Carol Atack | Lightnews

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 4d

And here's more details about the British Museum talk: www.britishmuseum.org/events/membe...

Join Classics historian Dr Carol Atack to explore the turbulent life of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato in our online lecture.

www.britishmuseum.org

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 4d

I've just checked the website, and yes it will be recorded.

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 4d

Very excited to be giving an online talk to the Friends of the British Museum on March 9th! If like me you're a member, you should have just received the booking email...

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 5d

American Psycho at the Almeida - the Guardian has it right, Brett Easton Ellis's novel caught something about 80s culture that was not good then... interesting to hear the audience last night laugh at some dated references, gasp at others which have become more salient in the present moment...

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 7d

American Psycho review – yuppies making a killing offers a chilling origin story for our corrupt times

In a bloody, brilliant, full circle Rupert Goold bows out as artistic director of the Almeida with a timely revival of the musical he first staged here in 2013

www.theguardian.com

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 7d

American Psycho review – yuppies making a killing offers a chilling origin story for our corrupt times

In a bloody, brilliant, full circle Rupert Goold bows out as artistic director of the Almeida with a timely revival of the musical he first staged here in 2013

www.theguardian.com

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 9d

Indeed!

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 10d

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.bsky.social · 12d

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.bsky.social · 12d

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.bsky.social · 16d

Scruton didn't read Greek (he told me so himself), in case you were wondering.

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 20d

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.bsky.social · 26d

A long list of museums, archives and libraries - worth looking to see if any of your favourites are using this site.

Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick @mrcwarwick.bsky.social · 27d

A Bluesky challenge!

We've got so many great heritage/GLAM accounts here now, that some are flying under the radar

From national organisations to niche collections, these active accounts are all (at time of posting) under 500 followers-lowest at 9-how many can we get over 500?

go.bsky.app/U16Nwsw

Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick @mrcwarwick.bsky.social · 27d

A Bluesky challenge!

We've got so many great heritage/GLAM accounts here now, that some are flying under the radar

From national organisations to niche collections, these active accounts are all (at time of posting) under 500 followers-lowest at 9-how many can we get over 500?

go.bsky.app/U16Nwsw

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 27d

This is by way of a welcome to new followers. I’m still teaching and researching in this area - the dynamics of gender are a fruitful way to approach classical Athenian democracy, especially its male-dominated public spaces.

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 27d

It’s roughly the tenth anniversary of David Bowie’s death and of me playing my Sex and Gender in classical Greece students this video. No better illustration of early 1970s UK discourse on sexuality than the gap between performers & audience which Bowie bridges so well. m.youtube.com/watch?v=RIrH...

David Bowie ► The Jean Genie (HD) - [Top of the Pops 1973]

YouTube video by youpi444

m.youtube.com

Katherine McDonald @katherinemcdon.bsky.social · 27d

Finally, the WCC UK is on Bluesky! Lots of exciting updates in the next few months, so do give us a follow @womeninclassicsuk.bsky.social

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 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.bsky.social · Jan 6

I'll be speaking about Plato and his life in Athens at the Oxford Literary Festival on Wednesday March 25. oxfordliteraryfestival.org/literature-e...

Plato: A Civic Life | Oxford Literary Festival

Carol Atack - Plato: A Civic Life

oxfordliteraryfestival.org

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 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.bsky.social · Dec 21

Manuscript now submitted!

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 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.bsky.social · 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.bsky.social · Dec 21

So much enjoyed talking to Toby @polphilpod.bsky.social and glad that others enjoyed listening!

Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · Dec 20

most downloaded interviews in 2025:

5. plato's tyrant @carolatack.bsky.social

4. ignoring politics @chrisfreiman.bsky.social

3. the eu @simonhix.bsky.social

2. the political right & equality @mattpolprof.bsky.social

1. it's fascism @kjephd.bsky.social

www.politicalphilosophypodcast.com

HOME | politicalphilosophy

Discussions with Philosophers and public figures. Politics, ethics, meta-ethics, human rights, religion, atheism, liberalism, and republicanism.

www.politicalphilosophypodcast.com

Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · Dec 20

most downloaded interviews in 2025:

5. plato's tyrant @carolatack.bsky.social

4. ignoring politics @chrisfreiman.bsky.social

3. the eu @simonhix.bsky.social

2. the political right & equality @mattpolprof.bsky.social

1. it's fascism @kjephd.bsky.social

www.politicalphilosophypodcast.com

HOME | politicalphilosophy

Discussions with Philosophers and public figures. Politics, ethics, meta-ethics, human rights, religion, atheism, liberalism, and republicanism.

www.politicalphilosophypodcast.com

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 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.bsky.social · 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.bsky.social · Dec 1

Last line of the screenshot which wouldn't fit in the Alt text: '29 Parrhesia and the Critique of Rhetoric in the Classical Polis'. Thanks to all the authors who've come on this long journey with me! More soon; now to settle on a cover image...

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · Dec 1

Rabbits, as my Grandma would have said!

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · 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:

Carol Atack @carolatack.bsky.social · Nov 26

Such sad news. I loved my lilac and silver mini dress from Pam Hogg's 1980s Kensington market stall. A truely original creative spirit.

The Guardian @theguardian.com · Nov 26

Pam Hogg, fashion designer with a rock’n’roll spirit, dies at 66

‘100% party girl’ and key part of 1980s London club scene designed for Rihanna, Björk, Kylie Minogue and Debbie Harry Pam Hogg, the fashion designer who brought together fashion and music on the catwalk in the 1980s, has died aged 66, her family have said. Hogg, whose bold, futuristic designs were worn by stars including Rihanna, Kate Moss and Blondie’s Debbie Harry, died “surrounded by the loving care of cherished friends and family”, her family posted on Instagram. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

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