rogueclassicism

Damnatio Memoriae in Modern Egypt

Nice bit of comparanda from the New York Times:

LAST month, a Cairo court ordered that images of the ousted Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, and his wife, Suzanne, as well as their names, be removed from all “public squares, streets, libraries and other public institutions around the country.” Posters and portraits of the Mubaraks are ubiquitous in Egypt. Squares, sports fields, libraries, streets and more than 500 schools bear their names.

… after some similar sentiments and notice of the practice in Ancient Egypt, the Times notes:

Romans saw it as a punishment worse than execution: the fate of being forgotten. It was suffered by numerous ignominious emperors of Rome in the early empire, and, even in the later empire, it was a mark of great disgrace. After the rebellious Maximian was subjected to damnatio memoriae around A.D. 311, his friend and co-ruler Diocletian was said to be so grief-stricken that he soon died as well.

Excisions like Maximian’s from frescoes and statues can be viewed in the most basic sense as announcements from rulers to the populace about the end of one reign and the beginning of another. But when the populace engages in the destruction itself, it can also serve a cathartic purpose.

According to the historian Suetonius, in the chaos that followed the assassination of the emperor Caligula in A.D. 41, “some wanted all memory of the Caesars obliterated, and their temples destroyed.” The new emperor, Claudius, ultimately blocked the Senate’s attempt to decree a formal damnation of his predecessor’s memory. (Now on the throne himself, he probably wanted to avoid condoning regicide.) Yet Suetonius’ statement indicates that common people wanted the chance to vent their frustrations over Caligula’s corrupt reign and senseless brutality. [...]

• via Erasing the Face of History – NYTimes.com.

… some folks will remember that last January we were blogging about (oft-made) claims that Caligula had undergone damnatio memoriae: Purported Tomb of Caligula ~ Followup

Also Seen: Bristol Classical Podcasts on the Aeneid

Tip o’ the pileus to Terrence Lockyer for pointing this one out on Twitter a while back … currently there are four podcasts available, all about the Aeneid (specifically, an introduction, and one for books I, IV, and VII respectively).

• Bristol University | Department of Classics and Ancient History | Bristol Classical Podcasts.

Minoan Antikythera Mechanism?

Tip ‘ the pileus to Diana Wright, who sent in this tantalizingly brief item from Athens News (and it’s a month old … not sure why it hasn’t really spread outside of a handful of newspapers):

Researcher Minas Tsikritsis who hails from Crete — where the Bronze Age Minoan civilization flourished from approximately 2700 BC to 1500 century BC — maintains that the Minoan Age object discovered in 1898 in Paleokastro site, in the Sitia district of western Crete, preceded the heralded “Antikythera Mechanism” by 1,400 years, and was the first analog and “portable computer” in history.

“While searching in the Archaeological Museum of Iraklion for Minoan Age findings with astronomical images on them we came across a stone-made matrix unearthed in the region of Paleokastro, Sitia. In the past, archaeologists had expressed the view that the carved symbols on its surface are related with the Sun and the Moon,” Tsikritsis said.

The Cretan researcher and university professor told ANA-MPA that after the relief image of a spoked disc on the right side of the matrix was analysed it was established that it served as a cast to build a mechanism that functioned as an analog computer to calculate solar and lunar eclipses. The mechanism was also used as sundial and as an instrument calculating the geographical latitude.

• via Researcher cites ancient Minoan-era ‘computer’ | Athens News.

Not sure what discipline Tsikritsis is a professor of  (a quick check of the web most often gives the rather vague ‘specialist in ancient Aegean writing systems; not sure about that), but it’s interesting that he sees this — apparently — as a 25 tooth gear of some sort. One of the gears in the Antikythera Mechanism’s ‘sun-moon assembly’  has 24 teeth, so potentially this is a somewhat less ‘sophisticated’ (for want of a better word) method of calculation. Then again, it would be interesting to know the diameter of this ‘gear’ (which I can’t seem to find anywhere on the web, except associated with this article in various forms) in order to try and figure out how large the ‘minoan mechanism’ would have to be. And yet then again, perhaps we should suspicious because Tsikritsis apparently also claims to have translated/decoded Linear A (not sure how much weight to give this item google translated in a discussion forum).  I think we’ll defer judgement on this one …

CONF: Ancient Aesthetics and Social Class Conference

Seen on the Classicists list:

This conference, organised jointly by King’s College London Classics

Department and the Centre for the Reception of Greece & Rome at Royal
Holloway, will take place on July 5th-6th 2011 in Room G 22/26 at the
Institute of Classical Studies in Senate House, Malet St, London. The room
holds only 60, including speakers, so early registration is advisable.

The conference will open at 9.30 a.m. on the 5th. The conference fee, which
covers refreshments, is £20 per day or £40 for both days; there is no
reduced fee, but thanks to the generosity of the Classical Association and
the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies there are ten full-fee
two-day bursaries available for postgraduate students. To register, please
send a cheque made out to *King’s College London* to Professor William
Fitzgerald, Dept. of Classics, King’s College, Strand, London WC2R 2LS
(William.Fitzgerald AT kcl.ac.uk. To apply for a bursary, please apply to him
by email including the name of your supervisor, affiliation, and research topic.

Programme
July 5th
9.30-10.30
Registration
10.30 David Konstan (NYU) Beauty and the Best
11.45 C.J. Rowe (Durham) Social Class and the Idea of Beauty in Plato
13.00 Lunch
14.00 Penelope Murray (formerly Warwick)Inspiration, Craft and Elitism:
Why is There no Muse of Painting?
15.00 Page duBois (UC San Diego) The Aesthetics of Slavery
16.00 Tea
16.30 Thomas Habinek (USC) The Radical Potential of Classical Aesthetics
1800 Drinks Reception
1900 Speakers’ Dinner

July 6th
0930 Pavlos Avlamis (Princeton)Aesop, the Everyday, and Urban Promiscuity
in Imperial Greek literature
1030 Coffee
1100 Alison Sharrock (Manchester) Arachne and Thersites: Genre and
Social Class
1200 Vicky Rimell (Rome, La Sapienza) Latin Literature and the Aesthetics
of the Crowd
1300 Lunch
1400 Joy Connolly (NYU) Freedom, Nobility, and the Sublime from Cicero to
Longinus
1500 Katherine Harloe (Reading) Class and the Genesis of Aesthetic
Philhellenism
1600 Tea
1630 Round Table Discussion chaired by William Fitzgerald (KCL) and
Edith Hall (RHUL)
1800 Close

Byzantine Mosaic from Deir Sounbol

A bit out of our period (probably) … from the Global Arab Network:

Head of the Excavation and Studies Department, Anas Haj Zaiydan said that just a part of the mosaic painting was found at the eastern side of the church, adding that the painting is 5-meter long and 4-meter wide.

He indicated that the eastern part of the painting is burnt, adding that the part which is located to the west of the marble-made basis is also damaged as well as the northern and southern corners of the painting.

The painting is embroidered with geometric and floral shapes, in addition to some written inscriptions.

For his part, Chairman of Idleb Antiquities Directorate, Nicolas Dabbas, said that two separated Greek texts are written on the painting, the first of which consists of five lines while the second consists of three lines.

The two texts contain prayers and religious supplications, in addition to the name of the church’s owner, and of the person who supervised the painting.

• via Archaeologists: Byzantine Mosaic Unearthed in Syria | Global Arab Network.

A rather unenlightening (in the sense that you really can’t see much of interest) photo accompanies the original article …

Tacitus and the Third Reich

The is a good example of why one has to make that extra click and actually read what it is one’s spiders have brought back. Despite the strange headline (see below), what this is is actually a reviewish sort of thing of Christopher Krebs, A Most Dangerous Book, which is all about how important Tacitus’ Germania was for all those Third Reich types (especially Himmler). The online article itself is rather meh, but there’s an attached podcast wherein Lewis Lapham interviews Krebs … very interesting stuff:

• Nazi SS Chief Himmler Had a ‘Little Bunny’ Mistress, No Abs: Lewis Lapham | Bloomberg.

Also Seen: Classical Art Bibliography

• Bibliographies: Classical Art | Ancient World Open Bibliographies.

This Day in Ancient History: ante diem iv idus maias

Image via Wikipedia

ante diem iv idus maias

• 19 B.C. (?) — dedication of the Temple of Mars Ultor on the Capitoline
• 2 B.C. — opening of the Forum of Augustus
• 113 A.D. — opening of the restored Temple of Venus Genetrix
• 304 A.D. — martyrdom of Dionysius and Pancras at Rome

Temple of Demeter from Russia

Interesting item from Greek Reporter:

What is considered to be a unique discovery has been made in Taman, South Russia, at the Black Sea. The ruins of an ancient Greek city, dated around the 6th century BC, came to light. Archeologists are stunned both by the number of the findings and the condition they were found in.

The excavations are proceeding with extreme caution, in order to avoid damaging the city’s ancient fortress. According to historians, it is assumed that the ruins are the temple of Dimitra, the ancient goddess of fertility and agriculture, while they were able to determine the very spot of the altar. But, the number of the findings induce them to believe that a whole city has been found.

The conditions of the excavations are being extremely difficult due to how remote the place is, the lack of running water, the very cold weather ( up to -25 C during the night ). Another difficulty is the lack of money, which for the moments is being aided with the help of volunteers who are paying 13 euros a day each to participate.

via Ancient Greek City Uncovered in Russia | Greek Reporter Europe.

This (Russian) news report accompanies the original article … it clearly shows the foundations of a temple (Demeter/Dimitra):

I can’t be positive, of course, but ancient Hermonassa seems to be a likely candidate for this one …

Writers With Bad Hair

Something called Flavorwire has a ‘top ten’  feature on writers with “unruly, manly manes” and Homer makes the, er, cut:

Though an imagined bust of the blind poet, many believe he had an alarming mass of curls framing his face. In the Iliad, Homer vividly describes soldiers offering their hair to Patroclus during his funeral (e.g., “Cutting off their hair, they strewed it, covering the dead.”) Which was a pretty big deal, considering Homer previous describes their glorious “tufts of of streaming hair” during a battle scene. The lesson here is that real men offer their luxurious locks to their fallen comrades. It’s only right.

• via 10 Writers’ Unruly, Manly Manes | Flavorwire.

… I’m sure Euripides would be in the top 20, at least

Greek Wine for Breakfast?

Not sure about this one … from Sky News:

Greek nationals have discovered that the doctor’s of their ancient ancestors prescribed a cup of wine for breakfast.

Reuters reports a Greek ‘symposium’ held in the outskirts of Athens provided an opportunity for guests to prepare and sample ancient Greek cuisine. The word symposium originally referred to a Greek banquet dedicated to eating and drinking.

Core ancient Greek foods such as olives, olive, oil, parsley, oregano, honey, fish and bread, have survived over the centuries and still feature in modern cooking.

Other Greek traditions have not enjoyed the same fete.

According to Andrew Dalby, a British food historian and author who has published several books on the history of food, the ancient Greeks had a thirst for wine to kick off their day.

‘It’s true! Ancient doctors recommended a small – lets say a cup of wine, rather than a glass – a small cup of wine with water for breakfast. Yes certainly! Byzantine times, too. That was what you took. Not more than that, let’s be serious about this. You’ve got to, you have got to work for the day – but yes that’s how you started’, Dalby told Reuters.

• via Sky News: Ancient Greeks drank wine at breakfast.

Now it wouldn’t surprise me if Greeks (and Romans) had (diluted, of course) wine for breakfast, but I can’t recall reading a ‘doctor’ recommending same (although it’s possible). But another page (in Greek) suggests this was all part of an Ancient Greek and Byzantine Gastronomy conference/symposium and a page promoting same suggests there were rather few ancient types participating (although there are a couple of Byzantinists) … besides Dalby:

The following speakers will also be participating in the Symposium: Johannes Koder, Professor of Byzantine Studies and member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Louis Grivetti, Professor Emeritus at the Department of Nutrition at UC Davis, Elias Anagnostakis, head researcher at the Institute of Byzantine Research of the National Hellenic Research Foundation, Alexandros Giotis, gastronomist and culinary arts critic, Dimitris Hatzinikolaou, oenologist, Albert Arouch, food critic and author, George Boskou, associate professor of food service management, Gerasimos Rigatos, doctor and author, Theofanis Karabatsakis, scientific associate of the Macedonia-Thrace Hunting Federation, Maria Leontsini, researcher at the Institute of Byzantine Research of the National Hellenic Research Foundation, and Panayiotis Soultanis, philologist and writer.

• via: Ancient Greek and Byzantine Gastronomy

There’s a video news report (including Dalby saying the things quoted above) here: Ancient Greek Food Revival Workshop … not sure if I need to mention that Dalby is the guy who got quite a bit of press attention a few summers ago for suggesting that the Iliad was written by a woman (see also here … the suggestion existed before Dalby, of course, e.g. here).

In Case You’re Wondering About Rome’s Earthquake …

… the Guardian shows some rather uncommon journalistic skepticism:

Well, so much for the Eternal city. On Wednesday, Rome will be razed to the ground by an earthquake that will shatter more than 2,000 years’ worth of monumental architecture including the Colosseum, the Pantheon and St Peter’s.

That, at least, is the fear of hundreds of thousands of Romans, spooked by the reputed forecast of a self-taught seismologist who died more than 30 years ago. The daily La Repubblica reported that applications from the capital’s public employees for a day off – and, presumably, out – were 18% higher than for the same day in 2011. Education officials were said to be expecting school attendances to be down by a fifth as parents decide it is better to be on the safe side.

The panic was set off by claims that Raffaele Bendandi, the “earthquake prophet”, forecast a devastating tremor that would rip through the capital on 11 May. Bendandi, who was knighted by Mussolini, is said to have predicted several disasters, including the Friuli quake of 1976, which claimed almost 1,000 lives.

Reports of his forecast have gained credence from the awesome rumour-mongering capabilities of the internet; the fact that Rome is undeniably on the edge of a seismic region, and the lingering recollection that a non-specialist predicted the earthquake that devastated the central Italian city of L’Aquila two years ago.

But, according to the head of a foundation set up in Bendandi’s honour in his native town near Bologna, it is all an urban – indeed, very urban – legend.

“I can state with absolute certainty that in Raffaele Bendandi’s papers, there is no prediction of a earthquake in Rome on 11 May 2011,” Paola Lagorio, the president of the Osservatorio Geoficico Comunale of Faenza, said last month. “The date is not there. The place is not there.”

• via: Rome earthquake prophecy claims trigger cataclysmic mood | Guardian

It would be nice if the journalistic set did that extra bit of legwork to get expert opinions of  things closer to (our) home (and the cynic in me thinks the only reason it was done here was for let’s-laugh-at-those-naive-Italians purposes) …

So You Want to Be A Classicist

I was wondering when someone would put one of these xtranormal things together that was Classics-specific … although largely discouraging, there is actually some good ‘advice’ lurking in the subtext of this one: