Eugene Smelyansky PhD 🇺🇦
@eugene-smelyansky.bsky.social
Medieval historian: religion, cities, heresy, intolerance, inquisition, environment, medievalism. Assistant Professor (Career-Track), Washington State University, Pullman. Views my own. he/him.
Pinned
Medievalisms and Russia - Arc Humanities Press
This new monograph devoted to a detailed exploration of the ways in which the medieval past has been wielded to propagandic effect in Imperial, Soviet, and p...
www.arc-humanities.org
Welcome new followers! I'm a historian of medieval Europe. I've published on late medieval persecution of heresy (and medieval persecution in general). I also research medievalism—how the Middle Ages have been understood, imagined, and used since (including in Russia, the focus of my latest book).
Would love RFK Jr. to shut about body fluids for once...
RFK Jr: "All of the ingenuity of corporate America has not produced an infant formula that is superior in nutrition and all the qualities that we want to the infant formula that God made, which is the infant formula in a mother's breast."
December 8, 2025 at 11:48 PM
Would love RFK Jr. to shut about body fluids for once...
We got a tree and Oscar is being totally normal about it
December 7, 2025 at 4:17 AM
We got a tree and Oscar is being totally normal about it
Roast duck for Thanksgiving means duck stock potato and leek soup later
December 6, 2025 at 5:42 AM
Roast duck for Thanksgiving means duck stock potato and leek soup later
Reposted by Eugene Smelyansky PhD 🇺🇦
wtf is a FIFA peace prize? that's like being an NFL laureate in physics
December 5, 2025 at 7:21 PM
wtf is a FIFA peace prize? that's like being an NFL laureate in physics
Got to discuss my book in a colleague’s Modern Europe grad seminar the other day. I don’t get to work with grad students that often, so it was really cool and interesting!
Welcome new followers! I'm a historian of medieval Europe. I've published on late medieval persecution of heresy (and medieval persecution in general). I also research medievalism—how the Middle Ages have been understood, imagined, and used since (including in Russia, the focus of my latest book).
Medievalisms and Russia - Arc Humanities Press
This new monograph devoted to a detailed exploration of the ways in which the medieval past has been wielded to propagandic effect in Imperial, Soviet, and p...
www.arc-humanities.org
December 2, 2025 at 10:36 PM
Got to discuss my book in a colleague’s Modern Europe grad seminar the other day. I don’t get to work with grad students that often, so it was really cool and interesting!
To say nothing of the Roman ruins still housing cats in Rome (shout out to Largo di Torre Argentina cat sanctuary!), Pompeii, and many other places.
What has the Roman military ever done for Britain and for cats? 🐱 Well, a lot, it seems. Romans roads are excellent routes for carrying soldiers, disease, ideas, and felines.
www.popsci.com/environment/...
www.popsci.com/environment/...
Roman military helped bring cats to Europe
Military roads helped the felines domesticate about 2,000 years ago.
www.popsci.com
December 2, 2025 at 10:27 PM
To say nothing of the Roman ruins still housing cats in Rome (shout out to Largo di Torre Argentina cat sanctuary!), Pompeii, and many other places.
Reposted by Eugene Smelyansky PhD 🇺🇦
A quick jaunt to the land of glühwein and sausages (Leavenworth, WA)
November 30, 2025 at 2:18 AM
A quick jaunt to the land of glühwein and sausages (Leavenworth, WA)
Reposted by Eugene Smelyansky PhD 🇺🇦
Every single congressional Democrat needs to be out there, right now, insisting that Pete Hegseth resign right now and announcing that he will be held accountable for committing war crimes.
If you do not demand accountability here and now, they will only become more emboldened.
If you do not demand accountability here and now, they will only become more emboldened.
Exclusive: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave an order to “kill everybody” in the first strike on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean. After two men survived, the mission commander ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s instructions, according to two sources.
Hegseth order on first Caribbean boat strike, officials say: Kill them all
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a verbal order to kill all crew members in the Sept. 2 strike on a suspected drug boat. Navy SEALs fired a second missile.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 28, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Every single congressional Democrat needs to be out there, right now, insisting that Pete Hegseth resign right now and announcing that he will be held accountable for committing war crimes.
If you do not demand accountability here and now, they will only become more emboldened.
If you do not demand accountability here and now, they will only become more emboldened.
Hooligan Mulligan
Mulligan has been drinking out of the people water all afternoon and we just found out
November 27, 2025 at 11:35 PM
Hooligan Mulligan
*preheating the oven*
a man in armor with the words so it begins
Alt: A GIF of King Theoden at the siege of Helm’s Deep in LOTR: Two Towers, whispering “So it begins.”
media.tenor.com
November 27, 2025 at 6:01 PM
*preheating the oven*
Turned 41 today. Cooked and now enjoying a homemade Napoleon cake (pictured) after some tagliatelle bolognese (not pictured).
November 27, 2025 at 4:53 AM
Turned 41 today. Cooked and now enjoying a homemade Napoleon cake (pictured) after some tagliatelle bolognese (not pictured).
God save us if RFK Jr. ever wears a bulky cardigan 🙃
November 25, 2025 at 10:11 PM
God save us if RFK Jr. ever wears a bulky cardigan 🙃
Some years ago, my wife was on a whale watching tour in SoCal and they happened upon a blue whale. She sent me a video and, after watching it, I completely understood why ancient mariners believed that giant sea serpents were real.
Ok one more video. the most beautiful fluke I've seen. edited for EXTRA BEAUTY!!!
November 25, 2025 at 5:23 AM
Some years ago, my wife was on a whale watching tour in SoCal and they happened upon a blue whale. She sent me a video and, after watching it, I completely understood why ancient mariners believed that giant sea serpents were real.
It really is this simple, unfortunately. Russia is the aggressor, a dangerous imperialist state governed by a kleptocratic regime that will stop at nothing while clinging to power. Any concessions will only strengthen and embolden Putin and give his unprovoked war of conquest a veneer of legitimacy.
🇺🇦 Zelensky: The crux of the entire diplomatic situation is that it was Russia, and only Russia, that started this war, and it is Russia, and only Russia, that has been refusing to end it throughout the full-scale invasion.
November 23, 2025 at 10:56 PM
It really is this simple, unfortunately. Russia is the aggressor, a dangerous imperialist state governed by a kleptocratic regime that will stop at nothing while clinging to power. Any concessions will only strengthen and embolden Putin and give his unprovoked war of conquest a veneer of legitimacy.
Reposted by Eugene Smelyansky PhD 🇺🇦
was fun to work on this with @rhigarthjones.bsky.social - about choosing different ways to talk to different publics
In #AHAPerspectives, Rhiannon Garth Jones and Matthew Gabriele argue for moving away from the traditional bibliography in trade books and toward something more conversational to engage with the wider public. 🗃️
Bibliographies for the People – AHA
Embracing alternative citation help the public better engage with trade history books.
www.historians.org
November 19, 2025 at 5:52 PM
was fun to work on this with @rhigarthjones.bsky.social - about choosing different ways to talk to different publics
In fairness, about 10 years ago I had students submitting papers copied and pasted from Wikipedia, with Wikipedia links still embedded in the text. 🙃 Plus ça change...
Colleague just got an email that starts: "Here's a polished and respectful letter you can send to your professor"
Email from a student who turned in a ChatGPT essay. Not even looking at the ChatGPT output in the apology 🥴
November 18, 2025 at 1:14 AM
In fairness, about 10 years ago I had students submitting papers copied and pasted from Wikipedia, with Wikipedia links still embedded in the text. 🙃 Plus ça change...
Congratulations, @rachelschine.bsky.social! So well deserved!
Congratulations to @rachelschine.bsky.social for winning the Best Book Award from the Middle East Medievalists association for her book, Black Knights: Arabic Epic and the Making of Medieval Race! Brava!!! 🍾🍾🍾
Here's the link, if you haven't already read it: press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...
Here's the link, if you haven't already read it: press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...
Black Knights
A new account of racial logics in premodern Islamic literature. In Black Knights, Rachel Schine reveals how the Arabic-speaking world developed a different form of racial knowledge than their Europe...
press.uchicago.edu
November 14, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Congratulations, @rachelschine.bsky.social! So well deserved!
Black Mirror could never
November 14, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Black Mirror could never
Palantir is literally the mano-sphere
November 14, 2025 at 4:17 AM
Palantir is literally the mano-sphere
Reposted by Eugene Smelyansky PhD 🇺🇦
my politics are that i just want a world where there are no 17 year olds desperate enough to let Matt Gaetz exploit them
November 13, 2025 at 10:07 PM
my politics are that i just want a world where there are no 17 year olds desperate enough to let Matt Gaetz exploit them
Reposted by Eugene Smelyansky PhD 🇺🇦
you could fact check this — there aren’t 30 million illegal immigrants and there is no evidence that the presence of an immigrant in say houston has any impact on housing in madison, wisconsin — or you could note straightforwardly that this is just nazi rhetoric
JD Vance: "A lot of young people are saying housing is way too expensive. Why is that? Because we flooded the country with 30 million illegal immigrants who were taking houses that ought by right go to American citizens."
November 13, 2025 at 10:12 PM
you could fact check this — there aren’t 30 million illegal immigrants and there is no evidence that the presence of an immigrant in say houston has any impact on housing in madison, wisconsin — or you could note straightforwardly that this is just nazi rhetoric
Kelly’s defense of sexual violence against 15-year-olds is even more insane if you consider that her own daughter is 14 😳
Megyn Kelly: "I know somebody very close to this case…Jeffrey Epstein, in this person's view, was not a pedophile…He was into the barely legal type, like he liked 15 year old girls…He wasn't into like 8 year olds…There's a difference between a 15 year old and a 5 year old."
November 13, 2025 at 10:33 PM
Kelly’s defense of sexual violence against 15-year-olds is even more insane if you consider that her own daughter is 14 😳
GOP in 2025:
November 13, 2025 at 12:07 AM
GOP in 2025: