Dr Beard delivers an interesting lecture:  

Interesting thesis by Maria Nilsson out of the University of Gothenburg. Here’s the abstract: Nilsson, M., The crown of Arsinoë II. The creation and development of an imagery of authority. 760 pp. 158 pls. Written in English. This study deals with a unique crown that was created for Queen Arsinoë II. The aim is to [...]

Man … we’re pretty close to being able to play insula-collapse-bingo … from NPR: A stretch of garden wall ringing an ancient house in Pompeii gave way Tuesday after days of torrential rain, the latest structure to collapse at the popular archaeological site. Pompeii officials said an inspection found that a 40-foot (12-meter)-long section of [...]

This one likely won’t make it to the English press, but Il Tempo is reporting that remains of a massive temple platform that came to light during WWII bombing is not actually that of the Capitoline Triad as has been believed for at least a generation. The recent discovery of some statue podiums near the [...]

My Twitter godfather beat me to this one … on the periphery of our purview:  

pridie kalendas decembres 406 B.C. — death of Euripides (by one reckoning) 147 A.D. — birth of Annia Galeria Faustina, the daughter of the emperor-to-be Marcus Aurelius 1817 — birth of Theodor Mommsen, Nobel prize winning ancient historian

Yay! Discover Magazine gets it!!!! Will we see retractions from the Telegraph et al? No Romans needed to explain Chinese blondes | Gene Expression | Discover Magazine. … in case you missed our previous posts, most recently: Crassus’ Lost Army … Spinning out of Control

… also in memory of Leslie Neilsen:

… as told by Penelope:    

Image via Wikipedia I first saw this on the Classicists list … I hope it’s making the rounds of other lists; a letter from Dr. Judith Fletcher: Dear Friends, I am writing to you because our new Dean is thinking of eliminating senior Greek courses based on low enrollments. We have a reciprocal agreement with [...]

The incipit of a piece on the IDF from Ynet: Alexander the Great, the man who conquered the ancient world, said that those who develop new combat methods or who possess new arms will be triumphant. via IDF stronger than ever | Ynetnews. Did he ever say such a thing?

For the past few days there have been posts on Facebook about some major Australia-England cricket series going on … turns out, there are some ads with a Classical bent for same … the first seems inspired by a certain Russell Crowe film: … another features Australian cricketer Shane Warne as a Roman emperor, but [...]

I can’t find that we’ve mentioned this one before at rogueclassicism … from ANA/MPA: Excavation works on a sunken vessel dated to the post Hellenistic era off the resort town of Nea Styra, in the southern Evoikos Gulf separating the mainland and large Evia (Euboea) island, were concluded for 2010. The ancient vessel was loaded [...]

The incipit of one of those science articles with plenty of Latin  words … this time, though, there’s also a reference to ‘Etruscan’ divinities: Mildew infections not only cause unsightly vegetable patches, they can also result in extensive crop failure. Interestingly, the processes involved in infections with this garden pest are similar to those involved [...]

Image via Wikipedia Excellent feature at Nature (includes a pdf article that’s free!): Ancient astronomy: Mechanical inspiration | Nature News.

Image via Wikipedia Another one that was making the rounds this week. From Fox6: Father Reginald Foster is trying to resuscitate something most people consider dead; the old language of Latin. Years ago, Foster spurned the family business for a higher calling. He joined the priesthood. Foster soon learned he excelled at one of the [...]

One of the things that was being passed around the past week (during which occurred American Thanksgiving, of course) was this humourous item on Thanksgiving seating arrangements, as interpreted by College Humor: … which was very interesting from a Classics point of view when one thinks about Roman triclinium seating arrangements. Here’s Pedar Foss’ diagram [...]

Image via Wikipedia Here’s something I didn’t know … there’s a Classicist behind Inspector Morse … from the incipit of a feature at FT.com: Crime writer Colin Dexter has become inextricably linked with the city of Oxford, where his bestselling Inspector Morse novels are set. So it is interesting to discover that he went to [...]

Image via Wikipedia I don’t think there is any new discovery lurking behind this one, but it’s interesting to bring it up as a reminder that not all gladiators died in the arena: An ancient site in the southwestern province of Muğla is believed to be the land where gladiators lived after they retired. Excavations [...]