Laurence Totelin
@ltotelin.bsky.social
Historian of Ancient Mediterranean science and medicine. Mother of two. Feminist. Plant lover. Trade unionist. Super Belgie. Welsh by adoption. Many typos.
Final week of the semester. It has been a tough one, but I have done several things that pushed me out of my comfort zone and challenged me in good ways. I was able to have a swim in the Med yesterday on a work trip, so there is that too.
December 8, 2025 at 12:45 PM
Final week of the semester. It has been a tough one, but I have done several things that pushed me out of my comfort zone and challenged me in good ways. I was able to have a swim in the Med yesterday on a work trip, so there is that too.
Reposted by Laurence Totelin
In yet more devastating news, the VC has confirmed her plans to cut 80% of academic staff from Essex Pathways, our foundation year department. This would effectively close down all our existing foundation year programmes through the back door.
But it's not a done deal yet. Please share urgently.
But it's not a done deal yet. Please share urgently.
December 6, 2025 at 10:55 AM
In yet more devastating news, the VC has confirmed her plans to cut 80% of academic staff from Essex Pathways, our foundation year department. This would effectively close down all our existing foundation year programmes through the back door.
But it's not a done deal yet. Please share urgently.
But it's not a done deal yet. Please share urgently.
Reposted by Laurence Totelin
We’ve reached day 8 of #ArchiveAdventCalendar and it’s all about #FestiveFood.
Thinking of making your own preserves as Christmas gifts this year? Here are a couple of recipes for "Marmlit" and "Jille" from our 18th century herbal notebook
Thinking of making your own preserves as Christmas gifts this year? Here are a couple of recipes for "Marmlit" and "Jille" from our 18th century herbal notebook
December 8, 2025 at 7:40 AM
We’ve reached day 8 of #ArchiveAdventCalendar and it’s all about #FestiveFood.
Thinking of making your own preserves as Christmas gifts this year? Here are a couple of recipes for "Marmlit" and "Jille" from our 18th century herbal notebook
Thinking of making your own preserves as Christmas gifts this year? Here are a couple of recipes for "Marmlit" and "Jille" from our 18th century herbal notebook
Reposted by Laurence Totelin
What better way to start the week than with a lovely Roman face pot - this one was found in York and dates from the early third century. It's features resembles those of the empress Julia Domna and it may have been made to commemorate her time spent there in 208-211 CE.
December 8, 2025 at 7:55 AM
What better way to start the week than with a lovely Roman face pot - this one was found in York and dates from the early third century. It's features resembles those of the empress Julia Domna and it may have been made to commemorate her time spent there in 208-211 CE.
Reposted by Laurence Totelin
Nouvel ouvrage d’Athéna Tsingarida, professeure à l’Université libre de Bruxelles et directrice du CReA-Patrimoine : "L’éternelle modernité de l’art grec. Archaïsmes et avant-gardes européennes (1870-1914)", aux Éditions de l’Académie royale de Belgique. academie-editions.be/histoire-et-...
December 7, 2025 at 9:49 AM
Nouvel ouvrage d’Athéna Tsingarida, professeure à l’Université libre de Bruxelles et directrice du CReA-Patrimoine : "L’éternelle modernité de l’art grec. Archaïsmes et avant-gardes européennes (1870-1914)", aux Éditions de l’Académie royale de Belgique. academie-editions.be/histoire-et-...
Reposted by Laurence Totelin
my great-grandparents arrived in the UK in the 1890s with nothing.
they sold pickles from the front room window, took in laundry, worked as tailors.
their children were nurses, teachers, salesmen.
their grandchildren were professors, designers, opticians, doctors, magistrates, entrepreneurs.
they sold pickles from the front room window, took in laundry, worked as tailors.
their children were nurses, teachers, salesmen.
their grandchildren were professors, designers, opticians, doctors, magistrates, entrepreneurs.
December 7, 2025 at 8:59 AM
my great-grandparents arrived in the UK in the 1890s with nothing.
they sold pickles from the front room window, took in laundry, worked as tailors.
their children were nurses, teachers, salesmen.
their grandchildren were professors, designers, opticians, doctors, magistrates, entrepreneurs.
they sold pickles from the front room window, took in laundry, worked as tailors.
their children were nurses, teachers, salesmen.
their grandchildren were professors, designers, opticians, doctors, magistrates, entrepreneurs.
Reposted by Laurence Totelin
Every year I, or my European orchid-hunting friends, find at least one flavescens or chlorantha variety of Ophrys bee orchid in Rhodes. Always a pleasant surprise to see the way the genetic dice have rolled and come up with something slightly wayward, where normal rich colours are diminished.
December 7, 2025 at 8:09 AM
Every year I, or my European orchid-hunting friends, find at least one flavescens or chlorantha variety of Ophrys bee orchid in Rhodes. Always a pleasant surprise to see the way the genetic dice have rolled and come up with something slightly wayward, where normal rich colours are diminished.
Reposted by Laurence Totelin
The Egyptian God Heryshaf portrayed as a Roman Emperor, possibly as a symbol of his power against evil spirits or in providing benefices. We have examples of other animal gods portrayed in this way including Apis, Anubis and Horus. From Heracleopolis, now Allard Pierson 🏺 #Egyptology #AncientBluesky
December 7, 2025 at 8:16 AM
The Egyptian God Heryshaf portrayed as a Roman Emperor, possibly as a symbol of his power against evil spirits or in providing benefices. We have examples of other animal gods portrayed in this way including Apis, Anubis and Horus. From Heracleopolis, now Allard Pierson 🏺 #Egyptology #AncientBluesky
Reposted by Laurence Totelin
Public libraries in Tennessee have begun to shut down as they carry out an order from state officials to remove children’s books containing LGBTQ+ themes or characters.
www.rawstory.com/alternet-pos...
www.rawstory.com/alternet-pos...
Alarm as Tennessee libraries shut down for Republican 'book purge'
Public libraries in Tennessee have begun to shut down as they carry out an order from state officials to remove children’s books containing LGBTQ+ themes or characters.For Popular Information, Rebecca...
www.rawstory.com
November 28, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Public libraries in Tennessee have begun to shut down as they carry out an order from state officials to remove children’s books containing LGBTQ+ themes or characters.
www.rawstory.com/alternet-pos...
www.rawstory.com/alternet-pos...
Reposted by Laurence Totelin
This small bronze figurine of a naked Gaulish woman projects great vulnerability - which was certainly the point, but not in a good way. She's identified by her torc and represents the eroticization of a conquered people. 🏺
Found in the River Seine, Paris. Roman, 100-200 CE. #BritishMuseum
📸 me
Found in the River Seine, Paris. Roman, 100-200 CE. #BritishMuseum
📸 me
December 5, 2025 at 4:04 PM
This small bronze figurine of a naked Gaulish woman projects great vulnerability - which was certainly the point, but not in a good way. She's identified by her torc and represents the eroticization of a conquered people. 🏺
Found in the River Seine, Paris. Roman, 100-200 CE. #BritishMuseum
📸 me
Found in the River Seine, Paris. Roman, 100-200 CE. #BritishMuseum
📸 me
Reposted by Laurence Totelin
My friend and mentor, the wonderful philosopher Jim Bogen, has died. #HPS #Philsci
dailynous.com/2025/12/04/j...
dailynous.com/2025/12/04/j...
James Bogen (1935-2025) - Daily Nous
James "Jim" Bogen, a longtime professor of philosophy at Pitzer College as well as an adjunct professor in History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh, has died. Professor Bogen ...
dailynous.com
December 5, 2025 at 6:57 AM
My friend and mentor, the wonderful philosopher Jim Bogen, has died. #HPS #Philsci
dailynous.com/2025/12/04/j...
dailynous.com/2025/12/04/j...
Reposted by Laurence Totelin
Women were first admitted to the Linnean Society in 1905, after a campaign by Marian Farquharson. This portrait by James Sant shows the first formal admission of women as Fellows. buff.ly/vcmY3sD #EYAInclusion
December 5, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Women were first admitted to the Linnean Society in 1905, after a campaign by Marian Farquharson. This portrait by James Sant shows the first formal admission of women as Fellows. buff.ly/vcmY3sD #EYAInclusion
Reposted by Laurence Totelin
I could pull out so much in this thread but “ah but that was bad science, we’re doing good science so we don’t need to learn any lessons” is a perpetual STEM bro problem.
1. Historically, eugenics was not a pseudoscience. It was *science* Almost every scientist, social scientist, academic, etc. believed in the validity of eugenics. You would have to search far & wide to find a scientist that didn't believe in some form of it. They taught it in college!
December 4, 2025 at 1:15 PM
I could pull out so much in this thread but “ah but that was bad science, we’re doing good science so we don’t need to learn any lessons” is a perpetual STEM bro problem.
Reposted by Laurence Totelin
Fascinating painting of a very rare subject by Artemisia Gentileschi going up for auction tomorrow at Christie's: A mother presenting her newborn child to St. Blaise (San Biagio), identifiable by the wool comb, the instrument of his martyrdom. www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6...
December 1, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Fascinating painting of a very rare subject by Artemisia Gentileschi going up for auction tomorrow at Christie's: A mother presenting her newborn child to St. Blaise (San Biagio), identifiable by the wool comb, the instrument of his martyrdom. www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6...
Reposted by Laurence Totelin
Oh my word. Vanished has made it to the Smithsonian’s list of best books of 2025.
My roar reaching further than I ever imagined in its first 180 days in the wide world. Such lovely news on the night of this glorious moon.
My roar reaching further than I ever imagined in its first 180 days in the wide world. Such lovely news on the night of this glorious moon.
An annual tradition, @smithsonianmag.bsky.social asked contributors for their favorite science books of 2025. You can check out all our recommendations (including my own, @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social's Is A River Alive?) here:
The Ten Best Science Books of 2025
From “experimental archaeology” to the mysterious appeal of exploration, the wide-ranging subjects detailed in these titles captivated Smithsonian magazine’s science contributors this year
www.smithsonianmag.com
December 2, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Oh my word. Vanished has made it to the Smithsonian’s list of best books of 2025.
My roar reaching further than I ever imagined in its first 180 days in the wide world. Such lovely news on the night of this glorious moon.
My roar reaching further than I ever imagined in its first 180 days in the wide world. Such lovely news on the night of this glorious moon.
Reposted by Laurence Totelin
Friends and colleagues at Essex have been worried about this for a long time, having already been through voluntary redundancies schemes and hiring freezes. One of many great universities hammered by 15+ years of inadequate and invidious HE policy in the UK - and no solution anywhere in sight.
It's official: 400 redundancies and a campus closure. At-risk staff will get a letter next week. Absolutely no serious consideration of any of the union's counterproposals.
Please share widely.
Please share widely.
December 2, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Friends and colleagues at Essex have been worried about this for a long time, having already been through voluntary redundancies schemes and hiring freezes. One of many great universities hammered by 15+ years of inadequate and invidious HE policy in the UK - and no solution anywhere in sight.
Reposted by Laurence Totelin
December's #MonumentoftheMonth is this lovely wall monument to an unknown Utrecht canon showing him being presented to the Virgin and Child by Saints James and Barbara churchmonumentssociety.org/monument-of-...
December 2, 2025 at 5:34 PM
December's #MonumentoftheMonth is this lovely wall monument to an unknown Utrecht canon showing him being presented to the Virgin and Child by Saints James and Barbara churchmonumentssociety.org/monument-of-...
Reposted by Laurence Totelin
This is the most important op-ed you'll read this week. The Trump administration is about to get rid of the birth-dose of hepatitis B vaccine. That is a deadly choice for many families. @helenouyang.bsky.social tells her story. Now call your member of Congress. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/01/o...
Opinion | My Father Died of Hepatitis B Before the Vaccine. We Must Not Go Back.
www.nytimes.com
December 1, 2025 at 10:37 AM
This is the most important op-ed you'll read this week. The Trump administration is about to get rid of the birth-dose of hepatitis B vaccine. That is a deadly choice for many families. @helenouyang.bsky.social tells her story. Now call your member of Congress. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/01/o...
Reposted by Laurence Totelin
There isn't much of 2025 left, but Susanna Elm's new book promises to be the book of the year!!
The Importance of Being Gorgeous: Gender and Christian Imperial Rule in Late Antiquity
That cover is gorgeous, and it's open-access so you can just download it!
The Importance of Being Gorgeous: Gender and Christian Imperial Rule in Late Antiquity
That cover is gorgeous, and it's open-access so you can just download it!
December 1, 2025 at 7:53 AM
There isn't much of 2025 left, but Susanna Elm's new book promises to be the book of the year!!
The Importance of Being Gorgeous: Gender and Christian Imperial Rule in Late Antiquity
That cover is gorgeous, and it's open-access so you can just download it!
The Importance of Being Gorgeous: Gender and Christian Imperial Rule in Late Antiquity
That cover is gorgeous, and it's open-access so you can just download it!
Reposted by Laurence Totelin
“Scholarly effort is in decline everywhere as never before. Indeed, cleverness is shunned at home and abroad. What does reading offer to pupils except tears?”
this guy has his finger on the pulse amirite
www.history-uk.ac.uk/history-in-p... 🗃️
this guy has his finger on the pulse amirite
www.history-uk.ac.uk/history-in-p... 🗃️
‘Doing the Readings’
Dr Will Pooley (Associate Professor in Modern History), University of Bristol The students, we often grumble, don’t read the secondary readings we set for class. Every year, we find ourselves press…
www.history-uk.ac.uk
November 28, 2025 at 6:13 PM
“Scholarly effort is in decline everywhere as never before. Indeed, cleverness is shunned at home and abroad. What does reading offer to pupils except tears?”
this guy has his finger on the pulse amirite
www.history-uk.ac.uk/history-in-p... 🗃️
this guy has his finger on the pulse amirite
www.history-uk.ac.uk/history-in-p... 🗃️
Reposted by Laurence Totelin
This fragment of Roman mosaic was discovered under the site of the Bank of England as it was being rebuilt in 1805. A year later it was purchased by the British Museum, where it can still be seen today. #MosaicMonday
December 1, 2025 at 8:04 AM
This fragment of Roman mosaic was discovered under the site of the Bank of England as it was being rebuilt in 1805. A year later it was purchased by the British Museum, where it can still be seen today. #MosaicMonday
Reposted by Laurence Totelin
The consultancy Nous takes hundreds of thousands of pounds from universities, leaves the exact same path of destruction everywhere, and keeps trying to avoid transparent contracts.
We’re urgently need control over consultancy spent in #UKHE, @bphillipsonmp.bsky.social
We’re urgently need control over consultancy spent in #UKHE, @bphillipsonmp.bsky.social
‘Nousferatu’: the notorious consultancy advising Edinburgh uni amid 'huge' cuts
Scotland’s largest university has turned to Nous Group at the same time as it is making savings that could lead to nearly 2,000 job losses. Staff say they were misled about the extent of its work.
www.theferret.scot
November 30, 2025 at 10:02 AM
The consultancy Nous takes hundreds of thousands of pounds from universities, leaves the exact same path of destruction everywhere, and keeps trying to avoid transparent contracts.
We’re urgently need control over consultancy spent in #UKHE, @bphillipsonmp.bsky.social
We’re urgently need control over consultancy spent in #UKHE, @bphillipsonmp.bsky.social
The issue with using those consultancy firms is that they are creating bubbles. Demand for the "in high demand" courses may fall in a few years, and then we will be back in the same situation, except worse. 1/2
And the problem of all senior managers in #UKHE taking the exact same market advice & data from about three consultancies…
A national strategy and stable funding would put an end to these perverse incentives.
A national strategy and stable funding would put an end to these perverse incentives.
November 30, 2025 at 10:52 AM
The issue with using those consultancy firms is that they are creating bubbles. Demand for the "in high demand" courses may fall in a few years, and then we will be back in the same situation, except worse. 1/2
Reposted by Laurence Totelin
![A cat in a book from 1663. The title of the book: "Parnassus Medicinalis Illustratus. Oder: Ein neues/ und dergestalt/ vormahln noch nie gesehenes Thier- Kräuter- Und Berg-Buch" (SUB Göttingen. Exemplar mit der Signatur: 4 MAT MED 42/3]).](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:wwym6cglvbd5odxfkykn2uh2/bafkreiehkhjzuju56d5fupgm6fnus7omtr33gxbm2f5wm3hb76kya4k54y@jpeg)
June 30, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Reposted by Laurence Totelin
Just a friendly reminder on this hallowed day of overconsumption via @earthlyeducation.bsky.social
November 28, 2025 at 6:23 AM
Just a friendly reminder on this hallowed day of overconsumption via @earthlyeducation.bsky.social