John Ma 🇺🇦
@nakhthor.bsky.social
Chinese-American anc historian, Columbia. Antiochos III & the Cities of W Asia Minor (1999), Statues & Cities (2013), Aršāma and his World (2020, co-ed), Polis: A New History (2024). Guggenheim Fellow.
I went hiking in the Little Cyclades
November 7, 2025 at 8:26 PM
I went hiking in the Little Cyclades
Vol 2. exhibition catalog on Chaironeia exhibition out of print but now available on Kindle, with lots of thematic essays (including on the skeletal material) and full translation of the famous excavation notebooks. Link in next post.
November 5, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Vol 2. exhibition catalog on Chaironeia exhibition out of print but now available on Kindle, with lots of thematic essays (including on the skeletal material) and full translation of the famous excavation notebooks. Link in next post.
Away for a few days
October 31, 2025 at 5:33 AM
Away for a few days
Chugging past Paros
October 22, 2025 at 5:39 AM
Chugging past Paros
Just this makes Trump and his administration illegitimate
October 17, 2025 at 7:27 AM
Just this makes Trump and his administration illegitimate
Jon Allsop writes words CEOs and university presidents should heed:
October 11, 2025 at 4:37 AM
Jon Allsop writes words CEOs and university presidents should heed:
Just saw in the Met a Roman horse muzzle NB the front ornament: not a "lozenge" (Richter in Greek, Etruscan and Roman Bronzes no 1606) but a freaking thureos with accurately represented spinahttps://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/248756
September 23, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Just saw in the Met a Roman horse muzzle NB the front ornament: not a "lozenge" (Richter in Greek, Etruscan and Roman Bronzes no 1606) but a freaking thureos with accurately represented spinahttps://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/248756
should I finally be deleting my *c*demi*.edu account ?
September 20, 2025 at 7:17 AM
should I finally be deleting my *c*demi*.edu account ?
73. SEG 61.622. In 110 BCE, the Cretan cities of Olous and Lyttos struck an alliance. Citizens of Olous participated in Lyttian festivals, celebrating refoundation of the city after it was sacked, and the sack of Dreros by the Lyttians. Poleis do not have to be self-aware of historical ironies.
September 15, 2025 at 6:50 AM
73. SEG 61.622. In 110 BCE, the Cretan cities of Olous and Lyttos struck an alliance. Citizens of Olous participated in Lyttian festivals, celebrating refoundation of the city after it was sacked, and the sack of Dreros by the Lyttians. Poleis do not have to be self-aware of historical ironies.
50. There is an inscription in Greek letters on a Celtic sword from Switzerland (Port-Nidau I think). Now in Bern Musem. KOPICIOC, a proper name.
September 15, 2025 at 5:27 AM
50. There is an inscription in Greek letters on a Celtic sword from Switzerland (Port-Nidau I think). Now in Bern Musem. KOPICIOC, a proper name.
First 5k of the AY
September 14, 2025 at 11:04 PM
First 5k of the AY
Writing on Roman archaeology
September 12, 2025 at 8:54 PM
Writing on Roman archaeology
45. Finley already knew the stele of the somatemporos Aulus Caprilius, dealing in the late Hellenistic period with enslaved people from Thrace. A coffle figures at the bottom of his stele. But why the wine-making scenes ? Duchêne, BCH 1986
September 8, 2025 at 1:20 PM
45. Finley already knew the stele of the somatemporos Aulus Caprilius, dealing in the late Hellenistic period with enslaved people from Thrace. A coffle figures at the bottom of his stele. But why the wine-making scenes ? Duchêne, BCH 1986
41. One of the expenditures of the festival was hiring pipe-players (this doesn't sound like payment for contestants, so I assume high-grade professionals to play during rituals)
September 8, 2025 at 12:43 PM
41. One of the expenditures of the festival was hiring pipe-players (this doesn't sound like payment for contestants, so I assume high-grade professionals to play during rituals)
39. Where was I. NIO 9, alliance btw Aitolians and Akarnanians (SV 3.480): we see that in mid C3rd BCE, an army has cavalry, "full-armed" infy, "half-cuirass" men, and light armed. The 1/2-armour guys are clearly medium infantry
September 8, 2025 at 12:37 PM
39. Where was I. NIO 9, alliance btw Aitolians and Akarnanians (SV 3.480): we see that in mid C3rd BCE, an army has cavalry, "full-armed" infy, "half-cuirass" men, and light armed. The 1/2-armour guys are clearly medium infantry
38. Oh yes, btw: there is new inscription from Airai, a reconcilation between the city and its exiles, brokered by Hermeias— yes, Aristotle's friend !
September 8, 2025 at 12:33 PM
38. Oh yes, btw: there is new inscription from Airai, a reconcilation between the city and its exiles, brokered by Hermeias— yes, Aristotle's friend !