Keith Woodell
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keith.latinlexicon.org
Keith Woodell
@keith.latinlexicon.org
Why'm I here? Don't know yet. Could this be an intellectual space for me? I have a master's in classical languages and literatures. OK at Latin. Greek needs work. Spanish, German, Sanskrit, etc are rusty. Proprietor of https://latinlexicon.org.

📚🏳️‍🌈🇺🇸🐻
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I've worked in (mostly) ethical tech for 28 years to pay the bills. One of my favorite pro bono projects is The Latin Lexicon, an online Latin Dictionary.

latinlexicon.org
Home - Numen - The Latin Lexicon - An Online Latin Dictionary - A Dictionary of the Latin Language
latinlexicon.org
I finished up "Pompeii: The New Dig" on PBS Passport ... enjoyable!

I bought the DVD but it only has the first 3 episodes. The 4th looks like add-on, as it was released a year later.

I wonder if it'll ever be on DVD. Seems unlikely, but one can hope.

Donate and support PBS, if you're in the U.S!
November 3, 2025 at 9:50 PM
"Nil sapientiae odiosius acumine nimio."

-Seneca, by way of Poe in "The Purloined Letter"

"Nothing is more hateful to philosophy than excessive acumen."

Acumen, a word lifted unchanged from Latin, probably could do with something more colloquial here. Shrewdness, sharpness, often cleverness.
October 24, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Reposted by Keith Woodell
October 5: Apologies for the bad news, but today is one of the 3 unluckiest days of the year in the Roman calendar. Definitely let people know that the underworld opens up to the living today (mundus patet) and so you just can’t leave your house, especially to sail (also on August 24 & November 8).
October 5, 2025 at 11:35 AM
I'm enjoying this! I even bought the DVD. I've been to Herculaneum. Someday I'll return to Italy to visit Pompeii.
Pompeii: The New Dig
A landmark series following the biggest archaeological dig at Pompeii for a generation.
www.pbs.org
August 10, 2025 at 5:14 PM
In Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado", the motto on the arms of The Montresors says, "Nemo me impune lacessit." That is, "Nobody provokes me without punishment." A creeping bit of foreshadowing if ever there was one.
July 25, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Reposted by Keith Woodell
For #RomanSiteSaturday, the remarkable Ponte Mallio, Cagli, #Italia, which carries the Via Flamina across the Bosso. Some obvious Augustan improvements to an older structure, but there are parts of the bridge that appear to predate even the Roman period. It's an extraordinary thing, and I adore it
July 19, 2025 at 7:04 AM
I am both sad and disturbed to report that a cohors, evidently, murdered his entire family and burned down their house.

If the allegations turn out to be true, damnatio memoriae. But for now...

www.abqjournal.com/news/article...
APD: Man fatally shot parents, brother at Albuquerque home before killing self across town
A 911 caller reported a presumed electrical fire at their neighbor’s home early Saturday morning as smoke billowed from the swamp cooler. Firefighters who responded found much more than flames
www.abqjournal.com
June 2, 2025 at 4:17 PM
I hit a bit of a milestone. Last Friday, I retired from the rat race. Next up, gentleman scholar. Or perhaps landscape painter. Or nude sculptor -- in the classy, artistic sense!!
May 14, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Reposted by Keith Woodell
April 29, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Thanks, Apple. Thanks for suggesting "who're" and "white" for "whore."
April 16, 2025 at 10:24 PM
Reposted by Keith Woodell
April 11, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Reposted by Keith Woodell
“The moon doesn’t have its own light: its light comes from the sun!” CAPITVLVUM TERTIVM DECIMVUM [XIII] 🙏

#familiaromana #llpsi #learnlatin #latinsaveslives #latin #lingualatina
April 9, 2025 at 4:30 PM
I read Roman Homosexuality by Craig Williams for my thesis. Actually met him once when I was a grad student.

www.barnesandnoble.com/w/roman-homo...
April 9, 2025 at 12:58 AM
Slightly idiomatic and archaic English: "Fighting must be done by trickery when one is not equal in arms."

More modern English: "You have to fight with deception when you have inferior weapons."

Did you fall for any #AprilFools gags today? The water dispenser at work wouldn't give me water.
Dolo pugnandum est, dum quis par non est armis. “The fighting is to be done with trickery when someone is outstripped in weaponry.” #aprilfools #lingualatina
April 1, 2025 at 9:01 PM
It's almost time for another trip to England!
This is the only surviving section of Dorchester's Roman wall. The ancient town of Durnovaria, was surrounded by a high wall on three sides, while its north side was protected by the river Frome. Stone for the walls was quarried in the Ridgeway quarries, a few miles away near Upwey #WallsonWednesday
March 19, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Someday I hope to make it to Pompeii. Herculaneum was amazing for me. Next time, I'll spend more time and take more photos like this lovely one.
Beware of the dog??! 👀 🐾

Endearing Roman mosaic of a little black guard dog curled up asleep 💤 in the entrance passage of his family home in Pompeii.

House of Lucius Caecilius Iucundus. 📷 by me

#MosaicMonday
#Archaeology
March 14, 2025 at 1:08 AM
Reposted by Keith Woodell
'Safety first' when sacking Rome.
February 12, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Bye, bye, Santorini. I'm sorry I never took the time to visit.

<satire alt="dear serious Classicist friends and colleagues: satire ahead">Also, maybe Atlantis really WAS Santorini, not Minos, or whatever. Thanks, Plato!</satire>
February 12, 2025 at 12:46 AM
Steven Saylor wrote a bunch of books about ancient Romans. I voraciously read all the Gordianus the Finder books when they were new, before I got degrees in Classics. I haven't kept up since. Maybe it's time I revisited his books! I was reminded because I found some on a very dusty wish list!
February 1, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Reposted by Keith Woodell
See the Stunning Ancient Roman Statue of Athena That's Going on View for the First Time in Nearly 260 Years | Smithsonian
www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/s...
See the Stunning Ancient Roman Statue of Athena That's Going on View for the First Time in Nearly 260 Years
After spending centuries on a British aristocrat's estate in North Yorkshire, the marble masterpiece will be unveiled in Chicago's Wrightwood 659 gallery later this week
www.smithsonianmag.com
January 24, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Reposted by Keith Woodell
On the left, my image. On the right, the Al image that was clearly trained on, and designed to plagiarize, my image.

All Al generated imagery is inherently theft. It's unethical, environmentally disastrous, and does irreparable harm to both artists and society.
December 23, 2024 at 5:02 PM
Reposted by Keith Woodell
This is what's so baffling about so many suggestions for AI in the humanities classroom: they mistake the product for the point. Writing outlines and essays is important not because you need to make outlines and essays but because that's how you learn to think with/through complex ideas.
I'm sure many have said this before but I'm reading a student-facing document about how students might use AI in the classroom (if allowed) and one of the recs is: use AI to make an outline of your reading! But ISN'T MAKING THE OUTLINE how one actually learns?
December 11, 2024 at 10:43 PM
Pentheus, The Bacchae and Euripides are on my mind. I saw a fantastic rendition of it in grad school. Those Ancients knew a thing or two about the unquenchable thirst of human fallacy. There's that moment when the plutocrat realizes he is mortal and his mother realizes she tore apart her own son.
December 12, 2024 at 1:18 AM
Reposted by Keith Woodell
Love this #Roman game made from sandstone and glass found at the military fort at Vindolanda. It’s set up for a game of ‘little bandits’ where the aim is to surround your opponent’s pieces in one colour with yours in a different colour. #FindsFriday #Archaeology #Ancientbluesky

📷 my own
December 6, 2024 at 9:28 AM