Interesting item mentioned in passing in the Record, inter alia:

Scones are to the British what bagels are to New Yorkers. Food historians say that scones actually originated in Scotland, first appearing in a 1513 Scottish poet’s translation of Virgil’s “The Aeneid.” In other words, these quick breads have been around a long time.

via: Bounty of baked goods in Pompton Lakes

Presumably this is Gavin Douglas‘ translation of the Eneados … I can’t seem to find the word ‘scone’ in either volume one or two at Googlebooks, but it uses those ‘long s’es (i.e. the one that looks like an f … fcone doesn’t work, just in case you were wondering).

UPDATE (the next day): Tip o’ the pileus to Neils Grotum and David Smart who tracked down the OED reference and from that found the appropriate section; as one might have reasonable guess, it’s the ‘table-eating’ bit from book seven (VII ii 9-28 according to the OED):

Eneas, and othir chiftanys gloryus,
And the fresch lusty springald Ascanius,
Vndre the branchis of a semly tre
Gan lenyng dovn, and rest thar bodeys fre,
And to thar dyner dyd thame all adres
On grene herbis and sonkis of soft gers:
The flowr sconnys war set in, by and by,
With othir mesis, sik as war reddy;
Syne bred trynschouris dyd thai fyl and charge
With wild scrabbis and other frutis large.
Betyd, as was the will of Jupiter,
For falt of fude constrenyt so thai war,
The other metis all consumyt and done,
The paryngis of thar bred to mowp vp sone,
And with thar handis brek, and chaftis gnaw,
The crustis, and the coffyngis all on raw;
Ne spar thai not at last, for lake of met,
Thar fatale four nukit trynschour forto eyt.
Och ! quod Ascanius, quhou is this befall ?
Behald, we eyt dur tabillis vp and all !

Here’s the page via Google Books …

From AFP:

Builders have completed another stage of restoration of the Acropolis in Athens with the removal of scaffolding from the temple of Athena Nike, the head of renovation efforts said Friday.

“The entrance to the Acropolis is free of all scaffolding, a sight not seen since the end of the 1970s,” Maria Ioannidou said, urging tourists to take advantage of it before more work begins on the Parthenon.

Overlooking the Propylaea, the small Ionic monument was the last site to be restored under a project which started in 2001 at a total cost of 42.6 million euros (54.7 million dollars).

Work on the temple, which required dismantling it, was delayed by damage to its marbles — inflicted over time and during 19th century restorations.

Separate restorations of the Propylaea and Parthenon were completed in December and May respectively.

But the Parthenon will again be covered in scaffolding and surrounded by cranes for work on its western part to transfer six metopes, or sculptured marble blocks, threatened by pollution, to the Acropolis museum.

The Greek government promised in May to continue the restoration, despite a crippling financial crisis, with the help of European funds.

Ioannidou estimates that archaeologists have at least a decade of work ahead of them.

The buildings on the Acropolis, the hill overlooking Athens, date from the fifth century BC, a golden era for Athenian democracy, under leader Pericles.

via: Greece’s Temple of Athena Nike restoration complete | AFP via Google

From Novinite:

Bulgarian archaeologist Nikolay Ovcharov has discovered two tombs of Ancient Thracian rulers near the famous rock city and sanctuary of Perperikon.

The tombs are dated to 1100-1000 BC judging by the pottery and ceramics found in them, which are characteristic of the later Bronze Age and the early Iron Age.

One of the most interesting finds in the tombs is a bronze coin with the face of Emperor Alexander the Great, dated to the 4th century BC. Prof. Ovcharov believes this is a clear evidence that the tomb was venerated as a shrine by the Thracians in the Antiquity for a long time after its original creation.

The archaeological team stumbled across the two tombs as they were working on diverting a tourist path away from a spot of excavations at Perperikon, the holy city of the Thracians.

The tombs are situation in an east-west direction, with the buried notable facing the rising sun, a clear sign of a sun cult.

The excavations have revealed ritual hearths and others signs of sacrifices that were connected with the traditions of venerating the dead as godly creatures.

via: Top Bulgarian Archaeologist Stumbles Upon 2 Ancient Thrace Tombs

The coverage of this one includes a photo of the tomb … here’s the version from Novinite:

See also the one from Standart:

Now the report does mention the tomb was ‘stumbled’ upon, and clearly this doesn’t look like a conventional tomb (entrance?), but it’s certainly ‘different’, so how come no one seems to have been curious about this before? (perhaps it was buried?)

See also:

Thracian Ruler Buried in Perperikon 3000 Years Ago | Standart

The subject line is pretty much all the commentary this one needs, although I’m still trying to figure out how the subject of the talk mentioned connects to the info given in the last line:

An attempt to track down the mythical city of Atlantis – the perennial debate – will be made during a talk on Saturday that should attract the believers and the sceptics alike.

Delivered by medical historian Charles Savona-Ventura, Malta: Echoes Of Plato’s Island Atlantis is a review of the story of the destroyed city state and attempts to narrow down its location, correlating the Classical Atlantis texts to the archaeological, biogeographical and geological features of the Maltese-pelagic archipelago during the Copper Age period.

In his paper, Prof. Savona-Ventura maintains that “all the evidence seems to support the fact that some historical reality lies behind Plato’s story”, which traced the catastrophic event that affected the Mediterranean world.

The possible locality for Atlantis has been hotly debated and Prof. Savona-Venture says the problem lies with interpreting Plato’s description about “an island situated in front of the straits which are… called the Pillars of Hercules”. Today, many assume that these refer to the Straits of Gibraltar but Classical writers confirm their presence in the Gulf of Sidra, off the Northern coast of Africa, placing Plato’s island right in the middle of the Mediterranean, straddling two seas.

In his talk, the author points out that the ideal candidates for the remnants of Atlantis are the Maltese and Pelagian islands. He presents his research to prove the point, including geological and biogeographical evidence that suggests the central Mediterranean region south of Sicily was once composed of a large landmass.

Prof. Savona-Ventura explains how this landmass was broken up and submerged by a series of massive volcanic eruptions and tectonic movements, probably in the late centuries of the third millennium BC, leaving only fragments in the form of the Maltese archipelago and the Pelagian islands.

“A strong case can be further made to culturally associate these islands with Plato’s Atlantikos,” he says. In fact, his talk highlights that many features of Malta’s megalithic culture have close parallels to the culture attributed by Plato to “the Atlantoi of Atlantikos”.

The talk is being organised to raise funds to purchase a defibrillator for the Special Rescue Group’s ambulance. It will be held at the Dolmen Hotel in Buġibba at 7.30 p.m.

• Another attempt to locate the mythical city of Atlantis | Times of Malta