Dr Owen Hodkinson (he/him)

A blog post by my excellent PhD supervisee @irvlewis.bsky.social!

Call for Papers! Symposium in honour of our much-missed colleague Prof. Malcolm Heath, Leeds, 21-2 May 2026. Paper proposals of no more than 500 words to be sent by 1 December to Prof. Emma Stafford (e.j.stafford@leeds.ac.uk)

ahc.leeds.ac.uk/dir-record/r...

fb.me/e/3B3AY9ZZZ

Extremely sad that my much-loved friend and ally of over thirty-five years, the great poet, dramatist, socialist and acerbic wit Tony Harrison, died yesterday morning, peacefully, with his devoted partner, actress Sian Thomas, at his side. I'm so glad I visited them last week.

The Ancient Love Letters network (coorganised by @owenhodkinson.bsky.social, AT Drago and RJ Gallé Cejudo) has its second conference this week in Bari, tracing the genre from antiquity to Renaissance Humanism. Online attendance is possible. Details: tinyurl.com/mv3vadky.

Can't wait to be back in Bari for the next conference of the Ancient Love Letters research network, which will trace the development of the genre from antiquity to Renaissance Humanism as well as expanding the range of Imperial and Late Antique texts and themes covered so far. tinyurl.com/mv3vadky

DR ELLIE MACKIN ROBERTS Hello! I am Ellie Mackin Roberts. I am an Ancient Greek historian with a focus on material and visual culture. I work on Ancient Greek religious practices, and particularly how people interact with...

We're delighted to announce that we're going to be joined for 2025-26 by Dr Ellie Mackin Roberts. She's an expert in Greek History, especially accessed via material and visual culture, with a particular interest in the rituals and beliefs of ancient religion!
www.elliemackinroberts.net

With fresh songs and a spectacular set, Disney’s Hercules musical goes the distance The muses must spend the whole evening on costume changes, appearing in a series of fabulous frocks, each more spectacular than the last.

Prof. Stafford's review of the new Disney Hercules musical is out - complete with some great photos and video-links... Enjoy!

theconversation.com/with-fresh-s...

Can Disney’s New Hercules “Go the Distance”? This is a longer version of the review published yesterday in The Conversation. Disney’s Hercules – Mount Olympus & Muses. Photo by Johan Persson © Disney “Whose daring deeds are gr…

By popular request (!) Prof. Stafford has posted a longer version of her review of Disney's new musical on the CAWCRS Research Blog: leedscawcrs.wordpress.com/2025/07/01/5...

Concert poster advertising Leeds Haydn Players' concert with details of pieces to be performed: 13th July, 3.30pm. All Souls Church, Blackman Lane, Leeds, LS2 9EY. Beethoven: Leonore Overture no.3, Fauré: Masques et Bergamesques, Schumann: Symphony 4. Tickets on the door, or email leedshaydnplayers@gmail.com

Leeds Haydn Players' summer concert!
A very nice and varied programme (and feat. me as second bassoon, but don't let that put you off).

My own paper "Colonialism and erasure in classical board games".

Matt Coward-Gibbs ‪@mattcowardgibbs.bsky.social‬ co-leading the afternoon's workshop "Hacking colonial themed games" along with Izzy Bartley, using the game boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/19...

Gianluca Raccagni of Edinburgh History & Games Lab historyandgames.shca.ed.ac.uk speaking on designing a game based on the extraordinary journeys of Harald Hardrada: "The Making of 'A Viking in the Sun': Between Research-Informed Game Design and Game Design-Informed Research."

Now Izzy Bartley ahc.leeds.ac.uk/fine-art/pgr..., PhD candidate at Leeds and Leeds Museums and Galleries employee, talking about "Playing colonial themed board games as decolonising work".

Followed by Jenny Cromwell @jennycromwell.bsky.social on historical pedagogy through gameplay and game design: "Introducing ‘Qadesh: A Soldier’s Journey’: a TTRPG set in ancient Egypt".

Kicking off our 'Games through History and History through Games' Colloquium
@universityofleeds.bsky.social
in fine style with
@emmacayley.bsky.social 's talk about the journeys of playing cards - "Lost in the Shuffle: The Interconnected Histories of Playing Cards and Books".

A map showing trade routes along which playing cards were traded

Looking forward to speaking about the journeys of playing cards in our 'Games through History and History through Games' Colloquium @universityofleeds.bsky.social on Weds 21st and hearing some fascinating papers on games and colonialism. Thanks to @owenhodkinson.bsky.social for the invitation! ♠️♦️♣️♥️

About us Find out about Tearfund, our vision mission, values, and story, and meet our executive team and board.

If you would like to make a charitable donation in Malcolm’s memory, you might consider giving to Tearfund, of which he was a regular supporter, or to St Michael’s Parish Giving Scheme.
www.tearfund.org/about-us
www.stmichaelsheadingley.org/giving

Photograph of Prof. Malcolm Heath sitting at his desk in his office at the University of Leeds.

The funeral of our much missed colleague Professor Malcolm Heath will take place this Friday (11 April) at 13.00 in St. Michael’s Church Headingley. There will be refreshments in the church afterwards: please let us know if you plan to come (RSVP to P.M.White@leeds.ac.uk).

Very much looking forward to this research seminar with Elena Claudi, on Philostratus' Imagines, otherness and gender! “Viewing the female object through ekphrasis: Rhodogoune in the Imagines of Philostratus”.
Details in the quoted post.
🏺 #ClassicsBluesky #BlueskyClassics #AncientBluesky 🏛️

Photo of Professor Malcolm Heath at his desk at the University of Leeds

Leeds Classics is deeply sad to learn that our colleague Malcolm Heath died peacefully yesterday. Since his retirement in 2022 he had unfortunately been in ill health, but he was well supported by friends and family, and when colleagues from the department visited in November he was in good spirits.

Sign the Petition Save Cardiff University Ancient History Degree

Please take a moment to sign and share the petition to save Ancient History from planned cuts at Cardiff University

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Thank you, glad you enjoyed it! And yes, definitely...

It was wonderful talking to @k8lister.bsky.social on this show about erotic letters and love letters from Greco-Roman antiquity, and beyond! #BetwixtTheSheets
#AncientBluesky
#ClassicsBluesky

Interesting. I'd not come across that song - afraid the only song of theirs I could name is Buddy Holly.

I might have mentioned Catullus in connection with Sappho, as he translated in his poem 51 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catullu... a poem of Sappho (31 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sappho_31)

The Ovid letters I mentioned were these en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroides, for a translation e.g. www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/.... I talked about the writers' tears (Heroides 3 and 15) or blood (11) falling on the page of the letter in specific examples, and the letter from Sappho is 15.