Hodie est pr. Iul. 2776 AUC ~ 18 Skirophorion in the second year of the 700th Olympiad
In the News
- Evidence that ancient Jews watched, but didn’t participate in, gladiatorial games – JNS.org
- New evidence says ancient Jews watched but didn’t participate in gladiatorial games – The Jewish Chronicle
- Were there Jewish gladiators in the Roman Empire? – The Jerusalem Post
- ‘The most illiquid property you can have is a Greek vase’: Vincent Geerling on the challenges facing the antiquities trade
- Israel’s Amnesty for Antiquities Looters Produces Treasures – Archaeology – Haaretz.com
- Exceptional Ancient Weapons From Historic Roman Battle Uncovered
- Lyon: archaeological excavations lift the veil a little more on the end of Lugdunum
In Case You Missed It
- Turkey seeks severed head of stolen ancient statue from Danish museum | The Times of Israel
- Tourist from England accused of carving name in Colosseum says he did not realise its age | Italy | The Guardian
- Tourist Seen Defacing Rome’s Colosseum Says He Didn’t Know It Was Ancient – The New York Times
Greek/Latin News
Public Facing Classics
- Why archaeologists usually rebury their excavations
- The Romans were graffiti masters – The Spectator World
- Tom Holland’s favourite novels about ancient Rome
Fresh Bloggery
- “When the heart of a pig has hardened, dice it small” | The Votives Project
- Laudator Temporis Acti: Amoebaean Verse
- Laudator Temporis Acti: Omission
- Phrygian Helmet – Liv Mariah Yarrow
- Laudator Temporis Acti: The Fasces Have No Power to Disturb Him
- Greek Coin Typologies – Liv Mariah Yarrow
- Humility and Pride: The Masks We Wear Day-to-Day – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
- AWOL – The Ancient World Online: The recorded lectures from the First Achaemenid Workshop, Identity, Alterity, and the Imperial Impress in the Achaemenid World, hosted at UCLA on April 12–14, 2023
- AWOL – The Ancient World Online: Contacts of Languages and Peoples in the Hittite and Post-Hittite World. Volume 1, The Bronze Age and Hatti
- AWOL – The Ancient World Online: Strabon von AmaseiaAWOL – The Ancient World Online: Clausal relations at the interfaces: A study of Hittite correlatives at the intersection of syntax, semantics, and discourse
- Emperor as model for social hierarchy – Liv Mariah Yarrow
- WTF Do I Know about other Things? – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE
- Portable Antiquity Collecting and Heritage Issues: Got Fed up With Antiquities
- Hellenistic family altar found in Sicily – The History Blog
- Gaius Marius – Mainzer Beobachter
- PaleoJudaica.com: Were There Jewish Gladiators?
- PaleoJudaica.com: On Paul, Plato, Philo, and the Talmud
- Laudator Temporis Acti: Writing a Letter
- The best Classics PC games on the Steam Summer Sale
- Spencer Alley: Pictures of the Built World
Other Blog-like Publications
- Travel back to Ancient Greece in virtual reality – The Archaeology News Network
- 2,000-year-old Roman hoard discovered in Suffolk – The Archaeology News Network
- Archaeologists uncover Roman hoard in Suffolk | HeritageDaily – Archaeology News
- 4 or 5 July 44 BCE: To Lucius Plautius Plancus (at Rome) from Cicero (at Arpinum)
- 4 or 5 July 44 BCE: To Atticus (at Rome) from Cicero (at Arpinum)
- 6 July 44 BCE: To Atticus (at Rome) from Cicero (at Formiae)
- Fortress Londinium: Tracing London’s Roman defences | The Past
- Who Were the Maccabees and What Did They Do? – Biblical Archaeology Society
- 2023 fieldwork season at Erimi-Pitharka site in Cyprus completed – The Archaeology News Network
- 6 Monsters and their Roles in Homer’s Odyssey
- 2,500-Year-Old Phoenician Shipwreck Being Rescued By Spanish Archaeologists – Arkeonews
- Jason and the Argonauts: A Detailed Breakdown of the Greek Myth
- High status Iron Age burial found in Hallstatt | HeritageDaily – Archaeology News
- Aeneid V.519-603 – by publius vergilius maro – Aeneid Daily
- Haloes on Ancient Coins
Fresh Podcasts
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.
Book Reviews
- BMCR ~ Kassandra J. Miller, Sarah L. Symons, Down to the hour: short time in the ancient Mediterranean and Near East. Time, astronomy, and calendars, 8. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2019.
- BMCR ~ Marie-Odile Rousset, Chalcis/Qinnasrin (Syrie): de l’âge du Bronze à l’époque mamelouke Qinnasrin II. Archéologie(s) 6. Lyon: MOM Éditions, 2021.
- BMCR ~ Mathieu de Bakker, Baukje van den Berg, Jacqueline Klooster, Emotions and narrative in ancient literature and beyond. Mnemosyne supplements, 451. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2022.
- Chariots, Swords, and Spears: Iron Age burials at the foot of the East Yorkshire Wolds | The Past
- Josephine Quinn · Drowned in a Bowl of Blood: Cyrus the Great · LRB 13 July 2023
- BMCR ~ Filippo Carlà-Uhink, Lucia Cecchet, Carlos Machado, Poverty in ancient Greece and Rome: discourses and realities. Routledge monographs in classical studies. Abingdon; New York: Routledge, 2022.
- BMCR ~ Thomas Späth, Gesellschaft im Brief: Ciceros Korrespondenz und die Sozialgeschichte. Collegium Beatus Rhenanus, 9. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2021.
- BMCR ~ Emilia Mataix Ferrandiz, Shipwrecks, legal landscapes, and Mediterranean paradigms: gone under sea. Mnemosyne supplements, 456. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2022.
Dramatic Receptions
Online Talks and Conference-Related Things
Jobs, Postdocs, and other Professional Matters
Alia
- How the Replicas of Ancient Greek Masterpieces are Created
- Egyptian Archaeology: Repatriations, Renovations, Restorations (Part I)
- Ancient Library of Alexandria One of Greatest Treasures of Mankind
- Socrates at War: Philosopher and Soldier | Psychology Today
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 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)
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