rogueclassicism

Probing the Catacombs (sort of)

The incipit of an interesting item from ANSA:

Rome’s underground network of catacombs is set to reveal more secrets thanks to the creation of a new laser mapping tool.

A team of 10 researchers, led by archaeologist Norbert Zimmermann from the Vienna Academy of Sciences, has produced a scanner that is able to create a three-dimensional model of the catacombs from above ground.

After three years of work, the group has produced a complete 3D model of the catacombs of Domitilla, giving archaeologists a full overview of the labyrinth of underground tunnels. ”We have known about the catacombs for around 400 years but in all that time, no precise map has ever been made,” said Zimmermann. The data produced by the scanner has been combined with existing photographs.

This enables people using the model to not only ”wander” through the virtual tunnels, but also to explore the individual tombs and examine wall paintings that are normally shrouded in darkness. In the next stage of the project, which lasts until 2011, the researchers want to count the exact number of tombs within the catacombs, as well as documenting the funerary paintings that have not yet undergone full scientific studies. Zimmermann said he hoped the votive inscriptions would provide interesting new sociological detail that could later be added to the model, such the age of the individuals buried in each tomb. There are around 40 Rome catacombs, dating back to the 2nd-century AD, which began life as secret Christian burial place.

• Rome catacombs to reveal secrets

Olympus Graphic Novel

According to Variety (just the intro):

Thesp Michael Chiklis is launching a new take on Greek gods in the form of a comicbook: He’s partnered with IDW Publishing to create the graphic novel series “Olympus.”

Based on an idea by Anny Simon Beck, series will tell the story of ancient Greek gods who return to a ravaged, chaotic present-day Earth where they battle for the future of mankind against the Titans.

• Michael Chiklis to create ‘Olympus’

• Fantastic Four star Chiklis to launch new comic book (Telegraph)

CFP: Annals, Epic and Drama in Republican Rome

Call for papers – contents of previous attachment now in body of the email

Seminar to be held at the Institutum Romanum Finlandiae,

That the study of Roman Republican Historiography is a very dynamic field of
research is evident from the incessant and ever increasing stream of
scholarly publications pertaining to this area. Recent years have seen the
appearance of several new fragment editions of Roman Historians as well as
of numerous studies in many languages. The last few years have also
witnessed a number of international seminars dedicated to Republican
Historiography. There is no doubt that progress is constantly being made and
that the whole field benefits from frequent encounters between its major
players.

We, the undersigned, propose to organize a seminar on historical writing in
the Roman Republic at the Finnish Institute in Rome, during two full days in
Late April. We are looking for original contributions dealing with all
aspects of republican historiography as well as with various kinds of
historical documentation and recording in the republican period. – We would
be especially interested in new insights into problems pertaining to the
following topics:

1.      Historical Documentation before Historians:
Documentary Evidence and Oral Traditions
Long before there was a literary culture in Rome writing was used for
various purposes. Epigraphically preserved documents from the Early Republic
are rare, but ancient writers provide a host of references to inscribed
texts of alleged great antiquity. To what extent did genuine written
documents survive from the early periods of Roman history? To what extent
were they used and understood by historians and antiquarians? These are
essential questions for assessing the factual underpinning of the
construction of Roman history. And what accounts for the phenomenon known as
the Expansion of the Past? The Annales Maximi still stir controversy as to
their significance for the formation of the historical traditions
encountered in Roman literature. This informs a whole range of other
discussions such as the nature of so-called antiquarian information, the
reliability of names, and the narrative of Roman expansion.– And is there
anything new to be said about the Oral Traditions pertaining to Early Rome.

2.      Histories before Historians?
Q. Fabius Pictor and other Roman senators writing their works in Greek prose
around 200 BC and shortly thereafter are usually regarded as the first
historians of Rome. Ennius, who composed his Annales in the same period, and
Naevius, who may have finished his Bellum Punicum even earlier, are assigned
to another literary tradition and another genre of literature, but is it
possible that the conventional distinction between epic history and an
allegedly more scientific prose history is, to some degree, anachronistic,
or imported from a different Greek tradition, and arbitrarily conditioning
too much the way we look at the writing of history in that period?

3.      Drama and Early Rome
We know of many plays of the third and second centuries BC set in the
historical past. The evidence we possess for this dramatic literature has
always attracted less attention than the testimonia for the lost historical
works. Does this represent an overlooked material? Can it yield new
information on how the Romans related to history and historical writing?

4.      Lawyers and Grammarians:
The Beginnings of Antiquarian Writing at Rome
Some of the earliest writing about Rome is what we might call Antiquarian
Writing, but we can also see an early interest in and attention to the
explanation of Law. Relatively little attention has been given to what we
can derive from this concern, both in terms of the nature of the society of
early Rome, and in terms of the historical information this may have contained.

5.      The Monumental Past:
Epigraphic, Artistic and Architectural Commemoration in Early Rome
As is well known, the cityscape of republican Rome was full of lieux de
mémoires and some of these reliably date to the archaic period.
Understanding the mechanisms by which Romans thought about their past
requires an understanding of their ongoing living relationship with the
city, and a broader appreciation of the individual achievements of scholars,
especially in Rome itself, to identify and contextualize this architectural
history.

The maximum duration of the presentations – which can be delivered in
English, French, German or Italian – is set to 45 minutes. Participants will
be required to publish their contributions in the proceedings volume that
will be released by the Finnish Institute in its series Acta Instituti
Romani Finlandiae. Scholars interested to participate in the seminar are
invited to submit titles and short abstracts of their prospective talks by
Friday, February 27, 2009 to info AT irfrome.org

Having reviewed all submissions we reserve the right to select the
participants, the total number of which – given the time frame – cannot
exceed 16 persons. Participants travelling from locations outside Italy will
receive a contribution of 200 euros towards the expenses of travel and
accommodation.

Rome and St Andrews, January 7, 2009

Kaj Sandberg
Director Institutum Romanum Finlandiae
Tel. +39 0668801674
sandberg AT irfrome.org

Christopher J. Smith
Professor of Ancient History
University of St Andrews
Tel. +44 1334462492
cjs6 AT st-andrews.ac.uk

Studying Earthquakes

The incipit of a piece in the Bi-College News:

This spring, a few hundred Haverford seniors will set out on the most daunting assignment of their college careers—the senior thesis. Some will spend days (and nights) in labs in the Integrated Natural Science Center, while others might be found buried under an avalanche of texts in Magill. Classics major Cassie Gafford HC’09 falls into the second group but is so excited about her topic that even such an avalanche would probably prove enjoyable.

Gafford’s thesis, in fact, deals with natural disasters, though not the library-book variety. She is studying earthquakes during the Second Sophistic period, which lasted from 75 C.E. until 225 C.E. According to Gafford, this was a time when Greece was under Roman rule, but Greek thought was still highly regarded in Rome. “I’m investigating how authors of this period responded to the natural world,” she says, “specifically in the form of earthquakes.”

The questions Gafford must ask in her research relate not only to literature but to religion, science, and culture as a whole. “Were natural catastrophes seen as punishment from the gods, random natural occurrences, or omens?” she wonders. “I want to know what Greeks and Romans wrote about the destructive, unforeseen shaking of the ground.”

… looks interesting.

• ‘From the Lab’ Thesis Edition: Cassie Gafford and Ancient Earthquakes

Breviaria 02/08/09

We had sleep problems last week, so we’ve acquired quite a few items under this category:

I’d better mention this article (which most of rogueclassicism’s readers have probably already seen) on the ubiquity of alcohol in assorted Greek literature:

• The Tipsy Hero (NY Times)

Nice feature on Stephen Miller:

• Stephen G. Miller: A Classicist in Greece (Spero)

Art Spisak is now an associate provost at MSU:

• MSU names associate provost (News Leader)

What’s on Dan Garrison’s desk:

• From The Desk Of… Dan Garrison (Northwestern)

A feature on Valerio Manfredi:

• Tweaking history with doses of pathos (IHT)

I suppose it’s better than nothing:

• Technology allows Latin offerings at 2 Chicopee high schools (Republican)

Obvious opportunity for ClassCon:

• Understanding Catharsis (Blogcritics)

An update on that circumnavigation-of-Africa-in-a-Phoenician ship story:

• Phoenicia Expedition – Six months waiting for wind (Sail World)

A Celtic hoard found in the Netherlands might be of interest:

• Celtic Hoard Found in Netherlands (Numismaster)

Interesting piece on Linnaeus and all that:

• Why we give plants and animals Latin names (St Louis Today)

Touristy Thing on Pamphylia:

• The pride of pamphylia side, Aspendos and perge (Sunday’s Zaman)

An interesting looking exhibition/lecture series:

• Ancient Greeks: Athletes, Warriors and Heroes Opens at The Burrell Collection (Art Daily)

Review of Pompeii and the Roman Villa:

• A Short Trip Into the Villas of Ancient Pompeii (Hoya)

Some folks in Sussex aren’t too happy with a proposed Roman museum site:

• Anger as £6.9m Roman museum gets go-ahead (Express)

More on that “Centurion” film in the works:

• BOND BABE TO FILM FLICK IN SCOTLAND (News of the World)

Too early to pass judgement on this one:

• 3rd ‘Lara Croft’ movie in the works (Entertainment News)

Latest on the Uderzo family dispute:

• Asterix creator depressed by family dispute (Reuters)

Last, and certainly least, is this week’s bit of ClassCon from the Spoof:

• Greek Dramatist Euripides succeeds in making woman vomit

Outside of that stuff, we should note that thehe Podcasting and the Classics session from the APA is now available on ITunes (and downloaded to my IPod) …

3D Cleo Musical on Hold

According to Variety, post alia:

Soderbergh has always wanted to make a sports film and sparked to the opportunity to reteam with Pitt. Soderbergh is looking to make the picture his next directing assignment.

He had been expected to next direct “Cleo,” a musical about the fatal romance between Egyptian queen Cleopatra and Roman general Marc Antony. Soderbergh had lined up his “Traffic” star Catherine Zeta-Jones to play the title character and had Hugh Jackman in his sights for Antony. Though he set his financing, Soderbergh decided to push back the film until next year after Jackman dropped out because of scheduling problems.

… the libations appear to be working …

• Soderbergh, Pitt roll with ‘Moneyball’

Wonder Woman Movie

The incipit of a review at io9 which might be of interest:

Wonder Woman traces a fairly familiar version of the character’s origin story. When fighter pilot Steve Trevor (Nathan Fillion) crash lands on the Amazon island of Thermyscira, he represents the first man any of the Amazons have seen in over two millennia. Queen Hippolyta (Virginia Madsen) organizes a contest to determine who will escort Steve back to man’s world, and her daughter Diana (Keri Russell) emerges victorious. Eager to learn more about the world outside Thermyscira and to foster a new dialogue between the genders, Diana quickly finds nothing but disillusionment upon her arrival in New York City. Meanwhile, Ares (Alfred Molina), the god of war, has escaped from his Amazonian prison with plans for revenge against his captors and endless war for all humanity.

Minus the addition of Ares, it’s a well-known, well-worn take on the character’s origins, but it’s a story that lacks the iconic sweeps of Batman or Superman’s beginnings. The Wonder Woman story is full of a lot of potentially tricky elements, such as the heavy reliance on Greek mythology and the presence of some complicated gender politics. Wonder Woman’s triumph lies its in willingness to embrace these same elements that have likely stymied so many previous adaptation attempts; Gail Simone and Michael Jelenic’s screenplay places the Greek gods front and center, and Diana is true to her status and beliefs as a warrior princess.

• Captain Mal And Violence Make Wonder Woman Triumphant

Testing

I’m just testing to see if I can post something and then have it appear later … posting around 1.00 p.m.; it should show up around 8.00 p.m. …