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Julia Hillner

@writinghelena.bsky.social

1K followers 230 following 290 posts

Writing about imperial women to understand late antiquity: history - ideology - dynasty - violence - agency - memory Also working on: crime, punishment, prosopography, digital humanities, and the city of Rome @dependencybonn.de .. more

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Julia Hillner is Professor for Dependency and Slavery Studies at the University of Bonn. She was previously Professor of Medieval History at the University of Sheffield. She is an expert on late antiquity, applying digital methods of social network analysis to large data sets drawn from a wide variety of late antique and early medieval sources. .. more

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Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · Mar 18

At the Connecting Late Antiquities project we've compiled a list of digital projects on late antiquity - one step to, erm, connecting late antiquities!
Huge thanks to @bnduman.net & @laurahartmann.bsky.social

Take a look, the variety is mindblowing!

www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/research/...

Related Digital Projects

www.dependency.uni-bonn.de

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Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · 14h

Yeah perhaps not consciously. But limiting resources for specific groups of people has this effect. I can testify, the patriarchy works like this :)

Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · 16h

Actually isn’t this exactly the intention of the powers they are decrying: creating divisions so we have a go at each other. Walking into a trap, every time.

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Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · 18h

I did not see the previous post but I was surprised and taken aback already by this one, including by the large and positive feedback it received, some straight ad hominem. In my view, social media is not the place to attack colleagues, whatever scientific, political or personal opinions we hold.

Reposted by Julia Hillner

De Gruyter Brill History @dgb-history.bsky.social · 1d

Druckfrisch und #openaccess: Das neue Heft der HZ, u.a. mit Beiträgen zu Antiochos dem Großen, #Rassismus im Mittelalter, Pharma-Industrie und #Kolonialismus sowie zum Ende der Weimarer Republik: www.degruyterbrill.com/journal/key/...
@kim-todzi.de @writinghelena.bsky.social #skystorians

Das Cover von Heft 312.2 der Historischen Zeitschrift

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Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · 2d

in general though, even my index is majority male - we just haven't mastered yet how to make the nameless findable! I stubbornly list nameless daughters, wives etc as "nameless daughter of...", but it's rather unsatisfactory

Reposted by Andrew Jacobs

Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · 2d

I'm indexing a large edited volume & finding so many instances of women indicated only as "daughter of", "and his wife" etc - a bit of research shows that often we actually know their names (yes, even for late antique/early medieval women)!
Time to repost
writinghelena.wordpress.com/2019/01/08/t...

The Art of Naming Women

This past Christmas something magical happened to me which put my faith back into the importance of writing History (not that I had ever lost it, but in these times, when the value of History as an…

writinghelena.wordpress.com

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Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · 5d

And here some objects from a probably royal Thuringian female chariot burial that has been associated with Radegund’s mum, wife of Bertachar.
Not sure these are originals though as they seem very shiny.
Also from Stadtmuseum Erfurt

Silver bowl, silver ladle, golden hairpin, gold plated decorations of a vessel

Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · 5d

Continuing my quest to trace postroman connections through grave goods associated with royal wives.
Here some objects from Ostrogothic Italy found in then-Thuringia, perhaps arrived there when or after Theoderic’s niece Amalaberga married Thuringian king Hermanifrid in 507
Now in Stadtmuseum Erfurt

A selection of grave goods, including silver, gold and garnet brooches

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Reposted by Julia Hillner

Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies @dependencybonn.de · 6d

📢 Call for Applications!
The BCDSS is inviting applications for the Heinz Heinen Fellowship Program 2026/2027.

📅 Apply by Jan 10, 2026
📍 Start date: from Oct 1, 2026
👉 Full details here: buff.ly/8aH1Fy0

@unibonn.bsky.social
@dfg.de

A poster calling for application for Heinz Heinen Fellowships for the next academic year 2026/2027
-The deadline is on January 10, 2026

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Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · 7d

Not sure about the link I inserted here 🤨

Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · 7d

I didn’t meet her many times, but the first one was after I had just come to the UK aged 29. We talked about hair! My hair, her grandchild‘s (or niece’s?) hair, how to care for long hair. Being used to stuffy male German profs, I was enthralled. It was a revelation!

enthralled.it

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Reposted by Charles West, Pauline Stafford, Julia Hillner

British School at Rome @bsrome.bsky.social · 7d

📣 BSR / Early Medieval Europe Fellowship – Call for Applications!

Are you a PhD student or early career researcher in early medieval European history?
Apply now!

⏳ Deadline: 30 January 2026
More info here: bsr.ac.uk/awards-resid...

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Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · 8d

Also featuring @kelseyshawn.bsky.social from whom I learned so much!

Reposted by Julia Hillner

Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies @dependencybonn.de · 8d

📢 Congratulations to Julia Hillner for her contribution to an article in SPIEGEL Geschichte on slavery & prostitution in the Roman Empire!

(Article in German, subscriber access only)

🔗To the Article: buff.ly/DGw3EZDin: Spiegel GESCHICHTE 5/25 'Roms Kampf um German

@unibonn.bsky.social
@dfg.de

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Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · 8d

More opportunities @dependencybonn.de !

We are also looking for research fellows to join us in 2026-7, with projects that develop and critically reflect on specific methodological approaches to the study of strong asymmetrical dependencies, to help us develop our newly minted Method Lab.

Jenny Leetsch @jennyleetsch.bsky.social · 8d

In addition, the call for new Heinz Heinen fellows has just gone live: www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/en/fellowshi... (for doctoral, junior postdoc, senior postdoc, and alternative knowledge producer positions)

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Reposted by Julia Hillner

Jenny Leetsch @jennyleetsch.bsky.social · 8d

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Reposted by Charles West

Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · 9d

The Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies is hiring three postdoctoral researchers.

We investigate the causes and mechanisms that contribute to the persistence of strong asymmetrical dependencies across historical and contemporary contexts.

Pre-modern perspectives are very welcome!

3 Postdoctoral Positions (100%, TV-L E-13, for 3 years)

full-time, Temporary, EG 13, Reference number: 2025/152

www.uni-bonn.de

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Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · 12d

You rock! Congratulations!!

Reposted by Julia Hillner

Aleksander Paradziński @akjp89.bsky.social · 12d

We had an entire day of stimulating discussions yesterday at the 'Elite Women and Systems of Dependency in Late Antiquity' workshop organised by Grace Stafford and yours truly. We are grateful to @dependencybonn.de for providing funding and assistance for this event.

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Reposted by Julia Hillner

Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies @dependencybonn.de · 13d

📖Congratulations to Julia Winnebeck and Henriette von Harnier on their new publication in the Historisches Jahrbuch, representing the first edition and translation of an incomplete ninth-century penitential!

For more: buff.ly/hhvCMTn

@unibonn.bsky.social
@dfg.de

A poster withg a book cover "Historiches Jahrbuch" where Julia Winnebeck and Henriette von Harnier published a study that presents the first edition and translation of the incomplete Paenitentiale Dusseldorpiense, preserved in a ninth-century manuscript in Düsseldorf, offering fresh insights into the history of penance and early medieval history

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Reposted by Julia Hillner

Dr. Jeroen W.P. Wijnendaele @drdragases.bsky.social · 14d

"Elite Women and Systems of Dependency in Late Antiquity" workshop @dependencybonn.de. Welcome by @akjp89.bsky.social and Grace Stafford.

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Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · 14d

Today the mail delivered this amazing book about Helena that its author, Jonathan Hibbs, kindly sent me. Published in 2005 it is partly biography, partly travelogue and was sadly unbeknown to me until now.

Cover of Jonathan Hibbs, The first tourist, Chippenham 2005. cover image of a silver reliquary in the shape of a female head, in silhouette, from Sant‘Elena, Venice

Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · 14d

Congratulations and good luck to the new editorial team of @genderandhistory.bsky.social! It's been an honour editing the journal with my Sheffield colleagues and pals for the last five years, and I am looking forward to seeing it thrive at Edinburgh!

HCAatEdinburgh @hcaatedinburgh.bsky.social · 14d

The leading international journal ‘Gender & History’ (@genderandhistory.bsky.social) has moved to the School of History, Classics and Archaeology, edin.ac/46z9jy5

#History #Classics #Archaeology #HCA #Edinburgh #Gender

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Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · 14d

*Lisa Hellman [think before typing dear @writinghelena.bsky.social ]

Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · 14d

*colleague

Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · 14d

Congratulations to Emma, my wonderful colleage @dependencybonn.de !
The full @genderandhistory.bsky.social SI on Gender & Segregation will be published later this year, with 13 terrific articles and a substantial introduction by Lisa Hellmann, @djrgrey.bsky.social, Rachel Jean-Baptiste and myself.

Daniel Grey @djrgrey.bsky.social · 14d

Very excited latest 📄 in special issue
@genderandhistory.bsky.social
ed. by @writinghelena.bsky.social l; Lisa Hellman, Rachel Jean-Baptiste and me is out, and #openaccess! 🌟 Emma Kalb investigates "A Harem in Disorder: Narrating Elite Female Seclusion in Late Mughal Delhi" doi.org/10.1111/1468...

A Harem in Disorder: Narrating Elite Female Seclusion in Late Mughal Delhi

This article examines the late Mughal period, a time of dramatic political reconfiguration, to trace the relevance of practices of elite female seclusion, and particularly of the complex space of the...

doi.org

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Reposted by Charles West, Julia Hillner

HCAatEdinburgh @hcaatedinburgh.bsky.social · 14d

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Reposted by Charles West, Julia Hillner

Gender & History Journal @genderandhistory.bsky.social · 14d

We are delighted to announce that Gender & History now has a new home at the University of Edinburgh. With thanks to the Sheffield team who did a stellar job for the last five years. hca.ed.ac.uk/gender-histo...
#Skystorians #GenderHistory @hcaatedinburgh.bsky.social

'Gender & History' moves to Edinburgh | School of History, Classics & Archaeology | History Classics and Archaeology

The School is very excited to announce that the leading international journal ‘Gender & History’ has moved to the University of Edinburgh.

hca.ed.ac.uk

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Reposted by Julia Hillner

Daniel Grey @djrgrey.bsky.social · 14d

A Harem in Disorder: Narrating Elite Female Seclusion in Late Mughal Delhi

doi.org

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Julia Hillner @writinghelena.bsky.social · 20d

My institution, the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies, is currently advertising five nine-month fellowships to support the writing of a PhD funding proposal. Deadline 1 October.

Any questions, do get in touch (my email is on my webpage :)

www.dependency.uni-bonn.de/images/about...

www.dependency.uni-bonn.de

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