Archimedes Palimpsest Redux
There have been a pile of news reports about the Archimedes Palimpsest this week … near as I can tell, what is new in these reports is the revelation that Archimedes’ thoughts on infinity in the palimpsest are different than previously thought. The salient excerpt (via the Live Science version): “Scholars are now talking about [...]
Soccer Origins — Not
At UEFA.com there’s an interview with Ukrainian football/soccer star Anatoliy Tymoshchuk … towards the end he sez: These days, some consider the role of captain as just a nod to tradition. But remember that Herodotus described a game in ancient Greece, where soldiers played to develop their fighting capacities and used the head of the [...]
Alexander the Great Bridge?
Azzaman is reporting the discovery of of a bridge somewhere north of Mosul purportedly built by Alexander the Great. In the rather vague article, archaeologist Omer Sharif is quoted inter alia: “The bridge dates to 330 B.C. and to the reign of Alexander the Great … I have asked the Antiquities Department in Baghdad to [...]
CFP: Irony and the Ironic in Classical Literature
IRONY AND THE IRONIC IN CLASSICAL LITERATURE A conference at the University of Exeter, 1st-4th September 2009 Call for Papers What precisely do we mean when we talk about ‘irony’? The term ‘irony’ is often bandied about – as a glance at the Index of any commentary or literary-critical monograph will attest. Both ‘irony’ and [...]
This Day in Ancient History
ante diem xiii kalendas martias Parentalia (Day 5) — the period for appeasing the dead continued Quirinalia — festival honouring the namesake of the Quirinal hill, the Sabine divinity Quirinus, who was later identified with Romulus. Little else is known about the festival. 304 A.D. — martyrdom of Donatus and 80+ others near Venice 1776 [...]
Classical Words of the Day
sword of Damocles (Wordsmith) antique (OED)
Rethinking Bowra
A reviewish sort of thing of a biography of Maurice Bowra in the New Statesman includes this tantalizing bit, inter alia: He was a scholar of ancient Greek literature but, despite a string of books, produced nothing exceptional (one contemporary compared his prose to “a man writing luggage labels”) and failed to get an Oxford [...]
Roman Fort at Trimammium Plundered?
The Sofia Echo reports: The unexplored Roman fortress of Trimammium near the village of Mechka in Rousse has been ravished by treasure-hunters, Dnevnik daily reported on February 12 2009, quoting local archaeologists who informed police.[...] During his presentation in Rousse, Vurbanov revealed photos showing more than 30 shallow holes dotting the site, obviously dug with [...]
Cena Latina at Princeton
The incipit of an interesting piece in the Daily Princetonian: On Mondays, I try to attend the French table. On Wednesdays, I go to Arabic. And on Thursdays, I am always at the Cena Latina. Cena Latina is Princeton’s Latin language table, sponsored by the Classics Department, and to the best of my knowledge it [...]
Another Bust in Greece
Various news venues are reporting the arrest of a man near Thessaloniki (the actual town varies depending on the report) who was found with a pile of items … as described by the IHT: The confiscated antiquities included more than 1,500 silver and copper coins dating from the 4th century B.C. to the 3rd century [...]
Best Conservative Movies
Michael Poliakoff (classicist and an administrative bigwig at UColorado) comments on 300 as #5 on National Review‘s list of the Best Conservative movies of the past 25 years: During the Bush years, Hollywood neglected the heroism of American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan—but it did release this action film about martial honor, unflinching courage, and [...]
Alexander the Great’s Statue
The Guardian reports on a row going on in Athens over plans to erect a statue of Alexander the Great … inter alia: Seventeen years after its acquisition by the Greek culture ministry, the rendition of the military commander has been gathering dust in a basement storeroom because of fierce controversy over where to put [...]
Croesus Theft an Inside Job
A few years ago a number of items from the so-called treasures of King Croesus were purloined from a museum in Turkey and replaced with fakes. Today we read that the former museum director and a handful of his colleagues have been found guilty of the theft. Thieves of Croesus riches jailed (BBC) 10 jailed [...]
From the Italian Press
As often, the Italian press is full of discoveries which never make it to the English press, alas … Politicamente Correto reports on the discovery of a monumental lion sculpture from Modena, dating to the second half or so of the first century: Nuove scoperte archeologiche dagli scavi lungo la Via Emilia a Fossalta PatrimonionSOS [...]
Reviews @ CJ-Online
HENDERSON, Aristophanes: Fragments BAGNALL, Egypt in the Byzantine World: 300-700 GUIA, Ripensando Tacito (e Ronald Syme): Storia e storiografia MURRELL, Cicero and the Roman Republic CLAUGHTON, Herodotus and the Persian Wars TREGGIARI, Terentia, Tullia and Publilia: The Women in Cicero’s Family McKEOWN, The Invention of Ancient Slavery? STRAY, Oxford Classics: Teaching and Learning 1800–2000
H-Net Review: The Alemanni and Rome 213-496
John F. Drinkwater. The Alamanni and Rome 213-496: (Caracalla to Clovis). Oxford Oxford University Press, 2007. xi + 408 pp. $125.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-19-929568-5. Reviewed by James E. Cathey (Department of German and Scandinavian Studies, University of Massachusetts Amherst ) Published on H-German (February, 2009) Commissioned by Susan R. Boettcher Germany at the End of [...]
JOB: Two Posts @ Nottingham
Greek/Roman art: University Teacher (Fixed-term) School of Humanities – Department of Classics University of Nottingham http://www.jobs.ac.uk/jobs/ZL425/ Greek language & literature: University Teacher (Fixed-term) School of Humanities – Department of Classics University of Nottingham http://www.jobs.ac.uk/jobs/ZL426/
JOB: Generalist @ McMaster (1 year)
The Department of Classics at McMaster University invites applications for a contractually limited appointment to run for one year (July 1, 2009 – June 30, 2010). The successful candidate will teach 6 courses (3 per term), including classical archaeology (1 Greek archaeology, 3 Roman archaeology) and two sections of first year Latin. A PhD in [...]
CONF: Classical Association of the Canadian West
Classical Association of the Canadian West Annual Meeting The University of Manitoba will be hosting the annual meeting of the Classical Association of the Canadian West on 6th and 7th March 2009, at the Delta Hotel in downtown Winnipeg. The theme of the conference is ‘Violence in Greek and Roman Antiquity’. The finalised programme is [...]
CONF: Ontario Classical Association
SPRING MEETING OF ONTARIO CLASSICAL ASSOCIATION: Sat. 28 March 2009 The Spring Meeting of the Ontario Classical Association will take place at Trent University (Peterborough) on Saturday 28 March 2009 from 9.30 to 3.30 p.m. in the Multi-Purpose Room, Scott House, at Traill College (Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario). It will be in honour of Professor [...]
CONF: Brock Archaeology Society Symposium
Brock University Archaeological Society 20th Annual Scholarly Symposium Saturday March 14th 2009 Pond Inlet Brock University 11:30 am to 5:30 pm Banquet to follow Michael Carter Brock University Department of Classics Living the Nightmare: When Your Gladiatorial Dreams Come True Judith Fletcher Wilfrid Laurier University Archaeology and Classical Studies Oaths and Oracles in Greek Tragedy [...]
CONF: Critical Approaches to Ancient Philosophy
Critical Approaches to Ancient Philosophy University of Bristol 21-22 March 2009 (2 pm Saturday- 1 pm Sunday) While the diversity of disciplines influenced by classical philosophers is a testament to their works’ fecundity, all too often it happens that specialists approaching them from the perspective of the history of philosophy, literary theory and “continental” philosophy, [...]
d.m. Daniel Geagan
From the ASCSA site (no … I do not understand why McMaster University has nothing mentioning this): With great sadness, the School reports that Daniel Joseph Geagan passed away at St. Joseph’s Villa, Dundas, Ontario, Canada on Friday, February 6, 2009, in his 72nd year. He is survived by his wife, Helen Augusta von Raits [...]
Podcast du jour: In Our Time on the Destruction of Carthage
My driving-to-work-and-back listening yesterday was a very interesting edition of In Our Time featuring Mary Beard, Jo Crawley-Quinn and Ellen O’Gorman. The topic of the conversation was the destruction of Carthage, but it went much beyond that and gave a very good overview of Rome’s dealings with Carthage in general, and there was much mention [...]
Hopscotch Origins
Every now and then, this story about the purported Roman origins of hopscotch pops up … most recently in the East London Advertiser: The game involving hopping between squares on a chalk grid dates back to Roman times. It was used originally for military training when foot soldiers ran in full armour and field packs [...]
