Month: December 2009

Medea Sarcophagus?

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ 1 Comment

Killing some time at the end of the day, I’m looking at the recent results of Sotheby’s Classical auction … among the many interesting items therefrom is this bit of a marble sarcophagus, apparently depicting Medea and her two kiddies:

Sotheby's

… which got me to wondering … other than perhaps a famous actor or someone who actually performed as Medea, why would you want this scene to be gracing your final resting place??

This Day in Ancient History: ante diem iii idus decembres

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment
ante diem iii idus decembres

  • Agonalia — the fourth and final occurrence of this festival in the Roman calendar; like all instances, the Rex Sacrorum would sacrifice a ram in the Regia, but on this occasion, the sacrifice was apparently in honour of Sol Indiges.
  • Septimontium — a somewhat obscure festival apparently originally only celebrated by the ‘montani’ (i.e. the ‘hill-dwellers’) which involved sacrifices on each of Rome’s seven hills.
  • 287 — martyrdom of Fuscian (and others)
  • 302 — martyrdom of Pontian

Of Interest: Blooper Request

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

Student bloopers are needed, for a book to be published by Mitch Allen and Left Coast Press. Any and all areas desired: history, archaeology, English, science, etc. Bloopers already collected from student essays, exams, and research papers include gems such as "The Israelites…wondered in the dessert for 40 years." Please send via email to Eric Cline at ehcline At gwu.edu. Please also include a statement giving express permission to include the bloopers in the book. Apologies in advance for cross-listing; please feel free to forward this message.

Of Interest: New Issue of CANEns

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

Seen on Latinteach (please send any responses to the folks mentioned in the quoted text, not to rogueclassicism!); :

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to let you know that the new issue of CANEns, the
newsletter of the Classical Association of New England, has been
posted at the CANE website: http://www.caneweb.org; click on the
‘canens’ button. Information about the CANE annual meeting in March
at Moses Brown School, about CSI ’09, and about CANE Scholarships and
other offerings is included, as well as a report on a middle school
mosaic project, a profile of the MIT Classics and Medieval Studies
Dept., and a book review for schools on Mary Beard’s Roman Triumph.
Enjoy, and please be in touch with any questions or comments.

Ed