Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees
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badancient.bsky.social
Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees
@badancient.bsky.social
3.8K followers 410 following 550 posts
Ancient Historian: Global history, ancient disability, veteran studies, etc. Also runs Bad Ancient: Fact-checking common claims about the ancient world.

Website: www.badancient.com

Newsletter: https://owenrees.substack.com/
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badancient.bsky.social
Some houses near me appear to be locked in a battle of faux-patriotism. Whenever one flag goes up, another puts up two. This guy seems to be 'winning':
A red bricked house with cars parked out front. There is a grass verge and a pavement in the foreground. The focus of the photo is a stretch of fencing with has 6 union flags, one saint George's flag, and one flag for the extreme far right group Britain First.
October 12, 2025 at 5:40 PM
badancient.bsky.social
Just received my author copies for the north american version of my book!

Pre-order here (release date 30th Sept): wwnorton.com/books/978132...
Books on a brown wooden table. Three black books lay down, flanked by a black book standing on the left and a beige book on the right. They are all titled 'Far Edges of the Known World'. Behind the books is a full book shelf and white walls.
August 28, 2025 at 1:19 PM
badancient.bsky.social
So great to see my book out in translation. Sandwiched between two great books by @drdragases.bsky.social (thanks for sending this to me!) and @jldraycott.bsky.social.
A table of ancient history books on a shelf surrounded by dozens more. They are written in or translated into Dutch.
July 18, 2025 at 5:21 PM
badancient.bsky.social
Gus has been sat by my side while I learned to be a dad, when I wrote my first book, when we moved across the country, through the PhD and beyond. He was always with me through everything, and today I was with him one last time. Goodbye to the best old dog.
A small black dog (west Highland terrier crossed with a Lhasa Apso) stands on green grass in the sunshine.
June 28, 2025 at 7:19 PM
badancient.bsky.social
Bad Ancient is getting its first public event as part of Chalke Valley History Festival next Weds. The website has been growing since its inception in 2020, can't wait to talk about it. But I will have been on the move since 4.30am and its my 3rd talk of that day, so hoping the adrenaline kicks in!
Screenshot advertising a talk about Bad Ancient. The background is a cream colour with a green banner. An authors photo sits sin a small circle on the left hand side - it is a white male with short dark hair wearing a pink long-sleeved top. Screenshot advertising a talk about being history writers for Bloomsbury. The background is a cream colour with a green banner. Authors photos sit in small circles - one woman and three men. Screenshot advertising a talk about Ptolemaic Egypt. The background is a cream colour with a green banner. Authors photos sit in small circles - all three are white men with short hair.
June 19, 2025 at 3:05 PM
badancient.bsky.social
I am going to guess most, if not all, historians have an origin story. Mine starts around the time I got hold of these two beauties as a kid!
Book cover: orange edging. Title reads - The Greek News: Alexander Victorious. A colour image of Alexander the great on his horse in battle. On the right hand side are 3 small images depicting 'top stories inside'. Book cover: dark edging made to look like inscribed marble. Title reads - The Roman News: The greatest newspaper in civilization. A colour image of Julius Caesar being killed by a crowd of senators wielding knives. On the bottom are 6 small images depicting themes in the book.
June 18, 2025 at 6:16 AM
badancient.bsky.social
Italian translation has just arrived today!
Book cover showing a sunset over grasslands, looking through a stone arch. The book is on a wooden table.
May 30, 2025 at 12:17 PM
badancient.bsky.social
Spotted a new book on the shelves in Manchester @rhigarthjones.bsky.social
A man in black shorts and an orange numper is pointing at a history book on a large book shelf in a shop.
May 23, 2025 at 2:34 PM
badancient.bsky.social
During class yesterday I was asked about Medical Humanities and what they were. It gave me an excuse to wax lyrical about a mentor of mine (@helenking.bsky.social) and her new book, as a good example of what it's all about. Then, this morning, it arrived at my door!
Spine of a book is visible inside an envelope, which is sat on top of a wooden table. The tilte is in blue: Immaculate Forms A coulourful book with a plant based design, which is sat on top of a wooden table. The tilte is in blue: Immaculate Forms: uncovering the history of women's bodies. Orientation of the photo is on its side.
May 8, 2025 at 1:03 PM
badancient.bsky.social
When your two great interests align! The founder of Kosmos offered me the chance to try out their kit, which is ancient Greek themed! The name of the Judo gi is Stoa... I haven't yet asked why, I presume because of the logo?
A black bag with white writing that says Kosmos and a logo which looks like a stylised Greek pillar. A white judo gi top and trousers lie on a brown, wooden table. The gi has a black design of a stylised pillar,and a black and white design on the inside as well.
April 30, 2025 at 2:28 PM
badancient.bsky.social
My holiday 'to read' pile. I only get time to read books, cover to cover in one go, about once a year - so I have to make it count!
Three books on a wooden (pine coloured) table: Between two rivers; Plato: a civic life; Men who hate women. On the left is a grey light switch.
April 14, 2025 at 8:23 AM
badancient.bsky.social
The glamorous life of an ancient historian! My last book was mostly written in a car whilst waiting for my wife to run marathons around Yorkshire. My latest work will be written, it seems, while waiting for my daughter to enjoy seeing her friends.
A laptop screen with a work a work in progress up on a split screen - dark mode on the right, normal mode on the left. The laptop is in a car, the black steering wheel is behind it with a Hyundai logo in the centre. Out of the windscreen it is a sunny day with trees visible but out of focus.
April 8, 2025 at 10:10 AM
badancient.bsky.social
It is always nice to get Bad Ancient fan mail. Apparently I need to sack all of the Egyptologists now, so I suppose I should get on with doing that.
a screenshot of an email voicing disapproval about the articles covering ancient Egypt on the website BadAncient.com.
April 7, 2025 at 2:23 PM
badancient.bsky.social
Survived my first literary festival 'author talk' today in Oxford. Seemed to go well. I was really pleased to see @helenking.bsky.social in the audience, who was such a big influence on me early on in my studies.

Bonus: my book appeared in this shop window! Near to @moudhy.bsky.social no less.
Window front for a book shops with a dark brown framing. An array of non fiction hardback books are set out in rows.
April 1, 2025 at 7:03 PM
badancient.bsky.social
Time to indulge a teenage obsession of mine as I spend time in 16th century Japan!
Screenshot of loading page from Assassins Creed Shadows. The screen is read with a male samurai headshot looking to the left, a female shinobi wearing a hood is looking to the right. Between them is the Assassins Creed logo.
March 24, 2025 at 6:17 PM
badancient.bsky.social
I was out in Manchester today and spotted 'Holy Places' by @drkathrynhurlock.bsky.social on the shelf!
White books shelves with a variety if history books in hardback. In the middle is a Blue cover with the main title: Holy Places.
March 16, 2025 at 3:35 PM
badancient.bsky.social
The search brings up images that come close, so we are looking for an exact match. Spotted here: 4/5
A screen shot showing various matches on the Google search. A red arrow points to an exact match, a red circle beneath the image identifies the page the image comes from: a Reddit forum.
February 20, 2025 at 1:38 PM
badancient.bsky.social
Click on it and it will allow you to edit the search field to focus on key elements. Make sure the core elements are inside the search area (so as much of Matt Damon and the Greek alphabet as possible). 3/5
A screen shot showing the image and possible matches online beneath it.
February 20, 2025 at 1:38 PM
badancient.bsky.social
Click on the image and download it to your desktop. Open up Google (I use the web browser version, not the app) and in the search bar you will see this icon to search images: 2/5
A screenshot of the Google search bar. A red arrow points at the small camera icon on the right hand side.
February 20, 2025 at 1:38 PM
badancient.bsky.social
I saw a lot of people reposting this image, which looks like a poorly thought through advert for the new film version of the Odyssey. But, as has since become apparent, it was not an authentic film poster, so let's do a quick thread on how to check. 1/5
Matt Damon stands dressed in a fantasy-style ancient Greek armour set, with a white and red painted wall in the background. White text is at the top and bottom giving the credits of a movie. The central title say The Odyssey but is written incorrectly in the Greek alphabet.
February 20, 2025 at 1:38 PM
badancient.bsky.social
3 days until publication, but copies have already been spotted in the wilds of London!
A set of book shelves with the black heading above saying 'Highlights'. Multicoloured book covers fill each shelf, three across. They are all history titles. In the background are a table with more white books stacked up and a shop till with a cashier wearing grey.
February 10, 2025 at 5:05 PM
badancient.bsky.social
Received my early copies! Am still shocked to see these endorsements from people whose books line my shelves: @helenking.bsky.social @josephinequinn.bsky.social @digkabri.bsky.social @jldraycott.bsky.social @amayor.bsky.social
A book (the back cover facing forwards) stands in front of a vase of flowers, on top of a wooden table. There is a grey laptop and a black headset on the table aswell.
February 5, 2025 at 12:22 PM
badancient.bsky.social
It is 2 weeks before publication day, but apparently copies can already be found in Germany!
A manicured hand holds a beige covered book with a bright blue and red design of a map at its top edge. In the back ground is book shelf filled with nonfiction book titles.
January 30, 2025 at 4:07 PM
badancient.bsky.social
My book is out on the 13th February with @bloomsburybooksuk.bsky.social! If you want to know about the ancient world beyond Greece and Rome, it is available to pre-order:

Waterstones: bit.ly/4jia3xr
Amazon: amzn.to/3E3ZxJY
Bookshop: bit.ly/3PKs5uA
Book promo with a beige background. On the right is the book, the top half is a colourful map below which is the title of the book in blue: The Far Edges of the Known World. To the left of the book is a quote, in black text, endorsing the book by Helen King.
January 22, 2025 at 6:44 AM
badancient.bsky.social
At some point people will surely notice that these are not the same gestures right? Right?
Elon Musk is wearing a dark suit and white shirt, stood in front of a lectern with a blue backdrop. His arm is extended straight, above his shoulder line, with his hand open (palm down) and his fingers closed in a position similar to the famous Nazi salute. Roman statue of Augustus, his right arm is raised, elbow bent, and his hand only slightly open which his index finger slightly protruding.
January 21, 2025 at 7:07 AM