About a month ago we mentioned a vague item about some looting at the site of Elefsina; we now learn that arrests have been made. From ANA:

Attica prefecture security police announced late Thursday that they have solved in cooperation with Culture Ministry the April 15, 2011 case of a major theft of antiquities from the archaeological site of Elefsina.

Police located and arrested two Roma who possessed the stolen antiquities.

The perpetrators, on the night of 15 April, sneaked into the archaeological site and museum of Elefsina without being noticed by the guard and took over 50 antiquities of great value.

Following an investigation, police located the two suspects in a Roma camp in Zefyri, western Attica, and, posing as buyers, they came into contact with the two Roma suspects. A meeting was arranged, during which the two suspects were arrested and all the antiquities were retrieved.

The two detainees are currently being examined by the local prosecutor.

• via Antiquity smugglers arrested.

I’ve really got to start doing some serious stretching before I start reading email these days; I think I just injured myself shaking my head for the umpteenth time … from China Daily:

Construction has begun on a 200 million yuan ($30 million) project to restore the ancient town of Liqian from its ruins in Yongchang county, Northwest China’s Gansu province, local paper the Lanzhou Morning Post reported Friday.

City invests 200m yuan to restore Roman flavor

The project involves restoring the remains of an ancient fortification, strikingly similar to Roman defense structures and covering about one square kilometer. The project will bring the town back to life, with Roman-style residential buildings, a temple, a street and a square all being rebuilt.

As previously reported by the China Daily, today Liqian is a village of fewer than 100 households in Northwest China’s Gansu province with a historic link to the Roman Empire.

The remote village on the edge of the Gobi Desert captured international attention in the 1980s when media became aware some of the mainly Han residents had several unexpected physical features — wavy blond hair, hooked noses, and blue or green eyes. In other words, European features, suggesting a Roman settlement in the area at some point.

The project is expected to finish in 2013.

• via City invests 200m yuan to restore Roman flavor|China Economic Net.

Of course, projects like this are only encouraged by journalistic coverage such as we’ve already mentioned:

• Crassus’ Lost Army … Spinning out of Control

… and by now, we ancient blogger types are used to being routinely ignored by the journalistic set:

• Crassus’ Lost Army? Meet Elmer. Don’t Eat That.

Seen on the Classicists list:

*CALL FOR PAPERS*
«POETIC LANGUAGE AND RELIGION IN GREECE AND ROME»
SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, MAY, 31 MAY / 1 JUNE, 2012

We welcome paper proposals for the Conference on «Poetic Language and
Religion in Greece and Rome», organized by the Research Group on Classical
Philology at the University of Santiago de Compostela. A maximum of 20
proposals will be included in the Conference programme.

Studies on the ‘Indogermanische Dichtersprache’ (‘Indo-European poetic
language’) have proved fruitful thanks to the successful combined
application of philological and linguistic methods when researching the
spiritual background of ancient peoples, especially in Greece and Rome.
This Conference intends to benefit from this methodological tradition to
incorporate the new approaches to the analysis and exegesis of poetic
texts, as privileged bearers of the religious thought of Greece and Rome.

Our aim is to join researchers in the fields of classical studies and
linguistics to discuss key issues such as:
– The Indo-European poetic language and its reflection in the Greek and
Roman context.
– Phonic, rhythmic and lexical elements in Greek and Latin poetry: its
religious character.
– Greek and Latin poetic genres: religious origins and developments.
– The interrelation of literary expression, religion and thought.
– Overlapping of related areas: elements of poetry in the Greco-Roman magic.

Keynote speakers [provisional titles]:
-José Luis García Ramón (University of Cologne): «Religious Onomastics in
Greece and Italy and Indoeuropean Poetic Language»
-Manuel Garcia Teijeiro (University of Valladolid): «The Language of the
Gods and of the Ghosts»
-Alex Hardie (University of Edinborough): «Eastern Muses»
-Emilio Suárez de la Torre (Universidad Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona): «Poetic
Language or Religious Language? On the Interplay of Poetry and Ritual in
Ancient Greece»

Communications should not exceed 25-30 min. We welcome abstracts
addressing, among other topics:
– Survival of formulas of the Indo-European poetic language
– Poetic language and religious language
– The language of magic and the language of poetry
– Poetic and prophetic language
– Characterization of Greek and Roman cultic poetry
– Greek and Roman poetry on religious antiques
– The possibility of secular poetry in Greece and Rome

Titles and abstracts (about 200 words) should be sent to J. V. García
Trabazo [josevirgilio.garcia AT usc.es] or A. Ruiz Pérez [angel.ruiz AT usc.es]
before 27 November 2011. Answers on the acceptance of paper proposals
before 01.20.2012. The fee will be €40 (€20 for undergraduates)

PostaI address and Conference Venue: Departamento de Latin y Griego,
Facultad de Filología, Universidad de Santiago, E-15782 Santiago de
Compostela, SPAIN.