Dr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃
@carrielarocco.bsky.social
Classicist at Oxford. Working on: female patronage in the late- and post-Roman west; epigraphy in Roman + Visigothic Iberia. Sometimes I make Roman recipes ☺️ (she/her) #MosaicMonday ♾️
Pinned
Still feel so lucky that I get to do my research in the Old Library at St John’s (@stjohnsox.bsky.social) 🙂 Such a beautiful place.
October 17, 2025 at 11:05 AM
Still feel so lucky that I get to do my research in the Old Library at St John’s (@stjohnsox.bsky.social) 🙂 Such a beautiful place.
Was happy to give a talk on late Roman and Visigothic women in cinema + other art at St John’s College @stjohnsox.bsky.social, this weekend, as part of a panel on the Ancient World in Digital Media for Oxford Open Doors 2025. I talked about, e.g., Galla Placidia in Revenge of the Barbarians (1960).
September 15, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Was happy to give a talk on late Roman and Visigothic women in cinema + other art at St John’s College @stjohnsox.bsky.social, this weekend, as part of a panel on the Ancient World in Digital Media for Oxford Open Doors 2025. I talked about, e.g., Galla Placidia in Revenge of the Barbarians (1960).
Reposted by Dr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃
a university is not for generating profit, it provides cultural enrichment via weird little gremlin people who love visigoths or haikus, and very occasionally a scientist who figures out faster than light travel
August 12, 2025 at 9:54 AM
a university is not for generating profit, it provides cultural enrichment via weird little gremlin people who love visigoths or haikus, and very occasionally a scientist who figures out faster than light travel
Reposted by Dr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃
A (very short) look at some of what I’m working on during my fellowship at St John’s: www.sjc.ox.ac.uk/discover/res...
Dr Carolyn La Rocco: Female patronage in the late Roman and post-Roman west
In this article, Dr Carolyn La Rocco (CDRF in Classics and Ancient History) discusses her research on female patronage in Late Antiquity (c. 250-750 CE).
www.sjc.ox.ac.uk
August 6, 2025 at 10:08 PM
A (very short) look at some of what I’m working on during my fellowship at St John’s: www.sjc.ox.ac.uk/discover/res...
A (very short) look at some of what I’m working on during my fellowship at St John’s: www.sjc.ox.ac.uk/discover/res...
Dr Carolyn La Rocco: Female patronage in the late Roman and post-Roman west
In this article, Dr Carolyn La Rocco (CDRF in Classics and Ancient History) discusses her research on female patronage in Late Antiquity (c. 250-750 CE).
www.sjc.ox.ac.uk
August 6, 2025 at 10:08 PM
A (very short) look at some of what I’m working on during my fellowship at St John’s: www.sjc.ox.ac.uk/discover/res...
Reposted by Dr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃
ACADEMIC READING ALREADY COMES WITH A SUMMARY IT IS CALLED THE ABSTRACT
The Appendix on an AI policy is actually quite bad. Having an AI deliver a summary before reading has major implications in terms of the experience of student learning. What we want students to do and how they do it is the question. The experience of reading is not the same as reading a summary.
August 5, 2025 at 8:29 PM
ACADEMIC READING ALREADY COMES WITH A SUMMARY IT IS CALLED THE ABSTRACT
Reposted by Dr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃
We in academia are being inundated with a new fallacy: The all-tech-is-the-same fallacy.
As educators, part of our job is to evaluate different technologies, using some & rejecting others based on their actual utility (or potential harm) in meeting properly *educational* goals.
As educators, part of our job is to evaluate different technologies, using some & rejecting others based on their actual utility (or potential harm) in meeting properly *educational* goals.
Ironically the AI pushers keep telling us resistance is futile in academia, and that this is how mathematics teachers reacted to the introduction of the calculator, to which I would say, AT LEAST THE CALCULATOR DOESNT MAKE SHIT UP
August 6, 2025 at 4:08 PM
We in academia are being inundated with a new fallacy: The all-tech-is-the-same fallacy.
As educators, part of our job is to evaluate different technologies, using some & rejecting others based on their actual utility (or potential harm) in meeting properly *educational* goals.
As educators, part of our job is to evaluate different technologies, using some & rejecting others based on their actual utility (or potential harm) in meeting properly *educational* goals.
Reposted by Dr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃
Spotted this extraordinary comparandum on the Twitter account of @persiaantigua.bsky.social
July 19, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Spotted this extraordinary comparandum on the Twitter account of @persiaantigua.bsky.social
I’ve been reading through Latin curse tablets (defixiones) and thought this one from Roman-period Britain was neat: someone seemingly cursing the person who stole their beehive ‘vas apium’)! 🐝 (Brit. 48.10 10; text and images: romaninscriptionsofbritain.org/inscriptions...; images by R.S.O. Tomlin)
July 18, 2025 at 9:58 PM
I’ve been reading through Latin curse tablets (defixiones) and thought this one from Roman-period Britain was neat: someone seemingly cursing the person who stole their beehive ‘vas apium’)! 🐝 (Brit. 48.10 10; text and images: romaninscriptionsofbritain.org/inscriptions...; images by R.S.O. Tomlin)
Tomorrow!! 🏺🏛️
Step into the world of ancient Rome with our Festival of Archaeology.
This FREE event explores being Really Roman and features tours, talks, demonstrations, and activities for all the family.
📍 Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
📆 Sat 19 July, 11am – 4pm
🔍 Full details: www.ashmolean.org/event/festiv...
This FREE event explores being Really Roman and features tours, talks, demonstrations, and activities for all the family.
📍 Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
📆 Sat 19 July, 11am – 4pm
🔍 Full details: www.ashmolean.org/event/festiv...
July 18, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Tomorrow!! 🏺🏛️
I was happy to speak at the Granada-St Andrews International Meeting ‘Sharing Perspectives on Late Antiquity’ at the University of St Andrews yesterday (@staclassics.bsky.social); I spoke about some aspects of the relationship between monasteries and crisis in late Roman and Visigothic Iberia
June 28, 2025 at 11:06 AM
I was happy to speak at the Granada-St Andrews International Meeting ‘Sharing Perspectives on Late Antiquity’ at the University of St Andrews yesterday (@staclassics.bsky.social); I spoke about some aspects of the relationship between monasteries and crisis in late Roman and Visigothic Iberia
Went to see the newly-reopened Roman gallery of the Ashmolean @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social; liked this marble portrait of Livia (wife of Augustus). Left to the museum by Sir Arthur Evans.
June 5, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Went to see the newly-reopened Roman gallery of the Ashmolean @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social; liked this marble portrait of Livia (wife of Augustus). Left to the museum by Sir Arthur Evans.
Reposted by Dr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃
For #MosaicMonday: a throwback to this unimpressed Medusa from late 2nd-early 3rd century Tarraco (Tarragona). MNAT 2921. 🏺
November 25, 2024 at 5:39 PM
For #MosaicMonday: a throwback to this unimpressed Medusa from late 2nd-early 3rd century Tarraco (Tarragona). MNAT 2921. 🏺
Reposted by Dr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃
"The Dark Ages" violates the rule that historical periods are discretionary but not arbitrary. Periods can be redefined but not contrary to the evidence. Calling the period after the transformations of the Roman Empire "DA" is a value judgment inconsistent with the evidence. 13/
kermit the frog is sitting on a bench and smiling .
ALT: kermit the frog is sitting on a bench and smiling .
media.tenor.com
May 25, 2025 at 9:24 PM
"The Dark Ages" violates the rule that historical periods are discretionary but not arbitrary. Periods can be redefined but not contrary to the evidence. Calling the period after the transformations of the Roman Empire "DA" is a value judgment inconsistent with the evidence. 13/
Reposted by Dr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃
Late Roman historian here. Please stop perpetuating the narrative of a fall of Rome triggering Dark Ages. That’s not what happened at all.
The Trump administration is now undertaking a deliberate destruction of education, science, and history, conducted with a fanaticism that recalls the Dark Ages that followed Rome’s fall. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
The New Dark Age
The Trump administration has launched an attack on knowledge itself.
www.theatlantic.com
May 27, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Late Roman historian here. Please stop perpetuating the narrative of a fall of Rome triggering Dark Ages. That’s not what happened at all.
Reposted by Dr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃
Published in #Cambridge's #ClassicalStudies and #Archaeology journals, articles in this free-access collection bring together recent scholarly research on the #history, archaeology and cultural dynamics of #RomanBritain: ✅➡️ cup.org/3YMP1hO
May 19, 2025 at 9:26 AM
Published in #Cambridge's #ClassicalStudies and #Archaeology journals, articles in this free-access collection bring together recent scholarly research on the #history, archaeology and cultural dynamics of #RomanBritain: ✅➡️ cup.org/3YMP1hO
Reposted by Dr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃
So I think I need to do a sober thread on just how disasterously bad the new trove.scot website is, in comparison to the sites - especially Canmore - that it's replacing.
tl:dr - the new site is not fit for purpose; switching off the old sites on 24 June 2025 is way way way premature.
tl:dr - the new site is not fit for purpose; switching off the old sites on 24 June 2025 is way way way premature.
May 18, 2025 at 3:01 AM
So I think I need to do a sober thread on just how disasterously bad the new trove.scot website is, in comparison to the sites - especially Canmore - that it's replacing.
tl:dr - the new site is not fit for purpose; switching off the old sites on 24 June 2025 is way way way premature.
tl:dr - the new site is not fit for purpose; switching off the old sites on 24 June 2025 is way way way premature.
Reposted by Dr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃
A great resource :)
“Epistolæ: Medieval Women's Letters… a collection of medieval Latin letters to and from women. The letters collected here date from the 4th to the 13th centuries, and they are presented in their original Latin as well as in English translation...” (epistolae.ctl.columbia.edu)
“Epistolæ: Medieval Women's Letters… a collection of medieval Latin letters to and from women. The letters collected here date from the 4th to the 13th centuries, and they are presented in their original Latin as well as in English translation...” (epistolae.ctl.columbia.edu)
Epistolae
Epistolae is a collection of letters to and from women in the Middle Ages, from the 4th to the 13th century. The letters, written in Latin, are linked to the names of the women involved, with English ...
epistolae.ctl.columbia.edu
February 4, 2025 at 10:48 AM
A great resource :)
“Epistolæ: Medieval Women's Letters… a collection of medieval Latin letters to and from women. The letters collected here date from the 4th to the 13th centuries, and they are presented in their original Latin as well as in English translation...” (epistolae.ctl.columbia.edu)
“Epistolæ: Medieval Women's Letters… a collection of medieval Latin letters to and from women. The letters collected here date from the 4th to the 13th centuries, and they are presented in their original Latin as well as in English translation...” (epistolae.ctl.columbia.edu)
Reposted by Dr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃
God exactly. The purpose of writing papers is FOR YOU TO THINK SOMETHING THROUGH, not because a prof has a deficit in their life that needs to be filled by reading 5-7 pages of mediocre bullshit. The bulk of things I recall from undergrad are things I wrote papers about.
I’m sorry to put it this way, but high school and college term papers, 99 percent of the time, have little value as completed work. They will never be remembered or read again. Generating them, in and of itself, is worth essentially nothing, particularly when they recapitulate existing work.
May 5, 2025 at 3:18 PM
God exactly. The purpose of writing papers is FOR YOU TO THINK SOMETHING THROUGH, not because a prof has a deficit in their life that needs to be filled by reading 5-7 pages of mediocre bullshit. The bulk of things I recall from undergrad are things I wrote papers about.
Reposted by Dr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃
Honouring the ancient plumbers, mosaicists, builders, and painters in an insula in #Pompeii (Region IX) who were tragically interrupted in their work.
#LabourDay #MayDay
#LabourDay #MayDay
May 1, 2025 at 11:07 AM
Honouring the ancient plumbers, mosaicists, builders, and painters in an insula in #Pompeii (Region IX) who were tragically interrupted in their work.
#LabourDay #MayDay
#LabourDay #MayDay
Reposted by Dr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃
Two of my favorites from the late Roman silver found at Traprain Law (East Lothian, Scotland 🏴), supposed to have been buried sometime in the 5th century. One is a dish depicting a nereid in an aquatic scene. The other is a small image of a woman from a piece of cut-up silver (hacksilver).
May 1, 2025 at 9:33 AM
Two of my favorites from the late Roman silver found at Traprain Law (East Lothian, Scotland 🏴), supposed to have been buried sometime in the 5th century. One is a dish depicting a nereid in an aquatic scene. The other is a small image of a woman from a piece of cut-up silver (hacksilver).
Two of my favorites from the late Roman silver found at Traprain Law (East Lothian, Scotland 🏴), supposed to have been buried sometime in the 5th century. One is a dish depicting a nereid in an aquatic scene. The other is a small image of a woman from a piece of cut-up silver (hacksilver).
May 1, 2025 at 9:33 AM
Two of my favorites from the late Roman silver found at Traprain Law (East Lothian, Scotland 🏴), supposed to have been buried sometime in the 5th century. One is a dish depicting a nereid in an aquatic scene. The other is a small image of a woman from a piece of cut-up silver (hacksilver).
Reposted by Dr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃
If you are in any way shape or form someone who both is *and* understands what it means for you to *be* in contact with an archive of material, you need to start doing whatever it takes to protect those archives, right now.
April 7, 2025 at 4:40 AM
If you are in any way shape or form someone who both is *and* understands what it means for you to *be* in contact with an archive of material, you need to start doing whatever it takes to protect those archives, right now.
Reposted by Dr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃
A tiny fragment of painted wall plaster found at the Roman fortress of Inchtuthil in Perthshire. Planned as the nerve centre of the conquest of northern Britain, Inchtuthil was constructed c. 83 AD but was abandoned before it was even finished. #FrescoFriday #FindsFriday
April 4, 2025 at 8:18 AM
A tiny fragment of painted wall plaster found at the Roman fortress of Inchtuthil in Perthshire. Planned as the nerve centre of the conquest of northern Britain, Inchtuthil was constructed c. 83 AD but was abandoned before it was even finished. #FrescoFriday #FindsFriday
I was really happy to be invited back to St Andrews 🏴 (@staclassics.bsky.social) to speak at the Centre for Late Antique Studies this week. I talked about some of the research I’ve done on female patronage in Visigothic Iberia since starting my fellowship at St John’s (@stjohnsox.bsky.social).
April 4, 2025 at 1:11 AM
I was really happy to be invited back to St Andrews 🏴 (@staclassics.bsky.social) to speak at the Centre for Late Antique Studies this week. I talked about some of the research I’ve done on female patronage in Visigothic Iberia since starting my fellowship at St John’s (@stjohnsox.bsky.social).