Day: July 6, 2023

Thelxinoe ~ Classics News for July 6th, 2023

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

Hodie est pr. Iul. 2776 AUC ~ 18 Skirophorion in the second year of the 700th Olympiad

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The last monument to be added to the list of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Lighthouse of Alexandria (also known as the Pharos), was one of the tallest man-made structures in ancient history. Serving as the only guiding beacon along 900km of Mediterranean coast, it played a vital role for sailors, merchants, and travellers in safely navigating into the harbour of Alexandria. But who commissioned this mighty marvel, and what eventually caused its collapse 1500 years later? In this episode, Tristan welcomes Professor Michael Higgins from the University of Quebec to delve into the long history of this monument. Exploring how the Lighthouse changed and expanded over the centuries, the geological landscape on which it was built, and the roles of famous figures such as Alexander the Great and Ptolemy – what can we learn from ancient sources and archaeology about this ancient Wonder – and what’s left of it today?

The Partial Historians are back in the 420s BCE and we are wrapping up the decade with some first-class DRAMA! At the centre of it all are the trials of Sempronius and Postumia. The only question is, can you handle it?

Sophocles’ play Oedipus Rex begins with a warning: the murderer of the old king of Thebes, Laius, has never been identified or caught, and he’s still at large in the city. Oedipus is the current king of Thebes, and he sets out to solve the crime. His investigations lead to a devastating conclusion. Not only is Oedipus himself the killer, but Laius was his father, and Laius’ wife Jocasta, who Oedipus has married, is his mother. Oedipus Rex was composed during the golden age of Athens, in the 5th century BC. Sophocles probably wrote it to explore the dynamics of power in an undemocratic society. It has unsettled audiences from the very start: it is the only one of Sophocles’ plays that didn’t win first prize at Athens’ annual drama festival. But it’s had exceptionally good write-ups from the critics: Aristotle called it the greatest example of the dramatic arts. Freud believed it laid bare the deepest structures of human desire. With: Nick Lowe, Reader in Classical Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London Fiona Macintosh, Professor of Classical Reception and Fellow of St Hilda’s College at the University of Oxford Edith Hall, Professor of Classics at Durham University

Aphrodite is looking for love in all the wrong places.

The story of The Ten Plagues of Egypt is important in both Jewish and Christian mythology. It’s a dark, haunting tale that features a capricious God meting out increasingly terrible punishments on the Egyptian people for their Pharaoh’s refusal to release the Israelites from slavery. But that’s not all there is to this story. It’s also a Bronze Age narrative that may be based on an ancient psychic trauma. Just what was that trauma? And could the cruel, unpredictable behavior of the God of the Old Testament be a clue?

Adonis is known for being beautiful enough to catch the eye of the goddess of Beauty, but it turns out there’s so much more to those two, including origins in Mesopotamia and Phoenicia.

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Today on the Etruscan Brontoscopic Calendar:

If it thunders today, it portends fatal diseases among the enclaved people.

… 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)