Austin Benson
@austinbenson.bsky.social
UVA Medievalist. Dad. Philologist. Language collector. Mediocre chess player.
Medieval lyric—English, French, Latin, Welsh, Irish, and Hebrew.
I like manuscripts.
Medieval lyric—English, French, Latin, Welsh, Irish, and Hebrew.
I like manuscripts.
Reposted by Austin Benson
Earliest Latin translation of 'Tao Te Ching' published
news.cgtn.com/news/2025-11...
news.cgtn.com/news/2025-11...
Earliest Latin translation of 'Tao Te Ching' published
The book launch for the transcription of the earliest Latin translation of the
news.cgtn.com
November 13, 2025 at 7:50 PM
Earliest Latin translation of 'Tao Te Ching' published
news.cgtn.com/news/2025-11...
news.cgtn.com/news/2025-11...
First 10k in three years, after a major foot injury and new baby together took me off of running for the long term. Was it on a treadmill and was my pace basically a crawl? Sure. I’ve a long way to go from here to get back to where I was, but it feels good to be on my way
November 4, 2025 at 3:05 PM
First 10k in three years, after a major foot injury and new baby together took me off of running for the long term. Was it on a treadmill and was my pace basically a crawl? Sure. I’ve a long way to go from here to get back to where I was, but it feels good to be on my way
Reposted by Austin Benson
All the scrolls in the Library at Alexandria could probably have fit on a 16 GB hard drive, how important could it have been, honestly
August 28, 2023 at 9:28 PM
All the scrolls in the Library at Alexandria could probably have fit on a 16 GB hard drive, how important could it have been, honestly
Reposted by Austin Benson
Mar Awa III, patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, also born in Chicago, gave Pope Leo a Cubs jersey.
October 28, 2025 at 2:13 AM
Mar Awa III, patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, also born in Chicago, gave Pope Leo a Cubs jersey.
This is such a tragedy. Danya was a once-in-a-generation teacher whose knowledge and passion helped make his sport accessible to everyone. I owe my love for chess in part to him, and will miss him terribly.
Daniel Naroditsky, a chess grandmaster, the highest title given to competitors by the International Chess Federation, and a former Junior World Champion, has died at 29.
Daniel Naroditsky, Chess Grandmaster, Dies at 29
He earned the highest title in the chess world as he built a career as an accomplished chess teacher, commentator and author.
nyti.ms
October 21, 2025 at 1:52 AM
This is such a tragedy. Danya was a once-in-a-generation teacher whose knowledge and passion helped make his sport accessible to everyone. I owe my love for chess in part to him, and will miss him terribly.
Reposted by Austin Benson
I don't think students should be asked to rhetorically analyze poetry in a class before they get practice experiencing poetry without imagining it as a rhetorical structure.
Like, cooking is so much better if you begin by first developing a relationship to the pleasure of food.
Like, cooking is so much better if you begin by first developing a relationship to the pleasure of food.
October 20, 2025 at 11:53 PM
I don't think students should be asked to rhetorically analyze poetry in a class before they get practice experiencing poetry without imagining it as a rhetorical structure.
Like, cooking is so much better if you begin by first developing a relationship to the pleasure of food.
Like, cooking is so much better if you begin by first developing a relationship to the pleasure of food.
Reposted by Austin Benson
UVA says no to the compact
October 17, 2025 at 8:40 PM
UVA says no to the compact
Reposted by Austin Benson
UVA says NO to the "compact"
October 17, 2025 at 8:50 PM
UVA says NO to the "compact"
Reposted by Austin Benson
BREAKING: UVA rejects the Trump Administration's Compact.
October 17, 2025 at 8:40 PM
BREAKING: UVA rejects the Trump Administration's Compact.
Reposted by Austin Benson
Reposted by Austin Benson
And now UVa rejects the compact.
October 17, 2025 at 9:08 PM
And now UVa rejects the compact.
Reposted by Austin Benson
Mind-numbing how many layers of history there can be to a single manuscript page: Syriac upper text (10th c.), Armenian undertext (pre-10th c.), Arabic material used for binding (11-12th c.?), Coptic foliation in the margin (date?), modern foliation at the bottom. Image: Leiden UL Or. 14236, link ⬇️
October 16, 2025 at 9:54 AM
Mind-numbing how many layers of history there can be to a single manuscript page: Syriac upper text (10th c.), Armenian undertext (pre-10th c.), Arabic material used for binding (11-12th c.?), Coptic foliation in the margin (date?), modern foliation at the bottom. Image: Leiden UL Or. 14236, link ⬇️
Reposted by Austin Benson
how it feels to inquire about the status of your manuscript
September 29, 2025 at 9:03 AM
how it feels to inquire about the status of your manuscript
Reposted by Austin Benson
do you want a picture of the human future? imagine someone posting this at their friends about a third person who isn't even in the room, forever.
September 27, 2025 at 7:01 PM
do you want a picture of the human future? imagine someone posting this at their friends about a third person who isn't even in the room, forever.
Reposted by Austin Benson
Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it; it brings about consent and reconciliation with things as they really are.
—Hannah Arendt, Men in Dark Times
—Hannah Arendt, Men in Dark Times
September 24, 2025 at 9:24 PM
Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it; it brings about consent and reconciliation with things as they really are.
—Hannah Arendt, Men in Dark Times
—Hannah Arendt, Men in Dark Times
Extremely normal!
September 20, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Extremely normal!
Reposted by Austin Benson
September 15, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Reposted by Austin Benson
[ancient egyptian standup comic] see guys from the upper kingdom, they observe funerary rites like THIS. but us guys from the lower kingdom, we observe funerary rites like THIS. See this guy knows what I’m talking about [pointing at man with the head of a bird]
September 6, 2025 at 2:55 PM
[ancient egyptian standup comic] see guys from the upper kingdom, they observe funerary rites like THIS. but us guys from the lower kingdom, we observe funerary rites like THIS. See this guy knows what I’m talking about [pointing at man with the head of a bird]
Reposted by Austin Benson
what if journal loyalty rewards program where your 5th submission automatically gets published
August 31, 2025 at 2:39 PM
what if journal loyalty rewards program where your 5th submission automatically gets published
Reposted by Austin Benson
🚨Medievalist job alert! 🚨
The University of Southern Maine, just down the street from me, is hiring a medievalist. jobs.chronicle.com/job/37871743....
Assistant Professor in English - Fall 2026 - Portland, Maine (US) job with University of Southern Maine | 37871743
The Department of English at the University of Southern Maine is seeking an Assistant Professor in English to start in the Fall Semester of 2026.
jobs.chronicle.com
August 30, 2025 at 4:36 PM
🚨Medievalist job alert! 🚨
Reposted by Austin Benson
This failed because a local jury decided not to indict. We tend to think juries should be blank slates, impartial and uninformed.
But when the jury began it was trusted specifically because it was informed and partial. A medieval story time on the jury!
But when the jury began it was trusted specifically because it was informed and partial. A medieval story time on the jury!
The DOJ failed to secure a felony indictment against a man who threw a sandwich at a federal agent in protest of Trump's D.C. crackdown
Trump Prosecutor Fails To Indict DC Man Who Threw Sandwich At Federal Agent
"Sandwich guy" has become a symbol of Trump’s militarized takeover of the nation's capital, and posters memorializing him have appeared all over the city.
www.huffpost.com
August 28, 2025 at 2:52 AM
This failed because a local jury decided not to indict. We tend to think juries should be blank slates, impartial and uninformed.
But when the jury began it was trusted specifically because it was informed and partial. A medieval story time on the jury!
But when the jury began it was trusted specifically because it was informed and partial. A medieval story time on the jury!
Reposted by Austin Benson
What makes a Classic? Homer, Gilgamesh, and the Hebrew Bible are all rooted in a time and region--the Iron Age Mediterranean--but does any shared magic make them "canonical"? Because these famed works come to us from a space whose western parts are notoriously blank in terms of textual evidence. 🧵
May 5, 2025 at 4:18 PM
What makes a Classic? Homer, Gilgamesh, and the Hebrew Bible are all rooted in a time and region--the Iron Age Mediterranean--but does any shared magic make them "canonical"? Because these famed works come to us from a space whose western parts are notoriously blank in terms of textual evidence. 🧵
Reposted by Austin Benson
Wendell Berry, "The Peace of Wild Things"
August 17, 2025 at 11:24 PM
Wendell Berry, "The Peace of Wild Things"
Reposted by Austin Benson
My book is out! Medieval Responses to Ovid's Exile, with Cambridge UP @universitypress.cambridge.org.
I am so grateful to the friends, family, colleagues, librarians and archivists who helped along the way. Nervous and excited to see it in the world!
www.cambridge.org/core/books/m...
I am so grateful to the friends, family, colleagues, librarians and archivists who helped along the way. Nervous and excited to see it in the world!
www.cambridge.org/core/books/m...
Medieval Responses to Ovid's Exile
Cambridge Core - Classical Literature - Medieval Responses to Ovid's Exile
www.cambridge.org
August 13, 2025 at 12:24 PM
My book is out! Medieval Responses to Ovid's Exile, with Cambridge UP @universitypress.cambridge.org.
I am so grateful to the friends, family, colleagues, librarians and archivists who helped along the way. Nervous and excited to see it in the world!
www.cambridge.org/core/books/m...
I am so grateful to the friends, family, colleagues, librarians and archivists who helped along the way. Nervous and excited to see it in the world!
www.cambridge.org/core/books/m...