Edith Hall
@edithmayhall.bsky.social
Durham University Classics Prof keen on Aristotle, visual art, Greek theatre/pots, labour/anti-racist history, prison education, Parthenon reunification. All views my own. Also on Twitter @edithmayhall
On this day in 332 BCE Alexander of Macedon was crowned Pharaoh of Egypt. Time for a granite statue now in Liebieghaus museum, Frankfurt and a copper alloy bust now in the Met, New York
November 14, 2025 at 2:03 PM
On this day in 332 BCE Alexander of Macedon was crowned Pharaoh of Egypt. Time for a granite statue now in Liebieghaus museum, Frankfurt and a copper alloy bust now in the Met, New York
Interested in what Euripides' Bacchae has to say to modern psychoanalysts? Attend a hybrid event on January 31st with me, a theatre-maker and a psychoanalyst. Free for secondary school students. psychoanalysis.org.uk/civicrm-even...
November 14, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Interested in what Euripides' Bacchae has to say to modern psychoanalysts? Attend a hybrid event on January 31st with me, a theatre-maker and a psychoanalyst. Free for secondary school students. psychoanalysis.org.uk/civicrm-even...
Why is Plato’s Atlantis a Y-Chromosome thing? I’m running an international conference on in it in Durham today and embarrassingly could not persuade a single female to supplement the all-male responses to the Call for Papers. I tried so hard
November 5, 2025 at 6:26 AM
Why is Plato’s Atlantis a Y-Chromosome thing? I’m running an international conference on in it in Durham today and embarrassingly could not persuade a single female to supplement the all-male responses to the Call for Papers. I tried so hard
Gobsmacked that Facing down the Furies wins 2025 International (formerly London) Hellenic Prize. Good to see mental health issues recognised. Here's to my valiant late mother, Brenda Hall née Henderson, who faced them down, supreme friend Peggy Reynolds and @rickypo.bsky.social, sine quibus non
November 1, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Gobsmacked that Facing down the Furies wins 2025 International (formerly London) Hellenic Prize. Good to see mental health issues recognised. Here's to my valiant late mother, Brenda Hall née Henderson, who faced them down, supreme friend Peggy Reynolds and @rickypo.bsky.social, sine quibus non
Friends, I’ve written a novel. It’s about how the Gen Z children of dysfunctional boomers Clytemnestra and Agamemnon try to move on in Crimea, Thessaly and Vravrona. Now I just need to find a publisher! Any suggestions?
October 25, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Friends, I’ve written a novel. It’s about how the Gen Z children of dysfunctional boomers Clytemnestra and Agamemnon try to move on in Crimea, Thessaly and Vravrona. Now I just need to find a publisher! Any suggestions?
I had a blast at Berwick on Tweed Literary Festival today being brilliantly interviewed by archaeologist Prof James Crowe on my Iliad book. Lovely town. I want to live here.
October 11, 2025 at 3:46 PM
I had a blast at Berwick on Tweed Literary Festival today being brilliantly interviewed by archaeologist Prof James Crowe on my Iliad book. Lovely town. I want to live here.
My tribute to Tony Harrison last week was to read his great, last, valedictory poem ‘Polygons’ at Delphi, where he started it.
October 9, 2025 at 4:20 PM
My tribute to Tony Harrison last week was to read his great, last, valedictory poem ‘Polygons’ at Delphi, where he started it.
Pre-Raphaelite Simeon Solomon was born this day 1840. He suffered prosecution and persecution, aggravated by antisemitism, for homosexuality. His Toilet of a Roman Lady (1869) was inspired by Pompeii frescoes, especially this one of Dido
October 9, 2025 at 8:47 AM
Pre-Raphaelite Simeon Solomon was born this day 1840. He suffered prosecution and persecution, aggravated by antisemitism, for homosexuality. His Toilet of a Roman Lady (1869) was inspired by Pompeii frescoes, especially this one of Dido
This coming Sunday, three historic performances of the late, great Tony Harrison's masterpiece "v." in the Leeds graveyard where it's set. I'm speaking before the final reading. Please come. slunglow.org/v-a-homecomi...
@lrb.co.uk
@richardburgon.bsky.social
@lrb.co.uk
@richardburgon.bsky.social
October 9, 2025 at 8:31 AM
This coming Sunday, three historic performances of the late, great Tony Harrison's masterpiece "v." in the Leeds graveyard where it's set. I'm speaking before the final reading. Please come. slunglow.org/v-a-homecomi...
@lrb.co.uk
@richardburgon.bsky.social
@lrb.co.uk
@richardburgon.bsky.social
Extremely sad that my much-loved friend and ally of over thirty-five years, the great poet, dramatist, socialist and acerbic wit Tony Harrison, died yesterday morning, peacefully, with his devoted partner, actress Sian Thomas, at his side. I'm so glad I visited them last week.
September 27, 2025 at 6:59 AM
Extremely sad that my much-loved friend and ally of over thirty-five years, the great poet, dramatist, socialist and acerbic wit Tony Harrison, died yesterday morning, peacefully, with his devoted partner, actress Sian Thomas, at his side. I'm so glad I visited them last week.
Thrilled the Special Issue of Green Letters I edited with Alison Sharrock is now online if you have access to Taylor and Francis. Mostly on trees in epic from Homer to Nonnus
September 20, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Thrilled the Special Issue of Green Letters I edited with Alison Sharrock is now online if you have access to Taylor and Francis. Mostly on trees in epic from Homer to Nonnus
My daughter has just found this in Istanbul
September 14, 2025 at 2:04 PM
My daughter has just found this in Istanbul
Yesterday at Ye Houses of Parliament my former PhD student and colleague Dr Peter Swallow MP hosted the launch of my book with Durham colleague Prof Arlene Holmes-Henderson promoting Classical Civilisation and Ancient History in secondary education. It was a joy.
September 9, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Yesterday at Ye Houses of Parliament my former PhD student and colleague Dr Peter Swallow MP hosted the launch of my book with Durham colleague Prof Arlene Holmes-Henderson promoting Classical Civilisation and Ancient History in secondary education. It was a joy.
On this day 44 BCE Cleopatra announced her son Caesarion co-ruler of Egypt. Since Caesar's propaganda equated Cleopatra with Isis-Venus, this Pompeii image of Venus & Cupid may be Cleo & son. However silly, it's not as bad as the choice of an uber-Aryan sprog = Caesarion in "that" movie.
September 2, 2025 at 11:59 AM
On this day 44 BCE Cleopatra announced her son Caesarion co-ruler of Egypt. Since Caesar's propaganda equated Cleopatra with Isis-Venus, this Pompeii image of Venus & Cupid may be Cleo & son. However silly, it's not as bad as the choice of an uber-Aryan sprog = Caesarion in "that" movie.
On #InternationalCosplayDay, recall that Herodotus says when c. 566 BCE Peisistratus returned to Athens he hired a tall woman, Phye, to impersonate the goddess Athena as his escort to legitimise his claim to sovereignty. Worth a try if you crave absolute power: it worked for him
August 30, 2025 at 12:06 PM
On #InternationalCosplayDay, recall that Herodotus says when c. 566 BCE Peisistratus returned to Athens he hired a tall woman, Phye, to impersonate the goddess Athena as his escort to legitimise his claim to sovereignty. Worth a try if you crave absolute power: it worked for him
Love him or hate him, classical tradition people can't ignore Jacques-Louis David, btd 1748, who ranges from ludicrous (Mars & Venus) to sublime: Brutus' face in The Lictors Bring to Brutus the Bodies of His Sons (1789) grimly presages the gore & disillusionment of the Reign of Terror
August 30, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Love him or hate him, classical tradition people can't ignore Jacques-Louis David, btd 1748, who ranges from ludicrous (Mars & Venus) to sublime: Brutus' face in The Lictors Bring to Brutus the Bodies of His Sons (1789) grimly presages the gore & disillusionment of the Reign of Terror
These two Ancient Greek plays on in London mid-September are brilliantly acted and directed. Thiasos really know what they’re doing with comedy. I’m speaking on 17th. thecockpit.org.uk/show/euripides…
August 29, 2025 at 3:07 PM
These two Ancient Greek plays on in London mid-September are brilliantly acted and directed. Thiasos really know what they’re doing with comedy. I’m speaking on 17th. thecockpit.org.uk/show/euripides…
On #WorldLakeDay the lagoon at Kalloni on Lesvos where Aristotle invented marine zoology and his best friend Theophrastus studied wetland plants. I was there in 2016 with darling daughter Sarah Poynder m.youtube.com/watch?v=-moYjt… who made this film
August 27, 2025 at 1:31 PM
On #WorldLakeDay the lagoon at Kalloni on Lesvos where Aristotle invented marine zoology and his best friend Theophrastus studied wetland plants. I was there in 2016 with darling daughter Sarah Poynder m.youtube.com/watch?v=-moYjt… who made this film
Solidarity to all my US feminist friends of any gender in the face of misogyny on Women’s Equality Day, commemorating August 26th 1920 when the 19th Amendment became law and recognised women's right to vote. Time to bang them cymbals
August 26, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Solidarity to all my US feminist friends of any gender in the face of misogyny on Women’s Equality Day, commemorating August 26th 1920 when the 19th Amendment became law and recognised women's right to vote. Time to bang them cymbals
On #InternationalDogDay a gorgeous Athenian drinking vessel in the shape of a beautiful dog's head, in loving memory of the only dog I've ever been best friends with, Finlay Poynder, who died almost exactly a year ago and I think about every single day @rickypo.bsky.social
August 26, 2025 at 11:11 AM
On #InternationalDogDay a gorgeous Athenian drinking vessel in the shape of a beautiful dog's head, in loving memory of the only dog I've ever been best friends with, Finlay Poynder, who died almost exactly a year ago and I think about every single day @rickypo.bsky.social
The book images that inspired novelist Barry Unsworth, author of Iphigenia novel The Songs of the Kings, at age 5: Blanche Winder, Once Upon a Time: Children's Stories from the Classics. Images by Burslem boy Harry G. Theaker. LOVE his Medea and Pan with bunnies.
August 24, 2025 at 12:45 PM
The book images that inspired novelist Barry Unsworth, author of Iphigenia novel The Songs of the Kings, at age 5: Blanche Winder, Once Upon a Time: Children's Stories from the Classics. Images by Burslem boy Harry G. Theaker. LOVE his Medea and Pan with bunnies.
#InternationalStrangeMusicDay is a good excuse to post a couple of creepy sirens. The Victorians deleted the properly scary avian elements to indulge in soft-porn full human female nudes in their paintings.
August 24, 2025 at 7:55 AM
#InternationalStrangeMusicDay is a good excuse to post a couple of creepy sirens. The Victorians deleted the properly scary avian elements to indulge in soft-porn full human female nudes in their paintings.
On UNESCO #InternationalDayfortheRemebranceoftheSlaveTradeanditsAbolition commemoration of marriage of a butcher's ex-slaves, Lucius Aurelius Hermia to Aurelia Philematium. "She was the only one for me, and lived her life faithful to her faithful husband". Aww. 80 BCE From Lazio, now BM.
August 23, 2025 at 7:07 AM
On UNESCO #InternationalDayfortheRemebranceoftheSlaveTradeanditsAbolition commemoration of marriage of a butcher's ex-slaves, Lucius Aurelius Hermia to Aurelia Philematium. "She was the only one for me, and lived her life faithful to her faithful husband". Aww. 80 BCE From Lazio, now BM.
Finally published and Open Access to read for free via this link by anyone interested in introducing classical subjects to secondary education. A delight to see my co-author Arlene Holmes-Henderson today. liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/.../97818008...
August 22, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Finally published and Open Access to read for free via this link by anyone interested in introducing classical subjects to secondary education. A delight to see my co-author Arlene Holmes-Henderson today. liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/.../97818008...
Gerbrand van den Eeckhout, born 19/08/1621, saw humour in the myth of Juno demanding the cow into which Jupiter had transformed her love rival Io as a gift. Top god looks pathetic; Juno totally in control; Io gorgeous but bemused. I love the spikey coronet and usurped pet peacock
August 19, 2025 at 7:32 AM
Gerbrand van den Eeckhout, born 19/08/1621, saw humour in the myth of Juno demanding the cow into which Jupiter had transformed her love rival Io as a gift. Top god looks pathetic; Juno totally in control; Io gorgeous but bemused. I love the spikey coronet and usurped pet peacock