The incipit of a piece in the Bi-College News:

This spring, a few hundred Haverford seniors will set out on the most daunting assignment of their college careers—the senior thesis. Some will spend days (and nights) in labs in the Integrated Natural Science Center, while others might be found buried under an avalanche of texts in Magill. Classics major Cassie Gafford HC’09 falls into the second group but is so excited about her topic that even such an avalanche would probably prove enjoyable.

Gafford’s thesis, in fact, deals with natural disasters, though not the library-book variety. She is studying earthquakes during the Second Sophistic period, which lasted from 75 C.E. until 225 C.E. According to Gafford, this was a time when Greece was under Roman rule, but Greek thought was still highly regarded in Rome. “I’m investigating how authors of this period responded to the natural world,” she says, “specifically in the form of earthquakes.”

The questions Gafford must ask in her research relate not only to literature but to religion, science, and culture as a whole. “Were natural catastrophes seen as punishment from the gods, random natural occurrences, or omens?” she wonders. “I want to know what Greeks and Romans wrote about the destructive, unforeseen shaking of the ground.”

… looks interesting.

• ‘From the Lab’ Thesis Edition: Cassie Gafford and Ancient Earthquakes

We had sleep problems last week, so we’ve acquired quite a few items under this category:

I’d better mention this article (which most of rogueclassicism’s readers have probably already seen) on the ubiquity of alcohol in assorted Greek literature:

• The Tipsy Hero (NY Times)

Nice feature on Stephen Miller:

• Stephen G. Miller: A Classicist in Greece (Spero)

Art Spisak is now an associate provost at MSU:

• MSU names associate provost (News Leader)

What’s on Dan Garrison’s desk:

• From The Desk Of… Dan Garrison (Northwestern)

A feature on Valerio Manfredi:

• Tweaking history with doses of pathos (IHT)

I suppose it’s better than nothing:

• Technology allows Latin offerings at 2 Chicopee high schools (Republican)

Obvious opportunity for ClassCon:

• Understanding Catharsis (Blogcritics)

An update on that circumnavigation-of-Africa-in-a-Phoenician ship story:

• Phoenicia Expedition – Six months waiting for wind (Sail World)

A Celtic hoard found in the Netherlands might be of interest:

• Celtic Hoard Found in Netherlands (Numismaster)

Interesting piece on Linnaeus and all that:

• Why we give plants and animals Latin names (St Louis Today)

Touristy Thing on Pamphylia:

• The pride of pamphylia side, Aspendos and perge (Sunday’s Zaman)

An interesting looking exhibition/lecture series:

• Ancient Greeks: Athletes, Warriors and Heroes Opens at The Burrell Collection (Art Daily)

Review of Pompeii and the Roman Villa:

• A Short Trip Into the Villas of Ancient Pompeii (Hoya)

Some folks in Sussex aren’t too happy with a proposed Roman museum site:

• Anger as £6.9m Roman museum gets go-ahead (Express)

More on that “Centurion” film in the works:

• BOND BABE TO FILM FLICK IN SCOTLAND (News of the World)

Too early to pass judgement on this one:

• 3rd ‘Lara Croft’ movie in the works (Entertainment News)

Latest on the Uderzo family dispute:

• Asterix creator depressed by family dispute (Reuters)

Last, and certainly least, is this week’s bit of ClassCon from the Spoof:

• Greek Dramatist Euripides succeeds in making woman vomit

Outside of that stuff, we should note that thehe Podcasting and the Classics session from the APA is now available on ITunes (and downloaded to my IPod) …