Day: March 14, 2010

Bust in Ancona

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

Brief item from MSN Italia about a criminal who apparently had a thing for weapons and archaeology:

Una vera e propria santabarbara, che comprendeva anche un proiettile anticarro della seconda guerra mondiale, e’ stata scoperta dai carabinieri a Sassoferrato (Ancona). Arrestato S.V., 37 anni, del luogo, un operaio con l’evidente passione per le armi e anche per l’archeologia. In casa sua, infatti, oltre alle armi (un fucile a canne mozze, una pistola, un grosso quantitativo di munizioni calibro 22, polvere da sparo) i militari hanno trovato ben 300 reperti archelogici, in gran parte di epoca romana.

via Armi e reperti archeologici in casa: arrestato operaio – MSN Italia.

Sicilia, i beni culturali finisco all’asta Traffico di reperti rubati su E-bay – Interni – ilGiornale.it del 12-03-2010

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

Seems the Carabinieri have to keep an eye on eBay again … the following article details the online auction site’s use by antiquities smuggler types in Sicily. This case had close to 600 ancient coins being offered:

E’ difficile vincere la guerra contro i “tombaroli” e, più in generale, contro chi trae profitto dalla vendita illegale di reperti storici e archelogici. Le forze dell’ordine sono impegnate attivamente sul campo e, periodicamente, si ha notizia di sequestri di opere d’arte, più o meno famose, che finiscono in un sotterraneo mercato illegale, in Italia ma anche all’estero. Ora questo traffico è ancor più robusto di un tempo, perché può giovarsi di uno strumento in più: il web. I moderni “tombaroli”, infatti, lavorano sul web. La denuncia arriva dalla Sicilia.

Traffico sgominato Un colossale traffico di compravendita su E-bay di reperti archeologici rubati – circa 600 pezzi, quasi tutti monete greche, romane, bizantine e arabo-normanne è stato sventato dai carabinieri del Nucleo tutela patrimonio culturale della Sicilia. Su internet, infatti, era possibile acquistare 576 monete antiche in bronzo e argento, la più pregiata delle quali, una moneta di epoca tardo-antica, costava attorno ai cento euro. I carabinieri hanno effettuato quattro perquisizioni domiciliari e quattro persone sono state denunciate per impossessamento illecito di beni culturali appartenenti allo Stato. Tutti i reperti recuperati saranno consegnati alla locale Soprintendenza.

Traffico sul web È solo l’ultimo di una serie ormai preoccupante di traffici illeciti di beni archeologici siciliani su E-bay, sventati anche grazie alla collaborazione degli stessi gestori del famoso sito di aste online. Nel 2005 fece scalpore il sequestro di oltre 9.000 reperti in vendita sul web, con la denuncia di 25 persone, che per la prima volta mise in luce un fenomeno dilagante. Non a caso, dopo l’ultimo episodio, a lanciare l’allarme è l’assessore ai Beni Culturali della Regione Gaetano Armao, che invoca “una vera e propria tolleranza zero contro i trafugamenti ed il commercio clandestino di reperti del nostro straordinario patrimonio culturale”.

Affari più facili In passato, ricorda Armao, “i tombaroli e i ladri di reperti dovevano andare oltreoceano per tentare di vendere la refurtiva a qualche collezionista privato, e spesso questi oggetti finivano poi ai grandi musei americani, come nel caso dell’Afrodite di Morgantina conservata per anni al Getty Museum e che siamo riusciti recentemente a riottenere. Ma oggi per i malviventi è più facile: basta mettere inserzioni su internet, e sperare di farla franca”.

Una norma più severa Per questo l’assessore annuncia: “Intendo riproporre alla giunta regionale la proposta che avevo già formulato qualche mese fa: ovvero estendere la norma, che già opera contro i mafiosi, sulla costituzione di parte civile obbligatoria nei processi contro ladri e trafficanti di reperti archeologici. Spesso infatti gli interessi dei trafficanti di opere d’arte si intrecciano con quelli della criminalità mafiosa”.

via Sicilia, i beni culturali finisco all’asta Traffico di reperti rubati su E-bay – Interni – ilGiornale.it del 12-03-2010.

See also:

Middle School Latin Program in Peril!

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ 2 Comments

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

Dear Colleagues,
I would like to ask your help in saving our Latin program at the Bridgewater-Raritan Middle School in Bridgewater, NJ. Due to extreme budget cuts, our Board of Ed. is considering eliminating the 2 years of middle school Latin in our district at the end of this year. This will also eliminate one of our teacher positions. It will leave our current 7th graders with nowhere to go next year, & will probably also eliminate the possibility of students reaching the AP level, since they must now begin Latin in 9th grade. Our district is currently experiencing unprecedented cuts; currently over 116 staff have lost their jobs in the first round of cuts, & more are anticipated in a second round this week when Governor Christie announces cuts to municipal budgets.

We used to be a K-12 world language district, with 6 languages offered from the 6-12 grades. Now only Spanish survives at the lower levels & Latin would reduce down to only HS level. IF A THIRD ROUND OF CUTS BECOMES NECESSARY, IT IS MY FEAR THAT THE ENTIRE LATIN PROGRAM WILL BE ELIMINATED.

Therefore, would you please consider e-mailing your support of our Latin program to any of the Board members whose e-mails are located on the "BOE" link at:
http://www.brrsd.k12.nj.us

There is also a Superintendent’s link, where I believe you can e-mail him, as well. I am hoping that by the time of our next board meeting, your e-mails of support will have filled their in-boxes! Thank you so much.

Your grateful colleague,

Dr. Kimberle Gray
Latin teacher
Bridgewater-Raritan Regional Schools

CONF: Homer in the 21st century

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

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

4th Trends in Classics Conference

homer in the 21st century: orality, neoanalysis, interpretation

Thessaloniki, 28-30 may 2010 (Auditorium of the Archaeological Museum)

Friday, 28th May

8.45-9.15 Reception-Registration

9.15-9.30 A. Rengakos: Introduction

9.30-10.00 D. N. Maronitis (U of Thessaloniki) The Iliad: at point-blank range

10.00-10.30 Keynote Lecture: W. Kullmann (U of Freiburg) Neoanalysis between Orality and Literacy

10.30-11.00 M. Finkelberg (U of Tel-Aviv) Oral formulaic theory and the individual poet

11.00-11.30 P. Pucci (Cornell University) Iterative syntactical segments and their contextualization

12.00-12.30 G. Nagy (Harvard University) Signs of Hero Cult in Homeric Poetry

12.30-13.00 R. Martin (Stanford University) Homegerees: constructing Homer

15.00-15.30 M.L. West (Oxford University) Some pre-Iliadic poems

15.30-16.00 G. Danek (U of Vienna) Troilus and Lycaon

16.00-16.30 C. Due (U of Texas) Maneuvers in the dark of night: Iliad 10 in the twenty-first century

17.00-17.30 J. Marks (U of Florida) αρχους αυ νηων ερέω: Il. 2.493a

17.30-18.00 M. Alden (U of Belfast) The vagrant without status (Il. 9. 648 = 16. 59)

Saturday, 29th May

9.30-10.00 J. Latacz (U of Basel) Fragen an Homers Achilleus

10.00-10.30 A. Kelly (Oxford University) The Mourning of Thetis: ?Allusion’, the Future and the Iliad

10.30-11.00 M. Hirschberger (U of Dusseldorf) The fate of Achilles as told in the Iliad

11.00-11.30 L. Muellner (Brandeis University) Grieving Achilles

12.00-12.30 J. Burgess (U of Toronto) Belatedness in the Travels of Odysseus

12.30-13.00 O. Levaniouk (U of Washington at Seattle) ου χρώμεθα τοις ξενικοις ποιήμασι: Questions about the Evolution and Variability of the Odyssey

15.00-15.30 E. Bakker (Yale University) Paradigmatic Similes in the Odyssey

15.30-16.00 S. Said (Columbia University) Animal Similes: From the Iliad to the Odyssey

16.00-16.30 C.Tsagalis (AUTh) De-authorizing the Epic Cycle: Odysseus’ False Tale to Eumaeus (Od. 14.199-359)

16.30-17.00 J. Petropoulos (Democritus U of Thrace) The Telemachy and the Cyclic Nostoi

17.30-18.00 A.C. Cassio (U of Rome "La Sapienza") Kypris, Kythereia, and the Latest Phases of the Homeric Epics

18.00-18.30 R. Hunter (U of Cambridge)Testing time: Agamemnon’s peirai and Homeric criticism

18.30-19.00 E. Minchin (Australian National University) Memory and memories: personal memory, collective memory, and interpretation in the poems of Homer

Sunday, 30th May

9.30-10.00 J.M. Foley (U of Missouri)Similes in Homer and South Slavic Oral Epic

10.00-10.30 R. Scodel (U of Michigan) Works and Days and the Homeric/Cyclic Tradition

10.30-11.00 St. West (Oxford University) Some lessons from Alpamysh

11.30-12.00 J. Torres-Guerra (U of Navara) The writing down of the oral Thebais that ?Homer’ knew: In the Footsteps of Wolfgang Kullmann

12.00-12.30 A. Debiasi (U of Torino) Omero agonista a Calcide

12.30-13.00 B. Currie (Oxford University) The Iliad, Gilgamesh, and Neoanalysis

CFP: Poetry, music and contests in ancient Greece

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

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

UNIVERSITÀ del SALENTO
Dipartimento di Filologia classica e di Scienze filosofiche
Dipartimento dei Beni delle Arti e della Storia

CALL FOR PAPERS

International Conference: Poesia, musica e agoni nella Grecia antica / Poetry, music and contests in ancient Greece

IV Annual Meeting of MOISA: International Society for the Study of Greek and Roman Music and its Cultural Heritage

Lecce, Italy, 28-30 October 2010

The overall topic of the conference will be ancient Greek music; it will focus particularly on the musical contests, which have rarely been studied in detail. They took place, in various forms, in all parts of the Greek world and through all periods of its history, and interacted in complex ways with literary, political, cultural and religious phenomena.

The subject will be addressed from a wide variety of perspectives, with contributions from invited scholars in fields including philology, archaeology, iconography and epigraphy.

Scientific Committee:
Andrew Barker (University of Birmingham)
Bruno Gentili (University of Urbino)
Pietro Giannini (University of Salento – Lecce)
Daniela Castaldo (University of Salento – Lecce)
Alessandra Manieri (University of Salento – Lecce).

Members of MOISA who wish who wish to offer a short paper (15/20 mins) on any aspect related to the main topic are invited to send an abstract of max. 500 words, by 30 April 2010, to Daniela Castaldo (dcastaldo) and to Alessandra Manieri (alessandra.manieri).

We need to inform you that we will be able to cover only partially the fees for your accomodation during your stay in Lecce. More details will be available as soon as possible.

Anyone who wishes to offer a paper, but is not already a member of MOISA, can join the society by going to the MOISA website (address below) and following the appropriate links.

More detailed information on the conference will be published soon on the website of MOISA (http://www.moisasociety.org).