rogueclassicism

~ This Day in Ancient History

ante diem xii kalendas apriles

Festival of Mars continues (day 21)
Quinquatrus continues (day 3) -- originally a one-day festival with rites in honour of Minerva, by Ovid's day it had been increased to five days, with the last four involving gladiatorial bouts
1766 -- death of Richard Dawes (Classical scholar)

::Monday, March 21, 2005 5:34:08 AM::
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~ Classical Words of the Day

Today's selection:

haptic @ Merriam-Webster

fractious @ Wordsmith

lexicographicolatry @ Worthless Word for the Day

mordant @ Guru.net

::Monday, March 21, 2005 5:25:01 AM::
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~ Nuntii Latini

Helsinkium in tutissimis urbibus (18.3.2005)

Investigatores, cum cognoscere vellent, quae urbs in orbe terrarum omnium tutissima esset, omnino ducentas quindecim urbes cum respectu delictorum commissorum et internae securitatis inter se comparaverunt.

Victoriam huius certaminis reportavit Luxemburgum, secundum autem locum ex aequo obtinuerunt Helsinkium et tres urbes in Helvetia sitae, scilicet Berna, Genava et Tigurum.

Neque mirum est Bagdatum, unde cotidie fere nuntii caedium et tumultuum audiuntur, in hac comparatione postumatum habere.

Reijo Pitkäranta
Nuntii Latini, Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE)
(used with permission)

::Monday, March 21, 2005 5:21:18 AM::
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~ British Archaeology

Since it is a slow day, apparently, (actually, it's been a rather slow week) folks might want to spend time at the British Archaeology page ... their latest online issue comes from November 2003 and has a nice article on that patera inscribed with names of Roman forts along Hadrian's Wall ... the Favourite Finds feature also has items of interest [and I'll reiterate my wish that other journals/magazines would put past issues up on the web for the public ... I seriously can't see there being a serious revenue stream from past issues]

::Monday, March 21, 2005 5:17:39 AM::
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~ New POxy

From Campus Mawrtius comes word of a new chunk of Oxyrhynchus Papyrus on the net, with some elegiacs of Archilochus (load the applet and you'll see a readable version, along with a translation) ....

::Monday, March 21, 2005 5:10:35 AM::
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~ VDH and Military Force

An excerpt from a piece in the Eureka Reporter:

Military force, the most-destructive element of human civilization, if employed prudentially, can be used for a positive conclusion.

It is also interesting that some people, who fancy themselves as intellectuals, miss this point completely, while other individuals – contemporarily and often derisively referred to as neoconservatives – often understand the point quite well.

One of the first and outstanding examples can be found in Victor Davis Hanson’s book “The Soul of Battle.” Hanson takes the reader to ancient Thebes during the Spartan hegemony of southern Greece.

The Spartans, about as liberal as the Soviet Union or any far-left university, roused the Thebans to revolt. For Theban Gen. Epaminondas, however, regaining sovereignty for his polis was not enough – the danger of the enemies’ determination to rule needed to be defeated.

Raising an army of peasant farmers who understood that happy coexistence with Spartan imperialism was impossible, Epaminondas marched to Sparta and vanquished the mightiest army in the Greek world.

Like President George W. Bush, Epaminondas knew that peaceful coexistence with some evils was impossible; if that evil is directly confronted, a subsequent peace that is far more stable can be attained. [the whole thing]

::Monday, March 21, 2005 5:00:55 AM::
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~ @ ARLT

A couple of items of interest from ARLT ... first is word of 20 minutes of spoken Latin (sort of) on BBC 3 (I can't seem to locate it in BBC 3's 'Listen Again' ... if someone comes across it, please pass it along) all about Pliny the Elder ... second is an essay by Philip Howard on the use of Classical names in marketing ....

::Monday, March 21, 2005 4:56:37 AM::
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~ Mons Graupius Redux

The battle over the site of the battle of Mons Graupius is heating up, according to the Scotsman:

THE battle lines were drawn yesterday in a dispute over the North-east’s identity.

A tourism chief is leading the challenge to an academic’s claim that Grampian, the area synonymous with the North-east of Scotland, does not include the site of the famous AD84 Battle of Mons Graupius.

As The Scotsman revealed last month, the North-east’s claim to the battle that gave rise to the region’s identity is being questioned by Dr James Fraser, a historian at Edinburgh University, who claims in a book that the battle took place not at the Hill of Bennachie, but 100 miles south on the Gask Ridge, near Perth.

Charles Currie, the marketing manager of Aberdeen and Grampian Tourist Board, is leading the fightback.

He said yesterday: "To throw away your unique selling point and heritage at one fell swoop without a fight is something that I don’t think we should be doing. I think we should be standing up and supporting Grampian.

"Grampian is called Grampian because of Mons Graupius."

::Monday, March 21, 2005 4:47:32 AM::
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~ @ Laudator

I keep forgetting to mention that over at Laudator, there's an interesting post called Death and the Gods ... folks might also like the post entitled the Blastopore ...

::Monday, March 21, 2005 4:44:10 AM::
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~ AWOTV: On TV Today

... nothing of interest

::Monday, March 21, 2005 4:40:15 AM::
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