Hodie est Id. Ian. 2772 AUC ~ 19 Poseideon II in the third year of the 699th Olympiad

In the News

• Plans submitted for ‘world class’ Roman attraction in York | The Northern Echo

In Case You Missed It

• [Daisy Dunn] In the shadow of Vesuvius | Spectator USA

Classicists and Classics in the News

• Athol Daily News – At Athol High School, Latinum non est mortuus

Public Facing Classics

• [Edith Hall] Why working-class Britons loved reading and debating the Classics | Aeon Essays
• [Mary Beard] Prince Harry and the Emperor Tiberius – Column – Mary Beard: A Don’s life – TLS
• [Adrienne Mayor] Remains Of Ancient Female Fighters Discovered : NPR

Fresh Bloggery

• [must reading] News on the Newest Sappho Fragments: Back to Christie’s Salerooms | Roberta Mazza
• Marcus Valerius Martial is Dead! – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
• Portable Antiquity Collecting and Heritage Issues: PAS’s Preliminary Figures for 2019 Treasure Finds Shockingly Low
• Diagnose Thyself: Why Be a Doctor? – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE

Fresh Podcasts

• ‎The Panpsycast Philosophy Podcast: Episode 73, Plato’s Phaedo: The Death of Socrates (Part I – The Soul and Body) on Apple Podcasts

Let me tell you about the day Socrates drank the poison. You must be aware of his trial and apology? The Athenians have not stopped talking about it since Meletus and the others condemned him. Do not worry, he did not die in fear and nor is he truly gone. He argued his case much like he always had. He died the philosopher’s death, having practiced for it his entire life.

What does this mean? Socrates spoke persuasively about matters concerning the immortality of the soul. He said the life of a true philosopher helps the prisoner, chained hand and foot in their body, to escape from the dark cave of ignorance and into the light of wisdom. This, in turn, provides the soul with the perfect means to release itself from the body after death.

When the hour arrived, and Socrates finally took the hemlock, he did not flinch. Those of us who bore witness could not help but shed a tear – we were not as brave as the wise man who lay before us. What? You would like to hear more? Are you not convinced of the immortality that Socrates proposed? Come, take a seat, I will tell you the full story…

Book Reviews

• [BMCR] Hal Brands, Charles Edel, The Lessons of Tragedy: Statecraft and World Order. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2019. 
• [BMCR] Athena Trakadas, In Mauretaniae maritimis: Marine Resource Exploitation in a Roman North African Province. Geographica historica, 40. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2018. 
• [BMCR] Paul Chrystal, Rome: Republic into Empire, The Civil Wars of the First Century BCE. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Books, 2019. 
• HERODOTUS: Histories Book V – Classics for All

Professional Matters

• ORP: Merchants and Markets in Late Antiquity | Society for Classical Studies
• Hahn Scholarship for Rome/Greece Study 2020 | CAAS-CW

Alia

• Review – Troy: myth and reality – Current Archaeology
• The Recorder – Open Focus: Shelburne’s Jonathan Shay increased awareness of PTSD, ‘moral injury’
• Berenice, the Jewish Queen of Rome, and the Origins of Replacement Theory – Tablet Magazine
• Jim Heffernan column: It’s time to brush up on your Latin | Duluth News Tribune
• [Western Australia] 5 Reasons Why Families Will Love This Ancient Rome Exhibition

‘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 disease.

… 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)