Year: 2009

ED: Ancient Languages Summer School

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CLASSICS 08 AND SACE ANCIENT LANGUAGES SUMMER SCHOOL 2009: 27th JULY – 7th August

Our one and two week intensive courses in Ancient Languages, taught by our own subject specialists, are now being planned for Summer 2009.

Suitable for students aged 14+, the summer schools will provide those new to Classics and the Ancient World with the opportunity to immerse themselves in the language of their choice, Greek, Latin, or Egyptian at Beginners level, while those with some linguistic experience will have the chance to consolidate their skills at Intermediate level (Greek and Latin only).  Prospective Undergraduates and Postgraduates are also specifically catered for with intensive courses in either Greek or Latin from Beginners through to Intermediate level, and Egyptian (Beginners level only).  These course are intended to provide students with valuable experience and a head-start in their chosen area of study at University.

All Greek and Latin programmes are available as a one week course (inc. 3 days tuition, 2 days private study time or optional excursions/themed lectures & activities) or an extended two week course (inc. 6 days tuition, 4 days private study or optional excursions/themed lectures & activities).  Beginners Egyptian is available as a one week course only.

Full residential facilities, including accommodation, meals and refreshments are also available on request (students must be aged 17 or over).

We are also offering a range of themed lectures and cultural activities including a chance to visit the region’s best collection of neo-classical art, the Lady Lever Gallery in Port Sunlight, and an artefact handling session in the Garstang Archaeology museum.

A small number of bursaries to help students with the costs of attending may be available. Please contact us for more information.

For more information and booking details contact:

Dr Eugenie Fernandes, School of Archaeology, Classics & Egyptology, 12-14 Abercromby Square,University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L697WZ.
Email: Info AT classics08.co.uk

NOTE: Students wishing to attend as residential students must be aged 17yrs+ or accompanied by an adult.

Application forms are now available under DOWNLOADS at www.classics08.co.uk

This Day in Ancient History

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ante diem iv idus februarias

  • 60 A.D. — Paul is shipwrecked on Malta (by one reckoning)

Thracian Wine Complex

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Apparently the folks who had the rep of drinking their wine undiluted also had major complexes (complices?) where they made their wine and news.bg reports the discovery of same near the Kardzhali village of Yagnevo. The brief (and somewhat awkwardly translated, as often) piece gives an age of 3000 years b.p. for the site and/or for rituals reenacted there recently. Of course, there are concomitant plans to ‘rediscover’ the ancient grape and begin reproducing ancient Thracian wine. Stay tuned on that score …

Studying Earthquakes

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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.