Roman Temple in Southwell (Iterum)
This one seems to be making the rounds again: Remains unearthed in Nottinghamshire could be an unknown Roman temple, archaeologists have claimed. Excavations on the Minster C of E School site in Southwell between September 2008 and May 2009 revealed walls, ditches and ornate stones. The team analysing the finds said the shape and quality [...]
The Loss of Classical Literature is Blamed On …
Islam? Here’s an excerpt from the middle of a very long book review of Holy Warriors: Islam and the Demise of Classical Civilization by John O’Neill at Europe News: Until the first quarter of the seventh century Classical Civilization was alive and well in the Middle East and North Africa — even more so than [...]
Latin for Volcano?
Image via Wikipedia A very interesting series of items from Jonah Goldberg popped up at the National Review Online this week. First: A slew of readers are outraged, perplexed, confabulated and gobsmacked by the claim made below by another reader that there’s no Latin word for “volcano.” I agree it is bizarre. After all you [...]
An Epic Battle About Homer’s Home
Image via Wikipedia Here’s the incipit … not sure if I blogged this already: Many historians agree that the world’s most well-known epic poet, Homer, lived in the Aegean city of İzmir, but several mayors are eager to have their towns recognized as his home. The ancient Greek poet Homer, traditionally considered the author of [...]
Necropolis at Ostia!
The skinny: it dates from the second half of the first century A.D. (based on it apparently demonstrating a transition from cremation to inhumation) and most of the occupants seem to be low-status males (skeletal remains show evidence of a life of ‘hard labour’) … Resti di una necropoli di epoca romana sono stati scoperti [...]
An Obsession We Can Identify With (to a certain extent)
Not sure I’ve ever had something from the Sun, so: A PENSIONER who dresses as a Roman gladiator and calls himself Maximus Decimus Meridius has admitted his obsession may be “over the top”. Tony Barnatt Jose, a retired lorry driver, has devoted his life to the ancient empire — turning his house into a shrine [...]
‘Lamboglia 2′ from Bari
This one seems to be getting an awful lot of attention in the Italian press for some reason … a 2nd or 1st century B.C. amphora find from the waters near Bari. Un’anfora romana risalente al periodo compreso fra il II ed il I secolo a.C. è stata scoperta su un fondale sabbioso non molto [...]
A Major Bust in Agrigento
A doctor had some 930 archaeological artifacts in his possession … seems to be one of those ‘private museum’ situations: I carabinieri del nucleo tutela patrimonio culturale della Sicilia e del Comando provinciale dei carabinieri di Agrigento hanno sequestrato 930 reperti archeologici all’interno dell’abitazione di un medico agrigentino. Secondo quanto ha spiegato il capitano Giuseppe [...]
Also Seen: Papandreou’s Odyssey
The Greek p.m. comments on the bailout: On Friday, Papandreou said he hoped accessing the rescue package would give Greece the breathing room it needs to move forward on his reform agenda, which includes modernizing the Greek state and tackling the country’s pension morass. Evoking the ancient hero Odysseus and his epic journey home from [...]
Citanda: The Death of Pythagoras
Here’s the spoiler (the conclusion) of a nice article in Philosophy Now: Suddenly Pythagoras came to a stop. A vast bean field stretched before him. He stood frozen, uncertain what to do. His eyes focused on a single bean dangling inches from his papyrus- covered feet. So true was he to his ideals that, even [...]
Possible Roman Burial from Attard (Malta)
Brief text accompanying this video (sans commentary) from the Times of Malta: Government workers stumbled on an ancient tomb during excavation works at Ġnien Ħal Warda in Attard this morning. The tomb including skeletal remains and an amphora.Attard Local Council, which is responsible for the works, immediately alerted the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, whose experts [...]
Interesting Career Path for Ousamane Diop
Ousmane Diop, chairman of the Modern Languages Department of the Roxbury Latin School, was installed as the Stanley J. Bernstein Professor of Modern Languages on April 13. Diop is a longtime Roxbury Latin teacher and a resident of Roslindale. A native of Senegal, Diop joined the Roxbury Latin faculty in 1994, a graduate of Oberlin [...]
Roman Altar Stones from Musselburgh
Image via Wikipedia Interesting item from the BBC: Roman altar stones dating back almost 2000 years have been found at a cricket pavilion in Musselburgh, East Lothian. The stones have been described as the most significant find of their kind in the past 100 years. Renovations were planned at the pavilion but archaeologists had to [...]
Citanda: Oriental Institute News & Notes Now Online
Chuck Jones has been mentioning this one in various fora … it’s the newsletter which members of the OI get — occasional ClassCon and a nice example of what ‘organization’ newsletters can be. (Warning: the pdf files are huge … not for slow connections): AWOL – The Ancient World Online: Open Access Journal: Oriental Institute [...]
Homeric Bluegrass?
The conclusion to a piece about the musical proclivities of some Georgetown profs: Professor Alex Sens of the classics department also uses music to teach students about ancient Greece. Sens asserts that just as musical improvisation draws upon a storehouse of musical elements that have developed over a number of generations, so too poetry continually [...]
This Day in Ancient History: ante diem ix kalendas maias
ante diem ix kalendas maias Vinalia (urbana) — the wine which was ‘bottled’ in the previous autumn was opened and tasted for the first time, after a libation to Jupiter 248 A.D. — third day of celebration of Rome’s 1000th anniversary
Kathleen Coleman on Fatal Ambitions
In case you’re at Cambridge a few hours from now: Professor Kathleen Coleman, Professor of Latin at Harvard University and renowned author on Latin literature and history will give Newnham’s biennial Jane Harrison Memorial Lecture on Friday, 23 April 2010. She’ll argue that pushy parents and a competitive society driving youngsters to extremes to succeed [...]
PreRoman Tomb from Foligno
Most of the interesting stuff is in the first couple sentences of this one … a sixth-century female burial along with an iron fibula and amber necklace … Una tomba a tumulo di eta’ preromana e’ stata rinvenuta a Foligno nel corso dei lavori di realizzazione della Variante Nord della citta’; all’interno della tomba e’ [...]
David Davies on Archaeological Traces of LitTrad
Interesting incipit from the UDallas University paper: On Thursday, at 7:30 p.m. in the Art History Auditorium, the Rome office gave the third installment of the Rome Walking Tour in Irving, a series of lectures designed to both prepare future Romers for their semester abroad and enhance the Rome experience for past Romers, as well [...]
Citanda: The truth about Cleopatra
Article in Canada’s Maclean’s magazine … nothing really new here for most of us, but a good little summary: The truth about Cleopatra.
Citanda: Mary Beard on Ostracism
The incipit of Mary Beard’s latest: One of the smart ideas of the ancient Athenian democracy was the system of ostracism. If the people wanted to decide between the policies of two different politicians, and they were deadlocked — they had a vote and simply exiled one of them… More: A Dons Life by Mary Beard [...]
Romans and Dacians Get Along Just Fine
Just a little fyi tidbit … something may have been lost in translation: Tens of Romanians established in Italy came to Circo Massimo and in the streets of Rome in order to applaud and encourage the „Dacians” and the „Romans” of the Terra Dacica Aeterna Association in Cluj-Napoca (north-western Romania), who participated in the Natale [...]
Citanda: Dear Socrates
Dear Socrates,How does it feel to be so great and historic a personage? I feel unworthy to be writing a letter to you. Instead, if I were capable of it, I should be composing a paean. Yours in deepest humility, A Mere Plebeian via Philosophy Now | Dear Socrates. [go there to see Socrates' response, [...]
Ptolemaic Coin Hoard
Lots of coverage of this one, but all of it very brief: Archaeologists have uncovered bronze coins bearing the image of ancient Egyptian ruler King Ptolemy III in an oasis south of the capital, the culture ministry announced on Thursday.Also found by the Egyptian team were necklaces made of ostrich eggshell, it said.The 383 items [...]
Citanda: Reviving Latin in Abilene
Great quote from teacher Deirdre Salmon: “It’s like going from a tiny black-and-white television from the 1950s to a huge color plasma flat-screen television,” Salmon said. “It opens up your world that much.” Abilene private school resurrects Latin lessons | Abilene Reporter News.
