
Dynasty
Dynasty 12 to early Dynasty 13
Period
Middle Kingdom
Geography
Place made: Deir el Nawahid, Egypt
Medium
Faience
Classification
Sculpture
Dimensions
1 5/8 x 1 5/8 x 2 13/16 in. (4.2 x 4.1 x 7.1 cm)
Credit Line
Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
Accession Number
65.2.1

Sarah E. Bond@sarahebond· Jun 27

Looking at all my photos from this day and remembered that I was at Gabii OTD when they found a cute cat 🐾 paw rooftile. If you have never been, it’s quite close to Rome and a great site still being excavated. pleiades.stoa.org/places/422932 @terrenato.bsky.social