M. Willis Monroe
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willismonroe.bsky.social
M. Willis Monroe
@willismonroe.bsky.social
1.5K followers 180 following 150 posts
Cuneiform Studies, History of Science/Religion, Digital Humanities/Coding, Associate Professor at the University of New Brunswick, Co-Director of the Database of Religious History.
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willismonroe.bsky.social
In class today my students created a social network of (meme-famous) Ea-naṣir based on the letters in his dossier. It coincided with the most recent episode of the Thin Edge of the Wedge. An excellent roundup by great colleagues on everything we know about Ea-naṣir and his historical context...
November 7, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Reposted by M. Willis Monroe
chancebonar.bsky.social
🗣️ PLEASE SHARE 🗣️

I'm writing an intro & sourcebook on late ancient Gazan literature for Dar al-Kalima University Press. The press and I plan to produce an Arabic translation to make Gazan literature more accessible to Palestinians. Help me compensate the Gazan translator!

spot.fund/dn8t744sc
Click here to support Chance Bonar's story *AncientGazanLitTranslation
*spotfund is the easiest place to create beautiful and free online fundraisers. It takes just minutes to start raising money today.
spot.fund
October 21, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Reposted by M. Willis Monroe
Today I published a new section of my website with resources for those who wish to learn, study, and/or teach ancient languages using braille. It rests on work we did over the past year to expand screen reader access to these languages through the LibLouis library. Check it out and share around!
New: Braille Resources for Reading Ancient Languages
[Photo by me. Tactile graphic by Crystal Peng.]   I recently created a new section of my website, which provides educational resources for anyone who wants to read ancient Middle Eastern and North …
www.blindscholar.com
October 16, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Reposted by M. Willis Monroe
ncdominie.bsky.social
Weirdly enough I was telling my first-years about "warrior ethos" last week.

Here's the skill set of a Top Viking, as set out by a dude who'd have gone through anyone using the phrase "warrior ethos" like a well-aimed axe.
I am quick at playing board games; I have nine skills; I forget runes slowly; the book is a preoccupation with me and also craftsmanship. I am able to glide on skis; I shoot and I row so that it makes a difference; I am able to understand both: harp-playing and poems. — Earl Rognvald of Orkney, trans. Judith Jesch.
September 30, 2025 at 4:02 PM
willismonroe.bsky.social
This exhibit from the Derbyshire Record Office hosted on Google Arts and Culture is really cool! Beautiful images of handwriting throughout the last 800 years. Relevant because I just finished teaching lectures on cuneiform and its change over time...

artsandculture.google.com/story/800-ye...
800 Years of English Handwriting - Google Arts & Culture
Google Arts & Culture features content from over 2000 leading museums and archives who have partnered with the Google Cultural Institute to bring the world's treasures online.
artsandculture.google.com
September 25, 2025 at 12:45 PM
Reposted by M. Willis Monroe
nkalamb.bsky.social
Ta-Nehisi Coates on Charlie Kirk and those who have canonized him.

archive.ph/2025.09.16-2...
September 17, 2025 at 6:08 PM
willismonroe.bsky.social
We've got a new poll up on the DRH focused on ritual, we're always recruiting more scholars to create entries (and we've got honoraria available!).
religionhistory.bsky.social The Database of Religious History @religionhistory.bsky.social · Sep 15
The DRH is excited to announce the release of our new Religious Ritual poll (religiondatabase.org/landing/poll...). Experts can now submit entries on specific rituals, with detailed questions about every aspect of timing, participants, practices and purposes.
An image of the overview of the new Ritual poll on the DRH website.
September 15, 2025 at 5:18 PM
willismonroe.bsky.social
These threads are a pretty amazing example, by Will, of how dangerous LLMs are when consulted for advice, information, etc... (basically anything). Lots of "yes and"ing and pushing the user to extremes choices.
willgervais.com Will Gervais @willgervais.com · Jun 19
Today's round of "is ChatGPT still racist AF"

I asked it to make a graph showing the effects of an illegal & dangerous skin lightening product. Chatbot knows it's dangerous, but thinks it makes you smarter. And overall: the boosts to intelligence, confidence, etc outweigh serious health risks.

1/8
June 19, 2025 at 11:35 AM
willismonroe.bsky.social
We just finished watching season 2 of Andor (loved it) and this was a fun and insightful read:
jpnudell.bsky.social Professor Nutella @jpnudell.bsky.social · May 31
A new blog post in which I argue that Andor's commitment to a historical mode of storytelling sets it apart from the legendary mode that dominates the Skywalker Saga and allows it to succeed where so many of the other prequel stories fall flat.

joshuapnudell.com/2025/05/31/h...
Historical Star Wars
An exploration of the legendary and historical modes of storytelling in Star Wars.
joshuapnudell.com
June 1, 2025 at 9:47 AM
Reposted by M. Willis Monroe
aandeloucas.com
We may never know everything about the past, but we do know how to say in Akkadian 'Speak out, revolt' (tisiʾā tuqumta)!

That's thanks to one of the earliest Flood myths, Atra-hasis, composed nearly four thousand years ago.
aandeloucas.com Andrew A.N. Deloucas @aandeloucas.com · May 23
My folks are visiting Armenia, so naturally they asked about Mount Ararat and that really means they wanted to better understand the reception history of Bronze Age political myths:
Galaxy Brain meme. First panel says "Noah's Ark landed on Mount Ararat". Second panel says "Noah's Ark landed on Mount Judi". Third panel says "The Ark is a metaphor." The final panel says "Flood myths originally encouraged rebellion as a means for maintaining democratic rights in the face of tyranny".
May 23, 2025 at 1:32 PM
willismonroe.bsky.social
You should download this while you can, Andrew is an excellent scholar and has a unique way of distilling quite complex historical narratives into compelling and edifying prose.
andytobo.bsky.social Andrew Tobolowsky @andytobo.bsky.social · Apr 22
Today is the second to last day to download my "Element" for free. The argument is basically that we ought to think of ethnic authors as individuals who 1) locate themselves within overarching strategies and 2) deploy those strategies in unique and individual ways
Israel and its Heirs in Late Antiquity
Cambridge Core - Religion: General Interest - Israel and its Heirs in Late Antiquity
www.cambridge.org
April 22, 2025 at 12:15 PM
willismonroe.bsky.social
I just want to highlight this figure, it is so shocking... Students use AI to create not learn. They're not scaffolding their learning, they're not working their way up a pyramid of skills... they're just having the AI write their assignments.
willismonroe.bsky.social M. Willis Monroe @willismonroe.bsky.social · Apr 16
There's a lot in there, but this figure is the standout. Students use AI to create work, not to understand tricky problems or figure out how to apply concepts. They're just using AI as a shortcut not a tool. Quoting the authors of the white paper: "An inverted pyramid, after all, can topple over."
"An inverted pyramid, after all, can topple over." Questions asked of Claude when assigned to Bloom's taxonomy, students are using AI to create answers and submit work rather than understand hard problems. 39.8% of all questions were used for "Creating" the highest level, the taxonomy is supposed to show a pyramid structure standing firm, this is the opposite.
April 16, 2025 at 12:44 PM
willismonroe.bsky.social
If you're concerned about AI use in higher education check out this whitepaper from the AI company Anthropic www.anthropic.com/news/anthrop... about how students use their product (Claude™) there's some really fascinating and worrying stuff in here—kudos to the authors for putting it all out there..
Anthropic Education Report: How University Students Use Claude
AI systems are no longer just specialized research tools: they’re everyday academic companions. As AIs integrate more deeply into educational environments, we need to consider important questions abou...
www.anthropic.com
April 16, 2025 at 12:27 PM
willismonroe.bsky.social
I've been thinking about an analogy of AI LLMs as junk food: readily available, easy and fast, and rewiring our brains to want more. And how time and money is spent by health organizations trying to get people to eat their vegetables! This article seems to confirm that: futurism.com/the-byte/cha...
Something Bizarre Is Happening to People Who Use ChatGPT a Lot
ChatGPT "power users," or those who use it the most, are becoming dependent upon — or even addicted to — the chatbot.
futurism.com
March 25, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Reposted by M. Willis Monroe
shgordin.bsky.social
Call for papers: new Nature HSS collection! articles on computational analysis of #western-asia from when writing emerged c. 3500 BCE till 1500CE! #DANES @geophilologist.bsky.social @maltaweel.bsky.social

www.nature.com/collections/...
From bits of history to bytes of data: AI and the study of the ancient Near East
This Collection aims at examining the computational and digital study of “greater Western Asia” and its epistemological implications.
www.nature.com
March 14, 2025 at 12:57 PM
Reposted by M. Willis Monroe
peoplingthepast.bsky.social
Publication news! 🎉 Ancient Pasts for Modern Audiences is NOW AVAILABLE for everybody to read! We are so excited to share this work with you all: www.routledge.com/Ancient-Past... 🎉
Cover art by the wonderful @flaroh.bsky.social!
March 10, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Reposted by M. Willis Monroe
histstudiesunb.bsky.social
UNB students are putting on a (modern) rendition of Aristophanes' ancient comedy the Frogs here on campus under the expert direction of Dr. Carolyn MacDonald a professor in our department. All are welcome on March 21st and 22nd in Memorial Hall, see the flyer for more details.
A poster for a theatrical production of Aristophanes' the Frogs: You and your students are warmly invited to attend next week's performances of Aristophanes' Frogs, a modern twist on an ancient classic starring students, recent grads, and even faculty from Historical Studies and beyond. In this comic extravaganza, the wine-god Dionysus and his unpaid intern Xanthias embark on a heroic journey to bring a rock-and-roll icon back to life. They’ll tangle with actual heroes, cross the river Styx, face terrifying monsters and sweet-singing hippies, and finally make it to Club Underworld for an epic showdown between Elvis Presley and David Bowie. It’s Ancient Greek myth like you’ve never seen it before! Oh, and did we mention there are frogs? Date: March 21 and 22 Time: 7:30pm (doors at 7pm) Place: Memorial Hall, UNB Absolutely free!
March 11, 2025 at 3:28 PM
willismonroe.bsky.social
Last week to submit an abstract for our workshop at ASOR this year: The Robot at the Back of the Classroom: Student Engagement and Assessment under the Shadow of Generative AI... We're interested in talking about what we're all talking about, how do we teach/inspire/assess in our classrooms with AI?
The Robot at the Back of the Classroom: Student Engagement and Assessment under the Shadow of Generative AI (Workshop) Session Chairs: M. Willis Monroe, University of New Brunswick; Emily Hammer, University of Pennsylvania Description: Students and instructors across our disciplines have been impacted by the advent of easily accessible tools for generative AI (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude). These tools present problems for traditional pedagogical methods and have a deleterious effect on students’ motivation to learn. However, these tools are not going away and their usage is only going to become more common. How can we teach, engage, and assess our students in this rapidly changing landscape? This workshop will consider the unique benefits that courses structured around archaeology and ancient texts can offer, including innovative pedagogical solutions that facilitate deeper engagement and more effective assessment methods. We will focus on three aspects of teaching in our modern pedagogical landscape: 1) How to assess students accurately despite the threat of generative AI being used in lieu of actual student work. This can involve various techniques from the basic switch to analog in-class writing or oral exams, to prompt injection in lecture slides. This is not just about catching academic dishonesty as such methods can result in improvements in pedagogical outcomes. 2) How to change our pedagogical structures so that generative AI is not an easy crutch or an attractive shortcut. This can involve substantially more discussion-based courses, flipped classrooms, and group research projects. 3) Potential ways to incorporate generative AI into the classroom. Our students in their education and careers will need to learn the potential benefits, harm, and limitations of these tools, as well as how to critically assess their outputs.
March 10, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Reposted by M. Willis Monroe
religionhistory.bsky.social
We have just published our second release of our Standard Cross Cultural Sample of Religion (SCCSR)! This version adds language tags which can be use to help control for historical relatedness (in addition to a lot more data). Check out the release on Zenodo here: zenodo.org/records/1496...
Standard Cross-Cultural Sample of Religion
The Standard Cross-Cultural Sample of Religion is a product of the Database of Religious History (DRH). The DRH is a qualitative-quantitative encyclopedic database of historical religious data across ...
zenodo.org
March 4, 2025 at 2:25 PM
willismonroe.bsky.social
This is an amazing visualization project... the total ISBN space! Make sure you search and/or scroll in to see the books arranged on a virtual bookshelf:

phiresky.github.io/blog/2025/vi...
Visualizing all books of the world in ISBN-Space - phiresky's blog
Libraries have been trying to collect humanity’s knowledge almost since the invention of writing. In the digital age, it might actually be possible to create a comprehensive collection of all human wr...
phiresky.github.io
February 27, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Reposted by M. Willis Monroe
aandeloucas.com
Call for Papers, ASOR 2025
November 19–22, Boston

"Towards a Working Ancient Economy: The Bronze Age"

www.asor.org/am/2025/appr...

If you have any questions, send me a message on here or via email!
2025 LIST OF APPROVED SESSIONS - American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR)
The 2025 ASOR Annual Meeting will be held November 29-22 in Boston and online. View the list of sessions and workshops that have been approved for the 2025 Academic Program.
www.asor.org
February 24, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Reposted by M. Willis Monroe
agentlazero.bsky.social
Happy #BlackHistoryMonth everyone! The Department of Historical Studies at UNB will host its 9th annual lecture by #CanadaResearchChair Claudine Bonner speaking about love and #Africville - A free public lecture!
A poster for a public Black History Month lecture event: Red background, black and red accents. A profile image of Dr. Claudine Bonner. Her lecture "Addendum to a Love Letter- Narratives from Africville. 7th February 5pm-7pm in person at the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick.
February 1, 2025 at 6:51 PM
willismonroe.bsky.social
We just had a wood stove installed (Jøtul 602 v2 if you're wondering) and was dreading informing our home insurance company... I sent the e-mail this morning and they just replied that it reduced(!) our bill by $10.

(maybe because it counts as a secondary heat source and prevents pipes freezing)
A small wood stove surrounded by a fence in a living room, with a very happy cat sitting on an ottoman.
December 3, 2024 at 2:55 PM
Reposted by M. Willis Monroe
slingerland.bsky.social
The Database of Religious History is here at AAR/SBL! Come check us out in the book exhibit near the coffee (booth 814). #aarsbl
November 23, 2024 at 5:04 PM
Reposted by M. Willis Monroe
aandeloucas.com
Ea-nāṣir is the recipient of the world’s oldest complaint letter. He’s reportedly the worst businessman of the 18th century, a mediocre conman whose actions should have him put out of business. Is this fair?

Here’s a thread on the most up-to-date research on this captivating figure.
November 22, 2024 at 9:34 PM