Thelxinoe ~ Classics News for August 26, 2022

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Hodie est a.d. VII Kal. Sept. 2775 AUC ~ 29 Metageitnion in the second year of the 700th Olympia

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Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Euripides’ great tragedy, which was first performed in Athens in 405 BC when the Athenians were on the point of defeat and humiliation in a long war with Sparta. The action seen or described on stage was brutal: Pentheus, king of Thebes, is torn into pieces by his mother in a Bacchic frenzy and his grandparents condemned to crawl away as snakes. All this happened because Pentheus had denied the divinity of his cousin Dionysus, known to the audience as god of wine, theatre, fertility and religious ecstasy. The image above is a detail of a Red-Figure Cup showing the death of Pentheus (exterior) and a Maenad (interior), painted c. 480 BC by the Douris painter. This object can be found at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas. With Edith Hall Professor of Classics at King’s College London Emily Wilson Professor of Classical Studies at the University of Pennsylvania And Rosie Wyles Lecturer in Classical History and Literature at the University of Kent Producer: Simon Tillotson

Grand villas on the Bay of Naples, engraving names on Egyptian singing statues, and sightseeing tours of Biblical sights in the Levant. The fourth and final episode of this series explores Roman holidays – join Tom and Dominic as they discuss the destinations and activities of the ancient holidaying world.

In the last episode, Murray answered the first of two questions Doug posed, the second question being a request to explain the battle of Crimisus in 340BC.

Liv reads Ovid’s Metamorphoses (!!!), translated by Bookes More. The beginning of everything, according to Ovid’s very Roman (and Ovidian!) take on Greek mythological tradition. This is not a standard narrative story episode, it’s a reading of an ancient source, audiobook style. For regular episodes look for any that don’t have “Liv Reads…” in the title!

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‘Sorting’ Out Your Day:

Today on the Etruscan Brontoscopic Calendar:

If it thunders today, it portends war.

… 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 August 25, 2022

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Hodie est a.d. VIII Kal. Sept. 2775 AUC ~ 28 Metageitnion in the second year of the 700th Olympia

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In the wake of Alexander the Great, the traditions of Hellenism and Buddhism thought came into close contact in Central Asia and India. Lee Clarke, a PhD student in cross-cultural philosophy at Nottingham Trent University, joins the show to discuss the idea of “Greco-Buddhism”, tracing the origins of the Buddha and the establishment of his teachings in Gandhara, before comparing and contrasting the philosophical outlooks of Greek and Indian schools of thought like Pyrrhonian Skepticism and Mahayana Buddhism.

We’re on hiatus until September 22. Until then, please enjoy this deep dive into the life and times of Spartacus. This file contains the first three episodes of our Spartacus series. You’ll learn about the conditions in Italy that gave rise to the Third Servile War; how Spartacus rebelled and the pressures he was under in holding together a disparate crowd of rebels with differing priorities. It’s a riveting tale that’s sure to keep you hooked.

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‘Sorting’ Out Your Day:

Today on the Etruscan Brontoscopic Calendar:

If it thunders today, it portends a blustery winter and a shortage of tree fruits.

… 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 August 24, 2022

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

Hodie est a.d. IX Kal. Sept. 2775 AUC ~ 27 Metageitnion in the second year of the 700th Olympia

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A new article on Neolithic skulls raises questions, like just how did all those skulls get separated from the bodies? Were there human sacrifices in the Neolithic or were there “ancestor cults,” whatever those were? Our contestants must dodge the ick factor to get to the Truth.

In this episode, we interview Professors Jacqui Carlon and Peter Barrios-Lech. NECJ’s Spring 2022 issue was a special issue in honor of Prof. Carlon, and Prof. Barrios-Lech served as a Guest Co-Editor. In our conversation with Professors Carlon and Barrios-Lech, we discuss Prof. Carlon’s career and her work in such areas as ancient epistolography, Latin pedagogy, and Latin readers.

For the first half of the first millennium CE, Himyar was based in what is today Yemen and flourished thanks to its role in inter-regional trade. We’ll discuss the political landscape of ancient southern Arabia, the conversion of the Himyarite dynasty from polytheism to Judaism, and recently published research on environmental factors that contributed to the Himyarite state’s decline and eventual conquest.

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‘Sorting’ Out Your Day:

Today on the Etruscan Brontoscopic Calendar:

If it thunders today, it portends the loss of noble youths.

… 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 August 23, 2022

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

Hodie est a.d. X Kal. Sept. 2775 AUC ~ 26 Metageitnion in the second year of the 700th Olympia

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Orpheus and Eurydice are famous for their doomed love story, but it turns out Orpheus is also famous for, well, inventing an entire religion separate from the traditional ancient Greek mythology and practices?!

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‘Sorting’ Out Your Day:

Today on the Etruscan Brontoscopic Calendar:

If it thunders today, it portends a lightning strike and warns of danger.

… 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 August 22, 2022

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

Hodie est a.d. XI Kal. Sept. 2775 AUC ~ 25 Metageitnion in the second year of the 700th Olympia

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This week we at last reach the grim, tragic climax of Book IV of the Aeneid, where the height of Dido’s madness is matched only by the depth of Aeneas’ strange indifference. When Jeff innocently pauses to comment on the “cinematic” nature of Vergil’s language and pacing, Dave pushes back, and the guys tussle over whether literary narratives are always superior to visual ones. Would Vergil be a Scorsese today? Or would that make him a lesser artist by default, if he set down his pen? Are there genres that are better served on he screen? At any rate, things are getting bleak in Carthage—Dido’s flirting with black magic, raving about the citadel, preparing for a grisly end – and what does Aeneas decide to do? Catch a nap on the poop deck. What is going on with this guy?

Halfway through Season 1! DOTRR’s review of HBO’s Rome’s sixth episode, “Egeria.”  Friends and I summarize the episode, speculate about the show, and talk about our favorite characters!

The Greco-Persian wars were a series of truly tectonic engagements fought during the first half of the 5th century BCE. On one side was a lose coalition of free Greek cities versus the autocratic behemoth that was the Persian empire. A real David and Goliath style conflict, with this episode I’ll be kicking off a series on the conflicts to describe the period in as much detail as possible. First up I take a look at the genesis behind the wars themselves, that is the Ionian revolt. Aristagoras of Miletus is often credited with stirring up a sense of nationalism amongst the cities of the Ionian coast, in western Turkey. From there his actions set the Greek world down a path to the serious engagements that would follow, Marathon, Thermopylae, Plataea and Salamis. However, Aristagoras’ position as tyrant was underpinned by his father-in-law, Histiaeus, the real tyrant of Miletus. The  story of the Ionian revolt is just as much about the former man as it is about the latter. We’ll look deeper into both these tyrants stories and drill into the events surrounding the Ionian revolt.

5330000 BCE – today – We condense the history of the Mediterranean island of Crete into one episode, plotting the ages of the Minoans, Mycenaeans, Etocretans, Romans, Aghlabids, Venetians, Ottomans and Nazi Germans, as well as the ultimate mother culture of Greece itself.

The Commedia Dell’arte tropes that operated in Italy and France were like many actors before them – travelling players operating if not exactly outside of society, then in their own niche within it. The framework that Commedia Dell’arte troupes operated in and how little had changed for the travelling player since Roman and Medieval times….

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‘Sorting’ Out Your Day:

Today on the Etruscan Brontoscopic Calendar:

If it thunders today, it portends things going well for a year.

… 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)