Alexander Tomb Update
Some must-reading in the wake of last week’s silliness … it’s clear that there’s even sillier stuff going on in FYROM/Macedonia: Macedonia: Alexander the Great as Media Bait (Global Voices)
Dryden Portrait of Interest
Getting a smattering of attention this week is a piece about a portrait of John Dryden, which was recently put on display at the National Portrait Gallery. Of interest to us — besides the fact we all know about his translating of epics and the like — is this bit from the Guardian: The portrait [...]
The Spartafication Continues
Hmmm … first we had the 300 workout, designed to get our abs (etc.) looking like some guys hanging out at Thermopylae, now we hear (via amicus noster John McChesney-Young) that there’s an actual Spartan Diet program … although the rogueclassicist could stand to embark on both of these, I suspect he won’t in the [...]
Performing Thucydides
This one was mentioned on the Classics list last week but I didn’t note by whom (apologies) … Some excerpts from a lengthy piece in the San Antonio Current: Our cities grow in size, our awareness of the world around us increases, technology steadily advances, but some things remain immutable, chief among them human nature. [...]
Olympians Up To Their Old Tricks?
Double take headline of the week was: Catherine Keener Has A Baby With Zeus … which now appears to have been “corrected” to: Catherine Keener Has A Baby With Poseidon I suspect the watery one is just covering up for the well-known proclivities of his brother, who probably just wants to avoid another Europa … [...]
Scylla and Charybdis Origin?
A piece on the discovery of a vast colony of black coral in the Straits of Messina (which will, no doubt, affect Berlusconi’s bridge plans … and also makes me wonder if we’ll soon be hearing of some shipwreck discoveries), has an interesting closing bit: The town of Scilla, near the site of the coral [...]
Mary Beard on Roman Publishing
Our favourite Cambridge Don has a nice piece in the New York Times on getting published in ancient Rome … here’s a tease: Bookstores in Rome clustered in particular streets. One was the Vicus Sandalarius, or Shoemakers Row, not far from the Colosseum (convenient for post-gladiatorial browsing). Here you would find the outsides of the [...]
Iliad Reading with a Twist
Here’s a worthy project I could see Latin/Classics clubs adapting and/or emulating … from the Indy Star: Latin students from North Central High School will use the tale of an ancient war to launch their own modern war on poverty. From 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday at Kids Ink Bookstore, 56th and Illinois [...]
d.m. David Parsons
In case you missed it in one of the other sources, David Parsons — of ARLT fame — recently completed his c.v.. His son has written a very moving blogpost at David’s erstwhile blog … worth a read. Another online colleague whom I never met who will be missed …
Roman Bath at Bankso
This one — from FYROM/Macedonia probably has more bona fides lurking in it than claims of Alexander’s tomb … from Balkan Travellers: Detailed archaeological excavations began at the thermal Roman bath in Bansko near the south-eastern Macedonian town of Strumica. The site is being studied and analysed so that a project for its complete reconstruction [...]
