Armand D’Angour

Exterior view of the Desmarais Building at the University of Ottawa, a modern multi‑storey structure with a curved glass façade and a rectangular architectural frame at the roofline. A sidewalk, greenery, and a few pedestrians appear in the foreground under a clear blue sky.

🚨 BREAKING: uOttawa has RE-SUSPENDED Greek & Roman Studies for 2026-27 just weeks after reinstating the programme. Seems to violate Ontario's regulation on designation. Department: "We are shocked at the willingness to ignore the interests of Franco-Ontarians." More soon. #SOSClassicsUO #ONfr

Un panneau extérieur rouge de l’Université d’Ottawa se dresse parmi des arbustes verts et des fleurs rouges. Le panneau présente le logo de l’université—un bâtiment stylisé avec des colonnes—ainsi que le texte « Université d’Ottawa » et « uOttawa ».

Antiquité grecque et romaine à l'UOttawa est le SEUL programme en Ontario où l'on peut étudier le grec ancien et le latin en français. L'université l'a re-suspendu. Les franco-ontarien·ne·s n'ont plus AUCUN accès aux langues classiques en français. #SOSÉtudesAnciennes #ONfr #uOttawa buff.ly/UtgW0vq

La Loi sur l'Université d'Ottawa (1965) EXIGE que l'université « préserve et développe la culture française en Ontario ». Éliminer le seul programme d'études classiques en français de la province lui porte atteinte . buff.ly/UtgW0vq #SOSÉtudesAnciennes #ONfr #DroitsLinguistiques #uOttawa #Ottawa

A jar of change labeled EDUCATION with a graduation cap on top. Text beside the image reads: Ontario per-domestic student funding is the lowest in Canada by a wide margin. Increasing student debt won’t close the gap. Ontario universities need stable long-term funding.

Ontario per-domestic student funding is the lowest in Canada by a wide margin.

Increasing student debt won’t close the gap.

Ontario universities need stable long-term funding.

tinyurl.com/yjccsa9r

Wow.

Bakchos was an alternative name for Dionysus in Greek. The Romans took the name ftom Greek!

I used to own a company that made money from origami. It folded.

I trawled through Euripides' Bacchae and found a dozen lines Aristophanes *could* easily have inserted for a laugh had he known the Bacchae in any detail.

I’ve just published my piece on it in a Festschrift honouring my friend and erstwhile colleague Chris Kraus (Yale).

'THE SILENCE OF THE FROGS'

Everything can be distorted though, even that comment. (“Accuse them of speaking ill of the dead”, she once advised).

Catullus's rudest poem Friendship and poetry

Catullus’s rudest poem, my new translation. You know you want to read it. You can even hear it read.

open.substack.com/pub/armandda...

Better die free than live a slave Cavafy's Satrapy

Latest Cavafy translation.

Cavafy's poem "Satrapy" is set in the historical framework of an ancient Athenian citizen (5th cent. BC) being co-opted by the Persian Empire of Artaxerxes. It's a metaphor for someone ruining their life for the sake of gain...

armanddangour.substack.com/p/better-die...

Advice from 1911.
When you discover too late that you’ve always skipped a crucial step…

The Poet's Complaint Rhythms of old age and false teeth

Ancient Greek poet-songwriter Anacreon (c. 573-495 BC) complains about getting old.

See my temples greyed already
and my head with hair all whitened:
happy youth no more is with me,
but my agèd teeth are crumbling
and the charm of life is shortened...

armanddangour.substack.com/p/the-poets-...

I was once driving in Mexico and entered a one way street the wrong way. A traffic cop took my passport and told me I would have to pay a fine. I felt like a criminal. I suggested entrusting the cash to him. He took the money (£25), then escorted me to the motorway, an honoured visitor to his town.

On a train. It’s curious how, as I search vainly on my phone for ticket and railcard, I’m made to feel like a fare dodger. Then I find it and am thanked politely, now a welcome customer.

Rolling out the red carpet It may appear to be a welcoming symbol, but history tells us a red carpet is often a trap.

It may appear to be a welcoming symbol, but history tells us a red carpet is often a trap.

Rolling out the red carpet | @armanddangour.bsky.social

engelsbergideas.com/notebook/rol...

Catullus in love.

open.substack.com/pub/armandda...

How kind.

Aspice turbarum series longas et iniquas…

Larkin (about)

www.wussu.com/poems/plam.htm

Sexual intercourse began
In 63 BC
(which was rather late for me) -
Between the end of the Catiline coup
And Catullus' first whoopee.

Translating the Odyssey The rhythm of The Man

Opening lines of Homer's Odyssey, new translation.

That man of many twists and turns, Muse, tell of him, who far
went wandering when he had sacked Troy’s sacred citadel,
who many cities saw, and many thoughts of men discerned...

armanddangour.substack.com/p/translatin...

Logie Leggatt, a fine athlete at Eton, enlisted when World War I broke out in 1914. He revered his old school.
On 31 July 1917 he was killed, aged 22, by a sniper's bullet.

Logie is honoured in the Greek Ode I composed for his great-nephew George, Lord Leggatt:

open.substack.com/pub/armandda...

Translating the Odyssey The rhythm of The Man

Opening lines of Homer's Odyssey, new translation.

That man of many twists and turns, Muse, tell of him, who far
went wandering when he had sacked Troy’s sacred citadel,
who many cities saw, and many thoughts of men discerned...

armanddangour.substack.com/p/translatin...

Some challenges, like bedsheets, should just be turned down

On the Use of Writing In ancient Athens - and in the age of AI

Excellent piece by @armanddangour.bsky.social On the use of writing In ancient Athens and in the age of AI.

🗃️ 🏺 #classicsbluesky #ancientbluesky #skystorians #language #AI

armanddangour.substack.com/p/on-the-use...

I've been invited to a conference in Zeugma.
I can't go so have declined with regret and by email.

A Roman Werewolf Tales of the Supernatural

The werewolf story from Petronius still gives people goosebumps….

open.substack.com/pub/armandda...

about 2' 6"

Gold-digging ants Vindicating Herodotus

This is brilliant! @armanddangour.bsky.social

(And surely the cutest 'ants' in all history.)

armanddangour.substack.com/p/gold-diggi...