#Thelxinoe ~ Classics News for November 2, 2021

Hodie est a.d. IV Non. Nov. 2774 AUC ~ 27 Pyanepsion in the first year of the 700th Olympiad

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Shivaike Shah talks to Professor Fiona Macintosh from the University of Oxford, director of the Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama, an online research project that has digitised and made accessible thousands of sources relating to classical drama and performance. Shivaike and Fiona talk about the APGRD’s work, and in particular, the interactive e-book Medea: A Performance History, which was published in 2016. They then discuss how our understanding of Medea has changed over time, and in particular, how specific translations and performances of the play have been used time and again to illustrate contemporary political debates.

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Alia

‘Sorting’ Out Your Day:

Today on the Etruscan Brontoscopic Calendar:

If it thunders today, it portends prosperity.

… 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 November 1, 2021

#Thelxinoe ~ Classics News for November 1, 2021

Hodie est Kal. Nov. 2774 AUC ~ 26 Pyanepsion in the first year of the 700th Olympiad

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Greg Jenner is joined by comedian Rosie Jones and historian Dr Jane Draycott to discuss stories of disability from over a thousand years of history, including people with disabilities excelling on the battlefield and others with very well-dressed guide dogs.

Dē Haitiā; Ōtōniēl captus; Mākō nubit; Rēspūblica Sūdāniēnsis dēnuō ēversa; Reclāmātiōnēs Aequitōriānae; Gallī nāvem piscātōriam capiunt; Aliēnī in Americam admittuntur; Festa marītima celebrantur.

Was Ancient Rome truly as sexually liberated as we think? How did the Greeks feel about nude statues? And how did these ideas vary across the Ancient Mediterranean? In this episode, Alastair Blanshard is back on The Ancients to compare our misconceptions of ancient sexual fantasies with the truth. Having taught at the universities of Oxford and Reading, Alastair is currently Paul Eliadis Chair of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Queensland, Australia.

This time around I take a look at the various castes and sub-castes within Spartan society.  What we see in popular culture is but the tip of the iceberg, those mighty red cloaked warriors bestriding battlefields like giants from myth. Banned from any art other than that of war, the Spartiate ruler class was supported in their endeavours by a silent multitude of people, divided into several different classes and all denied the full rights of equal political enfranchisement. The Helot’s, or slave class, were a massive chunk of the population within Sparta’s empire of whom we here scant about. Stories of their poor treatment and the horror of their particular servitude circulate but as we’ll see do not necessarily tell the full story. The Perioikoi, or dwellers around, also form an extremely important element of society. They were the Spartans blacksmiths, artisans but when the drums of war sounded lined up as Hoplites as well. We’ll take a look at the dynamics between the different strata and finish with a look at some of the other, less well known sub-castes.

When Apuleius married his friend’s mother, little did he realise that it would lead to a charge of sorcery, with a raft of seemingly innocent actions from buying a mirror to writing bad poetry bought up in front of the courts to prove his wicked intentions. Unfortunately for his accusers, Apuleius was a skilled orator, educated in the art of philosophy and highly skilled at slandering his enemies. Guest: Associate Professor Rhiannon Evans (Head of Department of Languages and Linguistics, La Trobe University)

The last epic from Greco-Roman antiquity that survives in full, Nonnus’ fifth-century Dionysiaca tells of the wine god Dionysus’ journey eastward, to India.

Latin prepositions can be a real mess. In this short video lesson for beginners, I tackle the synonims of the preposition “prope”, in easy, slow paced spoken Latin. Enjoy!

Thanks to everyone who came out to our virtual live show! This is the edited audio of that event. We talk about the role of ritual in daily life, how our big round human brains have evolved the ability to think about abstract meaning and ritual significance, and the theory underpinning all of this. We also take a trip to two incredible archaeological sites to think about how the people living there might have thought about the unknown and unseen in their lives. Whoa.

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Alia

‘Sorting’ Out Your Day:

Today on the Etruscan Brontoscopic Calendar:

If it thunders today, it portends discord for the city.

… 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 October 30, 2021

Hodie est a.d. III Kal. Nov. 2774 AUC ~ 24 Pyanepsion in the first year of the 700th Olympiad

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Alia

‘Sorting’ Out Your Day:

Today on the Etruscan Brontoscopic Calendar:

If it thunders today, it portends not only prosperity, but fewer enemies and general happiness for the state.

… 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 October 29, 2021

Hodie est a.d. IV Kal. Nov. 2774 AUC ~ 23 Pyanepsion in the first year of the 700th Olympiad

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Jasper tackles this question from one of our patrons. ‘Did Ancient Armies wargame in any fashion we would recognize? Either in the armchair sense, or practically in the fields or on the seas? Did the Romans have wargames exercises to counter barbarian armies or Persian fleets?’

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Alia

‘Sorting’ Out Your Day:

Today on the Etruscan Brontoscopic Calendar:

If it thunders today, it portends a year of serious disease.

… 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 October 28, 2021

Hodie est a.d. V Kal. Nov. 2774 AUC ~ 22 Pyanepsion in the first year of the 700th Olympiad

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It’s Halloween, and the monsters are out! In this episode we tackle Monster Theory (as formulated by J.J. Cohen) , examine the linguistic and cultural origins of a range of Classical and classic movie monsters, look at how they connect to the history of currency and money, and explore the intersections of monsters and the New Woman. We also sample a beautiful cocktail from the upcoming cocktail book Nectar of the Gods by Liv Albert from “Let’s Talk about Myths, Baby”. Thank you, Liv!

Nero has some freedmen executed but the stories are murky. The Parthians decide to try their luck taking back Armenia while Corbulo tries to keep the peace.

Following two assassinations and two executions, the title of Roman Emperor fell to Alexander Severus. He was one of the youngest to ever hold this title, and he was to be the final emperor of the Severan Dynasty. But who was making the decisions? In this episode we hear about the thirteen year reign of this young emperor, and examine the intriguing figure of his mother and advisor, Julia Mamaea. Matilda Brown, PhD student at the University of Edinburgh, is back on the Ancients to take us through the final years of the Severan dynasty, busting myths along the way.

The werewolf myth as we know it today generally involves getting bitten by a werewolf, transforming during the full moon, and being very susceptible to silver bullets. But werewolves in ancient Greece and Rome were a little different. Join us for a spooky-season deep dive into ancient werewolf mythology from thousands of years ago. We’ll take a look at the pre-Christian origins of the werewolf myth and its connections to death, starvation, cannibalism, and transformation.

Dr. Young Richard Kim, a Classics and History professor at UIC, joins Lexie to talk about the dignity of work, the intersection of personal religion and the academic study of ancient religion, being Asian in Classics, and drops some hot takes on how to change the way we teach US/ancient world history in high schools. So tuck in your togas and hop aboard Trireme Transit for this week’s exciting odyssey!

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Alia

‘Sorting’ Out Your Day:

Today on the Etruscan Brontoscopic Calendar:

If it thunders today, it portends a shortage of necessites.

** n.b. yesterday’s entry was actually the one for November 27 …thunder yesterday actually portended heavy rain.

… 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)