Month: July 2012

Thermae Romae Manga/Movie!

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ 3 Comments

A couple of years ago, we first mentioned the existence of some Japanese Manga (a.k.a comic, although they’re closer to graphic novels than what we North Americans think of as comics) called Thermae Romae, the premise of which is that some ancient Roman gets magically transported from a Roman bath to a modern Japanese one. Since that first mention, there have been a cou ple of developments which are worth bringing up. First, the manga series is available online (it’s nice to read on your ipad via the manga storm app):

Second, as Chuck Jones reminded me a few moments ago (and Felix Racine reminded me back in October!), the series is being made into a movie. FR sent along some early photos from the production (First Shots From Live Action Thermae Romae Film) … back in March, my spiders brought back this first trailer (via Japan Invades Ancient Rome Then Gets Naked In Thermae Romae (Fempop))

Now just a few minutes ago, Chuck Jones prodded my memory of all this by pointing us to the official (Japanese) website of the movie. Sadly, it’s all java-based, so Google translate isn’t very helpful … perhaps someone who is familiar with japanese can enlighten us in the comments. I am told there might be Latin in the Roman parts, but I can’t find an example of it at youtube … whatever the case, I hope this hits our part of the world soon … the manga is hilarious.

Also Seen: Names of Dogs in Ancient Greece

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

Adrienne Mayor has a useful item up at Wonders and Marvels:

… alas, my own dog’s Greek name — Tyche — doesn’t seem to make the list … then again, I wonder what the ancient Greeks/Romans would have thought about all those dogs named Zeus …

Classical Words of the Day

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

Latinitweets:

This Day in Ancient History: nonae iuliae

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

nonae iuliae

  • ludi Apollinares (day 2)– games instituted in 212 B.C. after consulting the Sybilline books during a particularly bad stretch in the Punic Wars; four years later they became an annual festival in honour of Apollo
  • feriae Ancillarum — a festival in honour of the “maids” who helped save Rome from a Latin attack in the days after the Gallic sack
  • rites in honour of Juno Caprotina — rites possibly associated with the above in which Latin women offered sacrifices to Juno Caprotina under wild fig trees (the branches of the tree were also somehow used … the old canard of ‘fertility ritual’ is usually mentioned in this context)
  • rites in honour of Consus in the Circus Maximus — ‘public priests’ offered a sacrifice to Consus (possibly in a role of presiding over grain which has been stored underground) at his underground altar (was it uncovered for this?) at the first turning point in the Circus
  • eighth century B.C.? — death/disappearance of Romulus (traditional, obviously)
  • 267 B.C. — dedication of the Temple of Pales (and associated rites thereafter)
  • 175 A.D. — the future emperor Commodus dons his toga virilis
  • c. 200 A.D. — martyrdom of Pantaenus (a Stoic!)
  • 1586 — birth of Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel (amasser of the Arundelian Marbles)

Blogosphere ~ Roman Comedy in Performance: Session 6

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ 1 Comment

NEH Summer Institute: Roman Comedy in Performance:  Session 6.

[The feed for this one was broken and now is working …. they’re now on day ten and each group has their own blog; if you want to catch up, the main page for the blogs is here … they’re working on a number of different comedies]