Andy Fox

As I think ahead to the next term, I’m looking to protect some research time with an online writing group. Ideally of ancient historians and classicists. I’m thinking on a Friday? Who’s in? @acfox.bsky.social @katexe.bsky.social @periegetes.bsky.social?

Also: I’m not sure people realise how much work it is to be precarious academic as one is expected to do all the things our more securely employed colleagues do - in fact, often more - because we have to show excellence in every aspect of academic life in order to be noticed by hiring committees.

I am being made redundant this summer. Students want me to stay. Colleagues want me to stay. They are overworked with their fixed term colleagues, who are both going, or gone already. The university has said no. There are no petitions. Just quiet acceptance.

That panicked moment three days before you submit a draft research proposal where you find something from 11 years ago which sounds like it does your thing. Then you look at it and realise you had this panic seven months ago.

Bank holiday weekend plan: power write grant application and buy a new nursery pot for the monstera. Don't buy plants Bank holiday weekend reality so far: accidentally buy a new monstera, a new pot, re-pot the old monstera, and plan to buy more plants. This is perhaps problematic.

Fab penultimate day so far at the Celtic Conference in Classics, we've been treated to some fantastic environmental papers, and I've really enjoyed learning about things I have never even considered!

I’ve got a Tantalus joke, but you’ll never get it

Really enjoyable day at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Sustainable Research at @liverpooluni.bsky.social. Always excellent to have those collaborative narratives on climate change and the environment!

Oh, and a shout out to 92degrees coffee in Liverpool and their subscription for keeping me from staying inside this last month or two!

Interdisciplinary seed funding sandpit today, looking forward to chatting with experts from The Other Side of Campus.

I really ought to start saying no to things professionally. Just a thought. Will probably delete later when I decide it’s a silly notion.

Hi folks, conscious that the Roman Trees Database has been taken down: I’m working on a way to get it back online and in a place where I can update it. In the meantime, if you need an entry from it, let me know!

Fun fact of the day: Pliny tells us that plane trees are watered with wine, and that wine actually promotes root growth (Natural History 12.8). This is (surprisingly?) accurate: spoiled wine produces nitrogen, which is an active ingredient in modern fertilisers! #ancienthistory #classics

Kudos to @maticiceronian.bsky.social & co-editor Jordan Rogers and all the contributors to this brand new volume. link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

New bio, who dis?

The people who owned this house before us had a policy: if it can’t be fixed with glue, you’ve not used enough. Which is how I just found out that a kitchen cupboard door was not held on by those helpful screw thingys.

Are we still using ClassicsBlueSky AncientBlueSky and the 🏺and 🏛️ emoticons to find folk? And no, I will not let msn emoticons terminology die.

Today’s jobs: teach a Thucydides seminar, give a research skills lecture, then intro Greek test. My lot are all so nervous, bless them, but I have so much confidence in the lot of them

In a shocking turn of events, I am teaching Greek history today and tomorrow. I thought the whole point of specialism was that you could focus on teaching the better civilisation?

Happy to report that, for the next eighteen months, I will be Lecturer in Classics at the University of Reading! Thank you to everyone who has supported me along the way, you have all been fabulous and I wouldn’t have done this without you

I'm reading the Historic Environment Scotland scheduled monument document. Contains this stunning image of Habchester Fort showing the impact of different landuse histories and how fragile our prehistory is.

Tell me you’ve been chasing down references today without telling me you’ve been chasing down references today.

If you'd like to know more about who we are, what we do, how we fund it, and how to get involved, check out our #FAQ: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Good cause in the blue sky alert!

Do you work on Ancient Greek religion from the Mycenaean to Hellenistic periods, or know someone who does, and want to be involved in a cool thing? If so: get in touch with me. (I know this is slightly cryptic. It is for a reason…) #ClassicsBluesky #AncientBluesky

Back from the hols, and one of the highlights for me has to have been the Villa of Dionysos in Paphos. Obviously loved the Daphne mosaic, but the standout was the pit at the back, which it turned out on further reading was an internal fish pond! ClassicsBlueSky AncientBlueSky 🏺

Some of the garden frescoes from the dining room in the luxurious Roman villa which once belonged to the empress Livia, over 2000 years ago. Absolute perfection, in my eyes.

One of the most reassuring things about researching compostable history is that I’ll never be tempted to nick one of my trees