Hodie est a.d. IV Id. Dec. 2772 AUC ~ 14 Poseideion in the third year of the 699th Olympiad

In the News

• Lost Ethiopian town comes from a forgotten empire that rivalled Rome | New Scientist

In Case You Missed It

• Stunning Warrior Grave — Complete with Chariot, Horses — Uncovered in England | Live Science
• The art of the Roman surveyors emerges from newly discovered pavements in Pompeii | EurekAlert! Science News
• Archaeologists Crack the Case of 1,700-Year-Old Roman Eggs | Smart News | Smithsonian

Greek/Latin News

• [Ephemeris] HOMO INFELIX SCLOPTETO SVO INTERFECTO. Nuntii Latini universi. 
• [Ephemeris] REX IN THRONO. Nuntii Latini universi. 

Fresh Bloggery

• What Must Be Done By Whom? – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
• Legacy Data, Digital Heritage, and Time | Archaeology of the Mediterranean World
• Beware The Locusts | Sphinx
• ‘Working to Contract’ and some resources for Classical Drama. | Ancient and Modern Rhetoric
• “Will I Conceive Like Other Women?” Mary and Gabriel in the Protoevangelium of James – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
• Time Travel – Ancient Rome blog Laodice: Ruthless Queen and Prosperous City – Time Travel – Ancient Rome blog
• Obscenity & Bungled Neuter Nouns – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
• AWOL – The Ancient World Online: The Galen Project
• Recently Emerged Coptic Manuscripts of Dubious Origins: A Working List | Variant Readings
• History of Saturnalia, Part II: – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
• The Algerian Xanten: Timgad – Mainzer Beobachter
• FIEC: Introducing the Board Members of FIEC

Fresh Podcasts

• ‎Mare Nostrum: 005 – The Pious Sabine on Apple Podcasts 

In this episode, we will look more closely at the reign of Rome’s second king, Numa Pompilius, who was said to have established most of Rome’s religious institutions and traditions almost single-handedly. We’ll consider Numa’s role in the more prolonged foundation narrative of Rome, and see how his work is still relevant to the world in which we live today\

• ‎Overheard at National Geographic: If These Walls Could Talk on Apple Podcasts 

Social Media is not just for modern folk. In ancient Pompeii, people also shared what they thought, who they met with, what they ate… It’s just, they had to use different technology.

• This Week in History: The Death of Cicero – Nightlife – ABC Radio 

Cicero was renowned for his oratorial skills and has gone down in history as ‘eloquence itself’, but in Ancient Rome he was also a politician, who was on the wrong side of Mark Antony as Rome tore itself in pieces following the assassination of Julius Caesar.

Dr Andrew Wright, a Special Honorary Associate at the University of Sydney’s Department of Ancient History and Classics told the story of Cicero’s life and death to Sarah Macdonald.

• 036: Hellenistic Cities – Colonization, Urbanization, & Hellenization by The Hellenistic Age Podcast | Free Listening on SoundCloud 

From Alexandria to Ai-Khanoum, the Hellenistic period would give rise to some of the most impressive cities in the world as the royal dynasties sought to make their mark on the landscape with ambitious building projects and military settlements. We’ll trace the path of a Hellenistic city from foundation to megalopolis, what exactly makes them “Hellenistic”,  and look at a variety of topics including their impacts on disease and human health and their overall legacy in the lands they were built upon.

• Bonus Episode: Thorneloe Race Forum — The Endless Knot 

This bonus episode contains two talks we gave at our university in November. Mark spoke about “The ‘Anglo-Saxon’ Problem: Language and Racism in Medieval Studies” and Aven spoke about “Defining ‘Race’ in the Ancient Mediterranean and Today”.

Reviews

• [BMCR] Sarah Levin-Richardson, The Brothel of Pompeii. Sex, Class, and Gender at the Margin of Roman Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019. 
• [BMCR] Response: Defouw on Beck on Defouw, The Subtlety of Homer. 
• [BMCR] Candida R. Moss, Divine Bodies: Resurrecting Perfection in the New Testament and Early Christianity. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2019.
• They Were the Renaissance Men of Roman Antiquity – The New York Times

Dramatic Receptions

• ‘Eurydice’ challenges the role of gender in storytelling | The Justice 

Professional Matters

• Summer School: Thesaurus linguae Latinae
• Neo-Paleography conference | Ancient History | D-Scribes
• Writing Ancient History in the Interwar Period (1919-1938) | Newcastle University WebStore 
• Live stream of the conference “The Lydians and Their Neighbors” | Kleos@CHS 

Alia

• Discussion questions for ‘Circe’ | PBS NewsHour
• When did societies become modern? ‘Big history’ dashes popular idea of Axial Age

‘Sorting’ Out Your Day:

• Homeromanteion | Online Homeric Oracle
• Sortes Virgilianae (English)
• Sortes Virgilianae (Latin)
• Consult the Oracle at UCL

Today on the Etruscan Brontoscopic Calendar:

If it thunders today, it portends a massive epidemic, but an abundance of fish.

… adapted from the text and translation of:

Jean MacIntosh Turfa, The Etruscan Brontoscopic Calendar, in Nancy Thomson de Grummond and Erika Simon (eds.), The Religion of the Etruscans. University of Texas Press, 2006. (Kindle edition)