Hodie est  XVII Kal. Nov. 2772 AUC ~ 19 Maimakterion in the third year of the 699th Olympiad

In the News

• Turkey’s Fathomless Lake wiped off map in treasure hunting – Turkey News 
• Magnificent Egyptian Catacomb Reveals Carvings of a ‘Worthy’ Woman and Her Pet | Live Science

In Case You Missed It

• Catacomb With Mummies From Ancient Egypt’s Roman Period Discovered in Vast Burial Ground 
• From Thebes to Nazi Germany: ancient vase returned to Greece | World news | The Guardian 

Classicists and Classics in the News

• Georgia Nugent Named 20th President of Illinois Wesleyan | Illinois Wesleyan 

Fresh Bloggery

• Classics lost and found – Medieval manuscripts blog 
• The first accurate description of uterine carcinoma by Aretaeus of Cappadocia – Novo Scriptorium 
• Sharing the Struggle For Freedom – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE 
• The World of Isle of the Blessed – Part VII – The Severan Invasion of Caledonia: Victory or Failure? | 
• AWOL – The Ancient World Online: Attic Vase Inscriptions – News & colloquium 
• The Roman poet, the butch, the hermaphrodite … and his lesbian lover 
• Hippocrates as fan fiction | CRSN 
• Homeric Epigrams: Unknowable Minds; Pitiable Sailors; Dog-Feeding Instructions – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE /
• Autism and Classical Myth: Mythical Hope 8 – Two monster stories… from Hydra heads to Hydra babies 

Fresh Podcasts

• The Exploress Podcast: When In Rome: A Lady’s Life in the Ancient Roman Empire, Part 1 

Let’s travel back to ancient Rome and meet the women who lived amid this ancient-world juggernaut. Many are Roman citizens: the wives and daughters and sisters of influential men who use every tool at their disposal to leave a lasting mark on their fast-changing world—and survive its cutthroat rules about what women were allowed to do and be. Others are “barbarians” who refuse to bow to the ever-expanding Empire, fighting against it with both cunning and spears. We will explore the events and laws they had to navigate, the intrigues and wars in which they had a hand. And as always, we’ll try to understand what life was like in ancient Rome for women: what did it look like through their eyes? Grab a really long sheet and a few vials of poison…just in case.

Dramatic Receptions

• “The Trojan Women” Is a Staging Puzzle on Par with “King Lear.” Bare Theatre Doesn’t Quite Solve It, but Who Ever Has? – INDY Week 

Professional Matters

• British School at Athens Intensive Course for School Teachers – ACE Classics 
• epigraphy.info workshop IV – Current EpigraphyCurrent Epigraphy 
• Conference in Classics and Ancient History ~ Coimbra 2020 
• Tokens: The Athenian Legacy to the Modern World 
• On Translating Greek Drama in Early Modern Europe
  (ca. 1400-1600) 

Alia

• Friday essay: shaved, shaped and slit – eyebrows through the ages 
• Josiah Wedgwood’s Portland Vase: The Pinnacle of Classical Perfection
• [paywalled] Some building works threaten Turkish antiquities. Others save them – A night at the museum 
• Ancient Roman Coins – Victory Over Parthia and the lost Roman Standards 

‘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, the fish harvest will be plentiful but it won’t be as good for other water-based beasts. The common good will improve.

… 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)

Hodie est  XVIII Kal. Nov. 2772 AUC ~ 18 Maimakterion in the third year of the 699th Olympiad

In the News

• World’s oldest glue used from prehistoric times till the days of the Gauls 
• Ancient Cup Given to 1st Marathon Victor Returned to Greece – The New York Times 
• New memorandum to protect Cyprus’ archaeology – Cyprus Mail 

Classicists and Classics in the News

• Riverhead High School to lose popular veteran Latin teacher | RiverheadLOCAL 

Public Facing Classics

• [Peter Jones] For the ancient Greeks, the only point in taking part was to win | The Spectator 
• [Daisy Dunn] What really happened at Troy? | The Spectator 
• [Charlotte Higgins] From carnage to a camp beauty contest: the endless allure of Troy | Culture | The Guardian

Fresh Bloggery

• Gallery | Trojan Women | The Kosmos Society 
• This Poem Breaks Metrical Rules – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE 
• An Island Archaeology of Early Byzantine Cyprus | Archaeology of the Mediterranean World 
• Latin Authors, Far From Homer – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE 
• The Neolithic settlement of Episkopi, Ioannina, Greece – Novo Scriptorium 
• Great Authors Err Too – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE 
• The Celtic/Gallic invasions of Italy (4th-3rd cen. B.C.) – Novo Scriptorium 
• Ancient Coin Collecting: Some thoughts about Cultural Property 

Fresh Podcasts

• ‎ANTIQUITAS: Episode 3.6: Issus 

Follow one of history’s most dramatic clashes of kings, when Alexander and Darius fought, for the first time, at Issus

• ‎Ancient History Fangirl: Cleopatra x Marc Antony: Lovers in a Dangerous Time (Part 2) on Apple Podcasts 

When Cleopatra and Marc Antony met by the River Tarsus, Antony was smitten. And when Cleopatra went back to Alexandria, he forgot about invading Parthia and followed her home. The two then spent a magical few months in Alexandria, where they threw each other lavish banquets, made bets and compacts, played ridiculous practical jokes on each other and the public–and fell in love. But nothing good can ever stay. The real world came knocking, and soon Marc Antony was forced to choose between his heart in Alexandria and his future in Rome.

Book Reviews

• [BMCR] Lydie Bodiou, Véronique​ Mehl (ed.), Dictionnaire du corps dans l’Antiquité. Histoire​. Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2019. 
• [Goodman, The Jewish War: A Biography] Written by the victors? | The New Criterion 
• [Wilson, Robert Graves] The Keys to Robert Graves’s Mythologies 

Dramatic Receptions

• A thread of their own: Riot Act Inc. tells maids’ stories in ‘The Penelopiad’ | Arts | jhnewsandguide.com 
• Language is the food of love in SCU’s ‘Eurydice’ – The Stanford Daily 

Professional Matters

• Septimana Latina – The Oxford Latinitas Project 
• Call for Book Chapters: INSCRIBING SPACE – Current EpigraphyCurrent Epigraphy 

Alia

• 9 Fascinating Facts About Julius Caesar, ‘Dictator for Perpetuity’ | HowStuffWorks 
• Didaskalia – The Journal for Ancient Performance 15 (2019)
• Artemisia Gentileschi’s painting Lucretia sells for almost €4.8m | Art and design | The Guardian 
• In Pursuit of Alexander the Great: Establishing Ownership of Ancient Art 
• Portrait of first female Oxbridge professor unveiled 

‘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 that poisonous snakes will be calmly dealt with by men.

… 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)

Hodie est  Id Nov. 2772 AUC ~ 17 Maimakterion in the third year of the 699th Olympiad

In the News

• British Museum set to return ancient Greek statue looted from Libya | Middle East Eye 
• The Parthenon Sculptures must return to Greece, says China’s President  – Greek City Times 
• A Bill That Aims to Fight Money Laundering Through Antiquities Sales Is Making Its Way Through Congress | artnet News 

In Case You Missed It

• Traces of 2,200-Year-Old Temple Found in Italy – Archaeology Magazine 
• Roman-era catacomb discovered at Saqqara necropolis – Ancient Egypt – Heritage – Ahram Online 

Greek/Latin News

• [Ephemeris] SALTVS APERTVS Transitus Indicus 

Public Facing Classics

• [Mary Beard] Electioneering, ancient and modern – TheTLS 
• [Charlotte Higgins] How studying classics taught me how to appreciate art | Prospect Magazine 
• [Charlotte Higgins] From carnage to a camp beauty contest: the endless allure of Troy | Culture | The Guardian 

Fresh Bloggery

• Bestiaria Latina Blog: Latin Proverbs and Fables Round-Up: The Ides of November 
• Top 17 Fascinating Facts about Gladiators in the Roman Empire 
• The first description of diabetes by Aretaeus of Cappadocia – Novo Scriptorium 
• Tawdry Tuesday: Failing to Rise to the Occasion – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE 
• Against the Epic? | Archaeology of the Mediterranean World 
• Snubs and Sensibility – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE 
• Time Travel – Ancient Rome blog Fulvia Antonia Makes a Final Stand in Perusia – Time Travel – Ancient Rome blog 
• Paul of Aegina; one of the most influential surgeons of all time – Novo Scriptorium 
• Public Gates – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE 
• Collections: This. Isn’t. Sparta. Part II: Spartan Equality – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry 
• reputation-laundering through the art market in Europe | conflict antiquities 

Fresh Podcasts

• Quid Agam Cotidie | Sermones Raedarii 

Unicuique nostrum est mos aliquid cotidie agere. Quid ago cotidie?

Book Reviews

• Book Review: Climate and Disease Sealed ‘The Fate of Rome’

Dramatic Receptions

• “Sheep” on stage at Tehran theater – Tehran Times 
• The Bradfordians to tackle their first Greek tragedy | The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald 

Professional Matters

• Career Networking Sign-Up Now Available | Society for Classical Studies 

Alia

• Can You Name a Diocese After an Eel? – In Medias Res – Medium 
• Herculaneum: Pompeii’s Sister City That Survived a Volcanic Eruption 

‘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 a prosperous but sickly time, with bodies afflicted with internal parasites..

… 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)

Hodie est  pridie Id. Nov. 2772 AUC ~ 16 Maimakterion in the third year of the 699th Olympiad

In the News

• Priceless stolen sculptures intercepted at Heathrow returned to Afghanistan from British Museum | London Evening Standard 
• A cosmopolitan city 
• Britain to return persephonic statue to Libya | The Libya Observer 
• Wrapping up Athens visit, Xi says China will support Greece for return of Parthenon Marbles | News | ekathimerini.com 

Classicists and Classics in the News

• Pompeii archaeologist finds 2,000-year-old ‘social media’ posts of Roman Empire | World | News | Express.co.uk 

Public Facing Classics

• An Open Letter about the Sportula Statement on the Paideia Institute 

Fresh Bloggery

• A New(-ish) Published Papyrus from the Green Collection! | Variant Readings 
• Performing Prophecies – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE 
• Generous Thinking | Archaeology of the Mediterranean World 
• Modern Greek, Classics, and archaeology | Aegean prehistory 
• Horace’s Minor Madness – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE 
• Divide and Rule? | Sphinx 
• cleaning dirty money from tainted antiquities and cleaning dirty money with clean antiques, in North America, Europe and Asia: art trading and money laundering | conflict antiquities 
• Laudator Temporis Acti: Harpies 

Fresh Podcasts

• QDP Ep 151: De Fabulis Fingendis – Quomodo Dicitur? Podcast 

Tres amici de certamine quodam athletico et de fabulis fingendis colloquuntur

• ‎Coffee and Circuses: 48: Richard Reece Part 2 (UCL) 

In the second half, Richard discusses his work on Roman coinage and how the desire to keep correcting himself propelled his work forward, his influence on those who have gone on to be prominent scholars in their own right (and why he’s happy none of them are ‘Reecian’ in style), deciding to write a book on the archaeology of the Later Roman Empire, and his thoughts on the current state of archaeology.

Book Reviews

• [BMCR] Christopher Moore, Christopher Raymond (trans.), Plato. Charmides. Indianapolis; Cambridge: Hackett Publishing, 2019. 
• Anne Bielman Sánchez (ed.), Power Couples in Antiquity: Transversal Perspectives. Routledge monographs in classical studies. London: Routledge, 2019.
• CROSSING THE RUBICON: Caesar’s Decision and the Fate of Rome – Classics for All 

Professional Matters

• University of Alabama | Chair, Modern Languages & Classics 

Alia

• Boudica: Feminist, Arsonist, Icon | Londonist 
• Why ancient Romans built statues of their greatest enemy – We Are The Mighty – Americas Tactical Military Entertainment Brand
• Medusa, a class victim of women enabling the patriarchy | Neos Kosmos 
• The Graphic Novel Versions of Literary Classics Used to Seem Lowbrow. No More. – The New York Times 
• Why tyranny could be the inevitable outcome of democracy – The Middletown Press 

‘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 a period of insomnia for men.

… 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)

Hodie est  a.d. III Id. Nov. 2772 AUC ~ 15 Maimakterion in the third year of the 699th Olympiad

… another slow Monday

In the News

• British scholar takes aerial glance at Jordan’s past | Jordan Times 

In Case You Missed It

• Ancient Greek and Roman Cemetery Discovered in Egypt | News from Greeks in Africa, Asia, and Latin America 

Greek/Latin News

• [AkropolisWorldNews] Ἤδη τριάκοντα ἔτη ἄνευ τοῦ τείχους 

Fresh Bloggery

• Bestiaria Latina Blog: Latin Proverbs and Fables Round-Up: November 10 
• Nature’s Judgment – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE 
• Metal sources and Trade networks in Bronze Age Europe – Novo Scriptorium 
• Tell Me Ancient Sages: Should I Take a Nap? – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE 
• Arrian I.14.1.17 | The Second Achilles 

Fresh Podcasts

• The History of Ancient Greece Podcast: **Special Guest Episode on Mesopotamian Medicine w/Moudhy Al-Rashid** 

This is the seventh episode in a series where I converse with Classicists (and now Assyriologists) about either books or articles that they have published, their current research interests, or just unique classes and topics that they are teaching and exploring further. 

In today’s special guest episode, I am joined by Dr Moudhy Al-Rashid, Post-Doc at Wolfson College, University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Her current research focuses on the use of metaphor in descriptions of mental distress in cuneiform medical texts, and she teaches classes on the Akkadian language and the history of science and medicine in ancient Mesopotamia.

• 034: Ptolemaic Egypt – The (Incestuous) Lion’s Brood by The Hellenistic Age Podcast 

With the death of Ptolemy I Soter, the Hellenistic World would be subject to a collection of his formidable children: Ptolemy II Philadelphos, Arsinoe II, Magas, and Ptolemy Ceraunus. We also spend considerable time discussing the incestuous royal sibling marriages that would become standard policy of the Ptolemaic Dynasty.

Dramatic Receptions

• NewVIc students perform Greek tragedy with leading classics professors | Latest Newham News | Newham Recorder 

Professional Matters

• Teaching Associate in Classics (Greek Language and Literature) at University of Bristol 
• Fictionality in Ancient Epistolography Tickets, Mon 16 Dec 2019 at 13:00 | Eventbrite

Alia

• David Nightingale: Some Roman Writings | WAMC 
• Who Will Be America’s Brutus? | History News Network 

‘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, men will give thanks to the gods because an easterly wind will blow.

… 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)