@carolatack
Ancient politics and political thought, modern art, Plato and Xenophon. Fellow of Newnham College, FRHistS. Cambridge and elsewhere. Recent books: Plato: a civic life (Reaktion) and Xenophon (Greece & Rome New Surveys in the Classics, Cambridge).
The volume,Brill's Companion to the Reception of Xenophon, edited by Dustin Gish and Christopher Farrell, should be published this summer; full details of contents and contributors here: brill.com/display/titl...
Includes me on 'Meaning and Understanding in the History of Greek Political Thought', along with Melissa Lane and many other great contributors. Fond memories of a bizarrely hybrid post-Covid conference, and a splendid socially distanced dinner in honour of Professor Skinner.
A reassessment of Quentin Skinner's classic paper on its 50th anniversary, drawn from a @britishacademy.bsky.social conference - Meaning and Understanding in the History of Ideas and Beyond, edited by @adrianblau.bsky.social & open access at www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10....
The visual legacy of a counter-cultural moment at the start of the 1980s - includes posters for two of my favourite ever 7" singles, by Scritti Politti and Orange Juice. Artfully curated by the always interesting Philip Hoare for @theguardian.com.
Exciting! Looking forward to seeing the finished thing!
I did have the chance to revise and update the chapter two or three years ago, but proof-reading something written long ago when your thought and your writing style have moved on is not the most fun thing. Still, excited to see the volume move forward.
A page proof containing the following text: Chapter 3 Xenophon’s Reception in Aristotle and the Aristotelian Corpus Carol Atack There are clear shared themes within the political and ethical thought of Xenophon and Aristotle.1 Both are interested in human life in its extreme forms, from the slave to the absolute monarch, in the structure of the household and its relationship to the wider political and other responsibilities of the male citizen who was its manager, in the constitutions of cities, ideal and otherwise, and in the practicalities of implementing the ideals that underlay the politeia. However, Aristotle’s use of Xenophon’s texts has often been treated as limited to the extraction of useful data about, for example, Spartan educational and political practices, rather than as a critical engagement with Xenophon’s ethical and political thought itself.2 Common subject matter may simply be...
V excited to receive page proofs for a chapter I submitted in 2016 (!) for the forthcoming Brill's Companion to the Reception of Xenophon, on a topic which remains fascinating - Aristotle's use of Xenophon's thought and his exemplary narratives as a source for his own ethnical thought.
Our third blog post in our WCC and Me series is now live!! 🏛️🏛️
Click the link below to read our conversation with Dr Carol Atack
wcc-uk.blogs.sas.ac.uk/2026/02/23/w...
The Women's Classical Committee UK (@womeninclassicsuk.bsky.social) is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a series of interviews with those involved at the start - here's my contribution, thanks to @katherinemcdon.bsky.social's interviewing skills: wcc-uk.blogs.sas.ac.uk/2026/02/23/w...
Thanks - so glad this was useful for you and encourage you strongly to take a look at the book!
Book cover - a historical print imagining the American past as inscriptions on the columns of a classical temple, fading to the right into a light blue text from which the title and author name are reversed out: Epic Events: Classics and the Politics of Time in the United States since 9/11, Sasha-Mae Eccleston
Now online - my review of Sasha-Mae Eccleston's 'Epic Events:
Classics and the Politics of Time in the United States since 9/11', an exploration of the intersectional politics of classical reception (spoiler: I found it compelling and learned a lot) www.journals.uchicago.edu/eprint/HPQGZ...
Birkbeck, University of London, is seeking a Lecturer in Ancient History and Classics to join our dynamic team within the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Autumn 2026. As Lecturer in Ancient History and Classics, you will contribute to the teaching of ancient Greco-Roman history and Classics in the School of Historical Studies - this includes our BA Ancient History and Archaeology, BA Classics, BA Classical Studies, as well as MA Classical Civilisation and MA Classics. This post is offered on a permanent contract at Birkbeck, full time, 35 hours per week, with a salary of £44,247 rising to £60,858 per year. Teaching hours will vary from 6-9pm Monday to Friday. To be successful, you will bring research expertise in ancient Greek history, broadly understood (this could include the history of Greek-speaking lands under the Roman empire), as well as ancient Greek literature, and demonstrate a capacity to contribute to interdisciplinary research and teaching, participate actively in curriculum development, supervise doctoral students, and help shape the intellectual life of our vibrant academic community. We would also welcome applicants who could contribute to collaborative teaching programmes or research in the Faculty, in areas such as identity, race/ethnicity, or gender - experience of collaboration with cultural institutions, whether through research or teaching, is also welcome. The postholder could potentially take advantage of Birkbeck’s new Immersive Learning Centre for teaching or research. As Lecturer, your core responsibilities will initially include programme/module administration, teaching, supervision, assessment, student support and pastoral care. You will also be equipped to supervise doctoral students. With a PhD in any area of Ancient History/Classics relating to the ancient Greek world,...
We're hiring at Birkbeck!
Lecturer in Ancient History and Classics, full-time and open-ended. Closing date March 18th.
Details here: cis7.bbk.ac.uk/vacancy/lect...
Halfway through Athena’s Sisters - a vital read for anyone interested in the social history of classical Athens, and in questions of historical method.
A paperback copy of Plato: a civic life by Carol Atack sits on a wooden bookshelf, in front of a Megarian bowl, just glimpsed. The wall behind is off-white. The book cover is bright red and features the words of the title arranged at the top of three Doric columns.
Opening page of paperback edition of Plato: a civic life, containing comments from book reviews: 'Atack handles her material, as throughout, with a steady touch ... All in all, Atack's book is crisply written, shrewd, and well-informed... Readers of many kinds are likely to derive both pleasure and profit from reading this book? Bryn Mawr Classical Review 'In Plato: A Civic Life we journey through the philosopher's life - and, from the third chapter onwards, through his writings - learning as much about Athenian democracy, international relations, education and culture as we do about Plato himself... Anyone who finds raw Plato indigestible will welcome these accessible explanations of his work... Twenty-five years on from my last ancient philosophy exam, I am surprised to discover that I want to open his works again, thanks to this humanizing and carefully contextualized biography? ALICE KÖNIG, Times Literary Supplement 'Carol Atack's study of Plato achieves more in 240 pages than many other writers manage in biographies three times the length... A gem for anyone interested in this ancient Greek philosopher and the world he inhabited. Approachable, enlightening, informative? Bookmunch 'Atack excels, contextualizing the dialogues smoothly and authoritatively, with neither the gatekeeping condescension of the expert nor the oversimplifying condescension of the pedagogue... As a primer to the man, his works, and his time, the general-interest reader could scarcely ask for something better? Open Letters Review 'A richly enjoyable and illuminating account of Plato's life and its social and political contexts. Atack handles the wealth of scholarship with a deft touch: she provides considered support for her interpretations but never obscures the main, vivid narrative, into which she skilfully weaves a number of Plato's key ideas and arguments? ANGIE HOBBS, Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy, University of Sheffield
Actual physical paperback now sighted! Here it is, just as lovely as the hardback but with some lovely quotes from reviews added (all but one in alt text) - thanks to everyone who has read and commented. Head to @reaktionbooks.bsky.social or your local bookshop to preorder!
And here's more details about the British Museum talk: www.britishmuseum.org/events/membe...
I've just checked the website, and yes it will be recorded.
Very excited to be giving an online talk to the Friends of the British Museum on March 9th! If like me you're a member, you should have just received the booking email...
American Psycho at the Almeida - the Guardian has it right, Brett Easton Ellis's novel caught something about 80s culture that was not good then... interesting to hear the audience last night laugh at some dated references, gasp at others which have become more salient in the present moment...
Indeed!
Detail of tent with miniature Alexander standing in front of it.
Alexander the Great, depicted as a living statue with flowing blond hair, extremely fancy armour, hot pink stockings and a very sassy attitude, by the Master of the Story of Griselda, c. 1490s. Behind him a grassy scene with a military encampment- a miniature version of him stands in front of the left tent.
Detail of Alexander’s cuirass with gorgon head and mythical beasts picked out in gold.
Fabulous Alexander the Great, painted by the Master of the Story of Griselda in the 1490s, currently visiting the Courtauld Gallery in London from the Barber Institute in Birmingham, originally from Tuscany.
Honestly don’t know what to say here… a group of semi-clothed muscular male figures are arrayed in an underground space, looking at shadows which appear on the wall behind them. It’s very colourful.
I didn’t know this, um, remarkable depiction of the Cave, by 16th century Flemish artist Michiel Coxcie, leaning heavily on Michelangelo’s figures, now in the Musée de la Chartreuse de Douai.
A grey-haired white man reads at a lectern. A screen on the wood-panelled wall behind him shows a 16th century imagining of Plato’s Cave.
Fascinating Slade lecture in Cambridge from Professor Terry Smith, opening his series ’Frames of Vision: The Intelligence of Artists’ with ‘Visual Allegories of Seeing as Knowing, Plato and Giorgione’, showing how Plato’s Cave operates as a ‘hyper-icon’ across time and genre.
Scruton didn't read Greek (he told me so himself), in case you were wondering.
Black and white print with strong graphic lines. A man’s face is transforming into that of a deer; one human eye with long lashes, one dark deer eye, both profiles side by side m.
For the start of term, here’s one of Axel Salto’s many takes on the story of Actaeon from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, currently on display at the Hepworth Wakefield in a fabulous show of his ceramic and other works.
A long list of museums, archives and libraries - worth looking to see if any of your favourites are using this site.
Finally, the WCC UK is on Bluesky! Lots of exciting updates in the next few months, so do give us a follow @womeninclassicsuk.bsky.social
This is by way of a welcome to new followers. I’m still teaching and researching in this area - the dynamics of gender are a fruitful way to approach classical Athenian democracy, especially its male-dominated public spaces.
![David Bowie ► The Jean Genie (HD) - [Top of the Pops 1973]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:57r4v75rqlqleqbasd3lfx4s/bafkreiel2nuozox7aiobajk2f4bsyknvsehqpaexeixxlcj4ryypkpvvby@jpeg)
It’s roughly the tenth anniversary of David Bowie’s death and of me playing my Sex and Gender in classical Greece students this video. No better illustration of early 1970s UK discourse on sexuality than the gap between performers & audience which Bowie bridges so well. m.youtube.com/watch?v=RIrH...
A view of the Athenian acropolis taken from the Hill of the Pnyx, meeting place of Athenian democracy. Behind an open space with grass and stone rises a hill with cypress trees and shrubs on its lower slopes, bare rock towards the top and the remains of a Greek temple visible, along with scaffolding and cranes. You can't see the small temple of Athena Nike because it was being restored when this photo was taken a few years ago.
One of my schools talks/taster lectures is called 'The Fragility of Democracy', and I've enjoyed sharing it with many school groups over the past few years, looking at how ancient Greek democracy handled political crises. Right now, am busy updating it for its next outing on Monday...
I'll be speaking about Plato and his life in Athens at the Oxford Literary Festival on Wednesday March 25. oxfordliteraryfestival.org/literature-e...