Associate Professor of History at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Researches law, religion, and manuscripts in the medieval Byzantine Empire. Author, Byzantine Religious Law in Medieval Italy (http://bit.ly/3h3Huph) #ByzantineLaw 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇭🇰🇬🇷🇮🇹https://bsky.app/profile/jamesmorton.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/jamesmorton.bsky.social/post/3m4g6oxempc2qIt took a few days, but our job ad is finally up on all the normal online academic job sites! If you're an ancient historian looking for a good tenure-track job, you should take a look. Here it is on the Society for Classical Studies website, for example: https://www.classicalstudies.org/placement-service/2025-2026/39200/assistant-professor-ancient-world-history [contains quote post or other embedded content]30 Oct 2025 14:35 +0000at://did:plc:pc722xeo7yaltk3ovbgza7ta/app.bsky.feed.post/3m4g6oxempc2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/jamesmorton.bsky.social/post/3m3ziqqj2ys2m🚨JOB ALERT: Are you a historian of the ancient world? Are you looking for a tenure-track assistant professor job? Would you like to earn a high salary and live in an exciting city? If so, you should read our job ad and apply online here: https://cuhk.taleo.net/careersection/cu_career_teach/jobdetail.ftl?job=250001V725 Oct 2025 13:31 +0000at://did:plc:pc722xeo7yaltk3ovbgza7ta/app.bsky.feed.post/3m3ziqqj2ys2mhttps://bsky.app/profile/jamesmorton.bsky.social/post/3lhshxdodds2qHistorians often try to explain why things happened, but this is an unusual case in which I tried to explain why something *didn’t* happen. Just published, ‘Untranslatable Law’ in Toma and Bara (edd.), ‘Latin Translations of Greek Texts from the 11th to the 13th Century’: https://brill.com/display/book/9789004721678/BP000021.xml10 Feb 2025 06:04 +0000at://did:plc:pc722xeo7yaltk3ovbgza7ta/app.bsky.feed.post/3lhshxdodds2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/jamesmorton.bsky.social/post/3lerxtihix225Wandering around the Met in New York, trying to fight off jet lag before the AHA begins tomorrow. I keep coming across artefacts, thinking ‘that looks familiar’, and then recognising them from images that I use in my lecture slides! #AHA2502 Jan 2025 21:00 +0000at://did:plc:pc722xeo7yaltk3ovbgza7ta/app.bsky.feed.post/3lerxtihix225https://bsky.app/profile/jamesmorton.bsky.social/post/3lemkkokue22kHappy New Year! I am at Hong Kong International Airport, waiting for a 3:20am flight to New York so that I can attend the annual conference of the American Historical Association. I wouldn’t stay up this late for a party, so why am I doing it for work?!? #AHA2531 Dec 2024 17:19 +0000at://did:plc:pc722xeo7yaltk3ovbgza7ta/app.bsky.feed.post/3lemkkokue22khttps://bsky.app/profile/jamesmorton.bsky.social/post/3ledgulrhck2qThis was definitely the most memorable new headline this year [contains quote post or other embedded content]28 Dec 2024 02:19 +0000at://did:plc:pc722xeo7yaltk3ovbgza7ta/app.bsky.feed.post/3ledgulrhck2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/jamesmorton.bsky.social/post/3le3ybl24kc2cMerry Christmas! God bless us, everyone!25 Dec 2024 03:09 +0000at://did:plc:pc722xeo7yaltk3ovbgza7ta/app.bsky.feed.post/3le3ybl24kc2chttps://bsky.app/profile/jamesmorton.bsky.social/post/3ld5vczmz2k2tIs this a glimpse of the last #Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI Palaiologos (r. 1449-1453)? The Ephorate of Antiquities of Achaia discovered this fresco in a church near Aigio, possibly the only portrait of Constantine made during his lifetime: https://greekcitytimes.com/2024/12/13/portrait-constantine-xi-palaiologos/amp/ #medievalsky13 Dec 2024 03:56 +0000at://did:plc:pc722xeo7yaltk3ovbgza7ta/app.bsky.feed.post/3ld5vczmz2k2thttps://bsky.app/profile/jamesmorton.bsky.social/post/3lczdaa43mk2nI’m marking hand-written exams for the first time in years. It’s fascinating to see how many students were all drawn to one or two topics on the essay question (they had a choice of six). More fascinating still, one essay topic was so unpopular that literally nobody (out of a class of 30) chose it!11 Dec 2024 08:22 +0000at://did:plc:pc722xeo7yaltk3ovbgza7ta/app.bsky.feed.post/3lczdaa43mk2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/jamesmorton.bsky.social/post/3lcuynq5fd227My best friend made it into the Financial Times! [contains quote post or other embedded content]09 Dec 2024 15:02 +0000at://did:plc:pc722xeo7yaltk3ovbgza7ta/app.bsky.feed.post/3lcuynq5fd227https://bsky.app/profile/jamesmorton.bsky.social/post/3lctjbmef6227On my way to invigilate my first ever in-person university exam today. I used to just give take-home final papers. However, thanks to the modern technological progress of #AI, they get to experience course assessment the same way I did when I was a student!09 Dec 2024 00:54 +0000at://did:plc:pc722xeo7yaltk3ovbgza7ta/app.bsky.feed.post/3lctjbmef6227https://bsky.app/profile/jamesmorton.bsky.social/post/3lcrbzlix7227Amazing developments in #Syria. When I woke up and read the news this morning, I thought it might all be over for Assad in a day or two. Turns out that it was more like an hour or two! It’s a useful reminder that historical change comes gradually at first… and then very suddenly. [contains quote post or other embedded content]08 Dec 2024 03:39 +0000at://did:plc:pc722xeo7yaltk3ovbgza7ta/app.bsky.feed.post/3lcrbzlix7227https://bsky.app/profile/jamesmorton.bsky.social/post/3lchsns7hcs2vThe Biden administration doing what it can to lose any remaining good will it still has in its last days. [contains quote post or other embedded content]04 Dec 2024 09:10 +0000at://did:plc:pc722xeo7yaltk3ovbgza7ta/app.bsky.feed.post/3lchsns7hcs2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/jamesmorton.bsky.social/post/3lch3u7u2ek2vI’m obviously not South Korean or very knowledgeable about South Korea, but I don’t find it reassuring that the attempt to impose martial law ended the way it did. Yes, lawmakers were able to overturn it with a vote, but they had to break into the National Assembly building first! #SouthKorea04 Dec 2024 02:22 +0000at://did:plc:pc722xeo7yaltk3ovbgza7ta/app.bsky.feed.post/3lch3u7u2ek2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/jamesmorton.bsky.social/post/3lcert2vfmk2vIn my #Byzantine History class yesterday, we discussed how the Ottoman Mehmed II took the title ‘Kayser-i Rum’ (1453) and Ivan IV of Moscow became ‘Tsar’ (1457). Made me wonder: how many ‘Roman Empires’ have there been in history? Original Western Eastern/Byzantine HRE Ottomans Russia … any others?03 Dec 2024 04:17 +0000at://did:plc:pc722xeo7yaltk3ovbgza7ta/app.bsky.feed.post/3lcert2vfmk2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/jamesmorton.bsky.social/post/3lca4fmtpes2rI’m lecturing on the 14th century this week, which means I get to show off the #Scottish Declaration of Arbroath (1320)! ‘It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom - for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.’ #medievalsky01 Dec 2024 07:43 +0000at://did:plc:pc722xeo7yaltk3ovbgza7ta/app.bsky.feed.post/3lca4fmtpes2rhttps://bsky.app/profile/jamesmorton.bsky.social/post/3lc3ag54f222rA couple of days ago, I shared an image of a 14th-century Italian classroom. In the interests of balance, here is a 12th-century #Byzantine classroom. Two ‘philosophers’ sit at the front and address a group of students in this folio from the Madrid Skylitzes. #medievalsky29 Nov 2024 09:12 +0000at://did:plc:pc722xeo7yaltk3ovbgza7ta/app.bsky.feed.post/3lc3ag54f222rhttps://bsky.app/profile/jamesmorton.bsky.social/post/3lbyudjmqic2l‘Embrace technology’ - easy words to throw out in a webinar, policy memo, or (in this case) a THE op-ed. Not so easy to define what this actually means for us in practice, though. Should we ‘embrace’ students using AI to cheat on homework? Fewer platitudes and more specifics, please. [contains quote post or other embedded content]28 Nov 2024 10:30 +0000at://did:plc:pc722xeo7yaltk3ovbgza7ta/app.bsky.feed.post/3lbyudjmqic2lhttps://bsky.app/profile/jamesmorton.bsky.social/post/3lbyee4t2uk2lThis is about onions, but I have the same complaint about recipe cooking times in general. Why is it that it takes me an hour to cook something that is supposed to take 30 minutes? Am I just a slow cook? Is the recipe optimistically assuming a best-case scenario? Or is it just lying? [contains quote post or other embedded content]28 Nov 2024 05:44 +0000at://did:plc:pc722xeo7yaltk3ovbgza7ta/app.bsky.feed.post/3lbyee4t2uk2lhttps://bsky.app/profile/jamesmorton.bsky.social/post/3lbtc23mtzk26The intersection of science and religion? This 14th-century #Byzantine monk is using an astrolabe to take astronomical readings while a scribe jots down the results. Natural science is an underappreciated aspect of the 'Palaiologan Renaissance' of late #Byzantium. #medievalsky26 Nov 2024 05:19 +0000at://did:plc:pc722xeo7yaltk3ovbgza7ta/app.bsky.feed.post/3lbtc23mtzk26https://bsky.app/profile/jamesmorton.bsky.social/post/3lbqr77kmz22rReplace the books with computers, and it isn't so different from a modern lecture! This C14 carving from Verona shows the physician Antonio Pelacani (d. 1327) lecturing to students in a medieval classroom. I'll be doing something similar when I show it to my own students tomorrow... #medievalsky25 Nov 2024 05:13 +0000at://did:plc:pc722xeo7yaltk3ovbgza7ta/app.bsky.feed.post/3lbqr77kmz22rhttps://bsky.app/profile/jamesmorton.bsky.social/post/3lbjbcpqaws2tI was lucky to be able to present some of my research on Byzantine legal manuscripts at a conference in Taiwan recently (‘lucky’ in a very literal sense - there was a super typhoon the day before!). Here are some of my favourite highlights from the manuscripts that I discussed! #ByzantineLaw22 Nov 2024 05:40 +0000at://did:plc:pc722xeo7yaltk3ovbgza7ta/app.bsky.feed.post/3lbjbcpqaws2thttps://bsky.app/profile/jamesmorton.bsky.social/post/3lbgwy3d5ss2tThis is wrong for the following reasons: 1. McClane wouldn’t even be there if it wasn’t Christmas. 2. It’s the Christmas party that allows Hans Gruber to take over the building. 3. Killing terrorists helps McClane rediscover the true meaning of Christmas: it’s all about family. [contains quote post or other embedded content]21 Nov 2024 07:30 +0000at://did:plc:pc722xeo7yaltk3ovbgza7ta/app.bsky.feed.post/3lbgwy3d5ss2thttps://bsky.app/profile/jamesmorton.bsky.social/post/3lbgnya7dc22tPleased to see that I’ve been able to rebuild so much of my old Twitter network so quickly here! I do wonder, though, how to people make the time to read and write posts across so many different platforms?21 Nov 2024 04:49 +0000at://did:plc:pc722xeo7yaltk3ovbgza7ta/app.bsky.feed.post/3lbgnya7dc22thttps://bsky.app/profile/jamesmorton.bsky.social/post/3lbecg2fbqs2hHello Bluesky! I’m a historian of law and religion in the Byzantine Empire (esp. 11th-12th centuries), though I’m also interested in medieval Western Europe and the Islamic world. I live and work in Hong Kong, so I like to follow Chinese and Asian current affairs too.20 Nov 2024 06:16 +0000at://did:plc:pc722xeo7yaltk3ovbgza7ta/app.bsky.feed.post/3lbecg2fbqs2h