Esther Meijer
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esthermeijer.bsky.social
Esther Meijer
@esthermeijer.bsky.social
690 followers 340 following 30 posts
Latinist @ St Andrews. Working on: early imperial & philosophical epistemologies, narratives of incorporation, pleasure/rhetoric/philosophy/patronage. 🏳️‍🌈🇪🇺 Also love: sci-fi, yarny arts, bitterballen.
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esthermeijer.bsky.social
Esther Meijer @esthermeijer.bsky.social · Jan 14
Hello! My new article is now out in Arethusa: '(Re)Producing The Egyptian: Arboricultural Cultivation Of The Roman State In Lucan’s Civil War'.

I consider the epic's tree imagery as metaphor for the Roman state, pointing to the protagonists' attempts at cultivation & propagation.
Screenshot. Text reads: (Re)Producing The Egyptian: Arboricultural Cultivation Of The Roman State In Lucan’s Civil War. Esther Meijer. Abstract: This article examines the changing relationship between Rome and Egypt in Lucan’s Civil War. It applies philological and ideological analyses to the epic’s destabilisation and restabilisation of the body politic of the Roman state as discernible from two interrelated sets of imagery: firstly, the language of arboriculture and propagation as evoked by Virgil’s Georgics and Theocritus’s 17th Idyll; and, secondly, the mortuary treatments applied to Pompey’s body parts. Key to the restabilisation of the res publica is Caesar’s interpretation of Pompey’s remains, which reproduces Egypt as “Other” in relation to Rome while acknowledging its now enduring presence within the empire.
Reposted by Esther Meijer
katexe.bsky.social
Delighted to have a short piece in this week's TLS on Hades 2, gender, and modern myth making.

www.the-tls.com/arts/hades-i...
Hell with other people
Video games are often the first and most common way that many people now encounter the classical world. Hades, a critical hit following its release in
www.the-tls.com
October 17, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Reposted by Esther Meijer
lizgloyn.bsky.social
Just in case this got lost on Friday, sharing again this WonkHE piece on Phase 1 of the project that I'm running with @emizuc.bsky.social, @zenakamash.bsky.social and Lee Dibben on supporting students in the Classics dept living with neurodivergence and/or mental illness. It is good, important work.
Asking students about the challenges they face
Lee Dibben, Liz Gloyn, Zena Kamash and Emilio Zucchetti explain how engaging with students who are neurodivergent or living with a mental health condition can identify simple and effective interventio...
wonkhe.com
January 20, 2025 at 9:29 AM
esthermeijer.bsky.social
Hello! My new article is now out in Arethusa: '(Re)Producing The Egyptian: Arboricultural Cultivation Of The Roman State In Lucan’s Civil War'.

I consider the epic's tree imagery as metaphor for the Roman state, pointing to the protagonists' attempts at cultivation & propagation.
Screenshot. Text reads: (Re)Producing The Egyptian: Arboricultural Cultivation Of The Roman State In Lucan’s Civil War. Esther Meijer. Abstract: This article examines the changing relationship between Rome and Egypt in Lucan’s Civil War. It applies philological and ideological analyses to the epic’s destabilisation and restabilisation of the body politic of the Roman state as discernible from two interrelated sets of imagery: firstly, the language of arboriculture and propagation as evoked by Virgil’s Georgics and Theocritus’s 17th Idyll; and, secondly, the mortuary treatments applied to Pompey’s body parts. Key to the restabilisation of the res publica is Caesar’s interpretation of Pompey’s remains, which reproduces Egypt as “Other” in relation to Rome while acknowledging its now enduring presence within the empire.
January 14, 2025 at 1:22 PM
esthermeijer.bsky.social
Some tables have turned in unexpected ways, and I am so pleased to be at St Andrews again this upcoming academic year. This time I have brought posters.
Office with a wooden desk in front of a fake fireplace. On the mantel there’s a variety of cards. Above the mantel there’s a whiteboard with pictures of ancient statues. Sunlight comes in through the window on the left.
September 13, 2024 at 10:32 AM
esthermeijer.bsky.social
Followed a print from the 16th century and cross stitched a colourful peacock. 🦚🪡

🔗: collections.louvre.fr/ark:/53355/c...
cross-stitched image of a peacock, facing the audience with his tail on show. the image is pixelated, and done in two colours: the background is purple, and the peacock itself and some plants are a variegated blue green colour. black and white print of the pixelated peacock. Old looking page with some French text on.
July 9, 2024 at 11:57 AM
esthermeijer.bsky.social
Last day on the job. Slightly heartbroken that my contract is ending: I found friends and community in St Andrews, and I will miss my students and colleagues greatly (as well as the bonkers office view over the North Sea). #FTContracts #ECR
My hand holds keys in front of my office door, which has a plaque with the university of st Andrews logo on it as well as my name and title. Two big desks opposite each other in a light room. There’s books on the shelves and trees outside the windows. One of the desks has been emptied. View from the beach towards the sea, with St Andrews’ buildings and church spires on the right. Sunny, a few white clouds in the sky.
June 28, 2024 at 11:22 AM
esthermeijer.bsky.social
@laurenginsberg.bsky.social did I just spot you on the ⏰ app?! #famous
November 29, 2023 at 11:45 PM
esthermeijer.bsky.social
I’ve been teaching Tacitus’ Agricola for one of our Latin honours modules @ St Andrews, and I couldn’t resist including an inscription from the Hunterian for tomorrow’s session about freedom and enslavement 🧑🏼‍🏫
PowerPoint slide depicting a relief with inscription and a translation. The relief is in the shape of a triumphal arch. In the middle, a person raises their hand victoriously. Around them, people are kneeling and in chains: they are captives. Translation of inscription is: for the emperor Caesar Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pius, father of his country, a detachment of the twentieth valiant and victorious legion built (this) over a distance of 3000 feet. Found near Hutcheson Hill, West Dunbartonshire, F.1969.22, Hunterian Museum Glasgow.
September 20, 2023 at 5:10 PM
esthermeijer.bsky.social
Today was supposed to be my last day at St Andrews - but I am very glad and relieved to be sticking around for most of the new academic year. 😊🙏🏻

Especially excited to get to continue to teach and support their wonderful, creative, and incisive students!
August 31, 2023 at 9:51 AM
esthermeijer.bsky.social
Today I submitted an article (the main fruit of this summer 🍊, alongside, y’know, five job interviews and many more job applications) and sent a number of emails I’d been postponing before finally turning on my out of office.

Annual leave, here I come. 🧜🏻
July 31, 2023 at 6:48 PM
esthermeijer.bsky.social
The middle of summer seems like a good time to re-try this work/life balance thing. 🐳 Annual leave soon, can’t wait…
Small cross stitch of a whale. It’s half finished and lots of shades of blue. I’m holding it on my lap and the garden is in the background. Selfie of me, a blonde person wearing blue stripey dungarees, glasses and headphones. I’m smiling.
July 30, 2023 at 7:36 PM
esthermeijer.bsky.social
Found my way here! Will most likely post about my life in- and outside of academia, from my love for Nero and the long Flavian age to my daily joys and sorrows. 🌸
July 29, 2023 at 3:48 PM