CHATTER: Fussnoten

Hypotyposeis, NTGateway, and the Bible Software Review blogs have been engaged in a discussion -- blogstyle -- of a subject which seems to be a perennial favourite among web-savvy academics: how to deal with footnotes in scholarly articles which are on the web. Happily, they have all agreed on the (sensible) suggestion that sidenotes are the way to go. That said, however, I can't help but wonder whether sidenotes might not be the way to go in print publications as well ... the obvious objection would be that there are those monster footnotes that take up half a page; obviously such a thing would not work in a 'marginalia' situation. But one must really wonder how many of those monster footnotes might not be better incorporated into the text of the article somehow or perhaps even left out altogether. An awful lot of argument seems to go on in footnotes which really doesn't add to the substance of the article and seems to be more the result of scholars thinking 'well, I figured this out while writing this paper and even if it has nothing to do with it, I'm going to fit it in somehow'.

Maybe sidenotes aren't realistic in print publications ... but the trimming of footnotes to matters of substance is still a good thing, no?

7:42:48 PM    

AUDIO: Father Foster

Although the website hasn't yet been updated, you can't keep the rogueclassicist from getting what he wants from the web! This week, Father Foster and Veronica talk about the World Day of the Sick beginning from the story of Lourdes and Bernadette's -- Veronica dictates and Father Foster translates on the fly ... interestingly, Father Foster seems to have an ecclesiastical accent this week (an awful lot of 'chs' that I've never heard him use before).

7:15:09 PM    

CHATTER: Parthenon/Elgin Marbles Again

A brief item from the Macedonian Press Agency's roundup of assorted news:

A total of 208 Euro-deputies signed a letter addressed to British Prime Minister Tony Blair, at the initiative of Coalition of Radical Left Greek Euro-deputy Alekos Alavanos, calling for the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece.
        The letter is signed, among others, by former European Commission President Jacques Sander, three European Parliament Presidents, three Presidents of European Parliament Groups, Olympic Games medallists Echerer and Mennea and Italian prosecutor DiPietro.    
        In the letter it is stressed that high percentages of the British public opinion, 81% of those participating in an opinion poll and 90% of the British museum employees see positively the request for the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Athens this year.

90% of British Museum employees?

6:43:15 PM    

THIS DAY IN ANCIENT HISTORY

ante diem xii kalendas martias

• Parentalia (Day 6)-- the period for appeasing the dead continues
• 203 A.D. -- martyrdom of Charalampias and companions in Magnesia
• 260 A.D. -- martyrdom of Leo at Patara (Lycia)
• 1559 -- birth of Isaac Casaubon

5:28:55 AM    

CHATTER: The Passion

Israel Insider has an interesting quibble about Mel Gibson's critic-bait:

Mel Gibson has let his Hollywood imagination get carried away with special effects as he inflated his "Passion" film.

Let us deal with a few small things first. Take a look at the lumber being carried by the Jesus actor. Any carpenter - or even lay handyman - will tell you that the Jesus player is carrying a saw-mill produced 6-inch x 6-inch x 10-foot timber. In the news clips on Fox News you can see that it is neatly trimmed and squared timber which is usually displayed in churches and medallions of the cross.

The problem is that the Romans had been crucifying rebellious Jews for many years and didn't commit the man-hours needed to take a tree trunk and hand craft it to a neatly squared and smooth timber, merely to crucify another Jew. The best they could do would be the familiar technique of building a log cabin where two sides of a tree trunk were laboriously chipped with a mattock on two sides so they could be stacked somewhat flat on top of each other. The Romans would not have bothered to square timber and besides, having already crucified thousands of rebellious Jews over 30 years, they had plenty of posts standing and empty, the bodies having rotted away.

Long before Jesus was added to the hundreds of thousands (some 220,000 of crucified Jews), the surrounding forests were chopped down for their Roman torture instruments which the Christians subsequently adopted as their symbol, the cross. The posts would have been raw trees with bark - no fancy mill work.

Next: Notice the cross lintel so carefully mortised into the main timber. One would need an excellent saw device to make the cut and fit the cross member. Did Gibson forget that the cross member was usually merely lashed with rough hemp rope, just in order to stay in place? [more]

I dunno ... if the Romans had been crucifying thousands of folks in the region (as has been claimed), there probably wouldn't have been much bark left on the crosses, but the 'neatly trimmed' argument seems sound. Not sure whether we do know how the horizontal member was attached to the vertical, though ... seems to me there would be 'slippage' with rope ...

5:18:45 AM    

NUNTII: Tiberias Excavation

They're finally going to properly excavate (and touristically exploit) ancient Tiberias ... according to Ha'aretz:

From the vestiges of an old quarry, piles of rock, weeds, and a sewage treatment plant, a whole city will rise over the next 10 to 15 years. The theater will host performances, couples will stroll the main street, and the magnificent mosaics will be a sight for the sore eyes of visitors from afar.
 
The city is ancient Tiberias - the renewal of which, it is hoped, will lift modern Tiberias out of its socioeconomic doldrums. Mayor Zohar Oved speaks of a "new chapter" in the city's history; those involved with the project call it "a national vision."

Meanwhile, the vision remains somewhat distant. Ancient Tiberias, some 250 dunams close to the Kinneret beach south of the city, is home to a sewage treatment plant, with mounds of garbage scattered among the ancient remains. Some of the finds have already been reburied due to neglect.

But this doesn't bother Professor Yizhar Hirschfeld of Hebrew University's Institute of Archaeology, director of the excavation due to start in two weeks. No significant damage has been caused, Hirschfeld said. The scrap metal and garbage may have even protected the antiquities, he added. [more]

5:07:46 AM    

CHATTER: US-Pakistan Relations

A piece in the Pak Tribune cites Socrates (in Xenophon!):

Even after the end of the Cold war in 1991 formally which brought ‘Capitalism’ in the forefront and with a winning claim, the concept of ‘market economy’ went in favour of India as ‘a bigger market’, besides its strategic position vis-à-vis China. The consequent USA’s tilt in India’s favour again disfavored Pakistan and the latter was denied delivery of F-16 airplanes, on one pretext or another, for which the requisite money had been paid.

At that juncture of history, Pakistanis were mindful of a famous dialogue of what Socrates said to Aristippus (one of his followers) quoted in Memorabilia by Xenophon (Book ii, Ch. 1, §12) “If, while living among mankind, you shall think it proper ‘neither to rule nor to be ruled’, I think you will soon see that the stronger know how to treat the weaker as slaves”.

Is there such a general knowledge of Xenophon among Pakistanis that they could be mindful of such things?

5:01:48 AM    

REVIEWS: From BMCR

Erik Gunderson, Declamation, Paternity, and Roman Identity: Authority and the Rhetorical Self.

Jeffrey Rusten, I. C. Cunningham (trans.), Theophrastus: Characters; Herodas: Mimes; Sophron and Other Mime Fragments.

Helmut Kyrieleis (ed.), Olympia 1875-2000: 125 Jahre deutsche Ausgrabungen: Internationales Symposion, Berlin 9.-11. November 2000.

Carlo Giordano, Isidoro Kahn, The Jews in Pompeii, Herculaneum, Stabiae and in the Cities of Campania Felix.

4:55:55 AM    

AWOTV: On TV Today

3.00 p.m. |HINT| Hercules: Power of the Gods
The story of how the mighty son of Zeus became one of the most
enduring legends of Greek mythology. Includes the saga of the 12
labors of Hercules, which included battles with the awful 9-headed
Hydra serpent and the Ceryneian stag with golden horns.

7.00 p.m. |HINT| Secrets at Delphi
An exploration of the hallowed ground Delphi, where Zeus' s two
eagles crossed paths and the Oracle prophesied the fortunes of kings
and countries.

8.00 p.m. |DISCU| The Real Mary Magdalene
As a reformed prostitute, Mary Magdalene has become an icon for the
virtues of forgiveness. Experts peel away the layers of mistaken
identity and explore the role of women in Mary's lifetime to show
that she may not have been a prostitute at all.

HINT - History International

DISCU - Discovery Channel (US)

4:37:40 AM