Hodie est a.d. XI Kal Iul. 2776 AUC ~ 3 Skirophorion in the second year of the 700th Olympiad
In the News
- Ancient Tel Shikmona factory probably supplied the First Temple with dye – The Jerusalem Post
- Tunisia’s Carthage Museum Gives Preview Of Expanded Renovation | Barron’s
- Laocoön and His Sons in Frankfurt | Mirage News
In Case You Missed It
- Site Where Julius Caesar Was Killed Is Opened For Tourism – The New York Times
- Rome’s Hottest New Attraction: The Site Of Caesar’s Assassination
- Rare Roman Mausoleum Unearthed in London | Smart News| Smithsonian Magazine
- 1st-century coins from Jewish revolt against the Romans discovered near the Black Sea | Live Science
Classicists and Classics in the News
Greek/Latin News
Public Facing Classics
Fresh Bloggery
- Cilicians: Plutarch on the foreign “pirates” threatening Roman ways (early-second century CE) | Ethnic Relations and Migration in the Ancient World: The Websites of Philip A. Harland
- Europeans, Africans, and Asians: Pliny the Elder on the framework for his ethnographic survey and on the superiority of Europeans (first century CE) | Ethnic Relations and Migration in the Ancient World: The Websites of Philip A. Harland
- Scythians, Germans, and others: Pliny the Elder on peoples on the western and northern coasts of the Black Sea (first century CE) | Ethnic Relations and Migration in the Ancient World: The Websites of Philip A. Harland
- Hyperboreans: Herodotos, Hekataios, Diodoros, and others on a legendary northern people (four century BCE to third century CE) | Ethnic Relations and Migration in the Ancient World: The Websites of Philip A. Harland
- Celts / Gauls: Pliny the Elder on three main sub-divisions from a Roman imperial perspective (first century CE) | Ethnic Relations and Migration in the Ancient World: The Websites of Philip A. Harland
- Sarmatians and others in northwestern Asia: Pliny the Elder on peoples of northwestern Asia (first century CE) | Ethnic Relations and Migration in the Ancient World: The Websites of Philip A. Harland
- PaleoJudaica.com: On Philo of Alexandria
- A/Non Anonymous – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
- AWOL – The Ancient World Online: Levé orthophotographique par photogrammétrie appliqué au patrimoine archéologique: Du choix des équipements aux paramètres de traitement par solution libre sous MicMac (IGN ENSG)
- AWOL – The Ancient World Online: Open Access Monograph Series: Mètis. Anthropologie des mondes grecs anciens
- AWOL – The Ancient World Online: Famine and Feast in Ancient Egypt
- The Broken Hopes of a Once Prosperous Life – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
- Twelve Days in the Year | Sphinx
- My Exciting Adventure in Greece, Part 2 (June 20th, 2023) – Tales of Times Forgotten
- Aristotle On The Vulnerabilities Of Democracies That Allow Their Constitutions To Be Changed | The Historian’s Hut
- Jupiter And Io, By Pierre-Paul Prud’hon (c.1758-1823) | The Historian’s Hut
- Disappointing Delphic Demands – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
- Area Sacra, site of cats and Caesar’s assassination, opens to public – The History Blog
- Kilns, Slopes, Pools, and Terraces | Archaeology of the Mediterranean World
- PaleoJudaica.com: Gods at Dura-Europos
- PaleoJudaica.com: Carthage: museum renovation and dye revival (with Shikmona bonus)
- Spencer Alley: Drawings of Antique Figures and Ruins
- Laudator Temporis Acti: A Fat, Sleek-Skinned Little Gentleman
- Laudator Temporis Acti: Gold
Other Blog-like Publications
- Aeneid III.396-505 – by publius vergilius maro
- June 21 | Fastorum Liber Sextus: Iunius – by M.
- 21 June 44 BCE: To Atticus (at Rome) from Cicero (at Tusculum)
- 21 June 44 BCE: To Tiro (at Rome) from Cicero (at Tusculum)
- How to Bake Ancient Roman Bread from 79 AD: A Video Introduction | Open Culture
Assorted Twitter Threads
Fresh Podcasts
This week it’s back to the bottomless well of Ovidian goodness with a walk through a couple more vignettes. The guys start off with a look at the well-known tale of Arachne. While the “hubris-meets-nemesis” theme does seem to be at the heart of the story, there are some striking bits of context that complicate simple interpretations—is Minerva primed to punish from the tale that precedes this one? Does Arachne truly know what she’s getting into or who she’s dealing with? Then it’s on to another of Naso’s greatest hits—King Midas and the Golden Touch. As we zero in on the details reveals we find here as well a much richer tale than the usual Cliffs Notes version—How does this tale play with the “deadly wish” motif? What about the aetiology of the River Xanthus? And, wait, where is Midas’ petrified daughter? Isn’t she always part of this thing? Tune in to find out.
The “Golden Age” of the Ptolemaic dynasty comes to an end as Ptolemy IV dies unexpectedly in 204. Greedy ministers looking to control the boy-king Ptolemy V leave Alexandria in a mess of schemes, murder, and rioting. Meanwhile, decades of economic turmoil and cultural tension results the outbreak of the “Great Revolt”, a twenty year-long (206-186) rebellion of disaffected native Egyptians, who ripped away control of Upper Egypt and installed a rival pharaoh named Haronnophoris, leaving the once mighty Ptolemaic kingdom on the verge of collapse.
Pits with dismembered hands at the Hyksos site of Tell el Dab’a/Avaris have us asking, what is it with ancient Egypt and dismemberment? Sure the king wants to permanently defeat his enemies – really, who doesn’t want that – but isn’t all this hand chopping business just, well, performance art? It’s our most hands on episode yet!
Fresh Youtubery
- Odyssey book 7 shows the first example in history of terrible security. #greekmythology #shorts – YouTube | Moan Inc.
- Odyssey book 8 gives us this absolute gem of a story #greekgods #greekmythology #shorts – YouTube | Moan Inc.
- Festa della Musica 2023 – L’invenzione dell’aulòs e il supplizio di Marsia – YouTube | Etruschannel
- Gli animali a Roma. Tre millenni di interazione con l’uomo – YouTube | Parco Colosseo
- The Ancient History of Roman Britain – YouTube | World History Encyclopedia
- Harmonics on Ancient Greek lyre! Bettina Joy de Guzman – YouTube
- Conférence annuelle de l’Ecole française d’Athènes 2023 – 1ere partie_FR – YouTube
- Site of Julius Caesar’s assassination is accessible for first time in over 2000 years – YouTube | Sky News
- In Search of Greek Theatre #6: Katie Mitchell’s Oresteia – Part Two – YouTube | National theatre
- In Search of Greek Theatre #5: The Oresteia (1999) – Part One – YouTube
|Book Reviews
- BMCR ~ Achim Lichtenberger, Rubina Raja, Architectural elements, wall paintings, and mosaics: final publications from the Danish-German Jerash Northwest Quarter Project IV. Jerash papers, 9. Turnhout: Brepols, 2022.
- BMCR ~ Julia Kelto Lillis, Virgin territory: configuring female virginity in early Christianity. Christianity in late antiquity, 13. Oakland: University of California Press, 2022.
Online Talks and Conference-Related Things
- Towards a more inclusive Classics III: material culture
- Sylvia Plath’s classical burlesques | Institute of Classical Studies
- See what’s happening today in Dr Pistone’s Online Classics Social Calendar
- SCS Events Calendar
Jobs, Postdocs, and other Professional Matters
- PhD position in the History of Late Antiquity
- Positions Available | American School of Classical Studies at Athens
- Placement:Service | Society for Classical Studies
Alia
- See the summer solstice from a Roman emperor’s party cave
- Diogenes the Cynic: A Socrates Gone Mad? | Psychology Today
- How the ancient Greeks kept ruthless narcissists from capturing their democracy – and what modern politics could learn from them
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 a shortage of wine but an abundance of other crops and fish.
… 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)