Mateusz Fafinski
@calthalas.bsky.social
Late antiquity, early Middle Ages, manuscripts, cities and monasticism. A bit of digital humanities and maps as well.
Assistant Professor at the University of Erfurt
Assistant Professor at the University of Erfurt
Pinned
Medieval psalters be like
🌺🌿🌿🌿🌿🌺🌱🌱💫
🌿🟡🟡🟡🟡🟡🌼🌱💫
🌿🟡🟦🟦🟦🟦✨🌱💫
🌿🟡🟦🤴🏾🦄🌝🟦🦚💫
🌿🟡🟦🟦🟦🟦✨🌱🍆
🌿😼🟦🤺🥀🏹🟦🐕💫
🌿🟡🟦🌸🦜🐉🟦🌱💫
🌿🟡🟦🏹🐒🐝🟦🌱💫
🌿🟡🟦🟦🟦🟦eatus vir
🌿🟡🟡🧜♂️🟡🟡🌷🌱💫
🌺🌿🌿🌿🌿🌺🌱🌱🌼
🌺🌿🌿🌿🌿🌺🌱🌱💫
🌿🟡🟡🟡🟡🟡🌼🌱💫
🌿🟡🟦🟦🟦🟦✨🌱💫
🌿🟡🟦🤴🏾🦄🌝🟦🦚💫
🌿🟡🟦🟦🟦🟦✨🌱🍆
🌿😼🟦🤺🥀🏹🟦🐕💫
🌿🟡🟦🌸🦜🐉🟦🌱💫
🌿🟡🟦🏹🐒🐝🟦🌱💫
🌿🟡🟦🟦🟦🟦eatus vir
🌿🟡🟡🧜♂️🟡🟡🌷🌱💫
🌺🌿🌿🌿🌿🌺🌱🌱🌼
Reposted by Mateusz Fafinski
I got to go on @mikemotia.bsky.social 's podcast, New Books in Late Antiquity, and talk about my new book, Things Unseen!
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/n...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/n...
Ellen Muehlberger,
Podcast Episode · New Books in Late Antiquity · 11/10/2025 · 1h 14m
podcasts.apple.com
November 10, 2025 at 1:23 PM
I got to go on @mikemotia.bsky.social 's podcast, New Books in Late Antiquity, and talk about my new book, Things Unseen!
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/n...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/n...
Reposted by Mateusz Fafinski
Middle Ages, gray, dark, all mud, no color, grim.
St Zeno Verona: you were saying?
St Zeno Verona: you were saying?
May 3, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Middle Ages, gray, dark, all mud, no color, grim.
St Zeno Verona: you were saying?
St Zeno Verona: you were saying?
Reposted by Mateusz Fafinski
"The Renaissance" is not a result of a linear "revolution". It was a medieval phenomenon, rooted in ideas circulating for centuries (Giotto was born c. 1267). The Middle Ages had multiple periods of seeing "classical" ideas as fashionable. Works like Vitruvius were widely read and influential. 1/
May 29, 2025 at 6:30 PM
"The Renaissance" is not a result of a linear "revolution". It was a medieval phenomenon, rooted in ideas circulating for centuries (Giotto was born c. 1267). The Middle Ages had multiple periods of seeing "classical" ideas as fashionable. Works like Vitruvius were widely read and influential. 1/
Reposted by Mateusz Fafinski
A reminder that we have no colloquium event this week! However, our affiliated program, the Philadelphia Seminar on Christian Origins, is holding a book event on Zoom with Prof. Ellen Muehlberger (Michigan) from 6:30–8:00 pm on Thursday, Oct. 30.
Details here:
rels.sas.upenn.edu/events/2025/...
Details here:
rels.sas.upenn.edu/events/2025/...
October 27, 2025 at 10:58 PM
A reminder that we have no colloquium event this week! However, our affiliated program, the Philadelphia Seminar on Christian Origins, is holding a book event on Zoom with Prof. Ellen Muehlberger (Michigan) from 6:30–8:00 pm on Thursday, Oct. 30.
Details here:
rels.sas.upenn.edu/events/2025/...
Details here:
rels.sas.upenn.edu/events/2025/...
Reposted by Mateusz Fafinski
…and people act like medieval accounts of diplomatic missions are implausible.
Mar Awa III, patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, also born in Chicago, gave Pope Leo a Cubs jersey.
October 28, 2025 at 3:01 AM
…and people act like medieval accounts of diplomatic missions are implausible.
Reposted by Mateusz Fafinski
Took a while but nice to get my author’s copy!
October 18, 2025 at 6:12 PM
Took a while but nice to get my author’s copy!
Reposted by Mateusz Fafinski
Mind-numbing how many layers of history there can be to a single manuscript page: Syriac upper text (10th c.), Armenian undertext (pre-10th c.), Arabic material used for binding (11-12th c.?), Coptic foliation in the margin (date?), modern foliation at the bottom. Image: Leiden UL Or. 14236, link ⬇️
October 16, 2025 at 9:54 AM
Mind-numbing how many layers of history there can be to a single manuscript page: Syriac upper text (10th c.), Armenian undertext (pre-10th c.), Arabic material used for binding (11-12th c.?), Coptic foliation in the margin (date?), modern foliation at the bottom. Image: Leiden UL Or. 14236, link ⬇️
Reposted by Mateusz Fafinski
Alte Geschichte, ancient history, late antiquity
Historism, Annales School, Cultural History
October 8, 2025 at 11:15 AM
Alte Geschichte, ancient history, late antiquity
Alte Geschichte, ancient history, late antiquity
Historism, Annales School, Cultural History
October 8, 2025 at 11:15 AM
Alte Geschichte, ancient history, late antiquity
Probably my favourite long late antiquity piece of art. The so-called "palimpsest" fresco in Santa Maria Antiqua in Rome shows consecutive layers of paintings from the sixth century (Mary as empress of heaven) all the way to the seventh and early eight century. The level of detail is just amazing.
October 7, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Probably my favourite long late antiquity piece of art. The so-called "palimpsest" fresco in Santa Maria Antiqua in Rome shows consecutive layers of paintings from the sixth century (Mary as empress of heaven) all the way to the seventh and early eight century. The level of detail is just amazing.
Reposted by Mateusz Fafinski
This is a tale of two castles
One of those buildings is fully original, an almost model example of its style; the other one is fake, built on the ruins of a medieval castle with a fully modern interior. 1/
One of those buildings is fully original, an almost model example of its style; the other one is fake, built on the ruins of a medieval castle with a fully modern interior. 1/
August 28, 2025 at 8:17 AM
This is a tale of two castles
One of those buildings is fully original, an almost model example of its style; the other one is fake, built on the ruins of a medieval castle with a fully modern interior. 1/
One of those buildings is fully original, an almost model example of its style; the other one is fake, built on the ruins of a medieval castle with a fully modern interior. 1/
Reposted by Mateusz Fafinski
Peer-reviewing an article: "Why is this an article, and not a book?"
Peer-reviewing a book: "And why is this a book, and not an article?"
Peer-reviewing a book: "And why is this a book, and not an article?"
October 3, 2025 at 11:26 AM
Peer-reviewing an article: "Why is this an article, and not a book?"
Peer-reviewing a book: "And why is this a book, and not an article?"
Peer-reviewing a book: "And why is this a book, and not an article?"
Reposted by Mateusz Fafinski
I moved all my stuff from Academia_dot_edu to HCommons.
October 1, 2025 at 7:21 PM
I moved all my stuff from Academia_dot_edu to HCommons.
Is your conference taking place in a palace? Because ours
October 1, 2025 at 6:45 AM
Is your conference taking place in a palace? Because ours
Reposted by Mateusz Fafinski
The Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies is hiring three postdoctoral researchers.
We investigate the causes and mechanisms that contribute to the persistence of strong asymmetrical dependencies across historical and contemporary contexts.
Pre-modern perspectives are very welcome!
We investigate the causes and mechanisms that contribute to the persistence of strong asymmetrical dependencies across historical and contemporary contexts.
Pre-modern perspectives are very welcome!
3 Postdoctoral Positions (100%, TV-L E-13, for 3 years)
full-time, Temporary, EG 13, Reference number: 2025/152
www.uni-bonn.de
September 30, 2025 at 3:01 PM
The Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies is hiring three postdoctoral researchers.
We investigate the causes and mechanisms that contribute to the persistence of strong asymmetrical dependencies across historical and contemporary contexts.
Pre-modern perspectives are very welcome!
We investigate the causes and mechanisms that contribute to the persistence of strong asymmetrical dependencies across historical and contemporary contexts.
Pre-modern perspectives are very welcome!
Reposted by Mateusz Fafinski
We are in Potsdam to talk about nature, labour and economy in the second half of the first millennium!
September 30, 2025 at 12:14 PM
We are in Potsdam to talk about nature, labour and economy in the second half of the first millennium!
Tomorrow my first slide is this
September 30, 2025 at 12:34 PM
Tomorrow my first slide is this
We are in Potsdam to talk about nature, labour and economy in the second half of the first millennium!
September 30, 2025 at 12:14 PM
We are in Potsdam to talk about nature, labour and economy in the second half of the first millennium!
Reposted by Mateusz Fafinski
I, Rowboat: Mechanical Propulsion and Individual Agency in the Viking Era North Atlantic
#FakePaperTitles
#FakePaperTitles
September 29, 2025 at 2:33 PM
I, Rowboat: Mechanical Propulsion and Individual Agency in the Viking Era North Atlantic
#FakePaperTitles
#FakePaperTitles
Reposted by Mateusz Fafinski
Sturm *UND* drang? In dieser Wirtschaft??
September 28, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Sturm *UND* drang? In dieser Wirtschaft??
Germany. On a plate
September 27, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Germany. On a plate
Reposted by Mateusz Fafinski
You know how you're supposed to put your own mask on before helping others on an airplane? This is why I make my coffee first in the morning.
September 27, 2025 at 11:37 AM
You know how you're supposed to put your own mask on before helping others on an airplane? This is why I make my coffee first in the morning.
Reposted by Mateusz Fafinski
Sharing this on behalf of George Kiraz: There will be an introductory Syriac course at Cambridge in the winter term (January 2026). Please share with anyone who might be interested!
September 25, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Sharing this on behalf of George Kiraz: There will be an introductory Syriac course at Cambridge in the winter term (January 2026). Please share with anyone who might be interested!
Reposted by Mateusz Fafinski
September 21, 2025 at 6:26 PM