Month: August 2009

More Celebrity Latin Tattoos

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ 2 Comments

… well sort of … According to USA Today:

This elusive couple didn’t confirm their April 2008 nuptials until a year later and have remained mostly mum on their relationship. They have been spotted in public with their rings on about a dozen times in the past year. They both have the number 4 tattooed on their ring fingers in Roman numerals, and neither wears a ring while performing.

… the elusive couple being Jay-Z and Beyonce … an account of their wedding at E!Online explains the Roman numeral:

According to various media reports, the Roman numeral IV was also prevalent throughout the party, in honor not only of the wedding month and day (4/4/08), but because the number holds special significance for the couple, each of whom was born on the fourth of the month—September for Knowles, December for the man born Shawn Carter.

… so nothing specifically ‘Latin’ about this one, but how often do you get to mention Beyonce and Jay Z in a classics blog?

JOB: Roman History @ Dalhousie (tenure track)

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

Seen in the Canadian Classical Bulletin:

DEPARTMENT OF CLASSICS
DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY

Tenure-stream Appointment
Lecturer/Assistant Professor
Roman History

The Department of Classics at Dalhousie University invites applications for a tenure stream appointment at the Lecturer/Assistant Professor level effective July 1, 2010, in Roman History with a secondary interest in Latin Studies. All candidates will possess philological competence in Greek and Latin normally expected in international Classical Scholarship, and will follow a text-based approach to teaching and research. At the undergraduate level a demonstrated ability to teach large introductory classes in Ancient History, as well as intermediate level classes in Greek and Roman History, is essential. The successful applicant will be able to contribute to the Graduate Programme of the Department: the preferred research area is Roman Republican and Imperial History; an interest in historiography and cross-disciplinary approaches to cultural history would be advantageous. In Latin studies, competence and readiness to teach Latin language and literature at the undergraduate level are expected. Applicants should have completed the PhD or have the PhD in-hand and show competence in teaching, research and publication appropriate to their experience. The salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience.

Applicants should send, in hard copy, a letter of application, complete curriculum vitae, a statement of research and teaching interests and philosophies, evidence of teaching competence, and arrange to have three confidential original letters of professional recommendation forwarded by referees under separate cover to:

Dr. Wayne Hankey, Chair
Department of Classics
Dalhousie University
Halifax, Nova Scotia
B3H 4P9
claswww AT dal.ca

All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority. Dalhousie University is an Employment Equity/Affirmative Action employer. The University encourages applications from qualified Aboriginal people, persons with a disability, racially visible persons and women.

The closing date for applications is October 15, 2009.

CONF: History without Historians conference

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

Seen on the Classicists list:

Classics at Edinburgh, in conjunction with the Leventis Foundation announces the 6th Leventis conference on

History without Historians: Greeks and their past in the Archaic and Classical age

5th-7th November 2009 in Edinburgh

The conference has been organised by Prof. John Marincola, Professor of Classics at The Florida State University and the 6th Leventis Visiting Professor at Edinburgh University.

For further details including a provisional programme see:

http://www.shc.ed.ac.uk/classics/leventis/6thLeventisConference2009.htm

[cateogory conferences]

CFP: Belief and its Alternatives in Greek and Roman Religion

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

Seen on the Classicists list:

BELIEF AND ITS ALTERNATIVES IN GREEK AND ROMAN RELIGION

University of St Andrews, 2-3 July 2010

Call for Papers

The religions of Greece and Rome have long been regarded as religions of ritual,
religions in which what was done mattered far more than what was thought.
Responses to the supposedly practice-centred nature of Greek and Roman religion
have ranged from the dismissive, which see the ritualism of ancient religions as
a symptom of their spiritual emptiness, to the highly creative, such as the
structuralist approaches of the Paris School and sociological approaches which
probe the relationship between ritual and society. Common to these latter
approaches is the idea that, even if Greek and Roman religion was dominated by
ritual, the rituals depended for their meaning on a complex network of ideas
and assumptions. Recent studies have returned to the question of how best to
reflect that cognitive side of ancient religion, and in particular to the
utility of the term ‘belief’ in modelling ancient religions.

The aim of this conference is to bring together researchers in Greek and Roman
religion and Religious Studies to discuss questions of approach to ancient
religions, focusing on the applicability of modern categories – such as
‘belief’ – to the ancient Mediterranean world. Recent publications by, among
others, Tom Harrison and Simon Price suggest that this remains an area of
interest and one in which significant work remains to be done. It is hoped that
the combination of speakers from Greek, Roman and Religious Studies will
generate some interesting and useful inter-disciplinary interactions. Confirmed
speakers so far are Robert Parker (Oxford), Tom Harrison (Liverpool), John
Cottingham (Reading), Peter Harrison (Oxford) and John Scheid (Collège de
France).

Suggestions of papers of up to 30 minutes in length on any aspect of the topic
are invited. Please send a proposed title and an abstract of up to 300 words to
Ralph Anderson (rta1 At st-andrews.ac.uk) by Friday 6th November.

[cateogory conferences]