Stephanie Wong - Pasts Imperfect

Unknown Artisan, " [Obverse of a] Token with an Egyptian Obelisk [from Nikopolis, Egypt] and a Temple," 1-50 CE, tessera, cattle bone, Roman with Greek inscription on reverse

Pasts Imperfect (10.9.25)

This week, art historian and AAR Classical Summer School attendee Lachelle Oglesby discusses obelisks, Roman colonialism, and lived experiences in ancient Rome. Then, a new video game allows you to "reloot" African cultural heritage from museums, bronze mirror-making in the Western Han dynasty, the Nubian ivory trade within

Unknown Mosaicist, "Bellerophon riding Pegasus and slaying the Chimera," 100-299 CE, now in the Musée Rolin, Autun, France. Note that the mosaic has been heavily restored (Wikimedia).

ancient history

Pasts Imperfect (9.25.25)

This week, historian of science, art, information, and monsters Surekha Davies discusses monster-making in the past and the present.

ancient history

Pasts Imperfect (9.11.25)

This week, scholar of early Christianity and series editor Andrew Jacobs discusses a new book, Magic and Heresy in Ancient Christian Literature.

Unknown Makers, "Quipu Inca," 1300-1532 CE, Quipu made of cotton fibers and S-twist. Inca, Sierra Sur, Peru, now at the Museo Larco, Lima, Perú (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).

ancient history

Pasts Imperfect 8.28.25

This week, we look at the Inka with historian of the Andes Manuel Medrano. Then, ancient world news, new ancient world journals & more.

News

Pasts Imperfect 8.14.25

This week, Mellon Leadership Fellow and Nero scholar Lauren Donovan Ginsberg busts the myth of the useless humanist. Then, new ancient world scholarship, new journal issues for a global antiquity, upcoming workshops and much more.

thucydides

Pasts Imperfect (7.10.25)

Escaping the Thucydides Trap, Sequencing Ancient Egyptian DNA & Roman Sardines, Etruscan Textile Workshops, Repatriating Chinese Manuscripts & Much More

global antiquity

Pasts Imperfect (5.29.25)

Gamifying the Past, Louse-y Wool, Neanderthal Fingerprints, the Women of Pompeii, Classicism and Other Phobias & Much More

global antiquity

Pasts Imperfect (5.15.25)

The Future of Ancient History, Ptolemaic Mummy Wrappings, Ancient Maya Blue, Authoritarianism in the Late Roman Republic and Today, & Much More

global history

Pasts Imperfect (5.1.25)

Slavery & the Economy of Pompeii, Inequality in Ancient Rome & Han China, Classics & Race, Finding the Phoenicians, Sealskin Manuscripts, and Much More

ACLS

Pasts Imperfect (4.17.25)

Saving, Celebrating, and Defending the work and the workers behind the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the NEH Office of Digital Humanities (ODH)

renaissance history

Pasts Imperfect (4.3.25)

Peopling the Past, Archaeobotanical Finds Under the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, AI Historical Drawings, South Asian Pigments, Wildfires in South Korea, & Much More

global history

Pasts Imperfect (3.20.25)

Ancient Thrace, Scented Statues, the Real Mexica, Cuneiform Spreadsheets, the (Digital) Geography of Pliny, Domestic Cats during the Tang Dynasty & Much More