Pasts Imperfect (12.4.25)
This week, the one and only Tori Lee returns with her annual ancient world gift guide. Then, racing to preserve Sudan's cultural heritage, a new study on domestic cats assesses the leopard cats of ancient China and the impact of the Roman road system on spreading them to Europe, Indigenous Americans' history of sustainable salmon fishing and bioengineered canoe wood, early modern Bible maps, a history of Hanukkah podcast from a leading archaeologist, new ancient world journals, and much more. Enjoy the last PI newsletter of 2025, y'all!
Classicist's Gift Guide 2025 by Tori Lee
Click here to read this guide on Dr. Lee's Medium page.
Hi! Here’s another lovely gift guide!
You’re more pius than Aeneas.
But you don’t know the life of a classicist, babe.
And you’re never gonna wanna.
Wait! You still have verbs you must conjugate!
No shopping til you’re tenured!
But we all know the life of a classicist, babe,
never stops, even on Christmas Day!
For the Home
It’s a 3D version of a 2D version of a 3D thing! And this photo is a 2D version of it.
Mouth of Hell Medieval Art Throw Pillow
$31.50
Hell for mother! Hell for mother for One Thousand Years!!!!
Roman Centurion Felt Ornament
$19.95
The handmade, crafty vibe says “I like Ancient Rome as a subject of study, not in a fascist way!”
Circe’s BBQ Apron
$34.99
“Quiet, piggy!” — Circe, I think
Rattan Greek Vases
From $59.95
Full disclosure, I own two of these. I’m a sucker for rattan. They were part of the Wedding Registry of a Classicist, and now they’re in the Living Room of a Classicist.
For the Body
Sometimes Bacchic revelries can get chilly! Especially if you’re in the woods in Vermont with your classmates from your small liberal arts college Ancient Greek class definitely not murdering anyone.
Acetate Bastet Claw Clip
$19.95
Pspspspspsps!
We are the products under late stage capitalism. Might as well acknowledge it with an overpriced hat that vaguely alludes to archaeology.
New Balance Debut Vase T-Shirt
$32.99
New Balance Classical Reception in the style of 90s L.L. Bean was not on my 2025 bingo card, but hey, neither was *gestures wildly.*
Oracle Blazer
$340
Wondering what to wear on your campus visit? Look no further.
AAACC “triple-a-c-c” Bucket Hat
$28
Nothing says Asian Classics like wearing a bucket hat to get dim sum during the San Francisco SCS! Check out other AAACC merch here, support the Asian and Asian American Classical Caucus, and you’ll be the talk of the conference (in a good way!)
Nimrud Stud Earrings
From $126.50
Based on the floral motif from the alabaster reliefs in Ashurnasirpal’s palace at Nimrud, 880 BCE. He wore it before it was cool.
For the Senses
Fall of Rome Scented Candle
$24.95
Just going to share the original product description because I can’t top it: Nothing lasts forever, and that includes the Roman Empire. The Fall of Rome-Scented Candle smells like cypress trees and red wine. Light it and watch the Roman forum melt into a puddle of wax while you quietly contemplate the impermanence of civilizations and/or candles..
Venus of Willendorf Peachy Goddess Goat Milk Soap
$8
She’s an icon, she’s a legend, she is the moment.
Of the Gods Polygonum Roll-On Deodorant
$45
This is a luxury deodorant inspired by The Iliad. I’m not kidding. The product description reads “The world can smell bad; you needn’t.” If you need more convincing, check out this review on Myth Takes.
Greek Mythology Cats Coffee Mug
$30
Missed opportunity to call them HeCATe and PURRsephone.
Greek Terracotta Scented Candle
$48
Apparently has “top notes of terracotta, minerals, and salt”??
For the Office
Now even your handwritten notes can bear the weight of centuries of colonialism.
Greek Temple Book Nook
$21.56+
When the light inside you goes out, you can illuminate the LED in your Greek Temple book nook with a little remote.
Roman Soldier and Lion Brush Pot
$74
Bring polychromy back!
Medusa Mosaic Wrapping Paper
$18.99+
The perfect petrifying finishing touch for any item from the gift guide!
Achilles’ Hoodie Clothing Tag Sticker
$2.40
Pat, you can’t borrow it!
Garum Tin Zipper Pouch
$16.52
Would not recommend zipping actual fish inside.
For Everything Else
Cave Canem Knitted Dog Sweater
$78.24
For very vicious, ferocious, dangerous guard dogs only.
Custom Apollo Resin Statue
$17.99
Made to order with the real crystals and dried flowers of your choice, just like Apollo would have wanted.
A great addition to any set of academic robes.
Editor's note: Tori influenced me so aggressively that I immediately bought two.
Prepare yourself for non-stop honking from all the people who understand this joke!
Publish or Perish Game
$45.90
Featuring optional expansion pack, “The Revenge of Reviewer 2.”
Public Humanities and a Global Antiquity
The Associated Press has an important feature on Sudanese archaeologist Shadia Abdrabo. It discusses the war between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and her "yearlong research grant in France with one mission: to build an online database of the African nation’s archaeological sites, museum collections and historical archives." Digital Humanities projects like this create visibility, boost outreach, and provide digital knowledge of sites and objects under threat within conflict zones.
🎥 Dr Shadia Abdrabo from ICOM Sudan shares her thoughts on the #ICOMDubai General Conference. #museums #sudan #icom #icomuk #conference #icomsudan 👀See the full video and coverage of ICOM's General conference on our website: buff.ly/3DBMoxX
— ICOM UK (@icomuk.bsky.social) 2025-12-03T10:00:55.464Z
Big news for Midwest archaeology: the Wisconsin Historical Society has reported that ancient Indigenous peoples, ancestors of the Ho-Chunk Nation, bioengineered wood for canoes found in Lake Mendota. Dated to five millennia ago, the canoes were hewn from a hybrid of red and white oak.
“We think of bioengineering as a modern practice, but the samples we have suggest this may have been taking place long before the term was coined in the mid-20th century.” Tamara Thomsen, maritime archaeologist
Those who know me (Stephanie) well know that I am openly a cat person, despite being mother to the world's doofiest dog. So, fellow cat lovers, check out the latest from reporter Katie Hunt: the genetics of house cats are more complicated than we previously believed. Turns out that ancient humans in what is now China used to live with leopard cats (Prionailurus bengalensis)!!
Once obscured beneath a golf course near Columbus, Ohio, the Octagon Earthworks form a 20-acre circle to precisely map the moon's path across the sky. The 2,000-year-old mounds were built by unknown Indigenous peoples whose work is investigated in the following PBS segment.
Long before modern ocean fisheries dotted the shoreline of the Pacific Northwest, ancient Indigenous Americans were catching and consuming wild salmon in a sustainable way. These days, tools known as "gillnets" catch fish by the gills, harming both the animal and the ecosystem. As of the past few decades, the Wild Fish Conservancy has invested in the research and implementation of river-based fish traps in the Columbia River: salmon can still swim freely to their spawning grounds, and fishermen can harvest hatchery salmon.
Histories of ancient medicine and disability are important. And at National Geographic, Candida Moss asks: "Did the ancient Romans really abandon people with disabilities?" Moss then addresses new scholarship regarding ancient disability. Also note the edited volume by Avital H. Rom on Disability and Impairment in Early China: Other Bodies (Routledge 2025). And in the New York Review of Books, neurologist Pria Anand examines two new books on the history of tuberculosis from antiquity to today.
Open access is our philosophy here at PI and there are some great new books and articles to check out over break. The first is historian of late antiquity Susanna Elm's new book on The Importance of Being Gorgeous: Gender and Christian Imperial Rule in Late Antiquity, now free to read from UC Press. Then, there is the edited volume by Sonja Dahlgren, Martti Leiwo, and Marja Vierros on Scribes and language use in the Graeco-Roman world (recently reviewed in BMCR) and, taking a global and interdisciplinary approach, Connected Philology: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Transcultural Encounters, edited by Korinna Gonschorek, Marco Pouget, Luis Schäfer and Nikola Wenner. And as a map lover, I really did adore this new, open access article on "Ancient Israel and the Modern Bounded State."
From the late fifteenth century onward, atlases increasingly began to depict countries with their political borders marked. In the first part of this essay, I argue that an important influence on this development was maps of the Holy Land which delineated the territories of the twelve tribes. These maps of the Holy Land were adopted from medieval maps, and the tribal boundaries depicted not political authority but the spiritual inheritance that Christians were to possess. Thus, the Bible and its reception through maps was a significant agent in the changing perception of the relationship of space to political authority, but in an unexpected way.
Finally, Chanukah (Hanukkah) 2025 commences at nightfall on December 14. For a good primer on the ancient history of the holiday, listen to archaeologist Jodi Magness' episode on The Ancients podcast or revisit our post by Jordan Rosenblum on Hanukkah foods. Chag Hanukkah sameach (חַג חֲנֻכָּה שָׂמַח)!
New Ancient World Journals by @yaleclassicslib.bsky.social
Aitia Vol. 15 (2025) #openaccess Les Cyniques à table
BABESCH Vol. 100 (2025)
Etruscan and Italic Studies Vol. 28, Nos. 1-2 (2025)
Eugesta Vol. 15 (2025) #openaccess
Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts Vol. 140 (2025) #openaccess NB Steven E. Sidebotham, et al "Indians in Roman Berenike"
Journal of Ancient History Vol. 13, No. 2 (2025) NB Sabine Huebner "Reconstructing the Nile: climate, agriculture, and socio-economic change in Roman Egypt"
Philologus Vol. 169, No. 2 (2025)
Phoenix Vol. 79, No. 1 (2025)
Projet Épopée Vol. 10 (2024) #openaccess Arts visuels et épopée : voir et donner à voir l’épique
Dao Vol. 24, No. 4 (2025)
Elenchos Vol. 46, No. 2 (2025) NB Max Bergamo "Honey or Fire? Democritus and Heraclitus on How to Dispose of the Bodies of the Dead"
History of Humanities Vol. 10, No. 2 (2025) NB Theodore Delwiche "Transatlantic Charity and Classical Education at the Harvard Indian College"
History of Philosophy & Logical Analysis Vol. 28, No. 2 (2025)
Bulletin of the American Society of Overseas Research Vol. 394 (2025)
Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt Vol. 61 No. 1 (2026)
Journal of the Canadian Society for Syriac Studies Vols. 24-25 (2025) #openaccess NB Joseph Chenard "A Composite Giant – A Confusion of Myths in a Syriac Historical Chronical"
Journal of Ancient Near Eastern History Vol. 12, No. 2 (2025)
KASKAL n .s. Vol. 2 (2025) #openaccess
Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und Vorderasiatische Archäologie Vol. 115, No. 2 (2025)
Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie Vol. 72 (2025)
Byzantion Vol. 94 (2024)
Convivium Vol. 12, No. 1 (2025) #openaccess Scent and Sense in Medieval Material Culture
Journal of Medieval Monastic Studies Vol. 14 (2025)
medieval worlds Vol. 23 (2025) #openaccess Multilingualism in Premodern Societies & Moving Jobs II
Revue des Études Byzantines Vol. 83 (2025)
Antiquity Vol. 99, No. 408 (2025)
Workshops, Lectures, and Exhibitions
The Guangqi Classics Lecture Series is back. On Wednesday, December 10, 2025 at 7am EST = 8 pm Beijing/Shanghai Time you can tune in to the Zoom link to hear Dan-el Padilla Peralta discuss “338 BCE: An Eurasian Perspective 公元前338年：欧亚视角” The next lecture is then on Friday, January 30, 2026 at 8 pm CST = 9 pm EST = Saturday January 31 at 10 am Beijing/Shanghai Time 2026年1月30日星期五 美国中部时间晚上8点 = 美国东部时间晚上9点 = 北京时间1月31日星期六上午10点Clifford Ando (Chicago University 芝加哥大学), “Failure to Universalize Religious Norms 宗教规范普世化的失败". We will be updating the list of upcoming talks in the Spring.
The next talk in the Rethinking Social Contention in the Pre-Modern Islamicate World series will take place on Tuesday, December 9th at 4:00 pm CET on Zoom. Alexander Johannes Edmonds will speak on "The King is Dead! New, Rebellious Insights into the Rise of the Assyrian Empire," looking at the "interconnectedness of rebellion and state-building in the Assyrian Empire." If you'd like to attend, simply send a message to the team email: score.aai@uni-hamburg.de and check out the full lineup here.
![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](/content/images/size/w600/2025/10/9010.jpg.webp)
