One of the fun aspects of going to Queen’s (where I did my M.A.) was reading the local paper, which had the great name Whig-Standard (which is almost as good as Times-Picayune) and I note a letter to the editor this past week from R. Drew Griffith, one of my former professors and current head [...]

Every so often you start to wonder whether ‘outsiders’ are seeking attention from rogueclassicism — and assorted parts of my brain usually kick in to set my head straight. But in the wake of our Mac Classics post last week, I can’t help but wonder whether Digital Daily is looking for some rogueclassicism love … [...]

Can’t resist this one … a piece at io9 relates a dozen science fiction “Romes”, including the one in the “Bread and Circuses” episode of Star Trek,  Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series,  and even the “Problem with Popplers” episode of Futurama — in regards to the latter, Classicists might appreciate the involvement of the “Omicronians” too. [...]

Well, now that I’m full of espresso, it seems appropriate to peruse what our friends in Italy have been reading about: Authorities have discovered evidence of tombaroli operating around Ragusa: ARCHEOLOGIA: TOMBAROLI IN AZIONE NEL RAGUSANO, INDAGINI (AGI) They’re going to be sprucing (cypressing? decypressing?) up Augustus’ mausoleum: Archeologia, all’Ara Pacis il progetto ‘Urbs et [...]

According to Hollywood Reporter: Michael Fassbender, Dominic West and Bond girl Olga Kurylenko are girding their loins for Neil Marshall’s Britain-set sword-and-sandals thriller “Centurion,” for “Slumdog Millionaire” producer Christian Colson of Celador Films. The movie, billed as a thriller set during the Roman invasion of Britain in A.D. 117, tells the story of Quintus Dias, [...]

Okay … so a couple of weeks ago I get an item in my mailbox about some guy who makes handbags with Classical names. I sat on the item for a while, then decided not to bother with it (it did get mentioned on one of the lists) and now I can’t find it again. [...]

Not sure why the only source for this seems to be the rather obscure Owen Sound Sun Times, but it appears there has been a rather major shipwreck discovery off the coast of Albania. Adding to the mystery (for me) is why most of the article seems to quote people who weren’t directly involved. Dixit [...]

A while back we mentioned that the Greek goverment was opening up a pile of potential underwater archaeological sites to scuba access … an excerpt from a piece in the Guardian: “Greek waters are some of the richest in antiquities in the world,” said the marine archaeologist Katerina Dellaporta. “Thanks to very stringent controls over [...]

Alun Salt mentioned this on Twitter and I finally have time to explore it a bit … A piece in New Scientist relates Robert Hannah’s suggestion that the Pantheon served as a sundial of some sort. Here’s an excerpt: When Robert Hannah of the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, visited the Pantheon in [...]

It’s been the buzz of all the lists over the past week, so if you missed it, ecce: prisoner type one: Quare non sunt vestitus eis? prisoner type two: Tace! blonde: Cognoscitis qui sumus? … there was apparently some later as well; I can’t find that one yet, but the blond (the character’s name is [...]

ante diem iv kalendas februarias 164 B.C. — death of Antiochus Epiphanes (according to one reckoning) 1 B.C. — departure of Gaius Caesar to the east (?) 275 A.D. — death of Aurelian (according to one reckoning, which doesn’t seem right)

ante diem v kalendas februarias 98 A.D. — dies imperii of Trajan 198 A.D. — festival in celebration of Severus‘ victory over the Parthians; possibly concurrent: dies imperii of Caracalla

Firstshowing.net reveals that Jonathan Liebesman — of Texas Chainsaw Massacre ‘fame’ — has a project in the works. Ecce: Liebesman revealed that it’s a project he’s working on with the producers of 300 that he hasn’t said anything about until now. The film is about “the story of Odysseus and basically it’s like a Clint [...]

A piece in Tidbits — a blog for Mac types — turned up in the scan today with an article commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Mac with some interviews with some users … inter alia, “Matt” says: As a programmer, I’d been working with computers since 1968, but as a Classics professor in the [...]

Akropolis World News (in Greek) has been updated (really wish they had an rss feed!): Woman delivers 8 children / Hamas offers truce for one year / John Updike dies If you think you’re too old to take up Latin: Lifelong learner (Tribune) An interview with the folks behind Brandeis Theater Company’s production of Hecuba: [...]

A while back I grew bored of the constant comparisons of Rome and the US, but Tom Ricks in Foreign Policy seems to be departing from the cliched ‘rise and fall’ approach. Worth a look (and apparently more to come): How would the Romans handle the financial crisis?