Thelxinoe ~ Classics News for April 3, 2023

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Hodie est a.d. III Non. Apr. 2776 AUC ~ 13 Elaphebolion in the second year of the 700th Olympiad

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The Egyptian city of Alexandria was one of the greatest cities of the ancient Mediterranean world. Founded by Alexander the Great himself in 323BC, the metropolis was nurtured by his successors in Egypt, the Ptolemies, and flourished throughout the Late Hellenistic and Roman Imperial periods. Its famed lighthouse was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and the lost tombs of Alexander and even Cleopatra are believed to be there. The legacy endures to this day, but a significant portion of the ancient city is now underwater, lying beneath the eastern harbour of modern Alexandria. In this episode, Tristan is joined by leading expert on the sunken city of Alexandria, Franck Goddio to discuss this dramatic period of history. As an underwater archaeologist who has excavated the submerged city for many years, Franck shares his immense knowledge of the site. Revealing what some of his team’s incredible finds have shown about this underwater metropolis, and trying to separate fact from fiction, just what do we know about this sunken city?

Andreas, Clara, et Ilsa adsumus Kalendis Aprilibus et dolos ferentes! Nos enim alio quodam more ac solito loquimur atque de dolis aut quos in alios adhibuimus aut quibus ipsi decepti sumus disserimus. Vosne umquam aliquem dolo decepistis? An, quod peius sit, decepti estis? Scribite ad nos! Volumus responsa vestra omnia audire!

This is a teaser of the bonus episode, Contact n the East, found over on Patreon. We are now moving on with our bonus episode out of the early development of Athens and Sparta. This will now see us focuing on the theme of the Greek and Persian War. We had covered this period over quite a number of episodes in the series previously, though from a narrative perspective. This time around I want to go back and put certain topics in the spot light, allowing us to explore them a little deeper. For our first episode around the Greco-Persian War theme I want to look at where the Greeks and Persians first made contact. This will take us back some 50 years before the Ionian Revolt where the Anatolian Greeks would first encounter the Persian Empire. We will look at this period before then looking at the first reported contacts with the Persians by the Spartans and Athenians.

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Today on the Etruscan Brontoscopic Calendar:

If it thunders today, it portends good profits from grain purchased abroad.

… 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)

Thelxinoe ~ Classics News for April 1, 2023

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Hodie est Kal. Apr. 2776 AUC ~ 11 Elaphebolion in the second year of the 700th Olympiad

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Upload your stacks and get ready to get spun back up because we’re taking on the labors of Netflix’s cyberpunk action noir Altered Carbon. Super special guest Methuselah and Metal Classicist Jeremy Swist pitches to the Reception Police™ his idea on future super-soldier Takeshi Kovacs being a reception of the mighty Heracles. We get into this show’s genre roots, the motivations of (anti-)heroes, the archaeology of spinning the dead back up and – in true Platonic fashion – the nature of the soul. It’s Plotinus meets Philip K Dick. Verdict: you cannot disembody the embodied body.

Mark, one of our patrons, wonders if Murray sees a place for AI in helping to translate ancient manuscripts. Could AI step up to help with this and help sort and categorise through keywords, names, etc.

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Today on the Etruscan Brontoscopic Calendar:

[Saturday] If it thunders today, it portends civil discord and the crumbling of fortunes.

[Sunday] If it thunders today, it portends justice bringing prosperity to good people and little to evil 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)

Thelxinoe ~ Classics News for March 31, 2023

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Hodie est pr. Kal. Apr. 2776 AUC ~ 10 Elaphebolion in the second year of the 700th Olympiad

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Parsa explains how decision-making took place in ancient Iraq. When you asked the assembly of gods for a yes/no answer to help you solve a difficult problem, how would they agree on what to reply? Why would these answers be time limited? And how would they make their answer visible in the entrails of the sacrificial sheep?

In this episode we are in Malta at the Under the Mediterranean conference, Lucy catches up with Julie Satchell and Anna Demetriou to talk about maritime archaeological archives and oral histories. They have such huge potential to tell us about the history of our discipline and to uncover previously untold stories about our maritime past.

Given his incredible career, you’d perhaps expect the name of Roman Emperor Septimius Severus to be better known. Born in North Africa in 145AD, he rose to power after distinguishing himself as a military commander at a time of great instability in the Roman Empire. Finally bringing the Year of the Five Emperors to an end, Severus was in power for nearly two decades – so how did he end up perishing in York? In this episode, Tristan welcomes back author (and Severus’ unofficial 21st Century biographer) Dr Simon Elliot. Together, they explore the life and legacy of Septimius Severus – looking at his impact on the history of Ancient Rome, as well as the bloody events surrounding his campaign in Scotland, and asking how one of the most powerful men in the world was eventually brought down.

Liv reads Ovid’s Metamorphoses, translated by Brookes More. Perseus deals with some leftover drama with Andromeda’s family, and the Muses tell the story of Demeter/Ceres, Persephone/Proserpina, and Hades/Pluto.

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‘Sorting’ Out Your Day:

Today on the Etruscan Brontoscopic Calendar:

No entry for today …

… 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)

Thelxinoe ~ Classics News for March 30, 2023

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Hodie est a.d. III Kal. Apr. 2776 AUC ~ 9 Elaphebolion in the second year of the 700th Olympiad

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Often thought of as an ancient, mythical idea, immortalised in the works of Homer, it’s hard to imagine Troy as real place. But when Heinrich Schliemann started excavations of the city in the late 19th Century, our understanding of the ancient world would change forever. Troy stood for over millennia, and in that period was destroyed and rebuilt time and time again. So what do we know about the real people who lived there, and what does the modern archaeology tell us? In today’s episode Tristan is joined by Professor C. Brian Rose, the James B. Pritchard Professor of Archaeology at the University of Pennsylvania, to take us through this city’s magnificent past. Looking at the people who first occupied the settlement, through to the modern age beauty contests that still take place on the surrounding slopes, there’s a wide breadth of history to be covered. So what really happened during the Trojan War, if it actually happened at all?

In the space of just a few decades toward the end of the 8th century BC, Greek colonies sprang up across across southern Italy and Sicily. These new foundations would become the heart of the Greek world, just as Greek in every way as the better-known cities of Greece itself.

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‘Sorting’ Out Your Day:

Today on the Etruscan Brontoscopic Calendar:

If it thunders today, it  portends a powerful, self-possessed man bringing good cheer to the kingdom.

… 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)

Thelxinoe ~ Classics News for March 29, 2023

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

Hodie est a.d. IV Kal. Apr. 2776 AUC ~ 8 Elaphebolion in the second year of the 700th Olympiad

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We’re wading into the messy world of English spelling in this episode — the first of two, since we couldn’t fit all of the ‘quirks’ of the language into one episode. The history of orthography in English is all tangled up with the history of the alphabet, so in this part we trace some of the twists and turns that resulted in our modern script.

In this episode, Jeff and Dave finish off their tour through and analysis of the penultimate book of Vergil’s masterpiece. Here we have the jazz-solo moment, the aristeia of the great warrior princess Camilla. She flies across the battlefield at breakneck speed, cutting down in her path every Trojan stooge who dares stand in her way – until she meets “Arruns the Dispatcher”, ironically named after an Etruscan prince. But this fast-paced, high-octane action vignette raises some complex questions, the very kind academics love to dilate upon: how come Camilla never encounters Aeneas himself? Why is the erstwhile hero Turnus so passive throught this part of the story, not providing the kind of leadership expected of a protagonist? And most importantly, has anyone used double-blind, controlled studies to determine the real benefits and side effects of daily consumption of horse milk on female Volscian infants? Tune in.

in 1923 Cecil B. De Mille made The Ten Commandments on a huge Egyptian set in the California dunes, which archaeologists have excavated. So obviously we’re asking, what’s the deal with Biblical movies? Ripping yarns or morality tales with Nazi punching? And would a picture about the backbreaking scientific tedium of real archaeology be a crowdpleaser? With a special shoutout to our friends Donny Osmond and Walter Benjamin!

Gripping tales that abound with fantastic characters and astonishing twists and turns, Greek myths confront what it means to be mortal in a world of powerful forces beyond human control. Little wonder that they continue to fascinate readers thousands of years after they were first told. Gods and Mortals: Ancient Greek Myths for Modern Readers (Princeton UP, 2023) is a major new telling of ancient Greek myths by one of the world’s preeminent experts. In a fresh, vibrant, and compelling style that draws readers into the lives of the characters, Sarah Iles Johnston offers new narrations of all the best-known tales as well as others that are seldom told, taking readers on an enthralling journey from the origin of the cosmos to the aftermath of the Trojan War. Some of the mortals in these stories are cursed by the gods, while luckier ones are blessed with resourcefulness and resilience. Gods transform themselves into animals, humans, and shimmering gold to visit the earth in disguise–where they sometimes transform offending mortals into new forms, too: a wolf, a spider, a craggy rock. Other mortals–both women and men–use their wits and strength to conquer the monsters created by the gods–gorgons, dragons, harpies, fire-breathing bulls. Featuring captivating original illustrations by Tristan Johnston, Gods and Mortals highlights the rich connections between the different characters and stories, draws attention to the often-overlooked perspectives of female characters, and stays true both to the tales and to the world in which ancient people lived. The result is an engaging and entertaining new take on the Greek myths.

A challenge to the imperial authority was hardly unusual in the third century, but for whatever reason, Postumus decides to do things differently. Rather than marching an army on Rome he shaves off the western provinces, declaring Gaul, Germania, Hispania and Britannia the independent, but still very Roman, Gallic Empire. Part II of ‘Gallienus’ Guest: Associate Professor Caillan Davenport (Head of the Centre for Classical Studies at the Australian National University).

A Women’s History Month re-airing of the episode dedicated to varied women whose stories have been manipulated by their interpreters and interpretation.

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‘Sorting’ Out Your Day:

Today on the Etruscan Brontoscopic Calendar:

If it thunders today, it portends women obtaining better reputations.

… 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)