Tip o’ the pileus to Diana Wright for passing this one along from Athens News:

A Roman-era engraved marble slab was unearthed on Tuesday on the island of Santorini near the settlement of Perissa, during excavations for a water supply and sewage system that were being conducted under the supervision of the 2nd Ephorate for Byzantine Antiquities.

The slab is 1.82 meters in length and 0.91 meters in height, with a thickness of 0.25m, and depicts two adult male figures. The right-side figure bears the inscription MELIS and the left-side figure the inscription HARICLES.

The wider area of Perissas where the marble slab was found is of great architectural interest.

via: Roman-era marble slab unearthed on Santorini

I’m going to include a photo of this one (again, from Athens News):

It seems incredibly clean and at the same time, not finished, no? The cynic in me sees something of recent creation, but I’m hardly an expert in that regard. I hope we’ll hear a bit more about this … I can’t find any more details …

Seen on the Classicists list:

Spinning Fates and the Song of the Loom: the use of textiles, clothing and cloth production as metaphor, symbol and narrative device in Greek and Latin literature

A one day round-table at the Danish National Research Foundation’s Centre for Textile Research, Saxo Institute, University of Copenhagen

1st June 2012

Ancient writers were well versed in the use of the techniques of textile production and dress as a short hand for all aspects of ancient life. Authors were skilled at manipulating descriptions of the dressed individual to produce character vignettes; textile metaphors abound in all genres of writing, suggesting that audiences had a shared understanding not only of the language of dress but also the methods of production.

This one day seminar invites paper from scholars working on all aspects of dress and textiles in Greek and Latin literature – defined for this purpose as poetry, prose, philosophy and letters.

Presentations should be only 15 minutes long as our aim is to promote discussion and an exchange of ideas. You can present work in progress or discuss a pre-circulated longer paper. A second seminar will take place at the University of Birmingham, UK, in 2013.

The day will run from 10-17, followed by dinner in Copenhagen.

Some travel funding may be available.

Abstracts should be sent by the end of April, to:
Marie Louise Nosch: nosch AT hum.ku.dk
Mary Harlow: mharlow AT hum.ku.dk

Seen on the Classicists list

Menander in Contexts

23 – 25 July 2012
Lincoln Hall, University of Nottingham

It is now over a century since Menander made his first great step back from the shades with the publication of the Cairo codex, and over half a century since we were first able to read one of his plays virtually complete; since that time our knowledge of his work has been continually enhanced by further papyrus discoveries. This international conference is designed to examine and explore the Menander we know today in the light of the various literary, intellectual and social contexts in which they can be viewed, more particularly in relation to

· the society, culture and politics of the post-Alexander decades

· the intellectual currents of the period

· literary precursors and intertexts, especially in comedy and tragedy

· the reception of Menander, in antiquity and in modern times

For more information see the conference website at

http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/classics/research/conferences/menander/menander.aspx

To book, follow the link below:

http://store.nottingham.ac.uk/browse/extra_info.asp?compid=1&modid=2&prodid=42&deptid=9&catid=1

Seen on the Classicists list:

The UCL Classical Drama Society in association with the Bloomsbury Theatre is pleased to announce our 2012 performance of Euripides’ Hippolytus. The play will be performed on Tuesday 7th (7:30pm), Wednesday 8th (2:30pm & 7:30pm) and Thursday 9th (2:30pm & 7:30pm) February 2012. The performance should last approximately two hours. Beautifully translated into English by Anne Carson, this unsettling tragedy is brought to life with elaborate costumes, contemporary video art and enchanting music which fuse the imagery of natural elements and fantasy. Tickets can be booked via the Bloomsbury Theatre website at http://www.thebloomsbury.com/event/run/1652 and please also see the play website at http://www.ucl.ac.uk/classics/classical-play which has further details of our production.

To complement this year’s production of Hippolytus, we are offering a series of talks and workshops, which aim to illuminate the play and its context and to bring Euripides to life for a modern generation. This exciting programme includes talks by academic experts on ancient drama and its reception, as well as interactive workshops by contemporary theatre practitioners. The events will be suitable for students of Classics, Classical Studies, and Drama at school or undergraduate level, and will be accessible to those with little or no previous experience of Greek drama.

Thanks to the generous support of the Hellenic Society, all events are free of charge and open to all. We still have space available at all events, and to book places for your group at the workshops or talks, please email l.swift AT ucl.ac.uk. Please note that workshop participants should be aged 16 and above. For the venue locations, please see the online route planner at http://crf.casa.ucl.ac.uk/ or the campus maps at http://www.ucl.ac.uk/locations/ucl-maps.

The programme for the workshops and talks is as follows:

Tuesday 7th February

3.15pm, Participatory Workshop: ‘Staging the chorus in contemporary theatre’, Russell Bender, Staff Director, National Theatre. Venue: Haldane Room

6pm, Public Talk: “The gods in Hippolytus” Professor Judith Mossman, University of Nottingham. Venue: Institute of Archaeology Lecture Theatre.

Wednesday 8th February

3.15pm, Participatory Workshop: “Negotiating desire in Hippolytus’. Dr Matthew Hiscock, free lance theatre director and lecturer in Classics at UCL. Venue: Room 432, School of Slavonic & East European Studies, Taviton St.

6pm Public Talk: ‘Choice, responsibility, and action in Hippolytus’ Dr Laura Swift, UCL. Venue: Christopher Ingold Auditorium, 20 Gordon St

Thursday 9th February

3.15pm Participatory Workshop: ‘Physical theatre and ancient drama’, Sasha Milavic Davies, Assistant Director, Complicite Theatre. Venue: Room SB1, 188 Tottenham Court Road

6pm, Public Talk: “Conflicting worlds in Hippolytus”, Professor Chris Carey, UCL. Venue: Christopher Ingold Auditorium, 20 Gordon St.

Given the apparent ubiquity of such things in ancient times and the salacious proclivities of the press, I’m genuinely surprised we don’t hear more of finds of  this sort of thing … from Lynn News:

LYNN Museum has put on show a rare 2,000-year-old solid gold pendant with an unmistakeable shape after successfully acquiring it for its local collection.

The item, dating from Roman times, is a golden pendant in the distinctive shape of a phallus. It was declared “treasure trove” by Norfolk coroner William Armstrong at an inquest last April.

As the Lynn News exclusively revealed then, the pendant was found on land belonging to farmer Neil Riseborough at Hillington almost a year ago by metal detectorist Kevin Hillier.

Bought by the museum with help from the Friends of Lynn Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum purchase grant fund and the Headley Trust, a grant-giving body helping museums to buy objects, it is now on display from Tuesday to Saturday each week, 10am to 5pm.

Collections officer Tim Thorpe said: “The pendant is 2cm long and formed of rolled or beaten sheets of gold soldered together.

“It is a particularly rare find for Norfolk, and indeed Britain, in its depiction of a phallus made in richly coloured gold, and is in excellent condition.”

He added: “Its special significance lies in the symbolism of the object and what it tells us about life in Roman times and people’s beliefs. Phallic amulets were commonly worn in Roman times both as a symbol of sexuality and to promote fertility.

“Ancient Romans believed that sexual symbols like this gold phallus would shield them from harm and protect them from evil curses. Eroticism and sexuality were prevalent in every form of Roman art, from paintings to sculpture and even jewellery.”

• via Lynn: Museum buys gold phallus(Lynn News).

… a photo does accompany the original article. Oddly, I could not find this (or any similar items) in the Portable Antiquities Scheme database … I’m obviously not using the proper search terms.