Month: July 2021

#Thelxinoe ~ Classics News for July 31, 2021

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

Hodie est pr. Kal. Aug. 2774 AUC ~ 22 Hekatombaion in the first year of the 700th Olympiad

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Often known as ‘Britain’s first town’, Colchester is a city rich in ancient history and on 24 July 2021, a new exhibition will open at the Colchester Museum revealing more about some of its earliest Roman occupants. Called ‘Decoding the Roman Dead’, the exhibition focuses on cremations found in the area around Colchester dating to almost 2,000 years ago. Thanks to new scientific methods, the team have been able to analyse these burnt remains and find out some astonishing details about who these people were. From gender to pathology to where in the Roman Empire these people came from. To talk all about the new exhibition, and to shine a light on the wealth of information archaeologists can learn from ancient cremations, Tristan from our Sibling podcast The Ancients chatted to Dr Carolina Lima and Dr Glynn Davis. Carolina and Glynn are two of the curators of the exhibition.

For this premiering episode of A.D. History, it is again one of those special occasions where your hosts Paul and Patrick use their combined intellects to tackle a major topic together. In this decade, they go all in and tell the history of how one Lucius Domitius Aurelianus – better known as Emperor Aurelian – did what no other Roman leader could during the Third Century Crisis… reconquer all prior Roman territory that had splintered from the Empire during this Third Century disaster. We look at why Aurelian succeeded where all of his third century contemporaries and predecessors abjectly failed; discussing what he understood that they did not. Aurelian’s achievement amazingly occurred entirely within the first five years of the 270s, serving as the first act of two that would give Rome a new lease on its already vaunted existence.

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Alia

‘Sorting’ Out Your Day:

Today on the Etruscan Brontoscopic Calendar:

[Saturday] no entry for this day

[Sunday] If it thunders today, it portends slightly better things for the state and general abundance.

… 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 July 30, 2021

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

Hodie est a.d. III Kal. Aug. 2774 AUC ~ 21 Hekatombaion in the first year of the 700th Olympiad

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…In this episode we try and unpick the rather confusing mythological origins for the Olympics (no – it’s not as simple as everyone makes it out to be … there are TWO Herakles’s and A LOT of family relations) and bring you our fave fun facts about the ancient event. Mule cart driving anyone?

The Republic of Florence formed in the 12th century and became one of the premiere states in Europe during the period. Dr. Brian Brege, Syracuse University, returns to the show to explain how it was established.

Alex, part of our patreon community asks ‘how much do you feel that luck played a role in ancient combat? Theoretically luck would be more of a factor in the gunpowder age, but I can’t imagine worse luck than being a Roman at Cannae. Low chance of survival, no matter your martial skill. Thoughts?’

The Greek and Persian wars would be a defining moment in the Greek world helping shape the trajectory of development in Greece and around the Aegean for time to come. Even today a detailed ancient account survives describing the events of 2500 years in what is one of the oldest works of history. Herodotus who has been labelled the father of history would be born during the wars and would travel the Greek world later in life collecting all he could, so as to understand what brought the Greeks and Persian to make war. In this episode we will be looking back at the last 18 episodes that looked at the Greco-Persian Wars and try and tie everything together, so as to refresh ourselves on all that has taken place over the 21 years since the Ionian revolt. This will then put us in a good position to then move on with the narrative of the series…

Boudicea wins round one. But Suetonius has bloodshed and destruction on his mind.

In the year 61, Nero deals with riots, treason, Stoics and the death of one of his key advisors.

We are back to our regularly scheduled programming with the early reign of Cleopatra. Now that we know all the moving parts happening, both in Rome and in Egypt, everything comes to a head when Pompey arrives on Egyptian shores. Bad advisors, Caesar being Caesar, and some daring actions myths are made of are in store!!

Sophie (age 7) and Ellie (age 5) tell the story of the Ancient Olympic Games.
With the modern Olympic games starting this week. Sophie and Ellie decide to tell the story of how 3000 years ago the Greeks invented the first Olympic Games. ...

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Alia

‘Sorting’ Out Your Day:

Today on the Etruscan Brontoscopic Calendar:

If it thunders today, it portends men determined to get vengeance engaging in the worst kind of treachery.

… 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 July 29, 2021

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

Hodie est a.d. IV Kal. Aug. 2774 AUC ~ 20 Hekatombaion in the first year of the 700th Olympiad

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The ‘Gospel of Jesus’ Wife’ is the latest high profile example of a forged ancient text. Scholars should have known better, but hey, where’s the fun in that? When Fox Mulder meets Elaine Benes the sparks fly and scholarship takes it on the chin. Our panelists are there ringside, sagely opining.

The Second Punic War was the second of three wars principally fought between Rome and Carthage, and lasted 17 years. British historian, Dr Kathryn Lomas, Durham University, returns to the show to explain the series of events.

The Theban Sacred Band was one of the greatest military corps of Ancient Greece, thriving from the city-state of Thebes for almost 50 years in the mid 4th century BC. In addition to their fighting prowess, however, there is another fascinating aspect to their history; this 300-man elite corps was made up of 150 pairs of male lovers, many of them buried side by side where they fell in battle. To hear more about this, Tristan spoke to James Romm, author, reviewer, and James H. Ottaway Jr. Professor of Classics at Bard College in Annandale, New York. James gives us a glimpse of Theban democracy, power struggles between leading city-states, and the growth of eros, sexual love, in Greek public life. His book ‘The Sacred Band’ is out now.

f archaeological digs are anything to go by, Rome was a society of fantastic luxury. Impressive buildings, exotic foods, obedient slaves, and more marble than you could shake a toga at. But when you read ancient sources, there were those who felt uncomfortable with the opulence, and perhaps it was making the Roman’s soft. Guest: Associate Professor Rhiannon Evans (Head of Department of Languages and Linguistics, La Trobe University)

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Alia

‘Sorting’ Out Your Day:

Today on the Etruscan Brontoscopic Calendar:

If it thunders today, it portends a good harvest.

… 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 July 28, 2021

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

Hodie est a.d. V Kal. Aug. 2774 AUC ~ 19 Hekatombaion in the first year of the 700th Olympiad

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Jeff and Dave bring the first show from Vomitorium West, where they take a close look at the sophist Gorgias (483–375 BC). When he wasn’t hitting the Olympia/Delphi orators circuit for some cool drachmai, Gorgias was in Athens claiming to be able to answer any question anyone one might put to him. Who was this guy? Did he actually believe his own press? In this work, G defends Helen of Troy so convincingly you’ll be fist-pumping. That is, until he pulls the rug out from under the whole project with the work’s final word. Oh, and make sure you know your millihelens from your terahelens before you wander down to the harbor with Robertson Davies and Isaac Asimov. Then again, you probably don’t exist (G says nothing does), so don’t sweat it. Finally, check out Jeff’s smoove beatbox.

On January 10th, 49 BCE, Julius Caesar, with an army, crossed the Rubicon River, hence, commencing a civil war in Rome. Professor Richard Alston, Royal Holloway, University of London, makes a fifth appearance on the show to share what happened, and to treat the middle period of Caesar’s life.

In this episode, Alice and Nicolas interview members of NMT Automatics, a theatre company which specialises in updating ancient myths for modern audiences. Co-founders Jennie Dunne and Jonathan Young have been working with director Andres Velasquez and dramaturg Mairin O’Hagan to develop a new play, Tempus Fugit: Troy and Us, which weaves together an Ancient Greek war story from Homer’s Iliad with the tale of a modern military couple, Alec and Bea. The Visualising War project has been feeding into their research process, so we enjoyed catching up with them to find out how the play has evolved….

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‘Sorting’ Out Your Day:

Today on the Etruscan Brontoscopic Calendar:

If it thunders today, it portends a drought and a plague of poisonous reptiles.

… 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 July 27, 2021

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

Hodie est a.d. VI Kal. Aug. 2774 AUC ~ 18 Hekatombaion in the first year of the 700th Olympiad

In the News

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Classicists and Classics in the News

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With the Games underway in Tokyo, Tom and Dominic look back to the Ancient Olympics. They discuss the heroic but incredibly violent stories of the Greek superstars of 2500 years ago, and why the Games were bad news for women, animals and cheats. Plus, Tom reveals how his cricketing woes were compounded by an Ancient Greek poet.

The unexpected death of King Alexander III of Macedon (commonly known as Alexander the Great) ended the Classical period and ushered in the Hellenistic period. Dr Charlotte Dunn, University of Tasmania, joins the show to explain the succession after Alexander’s life.

In the mid-20th century French archaeologists came across a remarkable collection of ancient items from Eastern China, the Indian subcontinent and the Roman Mediterranean, all in one place. In this second episode about Begram, Tristan is once again joined by the University of Freiburg’s Lauren Morris, who takes us into the details of these decorative plaques, small figures and inlays, carved from ivory and bone and sometimes decorated with lacquer. Lauren and Tristan then explore what the hoard tells us about the global nature of this area in Central Asia during its golden age in the 1st – 4th centuries AD.

In the space of a few weeks there have been many sad developments in archaeology in the UK. Sheffield University announced the closure of its world-renowned archaeology department, shortly before Liverpool’s waterfront was stripped of its UNESCO World Heritage status, which preceded the news that Stonehenge is also at risk. In this episode, Dan is joining the fight to save archaeology. He chats with TV presenter, archaeological scientist and lecturer at Newcastle University, Chloe Duckworth and Executive Director of the Council for British Archaeology, Neil Redfern, about the importance of the discipline. They discuss why archaeology matters, why it’s a good subject to study, and, in a world facing issues like a global pandemic and climate change, why put funding into digging up the past?

More specifically, it is about PornHub’s recent project called ‘Classic Nudes’ which caused a bit of a stir amongst museums (who we’re pretty sure were mostly annoyed about their image rights). In an attempt to prove that whilst ‘porn may not be considered art … some art can definitely be considered porn’, PornHub have taken some of the biggest museums of the Western art historical tradition and, well, highlighted all the sexy bits. But seriously guys, this is PROFESH – with maps, bios, audio guides, the LOT.

We talked to Isobel Williams about her fascinating and illuminating new translation of selected poems of Catullus, illustrated with her drawings of the Japanese art of rope binding, shibari. Our discussion ranges over the connections between the world of shibari and the emotional struggles depicted in Catullus’s poetry, the way translation and learning Latin can feel like being tied up in, and untangling, knots, and much more. Content Note: fetish, sex, brief mention of sexual violence, discussion of enslavement and use of slavery as metaphor

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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 skin 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)