diary of a classicist @athenais-studies - Tumblr Blog

Salvete! Χαίρετε!

a little introduction:

on tumblr I go by athenais, and I use they/them pronouns. I am currently a graduate student pursuing a master's degree in classical philology, which means I'm studying the languages and literature of Ancient Greece and Rome! Besides English, German, Latin, and Ancient Greek, I have also studied Japanese (but that was many moons ago)!

research interests:

the intersection of narratology and linguistics

how languages shape the stories we tell

literature's influence on culture and culture's influence on literature

personal interests:

films and books (generally science fiction and fantasy!)

film soundtracks (I am a diehard Hans Zimmer and Ludwig Göransson fan)

owls (hoo could have guessed!)

taking before and after photos whenever I clean anything lol

what you can expect:

frequent posts! I try to post at least once a day

updates on my to do lists

tracking how much time I spend focusing/studying

quotes in Latin and Ancient Greek that I like with my translations

the occasional sweet treat

pictures of my notes, my iPad, and my messy cursive <3

some French (it's a requirement for my degree)

and more!

Thank you so much for reading! 🦉

#grad studies #grad studyblr #studyblr #latin language #classics student #ancient greek language #forest app #study motivation #study with me #studyspo

fullyconsumedbywhatlovesme

Peter Hall's 1983 staging of Tony Harrison's adaptation of Aeschylus' Oresteia.

This is legitimately my comfort watch now.

🛬 debrief 4/7/2026 Tuesday

I was more productive towards the end of the day, especially with my grading. But I'm sort of pulling an all nighter because I have two quizzes tomorrow that I need to study for. Maybe I'll take a nap at my desk, we'll see....

Tasks accomplished:

🌳 2h 45m

- finish grading late work

- grade subjunctives 1

- grade subjunctives 2

- grade conditionals

- fold laundry

- clean desk and bedroom

Tasks for Tomorrow:

🛫 4/8/2026

- study Agamemnon lines 218--280

- study Agamemnon lines 320--350, 475--500

- prepare Agamemnon lines 855--886

- start translation project

- prepare Apocolocyntosis sections 4.18--7.17

- review French notes I struggle with

- clean kitchen

#studyblr #grad studyblr #athenais debrief #classics student #grad studies #athenais lists #athenais studies

4/7/2026 Tuesday

I really need to stay locked in today...

🌳 0h 0m

Tasks:

- finish grading late work

- read Apocolocyntosis sections 4.18--5.19

- reread Apocolocyntosis sections 1--4.17

- grade subjunctives 1

- grade subjunctives 2

- grade conditionals

- create alternate assignment

- grade project 1

- read Agamemnon lines 218--280

- read Agamemnon lines 810--854

- read Agamemnon lines 855--886

- start translation project

- review French grammar that I struggle with

- clean kitchen

- fold laundry

- clean desk and bedroom

#studyblr #grad studyblr #classics student #grad studies #athenais lists #to do today #to do list

4/6/2026 Monday DEBRIEF

I didn't get nearly as much done as I should have. Unfortunately I think I'm still burnt out and trying to recover while also trying to stay on track with my classes...

🌳 3h 44m

Tasks accomplished:

- grade self introduction

- grade chapter 6 translation

- grade chapter 6 reflection

I'm disappointed in myself for not having been more locked in because I have to make up the difference today

#studyblr #grad studyblr #classics student #grad studies #athenais debrief

4/6/2026 Monday

🌳 0h 32m

to do:

- grade self introduction

- grade chapter 6 translation

- grade chapter 6 reflection

- grade present subjunctives

- grade other subjunctives

- grade conditionals

- grade R+T #1

- create alternate assignment

- read 218-280 of Aeschylus' Agamemnon

- read 810-854 of Aeschylus' Agamemnon

- read 855-886 of Aeschylus' Agamemnon

- start translation project

- reread Apocolocyntosis sections 1-4.17

- read Apocolocyntosis sections 4.18-5.19

- review shaky French notes

- clean kitchen

- fold laundry

- clean desk + bedroom

#studyblr #grad studyblr #athenais studies #athenais lists #classics student #grad studies #to do today #to do list

figured out why I've been so unfocused these past few days.... I've accidentally forgotten to take my ADHD meds a few days in a row 😭 this is so frustrating, no wonder it feels like I keep hitting brick walls

#studyblr #grad studyblr #classics student #adhd

athenais-studies

have you heard much modern greek? do you understand it?

Hi! Thank you for your question! I haven't heard much modern Greek, but I do know that a lot of the pronunciation has changed (as languages tend to do). I've only studied ancient Greek, and that was taught to me in a very different way from my Japanese classes. In my Latin and Greek classes we focus a lot on advancing through grammar and then reading passages into English in class, as opposed to learning how to fluently speak and produce Latin/ancient Greek. I can't speak ancient Greek or Latin at all, but I can read and understand it with a dictionary on hand. Because of the linguistic changes between ancient and modern Greek, I really can't understand anything 😅. I would love to learn modern Greek, though!

Thank you again for your question!

phantaksi

very cool, thanks for answering! you're very aware of the presence of historical pronunciation shifts but have you learned much about them in your classes? also, what era of latin and ancient greek did your classes focus on? how ancient are we talking lol

athenais-studies

I haven't learned much about the linguistics of the shift from ancient to modern Greece in classes, unfortunately....

However, my main area of emphasis is Homeric Greek, so pretty ancient haha! I've read Euripides, Aeschylus, as well as Plato and Aristotle, as well as lots of other smaller selections I don't remember (such as from the New Testament) when I was first learning. As for Latin, I've read as early as Plautus and as late as Tacitus! It's very interesting to see the differences between each era of Latin/ancient Greek, and it's always a major comprehension shift between authors for me. Everyone writes in such a different style!

#studyblr #grad studyblr #classics student #ancient greek language #athenais studies greek

have you heard much modern greek? do you understand it?

Hi! Thank you for your question! I haven't heard much modern Greek, but I do know that a lot of the pronunciation has changed (as languages tend to do). I've only studied ancient Greek, and that was taught to me in a very different way from my Japanese classes. In my Latin and Greek classes we focus a lot on advancing through grammar and then reading passages into English in class, as opposed to learning how to fluently speak and produce Latin/ancient Greek. I can't speak ancient Greek or Latin at all, but I can read and understand it with a dictionary on hand. Because of the linguistic changes between ancient and modern Greek, I really can't understand anything 😅. I would love to learn modern Greek, though!

Thank you again for your question!

#studyblr #grad studyblr #classics student #ancient greek language #asked and answered #athenais studies greek

I'm trying to write an abstract to submit to a conference, except I haven't actually written the paper yet. reblog if you've ever tried submitting an abstract without having the research/paper completed !!

#I'm trying to get this 500 word abstract done by tonight #idk if I'll be able to complete something coherent in time #the goal is to build my CV #I'm scared bc this is a massive conference that's super competitive in my field and I've never submitted before #studyblr #grad studyblr #grad studies #conference

srnrxn

To believe that academic sucess can occur without self-care is self-deceit.

4/3/26 Friday DEBRIEF

🌳 3h 20m

Today I didn't get as much done as I would have liked to. I'll be travelling on Sunday so I won't be able to get anything done :( I'm hoping that I'll be able to stay more focused today out of necessity. But I did make a lot of progress on thinking about what I should write about for my class...

- Go see project hail mary CANCELLED

- read articles

- read the Iliad

- read the Agamemnon

- come up with topic idea

- write abstract

- grade chapter 6 translation

- grade chapter 6 reflection

- grade self-introduction

- grade project #1

- create alternate assignment

- reread Apocolocyntosis sections 1--4.17

- fold laundry

- clean bedroom

#studyblr #grad studyblr #classics student #athenais debrief #grad studies #forest app #cursive #to do list

4/4/26 Saturday

🌳 0h 0m

- go see project hail mary (had to cancel yesterday)

- keep reading the Iliad

- keep reading the Agamemnon

- keep reading articles

- continue brainstorming paper topic

- write and finalize abstract

- grade chapter 6 translation

- grade chapter 6 reflection

- grade self-introduction

- grade project 1

- create alternate assignment

- reread Apocolocyntosis sections 1--4.17

- fold laundry

- clean bedroom

#studyblr #athenais lists #grad studyblr #classics student #grad studies #to do today #to do list

notes update! I've spent my whole day working on this... I think I'm getting somewhere....

#studyblr #grad studyblr #classics student #athenais studies greek #grad studies #ancient greek language #cursive

current academic reads:

The Iliad, Homer, trans. Emily Wilson

Agamemnon, Aeschylus, trans. Hugh Lloyd-Jones

I feel like I'm on the verge of figuring out what I want to say about these two stories... I'm looking at how Agamemnon deceives his troops in Book 2 of the Iliad compared to how Clytemnestra deceives Agamemnon in Aeschylus' Agamemnon.

I'm also looking at other articles. I think what I want to say is something about how it's permissible for men to deceive others (cough, Odysseus, cough cough) but that female deception is bad (κακός) in a variety of ways.

So far, the language used to describe deception in Book 2 of the Iliad is very different from the language used in the Agamemnon, so I think I'll start there...