Month: June 2022

#Thelxinoe ~ Classics News for June 11, 2022

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

Hodie est a.d. III Id. Iun. 2775 AUC ~ 12 Skirophorion in the first year of the 700th Olympia

In the News

In Case You Missed It

Greek/Latin News

Public Facing Classics

Fresh Bloggery

Association/Departmental Blogs and News

Other Blog-like Publications

Assorted Twitter Threads

Fresh Podcasts

When you’ve been up to no good, and you get caught out, you have two options. Nero, like Ray, is a Number 2 kind of guy. In this episode, he goes after two significant Stoics, Thrasea Paetus and Barea Soranus, with trumped up charges. And we farewell one of our fans and friends, Victor Santochi. RIP mate.

In the first of several episodes on the “Hellenistic Far East”, we will cover the history of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, which controlled the lands of Central Asia stretching from Afghanistan to Kazakhstan during the third and second centuries B.C. As one of the most fascinating yet poorly understood regions in antiquity, we will try to piece together the fragmented history of Bactria and its inhabitants from the invasion of Alexander the Great to the reign of Eucratides I.

Fresh Youtubery

Book Reviews

Dramatic Receptions

Online Talks and Conference-Related Things

Jobs, Postdocs, and other Professional Matters

Alia

Diversions

‘Sorting’ Out Your Day:

Today on the Etruscan Brontoscopic Calendar:

[Saturday] If it thunders today it portends hot weather but not damagingly so; there will be celebrations at the national level

 [Sunday]  If it thunders today it portends the same thing as the previous day.

… 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 June 10, 2022

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

Hodie est a.d. IV Id. Iun. 2775 AUC ~ 11 Skirophorion in the first year of the 700th Olympia

In the News

In Case You Missed It

Classicists and Classics in the News

Greek/Latin News

Fresh Bloggery

Other Blog-like Publications

Assorted Twitter Threads

Fresh Podcasts

The giant stone sculptures of boxers found in a first millennium BCE Sardinian cemetery have our contestants puzzled. Are these protective deities or just slightly oversized sports heroes? And why does every culture around the world first pile stones and then carve them? Didn’t they have anything better to do with their time?

In this episode of the Ancient Warfare Magazine podcast Jasper, Murray and Myke talk to games designer Mark Backhouse about his new game Strength & Honour. The game allows you to recreate battles from the start of the Marian reforms in Rome around 105BC, when the professional Roman legionaries organised in cohorts replaced the older Republican Legion structure of maniples, through to about 200AD.

Daisy Dunn joins us to talk about how Oxford found itself at war, even after the First World War ended…

Selections from past conversation episodes featuring LGBTQIA topics from Greek mythology (and history!). Selected by incredible intern Grace Roby, put together by the magnificent Michaela Smith. CW/TW: far too many Greek myths involve assault. Given it’s fiction, and typically involves gods and/or monsters, I’m not as deferential as I would be were I referencing the real thing.

What really happened in Britain as Roman influence waned? Recent research is shaking up our view of the end of imperial rule during the fifth century, and one new find in particular – a mosaic at Chedworth Roman villa – is leading experts to reassess how far people carried on “being Roman”. In the opening episode of our new series, David Musgrove takes a trip to Chedworth to begin his investigation into the end of Roman Britain.

Fresh Youtubery

Book Reviews

Dramatic Receptions

Online Talks and Conference-Related Things

Jobs, Postdocs, and other Professional Matters

Alia

Diversions

‘Sorting’ Out Your Day:

Today on the Etruscan Brontoscopic Calendar:

If it thunders today, it portends many deaths but also prosperity.

… 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 June 9, 2022

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

Hodie est a.d. V Id. Iun. 2775 AUC ~ 10 Skirophorion in the first year of the 700th Olympia

In the News

In Case You Missed It

Greek/Latin News

Public Facing Classics

Fresh Bloggery

Other Blog-like Publications

Assorted Twitter Threads

Fresh Podcasts

Many of us have preconceived notions about what the Illiad was like. Prepare to have those notions blown away. In this episode, debut author Maya Deane methodically strips away the lenses of the Victorian era, Classical Greece, and the modern day to reveal an Illiad that’s older and darker and weirder than any of us could ever have dreamed.

Thirty three scholars, philosophers, and archaeologists answer the question: If you could time travel to the ancient world, who would you want to meet? …

Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones tells Spencer Mizen why Eurocentric depictions of the “barbarous” Persians have obscured the achievements of one of the ancient world’s great civilisations.

Fresh Youtubery

Book Reviews

Exhibition Related Things

Dramatic Receptions

Online Talks and Conference-Related Things

Jobs, Postdocs, and other Professional Matters

Alia

Diversions

‘Sorting’ Out Your Day:

Today on the Etruscan Brontoscopic Calendar:

If it thunders today, it portends a loss of flocks due to the arrival of wolves.

… 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 June 8, 2022

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

Hodie est a.d. VI Id. Iun. 2775 AUC ~ 9 Skirophorion in the first year of the 700th Olympia

In the News

In Case You Missed It

Public Facing Classics

Fresh Bloggery

Other Blog-like Publications

Assorted Twitter Threads

Fresh Podcasts

We’re talking all about the future in this episode — and if we even have one (in English). This is a topic near and dear to Mark’s heart, and in part the subject of his dissertation! We get into the nitty gritty of grammatical tense, ways of thinking about the future, and a mystery cocktail.

Guy MacLean Rogers, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of History and Classical Studies at Wellesley College and author of For the Freedom of Zion: The Great Revolt of Jews Against Romans, 66-74CE, joins the show to talk about the great uprising of the Jewish people against Rome—including moments that resonate to the present day, like the destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem and the siege of Masada.

Barry Strauss, Bryce and Edith M. Bowmar Professor in Humanistic Studies at Cornell University, joins the show to talk about Octavian, Antony, and Cleopatra, and the battle of Actium, the clash that “made the Roman Empire”.

Fresh Youtubery

Book Reviews

Online Talks and Conference-Related Things

Jobs, Postdocs, and other Professional Matters

Alia

Diversions

‘Sorting’ Out Your Day:

Today on the Etruscan Brontoscopic Calendar:

If it thunders today, it portends damp weather and the destruction of grain 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)

Despite Social Media, Classics Abides

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

The month of May, 2022 was particularly hellish for #ClassicsTwitter. In addition to the general Twitter nuttiness arising out of potential purchases of the platform by a certain businessman and all the hellishness associated with US Supreme Court rumours and various other US-based crises, #ClassicsTwitter had an unusually high number of subject-specific salvos directed at it. To wit: the month opened with a full on attack from #MedievalTwitter which, rather than being directed at the actual publication it was hurling accusations at, chose instead to centre out a high profile member of the #ClassicsTwitter community — who arguably was a major ally for their (i.e. the #MedievalTwitter’s stated issue) cause, as proven time and time again over at least a decade, I think — because they were obviously a higher-value target. While the wounds from that were still festering (and many long-time #ClassicsTwitter scions seemed to retreat to lurking status), the next salvo came as rumours of a decision in the Joshua Katz case began appearing in a number of right-leaning publications (web and print), being confirmed, and then #ClassicsTwitter watched in horror as several publications (such as the New York Times) seemed to be buying into the ‘threat to free speech’ spin that had been the only view given while giving short shrift — if any shrift — to the fact that there was a major sexual harassment issue which continued to affect present-day female students at Princeton. Indeed, the only publication which seems to have covered this in a proper manner was the Princeton student newspaper who exposed the issue in the first place. Just as attention to that was dying down, #ClassicsTwitter was hit with yet another blow, this time from Cambridge academic and Antigone journal editor David Butterfield, that he was accused of being a white supremacist for not being ‘woke’ enough, basically. While that one also hit some major newspapers in the UK (e.g. the Guardian and Daily Mail , odd bedfellows) it really doesn’t seem to have resulted in anything lasting (yet … not sure how plans to close the Classics program at Roehampton might spin into this). Still, coming on the heels of the others incidents, it was just another pile on event for #ClassicsTwitter.

As I watched all this unfolding over the course of the month, I couldn’t help but reflect on how oddly familiar it all seemed to be and the role social media was playing in amplifying ‘political’ things which probably aren’t really associated with Classics by those not specifically in academe. It was also something I’ve seen repeatedly in my years both within academe and outside as a rogueclassicist. Back in the 1980s, when I was doing my Master’s thesis (at Queen’s), e.g., feminist approaches to matters in ancient history were still in their infancy. I had never been required to take a course in ‘theory’ of any kind, and so it did not seem to be a big deal. That said, my thesis was on ‘Women in the Codex Justinianus’ (I considered myself a social historian) and prior to my defence, I was told one of the people on the examining committee was from the Women’s Studies department, and was told to expect ‘feminist’ feedback/questions. The defence went smoothly and I was left wondering why there was this angst about feminism.

A few months after my defence, I was firmly ensconced at McMaster, I had just returned to my office from an evening tutorial and was told of the horrific mass shooting at Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal which was clearly a reaction to feminism. It started me wondering what it was about feminism that could provoke someone to such action. I had grown up in an extremely political family, with a l/Liberal mother and a c/Conservative father. Political arguments were the norm growing up and it seemed all the neighbours were at our house every week to argue about such things (in a good natured way). The whole idea of ‘feminism’ didn’t seem to be an issue that ever came up.

A couple years after that, however, social media was born and for folks in Classics it came in the form of a listserv discussion group called Classics-l. There were plenty of others that popped up (e.g. Ancien-l, ANE, Ioudaios-l, as well as Usenet groups like sci.classics and others) but Classics-l was where the Classicists were. Dr William Slater was on the list and thought it might be useful for me to join and 30 years ago this September, I asked my first question there (looking for bibliography on a letter of Symmachus). Of course, I was hooked and being a tech guy, I felt very at home there, and soon I was answering questions and taking part in discussions with plenty of folks around the world. Being part of a global community proved to be (and still does) very intoxicating; the appeal was only reinforced when professors in your department would return from some conference in Europe and them being surprised how well a lowly grad student like you was known in Europe (I remember it kind of bugged one prof of mine who discovered I was better known than he was).

The thing about Classics-l, though, was that, although it was an early form of social media, it had the same ‘amplification’ qualities that Twitter has. Within a year or so of its creation, ‘political’ things started showing up on the list. At first, it was actual politics — generally American politics — and it really had nothing to do with the list except to identify who was on the ‘left’ and ‘right’. Feminist scholars emerged as being on the left and it was clear that a sizeable portion of others were reluctant to engage with them, for reasons unknown to me. There seemed to be some unstated ‘threate’. Interestingly, on the several occasions I requested such political discussions to be removed, freedom of speech was brought up (by both sides) as overriding my concerns.The label ‘political correctness’ was also freely bandied about and it was always a subject of mockery to be labelled as ‘offended’. At some point in these seemingly perpetual discussions I began to identify more with the ‘right’ than the ‘left’ and even started listening to Rush Limbaugh as a result. There were plenty of arguments — some major — on list over the years that devolved into right v left (e.g. when ‘Who Killed Homer’ came out) but for the most part they would die down and the list would move on. By this point in time, I was pretty much against feminist approaches to Classics but only when evidence was being hammered to fit a theoretical framework. It really bothered me as well when such approaches clearly ignored evidence which contradicted the point they were trying to make. I had one major event revolving around that sort of thing, involving a well-known prof who will remain nameless (and who actually had their department’s lawyers read my posts) but it was an isolated, exceptional incident. Whatever the case, as mentioned, the Classics list discussions would amplify these things and as a result, members would leave the list, return to lurking mode, continue discussions offlist, etc..

But it wasn’t just feminist approaches that caused such kerfuffles. When Black Athena came out, there was much reaction on the Classics list (including by me) but most of it seemed to be on the ‘same side’: polite skepticism. The arguing about that one occurred in other venues and eventually on a listserv set up by Harper Collins (the publisher of Black Athena). I cannot remember which list had the most discussion (I’m thinking possibly Ancien-l, possibly the Usenet sci.classics group) but I do remember hardly any of the professoriate would touch it (other than Mary Lefkowitz). Accusations of racism were freely hurled about, but it always seemed to be from people outside academe. As with feminist approaches, my issue with the ‘Afrocentric’ approach at the time was that a lot of it (not necessarily Bernal, but Diop and others) was that it hammered and/or ignored evidence to suit their approach. And also as with the feminist approaches, the controversy seemed much ‘bigger’ than it actually was, because it was being discussed in the echo chamber of social media.

At some point I was exposed to yet another theoretical approach which would relate to what we would now call same-sex marriage. An acquaintance I had from the Classics list sent me some documents or something from someone in Medieval studies (who, coincidentally, perhaps has also felt the ire of both #MedievalTwitter and #ClassicsTwitter) which touched on Roman law and ‘brother marriage’. They were having an argument, apparently, over whether such things did indicate that same-sex marriage might have been allowed under Roman law. I couldn’t find anything in the texts I was studying to support the idea, and that was it for that. No amplification, no one offended, no loss of sleep.

I mention the latter incident because it would ultimately lead to my ‘aha moment’ regarding theoretical approaches in general. At some point after I had left academe to become a grade school teacher and rogueclassicist, I came to the realization that proponents of these different theoretical approaches were looking at things through a lens that was simply different than mine. They were seeing things which, because of my upbringing and privileged background, I simply would not see unless they were pointed out to me. As such, I realized these approaches were valid on their own and my knee-jerk resistance to them was major shortsightedness on my part.

So when the current #ClassicsTwitter May kerfuffle hit, I was observing it all though much different eyes than my Classics-l heyday. The terminology had changed from ‘politically correct’ and ‘offended’ to ‘culture wars’, ‘woke’, and the like but it was basically the same on that score. What was, different, however, was that there were all these online publications — mainstream and not-so-mainstream — following along and commenting. Back in the ‘politically correct’ days, the major news outlets used to send someone to the Modern Languages Association conference to make fun of the ‘politically correct’ papers being presented, but I don’t think it ever reached the Classics side of the literary conference world (it might have). Now they just have to Google a name and rewrite something that was rewritten before. In essence, there was just one extra level to the amplification, but the amplification itself wasn’t really ‘bigger’ as a result.

The point of all this is that our response to the events of May 2022 on #ClassicsTwitter should really be “Who cares?”. I can tell that a large number of ‘big names’ who participated regularly on #ClassicsTwitter seem to have gone into lurking mode in the wake of it all. Again, stuff like this has been going on for decades — folks left Classics-l too — and in the heat of the moment, it seems major and a harbinger of the end days and not worth one’s time.. But it only lasts a couple of days and then the news cycle begins anew, without any mention of us. Withdrawing from the discussion really doesn’t benefit anyone in the the long run.

That said, Classics abides and will continue to do so, despite those who haven’t had an aha moment in their life and despite ourselves..