Day: February 18, 2013

Cleopatra Murdered? Hmmmm ….

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ 12 Comments

Just saw this post by author Pat Brown, who is promoting her work via the Huffington Post … here’s the incipit:

For 2000 years, historians and Egyptologists have written of Cleopatra VII’s death in 30 BCE, repeating again and again the tale that the last pharaoh of Egypt committed suicide along with her two handmaidens soon after the conquering of her country by Rome.

There has been little dissension in the ranks; Cleopatra is believed to have taken her life to prevent the victorious Roman general Octavian from carrying her back to Rome in chains and humiliating her by displaying her in his triumph. Yet, I have taken a radically different view of this episode of history and that puts me in the rather risky position of upsetting a very beloved apple cart in a field I am not even a part of. But, I cannot back off because I believe that Cleopatra has been misunderstood and misrepresented throughout the last two millennia. I believe the evidence supports my theory that Cleopatra was murdered and that the events leading up to her death are not the ones that have been reported for centuries.

I recently gave a talk on my book at the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE) in Washington DC and after I shared my theory of Cleopatra’s life and death with the audience, a woman raised her hand.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but why do you think your theory holds any water if none of the great minds of academia and none of the seasoned historians of the Egyptian and European past have ever come up with your conclusions? ” In other words, who am I to question such authority? Do I consider myself to be smarter than all these other people?

The answer to the latter question is clearly, “No, I am not all that brilliant,” and those who know me well will vouch for my IQ being quite normal; I doubt I have an invitation on the way to join Mensa in the near future. But, I do have something which many in the field of history do not; a way of looking at events from a completely different vantage point – through the eyes of a criminal profiler. I also am not beholden to any mindset or to historical tradition or to any institution. I am free to analyze Cleopatra and her life from a very new perspective, one based on evidence – forensic, behavioral, archeological, cultural, political and historical. I am free to question everything and everyone and to accept and assume nothing. […]

… I’m going to suspend judgement on this one until I can get a copy of the book (why is there no Kindle edition?). We should remind folks, however, the bit of revisionism from a couple of years ago suggesting drugs rather than asps might be involved (assorted links gathered together here: Death of Cleopatra Revisionism Followup). I must mention, however, that there seems to be a certain arrogance in Brown’s claims of ‘superior knowledge’ and the tenor of her post in general … I do want to see how she handles the ancient accounts, however, as I myself am free to question everything and everyone and to accept and assume nothing — as are the vast majority of the professional scholars who have dealt with this question, believe it or not (he muttered, sarcastically). I do get weary of ‘outsiders’ claiming those who do ancient historical research for a living are necessarily doing flawed research that isn’t based on evidence. Judging from the tenor of the Huffington Post piece, I would be surprised if I wasn’t  labelled a part of some sort of sleeper cell of Plutarchian theology or some such. Still, it will be useful to see that Brown brings to the discussion …

UPDATE (a few minutes later): here’s Pat Brown’s background (via the ARCE DC chapter’s page about her talk … not sure how long it will be there):

Pat Brown is a nationally known criminal profiler, television commentator, author, and founder and CEO of The Sexual Homicide Exchange (SHE) and The Pat Brown Criminal Profiling Agency.

Pat has provided crime commentary, and profiling and forensic analysis in over one thousand television and radio appearances in the United States and across the globe. She can be seen regularly on the Cable Television news programs MSNBC, CNN, and FOX, and is a frequent guest of  Nancy Grace, America’s Most Wanted, and The Montel Williams Show.

Darius Arya: Gladiator Tomb Redux

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

Efforts continue to prevent the so-called ‘Gladiator Tomb‘ from being lost to reburial … today we feature a post by Darius Arya, who has spearheaded the effort to save it for further research. Perhaps rogueclassicism readers who haven’t yet signed the petition can push it ‘over the top’ of the 5000-signature goal:

I am writing today to appeal to you, dear reader, to consider signing and sharing the ipetition that advocates the re-evaluation and preservation of the second century AD Marcus Nonius Macrinus mausoleum and surrounding excavation site along a section of the ancient Via Flamina, nearby today’s Via Vitorichiano.  

 Why?  The site has, since its discovery in 2008, captured the world’s imagination and interest in ancient Rome because of the magnificent state of the remains as well as its affiliation with a larger than life movie character, played by Oscar award winning actor Russell Crowe in the film Gladiator.  Around the world this synergy between historical fact and Hollywood magic piqued people’s curiosity and interest in history and discovery of the past.  Now, it’s to be covered due to lack of funds.  Many media outlets have cited the dilemma, which encapsulates not just what Italy faces, but what all countries worldwide now face, regarding heritage preservation.  (See the ample ipetition news summary links).  State funding is lacking; new solutions and partnerships are required.

At the moment, a successful resolution is possible, as involved stakeholders are discussing with the Archaeological Superintendency of Rome.  Not a small part of this new impetus to create a resolution other than burying the site has been due to our own efforts to give the public a voice through social media conversation and the ipetition.  So I implore you to sign the petition- and help us meet our goal.

 Then, I ask you to share the link with your friends, colleagues, students.  Our goal is to exceed 5000 signatures in all haste; we’ve been at this since December 10th  and lately the momentum has been slowing down!  We have just over 1000 signatures to obtain to reach our goal.  Time is of the essence.  If a 100 people share the ipetition with 10 friends, we’ll make our goal this week.  Please do share the link.

Thank you!

Darius Arya

American Institute for Roman Culture, Executive Director 

(Not Recently) Looted Odyssey Mosaics Followup!

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

Even though I’ve been wandering along the internet superhighway for a couple of decades, I still marvel at the communication opportunities it offers which would have boggled the minds of folks even three decades ago.  Outside of several instances of me watching assorted international sporting events from my comfy chair in Southern Ontario while chatting about same with fellow-Classicist Terrence Lockyer in South Africa, yesterday’s events are a prime example. As folks know, I had mentioned the looting of 18 mosaics depicting scenes from the Odyssey in my Explorator newsletter and here at rogueclassicism (Odyssey Mosaics Stolen!!!) . In the latter format, I noted how it was rather strange that none of the reports (and the AFP item spawned quite a bit of coverage) mention where or when these things were looted. So after posting all that, I went out to run some errands prior to visiting my mother in hospital (she’s fine) and was sitting down for a hamburger lunch and was reading through my twitter feed. Our friend Dorothy King (of PhDiva and Lootbusters  fame) is currently sojourning in Istanbul and mentioned that the stories of looting at Hamas were less-than-accurate. And so began a twitter/email conversation between two Classics/Archaeologist bloggers, neither of whom were in their ‘home port’ about some mosaics in Syria.

As Dr King mentioned, these mosaics don’t seem to have been recently stolen. They are already in Interpol’s database and were taken from the Hama museum in Apamea last year, it seems (if I’m reading Interpol’s news release from May of 2012 correctly). There are several pages of photos at the Lootbusters site …

An article in Time magazine last September was one of many news reports suggesting antiquities were being sold to fund the rebels (Syria’s Looted Past: How Ancient Artifacts Are Being Traded for Guns).  That said, however, the clearly deliberate vagaries of the most recent announcement suggest  that Syria’s ‘official’ channels are clearly playing up the looting aspect to gain political points in the Western media and as such, cause me to genuinely wonder who is doing the looting, the extent of it,  and for what purposes.  Indeed, in yesterday’s post we mentioned that many of the articles about this ‘Odyssey’ incident were accompanied by a photo of rebels sitting under a Roman mosaic … here’s the photo:

via France24

… what is being implied? The France24 coverage also includes this one:

via France24

Some poking around suggests these photos come from the Musée de Ma’aret el-Nu’man, which appears to have been shelled, like many museums in Syria. There’s a very interesting facebook page: Le patrimoine archéologique syrien en danger which has a number of other photos of this particular museum, e.g., this page from three months ago: Musée de Ma’aret el-Nu’man … and this one: Musée de Ma’aret el-Nu’man, which includes a photo of the museum six months ago prior to the shelling (and it includes a photo of the mosaic the rebels are sitting beneath). The photos are also at the facebook page of the Musée de Ma’aret el-Nu’man.  Some photos from ‘more peaceful times’  are available here. Clearly, this museum is full of mosaics. Has it been looted? Or have the rebels been actually protecting it? I really don’t want to venture an opinion on this, but we’re clearly not getting the full story and judgement must be suspended on what’s being pillaged, when, and by whom.

UPDATE (a few hours later): here’s Dorothy King’s views: Syria … Looting?

Roman Baths from Sozopol

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

This just in from Novinite:

A Bulgarian team of archaeologists have discovered well-preserved remains of a Roman bath in the ancient Bulgarian town of Sozopol.

The news was revealed by National Museum of History director Bozhidar Dimitrov.

“The team, led by Sozopol Archaeology Museum director Dimitar Nedev has made the discovery as part of its digs in the area in front of Sozopol’s fortress walls,” said the historian.

According to Dimitrov, the thermae building is 18 meters long and features an intricate water supply systems as well as numerous pools of various sizes.

“Except for Roman baths in Hissarya and Varna, this is the best-preserved Roman bath in Bulgarian lands,” added he.

Dimitrov expressed satisfaction at the string of discoveries made in Sozopol, which he said will make an attractive open-air exhibit once archaeological works are completed.

Sozopol, founded by Greek colonists in the 5th century BC on what is now Bulgaria’s southern Black Sea coast, is now a popular resort town.

… the article is accompanied by a photo of what is clearly a hypocaust system of some sort …