Bad Ancient/ Owen Rees

@badancient.bsky.social

4262 Followers 471 Following

Ancient Historian: Global history, ancient disability, veteran studies, etc. Also runs Bad Ancient: Fact-checking common claims about the ancient world. Website: www.badancient.com Newsletter: https://owenrees.substack.com/

A theatre stage with a blue backdrop and a set that looks like ancient Greek ruins. The ruins are made to look like marble with a reddish hue. In the middle between three arches is a black keyboard for the musicians. Above the arches is a large yellow title that reads: Thespians. The I in the word is designed to look like an ancient pillar with a flame on top. In the foeground are the backs of peoples' heads.
A well lit theatre stage with blue background and a redish hue to some Greek ruins that form the scenery. In the middle, behind the three arches, can be seen a keyboard for the musicians. Above the scenery is the word Thespians in capital letters, with a pillar and flame making up the letter I.
Two white men sat at the front of a classroom environment. Behind them is a projection screen with a picture of an ancient world map, woth two brown doors either side. In the foreground are rows of chairs and people sat facing the speakers.
A bool shop photo of a table covered in a variety of ancient history books. Beneath the table is a red carpet. In the background is a wall of green and also blue books.
A crusty bread loaf is on top of a black airing rack. A white wall is in the background and a blue box. A jar of flour and a jar of sourdough starter are in the background too.
Light blue book cover with a Turkish title in white text. There are three globes partially visible in the top left, right hand side, and bottom of the cover.
Screen shot of an email - white background with black text. It is to BadAncient.com and says: why should I ask you and not directly the AI?
A cartoon Adolph Hitler, wearing khaki clothes, stands by an opened red door with a mirror beside him hanging on a yellow wall. The text 'heil honey I'm home' is in in red and purple.
Book cover (white with a brown image of a stone sculpture in the centre). The title at the top says 'Ashoka: Portrait of a Philosopher King'. In the backgrund is a grey sofa with a small white dog sat on top.
Books fill 2 shelves in a book shop display. The carpet is textured and grey, the shelves are solid and a dark wood painted black
Photo in the 2nd row of an audience, inside a book shop. White woman with short blond hair in a blue t-shirt sitting on a stool. Holding a microphone in her right hand.
Two letters one on blue paper and one on white paper. They sit atop a wooden table.
A white letter with black text rests on a blue door mat. It is in front of a white door with a bronze letter box.
A grey laptop sits open on a wooden table. Other tables and chairs are in the background, and a red wall that has the word Cafe written in white.
Political Leaflet. The top half has a yellow background and black text with a picture of a white man with short hair holding a microphone and a rather smug look on his face. The bottom half has a red background with white text saying how only Labour can beat Reform.
Screen shot of a google search. 3 books lined up: on the left is a light beige coloured cover with black, red and beige text; in the middle is a black cover with gold text; on the right has a glass looking pyramid sat on a sandy ground, and with a blue cloudy sky above.
A black laptop sits on a brown wooden table. A black microphone is in the foreground
Red figure Greek vase of a soldier holding a sword, with his shield and helmet propped up on a seat in front of him.
Screenshot of an inbox with many emails all sent on Sunday. Blue text on a black background.
Screenshot with black text on a white background. It is from an game making forum advising the book Far Edges of the Known World for people wanting to build a game focusing on the ancient world.
A woman with long dark hair is standing behind a podium. She is in a red room with a large projector screen behind her on the wall. The rest of the wall has four painting hanging up.
Photo of a white Shih Tzu, sat atop a red throw.
Word document with a white background, black text, and coloured logos along the bottom. It is a call for papers for the Returning Solider Network Symposium, on the 9th April 2026 hosted at Birmingham Newman University. The theme is 'Forgotten Veterans' and they are looking for papers 20mins in length on research related to any relevant discipline and covering any time period. See the second post for a link to the CfP on a webpage with more details.
Three books are sat in a light brown box. The covers show a coastal landscape with ancient ships in the sea.
A red bricked house with cars parked out front. There is a grass verge and a pavement in the foreground. The focus of the photo is a stretch of fencing with has 6 union flags, one saint George's flag, and one flag for the extreme far right group Britain First.
Books on a brown wooden table. Three black books lay down, flanked by a black book standing on the left and a beige book on the right. They are all titled 'Far Edges of the Known World'. Behind the books is a full book shelf and white walls.
A table of ancient history books on a shelf surrounded by dozens more. They are written in or translated into Dutch.
A small black dog (west Highland terrier crossed with a Lhasa Apso) stands on green grass in the sunshine.
Screenshot advertising a talk about Bad Ancient. The background is a cream colour with a green banner. An authors photo sits sin a small circle on the left hand side - it is a white male with short dark hair wearing a pink long-sleeved top.
Book cover: orange edging. Title reads - The Greek News: Alexander Victorious. A colour image of Alexander the great on his horse in battle. On the right hand side are 3 small images depicting 'top stories inside'.
Book cover showing a sunset over grasslands, looking through a stone arch. The book is on a wooden table.
A man in black shorts and an orange numper is pointing at a history book on a large book shelf in a shop.
Spine of a book is visible inside an envelope, which is sat on top of a wooden table. The tilte is in blue: Immaculate Forms
A black bag with white writing that says Kosmos and a logo which looks like a stylised Greek pillar.
Three books on a wooden (pine coloured) table: Between two rivers; Plato: a civic life; Men who hate women. On the left is a grey light switch.
A laptop screen with a work a work in progress up on a split screen - dark mode on the right, normal mode on the left. The laptop is in a car, the black steering wheel is behind it with a Hyundai logo in the centre. Out of the windscreen it is a sunny day with trees visible but out of focus.
a screenshot of an email voicing disapproval about the articles covering ancient Egypt on the website BadAncient.com.
Window front for a book shops with a dark brown framing. An array of non fiction hardback books are set out in rows.
Screenshot of loading page from Assassins Creed Shadows. The screen is read with a male samurai headshot looking to the left, a female shinobi wearing a hood is looking to the right. Between them is the Assassins Creed logo.
White books shelves with a variety if history books in hardback. In the middle is a Blue cover with the main title: Holy Places.
A screen shot showing various matches on the Google search. A red arrow points to an exact match, a red circle beneath the image identifies the page the image comes from: a Reddit forum.
A screen shot showing the image and possible matches online beneath it.
A screenshot of the Google search bar. A red arrow points at the small camera icon on the right hand side.
Matt Damon stands dressed in a fantasy-style ancient Greek armour set, with a white and red painted wall in the background. White text is at the top and bottom giving the credits of a movie. The central title say The Odyssey but is written incorrectly in the Greek alphabet.
A set of book shelves with the black heading above saying 'Highlights'. Multicoloured book covers fill each shelf, three across. They are all history titles. In the background are a table with more white books stacked up and a shop till with a cashier wearing grey.
A book (the back cover facing forwards) stands in front of a vase of flowers, on top of a wooden table. There is a grey laptop and a black headset on the table aswell.
A manicured hand holds a beige covered book with a bright blue and red design of a map at its top edge. In the back ground is book shelf filled with nonfiction book titles.
Book promo with a beige background. On the right is the book, the top half is a colourful map below which is the title of the book in blue: The Far Edges of the Known World. To the left of the book is a quote, in black text, endorsing the book by Helen King.
Elon Musk is wearing a dark suit and white shirt, stood in front of a lectern with a blue backdrop. His arm is extended straight, above his shoulder line, with his hand open (palm down) and his fingers closed in a position similar to the famous Nazi salute.
Screen shot of the title screen for Assassins Creed Origins. A black background in the form of a wall with hieroglyphs inscribed. A golden insignia combines the eye of Ra with the Assassins Creed logo, the title is written beneath it.
Hard back book on a display desk. The cover is black decorated with clouds and Zeus holding thunderbolts. The title says Greek Mythology and is by Liv Albert.
Two young women's faces sit on the edges of the picture. A sword with a black and yellow handle stands between them, with a dark blue and red background. At the top there is a clear blue sky and two elephants (one grey and one yellow) walking along.
An ancient Roman woman stands in front of a paint-spilled version of the Transgender flag, she is wearing a pink gown with a golden belt around the middle. She has dark hair and light brown skin. Above her are the words: Call me not Lord, for I am a Lady. Next to her head are the words: (Okay but like, I look so cute in this dress).
A Roman man in a grown gown stands in front of an amazing, white, church-like building with an arched doorway and round window above.
A red haired woman holds a spear aloft in her hand. Her dress is multi coloured at the bottom then becomes yellow toward the top. She wears a grey shawl with gold tassles. A large block of text features on the right telling the story of Boudicca. All of this is on a backdrop of a starry night sky
An older ancient greek man with dark highlighted hair and a beard stands holding hands with a young man with blonder hair but no beard. They are dressed in yellow, each holding a bloody knife. They are surrounded by love hearts. In the background is a blue sky, bordered by two ancient pillars. A dead body lies on the floor in a pool of blood.
Roman man with dark hair and beard stands in front of an erupting volcano. The ash in the sky is distorting the words that open one of the works of Pliny the Elder.
A young woman wearing a pink dress stands in front of a starry night background. There are three moons, each with a symblo: the crown of Egypt to the left, slave shackles above, and a crocodile to the right. Her name is written along the bottom: Cleopatra Selene (Moon) II.
Digital art showing an ancient greek historian in front of a full bookshelf. He sits in front of a table with a manuscript and quill present. A small pile lamp lights the room in the bottom left hand corner. The historian has brown hair and a beard, his tongue hangs out because he is dead. Text appears above his head saying: 'How Thucydides should have died (Writer's block)'. In the left hand corner of the scene it says: ' When the winter after this summer is over the twenty-first year of this war will be completed - *Dies*'
A piece of digital art depicting a young priestess in Ancient Pompeii. She wears a light green robe and stands in front of an erupting volcano.