Yves Saint Laurent Classical Content?
While most of the news this past week about the auction of Yves Saint Laurent’s extensive collection focussed on some possibly-purloined Chinese items, I did search to see if there was anything genuinely ancient in the collection (plenty of stuff from the 17th and 18th century with Classical themes, to be sure) but all I [...]
Rhesus Pieces
The Standard Freeholder ponders the meaning of pH and Rh … the latter is of interest to us: The technical “Rh factor” refers to a protein characteristic of blood. The blood of about 85 percent of the world’s population is Rh positive while that of the other approximately 15 percent is Rh negative (lacking the [...]
Unsubmerging Alexandria
We’ve heard about this one before and it’s back (coincidentally, so is the piece which is below this one). Excerpts from a piece in the Guardian: Some of the world’s most exciting sunken treasures could soon be on view after Egypt confirmed plans to build a giant underwater museum in the Mediterranean. But as preparation [...]
Unsubmerging Seuthopolis?
The incipit of a piece in TopNews suggests: Discovered under centuries-old layers of dirt in 1948, then submerged under 20 metres of water, the ancient city of Seuthopolis is to emerge once again in a bold rescue project. The magnificently preserved city, founded by the Thracian king Seuthes III in 323 BC, was discovered in [...]
I Can Has Autograph?
In a piece about the sorts of folks who hound celebrities for autographs, Barry Koltnow writes in the Orange County Register, inter alia: After all, autograph-collecting (philography) has been practiced since the ancient Greeks, although I doubt whether any Greek would have asked Paris Hilton for an autograph. Unlike most of our ‘origins’ commentary, this [...]
George Orwell on Antiquity
Not sure why, but Sfera online has a big excerpt from George Orwell’s essay on the Spanish War … inter alia he ponders the notion that we want to believe that a system founded on slavery has to eventually collapse, but notes that some civilizations founded on slavery endured for thousands of years. Then an [...]
Non timeo dhl et dona ferentes
Hat tip to eternallycool for this awesome ad for the DHL delivery folks:
Battlestar Galactica and the Aeneid
Okay … I’m officially confused about this one. For reasons unknown, it is being presented as something ‘new’ and hitherto unheard of that Battlestar Galactica (presumably the new one) is actually a retelling of the Aeneid. Charlotte Higgins’ latest blog at the Guardian includes this bit: Now, am I the only person who regards the [...]
Kizilburun Shipwreck
Not sure how I’ve missed the scattered news reports on this one over the past few years, but the Kizilburun Shipwreck ‘dig’ seems to be rather significant. As the name might suggest, the site is off the coast of western Turkey and is largely the project of Deborah Carlson (and others) from Texas A&M. The [...]
Neutron Analysis
Last week there were piles of stories in the press about the utility of the ISIS Neutron scanning technology for various matters archaeological. Now Science Daily has come out with a piece that is closer to our purview with a report on plans to scan some bronze artifacts from a couple of high-status Roman pit [...]
JOB: Generalist @ Union College (one year)
The Department of Classics at Union College seeks to appoint a classicist for a one-year visiting appointment at the rank of instructor or assistant professor. This is a one-year sabbatical replacement that will begin in September 2009. The area of specialization is open, but we look for evidence of successful beginning language instruction as well [...]
Assorted Jobs
Lectureship in Greek Philosophy (UCL) Lectureship in Roman History (St Andrews) APA/AIA PLACEMENT SERVICE POSITIONS FOR CLASSICISTS AND ARCHAEOLOGISTS (February)
This Day in Ancient History
ante diem vii kalendas martias Traditional end of the Roman year (followed by a period of intercalation) Terminalia — a festival in honour of Terminus, the divinity who presided over boundaries. In Rome itself, Terminus had a shrine within the Temple of Jupiter beneath an opening in the roof because, it is said, when they [...]
Classical Words of the Day
contumacious (Wordsmith) pleonasm (Merriam-Webster) mobile (OED) mutuatitial (Worthless Word for the Day)
The Atlantis Stuff
I’m sure everyone who reads this blog has already read the silliness about Google Earth and Atlantis, so I won’t comment on it’s don’t-eat-that-elmer quality directly, but the whole thing is instructive for a couple of reasons. First, from a rogueclassicism-blogging point of view, I now know that when my spiders fetch a pile of [...]
This Day in Ancient History
ante diem x kalendas martias Parentalia (Day eight) — the festival for honouring/appeasing the dead continues 116 A.D. — Trajan is given the title “Parthicus” by the senate for his victories against the Parthians
Classical Words of the Day
cacestogenous (Worthless Word for the Day) ellipsis (Dictionary.com) spume (… sort of; Merriam-Webster)
Another Roman Ghost Story
From All News Web, and as with our previous ghost stories, FWIW: A hotel in Romania recently became a site of interest for ghost hunters after a local photographed what appears to be a female spirit standing above its lobby stairwell. The hotel, named the Decebal, is situated in the mountain spa resort of Baile [...]
Roman City Found in Algeria
A tantalizingly brief item from l’Unita reports the discovery of a Roman City in Algeria: Alcuni resti archeologici sono stati scoperti a Zerdaza, a sud di Skikda, nell’est dell’Algeria. La scoperta e’ stata casuale, durante la costruzione di una casa. Secondo le prime analisi i resti appartenevano alla citta’ romana di Tabsus, che sorgeva sulle [...]
A Different Parallel/Analogy
Every week (it seems) I wade through piles of editorial flotsam and jetsam which claims the U.S. is like the Roman Empire, yadda yadda yadda, so it’s semi-refreshing when one reads a parallel like this incipit from Investor’s Chronicle: The situation of Lloyds Bank puts one in mind of Greek tragedy. For instance, Aeschylus’ “The [...]
CFP: Scientists and Professionals in the Ancient World
CALL FOR PAPERS: SCIENTISTS AND PROFESSIONALS IN THE ANCIENT WORLD CONFERENCE SCHOOL OF CLASSICS, UNIVERSITY OF ST ANDREWS 7-9 SEPTEMBER 2009 The technical and scientific writing of Graeco-Roman antiquity has been the focus of systematic scholarly study in recent decades. Attention has been mainly directed towards the textual means through which ancient technical and scientific [...]
The Height of Alexander
A review of Simon Sebag-Montefiore , Heroes: History’s Greatest Men and Women at Mercator.net concludes thusly: There was one glaring error: Alexander the Great’s height is given as 4’ 6”; but would make him the same height as the crippled poet Alexander Pope, and is never mentioned by the ancient authorities; surely the author means 5’ [...]
This Day in Ancient History
ante diem xi kalendas martias Parentalia (Day 7) — the period for honouring the dead continues 198 A.D. — death of emperor wannabe Clodius Albinus 1806 — death of Elizabeth Carter (Classicist who translated Epictetus)
Classical Words of the Day
illaqueation (Worthless Word for the Day) pedestal (OED) tautological (Dictionary.com)
Archimedes and ‘Pure Science’
Speaking of Archimedes (see below),Olivia Judson incipits a piece in the New York Times thusly: The snobbish idea that pure science is in some way superior to applied science dates to antiquity, when Plutarch says of Archimedes: “Regarding the business of mechanics and every utilitarian art as ignoble and vulgar, he gave his zealous devotion [...]
