Introduce yourself!

We get a new member every day or so, and I want to get this group back up into the air, so I thought I'd start a topic for new members to say hello.

So say hi, and tell us: A little about yourself and what period or topics of ancient history interest you.

I'll go first:

My name is Tim and I created LibraryThing. Before that I was a PhD student in Classics at the University of Michigan, focusing on history. My favorite topics are Hellenistic history, anything to do with Anatolia and Greek interaction with other cultures. I'm also interested in early church history and Byzantium. My real training is philological, but I did some archaeology work in Turkey, and have at least visited sites throughout Anatolia.

Not new, but hi all.

I'm Nicole from the Netherlands, and I'm an art historian and classical archaeologist by education. (MA from Leiden University in both). My work took me in other directions, and I merely dabble now. The advantage is that I can cast my net much wider now though. I have an amateur interest in Egyptology, and a growing fascination for early Central Asia. Also, because of heritage, I try learning more about early Southeast Asia and neighbouring parts.

Hello :)

I am Catherine. About me... The reason I joined this group is because I am very intrigued by human migration and its effects on cultural development. I am especially interested in 600 BCE through to the end of the Middle Ages. I realize that's a very big swath of time, but I'm ambitious in my pursuit of understanding. :) ..... My little niche of interest within that timeline is the Celts.

>1 timspalding: Hi Tim, my name is Ken. When I was a young teen my family moved to Ankara, Turkey for a year. We had a VW camper bus and every weekend we'd be off visiting ruins in different parts of the country - ruins from the earliest civilizations to Hittites, Greeks and Romans. Back around 1970, there weren't many tourists at most of these sites and we'd often have the site to ourselves with the exception of the lone guard who sold us tickets for admission. In Ankara, I'd wander the city on my own or with a friend. We'd go to the old Roman Baths and map and sketch the ruins. I remember visiting King Midas' tomb which was then being excavated by the University of Pennsylvania. Years later as an undergraduate at Penn I'd visit their wonderful museum and learn more about that work. As a result of these adventures, my older brother became an archeologist specializing in ethnobiology. Though I became an engineer, I never lost my interest in ancient cultures and civilizations.

My library sports books from Catalhoyuk, Troy (facsimiles of Schliemann's notes as well as later works), Nemrud Dag, Aphrodisias, and Pergamon to Greek and Roman Classics, Hadrian's Villa, the ruins of Pompeii including William Gell's 1819 and two volume follow up in 1832 write ups of his excavations. My brother's work in the Indus Valley has also attracted my interest. But really, I can be diverted by almost anything - the great Central and South American empires, or anything on China and Japan.

>2 Nicole_VanK: Very cool.

The "ability to dabble" is indeed an advantage. I have personally decided to stop trying out new languages—my particular weakness. But I'd love to dabble far afield of my traditional grounds. So, for example, I am now convinced I have to visit Socotra some day ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socotra ). At the same time, I find it hard to get into something totally outside my ken, like China. I would feel like an imposter. I hate visiting countries I haven't studied and where I can't speak any of the language for the same reason. And, well, I know what a blinkered view of Turkey most tourists get. I don't want to be that tourist.

>3 Synechist: If you want to read about the Celts from a historiographic and comparative angle, I recommend the famous Momigliano's Alien Wisdom. As a kid I toured southern Brittany with my mother, including basically every dolmen and menhir around. We went there with my kid and, frankly, it was the worst trip we'd ever had, and any interest he had in that topic was thoroughly killed. Sigh.

>4 kdweber: Parts of Turkey are still like that, but it's changed in my span too. When I was a student at the American school in Alanya, Alanya was still a small town. Now it's… a horror. Disneyland for Germans. Utterly horrific. But I've spent a lot of time in upland Lycia visiting sites with a single guard or no official presence at all. The big ones are, of course, tourist traps now.

I've been over most of Anatolia, but I still haven't visited Troy, and Nemrud Dag seemed a little unsafe both times I could have gone. Aphrodisias and Pergamon are wonderful. Termessus is my personal favorite. Also Caunus, Arycanda and the underground cities of Cappadocia.

Hi, I'm Amanda and one of my degrees is in anthropology. I love to read about all early cultures but I think I got my start on Egypt. I have worked dig sites in a few different countries and I'm always interested to hear how the locals tell the history vs what's been written.

I'm not overly fond of Roman and Greek bc I feel like there is so much focus on them but I do like to read about who they encountered, traded with, conquered, etc. I feel like it makes a very small world open up. There are so many cultures that we don't really know anything about yet and it keeps me curious!

>5 timspalding: I find it hard to get into something totally outside my ken {...}. I would feel like an imposter.

I feel you. With my background, I'm more qualified to interpret material culture anyway. But having a very limited experience with either culture or language of a region definitely makes things very hard.

I'm Indo-Dutch (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo_people) which is culturally complex in itself. SE Asia isn't alien to me - and that region traditionally got influenced by both South Asia and East Asia (hence the word Indo-China, for part of it). Anyway, so I try to take notice of publications by people much more knowledgeable than me. But I wouldn't hazard to have an opinion myself.

P.s.: Socotra sounds absolutely fascinating.

Not new. Retired environmental geologist with an amateur's interest in Egyptology. Took advantage of my undergrad years at University of Chicago to take courses at the Oriental Institute. Can read hieroglyphs very slowly and with the aid of a good dictionary (Faulkner).

Not a new member. A retired accountant with an interest in Mesopotamia, the development of the Mediterranean, Celtic culture and Central Asia. I probably read two or three generalist books about Ancient History each year, often based upon exhibitions at the British Museum.

My name is Philip and I was a history major at the University of Illinois (Urban-Champaign) over 25 years ago (Ancient and Middle Eastern history). I didn't pursue it professionally but turned to horticulture and am currently the Curator of a Museum Garden in Norfolk Virginia. My interest in ancient history and history in general has never ceased and when I am not studying or playing with plants I am usually studying history. I also enjoy the history of philosophy and am slowly plodding my way through Peter Adamson's podcasts on the History of Philosophy without any gaps. Like Tim, I also have an interest in Byzantium although when I visit Dumbarton Oaks I end up in the garden and spent only a small amount of time inside the museum.

>8 setnahkt: Can read hieroglyphs very slowly and with the aid of a good dictionary (Faulkner).

That's awesome. I did most of How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs but with all the other languages I was working on, I never went farther. I wish languages were easier to learn!

Like Tim, I also have an interest in Byzantium although when I visit Dumbarton Oaks I end up in the garden and spent only a small amount of time inside the museum.

Ha! Well, it's all good there. I love that place.

>11 timspalding: I need to get there. I've been to DC quite a bit but for some reason have never convinced whatever group I'm with to visit it rather than someplace else. Think I may need to go AWOL next time.

>12 cemanuel:

It's off the beaten track for sure. When I go I go there, the Starbucks where the shooting happened (and the commemoration is), and the Turkish restaurant just up the block. I lived there for years, so it feels like home. But it's a small place, not a blockbuster.

>11 timspalding: It was a little embarassing. The other students in the class were all graduate students in various ancient languages, while I was an undergrad geologist. They were making comparisions between - for example - Middle Egyptian and Old Elamite, while I was not sure if I realy understood adverbs. I bemused the professor, though, so I got "courtesy Cs".

>1 timspalding: I'm Kevin, living in a suburb of Chicago. I am an English major, Colgate University (some 35 years ago), and amateur astronomer. I like to think of myself as continually learning. I don't have formal training in ancient history, I don't know a whit about the subject compared to all of you on this thread, but I am fascinated by the topic. I love ancient history, but also antebellum American history.

Not new, but that doesn't seem to be stopping anyone. Unlike various above, I have no formal background in classics or archaeology - the closest would be a half-semester of Latin at university - and my interests really swing more medieval anyway, but I do read a bit of ancient history, so I follow this group.

I guess my interest tends to focus on the Mediterranean and Chinese ends of the world, and on military-political history. Also an interest in ancient languages.

>14 setnahkt:

I had something of the same experience in a Hittite and Anatolian-languages class. I was a grad student, but I didn't have the linguistics background the others did.

>15 Betelgeuse:

Ha. We share that, then. My undergrad majors were Classics and History. The latter was focused on the antebellum South.

Yes, I'm not new either, but I don't think I've ever introduced myself. I'm John, based in Oxford. I finished an MA in Classics a dozen or so years ago, and am especially interested in the Late Antique period, especially in the east of the empire and in Sasanian Iran. I did Arabic and some Syriac and Persian at university before that. My lockdown project was to try to learn some Middle Egyptian and Akkadian.But it's not been very successful...

I'm not new, but I've not seen a prior opportunity to introduce myself. Having come from the Deep, small-town, South, I studied medieval history at Harvard College, then after being graduated spent a fellowship year in the Program in Medieval Studies at Yale. I got discouraged and bailed out to law school, so as to take up the practice of law back in provincial Georgia, specifically Augusta, far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife. I'm now semi-retired. I've always kept up my interest in the Late Antique.

Clay Stebbins

>18 shikari:

Very cool. As for your lockdown project, well, a global pandemic is a hard time to concentrate on anything! Worthy goals, though.

>18 shikari: >19 cstebbins:

Interesting that both of you are interested in Late Antiquity, which is usually the red-headed stepchild of Classics.

Hi there everyone –– I am entirely new to this group and to LibraryThing and have just been poking around the last couple of days to see how this site works.

I have an undergraduate degree in history and went to graduate school in the history and philosophy of science. I'm interested in the history of ideas and it's mostly through the avenue of philosophy that I've become acquainted with the ancient world. Having grown up in the analytic tradition (both parents had Ph.D.s in philosophy), I avoided Plato for a very long time before I awoke from my dogmatic slumber and discovered The Republic. Since then my fascination with the ancient world has grown, and I've been slowly wending my way through the literature of ancient Greece; most recently I read the Theban plays. A dream would be to one day read The Iliad in the original.

I also am a great fan of art history and of Hellenistic art.

Hi, I’ve been inactive in LT for the last 3-4 years, but trying to get back.
I am a retired economist, with an amateur interest in the classics. No formal education in them but have taken a couple of internet courses (Edx, Hillsdale, etc.)
In fact, currently I am taking a Hillsdale course on The Rise of the Roman Republic and, as part of the course, I am reading Livy’s History of Rome and Polybius’ The Histories, plus some Plutarch and Cicero.

Hello,
I've been interested in this sort of thing for as long as I can remember but recently have taken my studies more seriously. I'm self-educating this year and will be sharing/documenting my journey with others along with free resources for them to join in and do the same!

I hope some of my resources are new to you and serve you well!

Pocket bio: Retired humanities teacher, residing in Tlaxcala, Mexico, with two dogs and six indoor cats. Passionate about literature, history, philosophy, classical music and opera, jazz, cinema, and similar subjects. Nostalgic guy. Politically centrist. BA in American Studies from Yale; MAs in English and Education from Boston University. Born in northern New Jersey. Have lived and worked in San Francisco, Chicago, northern Nevada, northeast Wisconsin, South Korea.

hello i am The book god or lord of books but any way i studie histry in the past because the world has more secrects and i wan to knoww them all and many strange things as happend in y life so i want to stop runing away from them and face them or die trying

Hi.
I've had a strong interest in reading and learning. Probably my main interests in ancient history are Ancient Greece and Rome. As a continuation of my interest in in Roman history, I've been trying to increase my knowledge of Byzantine history.

>26 Rome753:

The topics I've found most fun here are: Justinian and Procopius's Secret History, the sack of 1204 and the fall in 1453. A lot of the other stuff leaves me cold, but ymmv.

>27 timspalding: My knowledge of Procopius's Secret History is limited, but from I know of the other areas you mentioned, they're definitely areas I'd like to explore more.

Welcome @Mizhude713 (new member).

Hey all! I'm a time traveler, who enjoys all historical eras, fiction and non-fiction. I'm also a Gemini, so my reading genres swing wildly. Right now, I'm in the England of Henry VIII, but I'm sure to go back in time soon.

Welcome to you, and @SamwiseJones (another new member).

Right now, I'm in the England of Henry VIII, but I'm sure to go back in time soon.

What's the book? Do you read a bunch of stuff in one era and then move on?

My quirk is that I used to be a grad student in ancient history. I never read historical fiction within the core areas of my interest—Greek history, basically. Although at this point it's pretty unlikely I'll end up a professor, I don't want to suck up some fictional fact and imagine it to be a real one!

Welcome to @ClassicalLibraryGuy, who has an extensive and interesting library!

Since I'm starting next week with a small group led by a trained classical scholar to read Book 9 of the Odyssey in the original, it seems like a good time to introduce myself. Not entirely new to LibraryThing and a senior student of Islamic studies in Berlin since 2017, I've been taking advantage of the opportunity to learn and expand on Latin and Ancient Greek at university for a few years now, but I'm a complete dilletante. I'm glad to meet so many people here who share a love of ancient history.

>33 Buchmerkur:

That's awesome. My kid is taking Homeric Greek this year and I thought I might get up on it. (My Greek is rusty, and despite three years toward a PhD, never took a Homeric class.) But I got lazy. Weird forms. :)

Is it an in-person group. I did Greek and Latin groups like that all through college and grad school. Loved them. I figure a lot of it has moved online.

Welcome @Solitary_Mind and @metic!

I'm Ziva, I love art and plan to go to college for art. A topic in history that's my favorite is oddly the Holocaust, if you can tell by the books I've read. Its weirdly fascinating how so many peoples stories were in the same place same time, but different emotions and depictions of what happened.

>36 zivawise:

Nice to meet you. My kid is going to art school next year (SVA in NYC) for cartooning.

>34 timspalding: It turns out most enjoyable. Today we read the first 30 lines of Book 9 (and practicing the hexameter, too ;-) ), as Odysseus begins to explain why the bard's song made him cry. There are only three of us, and yes, it's in-person class. A new commentary on Book 9 was published this year, by Egbert J. Bakker, Cambridge U Press – I haven't looked at it yet. Our teacher said he approaches the story like a fairy tale, with archetypes or something. I'm happy with the horse's mouth, though.
I wouldn't let myself be put off by strange forms, rather enjoy the story and wonder why Homer put it just that way.

>37 timspalding: Thats so cool!!!

Hi, Now I live in Boudica country in the Uk and yes I do love all history and have a few book and have just started to put them on here. My first batch Is my wargaming books one of my hobbies loads of bits on clothing uniforms and battles. My interests cover a lot more than Romans, while serving in The Royal Air Force I was posted to Belize. While there I spent 4 Weeks digging on a site in the middle of a jungle with an American group of Students. I have a Small collection of Mayan ruins aerial photos taken from an RAF Helicopter never seen by any member of the public. I was a photographic Investigator. I could go on about other digs I ve done but I dont want to say much more at the moment. Jimw

>40 zuludr:

That's awesome. I hope you get those photos to someone—or at least leave directions for after your death. So much gets lost.

I'm always up for dig stories. I did one dig of sorts—helping at the Institute of Nautical Archaeology in Turkey. I sorted and classified glass from the Serçe Limanı shipwreck. It was enormous fun.

Welcome @ProjectReadingBooks.

You have got an awesome library. We share a number of favorites authors, including Ibn Khaldun, Herodotus, Cavafy and M. I. Finley. Indeed, we share so many I had a brief worry that the system was showing me my own favorites, not yours ;)

>34 timspalding: proceeding to the goat island I more and more understand the fairytale comment regarding Bakker's commentary ;-), for example regarding his framing in colonialist approach. Still, helpful to have at hand, but comparing with Gemoll and different translations (e. g. Voss, Rieu) leads to internal discussions.