Hodie est a.d. IX Kal. Sept. 2774 AUC ~ 16 Metageitnion in the first year of the 700th Olympiad
In the News
- 2,600-year-old ancient city of Perinthos to be revealed in NW Turkey | Daily Sabah
- Albania and US Sign Deal to Fight Trafficking of Cultural Objects – Exit – Explaining Albania
- 3500-year-old ceramic oven found in Turkey’s Tepecik Mound | Daily Sabah
- Oldest flax? Not so fast: Prehistoric Turkish textile was made of oak fiber – Archaeology – Haaretz.com
- Petition started to challenge university’s “abomination” of a decision to scrap degree | Worcester News
- Scholar traces social changes in Jordan’s prehistoric period | Jordan Times
- AFGHANISTAN: Greece Concerned For Safety Of Cultural Treasures In Kabul Museum
In Case You Missed It
- Health Goddess Statue Unearthed in Turkey – Archaeology Magazine
- Reliefs found in Daskyleion in northwest Turkey depict Greco-Persian Wars
- Byzantine-Era Wine Press, Gold Coin Found Near Tel Aviv | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine
Classicists and Classics in the News
- Classics Department Cut Despite Outcry from Thousands
- Death of Fishbourne Roman Palace stalwart will be felt by ‘generations of aspiring archaeologists’ | Chichester Observer
- Cambridge Greek Lexicon: A 23-Year Project’s New Look at Ancient Greek
Greek/Latin News
- [Ephemeris] DE AMERICANORVM PROFECTIONE
Fresh Bloggery
- Attracting the Greatest Numbers of Students with the Least Truth – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
- Laudator Temporis Acti: Civil War
- Laudator Temporis Acti: People Who Find Homer Boring
- Laudator Temporis Acti: An Imperishable State of Health
- Laudator Temporis Acti: Hidden and Foreign
- Leaping Like Achilles – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
- Problem of Evil, What About the Problem of Good? – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
- Selene and Endymion, Painted By Ubaldo Gandolfi (c. 1728-1781) | The Historian’s Hut
- AWOL – The Ancient World Online: Akra – l’ancienne ville du Bosphore européen
- De Siciliaanse Expeditie (1) – Mainzer Beobachter
- PaleoJudaica.com: Rotasperti, Decoding the Language of Metaphor in the Book of Proverbs (Brill)
- PaleoJudaica.com: Dell (ed.), The BIblical World, 2nd ed. (Routledge)
- The History Blog » Blog Archive » It’s a Bronze Age hoard bonanza!
- PaleoJudaica.com: Bauks & Olyan (eds.), Pain in Biblical Texts and Other Materials of the Ancient Mediterranean (Mohr Siebeck)
- Factcheck: Het Afghanistan van Louise Fresco – Mainzer Beobachter
- Most Bizarre, Obscure Creatures from Ancient Greek Folklore – Tales of Times Forgotten
- Portable Antiquity Collecting and Heritage Issues: No Such thing as a “Trivial” Hole in the Archaeological Record
- Blog: Reflecting on Two Years of the AAACC Mentorship Program | Society for Classical Studies
- Spencer Alley: Eglon van der Neer (Shimmering Surfaces)
- Mythic Methodologies & Legendary Lit Reviews, Part 1 (A Research Update)
- Epigram of the month: I have often visited the city of Baiae – MAPPOLA
Blog-like Publications
- Hicham Aboutaam: Timeless Symbolism of the Menorah | Hicham Aboutaam | The Blogs
- Locusta – The notorious Roman poisoner – HeritageDaily – Archaeology News
Assorted Twitter Threads
Fresh Podcasts
In a seemingly abandoned desert spot, near a small and insignificant Egyptian village, for a period of one thousand years, a city flourished; an important Hellenistic-Egyptian city, perhaps the 3rd largest in Egypt at the turn of the world from the Greek to Roman influence. This city, was called Oxyrhynchus: which translates as the city of the sharp-nosed fish . This, is where our adventure today begins! Two thousand years ago Oxyrhynchus, was on canals leading directly to the river Nile, which as today, it was the lifeline of all of Egypt’s inhabitants. On January 11, 1897, a low mound was being dug, when a piece of papyrus with unknown Logia, or ‘Sayings of Jesus’ was brought to the surface (it would later be determined that this was the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas ). Next was a leaf from the Gospel of Matthew , and then even more pieces of papyri. In three months, the men found enough papyri to fill 280 boxes. These papyri, tell us the story of the inhabitants, open a window to the everyday past, and to the private lives of the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine citizens of Egypt!
Today it is the second largest city in France. But Marseilles is also the country’s oldest city. Founded at the turn of the 7th century BC by Greek settlers, the ancient history of Marseilles (known to the Greeks as Massalia and the Romans as Massilia) is rich. Strategically positioned close to the River Rhone it soon became a wealthy trading metropolis. Notable names are plenty. Artemis is closely linked with the city’s foundations; the explorer Pytheas hailed from Massalia. And who can forget the great Carthaginian general Hannibal Barca, who passed close by Massalia with his army enroute to Italy in 218 BC. To talk through the early ancient history of Marseilles, from its mythical Greek Mama Mia foundation story to the Battle of Alalia, Dr Joshua Hall returned to the podcast.
Stretched along the north of the Hindu Kush mountain range and the south of the Oxus river, the history of the ancient region of Bactria envelops some of the most intriguing periods of the ancient world. The land, which now straddles parts of Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, can be tracked through the Bronze Ages, the Persian Empire and the rule of Alexander the Great, Greco-Bactrian rule and the rule of the Kushites. To guide us through this history, Tristan from our sibling podcast The Ancients spoke to David Adams, the Australian photojournalist and documentary filmmaker. David has personally explored many of the archaeological sites of Bactria, he shares his experiences and explains how the evidence shows the impact of climate change on the societies who lived there.
Three major wars, substantial territorial annexation, and a new form for Consuls to be elected, all occurred between 349 to 300 BCE (late 4th Century BCE). Dr. Gary Forsythe, Associate Professor, Texas Tech University, makes a fifth appearance on the show to explain the events.
You might call ceramics the “plastics” of the ancient world…ubiquitous, indestructible, and incredibly useful! But how do we identify the spaces where ancient potters once made these everyday objects? Dr. Elizabeth Murphy joins the podcast to tell us all about the discovery and excavation of ancient tableware workshops at the site of Sagalassos in modern Turkey. Listen in as artisanal techniques are brought to life and the everyday lives of ancient potters are revealed through archaeological exploration.
Fresh Youtubery
Book Reviews
- [BMCR] Philipp Weiß , Claudia Wiener , Claudius Claudianus. Politische Gedichte / Carmina Maiora: Lateinisch-deutsch . Sammlung Tusculum. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2020.
- [BMCR] Annelies Lannoy , Corinne Bonnet , Danny Praet , “Mon cher Mithra …”: The correspondance between Franz Cumont and Alfred Loisy, (2 vols.) . Mémoires de l’Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres, 55. Leuven: Peeters, 2019.
- [BMCR] Patrick J. Finglass, Sophocles. Greece and Rome. New surveys in the classics, 44. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2019.
- Akra – l’ancienne ville du Bosphore européen | Spartokos a lu
Dramatic Receptions
- Reminiscence: Orpheus & Eurydice Explained (& How It Changes The Myth)
- The Bacchae – Camden Fringe, Hens and Chickens Theatre – The Reviews Hub
Online Talks and Professional Matters
- Teaching Fellow in Classics job with Durham University | 373028
- See what’s happening today in Dr Pistone’s Online Classics Social Calendar
- SCS Calendar: Classics, Ancient History, and Classical Archaeology Webinars
Alia
- A Coffin Is Unearthed Using Ancient Egyptian Tech | Smithsonian Magazine
- The Mythology Of Achilles Explained
- The Transformation of Hercules from Ancient Greek Hero to Disney Cartoon
- Is the ancient Egyptian ‘mummy’s curse’ real? | Live Science
- Fires Shaped the Landscape of Ancient Greece
- The woke war on our classical past is as lazy as it is wrong-headed
- How Pythagoras and Sappho Radicalized Music and Revolutionized the World – Brain Pickings
- Cambridge, ‘whiteness’ and the politicisation of Classics | The Spectator
‘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 the death of high born youths.
… 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)