#Thelxinoe ~ Classics News for February 10, 2021

Hodie est a.d. IV Id. Feb. 2774 AUC ~ 28 Gamelion in the fourth year of the 699th Olympiad

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This week Dave and Jeff clamber aboard a trireme and follow Telemachus as he leaves Ithaca (for the first time?) and heads to the Peloponnese in search of news of his missing father. After leaving Nestor (and escaping his grumpy old man, “back in my day” monologues) it’s on to Sparta to visit Menelaus and Helen. Here things are so tense that Helen has to mix some sort of magic sedative into the Mountain Dew. Stick around for Menelaus and Helen’s strikingly different versions of the Trojan Horse story, and possible answers to the questions “Could the Trojan War have been avoided if they had just had better coffee?” and “Who cares what Jeff wore on his first day of high school?”

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Alia

‘Sorting’ Out Your Day:

Today on the Etruscan Brontoscopic Calendar:

If it thunders today, it portends favourable conflicts of beasts over humans.

… 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)

#Thelxinoe ~ Classics News for February 9, 2021

Hodie est a.d. V Id. Feb. 2774 AUC ~ 27 Gamelion in the fourth year of the 699th Olympiad

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Perseus meets two powerful half-siblings he never knew he had, and confronts his mother Danae about the secrets she’s kept his whole life.

When Trajan came to the big city he bought his provincial wife with him. Plotina stood on the steps of Domitian’s palace and promised the people of Rome that she’d keep it real. And from what we can tell from our ancient sources, that’s exactly what she did. Part VII of ‘Empresses of Rome’ Guest: Professor T. Corey Brennan (Classics, Rutgers University).

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Alia

‘Sorting’ Out Your Day:

Today on the Etruscan Brontoscopic Calendar:

If it thunders today, it portends a failure of the barley crops.

… 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)

#Thelxinoe ~ Classics News for February 8, 2021

Hodie est a.d. VI Id. Feb. 2774 AUC ~ 26 Gamelion in the fourth year of the 699th Olympiad

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Michael Symmons Roberts begins a bold new three-part series examining the fascination poets have forever held with notions around metamorphosis and the body. From Homer’s account of Circe’s transformation of men into swine and Ovid’s great classic Metamorphosis, the conceit has been picked up through the centuries by many of our greatest writers including Shakespeare, Kafka and Stevenson. Over the course of the series, Michael examines how poets today are engaging with the theme of transformation, whether that is through re-imagining classical works from a feminist perspective or using it as a means to explore identity in the 21st Century. Some of the biggest and most interesting names in contemporary poetry shaer their thoughts – Jorie Graham, Michael Longley, Alice Oswald, Patience Agbabi, Fiona Benson, Will Harris, Andrew McMillan and more. In this first episode, Michael talks with Professor Edith Hall about the reasons metamorphosis was such source of fascination for writers in Ancient Greece and Rome. He also speaks with writers including Cheri Magid and Fiona Benson who are re-writing Ovid’s tales with renewed emphasis upon the sexual assaults that so often feature in these foundational stories and which have frequently been air-brushed out of historical translations.

A look at ‘The Self Tormenter’ by Terrence. Written in 162 or 163 BCE this is the story of disagreements between fathers and sons over the choice of women and how a clever slave almost wins the day. A synopsis of the pay with some comments about the Prologue, the action of the play and the general style. The way Terence changes the standard stock characters and makes them more rounded characters than anything we have seen before, including how the portrayal of the clever slave and the courtesan are more subtle than in previous plays.

Tres sodales plurimas epistulas ab audientibus missas recitant et eisdem satis iocose respondent.

The vivid stories of Delilah and Goliath have made the Philistines the most famous villains of the Hebrew Bible. But, for the last two hundred years, explorers, historians, archaeologists, and, now, even geneticists have been working to understand the ancient people behind these famous biblical tales. Join us for an exploration of Philistine origins.

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Alia

‘Sorting’ Out Your Day:

Today on the Etruscan Brontoscopic Calendar:

If it thunders today, it portends the outbreak of a major scandal for the state; there will be an abundance of fish but dangerous beasts will die.

… 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)

#Thelxinoe ~ Classics News for February 7, 2021

Hodie est a.d. VII Id. Feb. 2774 AUC ~ 25 Gamelion in the fourth year of the 699th Olympiad

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Another slow news day!

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Heus, you want to learn Latin? Salve sodalis, you have come to the right place. This is a Latin podcast for beginners. With the series “Litterae Latinae Simplices”, you will set up for a journey into Latin literature, in easy spoken Latin.

Dramatically placed on a plateau with drops of 400m to the east and 90m to the west, Masada translates from Hebrew as fortress. It became just that when Herod the Great built a magnificent palace complex upon it between 37 and 31 BC, the remains of which are in fantastic shape today. But the site isn’t only notable for its connection to the bible-famed King of Judaea. Masada was also the stronghold of some of the survivors of a Jewish revolt and, in response, the locus of a Roman siege in the early 70s AD. For this first of two parts, Tristan spoke to Jodi Magness from the University of North Carolina. Jodi co-directed the 1995 excavations of the Roman siege works at Masada, and in this episode she tells Tristan about the archaeological findings at the site, many of which are still visible to the untrained eye. Jodi is the author of ‘Masada: From Jewish Revolt to Modern Myth’ Part 2, which will focus on the fall of Masada, the myths and the siege’s legacy, will be released in the coming weeks.

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Alia

‘Sorting’ Out Your Day:

Today on the Etruscan Brontoscopic Calendar:

If it thunders today, it portends a brief period of destruction for humans.

… 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)

#Thelxinoe ~ Classics News for February 6, 2021

Hodie est a.d. VIII Id. Feb. 2774 AUC ~ 24 Gamelion in the fourth year of the 699th Olympiad

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A slow news day!

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Greg Jenner is joined by historian Dr Kristi Upson-Saia and comedian Stu Goldsmith to explore the strange world of Ancient Greek and Roman medicine. Welcome to a time when health was fleeting, water could be dangerous and communal bum sponges were all the rage. The team will take you through a variety of common ailments from tight atoms to wandering wombs and provide startling cures in the form of electric eels and beavers’ anuses. Welcome to the world of ancient medicine!

Fresh Youtubery

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Alia

‘Sorting’ Out Your Day:

Today on the Etruscan Brontoscopic Calendar:

If it thunders today, it portends the destruction of grain supplies, especially barley.

… 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)