TTT: Butser Rebuilding

Saw this one on the Britarch list ... Discovery Channel (UK version) has already put up a companion website to a program coming out next month called Rebuilding the Past. What they are actually rebuilding is a Roman villa, specifically the on on Butser Farm in the Hampshire countryside. The website features a virtual tour, plans of the villa, among other things, and a contest to win a trip to Rome! Check it out ...

::Monday, October 06, 2003 8:55:07 PM::
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NUNTII: Or maybe it's a review ...

The New York Times has a MAJOR article by John Noble Wilford (the science guy) on Adrienne Mayor's Greek Fire ... although it wanders briefly into other time periods and other cultures, the majority of it is on the Greco-Roman use of 'chemical' and/or 'biological' weapons. Plenty of appropriate photos as well. The intro:

Mighty as Hercules was, he sometimes prevailed only by means other than his own brute strength. When the need arose, the superhero of Greek mythology armed himself with biochemical weaponry, anticipating the technological innovations of modern warfare.

Up against the Many-Headed Hydra, Hercules forced the monstrous serpent from its den by shooting fiery arrows coated with pitch. After finally slaying the Hydra, he cut open the body and dipped his arrows in its poisonous venom. His quiver was never again without a supply of poison arrows.

The story of Hercules and the Hydra may be the first description in Western literature of chemical and biological weapons. Because myth often contains a kernel of historical reality, the story suggests that projectiles tipped with combustible or toxic substances must have been known early in Greek history, and widely used in combat.

The rest ... (it's dated to tomorrow's print edition if you're driving yourself nuts looking for it tonight)

::Monday, October 06, 2003 8:46:23 PM::
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CHATTER: Xena

Fans of the Warrior Princess will be pleased to learn that the second season of Xena is now available on DVD. DVD Talk has a nice summary of the episodes from the disk ... it was one of the better seasons ...

::Monday, October 06, 2003 8:40:27 PM::
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NUNTII: Major Roman Coin Theft

AGI reports that almost 3000 Roman coins were stolen from the Trinci Palace in Foligno (Trinci Palace?). On the coins:

The 2,727 Roman coins were found during excavations to repair squares and buildings hit by the 1997 earthquake. They were discovered in Piazza Risorgimento in 1998 on the site of the via Flaminia, an ancient Roman consular road. Altogether 3,039 coins were found, of which 312 were given to archaeologists to be cleaned and then displayed in Perugia.

The theft looks like an 'inside job' to me ... there is an investigation being launched (well duh).

::Monday, October 06, 2003 8:36:58 PM::
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NUNTII: Islamic Philosophy

"ccc" alerts us to an interview in Front Page Magazine with the grandson of the Ayatollah Khomeini. Inter alia he mentions:

In the philosophical arena, we have first followed what is known as the Islamic philosophy, i.e., that of Bu Ali, Mulla Sadra, and Mulla Hadi Sadri.  But, as you know, the so called Islamic philosophy is the philosophy of the era of Islam, not that of Islam itself.  “Islamic philosophy” is nothing but the Greek philosophy of Aristotle and Plato. Following the advent of doubt in the foundation of our religious believes, we turned our attention to non-Aristotelian and non-Platonian Greek philosophy, in particular that of Plotinus (204-270 AD).  Plotinus played a major role in the formation of our thought and in bringing us to the knowledge of ourselves, and, God helping, out of that period [of doubt] and back into the belief of the righteousness of Prophets and Imams –Anbiâ va Oliâ-.  Following that period, we pursued western philosophy, that of Kant and Popper, although the latter is more a methodology than a philosophy.  Thereafter, the Koran and the Hâdith, which make the foundation of our knowledge and thought and the right methodology, came into our main focus.

Interesting ... perhaps the press should look at the more philosophical side of the 'Straussians' ...

::Monday, October 06, 2003 8:32:31 PM::
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BLOGGING: Dr Weevil

Dr Weevil shows his Classical side today by presenting two ancient Greek jokes from the Philogelos collection, suitably modernized to make sense. There's also one which is aimed at Scotsmen which we used to aim at engineers ... worth a look!

::Monday, October 06, 2003 8:22:56 PM::
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TTT: Top Ten Philosophers

The AskMen site (no ... I had never heard of it either; it turned up in one of my sources this very instant) has a list of the Top Ten Philosophers. Of course there's ancient guys and, not surprisingly, that Foucault guy didn't crack the top ten. One ancient philosopher appears to have received honourable mention so as not to bump the number ten guy off ...

::Monday, October 06, 2003 5:59:56 AM::
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NUNTII: Venus de Milo

Smithsonian Magazine has an excellent piece (and much longer than one normally gets from this source) on the history -- artistic and political -- of the Venus de Milo. Definitely worth a look ...

::Monday, October 06, 2003 5:52:39 AM::
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THIS DAY IN ANCIENT HISTORY

pridie nonas octobres

• ludi Augustales scaenici (day 2 -- from 11-19 A.D. and post
  23 A.D.)
• ludi Augustales scaenici (day 4 -- from 19-23 A.D.)
  

::Monday, October 06, 2003 5:48:00 AM::
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TTT: From Folia Electronica Classica

FEC is an online journal (in French), which accompanies the Itinera Electronica site (an excellent source for texts and (French) translations). Here's the latest articles:

Jacques Poucet, "La fondation troyenne de Venise chez Jean Mansel. La source du motif (Anténor, fondateur de Venise, IV)"

Paul-Augustin Deproost, "In horto ad ortum. Jardins et naissance dans les Confessions de saint Augustin"

::Monday, October 06, 2003 5:40:25 AM::
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AWOTV: On TV Tonight

9.00 p.m. |HISTU| The Real Attila the Hun
"No ruler in history represents the unbridled rage and
brutality of the barbarian as much as Attila the Hun. In the 5th
century, Attila swept through Europe, effectively extinguishing
the classical Roman Empire. And for a time, he held the destiny
of all of Western Europe firmly in his grasp. But in the end, it
was Attila who unwittingly secured the future of the civilized
world and Christian Europe. After his death, the Hun Empire
began to break up, and the marauding Huns "scattered to the
winds." "

HISTU= History Channel (U.S.)

::Monday, October 06, 2003 5:07:06 AM::
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