Here’s another one for your rss reader … the ‘Word Lizard’ has an interesting little blog on puns, usually with some historical connection … the most recent post, e.g., includes the phrase ‘Curculio vespertilio’ ; you’ll have to visit for the context (put your groaning pads on first):
From a Getty Press release:
The Art of Ancient Greek Theater, on view at the Getty Villa from August 26, 2010 – January 3, 2011, is the first exhibition in the United States in over fifty years to focus on the artistic representation of theatrical performance in ancient Greece. Assembling international loans of antiquities from many museums and private collections, the exhibition illustrates the ways in which dramatic performance was depicted in the visual arts of ancient Greece between the fifth and the first centuries B.C. The exhibition is being presented in conjunction with the Getty Villa’s annual outdoor theater performance, Sophocles’ Elektra.
“Ancient art and theater share a strong and enduring connection–one that is inspired by mythology and the social, cultural, and political realities of life in ancient Greece and Rome,” says David Bomford, acting director of the J. Paul Getty Museum. “With this exhibition and our annual production in the outdoor theater, we are delighted to bring ancient theater alive at the Getty Villa and invite our visitors to join us and discover how those themes found in ancient times persist today.”
The Art of Ancient Greek Theater spans centuries of artistic production throughout the cities of the Mediterranean. The exhibition showcases magnificent Athenian and South Italian vases as well as significant marble reliefs and numerous terracotta masks and figurines drawn from major collections in Denmark, Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Themes of the Exhibition
Elaborate costumes, complex choreography, scenic architecture, and the mask—which continues to be an icon for tragedy and comedy—are vividly depicted in the visual arts of ancient Greece.
An introductory section introduces visitors to the architectural and physical environment of ancient Greek theater. The importance of drama to the civic and religious life in the ancient Greek world is reinforced by a large mural map, locating about one hundred ancient theaters in the Mediterranean. The map is complemented by marble sculptures of actors and poets as well as a model of the Theater of Dionysos in Athens, the home of the festival of the Great Dionysia, where the plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes were originally performed.
The exhibition is organized in three general themes. The first theme is devoted to the historical context of ancient Greek performance. Springing from the worship of Dionysos, theatrical performance developed out of the god’s religious rites and festivals. Objects on view depict actors, costumes, masks, choruses and chorusmen, with Dionysos the god of theater as motivator and benefactor.
The second theme focuses on tragedy and the satyr plays and will present comparative installations of vase-paintings inspired by ancient performances of Athens’ renowned tragedies: Aeschylus’ Oresteia; Euripides’ Medea, Herakles, Children of Herakles, Andromache and Iphigenia in Aulis; and Sophocles’ Oedipus. Objects representing satyr play will be anchored by the exceptional loan of the great Pronomos Vase from the Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Naples.
The third theme of the exhibition features comedy. Depictions of comic parodies and farces, where gods and centaurs share the stage with plotting slaves and thieves, and genre vase-painting represents costumed and masked actors in scenes on ancient stages, include some of the most vivid painting from the ancient world.
“We hope that our visitors will come away with a rich understanding not only of the context of ancient Greek theatrical performance but of the many ways artists interpreted the choruses and plays they witnessed. These vase-paintings, reliefs and figurines are often the only evidence we have for many aspects of ancient drama.
Significantly, the heightened visual style and attention to details such as costumes and choreography result in portrayals of ancient actors, poets, and musicians that give us an immediate sense of their performance on stage,” says Mary Louise Hart, associate curator of Antiquities at the J. Paul Getty Museum, who curated the exhibition.
Performance
During the run of The Art of Ancient Greek Theater, the Getty Museum will present Sophocles’ Elektra directed by Carey Perloff, artistic director of the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, with a new translation commissioned from Timberlake Wertenbaker. Elektra will be performed in the Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman Theater at the Getty Villa on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings, September 9 through October 2, 2010. In addition, the Villa Theater Lab will present Understanding a Satyr Play: The Trackers on November 19 and 20, 2010.
Publication and Related Events
The exhibition will be accompanied by a companion volume co-authored by Mary Louise Hart; Michael Walton, Professor Emeritus of Drama at the University of Hull, United Kingdom; François Lissarrague, Professor at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales Centre Louis Gernet, Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art, Paris; Martine Denoyelle, École des hautes études en sciences sociales Centre Louis Gernet, Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art; and H. Alan Shapiro, W.H. Collins Vickers Professor of Archaeology at Johns Hopkins University.
But we have to wait a while for the television program:
A GLIMPSE of life under the Romans has been unearthed by TV star Tony Robinson and his Time Team archaeologists in the village of Castor.
Filming in the historic grounds of St Kyneburgha Church for the BBC show, to be broadcast next spring, the team made great strides in uncovering the mysterious past of the site.
Guided by previous excavations carried out by 19th century archaeologist Edmund Artis, who is buried at the church, Mr Robinson and his team were delighted to discover the remains of what could be a plush Roman villa dating back to the second or third century.
The team has been digging since Tuesday but the biggest discovery happened yesterday lunchtime, when a mosaic floor was discovered beneath some 17th century graves.
The finding certainly pleased Mr Robinson, who said: “I was initially surprised at how little we were finding, given the history of the site, but it was just a case of digging a little deeper.
“The mosaic does seem to back up previous suggestions that there was a grand Roman building or set of buildings.
“The problem with Castor is that a lot of its history is a bit foggy and nobody knows the complete picture, but we’re hoping we will be able to contribute to a greater understanding about its past.”
Among the discoveries made were several walls which suggest that the area was used as a private complex by a wealthy Roman citizen, complete with Roman baths near Peterborough Road.
Time Team archaeologist Phil Harding was working on unearthing the mosaic flooring in the graveyard and said there was evidence previous gravediggers could not find their way through.
He said: “We’ve been finding a lot of bones in the trench and it seems like gravediggers were finding it impossible to dig past the mosaic and so were just burying people three feet deep.”
Current church gravedigger David Reed said he was pleased that the dig had been successful. He said: “It’s nice to see so much history in this area being brought out into the open.”
via Time Team dig up Roman villa at Castor | Peterborough Today.
The incipit of a review of Guy Deutscher, Through the Language Glass … looks interesting:
This tale begins with a Liberal leader and his innovative exploration of the colour blue. Not Nick Clegg and the Tories, but William Gladstone and his concern about Homer’s use of colour in The Iliad and The Odyssey. Gladstone was the first prominent intellectual to notice something awry with the Greek poet’s sense of colour. Homer never described the sky as blue. In fact, Homer barely used colour terms at all and when he did they were just peculiar. The sea was “wine-looking”. Oxen were also “wine-looking”. And, to Gladstone, the sea and oxen were never of the same colour. His explanation was that the Ancient Greeks had not developed a colour sense, and instead saw the world in terms of black and white with only a dash of red.
Guy Deutscher’s interest in the Homeric eye is less about evolution or optics than it is linguistic. Can we see something for which we have no word? Yes. The Greeks were able to distinguish shades of blue just as vividly as we can now, despite lacking a specific vocabulary for them. Yet, writes Deutscher, even though Gladstone was wrong about the Greeks’ sense of perception, his hunch about the emergence of colour words was “so sharp and far-sighted that much of what he wrote . . . can hardly be bettered today”.
It turned out that it wasn’t just the Ancient Greeks who never said the sky was blue. None of the ancient languages had a proper word for blue. What we now call blue was once subsumed by older words for black or for green. (In fact, this is why in Japan green lights are actually a bluer shade of green than in the rest of the world. The word used for the green of traffic lights is ao, which used to mean “green and blue” but now means blue. Rather than change the word, they changed the colour.)
… I’m trying to recall ‘wine looking’ oxen … I’m also wondering about that phrase “black and white with only a dash of red” … kind of sounds like ’300′.
The incipit of the BBC’s coverage of the Queen’s Birthday Honours list:
A retired Oxford professor of ancient history is to be awarded a Knighthood in the Birthday Honours List for services to Scholarship.
Fergus Millar, 74, was Camden Professor of Ancient History Emeritus, Oxford University until he retired in 2002.
He received the Kenyon Medal for Classics from the British Academy in 2005.
Professor Millar is credited as being among the most influential ancient historians of the 20th Century.
He is an authority in the field of ancient Roman and Greek history.
His accolades include honorary doctorates from Oxford and Helsinki and elected memberships in foreign academies.
Professor Millar said: “I was surprised, it’s late in life but I’m pleased, it’s recognition of the subject that I do.”
On the periphery of our purview, sort of, semi- …
The ancient Iranian “salt men” have been saved from decomposition.
“The salt men are currently kept in special showcases under controlled conditions at the Zolfaqari Museum,” the Zanjan Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Department (ZCHTHD) director said in a press conference on Wednesday.
“Without hesitation, I can say that the salt men kept here are in better condition than the one at the National Museum of Iran in Tehran,” Amir Elahi stated.
Three showcases, each at a cost of 250,000,000 rials (about $25,000), have been specially designed for the salt men, he explained.
The showcases have been equipped with devices, which enable experts to monitor conditions inside and keep them under full control, Elahi added.
All six salt men, known as Iranian mummies, were discovered at the Chehrabad Salt Mine in the Hamzehlu region near Zanjan over the past 13 years.
In February 2009, a number of Iranian media reported that four of the salt men kept at the Zolfaqari Museum, were in a critical condition due to loose plexiglass cases that had been designed for storing these mummies.
The media explained that the cases were not hermetically sealed and changes in air temperature and pressure had created cracks in them, allowing bacteria and insects to enter and do damage to the mummies.
Studies on the Fourth Salt Man indicate that the body is 2000 years old and that he was 15 or 16 years old at the time of his death.
It is still not clear when the other salt men lived, but archaeologists estimate that the First Salt Man, kept at the National Museum of Iran, lived about 1700 years ago and died sometime between the ages of 35 and 40.
The Sixth Salt Man was left in-situ due to the dearth of equipment in Iran necessary for its preservation.
We’ve mentioned Iran’s salt men before, and Adrienne Mayor’s interesting idea that they may have been the inspiration for satyrs … (the image from Wikipedia there is not one of the salt men from the article, I don’t think).
The Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama (www.apgrd.ox.ac.uk) is delighted to announce the Annual Conference 2010
Choruses: Ancient and Modern (13-14 September 2010)
University of Oxford
For more information and to register for the conference please contact Naomi Setchell, APGRD Archivist/Administrator (naomi.setchell AT classics.ox.ac.uk). The registration fee is £25. Several student bursaries are available.
The standard view of the ancient chorus as an encumbrance in the modern western world, where the individual rather than the collective is prized, needs serious scrutiny. Not only does this overlook much dramatic theory and practice since the eighteenth century, it also ignores the monarchical contexts in which this intrinsically neo-classical view was developed. At the conference an international and interdisciplinary group of speakers (classicists, theatre historians, anthropologists, musicologists, philosophers as well as contemporary practitioners) will examine the various contexts in the modern world in which ancient choruses have been consciously imitated, shunned and on occasions dangerously travestied in the modern world. The conference will therefore consider not only the aesthetics of the chorus but also the ways in which choruses have interacted (ritually, broadly socially and explicitly politically) with audiences in both antiquity and the modern world.
Confirmed speakers include:
Karen Ahlquist (George Washington) ‘Chorus and Community’
Joshua Billings (Oxford) ‘An Alien Body? Choral questions around 1800′
Claudia Bosse (theatre director) will lead a practical workshop
Laurence Dreyfus (Oxford) ‘Sunken in the “Mystical Abyss”: The ‘choral’ orchestra in Wagner’s Music Dramas’
Zachary Dunbar (Central School of Speech and Drama) ‘The Politics of the Musical Chorus Line’
Simon Goldhill (Cambridge) ‘Choral Lyric(s)’
Erika Fischer-Lichte (Freie-Universität, Berlin) ‘From Reinhardt to Riefenstahl’
Albert Henrichs (Harvard) ‘Chorality and Modern Interpretations: Nietzsche, Benjamin and Burkert’
Sheila Murnaghan (UPenn) ‘The choral plot of Greek tragedy’
Martin Revermann (Toronto) ‘Brechtian Choralities’
Ian Rutherford (Reading) ‘Chorus, Song, Anthropology’
Roger Savage (Edinburgh) ‘Purists and Polymorphs: the Operatic Chorus in Rameau and Gluck’
Seen on Classicists (please send any responses to the people/institution mentioned in the post, not to rogueclassicism!)
Projet Volterra II: Law and the End of Empire
( http://www.ucl.ac.uk/history2/volterra )Colloquium 3: The Imprint of Roman law in Lombard and Carolingian Italy / Public Workshop on The Codex Gregorianus
9-10 July 2010Rooms 1.01-1.02, 23 Gordon Square, History Department, University College London ( http://www.ucl.ac.uk/maps/ )
*Open to all – free of charge*
************************************************************************
ProgrammeFriday 9 July
Session 1
11.00: Welcome and opening remarks (Benet Salway)
11.30: Dr Peter Sarris, "A conflict of laws in seventh-century Italy? Grimoald, Justinian, and the afterlife of the colonate"12.45-14.00: buffet lunch
Session 2
14.00: Dr Simon Corcoran, "The Byzantines in the South: code and charter in imperial southern Italy"
15.15: Prof. Michael Crawford, "Monte Cassino and Roman law: the evidence of Paul the Deacon"15.40: tea break
Session 3
16.00: Prof. Luca Loschiavo, "L’Editto di Rotari. Fra consuetudini ancestrali germaniche e tradizioni romanistiche: vecchi problemi e nuove discussioni"
17.15: Dr Magnus Ryan, [on Lombard and Roman law - title to be confirmed]18.30: drinks reception
Latest Hollywood rumour has a remake of the Burton-Taylor thing (or more likely, something based on Stacy Schiff‘s Cleopatra: A Life) with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in the big roles …
UPDATE (the next day): the rumour (in regards to Jolie, anyway) is confirmed:
ante diem iii idus junias
We might be on the verge of another ancient-popculch-hybrid type thingy … a couple of weeks ago, Donna Estes Antebi wrote in the Huffington Post (inter alia):
The label Cougar conjures images not of women of merit and achievement, but of fountain-of-youth seeking desperation. “Cougars” are painted as wildcats armed with bottles of Botox, stiletto-stalking the kind of six-pack that doesn’t come in a can. What a sexist double standard. You know what they call successful men who keep the company of younger women? “Sir.” Or “damn lucky.” “Cougar” is never mistaken as a complement. It’s a term laced with underlying disrespect and derogatory inferences that minimize and objectify even the most successful of women.
I say enough with the denigrating cougar references. It is time to show women the respect they deserve. I coined a term in my upcoming book, The Real Secrets Women Only Whisper, which I use to describe women who dominate in a relationship through their education, power, or accomplishment. I refer to them as “Cleos.” Just like Cleopatra, the magnificent Egyptian queen herself, these powerful women rule. Women have indeed come a long way and modern-day incarnations abound. Famous American Cleos include such powerhouse women as Oprah Winfrey, Gayle King, Barbara Walters, Kelly Ripa, Paula Deen, Demi Moore, Christine Peters, Ellen DeGeneres, Whoopi Goldberg, Rachael Ray, Tyra Banks, Joan Rivers, Cheryl Tiegs, Halle Berry, Joy Behar and of course, Arianna Huffington. These women deserve our admiration. From bartenders to billionaires, a Cleo can bring home the bacon and share it with anyone she pleases!
Cleos are not cougars on the prowl looking for sex with younger men. Cleos don’t have to prowl! Cleos are highly desired – at any age. Cleos don’t need a powerful man to boost their self-esteem. Cleos have their own power. There are Cleos living all over the country who bring home the bacon, while their significant others are pouring them a glass of wine after a long day, or packing the school lunches in the morning.
And there was a followup:
Antebi is the author of The Real Secrets Women Only Whisper and she seems to be making the usual ’rounds’ … the Huffington Post seems to be the first non-gender-specific mainstream forum where this word has popped up, so we’ll keep our jaded eye open to see if it turns up elsewhere …
An excerpt from an otherwise ‘standard’ piece from ABC:
One of them is the last Queen of Egypt, Cleopatra. Legend has it that when the Romans entered Egypt in 30 BC and after losing the Battle of Actium, Cleopatra and her lover Mark Anthony took their own lives in order to avoid being captured by their enemies. The Romans scattered their belongings and their tomb has never been found. Archaeologists however have isolated three sites in Alexandria where they believe the tomb is located.
Three sites in Alexandria? Well, let’s be generous and say the Taposiris Magna site (some 50 km west of Alexandria) might be one of the three. Presumably another one is where that big pylon came from a few months ago. What would be the third?
Image via Wikipedia
ante diem iv idus junias
Twice in the past I have tried to blog about a project involving Linothorax, and twice the post has vanished into the ether. Hopefully, the third time’s a charm. Anyhoo, Linothorax is not some gruff, activisitic Dr Suess character … it’s a type of armour made from linen which was supposedly light and very strong. It first hit the mainstream press back in January, when the APA/AIA shindig was in the news and some of the ANI coverage hasn’t expired yet:
Alexander the Great’s body armor was made of layers of linen laminated together, according to a new research.
Experts suggest that the conqueror’s soldiers also wore similar attires.
The reconstructive archaeology research hints that the Kevlar-like arurs must have been instrumental in Alexander’s success in conquering nearly the entirety of the known world in little more than two decades.
“While we know quite a lot about ancient armour made from metal, linothorax remains something of a mystery since no examples have survived, due to the perishable nature of the material,” the Discovery News quoted Gregory Aldrete, professor of history and humanistic studies at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, as saying.
He added: “Nevertheless, we have managed to show that this linen armour thrived as a form of body protection for nearly 1,000 years, and was used by a wide variety of ancient Mediterranean civilizations.
“Currently we have 27 descriptions by 18 different ancient authors and nearly 700 visual images on objects ranging from Greek vases to Etruscan temple reliefs.”
According to researchers, the most reliable proof of Macedonian king wearing linothorax is the famous “Alexander Mosaic” from Pompeii.
Aldrete said: “When Alexander was in India, and received 25,000 new suits of armour for his army, he is described as having ordered the old worn-out suits of armour to be burned. This would only make sense if they had been made of fabric rather than metal.”
As part of the research, Aldrede and co-investigator Scott Bartell even developed several complete sets of linen armour to determine its durability and effectiveness.
Aldrete briefed: “The hardest part of the project was finding truly authentic linen. It had to be made from flax plants that were grown, harvested and processed, spun and woven by hand.”
He further revealed that they used glue made from the skins of rabbits and another from flax seeds to stick the layers of linen together.
Aldrete said: “Our controlled experiments basically dispelled the myth that armour made out of cloth must have been inferior to other available types.
“Indeed, the laminated layers function like an ancient version of modern Kevlar armour, using the flexibility of the fabric to disperse the force of the incoming arrow.”
via: Alexander wore ‘linothorax’ – armor made from laminated linen | Newstrack
See also:
LAMINATED LINEN PROTECTED ALEXANDER THE GREAT | Discovery News
Even prior to the paper (in 2008), there was a very interesting video on YouTube of students from UWGB experimenting with linothorax:
Back in March, another Youtube video appeared, with an excerpt of a talk by Dr Aldrete:
The abstract of Dr. Aldrete and Dr. Bartell’s talk at the APA is also available (as a .doc). In addition, UWGB Linothorax group has an interesting web page on their efforts …
Now the reason I’m persisting in trying to post about this is because the folks over at the very excellent Blogging Pompeii blog have alerted us to a very interesting article in Corriere del Mezzogiorno:
from corriere del mezzogiorno
Lo sapevate che il filato di ginestra ritrovato negli scavi di Pompei ha una tale resistenza da poter essere paragonato ai nuovi filati che vengono usati per i giubbotti antiproiettile? Eppure è così. Il professor Apicella, all’ ottavo forum internazionale di studi «Le vie dei mercanti» (si è aperto giovedì 3 a Napoli nel complesso della facoltà di medicina della Sun nel complesso di Santa Patrizia, accanto all’ospedale degli incurabili e prosegue il 4 e il 5 a Capri) ha presentato una relazione nella quale ha coniugato l’innovazione tecnologica con la ricerca archeologica. Il professore Apicella e la professoressa Luisa Melillo hanno trovato dei filamenti che scavando nelle fonti hanno scoperto che era sottilissimo e molto duttile, ma che aveva tanta resistenza da poter fronteggiare anche la carica dei cinghiali.
«Si pensava ad un errore di traduzione o di trascrizione – ha detto Apicella – poi si è scoperto che il lino di Cuma aveva queste caratteristiche e ancor di più il filato di ginestra che è più duttile, ma ugualmente resistente, dei filati usati per i giubbotti antiproiettile».
The article continues from there to yak about stuff not related to this … something seems to have been cut off. In brief, what is mentioned is the discovery of fabric/filaments which, although pliable, were akin to modern-day flak jackets in terms of resistance to projectiles. They refer to it as ‘linen from Cuma’ … i.e. it’s linen, and seems to have armour-like qualities. Is this a survival of a piece of linothorax?
UPDATE (the next day): I’ve finally tracked down the ‘linen from Cuma’ reference in Pliny (why am I having such difficulties finding things in Pliny lately?). In Book 19 we read (in translation):
via Google Books
… which really leaves me scratching the old noggin, insofar as the fabric shown in the photo that accompanied the original article (it might have disappeared by now) was clearly not a piece of a net. If we’re talking about the fibres that made up ‘linen from Cuma’ being strong, that seems fine, but it does appear that something has disappeared from this article, clarification-wise. Still wondering about linothorax possibilities … it would be nice to know the context in which this fabric was found.
Image via Wikipedia
ante diem v idus junias
Some more coverage of note … first we have a video from CNN:
… then, from the BBC’s coverage, we learn that the rumoured television program is a Channel 4 production called Gladiators: Back from the Dead. Of course, there’s a trailer:
… from the looks of things, the archaeological side isn’t a major focus, alas.
In case you missed our previous coverage: Gladiator Graveyard?
An OpEddish/reviewish sort of thing about three books: Leigh A. Bortins, The Core: Teaching Your Child the Foundations of Classical Education; Martha C. Nussbaum, Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities; and Diane Ravitch, The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice are Undermining Education:
A Classical Education: Back to the Future | NYTimes.
ante diem vi idus junias
