Mark Letteney
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letteney.bsky.social
Mark Letteney
@letteney.bsky.social
1.7K followers 310 following 250 posts
Assistant professor of ancient history at the University of Washington. Histories of the prison, book, rocks of note. Opinions are official communications from the provost.
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letteney.bsky.social
I asked Copilot how to remove Copilot from my Microsoft Word document.

BRB driving to Redmond to scream at somebody.
November 13, 2025 at 7:32 PM
letteney.bsky.social
Wishing a very fine Gerald Ford Stuck in an Elevator Day to all who celebrate
September 19, 2025 at 2:54 PM
letteney.bsky.social
It is a rare and special day, long awaited and ever delightful: publication day for a new @maryroach.bsky.social masterpiece www.maryroach.net/replaceable....
Cover for Mary Roach's "Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy"
September 16, 2025 at 7:32 AM
letteney.bsky.social
This is now out in paperback and the publisher sent me copies. I've got four to give away — if you're a graduate student, early career, or contingent researcher, I'm happy to send you a copy in the US, or deliver to AIA/SCS/AAR/SBL. Just chime in here or send me a DM.
Cover of _The Christianization of Knowledge in Late Antiquity_
September 9, 2025 at 4:53 PM
letteney.bsky.social
Finally, we are thankful to Titus Kaphar and Gagosian for allowing us to use his tremendous work to frame our own. Here is what we wrote about the cover in our preface.
In 2014-15, the artist Titus Kaphar produced a series of paintings called The Jerome Project, each inspired by his experience of searching prisoner databases for records relating to the incarceration of his own father, Jerome. Kaphar found ninety-seven men who shared his father's name and went about interviewing many of them, investigating their histories, and producing portraits that are part mugshot, part Byzantine icon. To our eyes, the icons evoke another stylistic cat-egory: they look like painted memorials to departed women and men who lived in Egypt's Fayum oasis during the Roman period, a type of artifact now widespread in museum collections whose piercing, veristic eyes often evoke a presence to viewers even today, some two millennia later. Kaphar dipped many of his portraits in tar, the image obscured in proportion to the amount of time its subject spent behind bars. We chose Jerome II for our cover because in Kaphar's portraits the past burdens the present, surrounding and framing it. He does not ask after the logic or processes that underlie or seek to justify these men's incarceration. Time, tar, and prison silence these Jeromes, stripping them of individuality and humanity. Kaphar's art requires the viewer to hold these men's gaze-whatever is left of it-and confront the desire to look away or to forget these men whom society has segregated and silenced. The portraits are a provocation, "a pondering of whose lived experiences we consider, whose we forget, and whose we erase" (Kaphar 2023). We began to frame this book amid conversations with Kaphar in New Haven from 2012-2017. Our approach to the ancient world parallels Titus's insistence on attending to overlooked people in the contemporary moment.
August 12, 2025 at 6:17 PM
letteney.bsky.social
Thanks are due far and wide for support and guidance on this endeavor. Here's the beginning of the Acknowledgements, which is always the most joyful part of a book to write.
This project has been a collaborative effort from the start, and our long journey benefited enormously from council, critique, and correction from friends and colleagues who read early versions and offered their expertise. Our analysis is clearer and more sophisticated because of their gift of time, and we thank them for joining as collaborators. They include Matthew J. Adams, Adam Bülow-Jacobsen, Elizabeth Castelli, Greta Galeotti, Nicole Giannella, Brandon Green, Simcha Gross, Amit Garyahu, Noel Lenski, Rebecca Levitan, Rachel Lilley Love, AnneMarie Luijendijk, Sarah Morris, Candida Moss, Carlos Noreña, Sailakshmi Ramgopal, Brent Shaw, Irene Soto Marín, Rachel Patt, Joel Walker, Caroline Wazer, and Spencer Weinreich. Zachary Herz offered thorough commentary on chapter 1 which rendered the analysis both richer and more precise. Felicity Harley-McGowan carefully read the public transcript section of chapter 4, and her feedback greatly improved our analysis. Roger Ulrich proposed a number of useful architectural parallels that enriched our understanding of the carcer/aerarium at Sufetula, including a suggestion that the room underneath the Capitoline tribunal at Pompeii is an intriguing possible carceral facility. We extend sincere thanks to two reviewers for the press: Tina Shepherdson, who helped us clarify our thinking on several points and guided us toward several Syriac sources that we had missed, and Julia Hillner, who offered the gift of thorough and immensely useful critique and guidance at multiple stages of writing. We are especially thankful that she shared her time and expertise with us.
August 12, 2025 at 6:10 PM
letteney.bsky.social
Publication day for a book that Matthew and I spent six years on, anguished over, fought for, rewrote twice, and nearly abandoned. I hope it proves useful in continuing important conversations about the ancient world and about the societies we choose to build today.

www.ucpress.edu/books/ancien...
Cover for Ancient Mediterranean Incarceration, featuring Titus Kaphar's portrait "Jerome II"
August 12, 2025 at 4:45 PM
letteney.bsky.social
Excellent mail day. @zacharyherz.bsky.social
Cover of Zachary Herz’s _The God and the Bureaucrat_
August 1, 2025 at 10:13 PM
letteney.bsky.social
Welp this was a fun unexpected eventuality of putting together the Ancient Mediterranean Incarceration database: a ransomware attack. (It's fine they got into an empty postgres database through a port that was supposed to be closed.)

Ports are now audited and I know how much 0.0042 BTC is. ($460)
Picture of a database log record reading "All your data is backed up. You must pay 0.0042 BTC to XXX in 48 hours."
July 3, 2025 at 10:18 PM
letteney.bsky.social
Everything is bad. But a colleague dropped by with a lovely gift: a 1777 edition of William Barron's _History of the Colonization of the Free States of Antiquity, applied to the present contest between Great Britain and her American colonies_
Cover of a book titled History of the Colonization of the Free States of Antiquity, applied to the present contest between Great Britain and her American colonies
June 18, 2025 at 5:09 PM
letteney.bsky.social
Short reports for Hadashot Arkheologiyot on what we were up to at Legio in 2022 and 2023:

(2023) www.hadashot-esi.org.il/Report_Detai...

(2022) www.hadashot-esi.org.il/Report_Detai...

More details forthcoming in the Limes 2025 volume and a standalone article on the amphitheater.
Legionary amphitheater gate at Legio.
April 25, 2025 at 3:45 PM
letteney.bsky.social
Index entry reading "Virgil. See Vergil."
March 12, 2025 at 5:05 PM
letteney.bsky.social
Due April 1: The Dept of History at the University of Washington is hiring a 9 month distinguished lecturer in ancient or medieval history. 4 classes over 3 quarters, salary $100–115k, plus benefits. Review begins April 1st, feel free to email me with any questions apply.interfolio.com/161510
The Department of History at the University of Washington invites applications for the Costigan Distinguished Lectureship. This is a full-time (100% FTE), 9-month, non-renewable appointment for a distinguished visiting professor in the field of ancient or medieval history of western Eurasia. The ideal candidate will extend the current teaching offerings of the department; we are especially interested to receive applications from candidates who specialize in Greek, Byzantine, Iberian, or Celtic history. The person appointed will teach two lecture courses and two seminars over the course of the appointment, as well as participate in the intellectual life of the department. Washington State law requires that this ad list a binding salary range. The base salary for this position will be $11,111 to $12,778 per month on a 9-month basis ($100,0000 to $115,002 annually) plus benefits. The committee will also consider proposals for shorter-term appointments. The position will begin on September 16, 2025, or thereafter if for shorter appointment.
March 2, 2025 at 7:33 PM
letteney.bsky.social
The Department of History at the University of Washington is hiring a 9 month distinguished lecturer in ancient or medieval mediterranean history. 4 classes over 3 quarters, salary $100–115k, plus benefits. Review begins April 1st, feel free to email me with any questions apply.interfolio.com/161510
The Department of History at the University of Washington invites applications for the Costigan Distinguished Lectureship. This is a full-time (100% FTE), 9-month, non-renewable appointment for a distinguished visiting professor in the field of ancient or medieval history of western Eurasia. The ideal candidate will extend the current teaching offerings of the department; we are especially interested to receive applications from candidates who specialize in Greek, Byzantine, Iberian, or Celtic history. The person appointed will teach two lecture courses and two seminars over the course of the appointment, as well as participate in the intellectual life of the department. Washington State law requires that this ad list a binding salary range. The base salary for this position will be $11,111 to $12,778 per month on a 9-month basis ($100,0000 to $115,002 annually) plus benefits. The committee will also consider proposals for shorter-term appointments. The position will begin on September 16, 2025, or thereafter if for shorter appointment.
February 13, 2025 at 5:20 PM
letteney.bsky.social
My nephew’s school workbook on _The Ancient Roman Civilization_ is a confounding delight.
Children’s workbook titled The Ancient Roman Civilization, Unit Four Child’s estimation of factors influencing the Decline of the Roman Empire, including “warfare, lost many, corrupt rulers, weak and lasy people” Fill in the blank questions on a bewildering variety of topics from Thanksgiving to surgery to Roman religion.
December 20, 2024 at 5:46 PM
letteney.bsky.social
If ever there were a case for nominative determinism...
CNBC Headline reading: Art Cashin, New York Stock Exchange fixture for decades, dies at age 83
December 3, 2024 at 4:36 AM
letteney.bsky.social
A excerpt from our preface.
In 2014–2015, Titus Kaphar produced a series of paintings called The Jerome Project, each inspired by his experience of searching prisoner databases for records relating to the incarceration of his own father, Jerome. Kaphar found ninety-seven men who shared his father’s name, and went about interviewing many of them, investigating their histories, and producing portraits that are part mugshot, part Byzantine icon. To our eyes, the icons evoke another stylistic category: they look like painted memorials to departed women and men who lived in Egypt’s Fayum oasis during the Roman period, a type of artifact now widespread in museum collections whose piercing, veristic eyes often evoke a presence to viewers even today, some two millennia later. Kaphar dipped many of his portraits in tar, the image obscured in proportion to the amount of time its subject spent behind bars. We chose Jerome II for our cover because in Kaphar’s portraits the past burdens the present, surrounding and framing it. He does not ask after the logic or processes which underlie or seek to justify these men’s incarceration. Time, tar, and prison silence these Jeromes, stripping them of individuality and humanity. Kaphar’s art requires the viewer to hold these men’s gaze — whatever is left of it — and confront the desire to look away or to forget these men who society has segregated and silenced. The portraits are “a pondering of whose lived experiences we consider, whose we forget, and whose we erase.” (Kaphar 2023)
November 21, 2024 at 8:19 PM
letteney.bsky.social
_Ancient Mediterranean Incarceration_ now has a cover! Forthcoming August 2025. (Cover explanation in next post)
Cover for Ancient Mediterranean Incarceration, by Matthew D. C. Larsen and Mark Letteney.
November 21, 2024 at 8:19 PM
letteney.bsky.social
It's just non-stop bangers from @mikemotia.bsky.social on the @ancientjewreview.bsky.social podcast! This week: Toni Alimi on his new book _Slaves of God: Augustine and Other Romans on Religion and Politics_ www.ancientjewreview.com/podcast
October 30, 2024 at 5:44 PM
letteney.bsky.social
As I put finishing touches on my historiography syllabus I ran across an absolute, all-time favorite: one of the most bafflingly convoluted sentences I've ever laid eyes on. Cartledge, "What is Social History Now?" p. 20, in Cannadine (ed), What is History Now?
September 23, 2024 at 8:21 PM
letteney.bsky.social
Hot off the press: Bruce Gordon‘s single volume, global history of the Bible is stunningly well researched and beautifully written. Cannot recommend highly enough. www.basicbooks.com/titles/bruce...
Cover of _The Bible: A Global History_ by Bruce Gordon
September 20, 2024 at 8:56 PM
letteney.bsky.social
Wishing a very happy Gerald Ford Stuck in an Elevator Day to all who celebrate.
September 19, 2024 at 5:19 AM
letteney.bsky.social
Zoom link for my lecture tomorrow at The Danish Institute at Athens, where I'll introduce a series of talks reporting on new research in the history of incarceration at the University of Copenhagen zoom.us/meeting/regi...
September 15, 2024 at 1:59 PM
letteney.bsky.social
Going forward I think all conference totes ought to come with a bottle of wine.
September 11, 2024 at 11:04 AM
letteney.bsky.social
Live view as Matthew and I prepare to send _Ancient Mediterranean Incarceration_ to the press.

(But worse because Google Docs)
August 12, 2024 at 11:56 PM