Christopher W. Jones
@cwjones.bsky.social
Historian of the ancient world. Working on imperialism, elite competition, Global Assyria. North Carolinian.
Reposted by Christopher W. Jones
Reviewed today in Bryn Mawr Classical Review. 👍
February 18, 2026 at 2:31 PM
Reviewed today in Bryn Mawr Classical Review. 👍
Well this is quite a way to begin a chapter.
(Book = Salim Tamari, The Great War and the Remaking of Palestine)
(Book = Salim Tamari, The Great War and the Remaking of Palestine)
February 13, 2026 at 10:42 PM
Well this is quite a way to begin a chapter.
(Book = Salim Tamari, The Great War and the Remaking of Palestine)
(Book = Salim Tamari, The Great War and the Remaking of Palestine)
Teaching Modern Middle East this semester and it's remarkable how colonial-minded British sources about Palestine just seem to be...taken uncritically as fact even by many scholars?
Why is this? Eurocentrism? Poor language skills leading to over-reliance on English sources?
Why is this? Eurocentrism? Poor language skills leading to over-reliance on English sources?
February 13, 2026 at 4:11 AM
Teaching Modern Middle East this semester and it's remarkable how colonial-minded British sources about Palestine just seem to be...taken uncritically as fact even by many scholars?
Why is this? Eurocentrism? Poor language skills leading to over-reliance on English sources?
Why is this? Eurocentrism? Poor language skills leading to over-reliance on English sources?
Remember the "Neo-Assyrian royal letter" from Jerusalem which was heavily publicized last October?
I have a new reading of it out in the latest NABU. Spoiler: It's nothing of the sort. The original authors misidentified an uncommon legal term. The tablet is actually a loan document.
I have a new reading of it out in the latest NABU. Spoiler: It's nothing of the sort. The original authors misidentified an uncommon legal term. The tablet is actually a loan document.
February 10, 2026 at 6:12 PM
Remember the "Neo-Assyrian royal letter" from Jerusalem which was heavily publicized last October?
I have a new reading of it out in the latest NABU. Spoiler: It's nothing of the sort. The original authors misidentified an uncommon legal term. The tablet is actually a loan document.
I have a new reading of it out in the latest NABU. Spoiler: It's nothing of the sort. The original authors misidentified an uncommon legal term. The tablet is actually a loan document.
These sort of books do make for fascinating historical artifacts:
February 6, 2026 at 12:54 PM
These sort of books do make for fascinating historical artifacts:
Reposted by Christopher W. Jones
Genuinely having trouble thinking of a historical elite that didn’t promote and define itself by some kind of artistic/literary/scholarly culture…doesn’t make historical elites great of course; it just seems truly new to me. Thoughts?
today’s tech barons get compared to the robber barons (I’ve done it myself) but it’s notable how the current generation has responded to the philanthropic and cultural legacy of Carnegie et al with their own campaign of wanton destruction of cultural institutions
February 5, 2026 at 12:17 PM
Genuinely having trouble thinking of a historical elite that didn’t promote and define itself by some kind of artistic/literary/scholarly culture…doesn’t make historical elites great of course; it just seems truly new to me. Thoughts?
The CIA has shut down the CIA World Factbook for reasons they refuse to explain.
February 5, 2026 at 3:28 AM
The CIA has shut down the CIA World Factbook for reasons they refuse to explain.
Why do people you know keep posting screenshots of summaries from AI as if this proves anything in an argument?
Why do questions like "how do you know the information from AI is correct?" fall on deaf ears?
I suggest that the reason has to do with consensus and the legitimation of knowledge 🧵
Why do questions like "how do you know the information from AI is correct?" fall on deaf ears?
I suggest that the reason has to do with consensus and the legitimation of knowledge 🧵
February 4, 2026 at 8:41 PM
Why do people you know keep posting screenshots of summaries from AI as if this proves anything in an argument?
Why do questions like "how do you know the information from AI is correct?" fall on deaf ears?
I suggest that the reason has to do with consensus and the legitimation of knowledge 🧵
Why do questions like "how do you know the information from AI is correct?" fall on deaf ears?
I suggest that the reason has to do with consensus and the legitimation of knowledge 🧵
AI in academia is bad enough, but AI in government has the potential to do much more serious damage in the short term.
The quality of research in reprts which inform political decision makers was already quite low. I saw this during ISIS on antiquities trafficking. Now it's going to be abysmal.
The quality of research in reprts which inform political decision makers was already quite low. I saw this during ISIS on antiquities trafficking. Now it's going to be abysmal.
AI slop getting published in SWJ? smallwarsjournal.com/2026/01/28/c...
Clausewitz and the American Center of Gravity: A Look at the National Security Strategy and National Defense Strategy Together
What is America’s true center of gravity? Using Clausewitz, this article analyzes the 2025 NSS and 2026 NDS for the answer.
smallwarsjournal.com
February 1, 2026 at 6:12 PM
AI in academia is bad enough, but AI in government has the potential to do much more serious damage in the short term.
The quality of research in reprts which inform political decision makers was already quite low. I saw this during ISIS on antiquities trafficking. Now it's going to be abysmal.
The quality of research in reprts which inform political decision makers was already quite low. I saw this during ISIS on antiquities trafficking. Now it's going to be abysmal.
Becoming increasingly convinced that humanities academics need to clean up our own house before admins or students will listen to us about AI in the university.
LLM text in publication = automatic reject.
Using AI to grade or lesson plan = major ethical breach.
People should lose tenure for this.
LLM text in publication = automatic reject.
Using AI to grade or lesson plan = major ethical breach.
People should lose tenure for this.
January 29, 2026 at 3:49 PM
Becoming increasingly convinced that humanities academics need to clean up our own house before admins or students will listen to us about AI in the university.
LLM text in publication = automatic reject.
Using AI to grade or lesson plan = major ethical breach.
People should lose tenure for this.
LLM text in publication = automatic reject.
Using AI to grade or lesson plan = major ethical breach.
People should lose tenure for this.
I have a mass market paperback single binding edition of Édouard Will's 2-volume Histoire Politique du Monde Hellenistique, and let me tell you this might be the most information density per square inch that I have in a print book.
(Been scrutinizing 6-pt font to find obscure passages of Polybius)
(Been scrutinizing 6-pt font to find obscure passages of Polybius)
January 23, 2026 at 4:37 AM
I have a mass market paperback single binding edition of Édouard Will's 2-volume Histoire Politique du Monde Hellenistique, and let me tell you this might be the most information density per square inch that I have in a print book.
(Been scrutinizing 6-pt font to find obscure passages of Polybius)
(Been scrutinizing 6-pt font to find obscure passages of Polybius)
"The Syrian Civil War and the Decline of the Liberal World Order" is the grand history of the past 15 years still waiting to be written.
January 21, 2026 at 1:19 PM
"The Syrian Civil War and the Decline of the Liberal World Order" is the grand history of the past 15 years still waiting to be written.
Trump is of course a disaster, but the rush from all quarters to embrace Ahmed al-Sharaa is perhaps the clearest evidence of the decline of the liberal world order.
January 21, 2026 at 1:19 PM
Trump is of course a disaster, but the rush from all quarters to embrace Ahmed al-Sharaa is perhaps the clearest evidence of the decline of the liberal world order.
Is this generation going to produce a realist historian for political scientists to misuse for the next 2500 years?
Is anyone else getting Peloponnesian War vibes?
January 21, 2026 at 1:11 PM
Is this generation going to produce a realist historian for political scientists to misuse for the next 2500 years?
Fun fact: the average American worker spends 30% of their workday doing multi-factor authentication.
January 21, 2026 at 1:51 AM
Fun fact: the average American worker spends 30% of their workday doing multi-factor authentication.
Not great to live in a city that doesn't plow anything and see a forecast for 17 inches of snow on Saturday.
January 20, 2026 at 3:21 PM
Not great to live in a city that doesn't plow anything and see a forecast for 17 inches of snow on Saturday.
Apparently quite a few congressmen contacted the CIA in the 1970s asking for them to check satellite/U-2 photography of Mount Ararat to see if there was any evidence of Noah's Ark.
www.cia.gov/readingroom/...
www.cia.gov/readingroom/...
www.cia.gov
January 20, 2026 at 5:07 AM
Apparently quite a few congressmen contacted the CIA in the 1970s asking for them to check satellite/U-2 photography of Mount Ararat to see if there was any evidence of Noah's Ark.
www.cia.gov/readingroom/...
www.cia.gov/readingroom/...
The Great Man Theory of history is back, only this time it's stupid.
January 19, 2026 at 4:33 PM
The Great Man Theory of history is back, only this time it's stupid.
For a certain type of Boomer air power theorist, it's always Dec 30 1972, and if Nixon had just let the USAF bomb North Vietnam just one more day the PAVN would have surrendered completely and the US would have won the war.
Something similar might be emerging around the current conflict with Iran.
Something similar might be emerging around the current conflict with Iran.
January 18, 2026 at 7:38 PM
For a certain type of Boomer air power theorist, it's always Dec 30 1972, and if Nixon had just let the USAF bomb North Vietnam just one more day the PAVN would have surrendered completely and the US would have won the war.
Something similar might be emerging around the current conflict with Iran.
Something similar might be emerging around the current conflict with Iran.
Current read: Constance Maria Piesinger, "Legacy of Dilmun: The Roots of Ancient Maritime Trade in Eastern Coastal Arabia in the 4th/3rd Millennium B.C."
1983 UW-Madison dissertation. 1,227 pages involving material from a half-dozen sites that basically no one had access to at the time.
1983 UW-Madison dissertation. 1,227 pages involving material from a half-dozen sites that basically no one had access to at the time.
January 18, 2026 at 2:16 PM
Current read: Constance Maria Piesinger, "Legacy of Dilmun: The Roots of Ancient Maritime Trade in Eastern Coastal Arabia in the 4th/3rd Millennium B.C."
1983 UW-Madison dissertation. 1,227 pages involving material from a half-dozen sites that basically no one had access to at the time.
1983 UW-Madison dissertation. 1,227 pages involving material from a half-dozen sites that basically no one had access to at the time.
"Let's check in on the state of political discourse at the old site."
January 16, 2026 at 7:28 PM
"Let's check in on the state of political discourse at the old site."
Reposted by Christopher W. Jones
Feels like time for a history lesson on Bluesky. Let's talk about the War Powers Resolution.
What is the War Powers Resolution (1973)?
In the aftermath of Nixon secretly escalating the Vietnam War into Cambodia, Congress decided to set some ground rules for how presidents could use military force.
What is the War Powers Resolution (1973)?
In the aftermath of Nixon secretly escalating the Vietnam War into Cambodia, Congress decided to set some ground rules for how presidents could use military force.
January 15, 2026 at 4:13 AM
Feels like time for a history lesson on Bluesky. Let's talk about the War Powers Resolution.
What is the War Powers Resolution (1973)?
In the aftermath of Nixon secretly escalating the Vietnam War into Cambodia, Congress decided to set some ground rules for how presidents could use military force.
What is the War Powers Resolution (1973)?
In the aftermath of Nixon secretly escalating the Vietnam War into Cambodia, Congress decided to set some ground rules for how presidents could use military force.
Everybody wants to publish papers about Ea-Naṣir now, just showing that you know a meme has truly run its course once peer-reviewed journal articles start to appear about it.
January 15, 2026 at 1:12 PM
Everybody wants to publish papers about Ea-Naṣir now, just showing that you know a meme has truly run its course once peer-reviewed journal articles start to appear about it.
Feels like time for a history lesson on Bluesky. Let's talk about the War Powers Resolution.
What is the War Powers Resolution (1973)?
In the aftermath of Nixon secretly escalating the Vietnam War into Cambodia, Congress decided to set some ground rules for how presidents could use military force.
What is the War Powers Resolution (1973)?
In the aftermath of Nixon secretly escalating the Vietnam War into Cambodia, Congress decided to set some ground rules for how presidents could use military force.
January 15, 2026 at 4:13 AM
Feels like time for a history lesson on Bluesky. Let's talk about the War Powers Resolution.
What is the War Powers Resolution (1973)?
In the aftermath of Nixon secretly escalating the Vietnam War into Cambodia, Congress decided to set some ground rules for how presidents could use military force.
What is the War Powers Resolution (1973)?
In the aftermath of Nixon secretly escalating the Vietnam War into Cambodia, Congress decided to set some ground rules for how presidents could use military force.