Some gleanings from my blogroll (and elsewhere) from the past week or so which you might have missed (some are a bit older, having scrolled to the next page of my inbox the last time I was compiling) … in no particular order:

• Lucretius, “Of Natural Things”- also Atoms & Atheists| Rufus

• History’s Lost, Part I: Stesichorus | J.L. Wall

• Rome: Caesarion | Juliette Harrison

• Classical Films at the Oscars | Juliette Harrison

• Speak, Sasanian Memory | Judith Weingarten

• Burns night and Martial | Tony Keen

• Greece – Decline of the Polis in the 4th Century B.C. | Mike Anderson

• The Gallic Wars: Genocide or Stepping Stone to Empire? | Mary Harrsch

• Houses | Diana G. Wright

• The Werewolf of Temesa | Beachcombing

• How to Make a Stola | Caroline Lawrence

• A Day in Ostia | Caroline Lawrence

• Gladiators: Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down? | Vicky Alvear Shecter

• Note to Disney: These Ancient Stories Came First! | Vicky Alvear Shecter

• Vitai Claustra | Mike Salter

• A land of watchtowers – New research sheds light on Roman occupation of Portugal | Owen Jarus

I sent this one out early out of fear of internet outtages this a.m. … didn’t materialize, of course. Some items of interest from my weekly newsletter; some have already appeared at rogueclassicism and some will hopefully appear later. I’m including a section I put together on the goings-on in Egypt just in case you’re interested:

================================================================
CRISIS IN EGYPT
================================================================
… I figure this deserves a section of its own at this
particular time; we’ll see if it’s needed next week:

First, a few blogs which are keeping on top of things (almost on an hourly
basis):

http://egyptology.blogspot.com/
http://www.eloquentpeasant.com/
http://www.kv64.info/ (might have to scroll a bit through this one)
http://paul-barford.blogspot.com/ (ditto)

… and a Facebook page (Restore + Save the Egyptian Museum!):

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_197921123555505&ap=1

… and a looting database:

http://egyptopaedia.com/2011/

Mary Beard’s son sent out some dispatches about the general atmosphere:

http://timesonline.typepad.com/dons_life/2011/01/cairo-riots-eye-witness-account\
.html
http://timesonline.typepad.com/dons_life/2011/02/live-from-cairo.html

No doubt folks are familiar with the early reports of damage to things
associated with Tut, e.g.:

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/01/28/5943271-archaeologists-assess-tu\
t-tragedy
http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/36841/mummies-are-beheaded-and-museums-ransack\
ed-amid-egypts-revolutionary-chaos/
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/01/pictures/110131-egyptian-museum-\
looted-artifacts-damaged-egypt-protests-mubarak/?now=2011-01-31-00:01
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/01/110131-egypt-egyptian-museum-zah\
i-hawass-mubarak-science-world-cairo-tombs/
http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/tut-family-mummies-damaged-in-egypt-riots.\
html
http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/egypts-tombs-temples-under-siege.html

Zahi Hawass (now Minister of Antiquities) has given the impression that
everything is ‘just fine’:

http://www.drhawass.com/blog/state-egyptian-antiquities-3-february-2011
http://www.livescience.com/culture/egypt-museum-cairo-110303.html
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-30/egyptian-antiquities-safe-after-museum-\
s-looting-official-says.html
http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/02/01/5967554-government-says-antiquit\
ies-are-safe

… but he’s giving mixed messages in the press:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hzDtpsLDQuq03GDXOwb6_QBcMvNg?\
docId=CNG.5059cecfb0aba8394b7f8d99ed739f16.5e1
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/02/world/middleeast/02antiquities.html
http://abcnews.go.com/International/video/mummies-safe-egypt-12812079

… but clearly there were things happening at Saqqarah (and environs):

http://www.artsjournal.com/culturegrrl/2011/02/news_flash_detailed_report_abo_1.\
html
http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2011/02/egypt-update-rare-tomb-may-hav\
e.html
http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/egypts-tombs-temples-under-siege.html

… and at the tombs of Neferefre and Sahure (not sure if this is lumped in
with the Saqqarah items):

http://www.tntmagazine.com/tnt-today/archive/2011/02/01/egypt-revolt-antiquities\
-in-danger.aspx

… and Qantara Museum:

http://af.reuters.com/article/egyptNews/idAFLDE70U0XN20110131

… and there was possibly another attempt at the Cairo Museum (I’m not sure
of the chronology of this
report):

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5gwO71j6o3JQqrJOuDHm\
fO1yaLv3Q?docId=5811480

… and elsewhere:

http://www.lefigaro.fr/culture/2011/02/04/03004-20110204ARTFIG00656-les-archeolo\
gues-redoutent-de-nouveaux-pillages-en-egypte.php

… and Cleopatra-seeker Kathleen Martinez was suggesting otherwise too:

http://www.dominicantoday.com/dr/local/2011/2/4/38490/Dominican-Egyptologist-reg\
rets-the-looting-of-antiquities

… and we’re reading reports of several museums being looted:

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/fighting-raiders-of-ancient-history/story-fn6cc\
wsa-1226000503142

… and some sort of ‘international alert’ was sent out to watch for looted
items:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/02/us-britain-egypt-antiquities-idUSTRE71\
14YM20110202
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110202/sc_nm/us_britain_egypt_antiquities
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Museums+high+alert+ancient+Egyptian+loot/42109\
25/story.html
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110202/lf_nm_life/us_finearts_egypt_antiquities_3
http://www.wbir.com/rss/article/155310/2/UTs-McClung-Museum-experts-keeping-eye-\
on-Egypt

… and UNESCO waded in:

http://af.reuters.com/article/egyptNews/idAFLDE71013C20110201

… so despite the assurances, other scholars seem to be adopting a ‘wait
and see’ attitude (these are all different; many
of the scholars have ‘connections’ to digs going on, of course):

http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/media/chaos-in-todays-egypt-sparks-worries-abo\
ut-its-ancient-past/19828072/
(Laurel Bostock)
http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/news/chiefeditor/2011/02/qa-with-dr-wi\
lleke-wendrich.html(Willeke
Wendrich)
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/02/03/egypt%E2%80%99s-treasures-at-risk/
(Bob Brier)
http://www.telegram.com/article/20110203/NEWS/102030853/-1/NEWS04 (Donny
George; Alexandra Cleworth)
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/national_world&id=7936370(Carol
Redmount)
http://www.rnw.nl/english/bulletin/dutch-egyptologist-sounds-vandalism-alarm(Maa\
rten
Raven)
http://www.unreportedheritagenews.com/2011/01/damage-reported-at-giza-pyramids.h\
tml(Gerry
Scott)

Still, we’re getting some followup pieces that are giving some hope:

http://blogs.ngm.com/blog_central/2011/02/report-from-egypt-checking-out-the-tom\
bs-at-saqqara.html

And in case you were wondering about the beheaded mummies mentioned last
weekend:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41433151/ns/technology_and_science-science/
http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/egypt-headless-mummies-identity-110204.htm\
l

Oddly, we didn’t get many stories of evacuations of archaeological types
(that I saw, anyway):

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/02/uc-study-abroad-students-archeolog\
y-team-evacuated-from-egypt.html

Folks were protecting the Bibliotheca Alexandrina:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/feb/01/alexandria-youth-protecting-library

We’re also getting the first of the oped pieces suggesting ‘repatriation’
ideas from various
countries might not be the best idea after all:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703833204576114580200904212.html
================================================================
EARLY HUMANS
================================================================
Apparently we’re faster than Neanderthals:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1353644/Achilles-heel-Reason-won-\
race-survival-Neanderthals-went-extinct.html
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20927984.700-youd-beat-a-neanderthal-in-a-\
race.html

… although there’s still a bit of Neanderthal in all of us:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1352499/Modern-man-4-cent-Neander\
thal-DNA-inside-him.html

Pondering the Denisovans:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/13.7/2011/02/03/133464424/leaky-replacement-human-neand\
erthal-and-denisovan-blends

More on an earlier departure from Africa:

http://www.jpost.com/Sci-Tech/Article.aspx?id=206056

================================================================
ANCIENT NEAR EAST AND EGYPT
================================================================
A Byzantine church find might also be the site of the tomb of Zechariah:

http://www.antiquities.org.il/about_eng.asp?Modul_id=14
http://news.scotsman.com/world/Israel-Tomb-raiders-lead-officials.6709597.jp
http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=44672
http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/zechariah-tomb-old-testament-110203.html
http://www.upi.com/News_Photos/Features/Archeological-Excavations-in-Horbat-Midr\
as-Israel/4566/(photos)
http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/History/Early+History+-+Archaeology/Byzantine_church_m\
osaic_floor_Hirbet_Madras_2-Feb-2011.htm
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1353003/Byzantine-church-discovered-near\
-Jerusalem-burial-place-prophet-Zechariah.html
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=133429116
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/02/israel-archeology-byzantine-mosaic-p\
hrophet-zecharia
http://www.aolnews.com/2011/02/03/archaeologists-may-have-found-tomb-of-prophet-\
zechariah/
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Latest-News-Wires/2011/0203/1-500-year-old-church\
-discovered-by-archaeologists-in-Israel
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20110202/tsc-church-unearthed-in-israel-may-hold-c2f\
f8aa.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/02/israel-old-church_n_817422.html
http://www.torontosun.com/news/world/2011/02/02/17123266.html
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110202/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_ancient_church

… while the discovery (it is claimed) of the Laodicea Church isn’t getting
quite as much
attention:

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=ancient-church-discovered-in-western-tu\
rkey-2011-01-31
================================================================
ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME (AND CLASSICS)
================================================================
Restoration work continues on the Acropolis:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5haEDR92V5k7lbrFx76H2CCSr_taw?\
docId=CNG.5a73e88b2737221ddfdd9d4ecd2a1988.7b1

Philip Freeman on what Alexander the Great would do with Egypt right about
now:

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20110203/OPINION01/102030335/Guest-opin\
ion-What-would-Alexander-do-in-Egypt-today-?BUSINESS04

TellmeOmuse is an interesting project:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703652104576122182508638812.html

On the possible Syrian origins of the myth of Orion:

http://www.english.globalarabnetwork.com/201102018849/Travel/archaeologists-orio\
n-the-hunter-greek-myth-born-in-syrian-mountain.html

J. Rufus Fears talks about democracy:

http://www.npr.org/2011/02/05/133520533/Different-Meanings-Of-Democracy-For-West\
-Middle-East

More on that Roman road found in Puddletown Forest:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1353574/Motorway-maximus-Unearthe\
d-stunning-Roman-super-highway-built-1-900-years-ago.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1353574/Roman-road-Dorset-forest-\
-1-900-years-constructed.html

On the utility of Latin:

http://www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/6669953/forget-mandarin-latin-is-the-key-\
to-success.thtml

Feature on Mt Hymettus:

http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite4_25545_02/02/2011_370862

Didn’t we have this medicine-from-a-shipwreck story a few months ago?:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/01/AR2011020100169.\
html
http://www.smh.com.au/world/shipwreck-gives-up-secrets-of-ancient-medicine-20110\
203-1affk.html

Not sure if this feature on one of the ‘curves’ in the Circus Maximus will
make it into English or not:

http://roma.repubblica.it/cronaca/2011/02/01/news/circo_massimo-11907048/

What Frederick Danker is up to:

http://www.christianchronicle.org/blog/2011/02/new-testament-scholar-danker-dona\
tes-extensive-library-to-heritage-christian-university/

What Susan Rotroff is up to:

http://news.brynmawr.edu/?p=7738

Stephen Margheim appears to be a rising star:

http://www.baylor.edu/pr/news.php?action=story&story=87928

… although they don’t seem to get that at UMaine:

http://mainecampus.com/2011/01/31/petition-appeals-for-latin/

… while Howard has dropped its Classics major:

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/02/01/howard_university_spares_philosoph\
y_and_african_studies_the_axe_but_guts_or_changes_71_others

The annual Roman numerals attempt at wit:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/03/AR2011020303182.\
html

… while Tom Payne puts a Greek/Roman spin on the Super Bowl:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/commentary/news/story?id=6076613

Nice followup story on the Tod-sponsoring-the-Colosseum thing:

http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/No+Venice-style+mega-ads+on+the+Colosseu\
m+during+its+sponsored+conservation/23017

Review/interview/podcast with Peter Stothard, *Spartacus Road*:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-04/rome-crucified-6-000-spartacus-led-slav\
e-rebels-lewis-lapham.html

Review of Tom Payne’s translation of Ovid’s *Ars Amatoria*:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/427b8534-2a63-11e0-804a-00144feab49a.html

Review of Matthew Dennison, *Livia, Empress of Rome*:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/04/AR2011020402997.\
html

More on efforts to restore the Olympias:

http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite6_10590_30/01/2011_375914
http://jacksonsun.com/article/20110130/NEWS01/110129013/1002/rss

================================================================
OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST
================================================================
Time Magazine has a feature on the ‘Top 25 Political Icons’:

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2046285_2045996_20459\
06,00.html

… while elsewhere we have a list of the 10 most powerful women in history:

http://listverse.com/2008/10/02/top-10-most-powerful-women-in-history/

… and a list of five famous philosophers greatest hypocrises:

http://www.slate.com/BLOGS/blogs/browbeat/archive/2011/01/31/5-famous-philosophe\
rs-greatest-hypocrisies.aspx

On the history of encyclopedias:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/knowledge-through\
-the-pages-the-evolution-of-encyclopedias-2203767.html

================================================================
TOURISTY THINGS
================================================================
Palmyra:

http://www.hellomagazine.com/travel/201102024881/ancient-ruins/palmyra/syria/1/
================================================================
CRIME BEAT
================================================================
Second Temple coins and jugs found during a weapons search in Galilee:

http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=206567
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/142125
================================================================
NUMISMATICA
================================================================
Not sure if I mentioned attempts by a Somerset museum to keep the Frome
Hoard:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-12285254

Latest eSylum newsletter:

http://www.coinbooks.org/club_nbs_esylum_v14n05.html
================================================================
EXHIBITIONS, AUCTIONS, AND MUSEUM-RELATED
================================================================
Everyone is going gaga at Google’s Art Project:

http://www.googleartproject.com/

Septimius Severus:

http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/leisure/exhibitions/8826893.New_exhibition_about_Roma\
n_Emperor_Septimius_Severus_at_the_Yorkshire_Museum/
http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/8833444.Bust_of_Roman_Emperor_unveiled/

Alexander the Great:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2011/feb/02/macedonia-exhibition-alexander-the\
-great

A couple of Titians are on tour of the US:

http://www.npr.org/2011/02/03/133441944/two-titian-masterpieces-traveling-throug\
h-u-s
================================================================
Useful Addresses
================================================================
Past issues of Explorator are available on the web via our
Yahoo site:

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/Explorator/

To subscribe to Explorator, send a blank email message to:

Explorator-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Seen on the Classicists list (please direct any queries to the folks mentioned in the item and not to rogueclassicism):

‘Alexander in Africa’ (12th Unisa Classics Colloquium, Grahamstown, South
Africa 28-30 June 2011)

Proposals for papers are hereby solicited on topics related to the theme,
which is seen as covering the following: Alexander’s sojourn on the African
continent (founding of Alexandria, Siwah, interaction with local populace,
politics, myth and religion, ‘last plans’, other related issues from the
sources including the Romance); legacy of Alexander in Egypt and Roman
Africa (Ptolemaic and otherwise); ancient and modern receptions of
Alexander relating to Africa (Arabic histories; colonial aemulatores; South
African and other African literature e.g. Mary Renault, etc.).

Please submit abstracts of appr. 200 words to bosmapr AT unisa.ac.za by 14
March 2011. Scholars working on archaeological, epigraphical, religious,
philosophical, and interdisciplinary material are encouraged to submit
proposals.

The Unisa Classics Colloquium this year forms a running parallel session at
the Biennial Conference of the Classical Association of South Africa
(CASA), hosted by the Classics Department at Rhodes University,
Grahamstown. The conference website can be accesses at
http://atashost.co.za/CASA/. Papers at the conference are limited to 20
minutes in 30 minute sessions.

Please note that registration will be dealt with by the CASA Conference
organisers, but proposals for the Alexander panel should be send to the
address given above. Being part of a larger conference unfortunately limits
the number of papers we will be able to accept. The following Alexander
specialists are currently signed up for the conference: John Atkinson (Cape
Town); Timothy Howe (St Olaf), Corinne Jouanno (Caen); Daniel Ogden
(Exeter), Frances Pownall (Alberta), Richard Stoneman (Exeter), Adrian
Tronson (New Brunswick), Pat Wheatley (Otago).

The Unisa Classics Colloquium is organised annually by the Department of
Classics and World Languages at the University of South Africa.

Seen in the Canadian Classical Bulletin (please direct any queries to the folks mentioned in the item and not to rogueclassicism):

Feminism and Classics VI: Crossing Borders, Crossing Lines
Brock University,
St Catharines, Ontario, Canada
May 24-27, 2012

Ancient Mediterranean society was crisscrossed by multiple boundaries and borders. Firm boundaries between male and female, slave and free, gods and mortals (to name just a few) defined social identities and relationships, even as these lines were regularly crossed in religious ritual, social practices and artistic imagination. In current scholarship, Feminism is now Feminisms, encouraging multiple, and even transgressive, approaches to the study of women, gender, and sexuality in the ancient world. But has Feminism itself become a boundary, dividing fields of study or generations of scholars? Or is it a threshold, encouraging crossings between literary, historical and archaeological evidence? What new approaches are scholars using to push the boundaries of the evidence and the limits of our knowledge of the ancient world?

This conference will focus on boundaries, liminality, and transgression. What kinds of crossings did ancient people experience and what control did they have over such crossings? How did borders and border crossings differ in relation to gender, ethnicity, age, or legal status? If the masculine and feminine were clearly demarcated categories of being, how do we interpret homosexual, transvestite and gender-labile aspects of the ancient world? What points of contrast and connection exist between different types of gendered space (literal or metaphorical) and do they change when geographic or national boundaries are crossed?

We invite submissions for abstracts of papers and workshops that explore these and related themes, and encourage proposals from a variety of methodological and theoretical perspectives. Abstracts of 300 words can be submitted electronically (starting January 31, 2011) to the conference website:
www.brocku.ca/conferences/feminism-classics-vi.

Deadline for receipt of abstracts is June 30, 2011.

For inquiries, please contact FCVI AT brocku.ca.

The Department of Classics at Brock University is pleased to host Feminism and Classics VI. Brock University is the only Canadian University to be located in a UNESCO International Biosphere Reserve. It is within an hour’s drive of Toronto, Ontario and Buffalo, NY, and thus easily accessible and close to major attractions, shopping and airports. The Niagara region is framed by Lake Ontario, Lake Erie and the Niagara River, and is in the heart of Ontario’s vineyard country, and visitors can enjoy the culinary and wine trail. More information about Brock University and its location can be found at http://www.brocku.ca/about/why .

Seen on the Classics list (please direct any queries to the folks mentioned in the item and not to rogueclassicism):

Classics at the Core: Greek and Latin Word Roots in the General Education Curriculum

Texts such as Donald M. Ayers’ English Words from Latin and Greek Elements and Tamara M. Green’s The Greek and Latin Roots of English have helped make vocabulary-building courses a staple of undergraduate general education curricula for decades. Such courses have also become part of K-12 curricula and preparatory courses for college entrance exams. For students in special populations, such as ESL or higher education opportunity programs, such courses can provide vital support that can improve vocabulary, comprehension, and composition skills. Even in the face of increasing demands for undergraduate curricula to renew their focus on math, science, and technology, such courses can leverage the fact that over 90 percent of English words in the vocabulary of the sciences and technology are derived from Greek or Latin.

We are seeking contributors for a panel on etymology courses to be proposed for the Classical Association of the Atlantic States (CAAS) 2011 Annual Meeting, October 13-15, at the Baltimore Marriott in Hunt Valley, Maryland.

Topics for consideration may include but are not limited to the following:
• Individual success stories about teaching Greek and Latin roots in undergraduate, K-12, or exam prep settings
• Challenges of getting such courses accepted as part of core curriculum or general education offerings at undergraduate institutions
• Case studies of vocabulary courses in special populations, such as ESL or higher education opportunity programs
• Innovative methods for teaching Greek and Latin roots of English
• Examples of etymology courses as gateways to recruiting students into other classics department offerings
Please send brief abstracts (about 100 words) with your paper title and contact information to either Michael Broder mbroder AT brooklyn.cuny.edu or Judith Hallet jeph AT umd.edu by February 22, 2011.