Year: 2009

This Day in Ancient History: ante diem vii kalendas octobres

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment
ante diem vii kalendas octobres

Taliban Targetting ‘Alexander’s Descendents’

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ 3 Comments

Excerpts from an item in the Telegraph:

The group, believed to be descendants of Alexander the Great’s invading army, were shielded from conservative Islam by the steep slopes of their remote valleys.

While Sikhs, Hindus, and Christians were slowly driven out of Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province by Muslim militants, the Kalash were free to drink their own distilled spirits and smoke cannabis.

But the militant maulanas of the Taliban have finally caught up with them and declared war on their culture and heritage by kidnapping their most devoted supporter.

Taliban commanders have taken Professor Athanasion Larounis, a Greek aid worker who has generated £2.5 million in donations to build schools, clinics, clean water projects and a museum.

They are now demanding £1.25 million and the release of three militant leaders in exchange for his safe return.
[…]

Confirmation of the Taliban’s role in his kidnapping came as their leader Mullah Omar urged American and Nato leaders to learn from the history of Alexander the Great’s invasion of Afghanistan and his defeat by Pushtun tribesmen in the 4BC.

[…]

Bizarre .. FWIW, of all those groups claiming descent from Alexander,the Kalash are the only ones whose DNA seems to back up the claim. … [correction: the link there suggests the Kalash aren’t related, based on DNA]

UPDATE: (04/10/10): Dr Larounis has been freed: Kidnapped Greek curator is freed by Taliban | BBC

This Day in Ancient History: ante diem ix kalendas octobres

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ 2 Comments
ante diem ix kalendas octobres

  • rites in honour of Latona at the Theatre of Marcellus
  • Mercatus — those cupboards must have been really empty!
  • 484 B.C. — Birth of Euripides (?)
  • 480 B.C. — Athenian naval forces under Themistocles defeat Xerxes’ Persian force in the narrows of Salamis (one reckoning)
  • 63 B.C. — birth of Octavius, the future emperor Augustus
  • 25 B.C. — dedication of the Temple of Neptune (and associated rites thereafter)
  • 23 B.C. — restoration of the temple of Apollo in the Campus Martius (and associated rites thereafter)
  • 117 A.D. — martyrdom of Thecla

CONF: Bristol Research Seminar, Autumn 2009

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Seen on the Classicists list:

Department of Classics & Ancient History Research Seminar

Seminars are held in the Classics Seminar Room, G37, 11 Woodland Road, and start at 4.10 p.m. except where noted. All welcome, especially postgraduate students; any queries, please contact n.d.g.morley AT bris.ac.uk.

6th October: Neville Morley (Bristol): ‘Thucydides and the Idea of History’

13th October: Mercedes Aguirre (Complutense, Madrid): ‘The Greek Flood Myth: Deucalion and Pyrrha’

20th October: Ellen O’Gorman (Bristol): ‘Myth, History and Vergil’s Dido’

3rd November: Emily Pillinger (Institute Fellow): ‘Prophetic voices in mythic narratives: making sense of "hindsight as foresight".’

17th November: 4.30pm: Charles Martindale (Bristol): ‘Performance, Reception, Aesthetics’

25th November: 4 pm: half-day conference on ‘Hildegard of Bingen: music, poetry, and medieval monastic tradition’, organised by Steve D’Evelyn. Victoria Rooms.

1st December: John Sellars (UWE): ‘The Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius’

8th December: Peter France (Edinburgh) on Translation. Event organised by the Penguin Archive project, time and venue tbc.

9th December: half-day conference on Translation, organised by the Penguin Archive project.

12th January: Bella Sandwell (Bristol): ‘A cognitive approach to John Chrysostom’s homilies on Genesis’

27th January: 2 pm: half-day conference on Myths and their Variants, organised by Richard Buxton; featuring Emma Aston (Reading), Daniel Ogden (Exeter), Alberto Bernabe (Madrid), Ken Dowden (Birmingham)