It has been brought to my attention that a phishing scam is apparently using my name and career details. If you have received an email that looks like the following, rest assured that it is not from me and do not click on the link provided.

The new German translation of “After 1177 BC” has a nice review in “Damals”. Not sure if the first sentence is a reference to this book or to the original “1177 BC”, but the final sentence is clearly a reference to this new book: “absolutely worth reading”…

We're #1 !!! 👍😎

This is awesome, but now we need a Late Bronze Age Collapse Scented Candle, right?? :- ) (check out their other candles too, including the War of 1812, the Boston Tea Party, etc: jdandkateindustries.com)

Had a great interview the other day with Dan Snow (Dan Snow), for a future episode about the Trojan War on the History Hit (History Hit💥) podcast. Not sure when it will air, but stay tuned!

Major dilemma! Which tie should I wear for the first day of classes (tomorrow, 25 August)? Teaching Intro to Archaeology and History of Ancient Greece this semester….

First day of school, for the 26th time at GW, and the 60th straight year overall. Groundhog Day, anyone? Thanks for all the crowdsourcing; I went with the AIA owl tie and the Scream lapel pin. The other ties will be worn on the appropriate lecture days, so stay tuned.

Touching on Ur, Max Mallowan, and Agatha Christie today in the Intro class so I broke out the Standard of Ur tie for today.

Very fun podcast episode has just dropped, with Tristan Hughes interviewing me about the Sea Peoples (and yes, I know that I mix up east and west in a few instances — Libya is to the west of Egypt, not the east — but mea culpa). :-) Give it a listen! open.spotify.com/episode/5EDFa6…

First review of my next book (due out in November) has just appeared, in Kirkus Reviews. Pretty happy, as the defining sentence reads “Impressive scholarship illuminates the Bronze Age”… Go here for the full review (it’s short): kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/e…

I learned to my horror that neither of my children have seen the original Blues Brothers movie. Ironically, they both know by heart the iconic lines “It’s 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark…and we’re wearing sunglasses. Hit it.”

Today’s Intro class is on the Egyptians, so I had to choose between numerous possible ties and settled on this one. Spoiler alert; there may be a tie change in between classes, since we’re doing the Minoans in Greek history today. I have brought the dolphin tie with me as well.

One sign that the new semester has begun: when you answer one email and three more pop up as you are doing so.

Actually lecturing in detail about the Woolley/Mallowan excavations at Ur today, so I’m wearing another one of my “Standard” ties (I have three: one in polychrome, one in red, and one in black.)

Just received the welcome news that the paperwork has just been signed for the twentieth translation of 1177 BC, this time into Ukrainian. Not sure when it will be out, but looking forward to it!

Fighting the Trojan War today, in both classes as it happens.

There are very few things quite like gazing upon your new book for the very first time. Years and years of studying and writing, of intensive toil, labor, and love, now brought to fruition with the help of a whole village. I am so pleased that this will be available in two months