Month: April 2010

On the Popularity of Sword and Sandal Flicks

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

Some observations from an item in the Telegraph:

“Clash of the Titans and How to Train Your Dragon represent worlds that are far from our own and an escape from job insecurity, debates about health care and worrying about paying the bills,” he said. “What better way to do this than to take yourself off to a totally different place at the movies?”

But while the themes are escapist, the content is also familiar – Greeks, Romans and Vikings and assorted serpents and dragons.

“That makes for good comfort movies dealing with characters and stories with which they are familiar,” said Mr Contrino. “People want to get away from reality with these movies, but nor do they want to be too challenged.”

That such colourful adventure stories are also particularly well-suited to portrayal in 3D is also no coincidence as Hollywood tries to cash in on the game-changing success of James Cameron’s Avatar blockbuster.

There is an added resonance to Americans flocking to films set during the rise and fall of ancient empires as they contemplate their own long-dominant place in the world amid economic upheavals at home and protracted wars abroad.

via Hollywood turns to ancient warriors and legends to win audiences – Telegraph.

… in case you’re not aware, I’m regularly posting any interesting reviews of sword and sandal flicks on my Twitterfeed … there are links to them in one of the sidebars at the right (near the bottom of the column) …

Bonham’s Upcoming Auction

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

Bonham’s also has some interesting items in its upcoming antiquities auction … first thing which caught my eye was this portrait bust of Menander:

Bonham's photo

An interesting togatus … clearly not a garment I’d be comfortable wearing:

Bonham's photo

An anadyomene Aphrodite:

Bonham's photo

Not sure how this is identified as a female athlete (4th/3rd century Etruscan):

Bonham's Photo

A Roman Janus head flask (I’ve never seen one of these):

Bonham's photo

Christie’s Upcoming Auction

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

Some of the interesting items in Christie’s upcoming antiquities auction include this torso of Aphrodite (from a 19th century Swiss collection) (the inline links will take you to the ‘official page’):

Christie's photo

A very interesting ‘young satyr’ with a panther at his feet (acquired pre-1970):

Christies photo

A bone figure of Aphrodite (left) and a doll (right) (acquired in the 1960s):

Christie's photo

There are 80+ other items … an awful lot of ‘satyrs’ …

Citanda: American Journal of Philology 131.1 (Spring 2010)

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  • Middle Comedy and the “Satyric” Style – Carl A. Shaw
  • Menander’s Theophoroumene between Greece and Rome – Sebastiana Nervegna
  • The Tyrant Lists: Tacitus’ Obituary of Petronius – Holly Haynes
  • Unseemly Professions and Recruitment in Late Antiquity: Piscatores and Vegetius Epitoma 1.7.1-2 – Michael B. Charles
  • Reconsidering the History of Latin and Sabellic Adpositional Morphosyntax – Benjamin W. Fortson IV

via Project MUSE – American Journal of Philology – Volume 131, Number 1 (Whole Number 521), Spring 2010.

Some ‘partial access’ available …

CFP: Commentary Writers’ Workshop

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

Call for Proposals: Classical Commentary Writers’ Workshop Georgetown University, October 14–16, 2010: Latin Texts

Proposals are solicited for participation in the sixth annual Classical Commentary Writers’ Workshop, to be held on October 14–16, 2010 at Georgetown University in Washington DC. The 2009 workshop will be devoted to Latin texts. The deadline for proposals is June 15, 2010.

The workshop will consist of five 3-hour sessions, each devoted to discussion of a single pre-circulated chunk of text and commentary. We work in an intensely practical, hands-on way, asking questions, making suggestions, working out problems, and the like. Our expectation is not that the group will examine the whole of anyone’s primary text, but that all participants will return in the end to their projects with fresh insights, ideas and questions, new bibliographic resources, and a sense of working within a supportive scholarly community.

Workshop sessions are open only to the conveners, S. Douglas Olson and Alex Sens; the five participants; and (by invitation) previous participants and occasional graduate student observers. Participants are expected to arrive late in the day on the 14th, and to stay for the entire proceedings, including a final dinner on Saturday night.

Projects should be well enough advanced to provide a substantial sample of text and commentary, but not so far along that the Workshop will be unlikely to affect the final shape. Proposals should consist of (1) a brief (maximum one-page) description of the project, its intended audience, and the expected publication venue; (2) a 10-page sample of text and commentary. Proposals should be submitted, preferably in PDF form, to the convenors at sdolson AT umn.edu and sensa AT georgetown.edu. Final Workshop samples will be due on Monday September 13, 2010, for pre-circulation to all participants.

Participants are asked to call first on their own research accounts and institutional resources to cover their transportation and housing costs. For those who lack such resources, the Workshop will provide up to $600 for travel and housing. All meals will be provided.

Support for the Workshop has been provided by the Loeb Classical Library Foundation, the Alexander Onassis Foundation, the Georgetown Provost’s Office, and the University of Minnesota’s Imagine Fund.