rogueclassicism

I, Claudius Miniseries?

Latest from the Hollywood Reporter:

HBO is going back into business with Rome duo Jane Tranter and Anne Thomopoulos for a miniseries based on Robert Graves’ I, Claudius.

The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that the BBC Worldwide Productions duo will executive produce the co-production with BBC2.

Graves’ novel was first published in 1934 as an autobiography of Roman Emperor Claudius and includes the history of the Roman Empire from Julius Caesar’s assassination to Caligula’s assassination.

The book — and its sequel, Claudius the God — were first adapted as a miniseries by BBC Television in 1976 and broadcast stateside as part of PBS’ Masterpiece Theatre. Starring Derek Jacobi as the Roman emperor, the mini picked up three Emmy nominations, including outstanding direction and limited series, winning for art direction.

The HBO/BBC co-production will be based on both books.

The project was first adapted for the big-screen in 1937 with director Josef von Sternberg with Charles Laughton as Claudius.

Relativity Media and writer-director Jim Sheridan eyed a big-screen remake in 2008.

Tranter and Thomopoulos produced HBO’s historical drama Rome, which ran for two seasons on the pay cable network. [...]

• via HBO, BBC Team for ‘I, Claudius’ Miniseries – Hollywood Reporter.

We’ll see what comes of this … last we heard (as far as I recall), they were going to make a big screen version of Graves’ novel(s).

Taciturnity Needed, Not Tacitus

Just when you think you can’t read anything in the Daily Mail that will surprise you (inter alia):

Alexander Thynn, the 7th Marquess of Bath, is a descendant of the Roman historian Tacitus and is well known for his alternative views on relationships.

• via Police called to Longleat after ‘wifelets’ brawl over who gets to sleep with the Marquess of Bath | Mail Online.

… I’d love to see that family tree in print … this guy sounds more like he’s related to Turdulus Gallicanus than Tacitus …

Praeneste Fibula Authentic?

Image by Sebastià Giralt via Flickr

I’ve been sitting on this one for a few days, hoping some English coverage might appear, but that doesn’t seem to be happening.  In the Italian press, however, there is much coverage of some non-invasive testing of the Praeneste Fibula (on which is inscribed our oldest example of Latin), and it is now being declared as “authentic”, in a vague and somewhat troublesome way (unless I’m losing something in translation, which is entirely possible).  Here’s the coverage from La Repubblica, which is typical of most of the coverage:

Vera o falsa? Il caso della Fibula Prenestina, esposta nel Museo Nazionale Etnografico ‘Luigi Pigorini’, è finalmente risolto. L’autenticità della preziosa spilla, datata al VII secolo a.C., e della sua iscrizione, ritenuta la più antica testimonianza della lingua latina, è stata confermata da indagini scientifiche condotte da Daniela Ferro dell’Istituto per lo studio dei materiali nanostrutturati (Ismn) del Consiglio nazionale delle ricerche e da Edilberto Formigli, restauratore e docente presso l’Università ‘La Sapienza’ di Roma e quella di Firenze.

La Fibula, trovata a Palestrina, l’antica Preneste, fin dalla sua presentazione ufficiale nel 1887 da parte dell’archeologo tedesco Wolfgang Helbig è stata oggetto di accesi dibattiti, in merito alla sua autenticità e al contesto di appartenenza.

I due specialisti, che da anni conducono analisi multidisciplinari sulla tecnologia orafa antica, presentano oggi, presso il Museo ‘Pigorini’, i risultati delle indagini micro-analitiche condotte nel laboratorio del Dipartimento di chimica dell’Università di Roma con il microscopio elettronico a scansione.

Il gioiello d’oro, lungo 10,7 cm. e datato attorno alla metà del VII secolo a. C, ha, sulla parte esterna della staffa, l’iscrizione Manios med fhefhaked Numasioi, in latino classico Manius me fecit Numerio ovvero ‘Manio mi fece per Numerio’, la più antica testimonianza della lingua latina che ci sia pervenuta.

“Lo studio di un reperto” spiega Daniela Ferro dell’Ismn-Cnr, “impone la scelta di metodi analitici non distruttivi e non invasivi. L’utilizzo della microscopia a scansione elettronica accoppiata alla microsonda elettronica per raggi X a dispersione di energia, consente osservazioni ad alta risoluzione della superficie e contemporaneamente permette di acquisire dati sulla composizione chimica in elementi. In particolare, la fibula è stata studiata con una strumentazione dotata di una camera porta campioni che permette di muovere ampiamente l’oggetto e di investigarne ogni parte, senza danneggiarlo”.

Le apparecchiature scientifiche hanno permesso di accertare metodologie e composizione della stessa età rispetto alla datazione attribuita alla spilla, nonostante tentativi di pulitura e abrasioni di secoli più recenti. Infatti, se per l’oro non sono stati ancora trovati metodi di datazione, oggi sappiamo che alcune tecniche orafe hanno raggiunto un alto grado tecnico solo con gli Etruschi ed i numerosi studi oggi esistenti ne tracciano le caratteristiche.

“E’ un manufatto di alta oreficeria, realizzato nella parte della staffa, con una lamina ad alto contenuto d’oro, materiale duttile per essere inciso con la punta a stilo” continua la ricercatrice. “L’iscrizione è stata realizzata nello stesso modo. Sono stati anche individuati le riparazioni effettuati anticamente come la presenza di una foglia d’oro per nascondere una piccola frattura, mentre l’uso di amalgama d’oro per rinforzare la parte mobile dell’ardiglione (ovvero il puntale ndr) potrebbe essere recente. E’ improbabile che un falsario operasse particolarità di lavorazione ed uso delle leghe auree in un periodo dove la conoscenza delle procedure dell’oreficeria etrusca non erano particolarmente conosciute in dettaglio in quanto avrebbero potuto essere rilevate se non con le più sofisticate strumentazioni tecnologiche”.

• via: Fibula Prenestina, giallo risolto Spazzati i dubbi: “E’ autentica” | Repubblica

What I get out of all that is that the pin itself dates the period it is claimed to come from in that the gold matches (composition-wise and manufacture-wise) other fibulae from the same period. But that’s not really what the issue is with the Praeneste Fibula, is it? Its importance lies in the inscription — as previously-mentioned, the oldest Latin inscription — and none of this announcement (or the hype for the talk which seems to have given rise to it) seems to address this. Archaeology Magazine has an excellent  feature on assorted hoaxes and fakes, and the Praeneste fibula is among those mentioned. Here’s a salient excerpt (the Helbig mentioned is Wolfgang Helbig, a reputable archaeologist who announced the discovery of the fibula back in 1886):

But Helbig hadn’t told the Institute audience all he knew. He said a friend owned it, and that friend was Francesco Martinetti, a seller of antiquities, faker, and smuggler. And there were signs that something was wrong with Helbig’s tale. The fibula was later said to be from the Bernardini Tomb, which was excavated in 1876. That contradicted Helbig’s story, but he didn’t challenge it. The few who raised questions about the fibula, such as archaeologist Giovanni Pinza in 1905, were ignored. Helbig said it was genuine and if the exact circumstances of its discovery were murky, so what.

Though he was intellectually gifted, Helbig’s personality did not impress everybody. Archaeologist Otto Jahn had thought him lacking in self-discipline, and the great classicist Theodor Mommsen said he was “a lightheaded fly” and a “loafer.” In fact, things were worse, and the real story of Helbig and the Praeneste fibula is one about “the world of the salon, of the collector, of the rich and famous, of the dealer, of the masterpiece and the fraud” (Holloway 1994).

A comprehensive study by Margherita Guarducci in 1980 showed that suspicions about the fibula were well founded. In La cosiddetta Fibula Prenestina. Antiquari, eruditi e falsari nella Roman dell’ Ottocento, Guarducci, a University of Rome Greco-Latin epigraphist, pointed out that the inscription was rather poorly executed, compared to genuine ones, as though engraved by an amateur. She noted how, compared to ancient gold, which can be brittle, the fibula could bend quite easily. Chemical analysis showed that the gold was unlike specimens known to be from Palestrina. Finally, examination of the inscribed area showed that the surface had been treated with acid to look old. Guarducci knew of Helbig’s involvement with Martinetti, who could have made the fibula, basing it on real ones from Palestrina. But analysis shows the inscription matches Helbig’s handwriting.

… the whole piece is definitely worth reading. I have no reason to doubt that the recent testing suggests the fibula itself might be authentic, but we really do need some confirmation that the inscription comes from the same time as the pin. Until that can be confirmed (although I don’t know how), this seems to be an analogous situation to the James Ossuary; i.e., we have an object that is definitely ancient, which seems to have been recently altered to give it additional archaeological interest/value.

Here’s some more coverage from the Italian press:

• Fibula Prenestina, giallo risolto: è autentica la più antica iscrizione latina | Il Messaggero

• La Fibula Prenestina è autentica, chiuso il giallo sulla prima iscrizione latina | Adnkronos

Smashing Rituals at Keros?

Interesting coverage from the Guardian, which — even more interestingly — seems to go beyond the original Cambridge press release:

To say it has been an archaeological mystery may be an understatement: why are fragments of beautiful but deliberately smashed bronze age figurines buried in shallow pits on a small, rocky Greek island whose main inhabitants have always been goats?

Today, academics at Cambridge University will release findings that shed light on the 4,500-year-old puzzle of Keros, a tiny Cycladic island in the Aegean.

It appears Keros was the ceremonial destination for a ritual that involved islanders breaking prized possessions and making a pilgrimage with fragments for burial.

“It is rather remarkable,” said Professor Colin Renfrew, who led the most recent excavations.

“We believe that the breaking of statues and other goods was a ritual and that Keros was chosen as a sanctuary to preserve the effects.”

The Keros story began in 1963 with Renfrew himself. Then a long-haired research student – he is now Lord Renfrew – he stepped off a caïque boat on to the island (human population: two goatherders) after being tipped off about a site of archaeological interest.

“I was amazed to find fragments of marble bowls and marble figurines,” said Renfrew. The fragments were of a type of sculpture found across the Cyclades, examples of which can be seen in the British Museum and have inspired artists including Pablo Picasso, Constantin Brancusi and Henry Moore.

The Keros sculptures were almost all broken. Archaeologists found thousands of marble vessel fragments and hundreds of figurine body parts, such as a pair of thighs, a folded arm or an elongated foot.

The matter rested there until 1987 when Renfrew, by now the Disney professor of archaeology at Cambridge, returned to Keros to begin more serious excavation.

That led him to the discovery that the breakages were not the result of careless looting. “It became clear that this was a very strange site.”

In 2006 Renfrew found an unlooted site of buried broken figurines and the remains of a settlement on an islet about 100 metres away, Dhaskalio.

There the team found evidence of a kind of bronze age guesthouse where visiting villagers would have congregated on their pilgrimage.

Geological examinations showed it was built from imported marble rather than the flaky local limestone.

The team had found – from around the same time the Pyramids were being built – evidence of huge amounts of marble being transported across the sea to build Dhaskalio.

Renfrew’s theory is that Cycladic villagers would have used the figurines and bowls in a ritualistic way, perhaps carrying them in processions as icons are carried in Greek villages today.

“After they had been used for some time, perhaps decades, the time would come that it would go out of use,” he said. So they were broken and fragments taken to “one remarkable ritual centre”.

Renfrew said it was likely that the islanders would go to Keros at regular intervals, in much the same way that the ancient Greeks held the Olympics every four years.

“No doubt it was a ceremony of renewal – a new generation of icons being used and a new generation of people growing up.”

The evidence suggests fragments were ritualistically deposited on Keros for about 400-500 years, until around 2000BC.

Renfrew said there were still many more puzzles at Keros and Dhaskalio to be answered. The latest research will be published as a basis for further investigations.

• Broken idols of Keros: British archaeologists explain Greek mystery | The Guardian.

… I wonder how they can tell if something was smashed, then transported, as opposed to being smashed in situ (maybe because some of the figurines ‘don’t fit together’ as a photo accompanying the Guardian’s coverage suggests in a caption). Whatever the case, there seems to be a lot of imagination being added here

Rugby Classics? Classical Rugby?

Rugby doesn’t get much airplay up here in the Great Humid North, so I can’t honestly say I’ve heard of Jamie Gibson, but it’s always nice to read when folks with a talent on a playing field also take part in activities in the Classics field. Some excerpts from the Express:

JAMIE GIBSON is living proof that it is possible to combine a ­burgeoning professional ­career with even the most exalted academic discipline.

Flanker Gibson, 20, from Wiltshire, somehow combines Premiership rugby for London Irish with studying Classics at Oxford University, his reading list including Homer, Virgil, Euripides and Aristophanes.

Then he become an England Saxon. Appearances off the bench against the Barbarians and the United States confirmed the quality Gibson had already shown as a Marlborough schoolboy who represented all of England’s age-group sides.

“There are things to work on but I’ve been very pleased with how it’s gone so far, especially in the Barbarians game when I came up against some world-class players in their back row,” said Gibson.

“Next season I need to nail down one of the back-row positions at London Irish and, in terms of England, keep pushing along in the Saxons squad post-World Cup. The 2015 World Cup would have to be the ambition but I’m not thinking that far ahead.”
[...]

“My supervisor at Oxford says God gives us eight hours for sleeping, eight hours for fun and playing rugby and eight hours for working,” said Gibson. “I’m not sure it’s quite like that but, if that’s his viewpoint, I’m happy to give it a go.

“Even if I had a tough couple of weeks’ training or in the winter when the weather is tough, I never feel there’s any stress to it. If there’s a chance to do some studying, I take it wherever I am. It means you keep engaging your mind and don’t go stale.

“This is my nature. When I work for two hours, I make sure I get two hours’ work done, whereas if you have four hours’ free time you might spend every 30 seconds gazing out of the window.”

Gibson makes it sound so simple. But last night he was back in Oxford from the Saxon’s Bath base for a tutorial and still has four more essays to write during the final fortnight of the second of his four undergraduate years. As a classicist with a knowledge of seven languages – Latin, Greek, French, Russian, Mandarin and Spanish as well as his native tongue – Gibson inevitably raises the intellectual tone wherever he may be, including at London Irish.

[...]

“I always believed I could make it work, combining my studies with a rugby career, but the speed at which everything has gone has been very surprising especially in the last six months,” said Gibson.

“I’m not going to complain about playing rugby and being at university in Oxford. I started 12 games on the trot for London Irish at the end of the season and had no difficulties managing that. We even went to Leeds in the middle of the exam period.

“I’m prepared to do whatever is necessary but I’d like to get my course done in the two years that remain.”

[...]

JAMIE GIBSON TUNES UP ON CLASSICS MIX | Express.

The Riace Bronzes Go On Vacation

This one’s been making the rounds of all my sources (i.e. email, Facebook, Twitter), so without further ado:

Also Seen: Classics Dream Job Followup

No, the job hasn’t been filled yet (I don’t think), but the  Daily Mail has a lengthy piece on the lifestyles of tutors of the rich and famous … it includes this:

However, tutors exist in a world in which clients have so much money, their fees are almost irrelevant. Indeed, the more these parents are charged, the happier they are.

‘Parents get carried away,’ said Will Petty, a tutor who went to Harrow, got an MA in philosophy at Edinburgh University and now works for London educational consultancy Bonas MacFarlane.

‘They think: “She’s only four, but why not get a Classicist?” They start out looking for just a normal tutor and end up with a skiing instructor or sailing expert because it’s an honour badge.

• via Meet the super tutors: hired to teach five-year-olds Ancient Greek, Chinese and philosophy | Mail Online.

… which got me thinking: imagine the job opportunities if it become de rigueur for everyone to have their own Classicist! Imagine the potential donations to keep departments alive … this could have interesting implications …

Roman Burial in Dr Jenner’s Garden?

Interesting item from the University of Bristol:

A skeleton, possibly dating from Roman times, has been unearthed by archaeologists from the University of Bristol during a dig in the garden of vaccination pioneer Dr Edward Jenner in Berkeley, Gloucestershire.

The archaeologists, led by Professor Mark Horton and Dr Stuart Prior, have been excavating part of the garden of The Chantry, the former country home of vaccination pioneer, Dr Edward Jenner (1749-1823), during a series of annual digs since 2007. They have already established that Berkeley is an important Anglo-Saxon site with a mynster of the same scale and status as Gloucester.

Last week, they uncovered a skeleton believed to date from the Roman or possibly sub-Roman (that is the ‘Dark Ages’) period. The Roman occupation of Britain ended in 410AD, making this an extremely rare find of great historical significance.

As the skeleton was painstakingly excavated it became clear that it was cut in half by a later ditch. Roman material was found in this ditch, which could have either been deposited by the Romans themselves or later inhabitants of the area as they were robbing the Roman buildings nearby.

The skeleton is known to be adult but its sex has not yet been determined. It was found underneath the sealed remains of part of the Anglo-Saxon Mynster, founded in the 8th century. This latest discovery, however, clearly puts Berkeley on the map as an even earlier religious site than previously thought.

Professor Mark Horton said: “This was a completely unexpected but really important discovery because it fills in the history between the Roman villa that we believe is on the site and the Anglo-Saxon monastery discovered during earlier digs.

“It just goes to show that you never quite know what lies under your feet. It is unlikely that Dr Jenner was aware of these unexpected neighbours lurking at the bottom of his garden.”

Sarah Parker, Director of Dr Jenner’s House said: “Year on year the archaeology and recorded data that the University of Bristol uncovers from Dr Jenner’s garden never ceases to amaze. It reinforces the importance of this historic site alongside the Birthplace of Vaccination. We are very pleased to be working with the university, sharing history being made being with the public.”

• via Jenner’s garden skeleton | University of Bristol.

… I’m curious what the “Roman material” found in the ditch might have been

Iranian Salt Men Update

Image via Wikipedia

A year ago (almost to the day) we were mentioning that the remains of some so-called ‘salt men’ from Iran had been saved from a sad decompositional fate in a museum and we also reminded folks of Adrienne Mayor’s plausible suggestion that such ‘salt men’ may have had some connection to tales of satyrs and the like. Now, the fine folks at Past Horizons alert us to a recent study on the actual origins of the men themselves, inter alia:

Recently isotopic analysis was carried out on five of the salt-preserved bodies which are now dated to between  4th century BCE through to the 4th century CE. In an attempt to identify the geographical origins of these people, researchers from the Department of Environmental Sciences, Università Ca’ Foscari in Italy, matched osteological samples from various sites in Iran and those from the salt mine bodies. It was possible for them to hypothesise that two of the “mummies” may have come from the Tehran/Qazvin Plain region (local to the salt mine), and a further two appear on isotopic grounds to have come from the northeast of Iran or the Turkmenistan steppes. The fifth appears to have come from further afield.

… the article continues and includes some nice links for your further investigatory pleasure:

• Salt Men of Iran | Past Horizons

A Salutatorian Compendium

It’s that time of year again when some lucky graduand delivers a speech in Latin at some Ivy League university. First up is Charles C. Bridge at Harvard:

If you’d like the text, the APA blog has text and translation: Text and Translation of the Latin Oration Delivered at Harvard

Over at Princeton, Veronica Shi was given a nice profile in a university news release which included the following bit:

It was a course at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs on higher education policy, taught by Associate Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs Daniel Oppenheimer, that prompted Shi to consider the role of promoting the study of classics.

“It got me thinking about the larger question of articulating the importance of the humanities,” Shi said. “I came to feel that being a responsible scholar of the classics involves knowing how to express to the public at large why this discipline, even though seemingly very rarified, is worth studying and making accessible to a wider audience.”

For Shi, part of the potency of classics is its endurance.

“Homer is almost 3,000 years old, and even today, we can still read and appreciate his poetry in the original language,” Shi said. “This ability to bridge a huge divide of culture and time is what really makes classics magical.”

Shi worked to bring that magic to the Princeton community earlier this year when she crafted a libretto in classical Latin for an original opera created by students called “Nero Artifex.” Watching the students onstage singing an entire opera in Latin was “remarkable,” Shi said.

“I hoped it would be a powerful argument for the idea that Latin isn’t a dead language,” she said. “Bringing the language to life and letting people hear it shows that it’s not mysterious and arcane, but something really beautiful.”

• via: Salutatorian brings Latin to life as ‘something really beautiful’

As can be seen from the date of that item, I’ve been sitting on it hoping that Shi’s oration would show up on Youtube vel simm., but alas, it doesn’t seem to be happening. But again, the APA has put up the text and translation of her Carmen Salutationis (wow!): Text and Translation of the Latin Oration Delivered at Princeton …. and wow again. I’ll keep looking for a Youtube version … I would have loved to see how Ms Shi delivered this.

This Day in Ancient History: ante diem v idus junias

Image via Wikipedia

ante diem v idus junias

• Vestalia — festival in honour of Vesta, the goddess of the hearth
• 53 B.C. — the Roman army under Marcus Licinius Crassus (Dives) suffers a massive defeat at the hand of the Persians under Surenas near Carrhae; Crassus dies as a result of the battle
• 17 B.C.. — ludi Latini et Graeci honorarii (day 5)
• 62 A.D. — Nero has his first wife, Octavia, killed while in exile for adultery on Pandateria
• 68 A.D. — the emperor Nero commits suicide
• 86 A.D. — ludi Capitolini (day 4)
• 193 A.D. — arrival of Septimius Severus in Rome
• 204 A.D. — ludi Latini et Graeci honorarii (day 6)

From the Mailbag: Roman Voices Wiki

An interesting project and worth a look:

Dear Mr. Meadows,

I would like to announce the public launch of RomanVoices, a Stanford class wiki project featuring some extraordinary research and presentations by students of various obscure Roman primary source documents.

Highlights include:

Miles Untereiner’s presentation of a mining contract from Vipasca, Portugal: http://romanvoices.wikispaces.com/Labor+and+economic+regulations

Lillian McBee’s project discussing a student’s quest to find a great professor in the big city of Alexandria: https://romanvoices.wikispaces.com/Off+to+the+city+for+school

and Leander Love-Anderegg’s analysis of the motivations behind a bitter court case in which a man alleged that his ex-wife was pregnant, despite her denials:
https://romanvoices.wikispaces.com/Pregnancy+dispute

All these students, and many others in the class, have really tried to contribute to the world’s greater understanding of Roman social and economic history. Many of the documents also use multimedia in innovative ways, combining video, images, and texts in order to communicate the fruits of their research to a non-scholarly audience.

They and I would like to see their work disseminated as widely as possible. In class, students commented that their favorite part of this project was having a chance for other students to see and comment on their page, and vice versa; it gave them a sense of ownership and pride in their work, in many cases for the first time.

In any case, if you or your readers want some brief glimpses into Roman education, military life, nasty divorces, or what an ancient care package looked like, please check out romanvoices.wikispaces.com!

Best,
Anise K. Strong

d.m. John Geyssen

From the Daily Gleaner:

It is with great sadness that the family of Prof. John Geyssen announce his death at the Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital on Saturday, June 4th, 2011. Born on April 21st, 1962 in Oakville, ON he was the husband of Margaret Geyssen of Fredericton. John leaves behind his wife, Margaret; children, Sean Geyssen and Rebecca (Andrew McGilligan) Geyssen; mother, Diane Geyssen and sister, Cheri Gagnon (Barry Laverdure). He was predeceased by his father, John; grandparents, Johannes and Maria Geyssen and maternal grandparents Howard and Jean Copeland. A beloved University professor John earned his Bachelor (1985) and Masters Degrees (1987) at Queen`s University in Kingston, Ontario. He went on to earn his Ph.D. from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina in 1992. John began teaching at the University of New Brunswick in 1992. Popular with students both inside and outside the classroom, he received the Faculty of Arts Teaching Award in 2000, and the UNB Student Union Teaching Excellence Merit Award in 2008. Perhaps his greatest benefit to the Department was his long-standing service, sympathetic and adroit, as undergraduate advisor. His lectures were a draw both in large first-year courses and in advanced-level and graduate seminars. He was an intimate part of the Department’s pioneering overseas study programs in Italy and Greece. He was also the current co-editor of the scholarly journal Mouseion. A devoted husband and father, John`s interests outside family and the classroom included travel, sports (especially his Duke Blue Devils basketball team and the Philadelphia Eagles), spending time with friends, fine wine, food and art, and enjoying his vast music and literature collections.

Visitation will be held at McAdam’s Funeral Home, 160 York St., on Wednesday, June 8th, 2011 from 6 to 8 pm. A memorial gathering will be held at Memorial Hall on the University of New Brunswick campus, on Thursday, June 9th, 2011 from 2 to 3 pm with Gary Waite as celebrant. Reception to follow at The Alden Nowlan House (The Grad House) at 676 Windsor St. from 3 to 6 pm. For those who wish, donations to the Viator Award at UNB, which assists students in their studies abroad, would be appreciated. Online condolences can be made at www.mcadamsfh.com

• via John Geyssen | Daily Gleaner.

See also Alison Keith’s version in the Canadian Classical Bulletin: In memoriam John W. Geyssen

Quoting Virgil

Don’t usually get things like this from EurekAlert:

Texts comprising only quotations of somebody else’s work are often referred to as plagiarism. Many researchers have also rejected Late Antique Latin cento poetry – cento means patchwork in Latin – as being of no literary merit. However, recent years have seen an increase in interest in cento poetry, and a thesis on Latin from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, has now shown that these poems can be both innovative and thought-provoking.

Sara Ehrling has studied two centos made up solely of quotes from Virgil, one of the Romans’ leading poets whose works included the epic poem, the Aeneid. The two poems are both wedding poems, one of which was written by Ausonius in the late 4th century, and the other by Luxorius 100 years later.

“My research shows that the poems generally take a different approach to both the genre of wedding poetry and the original text, in other words Virgil’s work,” says Ehrling. “Ausonius takes his quotes from several different places in Virgil’s work, while Luxorius takes many of his from those parts of the Aeneid that describe the love story between Dido, the queen of Carthage, and Aeneas, the Trojan prince.”

The love story between Dido and Aeneas ends very badly, while Luxorius’ wedding cento has a happy ending. The study of Luxorius’ poem shows that the cento can use the original text to suit the poet’s own ends.

“In this case the original text is subordinated to the genre. If we go back to the original text it also has a thought-provoking effect in that it clearly shows that the Dido and Aeneas love story can actually be interpreted in positive and wedding-like terms. It suggests that their relationship wasn’t entirely bad. As is the case in so many other instances, our perception of a story depends on the level of focus on various details and how it is told.”

Ausonius’ cento is, in many ways, even more complex than that of Luxorius. The part of the poem that previously attracted most interest from researchers is the end, where sexual intercourse between the bride and groom is depicted in terms of rape. One possible explanation is that the poem was written in competition with other poets and that this paradoxical way of portraying the wedding couple was intended to provide amusement.

“I discovered in my analysis that the sex scene is foreshadowed far earlier in Ausonius’ cento,” says Ehrling. “From the contexts of the quotes in Virgil’s work, it is clear that both the bride and the wedding in general are being depicted in hostile terms below the surface of the text, and that the bride’s sexuality is portrayed as threatening throughout the poem.”

The idea that the cento should be perceived as a cohesive work comes from Ausonius himself. He describes very carefully the cento as a poetic form, and Ehrling stresses that the most important thing about his description is that the cento should be perceived as a cohesive unit even though it is made up of disconnected elements.

“It’s also worth noting that people are still producing cento-like works today,” says Ehrling. “In my thesis I discuss the cento’s potential for reinterpretation and comedy. By way of example, I use a video clip where Colonel Gaddafi’s speech has been edited together with trance music in a cento-like fashion. Just as in Late Antiquity, it seems that this cento-like work could have potential for both reinterpretation and comedy, depending on the reader’s interpretation.”

The thesis has been successfully defended on May 28, 2011.

• Late antique Latin patchwork poems piece together genre and original text | EurekAlert.

Digging the Seat of the Odrysian Kingdom

Interesting item from Novinite (which is having connection hiccups this a.m.):

Bulgaria’s National History Museum are starting the largest alpine expedition in the history of Bulgarian archaeology in order to excavate the residence of the rulers of the Odrysian Kingdom, the state of the most powerful tribe of Ancient Thrace.

Bulgarian archaeologists uncovered the unique residence of the rulers of the Odrysian Kingdom in July 2010, after its location was initially detected in 2005.

The residence is located on the Kozi Gramadi mount in the Sredna Gora mountain, in the village of Starosel, close to the resort town of Hissar in central Bulgaria, at about 1 200 m above sea level.

Starting in early June 2011, the expedition led by Dr. Ivan Hristov will excavate the fortified residence of the Thracian kings southeast of the Kozi Gramadi mount, Bozhidar Dimitrov, head of Bulgaria’s National History Museum, announced Monday.

Dr. Hristo Popov from the National Archaeology Institute of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Dr. Daniela Stoyanova from Sofia University “St. Klimen Ohridski”, and Prof. Valetin Todorov from the National Academy of Arts will also take part in the expedition as consultants.

The alpine excavations are funded with donations by Bulgarian manager Lachezar Tsotsorkov, the Hisarya Municipality, and the National History Museum.

The archaeological team will have the rare chance of studying the interior of the Thracian kings’ residence, which is the only one ever discovered, and was erected during the rules of Odrysian king Teres II (351 BC-341 BC).

The archaeologists will set up a tent camp 15 km north of the village of Starosel, which will serve as the base for their explorations.

In addition to making groundbreaking discoveries, the mission of Dr. Ivan Hristov is also to work on the conservation of the unique archaeological site.

The National History Museum points out that the discoveries at the Thracian kings’ residence reveal a symbiosis between the local Thracian traditions and the influence of Ancient Greece in the fortifications, architecture, and household tools at the beginning of the Hellinistic Age (323 BC – 30 BC).

“The archaeological summer of the elite crew of the National History Museum is expected to be interesting,” Dimitrov said in a statement promising timely information about the progress of the expedition.

Last summer Dr. Ivan Hristov explained that the residence of the Odrysian kings is a monument unrivaled in scope in Southeastern Europe, and that there is no other fortress-sanctuary dating back to the 4th-5th century BC which is so well-preserved.

The Bulgarian archaeologists call the Thracian fortress “the Bulgarian Machu Picchu” because of the similarities in the organization of the two ancient cities.

The construction of the residence near Hissar is believed to have been started by the Thracian ruler Cotys I (384 BC – 359 BC).

The team led by Dr. Hristov has uncovered the remains of the palace of the Odrysian kings Amatokos II (359 BC – 351 BC) and Teres II (351 BC – 342 BC).

The latter is the last Thracian king who fought Philip II of Macedon (359 BC – 336 BC).

“Philip II of Macedon most likely also visited this fortress. It is about him that Demosthenes says that he spent 11 nightmarish months in the winter of 342 BC fighting the Thracians who inhabited the mountains,” explained Dr. Hristov.

The fortress-residence of the Thracian kings is located on a plot of 4 decares, not far from the village of Starosel, which is the site of the largest tombs of Ancient Thracian rulers.

The researchers believe that the connection between the newly-uncovered fortress and the Starosel tombs is clear.

“This is the holy mountain in the mind of the Thracians. We have various archaeological objects located on different levels – a fortress, a sanctuary, an altar of sacrifice. Therefore, the comparison with the ancient city of the Incas Machu Picchu is a good one,” said Dr. Hristov.

Last summer his team excavated two of the towers of the citadel, whose remains are about 2 m high.

The archaeologists’ guess is that the treasure of the Odrysian kingdom was also located in the newly uncovered residence but Philip II of Macedon most likely stole the gold kept there.

The Odrysian Kingdom was a union of Thracian tribes that existed between 5th and the 3rd century BC. The last Thracian states were conquered by Romans in 46 AD. The most famous Thracian in human history is Spartacus, the man who led a rebellion of gladiators against Rome in 73-71 BC.

• via Bulgaria: Bulgarian Archaeologists Embark on Alpine Mission to Thracian Kings’ Residence – Novinite.com – Sofia News Agency.

… very interesting that this coverage is virtually a rewrite of the coverage (including the jab at Philip) from last summer: Odrysian Site from Bulgaria

What Marianne McDonald is Up To

From the Bryn Mawr Alum magazine:

The first half of 2011 included a couple of important milestones for Marianne McDonald ‘58, a professor of classics and theater at the University of California, San Diego, and a philanthropist with a strong commitment to helping individuals recover from substance-abuse problems.

The Trojan Women

In April, the Nevada Conservatory Theatre at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, staged a new production of McDonald’s translation of an ancient Greek drama, Euripides’ The Trojan Women. McDonald translated the play, which focuses on the women of Troy after the city’s defeat at the hands of the Greeks, as the women prepare themselves and their families to be taken as captives by the victors.

McDonald’s translation retains the framework and characters of the original drama, but spices it up with contemporary references, such as Hecuba’s allusion to the ratings boost television broadcasters get from exciting war coverage. Playwright Athol Fugard said of McDonald’s Trojan Women that it “must surely confirm her translations of the ancient Greek dramatists as the most actable, lyrical and powerful in print today.”

In addition to her translations and her original poems and plays, McDonald has published numerous scholarly volumes on classical drama and its adaptations in cinema and on the modern stage. She has also been a pioneer in digital humanities, as the founder of the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae, a comprehensive digital library of ancient and Medieval Greek literature, and the Thesaurus Linguarum Hiberniae, a similar project to digitize early and medieval Irish texts.

Making Substance-Abuse Treatment Available

Also in April, the Sharp HealthCare Foundation announced that its substance-abuse-treatment program in the San Diego area would be renamed after the McDonald family in honor of McDonald’s gift of $3 million and her promise to help with future fundraising for the foundation’s substance-abuse programs. The program at Sharp Mesa Vista Hospital will become McDonald Center at Sharp HealthCare, and Sharp Vista Pacifica will become Sharp McDonald Center.

McDonald’s gift is the largest ever given to Sharp’s behavioral-health program, foundation officials said. McDonald’s commitment to funding programs for substance-abuse treatment is several decades old. In 1984, she gave $3 million to Scripps Memorial Hospital to open a McDonald Center for substance abuse.

The Scripps facility is scheduled for demolition as part of a plan to raze the hospital and construct a new, expanded hospital. McDonald has been scouting new locations for the McDonald Center since she learned from Scripps officials last summer that the facility was to be destroyed.

• via As Her Translation of Euripides Play is Staged in Las Vegas, Marianne McDonald ’58 Funds Drug Treatment Center in San Diego | Meaningful Contributions.

Meaningful contribution indeed …