CONF: Leeds Seminars
Regular meetings are on Wednesdays at 3pm and take place in room 101 in the Parkinson building, University of Leeds. Also shown on the schedule are papers for the Leeds and District branch of the Classical Association, which begin at 5pm and are also held in room 101, Parkinson building. Directions to the University and [...]
Marble Head of a Boxer (Maybe) Found in Israel
Rather amazing how much press coverage there is for this already. A small figurine, dating from the second or third century, depicting what is believed to be a boxer or at least an athlete, has been found during the course of a dig in the City of David. Dixit Dr. Doron Ben-Ami and Yana Tchekhanovets [...]
Zeus on Mount Lykaion Redux
Not sure why this is in the news again; we heard about it last September and even back in January, to some extent. Dixit David Romano: “What’s new is this mountaintop altar had cult activity that’s continuous from the Mycenaean to the Hellenistic periods.” … which is what we were told a year ago. Some [...]
Another Auction
Yesterday I was wading through a pile of Roman glass etc. (none of which was very interesting) and decided I wasn’t going to cover auctions any more. Then, of course, something interesting came up from the Ventura County Collection again, via Bonham’s. Here’s an item at Live Auctioneers officially described as Roman, c. 100-300AD., a [...]
This Day in Ancient History
ante diem vii kalendas februarias Sementivae or Paganalia (day ?) — Sementivae was a festival of sowing which was actually a moveable feast (although I’m not sure of the moveability criteria; I’m guessing that the first day falls between January 24 and 26). By Ovid’s time it appears to have been coincident with Paganalia, which [...]
Classical Words of the Day
ex libris (Wordsmith) vacuous (Dictionary.com) implacable (Merriam-Webster)
CONF: Shifting Frontiers
Shifting Frontiers VIII
CONF: Legacy of Alexander the Great
THE LEGACY OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT Third Workshop on Hellenistic History, Culture and Society The Impact of Hellenism Friday, 13 February 2009, Humanities Graduate School, School of Archaeology, Classics & Egyptology, 12 Abercromby Square, Liverpool This workshop, hosted by the School of Archaeology, Classics & Egyptology The University of Liverpool 12-14 Abercromby Square Liverpool L69 [...]
CONF: Phaedrus Colloquium
Colloquium on Plato’s Phaedrus, April 16th-18th 2009 Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge The Phaedrus is one of Plato’s most explicitly ‘literary’ dialogues, both in the sense that it is crafted in a particularly ingenious fashion and in so far as it explicitly discusses the worth of literature, especially as a medium for philosophy. Of [...]
Iron Age Hoard
This one received quite a bit of press attention … a metal detectorist has come across a hoard of some 824 gold staters, dating from 40 B.C. to 15 A.D. (and so, of course, popularly connected to “Boudicca’s predecessors”) in a field near Wickham Market. It’s apparently the largest hoard found in the UK since [...]
Bars and Brothels
I could have sworn I had mentioned this one before, but I guess not … in any event, there are episodes of both the Simpsons and Family Guy wherein the main characters find themselves excluded from their favourite watering hole for various reasons and so decide to open up a bar in their garage/basement (respectively). [...]
I Can’t Get No … Satis Latin
A bunch of Latin news this a.m., the most interesting/surprising being that Mick Jagger is apparently a fan of the ancient language we hold so dear. According to a brief item in the Telegraph: Sir Mick was looking around Latymer Upper School recently with Gabriel, his 11-year son by Jerry Hall, when he was shown [...]
Breviaria 01/25/09
An ironically-titled very long post as I try to get my email filing system back in order: A Roman brooch find by a metal detectorist: Haslingden man finds Roman treasure in Ribchester (Lancashire Telegraph) Latest from Macedonia/FYROM: abstracts Letter From Macedonia: Owning Alexander (Archaeology) A nice intro to Herodotus and Thucydides: The shoulders of giants [...]
Coffee and Classics
June Lemen reminisces in the Nashua Telegraph, inter alia: It was time for a change, and to paraphrase our new president, it was a change we needed. Second semester, I took totally different courses, just to see what I liked. I fell in love with classics and philosophy, and I decided to double major in [...]
Pizza Origins Again
We often see pizza being ascribed to the Romans, or to the Romans via the Greeks, but the Daily Pilot adds a twist I haven’t seen before: Ever had a pizza? I have. Do you know what “pizza” means in Italian? I do. Nothing. It’s from the Latin word “picea”… what the Romans called a [...]
Homerica
“Homeric” was once again a popular adjective this week: A review of Susan Sontag’s diaries (New Statesman) included this: “It’s time for Homer, I think,” she writes. “The best way to divert these morbid individualised religious fantasies is to overwhelm them by the impersonal Homeric …” The Yorkshire Post on the challenges facing the new [...]
Matters Inaugurational
A compendium of items relating — more or less — to the big events last week … now that they’ve had time to ‘sink in’. We being with a bit from the Register-Herald, which actually was about the inauguration of the governor of West Virginia, but had some nice ClassCon: Noting the term “inauguration” is [...]
@ the Online Auctions
Plenty of stuff from Live Auctions this week, with varying degrees of provenance: Roman, c. 100-300AD., a nice and very small silver (ring; ex Ventura County Collection … not sure what that means) Roman, c. 100-300AD., a lot of 2 small and choice (ditto … a couple of flasks) Roman Egypt, Alexandria, c. 305-30BC., a [...]
Museum Case Resumes in Italy
I was wondering about this one a couple of days ago … there’s a brief AP report just hitting the ewaves that the trial of Marion True and Robert Hecht has resumed in Rome. Nothing much new, yet, but the focus appears to be on Robert Hecht right now. Trial Resumes for Former Curator (New [...]
Matters Theatrical
A flurry of items of theatrical interest this week: Two Views of Julius Caesar: As Victor and as Victim (A couple of productions of Julius Caesar in New York) Boal’s New Play Raises Questions About Truth From Antiquity (one of the above: 23 Knives) Hotel Medea (London) Curious ‘Trojan’ still worth seeing (Trojan Women 2.0 [...]
JOB: Two posts at Cambridge
Temporary Lecturing Assistant Lectureship in the Faculty of Classics (Greek literature)
CFP: Writing the Self, Writing Lives in Greco-Roman Culture (APA)
***** PLEASE NOTE EARLY DEADLINE FEBRUARY 2 ****** The following is a call for papers for the panel ‘Writing the self, Writing lives in Greco-Roman culture’, to be held at the 2010 APA meeting in Orange County, California. Abstracts must reach the APA office by 2 February (further instructions are at the end of this [...]
CONF: Rome and the Mediterranean
Registration is £40 (which includes a drinks reception on the Thursday evening, and lunch on the Friday and Saturday), or £20 for one day. Cheques should be made payable to ‘The University of Oxford’ (with ‘Derow Conference’ on the rear), and sent to Dr S.J. Heyworth, Derow Conference, Wadham College, Oxford OX1 3PN, preferably before [...]
CONF: Illness, Disability, Medicine, and Healing
Call for Papers on Illness, Disability, Medicine, and Healing The Biblical Scholarship and Disability Section of the 2009 Society of Biblical Literature International Meeting is seeking papers. The 2009 Meeting will be held June 30-July 4 in Rome. Our section addresses a broad range of issues including illness generally (chronic or short-term), illness understood as [...]
CONF: Bristol Seminars
Details of the programme of the research seminars and events at Bristol University’s Department of Classics and Ancient History are listed below. Tuesday seminars take place in room G37, access through 3-5 Woodland Road, porters’ lodge. School of Humanities Seminars take place in Link Rooms 1 and 2, access through porters’ lodge 3-5 Woodland Road. [...]
