Month: November 2022

Thelxinoe ~ Classics News for November 7, 2022

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

Hodie est a.d. VII Id. Nov. 2775 AUC ~ 14 Maimakterion in the second year of the 700th Olympiad

In the News

In Case You Missed It

Classicists and Classics in the News

Greek/Latin News

Fresh Bloggery

Association/Departmental Blogs and News

Other Blog-like Publications

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 plenty of legumes but not as much wine.

… 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 November 5, 2022

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

Hodie est Non. Nov. 2775 AUC ~ 12 Maimakterion in the second year of the 700th Olympiad

In the News

In Case You Missed It

Classicists and Classics in the News

Greek/Latin News

Public Facing Classics

Fresh Bloggery

Association/Departmental Blogs and News

Other Blog-like Publications

Assorted Twitter Threads

Fresh Podcasts

Carmina Decima: Ovid praises the ship which carried him to the East, and describes a loose itinerary of his voyage.

In this episode, Bettany heads to Turkey. The site of Yenikapi, in Istanbul, is home to one of the largest archaeological digs in the world, covering over 58,000 square metres, discovered during development work. Most of the remains relate to the artificial Theodosian Harbour from the Byzantine period including over 37 remarkably well-preserved shipwrecks, the largest group of Byzantine shipwrecks ever found. The site is a treasure trove of finds, from preserved camel skeletons to a container of cherries. Bettany heads to the conservation lab to see some of these remarkable finds first-hand, and Lucy speaks to one of the archaeologists working on the shipwreck remains.

Concursus Corēānus…

Ilsa, Andreas, et Clara una ad Latine colloquendum conveniunt. Hodie de rebus quibus terrentur colloquuntur nam omnes nos aliquid timemus. Quid vos? Quae sunt quae in vos terrorem iniciant? Vosne, ut Clara, araneas times? Vel, ut Andreas, mare altum? Vel, ut Ilsa, locos altissimos? Scribite nobis nam nihil nobis gratius est quam responsa vestra audire!

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:

[Saturday] If it thunders today, it portends a storm for the state and disease for both humans and animals.

[Sunday] If it thunders today, it portends beetles destroying the grain.

… 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 November 4, 2022

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

Hodie est pr. Non. Nov. 2775 AUC ~ 11 Maimakterion in the second year of the 700th Olympiad

In the News

In Case You Missed It

Classicists and Classics in the News

Fresh Bloggery

Association/Departmental Blogs and News

Other Blog-like Publications

Fresh Podcasts

/u/Steelcan909 talks with Bret Devereaux and our own Roel Konijnendijk about public history, the changing role of historians both inside and outside of the academy, and of course on proper ditch digging tecninques. 

4/4. Dan descends the very same stone steps into Tutankhamun’s tomb that Carter did, 100 years earlier. From within the chamber, Dan and Egyptologist Alia Ismail give a sense of the awe Carter and Carnarvon would have felt, of the riches and sarcophagi that housed the mummy of Tutankhamun. Meanwhile, Dr Campbell Price gets into the obsession the discovery sparked- ‘tut-mania’- as the public bought all the rolls of film in Luxor and slept on camp-beds in the grounds of the winter Palace hotel, desperate to catch a glimpse of the treasures emerging from the tomb. From the bustling Luxor souk, Dan reflects on why exactly the boy pharaoh captured the world’s imagination and still does to this day.

Patron of the podcast Seanbob sent in this question for Murray to mull over, ‘what is up with foreskin collection? I know Ramses wrote on walls about the stacks of foreskins he collected from the sea peoples, and David bought his wife with foreskins (1 Samuel 18:27). So what is the deal? Was circumcisions popular in some cultures and not others? Why not the whole penis? What did they do with them after they stacked them? Some sort of trophy? Like a deer rack on your Grandpa’s wall? It is one thing to like dicks, it is strange to collect foreskins. What is the deal?’

Liv reads Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Book III, translated by Brookes More. The founding of the Theban dynasty… Things don’t go particularly well.

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 better grain.

… 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 November 3, 2022

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

Hodie est a.d. III Non. Nov. 2775 AUC ~ 10 Maimakterion in the second year of the 700th Olympiad

In the News

In Case You Missed It

Classicists and Classics in the News

Greek/Latin News

Public Facing Classics

Fresh Bloggery

Other Blog-like Publications

Assorted Twitter Threads

Fresh Podcasts

Here’s a new podcast in spoken Latin for intermediate / advanced learners, “Rara avis”. Bene audite!

More than 3,000 years ago a group of powerful and intricately connected Mediterranean kingdoms collapsed over the course of just a few decades. The palaces of Mycenaean Greece were destroyed, entire cities in Hittite Turkey were abandoned, and whole empires disintegrated. Some civilisations disappeared completely. But what caused the so-called Bronze Age collapse – climate change, trade breakdown, internal rebellion, or a mysterious group of invaders known as the ‘Sea Peoples’? Some historians have called the aftermath a ‘dark age’, but was it really as gloomy as that, and might this period of wealth, pressure, and decline offer us any lessons today? Rajan Datar is joined by İlgi Gerçek, assistant professor of ancient Near Eastern languages and history at Bilkent University, in Ankara; Eric Cline, professor of classics, history, and anthropology at The George Washington University, in Washington DC, and author of ‘1177BC: The Year Civilisation Collapsed’; and Marc van de Mieroop, professor of history at Columbia University, in New York.

3/4. How much do we know about Tutankhamun, his short life and even shorter reign? Dan unravels the complicated legacy of Tutankhamun’s predecessor Akhenaten who changed the very fabric of Egyptian society, leaving his son Tutankhamun to change it back. In life, the boy pharaoh was plagued by health complications and died aged 18, leaving very little information about his life. Dan and Egyptologist Dr Campbell Price look to his tomb to see what it can tell us about his reign, death and funeral.

Tutankhamun is one of the most famous names in ancient history. Known as the ‘Boy King’, he ascended the Egyptian throne at the age of 9 and ruled for just under a decade. In this time, there’s evidence of his sporting activities, his religious restoration, and even his penchant for an ancient Egyptian board game. But is there more to the Boy King than his tomb tells us? In this episode, Tristan is joined by Professor Joyce Tyldesley to launch our new November mini-series diving into all things Tutankhamun. Together they discuss what the available sources tell us about Tutankhamun’s life, and help debunk some of the popular myths out there about King Tut.

We fly over to New Asgard and Omnipotence City to talk gods and god butchers with special guest Jason Nethercut. We dig into Thor in the MCU, the relation between myth and Marvel comics, and one big question that’s thundering our bolts: what is a god? Are we gods? Is the hammer a god? Are we the hammer? Probably no, on all counts…

Understanding ancient monuments requires a careful eye as well as detective work to delve into the representations and their layers of meaning. In this interview we are joined by Dr Victoria Austen to consider the representation of foliage on the Ara Pacis Augustae and the Garden Room of Livia’s villa. Both these structures hold a special place for scholars interested in the Augustan period and studying them together reveals fruitful connections for considering the messages Augustus sought to convey about his rule…

Serial killers may seem like a modern phenomenon. But there were serial killers in operation in the ancient world—or so it would seem. Evidence for them is everywhere—in mythology and in history, we see predators killing their victims in surprisingly modern ways. Was it easier to be a serial killer in ancient Greece and Rome? Could they find victims more easily and operate more anonymously than they can today? Were there roles and professions that gave cover to those born with an urge to kill? Were the streets of Rome and the hills of Greece a playground for serial killers? In this episode, author and expert Debbie Felton helps us answer those questions.

Fresh Youtubery

Book Reviews

Exhibition Related Things

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 situation where the lower classes will oppress their superiors. 

… 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 November 2, 2022

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

Hodie est a.d. IV Non. Nov. 2775 AUC ~ 9 Maimakterion in the second year of the 700th Olympiad

In the News

In Case You Missed It

Classicists and Classics in the News

Greek/Latin News

Public Facing Classics

Fresh Bloggery

Other Blog-like Publications

Assorted Twitter Threads

Fresh Podcasts

A little smidgeon of a papyrus has returned from Montana to Jerusalem. Does it date to the Iron Age? Is it real? Does it contain the word Ishmael? How did it get to Montana? Our contestants are confused, as usual. Maybe more than usual, which is saying a lot.

In this episode we find Aeneas getting closer to a reunion with Dad and maybe even an exit from this Hotel California. But, as we’ve seen throughout this epic, there’s no gain without a healthy dollop of pain. First, there’s a horribly awkward rendezvous with a departed Dido who goes all Ajax on Aeneas and ghosts him (literally!) Then we get a glimpse of Tartarus and hear the wretched cries of the damned under the whip of Tisiphone. Finally, the Blissful Groves and a veritable Who’s Who of who slew, made it through just to drink Lethe’s brew (whew!) All this plus a wrestling Jacob, Tolkien, and a jittery Dave steeling himself for another parade. Don’t miss it.

Nero didn’t visit Athens or Sparta while in Greece because he was scared of religious and political retribution. Besides, he was too busy trying to become the periodonikes, the Grand Slam champion of all of the Games. But things weren’t going well back at Rome, so he is finally convinced to return. He had six months left to live.

2/4. Dan dives into Carter’s obsession with Tutankhamun and the trials and idiosyncrasies that made him the right man for the discovery. Dan visits the house Carter built where he conducted his search. There, architectural historian Nicholas Warner tells Dan about the many frustrating years of finding nothing…until water boy Hussein Abdel-Rassoul stumbled upon a square stone that looked like a step. They dug down and discovered a tomb door with the royal seal. No one could have imagined the treasure that lay inside…

We’re back with more bonus mythological content based on QCODE’s new podcast CUPID! This time… Gods inflicting love on mortals and the brewing of potent potions… Listen to Cupid wherever you get your podcasts.

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 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)