A Well-Known Lawrence Alma-Tadema Coming to Auction
The incipit of an item from Art Daily: Following the record-shattering price of $35,922,500 achieved at Sotheby’s New York in November 2010 by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema’s The Finding of Moses (est. $3/5 million), Sotheby’s announces that the 5 May 2011 sale of 19th Century European Art in New York will be led by another masterpiece [...]
d.m. Ian Kidd
From the Scotsman: Professor Ian Gray Kidd, academic. Born: 6 March 1922, in Chandernagore, French India. Died: 20 March, 2011, in Dundee, aged 89. Ian Kidd, Emeritus Professor of Greek in the University of St Andrews and Fellow of the British Academy, died peacefully in Ninewells Hospital Dundee in the early hours of Sunday, 20 [...]
Also Seen: How the Romans Made MSG
From io9 with a tip o’ the pileus to Dorothy King … this is the bit from towards the end: The process sounds very modern, but MSG has been around for a very long time. It was a common food additive during the time of ancient Rome, added to almost all Roman dishes. The Romans [...]
Pondering the Cause(s) of the Fall of Rome
Given the ‘heat’ folks have been putting on news outlets for their apparent lack of critical thinking abilities in regards to such things as those lead codices (and plenty of other things which aren’t in our purview), it’s somewhat refreshing to see the Telegraph apparently trying to ‘look good’. First we read of a rather [...]
ASCSA Videocast: Telltale Depictions: A Contextual View of Mycenaean Wall-Paintings
On February 11, 2011, John Bennett (University of Sheffield) delivered the lecture, “Telltale Depictions: A Contextual View of Mycenaean Wall-Paintings” to lead off the 2-day weekend workshop on the subject. Videocast: Telltale Depictions: A Contextual View of Mycenaean Wall-Paintings / News / The American School of Classical Studies at Athens.
ASCSA Videocast: New Excavations at Stobi, 2009–2010
On February 22, 2011, Silvana Blazevska of the National Institute of Stobi lectured on “New excavations at Stobi 2009–2010” in Cotsen Hall. via Videocast: New Excavations at Stobi, 2009–2010 / News / The American School of Classical Studies at Athens.
ASCSA Videocast: Baldness in the Greek and Roman Imagination
Are bald men smarter, more attractive, more accomplished on the battlefield? Some ancient Greeks and Romans certainly thought so! At least sometimes! In a brisk and often humorous overview of ancient texts, Corey Brennan, Mellon Professor at the American Academy of Rome held his audience enthralled in his lecture “Baldness in the Greek and Roman [...]
“Sports and War” Podcast
Tom Scanlon talks about the tales of Pheidippides (tip o’ the pileus to Phil Terry on Facebook): “Sports and War” podcast now available|Marathon2500 Project
On Climate Change and the Fall of the Roman Empire Redux
A couple of months ago we commented on a study that was making the rounds of assorted news agencies which suggested that there was a connection between climate change (as evidenced from tree ring samples) and barbarian migrations/fall of empires. At the time, the connection wasn’t clear to me and now there’s a followup story [...]
Catullus on BBC Radio 3
Tip o’ the pileus to Gillian Palmer for sending this one in … seems there’s going to be a dramatization of Catullus’ life on BBC 3 tomorrow; after that, available as a ‘listen again’ thing for a week (YMMV). Here’s the official blurb with a link to the page: Frederic Raphael’s new play A Thousand [...]
