Registration open for Triennial Conference, University of Cambridge, 25-28 July 2011

Hosted by the Faculty of Classics, the Celebration of Classics will see a remarkable line up of international scholars brought together in a novel format for such an event. There will, of course, be some very distinguished plenary lecturers, and there will also be two outreach evenings with well-known figures from the media and literary world. But the centre of the event is a set of seminars where leading classicists will be presenting their cutting edge work in a seminar format with extensive opportunities for discussion (each paper will have at least 45 minutes for comment and questions). Each day has only two such seminar slots, leaving plenty of time for debate as well as meeting old and new friends. We are hoping that you will want to come to Cambridge and participate in this event.

For more information about the conference please go to http://www.classics.cam.ac.uk/faculty/seminars_conferences/triennial_conference/.

Professor Stephen Oakley
Chair, Organising Committee

Over the weekend, the Makeuseof folks mentioned this site to make ‘fake’ Facebook profiles, which is something I have been planning to do with my history classes at some point. One of their ‘favourites’, it turns out, is one made for Hermes:

• Hermes (Mercury) Fake Facebook Profile – MyFakeWall.com.

I expect my announcing this will launch a few helen’s worth of similar ships … if you’re proud of it, make sure to tell us so we can share!

I’m only semi-surprised that the Daily Mail has fallen for this semi-regular silliness, inter alia:

The first trains, in the 19th century, were made to the same width as horse-drawn wagons, which were, in turn, built to fit in the ruts left in the roads by the chariots of the Roman invaders two millennia ago. The British standard rail gauge of 4ft 8½ inches is based on the specification for an Imperial Roman war chariot. Why the precise width? Well, the Romans calculated it as the average size of the backside of a horse. The problem is that that the bum-size of modern travellers is creeping ever closer to that of our equine friends, posing a growing nightmare for air travellers, too.

• via Expanding girths, train seat rage and why it’s all the fault of the Romans | Mail Online.

As might be expected, this is one which rogueclassicism has dealt with before:

• Railroad Gauge Canard

Adrian Murdoch’s series continues with a guy who had issues with the Dacians:

• #13 Trajan: Emperors of Rome