A piece in Metro Santa Cruz begins with this interesting quote:

“We are the modern equivalent of the ancient city-states of Athens and Sparta. California has the ideas of Athens and the power of Sparta.”

–Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger

I guess you can take the man out of the sword-and-sandal, but you can’t take the sword-and-sandal out of the man …

Excerpts from a Wide-Format Imaging press release (?):

A pantheon of mythological gods is leading the Alcan Composites USA campaign to inspire legendary creations on an epic scale from graphic designers, who’ve long relied upon the proven performance of the company’s Fome-Cor, Sintra, Gator, and Dibond graphic display boards. Alcan Composites’ Legends of Mythology marketing communications campaign has been designed to visually inspire designers by powerfully representing each product line’s attributes through a mythological figure.

“Alcan Composites has earned a long-standing reputation in the graphic display industry for producing legendarily reliable substrates and has challenged designers to create their own legendary graphic displays in its previous ‘Legends’ marketing communications campaign,” said Joseph N. Masters, marketing manager, graphic display, Alcan Composites USA. “The Legends of Mythology campaign extension is designed to remind graphic designers and fabricators of the powerful role these products can play in creating legendary displays. Bold images of mythological gods—including Neptune, Ra, Medusa and Thor—represent the unique attributes of each of our lines of Fome-Cor, Sintra, Gatorfoam, and Dibond graphic display boards.”

Those mythological images include:

Fome-Cor and Neptune. Illustrations of the Roman god of the sea often depict Neptune rising out of the depths of the ocean. This concept of “depth” is exemplified by Fome-Cor board because it is uniquely embossable; varying surface levels can be die-cut into the board to produce 3-D effects as well as closed edges that will stay closed permanently. Fome-Cor board consists of extruded polystyrene foam bonded between various high-quality papers that feature a smooth surface for direct digital- and screen-printing applications or mounting.

[…]

Gatorfoam and Medusa. In Greek mythology, Medusa possessed the power to turn into stone anyone that she gazed upon. Similarly, that kind of rigidity is possessed by Gatorfoam, the original heavy-duty graphic display board that consists of polystyrene foam bonded between two layers of wood-fiber veneer laminate. This unique construction makes Gatorfoam rigid yet lightweight and warp-resistant; its surface also is exceptionally smooth and strong.

FWIW …

• Legends of Mythology Campaign Demonstrates Attributes of Alcan Composites’ Graphic Display Board Lines

… well sort of … According to USA Today:

This elusive couple didn’t confirm their April 2008 nuptials until a year later and have remained mostly mum on their relationship. They have been spotted in public with their rings on about a dozen times in the past year. They both have the number 4 tattooed on their ring fingers in Roman numerals, and neither wears a ring while performing.

… the elusive couple being Jay-Z and Beyonce … an account of their wedding at E!Online explains the Roman numeral:

According to various media reports, the Roman numeral IV was also prevalent throughout the party, in honor not only of the wedding month and day (4/4/08), but because the number holds special significance for the couple, each of whom was born on the fourth of the month—September for Knowles, December for the man born Shawn Carter.

… so nothing specifically ‘Latin’ about this one, but how often do you get to mention Beyonce and Jay Z in a classics blog?

If you’ve got nothing to do tonight (or even if you do have something to do tonight, you might want to change your plans) and happen to be in Queens (New York … not the University), you probably want to check this out. Here’s a tease:

With America beset by two wars overseas and economic recession at home, Riley figured it was time to revive the debauchery of the Roman age. On Thursday, August 13, he will host a modern-day naumachia in a big reflecting pool near the Unisphere (the imposing globe sculpture) in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. The spectacle will include lots of model ships and role-playing combatants waging war “with baguette swords and watermelon cannon balls.”

The dress code is simple: Toga. Hopefully we’ll get some media coverage of the actual event …

Read the whole thing here:

• A Roman naval battle… in Queens? (The Onion A.V. Club)
• In Queens, “Marine Mischief” and Comic Relief (WNYC … tip o’ the pileus to Brooklyn Museum on Twitter)