Hodie est a.d. XV Kal. Mart. 2776 AUC ~ 25 Gamelion in the second year of the 700th Olympiad
In the News
- Petition update · University of Turku keeps Classics! · Change.org
- Did Valentine’s Day Start as a Roman Party or to Celebrate an Execution? – The New York Times
- Roman-era sarcophagus uncovered in Gaza | Reuters
- Greece Offers British Museum Antiquities Loan for Marbles Return – The National Herald
- Should Major Institutions Reconsider Acquiring Egyptian Antiquities? – ARTnews.com
- “Capitoline Wolf” artifact recovered by Libyan Stability Support Apparatus | The Libya Observer
- Knossos Research Center in for overhaul | eKathimerini.com
- 5,000-year-old ‘scepters’ may actually be the oldest drinking straws in the world
- BTA :: Last Year’s Archaeological Discoveries in Bulgaria Go on Display in Sofia
In Case You Missed It
- Greek Archaeologists Strike Over Newly Approved Law About Museums – ARTnews.com
- Ancient Golden Glass Unearthed During Roman Subway Construction | Smart News| Smithsonian Magazine
- Iraq dig uncovers 5,000 year old pub restaurant
- New Testament’s Book of Revelation Was Influenced by Curse Tablets, Scholar Deduces – Archaeology – Haaretz.com
Classicists and Classics in the News
- Spoken Latin Is Making a Comeback | History| Smithsonian Magazine
- John Ellis Jones | About the University of Leicester | University of Leicester
Greek/Latin News
Public Facing Classics
- Earthquake 115CE/2023 | Blog post by Mary Beard | The TLS
- Don’t underestimate Cupid – he’s not the chubby cherub you associate with Valentine’s Day
Fresh Bloggery
- Assyrian / Babylonian wisdom: Sibyl of Babylon on the superiority of the Judean people (second century BCE) | Ethnic Relations and Migration in the Ancient World: The Websites of Philip A. Harland
- Thinking about Sites in Survey, Part 1 | Archaeology of the Mediterranean World
- Loving and Self-Loathing, A Valentine – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
- Laudator Temporis Acti: Conservatism in Vocabulary?
- One Is All I Need, A Senecan *Love* Note – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
- The Eternal Autumn of Your Smile: A Love Note – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
- The Work of Magic, the Work of Love – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
- AWOL – The Ancient World Online: Synchronizing the Destructions of the Mycenaean Palaces
- AWOL – The Ancient World Online: Greek Palimpsests at Saint Catherine’s Monastery (Sinai): Three Euchologia as Case Studies
- AWOL – The Ancient World Online: Local Self-Governance in Antiquity and in the Global South: Theoretical and Empirical Insights from an Interdisciplinary Perspective
- Alexis, What is Love? – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
- Love Keeps the World Together: Get Philosophical About Valentine’s Day – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
- AWOL – The Ancient World Online: Manuale di geoarcheologia. Un approccio geomorfologico da remoto
- De Kopten (2) – Mainzer Beobachter
- 43 out of 234 days: Notes from Rome – Liv Mariah Yarrow
- PaleoJudaica.com: Lead sarcophagus excavated in Gaza
- PaleoJudaica.com: Did curse tablets influence the Book of Revelation?
- Thoroughly Shaken – MAPPOLA
- Looting Matters: Two octagonal panels probably from the Bay of Naples
- Thinking about Sites in Survey, Part 2 | Archaeology of the Mediterranean World
Association/Departmental Blogs and News
- Love and passion – The Kosmos Society
- Classics goes Forensic | Classics at Reading
- Reviewing My Classics Modules – OurWarwick
Other Blog-like Publications
- A Class Apart-heid
- Coins of Ancient Greek Troas (Troad): Part 4
- Archaeologists find lost stronghold of Únětice Culture
- February 15th | Fastorum Liber Secundus: Februarius – by M.
- February 44 BCE: To Manius Curius (at Patrae) from Cicero (at Rome)
Fresh Podcasts
The discovery of a 26th Dynasty mummification workshop has shown that exotic ingredients came from as far as India and Africa. Is this just an early version of Goop, rich people getting sold on weird ingredients just because the poors were catching up? But then how do we explain the sun dried crocodiles? Go ahead, we’ll wait.
She was a woman of unparalleled power, descended from Julius Caesar and Augustus. But how did she get there, whilst most of the rest of her family were exiled and starved to death? And how, then, did she come to be murdered by her own son, Nero? Today Kate is joined by Emma Southon for an introduction to this very powerful hustler, and to find out why she is so often remembered as a seductress. *WARNING there are adult words and themes in this episode*
We’re doing something different this week while Amber is on a whirlwind tour of life admin stuff. In response to some of the conflict over Graham Hancock’s Ancient Apocalypse show on Netflix, Anna has been writing about the double-edged sword of creating archaeology content online. Social media can be a useful tool, but it can also be…well, not great. So, we figured, why not cover two types of content in one!
When Cleopatra took her own life in 30 BC it marked the conclusion of Egypt’s ruling dynasty, but not the end of her family line. Classicist Jane Draycott tells the little-known story of Cleopatra Selene, daughter of Cleopatra and Mark Antony, who overcame her parents’ tragic deaths to become a powerful ruler in her own right. Speaking to Rob Attar, Jane explains how Cleopatra Selene trod a fine line between appeasing Rome and honouring her mother’s legacy.
Dr. Sturt Manning, a professor of classical archaeology at Cornell University, joins Lexie to discuss the benefits of Australia’s interdisciplinary scholarship model, approaches to the study of climate archaeology and how they affect us today, and explore the timeline of traumatic climate disasters like the volcanic explosion on Santorini. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this week’s exciting odyssey!
Fresh Youtubery
- What was the religion of the Celts? – YouTube | Ancient History Guy
- A Latin Teacher Reviews: A Touch Of Darkness, Hades X Persephone – YouTube | Classics in Color
- Does RADIANT SIN’s Apollo & Cassandra Romance Work? KATEE ROBERT Book Review – YouTube | Moan Inc.
- 47. Carus – Lightning Strikes – YouTube | Classical Association Northern Ireland
- Circe | The History of Most Famous Sorceress in Greek Mythology – YouTube | Lady of the Library
Book Reviews
- BMCR ~ Christopher Pelling, Thucydides. The Peloponnesian War: book VI. Cambridge Greek and Latin classics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022.
- BMCR ~ Christelle Veillard, Hécaton de Rhodes. Les fragments. Histoire des doctrines de l’Antiquité classique. Paris: Vrin, 2022.
- BMCR ~ Dimitra P. Rousioti, Ιερά και θρησκευτικές τελετουργίες στην ανακτορική και μετανακτορική Μυκηναική περίοδο (Sanctuaries and cult practices in the Palatial and Postpalatial Mycenaean Period). Ερευνα και θεωρία ανθρωπιστικών επιστημών. Athens: Maistros, 2018.
- De Mithridate VI à Arrien de Nicomédie : changements et continuités dans le bassin de la mer Noire (Ier siècle a.C. – Ier siècle p.C.) | Spartokos a lu
- BMCR ~ Roshdi Rashed, L’hydrostatique de Ménélaüs: introduction, édition et traduction. Scientia Graeco-Arabica, 27. Berlin; Boston: De Gruyter, 2020.
- BMCR ~ Christopher S. van den Berg, The politics and poetics of Cicero’s Brutus: the invention of literary history. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2021.
Dramatic Receptions
Online Talks and Conference-Related Things
- Equality in Ancient Greece – Did it exist?
- Late Scythian Hillfort at Konsulovskoe (Kherson Oblast, Ukraine) | Spartakos read
- See what’s happening today in Dr Pistone’s Online Classics Social Calendar
- SCS Events Calendar
Jobs, Postdocs, and other Professional Matters
Alia
- 5 Love Stories from Greek Mythology
- Who Are the Diadochi of Alexander the Great?
- The Ancient Greek Sculpture of Eros Captures Purity of Love
- Valentine’s Day: The Greek Roots of the Saint of Love
Diversions
‘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 air bringing plague and an abundance of wild beasts and mice.
… 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)