Ibi potest valere populus ubi leges valent.
(Publilius Syrus, Sententia 291)

Pron = IH-bee POH-test wah-LAY-reh POH-poo-loos OO-bee LAY-gays WAH-lent.

The people are strong in that place where the laws are strong.

Comment: "valere" means to be strong, not in the sense of force, but in the sense of health. The typicial Latin way of saying "goodbye" is to say "vale"--be well, be strong, be healthy.

So, our proverb might also be translated: the people are healthy in that place where the laws are healthy.

What does it mean for our laws to be healthy? Do healthy laws give power to officials, or do they protect the rights and freedoms of the people?

There have been frequent news accounts of late detailing how loopholes in the law have been used to allow the president and his assistants to search the mail of Americans; to appoint federal district attorneys without congressional approval, and statements by the attorney general indicating a belief that habeas corpus was never protected by the constitution.

For the first time in my life, as an American citizen, I fear that the protections of law that I have enjoyed all my life are being manipulated by those who would seize more power for themselves regardless of what that means to human and civil rights.

I know this won't be a popular commentary for some who receive this.
My intention is not to cause discomfort--at least--no more than those who make our laws weak.

Bob Patrick
(Used with permission)
Latin Proverb of the Day Archive

pridie kalendas februarias

1000 B.C. -- temple of Hercules at Tyre completed (according to one 'traditional' reckoning)

817 B.C. -- death of Anchises (according to the same reckoning)

36 B.C. -- birth of Antonia ("Minor"), daughter of Marcus Antonius and Octavia and future mother of hope-to-be-emperor Germanicus and emperor-to-be Claudius

c. 250 A.D. -- martyrdom of Metras/Metranus in Alexandria

c. 250 A.D. -- martyrdom of Saturninus, Thrysus, and Victor in Alexandria

From the Northern Echo:

DWELLINGS dating back to the Iron Age and Roman eras have been uncovered during work on a major road improvement scheme in the region.

The half-dozen round houses, including paddocks and fields, were uncovered along the A66 during work to create a dual carriageway.

The scheme is focused on the stretch between Carkin Moor and Scotch Corner and Greta Bridge to Stephen Bank.
Advertisement continued...

And it was while excavations were being carried out at Scotch Corner, near the junction of two Roman roads, that the discoveries were made.

Highways Agency project manager Lynne Biddles said: "It's fantastic weve been able to uncover all these settlements and artefacts ahead of these dualling schemes. We can now piece together the history of this area and preserve it for the wider community to enjoy."

The site is close to the Melsonby crossroads and other features include a circular house, square structures, pits and field ditches. These are thought to be associated with a larger settlement close by on the other side of the A66, near Rock Castle Farm.

The finds, to be handed to a local museum, were discovered with the help of a team of archaeologists who have been carrying out detailed excavations in four areas on the Carkin Moor to Scotch Corner stretch, in advance of the major works.

The existing A66 follows the line of an important Roman road, dating back to the 1st century AD. Potential sites were discovered in 1999 and these helped to influence the early design of the road schemes.

Archaeologists were given the green light to begin the excavations last May.

The road scheme has enabled archaeologists to carry out the first excavation of Scots Dyke, a large ditch running for 14km through North Yorkshire, in modern times.

Experts now believe to be 1,000 years older than was previously thought and is provisionally dated to the 1st century AD.

The site is considered of such importance that an unexcavated section will be preserved intact under the new A66 carriageway.

Metal detecting near Black Plantation has also revealed another insight into the way communities lived in the 17th and early 18th centuries with the discovery of objects such as a small silver christening spoon.

Victor Davis Hanson writes in the New York Sun:

There is something incongruous about the study of Greek and Latin and the dirty life of the farmer. The former requires pouring over obscure texts with complicated syntax and forgotten vocabulary — the latter hours riding a smoky tractor or shoveling dung out of a barn.

But beyond the modern dichotomy that so separates the world of the academic from the larger muscular one outside, there shouldn't necessarily be a divide in the case of classics. After all, nine out of 10 ancient Greeks were rural people. The majority of them were farmers. And that truth is reflected in many of Homer's similes in his "Iliad" and "Odyssey," Hesiod's "Works and Days," Aristophanes' "Acharnians," or the vast treatises of Theophrastus, where so often Greek thought is expressed through the life of agriculture.

The late David Grene's small memoir (University of Chicago Press, 169 pages, $30) tries to explain how, at least in the case of one exemplary life, farming and classics enhanced each other. At the outset, we should note that this is an atypical autobiography by a distinguished classicist. So there is nothing on the evolution of the field, turf battles won or lost, and books written or not — of the sort that we read in the long lives of a J.K. Dover, E.R. Dodds, or Gilbert Murray.

Other than brief sketches of those who taught the young Grene at Dublin — J.G. Smyly, George Mooney, and Sir Robert Tate—there is little here about the nature of Grene's own research and scholarly interests. There is almost nothing offered about his two wives, children, or family life in general, or the nature of his own intellectual development once he began his long career at the University of Chicago. And Grene was, in modern terms, hardly a successful, or even a typical, farmer. He seems to have lost money raising small herds and flocks, tending to his pasturage, avoiding machines when possible, and lamenting the steady mechanization and corporatization of agriculture while tending the three farms he acquired over his 88 years in both Ireland and Illinois.

Most of the labor, as he describes it, was dirty and back-breaking — and one could argue came at the expense of scholarly publication. Today we associate Grene's legacy with fine translations of the Greek playwrights and a few incisive articles and short books, but not with any magnum opus of classical scholarship, or even doctoral training of the great classicists or shaping of the public intellectuals who passed through Chicago over the more than half century of Grene's tenure there.

There is no index, only a brief bibliography of Grene's work, and a few abbreviated eulogies from his peers and colleagues. Dust jacket blurbs rightly describe the author or the book's contents with words like "quirky," or "idiosyncrasy."

Grene's memoir focuses mostly on his early education in Ireland. There are nice reflections on the nature of his work with animals and his efforts to foster broad general education, especially during the stormy tenure of Robert Maynard Hutchins at the University of Chicago and the creation of the Committee on Social Thought. There are some good asides on Allan Bloom, Harpo Marx, and others he met — though nothing on Richmond Lattimore, with whom Grene edited the Chicago translations of 5th-century Athenian drama. His worry over the end of shared knowledge of great texts and ideas dovetails neatly with a similar lament of the decline of small farming.

There is a reasonable defense of fox hunting ("Long may it flourish — and I believe it will"), castigation of the Chicago Stock Yards, vignettes about actors and directors that reflect Grene's love of the theater, and a balanced sketch of the great strengths and frailties in the Great Books approach at Chicago. Throughout shines his understated love of America that befriended him at an early age, "After all the years in between, this my beginning sentiment of admiration and awe about America has never entirely faded."

In all this, Grene reminds us of two crucial aspects of modern life exemplified by this rare individual. First is the symbiosis between the life of contemplation and action — and just how it is that hard physical and dirty work offers real value in rediscovering nature, bringing with it a certain pragmatism that permeates reading and thinking: "Small farming as an attractive job depends on the possession of a mind not now common." By the same token, what prevents this labor from devolving into drudgery is often the ability to frame the banal activities of the day into some abstract wisdom of the ages through the reading of the Greeks.

Second, Grene reminds us of what constitutes success in life. It surely wasn't nice homes, large farms, distinguished titles, or top salaries. Indeed, we are told in a fine introduction by Robert Pippin that Grene in his 80s taught for a time without compensation. He surely had the talent (his recall of Greek was phenomenal), common sense, and energy to have been materially successful and well-off had that been his focus.

Rather, as we read here, Grene was more interested in students, and above all in imparting some wisdom gained to others that neither Greek nor farming alone might bequeath, but could in concert.

I confess a prejudice in empathizing with Grene. I have tried to farm and study Greek and Latin for most of my life — albeit in the more brutal world of both California agribusiness and the near open admissions of the California State University system. After rereading this short but memorable autobiography, I realized that it wasn't all as preposterous as it too often seemed. And I thank the late David Grene for explaining why that is so.

From the BBC:

Historic marble busts of Roman emperors are being returned to pride of place at a national trust property after 50 years on the ground floor.

The busts, including Claudius, Augustus and Nero, at Powis Castle, in Welshpool, were bought by the Herbert family in Italy in the 17th Century.

They were taken from the castle's Long Gallery in the 1950s amid fears their weight was too much for the wood floor.

The gallery's floor has been strengthened to take the eight busts.

A team of four National Trust "conservators," a structural engineer, an architect, a team of builders, and a crane are taking three weeks to complete the £20,000 project.

The busts each weighing 150kg (330lbs) are being lifted from a courtyard up to the gallery through a window.

Floorboards in the Long Gallery had been reinforced with steel joists and bearer plates to take the extra weight of the busts.

The Herbert family, who have lived at Powis Castle since Elizabethan times, bought a total of a dozen busts as souvenirs during their trips to Italy.

Moving each bust and its pedestal takes about half a day

The collecting of such busts became popular in the 18th Century for people on a "grand tour" of Europe.

Italy was one of the main destinations, and marble sculpture was very much sought after by the wealthy art collectors.

Margaret Gray, the National Trust's House Manager at Powis Castle, said: "The intention is to make this yet another reason to visit Powis Castle.

"It is not just a matter of restoring a historical scheme, but it will introduce a greater sense of symmetry and rhythm to the gallery, and render it more individual and idiosyncratic given the contrast between the scale of these splendid, heroic-sized sculptures of the Caesars and the gallery itself."

Powis Castle opens to the public from 17 March.

The incipit of a lengthy piece in the New York Times ... I hope some of the dynamic profs in our field are paying attention:

Fourth period on a midwinter Thursday, Christmas vacation a fading memory by now, and Lars Brownworth took his accustomed place in front of an American history class at the Stony Brook School here. He had been guiding these seniors through the Gilded Age lately, and for this session he planned to personify the era in the form of the oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller.

For 45 minutes, Mr. Brownworth deftly orchestrated lecture, discussion and archival photographs to evoke Rockefeller in both his rapacious capitalism and social conscience. When the bell rang, out shuffled the audience, a dozen teenagers who might or might not remember any of this material beyond the next exam. In its satisfactions and its limits, such was the life Mr. Brownworth, the son of teachers, had gladly chosen.

That night, though, Mr. Brownworth, 31, set to work in his own apartment, writing an essay about Alexius I Comnenus, the Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118. After revision and rehearsal, the text would become the script for the latest installment of Mr. Brownworth’s podcast. And if form held, something like 140,000 listeners from Afghanistan to White Plains would hear it.

In barely 18 months, Mr. Brownworth’s podcast, “12 Byzantine Rulers” (at http://www.anders.com/lectures/lars_brownworth/12_byzantine_rulers/), has become one of the phenomena of the podcasting world. A survey of 1,200 years of rather abstruse history, starting with Diocletian in 284 and finishing with Constantine XI Palaeologus in 1453, “12 Byzantine Rulers” routinely ranks in the top five educational podcasts on iTunes, and in the top 50 of all podcasts.

In the digital era, this self-taught amateur has emerged as a figure somewhat akin to Will Durant in books or Jacob Bronowski on public television, an effective and engaging popularizer. Mr. Brownworth’s podcast competes favorably with far more conventional and credentialed online fare — university courses in beginning French or Psychology 101, test-prep drills for the SAT. Even the other highly rated personal podcasts, like “Word Nerds” and “Grammar Girl,” appeal to dependably large audiences for etymology and grammar.

“It’s a slightly frightening idea to think there are so many people,” Mr. Brownworth said. “But without question it’s the most exciting part of my professional life. We’re in the middle of a revolution, and I feel incredibly blessed to be part of it.”

While listeners address him in their e-mail messages with the respectful honorific “Professor,” Mr. Brownworth, in fact, holds only a bachelor’s degree in history, from Houghton College in upstate New York. He started teaching at Stony Brook, an independent school, only in 1999, and his initial assignment was in the science department. To the extent that he had any specialty as an undergraduate, it was the Battle of Hastings, a long way from Constantinople.

What Mr. Brownworth always possessed was a sweeping intellectual curiosity about antiquity, which inspired him while he was growing up on Long Island to learn to read hieroglyphics and sound out the Greek inscriptions in the ruins of Herculaneum. He also had a talent for dramatizing himself, whether donning the set of armor owned by family friends or imitating characters from a firefighter to a gorilla in a series of home movies called “Lars’s World.”

Still, Mr. Brownworth had fallen into the passive assumption that between Rome’s fall and the Renaissance there existed nothing but barbarism. It took a casual mention of a Byzantine empress in a book about Charlemagne that he read a few years ago for Mr. Brownworth’s curiosity to be kindled. He followed it into such standard texts as “A History of the Byzantine State” by George Ostrogorsky and “The Fall of Constantinople” by Steven Runciman. On a school trip to Turkey, he walked into the very church where every Byzantine emperor had been crowned.

“There was something mysterious about the Byzantine empire to me, this sense that it was lost history,” Mr. Brownworth recalled. “America is very much a Protestant country, and we really don’t feel like we’re connected to the Eastern world, that we don’t share values. But it’s not a coincidence that the Renaissance kicks off after the fall of Constantinople. A lot of those Greek-speaking intellectuals fled to the West, bringing their knowledge of the classics. That knowledge had been kept alive with the Byzantines.”

... the rest

From YLE:

De curribus electricis
: Nuntii Latini

25.01.2007, klo 17.33

Currus electrici post septuaginta annos in vias Parisiorum reverterunt.

Ultima ferrivia urbana anno millesimo nongentesimo tricesimo septimo Parisiis clausa est, cum commeatus electricus usu autocinetorum demoveretur.

Hodie autem currus electrici propter ipsa autocineta in pristinum statum redacti sunt magistratibus prohibere conantibus, ne aer urbis emissionibus autoraedarum nimis pollueretur.

Tom Bergman
Nuntii Latini, Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE)
(used with permission)

For more news in Latin, here's the latest headline from Ephemeris:

D. Asheri (ed.), Erodoto, Le Storie. Libro IX. La battaglia di Platea. Commento aggiornato da P. Vannicelli. Testo critico di A. Corcella. Traduzione di A. Fraschetti.

Maria Wyke, Julius Caesar in Western Culture.

This one was on the Classics list t'other day; not sure how I missed it ... from the Toronto Star:

WINDSOR–Max Nelson earned his PhD in classical studies through pioneering scholarship and 10 litres of the oldest beer ever produced in Canada.

"The beer recipe reflected what they were doing in Egypt millennia ago," says Nelson, a University of Windsor professor and beer history guru.

He describes the ancient beer, called bouza in Arabic, as intensely sweet-sour in taste and a beautiful ruby red in colour – once the heavy sediment settles.

Nelson served the bouza to the PhD examiners in 2001 to drive home the key finding from his exhaustive delving into old monastery records and classical literature – although the first beer was produced in Egypt or Mesopotamia 3,000 years ago, the suds consumed around the world today stem from much more recent European beer-making.

"And so does all the cultural baggage," Nelson adds. That cultural baggage is the lingering prejudice against beer as a second-class tipple in contrast to the snobbery, pretence and inflated prices surrounding wine.

"There appears to be no limit to what people will pay for a bottle of wine but you can't imagine handing over more than $10 for a bottle of beer in a store," Nelson says. "How can something possibly taste thousands of times better than something else?"

It doesn't, of course, but blame the ancient Greeks and Romans for a lingering anti-beer tilt in our culture (which we inherited from Europe). And credit the Germans for softening that stigma after the Roman Empire fell to beer-loving Goth invaders in the 5th century.

The Romans called the Goths barbarians and Nelson's detail-rich book tracing the history of beer in Europe up to 1000 is titled The Barbarian's Beverage (Routledge, 2005).

The 34-year-old scholar obviously lives and breathes classical studies. Nearly every surface in his office displays some ancient artifact, such as oil lamps, coins and vases.

A tall stand holds a replica breastplate and helmet of a Roman legionnaire and nearby are a shield and sword ("The proper term is actually legionary, if it matters"). For a photograph, Nelson volunteers to don a Roman toga and down pints in a campus pub.

"Why divorce pleasure and work? I flew through my PhD because I loved the topic," he says.

In scouting a doctoral topic at the University of British Columbia, Nelson discovered that no writer had seriously tackled the history of beer in ancient Europe. Yet he uncovered a wealth of revealing information from sources as varied as the writings of Aristotle to parchment records from monasteries in France.

"There were a lot of things that no one had ever looked at before because they hadn't been translated from the Latin. But if you see hops and barley listed together, it has to be for beer."

Such dogged detective work led to several key insights about Europe's contribution to modern beer culture and technology, including:


# Actual "brewing" of beer by adding malt to boiling water was born in Europe, around the 4th century, even through beers had already been produced by other means for millennia.

# Hops were used as a preservative and flavouring in beer at least by 822 in Europe, a full five centuries before the previously accepted date.

# The ancient Gauls of France introduced barrels to beer-making, which could be rolled for easy transportation and were less liable to break than the pottery jars used previously.


"The beer we drink today is a European drink even though the Pharaohs in Egypt also drank beer, and that would have been pretty good beer, too," Nelson says.

Yet, while beer was good enough for the rulers of Egypt and Mesopotamia, the Greeks dismissed it as fit only for foreigners, who were by definition inferiors. Nelson says this bias probably arose because the Greeks weren't very good scientists where booze was concerned.

"They understood that different drinks were intoxicating but they didn't understand that they were intoxicating because of alcohol."

Aristotle suggested that beer and wine must cause intoxication by different means because drunken beer-drinkers collapsed on their backs while drunken wine-imbibers fell in all directions.

Greek thinkers classed wine as a hot and dry substance and beer as a cold and wet one. And since they equated hot and dry with being manly and cold and wet with being effeminate, beer was shunned.

"The Greeks are the first people we know of who avoided making beer, even though they had an abundance of cereal and knew how to make it. It's very odd, because they were surrounded by people drinking beer," Nelson says.

Along with many other cultural influences, the Romans incorporated this anti-beer bias from the Greeks and spread it throughout their empire.

By the second century BC, the Gauls had come to regard beer as lower class and enriched the Roman economy by importing vast quantities of wine.

That wine arrived by sea in twin-handled pottery jars called amphora. Mounds of amphora shards at southern French cities like Toulouse are mute testimony to this cultural imperialism.

But then along came the barbarians, the Goths from Germany and farther north.

"The barbarian attitude was: it tastes good and makes you drunk, then you might as well drink it."

But while the German tribes rejected the notion of beer as unmanly, Nelson's research shows they still bought into the concept of wine as the elite drink.

Something worth considering as you order that next round.

Many versions of this kicking around ... this one's from the Herald Sun:

THOUSANDS of students joined hands to form a human chain around the Acropolis today, demanding the return of the marbles ripped from the Athens monument more than 200 years ago.

Wearing bright orange jackets reading "Parthenon Marbles - Reunification Now", about 2000 students and teachers formed a long line around the classical monument, calling for the British Museum to give the marbles back.

The Parthenon and other 2500-year-old marble temples on the Acropolis are seen as the epitome of the Golden Age of Athens.

Lord Elgin, the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, which ruled Greece at the time, removed sculptures from the Parthenon and Greece has long pressed for their return.

"If you give youngsters a vision then they can turn it into a reality," said Giorgos Hasiakis, secretary of the Athens tutors' union, who helped organise the event.

"The marbles belong in their rightful place and the students will continue with such actions until they return."

He said campaigners had collected 65,000 signatures and sent 900 letters of protest to the head of the British Museum.

The late Greek actress and culture minister Melina Mercouri spearheaded a fiery campaign for their return in the 1980s, describing them as looted national treasures.

"It was Mercouri's dream to have them back home and we will make her dream come true," said Piraeus prefect Yannis Michas, who joined in the protest.

The British Museum has turned down all requests, saying the marbles are in better care in London, safe from the Athens pollution that has damaged those left behind.

Mr Hasiakis said campaigners would soon stage a similar protest in London outside the British Museum.

... as a teacher myself, I'm always disturbed when I see children being exploited in this way, even if they do appear to be high school age. I would have preferred to see their parents out there ....

From the Western Mail ... I'm sure some Classics prof will ant this:

It may not be the latest fashion but for Richard Burton fans the opportunity to buy this outfit could be too good to pass up.

The Roman breast-plated uniform and cape - made of brown leather with brass buckle and studded detail, gilt embossed sun motif and white leather skirt - was worn by the Welsh actor in the 1963 epic Cleopatra.

It is one of several pieces which will go under the hammer at the world's largest auction of film and TV costumes at Bonhams auction house in March, and looks set to fetch between £500 and £600.

It will feature alongside a yellow polka dot two-piece suit and cardigan worn by Catherine Zeta- Jones in The Darling Buds of May.

The suit is stamped inside with the name Mariette, the role which Catherine played in the television series, which ran between 1991 and 1993.

A velvet black coat worn in the series, edged with braid and ribbon will also feature in the auction, which is due to take place on March 6.

More than 350 items, all supplied by Angels The Costumiers, will be available to collectors and amateur fans alike, with prices ranging from £150 to £50,000.

In recognition of the popular appeal of the items, Bonhams' saleroom will be turned into a star's dressing room, allowing interested customers the opportunity to try on selected costumes.

Other lots in the Bonhams sale of Angels outfits include costumes from films such as Braveheart, Titanic, Elizabeth, Indiana Jones, Highlander, Robin Hood

‘ Roman art: where is it at and where is it going?’

 

Saturday March 24 2007 at The Open University, Milton Keynes (Christodoulou Meeting Room 15)

Everyone involved in teaching and researching Roman art in British universities is welcome to this Subject Day (funded by Classics in the Subject Centre, The Higher Education Academy). The aim is to meet and share discussion of current issues in the subject.

 

Programme

Coffee available from 10.30 am

Chair: Robin Osborne

11.00 am– 1. 00pm

Welcome (Janet Huskinson)

Some ideas for the agenda: suggested by Amanda Claridge, Katharina Lorenz, Sam Moorhead, Peter Stewart, and Caroline Vout

Followed by open discussion

 

1.00 pm to 1.45 pm   Lunch (Buffet lunch including vegetarian options)

 

1.45 pm  to 2.30pm  Small discussion groups on:

1.       Teaching strategies for undergraduates new to visual material 

2.       Postgraduate and research students (e.g. MA courses, recruitment, training of PhDs etc.) 

3.       New technologies in teaching (including sharing digital resources, copyright issues etc.) 

4.       ‘endangered specialisms ?’: subjects such as Roman architecture, Romano-British and Etruscan art (undergraduate teaching and postgraduate training needs) in the face of interdisciplinary courses..

 

2.30 pm -3.45 pm Open discussion:

Reports from groups. Where to go from here? Possibilities of setting up some kind of subject-network (e.g. via an email list). 

 3.45 Tea

4.00 Departure

 

There is no charge for this event but as places are limited booking is essential  (by the form below) by March 12 2007.

Travel directions to the Open University can be found at  http://www3.open.ac.uk/contact/locations.aspx. The Meeting Rooms are at the centre of the campus behind Walton Hall itself. There is plenty of car parking. The OU is about 15 minutes by taxi from Central Milton Keynes Station which is also the best stop for the X5 Oxford-Cambridge coach (cost around £10).

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………


BOOKING FORM

Roman Art Subject Day: March 24 2007

 

Please email to Bronwen Sharp, Departmental Co-ordinator, Department of Classical Studies, The Open University : B.M.Sharp AT open.ac.uk  by March 12 2007.

Name………………………………………………………………..

Title and position……………………………………………………

University and Department…………………………………………

Email address (for contact)…………………………………………

(Please indicate if you do NOT wish this to be made generally available)…………….

I would prefer to join discussion group 1, 2, 3, 4         (Delete numbers as applicable)

Any particular dietary requirements………………………………

ONE-DAY COLLOQUIUM IN HONOUR OF OLIVER LYNE SATURDAY 2 JUNE, CLASSICS CENTRE, OXFORD

A one-day event will be held on Saturday 2 June to mark the publication of R. O. A. M. Lyne's Collected Papers on Latin Poetry, and to commemorate the work of an outstanding and much-loved scholar.

The conference will consist of talks, followed by discussions, on passages of poets who were particular favourites of Oliver's. This seemed a suitable way to remember a critic so involved in close reading.

In the evening there will be a drinks party to launch the book (ISBN 978-0-19-920396-3). Both the events will take place in the new Classics Centre, 66, St Giles', Oxford.

The programme will be as follows:

 
11.00-11.30 arrival; coffee; introduction

11.30-1.00 first session; chair: Claudia Strobel
Llewelyn Morgan: ‘Round two with Lyne's Hercules: the communis deus in Aeneid VIII’
Jasper Griffin: Homer (title to be confirmed)

1.00-2.00 lunch

2.00-3.30 second session; chair: Peter Brown
Tony Woodman: ‘Double-speaking from Horace’
Stephen Heyworth: ‘Catullus 62’

3.30-4.00 tea

4.00-5.30 third session; chair: Bob Cowan

Hans Peter Syndikus: ‘Propertius on his poetry: Elegies 1-5 of the third book.’
Matthew Robinson: ‘Swallows, Silence and the Return of Spring (Fasti 2.853-6)’

6.00-7.00 drinks reception to launch R. O. A. M. Lyne, Collected Papers on Latin Poetry (Oxford, 2007)
 

There will be no charge for the event. Booking is essential; the first 66 to apply will be accepted. To book, please send an email to helen.mcgregor AT classics.ox.ac.uk . Vegetarian fare will be available at lunch; please mention any other dietary requirements. For any queries, please contact gregory.hutchinson AT exeter.ox.ac.uk

SEMINAR PROGRAM

EPIPHANY TERM 2007

Department of Classics & Ancient History, University of Durham


Wednesday 17 January, 5.30pm [Ritson room]
Dr Katie Fleming (Queen Mary, University of London)
‘The factory in the fields’: Cecil Day Lewis’s translation of Virgil’s
Georgics

Wednesday 24 January, 5.30pm [Ritson room]
Dr Stephen Heyworth (Wadham College, Oxford)
A typical Propertian sequence? 2.29-30

Tuesday 30 January, 5.30pm [Ritson room]
Professor Olivier Hekster (Radboud University Nijmegen)
Medium and message: ideology in the Roman empire

Wednesday 7 February, 5.30pm [Ritson room]
Professor Barbara Borg (Exeter University)
The impact of Roman occupation on Athens and its concept of identity

Wednesday 14 February: NO seminar in Durham
instead, in Newcastle, organized by the Classical Association, at
5.30pm:
Dr Martin Dinter (Exeter University)
Epitaphic gestures in Latin verse

Wednesday 21 February, 5.30pm [Ritson room]
Dr Livia Capponi (Newcastle)
Martyrs and apostates: the books of Maccabees and the Jews of Egypt

Wednesday 28 February, 5.30pm [Ritson room]
Professor Stephen Halliwell (St Andrews)
Antidotes and incantations: what is the cure for poetry in Plato’s
Republic?

Thursday 8 March, 5.30pm [Ritson room]
Professor Fergus Millar (Oxford University)
The Emperor Julian (CE 361-3) and the Restoration of the Jewish Temple

Wednesday 14 March, 5.30pm [Ritson room]
Dr Vanda Zajko (University of Bristol)
[a joint paper with Dr. Aleka Lianeri (Darwin College, Cambridge)]
Translation and the Classic


For more information, please contact Ted Kaizer (ted.kaizer AT durham.ac.uk)

RESEARCH SEMINARS: SPRING 2007
DEPARTMENT OF CLASSICS
UNIVERSITY OF READING

 

All lectures are at 4 p.m. in HUMSS 128, unless otherwise stated.
For maps and directions, please see: http://www.rdg.ac.uk/maps/
 
Wednesday      
24 Jan 2007
‘Colonial Matters: exploring the material dimensions of colonial cultures past and present’           
Peter van Dommelen, University of Glasgow

Wednesday           
31 Jan 2007
‘Iambic caricature and self-representation: an interpretation of internal references among red-figure vase-painters of the Pioneer Group’            
Guy Hedreen, Williams College

Wednesday           
7 Feb 2007   HUMSS 125
‘The Origins of/at Art History: Baron d’Hancarville and Sir William Hamilton’
Daniel Orrells, University of Warwick

Wednesday           
14 Feb 2007
‘Rome in Red, Green and Blue: Classifying Classicism in Video Games’           
Dunstan Lowe, University of Reading

Wednesday           
21 Feb 2007
‘Medicine and Empire in the Roman World’
Rebecca Flemming, University of Cambridge

Thursday           
1 March 2007  HUMSS 175
‘Hearing Voices: Winckelmann, the Library of Herculaneum, and the History of Classical Scholarship’
James Porter, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Wednesday           
7 Mar 2007
“TBA”           
Michael Squire, University of Cambridge

Wednesday           
14 Mar 2007
‘The Odyssey Continued: Patrick Leigh Fermor in the Caribbean’           
Emily Greenwood, University of St Andrews

For further information, please contact Phiroze Vasunia at p.vasunia AT reading.ac.uk.

 

Call for Papers
10th Annual University of South Carolina Comparative Literature Conference
 
Sponsored by the Departments of Languages, Literature, and Cultures, Philosophy, and Political Science
 
Plato and Platonisms: The Constitution of a Tradition
March 20-23, 2008
Directed by: Mark Beck, Jill Frank, Jeremiah Hackett, Paul Allen Miller,
Matthew Kenney and Heike Sefrin-Weis
 
Plato is in many ways a very contemporary author.  The Platonic texts and the traditions they initiate remain at the center not only of analytic and continental philosophy, but are also founding moments in the history of political and literary theory, aesthetics, poetics, rhetoric, and law. In numerous dialogues, Plato revealed himself to be a literary craftsman of the highest caliber with a flair for dramatic presentation and psychologically refined portraiture.  All of these factors combine to make Plato and Platonism endlessly rich resources calling for continuous exploration, interpretation, and a broad interdisciplinary perspective to do justice to the various texts and contexts in which Plato has had and continues to have a formative impact. In this spirit, the University of South Carolina announces an international and interdisciplinary conference on Plato and Platonisms from antiquity through the Middle Ages and Renaissance to the present.
 
Plenary Speakers:        Luc Brisson, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
                                    John Dillon, Trinity College Dublin
                                    Mary Louise Gill, Brown University
                                    Stephen Halliwell, University of Saint Andrews
                                    Richard Kraut, Northwestern University
                                    Steven Shankman, University of Oregon
 
In addition to these plenaries, there will be panels exploring the development of Platonic tradition(s), Plato and his predecessors, literary aspects of Platonic dialogues, the reception of Platonism, Aristotle and Plato, Middle Platonism, and Neoplatonism. To this end, we invite papers that explore particular Platonic dialogues, themes across dialogues, works of authors claiming or disavowing a debt to Plato, as well as studies on other topics that touch on any of the myriad manifestations of Plato’s influence.  In particular, we desire papers that pinpoint a connection, anchor it explicitly in Plato and show us how a certain motif, idea, doctrine etc. is a 'Platonism', rooted in a tradition and founded on a dialogue with Plato.  We also invite papers that problematize the very traditions in which we have been trained to read Plato.  What are they?  Where are they located? How are they constituted?  To what extent do they dictate our response to Plato and to what extent do they provide the means to think differently?
 
250 word proposals for twenty-minute papers, or 750 word proposals for three paper panels, should be sent to pamiller AT sc.edu by September 1, 2007.

QUESTIONING PHILOSOPHY IN PLUTARCH’S QUAESTIONES CONVIVALES.
Day Colloquium at the Institute of Classical Studies, London, March
28, 2007.
Organisers:
Katerina Oikonomopoulou (Merton College, Oxford)
Frieda Klotz (King’s College, London)

Plutarch’s twin obsessions of philosophy and biography are normally
thought to be discrete, so sequestered from each other that the
popularity of the moral works has traditionally been far eclipsed by
that of the Lives. As one of the Moralia, the Quaestiones Convivales
is emblematic of both these interests but it has yet to feature as
the centre-piece of any large-scale investigation.

This colloquium aims to begin to redress the imbalance and to
stimulate discussion of the text. The following questions will be
asked: On what level(s) do the historical, educational and scientific
topics count as philosophy? Are some answers to the problems being
tackled given more weight than others? How does the meandering form
of the QC facilitate the reader’s learning?

By engaging with these problems we shall address the larger question
why the QC has been so neglected. We hope that the papers will lead
to a deeper understanding of the ways in which its (pseudo)-
autobiographical format problematises the role of biography, while
its content embeds this biography in a philosophical context.

Confirmed speakers: Christopher Pelling (Oxford), Jason König (St.
Andrews), Frances Titchener (Utah State), Frieda Klotz (King’s
College London), Katerina Oikonomopoulou (Merton College, Oxford).

We hope to attract the interest of Plutarchists, scholars of the
Second Sophistic, and researchers working more broadly in the areas
of ancient philosophy, education, and medicine. Postgraduate students
in any of the above fields are particularly welcome. Thanks to the
generous support of the Hellenic Society, we will be able to offer to
two postgraduate bursaries to facilitate attendance.

Potential participants are encouraged to contact the organisers
(frieda.klotz AT kcl.ac.uk, or
aikaterini.oikonomopoulou AT merton.ox.ac.uk) stating their interest.
The conference programme and other participation details (including
how to apply for the bursaries) will be circulated in due course.

UNIVERSITY OF ST ANDREWS
SCHOOL OF HISTORY


Ph.D Studentship

The School of History at the University of St Andrews is in a position to offer a fully funded AHRC Ph.D studentship for a suitably qualified candidate.  The Scholarship will cover full fees, and a maintenance grant at the standard AHRC rate. 


In addition the successful applicant will be able to apply for an additional St Andrews scholarship of £3000 per annum, which may be held in addition to the AHRC studentship.

This studentship forms part of an AHRC grant funding an ongoing bibliographical project under the direction of Professor Andrew Pettegree and Dr Malcolm Walsby. The successful applicant will be required to work on the Parisian book trade in the period 1500-1540.  They should therefore have serviceable French, and a willingness to work with Latin materials (additional tuition in French and/or Latin will be available if required in the first year of the studentship).  The successful applicant will be required to work in St Andrews for the first year of the studentship, and may expect to be based in Paris for some part of the three years of the grant.


The studentship is available for three years from 1 October 2007.


All enquiries should be directed to Dr Malcolm Walsby at mnw AT st-and.ac.uk (01334 462924).  The closing date for enquiries is 31 March 2007.  A longer description of the subject of study follows. 


University of St Andrews, School of History
Ph.D Studentship
Latin books published in Paris, 1500-1540


It is a commonplace of work on early printed books that the Reformation brought a transformation in the book world.  With the works of Luther and his contemporaries, authors and publishers reached out to a new audience in the literate laity, and popularized a new type of book, pamphlets or Flugschriften.

Yet examination of the statistics of book production suggests that the Reformation may have had much less overall impact than is commonly assumed.  An overview of the statistics of production suggest that Latin continued to dominate the output of most major publishing houses right up until the end of the 16th century.  In this respect the triumph of the vernacular, often seen as a direct consequence of Luther's engagement with a mass audience, was much more muted.  Despite the increased demand for religious polemic, and for other categories of vernacular literature (news books, royal edicts, almanacs), Latin continued to dominate output in many classes of learned and technical literature, and even in theology.

The project will investigate these issues through an examination of the Paris book world in the first four decades of the 16th century.  Paris was one of the major centres of book production in the whole of Europe.  Its printers worked closely with the local authorities to supply both the official bodies of the capital, and a growing reading public.  They were also the centre of an extended export trade for high quality and large format books that demanded a high level of expertise and capital investment.

Paris was pre-eminently a centre of learned print, with an established reputation in the fields of law, theology, and editions of classical authors.  This dissertation will examine, through a comprehensive analysis of the output of Paris publishing, how the new intellectual and religious movements of the first half of the sixteenth century impacted on this established and respected industry. 

This project will take as its starting point Brigitte Moreau's Inventaire chronologique des éditions Parisien du XVIe siècle, 1500-1540.  It will focus on the activities of a handful of representative printing houses, both houses well established in the trade in academic books, and those that found a specialist niche in other types of literature (medical, architectural, technical handbooks or music).  It will examine how each of these printers faced the temptations and opportunities of the vernacular trade, or whether this was resigned to younger, more entrepreneurial houses that seized this opportunity to make their way into the crowded and highly controlled Paris market.

This project will make use of the established analytical method of the St Andrews French Book project and introduce new criteria specific to Latin books.  That is, it will take an established, published but essentially flawed resource (Moreau) and refine it through the use of a vast repertoire of new information available through on-line catalogues. This dissertation can therefore be expected to increase substantially our knowledge of Parisian print in this era.

8.00 p.m. |HINT| Jesus: The Early Years
The Gospels sometimes contradict each other in their descriptions of
Jesus' early years and not much is known about how he spent his
childhood. Now archaeology can help uncover some clues about his
early influences and even his birth.

8.30 p.m. |HINT| John The Baptist
He was the son of Zachary, baptizer and cousin of Jesus. New
archaeology has revealed what may be the cave where St. John baptized
new converts to Christianity. Simcha Jacobovici checks out the cave
and learns more about this major Christian saint. He also discovers
why, in the Church of St. John the Baptist, there is a painting by a
Canadian artist complete with beavers carved on the frame.

11.00 p.m. |HINT| Buried Chariot Mystery
November 2003: A major highway is being built through West
Yorkshire, North England when one of the workers spots something in
the soil. Archaeologists are called to the scene and deduce they have
found a chariot from the Iron Age, but as they dig deeper they find
more than a chariot--they find a skeleton. Iron Age expert Miranda
Aldhouse-Green is now on a hunt to discover who this person was and
why was he buried in a chariot. Other burials found around this area
tell Miranda this was not a battlefield but an area that held sacred
properties for the Iron Age tribes.

HINT - History International

Homo sum; humani nil a me alienum puto.
(Terence, Heauton Timoroumenus 77)

Pron = HOH-moh soom hoo-MAH-nee nil ah may ah-lee-AY-noom POO-toh.

I am a human being; I think that nothing human is separate or "other" from me.

Comment: It might be a revealing thing to ask ourselves: is there anything that is human that not a part of me?

It might be more fun to put the question to a crowd and watch them attempt to answer the question, listen to the things "human" that they would reject for themselves.

It would be more like wisdom to ask the question of ourselves. It is easy for me to look at an individual that has angered or hurt me and find in him/here qualities that are so "deplorable". Not like me at all. Except for this nagging little thing: I cannot recognize the deplorable condition in another unless--well--I recognize it.

The difficult truth is that we find in others ALL human qualities, and they all belong to us--the marvelous things that are human, and the painful things that are human. They are all ours.

The real question: what we do with who we are.

Bob Patrick
(Used with permission)
Latin Proverb of the Day Archive

ante diem iii kalendas februarias

405 B.C. -- death of Sophocles (by one reckoning)

58 B.C. -- "official" birthday of Livia, wife of Augustus

9 B.C. -- dedication of the Ara Pacis

133 A.D. -- birth of the future emperor Didius Julianus

228 A.D. -- martyrdom of Martina (?)

311 A.D. -- martyrdom of Savina of Milan

From YLE:

Opera omnia Topelii
: Nuntii Latini

25.01.2007, klo 17.33

Societas litterarum Sueticarum Finniae amplum opus litterarium instituit, cum omnia, quaecumque Zacharias Topelius, fabulator ille celeberrimus, olim scripsit, publice divulganda esse decrevit.

Editio nova, quae tam apparatu critico quam variis adnotationibus instructa erit, non solum in formam libri redigetur, sed etiam ex versione digitali constabit.

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

From the Independent:

Mary Stanley Low, political activist, poet, linguist and classics teacher: born London 14 May 1912; married 1937 Juan Breá (died 1941), 1944 Armando Machado (died 1981; three daughters); died Miami 9 January 2007.

Mary Low was a poet, linguist and classics teacher who, as a 24-year-old Trotskyist, vividly described the revolutionary fever that gripped Barcelona in the months following the military uprising against the Spanish Republic in July 1936. The era ended in May 1937 when the Republican authorities suppressed the city's anarchist and dissident Communist movements.

Low's Red Spanish Notebook: the first six months of revolution and the civil war (1937) was jointly written with her Cuban husband, the Surrealist poet Juan Breá, with a foreword by the Marxist historian and critic C.L.R. James. Her contribution consisted of 11 snapshots of mostly everyday life in those extraordinary times - when, as she reported, street barrel-organs played the "Internationale", shoeshine boys carried an anarchist union card, waiters refused tips and notices were hung in brothels urging the clientele: "You are requested to treat the women as comrades - The Committee (by order)".

George Orwell praised the book in a review for Time and Tide on 9 October 1937: "For several months large blocks of people believed that all men are equal and were able to act on their belief. The result was a feeling of liberation and hope that is difficult to conceive in our money-tainted atmosphere. It is here that Red Spanish Notebook is valuable . . . it shows you what human beings are like when they are trying to behave as human beings and not as cogs in the capitalist machine."

This was the scene that Low found in Barcelona's central thoroughfare of Las Ramblas:

"Housefronts were alive with waving flags in a long avenue of dazzling red. Splashes of black or white cut through the colour from place to place. The air was filled with an intense din of loudspeakers and people were gathered in groups here and there under the trees, their faces raised towards the round discs from which the words were coming."

She brought a perceptive outsider's - and Anglo-Saxon - eye to convey the quirks of life in "red" Barcelona, avoiding the heavy-handed heroics of some of her contemporaries. She notes, for example, the bureaucratic culture of the politicians and functionaries of the Catalan government in contrast to the egalitarian mood on the street. She visits the deserted suburb of San Gervasio, its fountains still playing in the gardens of the locked villas where the city's rich families once lived.

There is no pomposity or romanticisation in her account of the burial of the anarchist leader Buenaventura Durruti, killed in November 1936 leading his militia in the defence of Madrid. His funeral, attended by tens of thousands of supporters, was delayed because alterations had to be made after it was discovered that the tomb for his coffin was too small, as was the pane of glass for viewing his embalmed corpse.

Newly arrived in the Catalan capital, she was horrified to find that the siesta was still being practised. "Do you mean to say that you shut up everything and go to sleep from one till four during the revolution and civil war?" she and Breá asked one inhabitant incredulously, only to note: "He stared at us from large languid eyes as if the sun had struck us." Equally dispiriting for her was the continuing enthusiasm of the locals for the lottery - "the eternal lottery, like a veil of illusion still preserved for Catalan eyes".

Born in London in 1912 to Australian parents - her father was a mining engineer and her mother a former actress - Low was educated in France and Switzerland. She mixed in circles frequented by left-wing political activists and avant-garde artists in Paris, where she met Breá in 1933. Among their friends were André Breton, Paul Eluard, René Magritte and Yves Tanguy. They travelled around Europe and to Cuba, eventually making their way to Barcelona in August 1936, where General Francisco Franco's revolt had been crushed by workers' militias and elements of the armed services loyal to the Republic.

Like Orwell, Low and Breá joined the quasi-Trotskyist POUM (Workers' Party of Marxist Unity). Low worked on the English-language broadcasts for the party's radio station and helped finance, co-edit and translate its fortnightly English newsletter, The Spanish Revolution. She was also the POUM's representative in the press office of the Catalan government. But by the end of December - shortly after Orwell's arrival in the city - she and Breá fled to France amid rising tensions between parties on the left and with Breá saying that he feared for his life after he had nearly been run over by a car on leaving a POUM meeting earlier in the month.

Low and Breá were married in London in September 1937, shortly before the publication of Red Spanish Notebook, for which Low translated Breá's seven chapters from Spanish into English. Following interludes in Cuba and Paris, from early 1938 the couple lived in Prague, where they had several Surrealist friends, until July 1939 when they were forced to leave in the wake of the Nazi invasion.

Low's poetry first appeared in a joint compilation with Breá, La Saison des flûtes, published in Paris in 1939. Again displaying her skills as a linguist, the poems were written in French and, in "La Chauve-souris visite Marseille" ("The Bat Visits Marseilles"), contain the apparently self-referential lines:

Type standard de l'aventurière internationale
cheveux roux
regard fatale, longue
robe blanche, accent onomatopé
aux surprenantes ambiguïtés harmoniques.

In 1940, Low and Breá boarded a transatlantic liner in Liverpool and made their way to Cuba, where she would remain for the next 25 years. Breá, however, was already ill and died just over a year later. In 1943 in Havana Low published a selection of essays, La verdad contemporánea, on political and cultural themes which featured a foreword by the French poet Benjamin Péret, whom she had known in Paris and Barcelona. The essays were edited versions of talks which she and her late husband had given at the city's Institute of Marxist Culture in 1936 under titles such as "The Economic Roots of Surrealism" and "Women and Love from the Perspective of Private Property".

In 1944 Low married Armando Machado, a Trotskyist Cuban trade-union leader, with whom she would have three daughters. At the same time she acquired Cuban citizenship, keeping her dual British-Cuban nationality for the rest of her life.

More poetry collections followed: Alquimia del recuerdo ("Alchemy of Memory") in 1946, illustrated by the Cuban-born Surrealist Wilfredo Lam, and Tres voces - Three Voices - Trois voix in Spanish, English and French in 1957, for which the Cuban artist José Mijares provided illustrations. In 1948 she also translated El rey y la reina, as The King and the Queen, by the exiled Spanish novelist Ramón Sender.

Low and Machado welcomed the 1959 Cuban revolution. She taught English and Latin at the University of Havana and both of them became leading members of the re-formed Trotskyist POR (Revolutionary Workers' Party). However, the party soon fell out of favour with the new regime. Indeed Machado was on one occasion arrested and only freed following the personal intervention of Che Guevara. Low moved to Sydney in 1965 and in 1967 she and Machado settled in Miami. She taught Latin and classical history at some of Florida's élite private schools, having been barred from any public-sector teaching posts on account of her background in left-wing politics. She continued her writing and poetry, which were published in In Caesar's Shadow (1975), Alive In Spite Of - El triunfo de la vida (1981), A Voice in Three Mirrors (1984) and Where the Wolf Sings (1994).

She retired from teaching in 2000 and, until wheelchair-bound in her final year, continued to travel, regularly visiting and making new friends in Europe, with whom she enjoyed telling anecdotes from her eventful life. She also retained an interest in the politics of the Spanish Civil War and in 1999 was a signatory of a manifesto drafted by a group of historians and political activists from Spain and other countries which complained that the war was now seen largely as a struggle between Fascists and anti-Fascists and not as a war between classes.

From UKTV comes this (presumably good?) news:

The government has announced that the Temple of Mithras in London is to receive a Grade II listing.

Located on Queen Victoria Street in the heart of the city, the third century AD Roman temple is the only known Mithraeum from Roman London and one of the most important in Britain.

Discovered and excavated in the 1950s as part of the redevelopment of the City of London after the German bombing raids of the Second World War, the temple was later reconstructed at his current site at Bucklersbury House in the 1960s.

The future display of the Temple of Mithras is currently under review and it may well be moved back to its original site in Walbrook.

Culture minister David Lammy said: "Listing is a tool for management of the historic environment not a tool for its absolute preservation and the proposal to relocate and reconstruct the temple in its original site can now be considered in that context."

Dedicated to the worship of the ancient god Mithras, the temple was constructed around AD 240-250 and fell out of use in the late fourth century. It was excavated by Museum of London director, WF Grimes, who discovered a number of white marble statues of various gods and other artefacts.

... the Museum of London has some nice pages on the Temple and finds from the area ...

From a St. Olaf press release:

James M. May, provost and dean of St. Olaf and professor of classics, recently has published two articles in important volumes dedicated to teaching and scholarship in classics.

In the first article, "Ciceronian Scholarship in the Latin Classroom" (in A Concise Guide to Teaching Latin Literature edited by Ronnie Ancona, Oklahoma University Press 2007, pp. 71-90), May joins four other teacher-scholars (from CUNY, Bowdoin, Cambridge University and Harvard University) in providing accessible information about recent scholarship on the Latin authors Catullus, Horace, Ovid, Cicero and Vergil, the official Advanced Placement Program Latin authors whose works are standard reading for college and advanced secondary students of Latin. The book is aimed specifically at keeping teachers current on recent developments in Latin scholarship by showing how an awareness of current academic debates can enhance their teaching in the classroom.

In the second article, "Cicero as Rhetorician" (in A Companion to Roman Rhetoric edited by William Dominik and Jon Hall, Blackwell 2007, pp. 250-263), May joins an international team of 30 scholars known for their expertise in ancient Roman rhetoric and oratory. As a leading authority on the Roman orator Cicero, May was commissioned to write an essay on Cicero's work, specifically as a rhetorician. May focused on Cicero's masterpieces De oratore, Brutus, and Orator, -- treatises that exerted a profound influence not only on subsequent Roman rhetoric and oratory, but also on humanistic studies into the modern era.

This has made the rounds of several lists and several folks have sent it to me as well:

As many of you know, the United States and Cyprus have had a bilateral
agreement for almost five years that restricts the import into the
United States of undocumented archaeological materials from Cyprus.
The Cultural Property Advisory Committee (CPAC) in the U.S. Department
of State considered extension of this agreement on Thursday and
Friday, January 25 and 26 (see the AIA's letter in support of this
request on its website: www.archaeological.­org). A large delegation
from Cyprus and from the Cypriot Embassy was in attendance, including
*Andreas Kakouris, *the new Cypriot ambassador to the U.S., and Pavlos
Flourentzos, Director of Antiquities.

The question of whether coins should be included in the new agreement
arose, and the Committee is now seeking public comment on whether
coins should be included. Cyprus has asked that coins be included
because it considers coins to have considerable archaeological
significance when found in context, and, like other such materials,
they are vulnerable to pillage and illegal export. The proposal is to
include in the new bilateral agreement coins found in Cyprus that are
more than 250 years old.

CPAC Is now accepting letters supporting (or opposing) the inclusion
of coins. The deadline of Monday, February 5, for them to receive
letters is very short. We urge those who care about this issue to
email or fax letters supporting the inclusion of coins.

Your letters should address some or all of the following points:

1. Are coins part of a country's cultural patrimony and does the
looting of coins jeopardize a country's cultural patrimony?

2. Is scientific excavation of coins important to archaeology and the
reconstruction of social, political, and economic history?

3. Does the search for coins to sell on the market destroy sites and
archaeological context (and therefore jeopardize the country's
cultural patrimony) through metal detecting and other looting activities?

4. Specific points based on personal experience and specific examples
involving Cypriot coins would be particularly helpful.

The deadline for submitting a letter is Monday, February 5. Letters
must be either faxed or sent by email to the Committee at the address
below. Please take a minute and communicate your thoughts to them.

Cultural Property Advisory Committee
Cultural Heritage Center
U.S. Department of State
301 4th Street, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20547
E-mail: culprop AT state.­gov
Fax: (202) 453-8803

For the record, the AIA's letter of support doesn't mention coins, but they do have a version of the above letter online (that page also has links to some useful past articles on Cypriot archaeology) ...

Personally, I think the AIA should be looking at the success of the UK's Portable Antiquities Scheme and start rethinking their zero tolerance policy ...

From BMCR:

Howard D. Weinbrot, Menippean Satire Reconsidered. From Antiquity to the Eighteenth Century.

W. Heckel, Who's Who in the Age of Alexander the Great.

Heinz-Guenther Nesselrath, Platon: Kritias. Platon Werke VIII, 4 (translation and commentary).

J. M. Hall, A History of the Archaic Greek World ca. 1200-479 BCE.


From Scholia:

Justina Gregory (ed.), A Companion to Greek Tragedy. Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World.

Department of Classics & Ancient History
University of Manchester

Research Seminar, SECOND SEMESTER, 2006-7

 All seminars take place in Humanities Lime Grove Building, Oxford
Road, Room S1.7 and begin at 5pm.
All welcome. For more information, contact ruth.morello AT manchester.ac.uk

1 February
Jamie Wood (Manchester), "Isidore of Seville and the history of Rome"  

 8 February
A.R. Birley (Emeritus, Duesseldorf) , 'Religion at Vindolanda'  

 15 February
Bella Sandwell (Bristol), 'Libanius and the Strategic Use of Religious
Allegiance'

 22 February
Ursula Rothe (Manchester), Clothing and identity in the northwest of
the Roman Empire

1 March
Liz Potter (Bristol), "Ideas and Ideals of Athens in 19th-c. Britain"

 8 March
Julia Shear (Glasgow), 'Polis, Demos, and Revolution: Responding to the
Four Hundred'

 15 March
Henrik Mouritsen (KCL), 'The power of the Roman people revisited'

 22 March
Ibrahim Amin (Manchester), "Spears & Suplexes: Grappling from the
Palaestra to the Battlefield"

19 April
David Fearn (Corpus Christi College, Oxford), 'Dithyramb, Paean, and
Epinician: The Politics and Diversity of Choral Performance on Greek
Islands of the 5th Century BC'.

 26 April
Serafina Cuomo (Imperial), 'A Roman engineer's tales'

 3 May
Esther Eidinow (Manchester), 'Magic on Trial'

10 May
Bill Allan (University College Oxford), 'Tragic politics: some myths
and some answers'

17 May
Emily Gowers (Cambridge), 'Trees and Family Trees in the Aeneid'

24 May
Guy Bradley (Cardiff), 'Romanisation: the end of the peoples of Italy?'

31 May
Tony Woodman (Virginia), 'A Covering Note: Catullus 65'

Leeds Classics Department Research Seminar

Wednesdays at 3pm
Room 101, Parkinson Building
University of Leeds

Meetings of the Classical Association (Leeds and District branch) are also included below, marked ‘CA’. Please note that their times and days of the week vary.


January 23rd (CA - Tuesday at 5 for 5:30)
Vivian Nutton University College London
Healers and Healing in the Roman Empire

January 24th
Malcolm Heath University of Leeds
Aristotle’s Theory on Natural Slavery

January 31st
Sybille Haynes Formerly British Museum
New Light on the Etruscans of Chiusi (with slides / powerpoint)

February 8th (NB on Thursday at 5pm)
Peter Liddel University of Manchester
The decree-cultures of ancient Greece

February 14th
Christy Constantakopoulou Birkbeck College, London
Aegean networks and island identities

February 21st
Roger Brock University of Leeds
Did the Athenian empire promote democracy?

February 28th
Emma Stafford and Regine May University of Leeds
E. Stafford: Fair-ankled Hebe: Youth and the female in the cult of Herakles
R. May: Form and function of poetic quotations in Apuleius

March 6th (CA – Tuesday at 5 for 5:30)
Charlotte Roueché Kings College London
Entertainments in the ancient city

March 7th
Guy Hedreen Williams College, Williamstown Mass.
Iambic caricature and self-representation: an interpretation of internal references among red-figure vase-painters of the Pioneer Group

March 14th
Matthew Nicholls Queen’s College, Oxford
Public libraries in the Roman world (powerpoint)

March 21st
Stefan Tilg University of Bern
Rough talk, charming whispers, and white horses:
Apuleius' "Golden Ass" looking in the mirror

March 28th
Roger Brock and Katie Bell University of Leeds
R. Brock: The end of the Histories revisited, or, does Herodotus warn the Athenians?
K. Bell: Two-way traffic: Viewing the Parthenon Frieze in both directions

BREAK FOR EASTER

April 18th
Verity Platt University of Chicago
Epiphany and Mimesis

April 25th
Filippo Battistoni Scuola Normale in Pisa
Roman use of kinship diplomacy

May 2nd
Rosalind Thomas Balliol College, Oxford
Title TBA

May 3rd (CA – Thursday at 5 for 5:30)
Emma Stafford University of Leeds
A cock to Asklepios: Sacrificial practice and healing cult

May 9th
Stephen Harrison Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Horace and the Victorians


For any further information about the series, please contact Drs. Roger Brock (r.w.brock AT leeds.ac.uk), Regine May (r.may AT leeds.ac.uk) or Penny Goodman (p.j.goodman AT leeds.ac.uk).

Lectureship in Greek Literature and Philosophy
School of Histories and Humanties
University of Dublin, Trinity College
Status: Permanent

Closing Date: 12 Noon on Friday, 23rd February, 2007

Salary: Lectureship scale: €34,678 - €69,985 / €72,317 - €79,489 per annum

The appointee will have a PhD in Classics, will be actively engaged in research and will have an
established publication record. S/he will be expected primarily to teach Greek language, literature
and culture courses at all levels in the undergraduate programmes of the Department and to
undertake supervision of undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations up to PhD level. In
addition, the appointee will be expected to participate in the administration of the Department.
The ability to contribute to the research activities of the Centre for the study of the Platonic
Tradition will be desirable.

The post is tenable from 1st September 2007 , or as soon as possible thereafter.

Informal enquiries may be made to Christine Morris, Head of Department, cmorris AT tcd.ie.

Further information about the Department of Classics can be found at http://www.tcd.ie/Classics/


Candidates should submit a full curriculum vitae, to include the names of three referees, to:

Recruitment Executive
Staff Office
Trinity College
Dublin 2
Tel: +353 1 896 8489
Fax: +353 1 677 2694
Email: christine.devlin AT tcd.ie

We welcome applications by e-mail. Please note there is no application form to be completed.

TRINITY COLLEGE IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES EMPLOYER

The Department of Classics at the Florida State University is accepting applications for a newly authorized position in Greek literature at the Assistant to Associate Professor level.  This position is in addition to those previously announced.  We seek a scholar in any area of Greek poetry or prose to complement our current strengths.  We would hope that the successful candidate could begin in August 2007, but in any case no later than January 2008.  Applicants who applied for our previously announced assistant professor position will automatically be considered for this position, unless they inform us otherwise.  Dossiers, including a c.v., three letters of recommendation, and a short writing sample, should be sent to: Greek Literature Search, Department of Classics, 205 Dodd Hall, The Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306-1510.  Review of applications will begin February 15, and candidates should ensure that all materials are received by February 26th, 2007.  The Florida State University is an Equal Opportunity/ Affirmative Action employer, committed to diversity in hiring, and a Public Records Agency.  Additional information about the department may be found at www.fsu.edu/~classics.

8.00 p.m. |DCIVC| First Olympian
dna

9.00 p.m. |HINT| Ancient Rome: The Caesars & the Arch of Titus
In this host-driven series that presents history in a thoroughly
entertaining and thoughtfully engaging manner, Dave Stotts travels
around the world for a fast-paced encounter with the people, places,
and events that have shaped the world as we know it today. Our host
in the driver's seat, Dave Stotts, is a guy who knows not to take
himself too seriously as he humorously interacts with different
people, cultures...and cars of our world. He'll drive you down roads
less traveled to bring you face to face with history like you've
never seen it before. In the first episode, we begin our look at the
history of Western Civilization with an exploration of the ancient
Roman Empire. From its early legendary beginnings, to the glory days
of the Roman Republic, to the rise of the Caesars, we'll overview the
establishment of the greatest Empire the world has ever known.

DCIVC - Discovery Civilization (Canada)

HINT - History International

Cum infirmi sumus, optimi sumus.
(Pliny the Younger, Epistulae 7.26.1)

Pron = koom ihn-FEER-mee SOO-moos, OHP-tih-mee SOO-moos.

When we are sick, we are at our best.

Comment: Odd, isn't it? Actually, Pliny says that he learned this little gem from a friend who was recently sick. He goes on to explain that when one is sick, one is not "bothered" by the various passions that come with be a healthy human being.

I am not convinced, as Pliny was, that human passions are a particular problem. In fact, I am fairly convinced that Stoicism, inserted in various forms of Christian morality, have created a rather unhealthy disregard for otherwise natural human emotions, feelings and sensations, of body, mind and emotion, and that seeing them as a problem or a "sin" only creates more disease.

However, my disagreement with this Stoic-Christian view is no reason to throw away the basic idea here. When we are sick, we can, momentarily, find some clarity that we don't have when all is well. I say momentary, because the ego can create quite a fortress out of illness. However, an illness can clear the deck, so to speak, and allow us a clarity about what is important, what is honest, what is real.

The same thing is possible for perfectly healthy folks. This is the great benefit, in my view, of a daily practice of meditation--however you define it. A time to get clear on how life is unfolding, be brutally honest, strip the facade off that our egos have layered on, in privacy and silence. In my own experience, we either choose to get quiet, or we get sick. Either way, we get a glimpse of wisdom that makes us better people.

Bob Patrick
(Used with permission)
Latin Proverb of the Day Archive

ante diem iv kalendas februarias

164 B.C. -- death of Antiochus Epiphanes (according to one reckoning)

1 B.C. -- departure of Gaius Caesar to the east (?)

275 A.D. -- death of Aurelian (according to one reckoning, which doesn't seem right)

From YLE:

De oleribus consumptis
: Nuntii Latini

25.01.2007, klo 17.32

Consumptio olerum apud Finnos nonnihil aucta est, si respicias singulos cives quinquagena quina fere chiliogrammata huius generis cibi anno bismillesimo quinto (2005) edisse.

Victus olitorius tamen Finnorum generatim nonnisi in lycopersico, cucumere carotaque consistit.

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

For more news in Latin, here's the latest headline from Ephemeris: De caede Peshawaris

Alas, it appears that Akropolis World News is no longer in business ... pity.

Seen on Classics-l:

CAM Spring Meeting

The Classical Association of Massachusetts will hold its spring meeting on
March 31, 2007 at Smith College in Northhampton, MA. The exact times, fee
and location will be announced soon.

We are looking for teachers and classicists who would like to share their
knowledge and expertise at this meeting. If you have a project, strategy or
other idea, and would like to present it to a warm, welcoming group, we
would love to have you! Please contact Deb Heaton at dheaton AT comcast.net.

Membership information may be found at our website, massclass.org.

Maximas Gratias!

Debra Heaton
President, CAM

From BMCR:

A.J. Boyle, Roman Tragedy.

Doherty on Calder on David Grene, Of Farming & Classics: A Memoir.

S.P. Oakley, A Commentary on Livy Books VI-X. Volume III. Book IX.

Leif Carlsson, Round Trips to Heaven: Otherworldly Travelers in Early Judaism and Christianity. Lund Studies in History of Religions, 19.

Special Issue: Reshaping Rome: Space, Time, and Memory in the Augustan Transformation
Guest Editor: Beth Severy-Hoven

Severy, Beth. Introduction
Roman artistic works from the Augustan period begin to use the bodies of women, but also of men and children, to represent the empire as a household with Augustus as its head. Such representations manipulate developing metaphors of family loyalty and paternal control to express the transformative power of Augustus's imperial policies that made former enemies into subjects or cooperative participants in Roman society. The poetry of Ovid reveals the pervasiveness of this imagery and the range of interpretations placed upon it by a member of the elite now subject to an emperor.

Milnor, Kristina. Augustus, History, and the Landscape of the Law
One way in which Augustus both represented and attempted to effect his vision for the future of Rome was through the "social legislation" that regulated marriage and family life. This paper argues that authors such as Tacitus and Horace, who directly represent the Augustan laws, and Livy, who addresses the same issues in his reconstruction of the debate over the marriage ban in the Twelve Tables, see them as connected to ideological (re)formulations of both space and time. The metaphor of landscape, which is used repeatedly to represent the laws, is thus both an acceptance of and challenge to the terms of the new social landscape that was being drawn in Rome under Augustus.

Lesk, Alexandra L. "Caryatides probantur inter pauca operum": Pliny, Vitruvius, and the Semiotics of the Erechtheion Maidens at Rome
Copies of the maidens from the south porch of the Erechtheion on the Athenian Akropolis were employed extensively in Augustan monuments in Rome, most famously in the Forum of Augustus. This paper examines the origins of the conflation of Vitruvius's term "caryatid" and the Erechtheion maidens as well as the semiotics of their employment as part of Augustus's iconographic vocabulary of triumph. By using a contextualized diachronic approach to evidence and adopting Broucke's argument that the copies of the Erechtheion maidens found in 1952 at Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli were salvaged from the Domitianic Pantheon mentioned by Pliny as being "caryatids in a class of their own," this problematic conflation of terms can be traced back to the first century A.D.

Ramsby, Teresa R., Severy, Beth. Gender, Sex, and the Domestication of the Empire in Art of the Augustan Age
Roman artistic works from the Augustan period begin to use the bodies of women, but also of men and children, to represent the empire as a household with Augustus as its head. Such representations manipulate developing metaphors of family loyalty and paternal control to express the transformative power of Augustus's imperial policies that made former enemies into subjects or cooperative participants in Roman society. The poetry of Ovid reveals the pervasiveness of this imagery and the range of interpretations placed upon it by a member of the elite now subject to an emperor.

Orlin, Eric M. Augustan Religion and the Reshaping of Roman Memory
This paper argues that the Augustan period witnessed a dramatic reconception of Roman religion—a reconception that played a vital role in the emperor's efforts to create a unified sense of identity that included both Romans and Italians. Instead of a religion of place tied to specific historical developments, both Virgil in the Aeneid and Augustus in his rebuilding of the eighty-two temples emphasized religious practices ordained by a single authoritative figure and connected to pre-Roman Italy. The reconstruction program reshaped Roman memory as well as the physical city, because Roman temples served not only as religious sites, but also as monuments in which Roman memories and Roman history resided. This reordering of Roman topographical and chronological space thus linked Roman identity not to the history of expansionist Rome over the previous 500 years, but rather to Augustan Rome and its fuller inclusiveness of Italy.

Riggsby, Andrew M. Response

Articles available via Project Muse.

===========================================
NORTHERN ASSOCIATION FOR ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY
===========================================
Conference: 27-28 March, 2007, Leeds University.
Booking details below.

SPEAKERS AND TITLES:
Jean-Louis Labarriere (CRNS and Oxford) - on Phantasia (title tbc) Malcolm Heath (Leeds) "Aristotle on Natural Slavery"
Peter Adamson (King's London) - "Plotinus on Astrology"
Eleni Kaklamanou (Trinity College, Dublin) - "The scepticism of the New Academy and Rhetoric."
Jean-Louis Hudry (Edinburgh) - "Aristotle on Time, Plurality, and Continuity"

The meeting will run from early afternoon 27th March to lunchtime 28th March.
Venue: Inter-Disciplinary Ethics Applied CETL, Fenton Street, Leeds University.

CHARGES:
£70 full board (en suite)
£30 covering dinner (27th) and lunch (28th) for those making their own accommodation arrangements

BOOKING and INQUIRIES:
Please book in the first instance via Jamie Dow (j.dow AT leeds.ac.uk), 0113 343 7887.
You will then be sent a full booking form. Payment and confirmation of details will be required by the end of February.
Any other inquiries also should be directed to Jamie Dow.

POSTGRADUATES:
We hope to make available postgraduate bursaries to support postgraduate attendees. These would be made available on a first-come-first-served basis. The finances to support making these available have yet to be confirmed, but postgraduates are encouraged to (1) book for the conference, (2) apply to their own institution for financial support, and (3) apply for these bursaries on the assumption that we will be able to provide them. Applications by email to Jamie Dow. j.dow AT leeds.ac.uk

Lectureship in Greek History
School of Histories & Humanities
University of Dublin, Trinity College
Status: 3 year post

Closing Date: 12 Noon on Friday, 23rd February, 2007

Salary: €34,678 - €69,985 / €72,317 - €79,489 p.a.
(Appointment will be made between points 1-8 i.e. € 34,678 - € 48,931 p.a.)

Preference will be given to candidates with an expertise in the classical period. An interest in
epigraphy and/or material culture would be an advantage. The successful candidate will have a
PhD in Classics or Ancient History, will be actively engaged in research and will have an
established publication record. S/he will be expected to teach courses at all levels in the
undergraduate programmes of the Department, and to undertake supervision of undergraduate
and postgraduate dissertations up to PhD level. In addition, the appointee will be expected to
participate in the administration of the Department. The ability to contribute to the research
activities of the programme in Mediterranean and Near Eastern Studies will be desirable.

The post is tenable from 1st September 2007 , or as soon as possible thereafter.

Informal enquiries may be made to Christine Morris, Head of Department, cmorris AT tcd.ie.

Further information about the Department of Classics can be found at http://www.tcd.ie/Classics/

Candidates should submit a full curriculum vitae, to include the names of three referees, to:

Recruitment Executive
Staff Office
Trinity College
Dublin 2
Tel: +353 1 896 8489
Fax: +353 1 677 2694
Email: christine.devlin AT tcd.ie

We welcome applications by e-mail. Please note there is no application form to be completed.

TRINITY COLLEGE IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES EMPLOYER

Details at the APA site ...

GRAECO-AEGYPTIACA/AEGYPTO-GRAECA
INTERACTIONS BETWEEN GREECE AND EGYPT 700BCE-300CE

The relationship between ancient Greek writers and the Egyptian literature
and discourse of the Graeco-Roman period is emerging as an area of intense
debate, stimulated by two factors. First, there have been a series of
stunning new discoveries, e.g. a Demotic Egyptian text published by Kim
Ryholt which is close to the story of Pheros in Herodotus' history Egypt,
or the Demotic Book of Thoth which provides an Egyptian equivalent to the
Greek Hermetica - both of which appeared in 2005; and secondly, a number of
important new interpretations have been published, e.g Phiroze Vasunia's
Gift of the Nile (2001), Susan Stephens' Seeing Double (2003) and Jacco
Dieleman's Priests, Tongues and Rites (2005).

In this context, the Classics Department of the University of Reading will
host a conference on September 17th-19th of 2007, with the aim of exploring
the transmission and translation of literature between Egypt and the
Graeco-Roman world, covering the period 700BCE- 300CE. Central issues that
it is hoped will be addressed include the following:

a. THE SCOPE OF BILINGUAL LITERATURE. Conceived narrowly, "Graeco-Egyptian
literature" comprises texts that circulated in both Greek and Egyptian
versions, including narratives (such as the Sesostris-novel), prophecies
and magical texts; in a broader sense, it covers texts of either language
which seem to engage with the texts or discourses of the other. Key
questions here include: which specific texts are we talking about? And how
can it be established that a relationship exists between texts or
discourses from different languages or cultures? What terms and categories
are appropriate to describe such relationships? And how do they change over
time?

b. CONTEXTS OF TRANSLATION AND PRODUCTION. When and how should we
understand transmission between the cultures as taking place? Who carried
out the translation? What was the role of bilingual priests (cf. e.g. P.
Derchain in RdÉ 41 (1990), 9-30 on Greek echoes in the Papyrus Jumilhac).
Can the direction of the translation be determined in every case? Do texts
show traces of linguistic interference or code-switching? If Egypt's
relation to the Greco-Roman world in the Hellenistic and Roman periods
resembles one between a colony and an imperial power, can the process be
illuminated by the contemporary model of postcolonial theory?

c. THE CONSEQUENCES OF CONTACT. What results for either tradition did
interaction with the other bring about? For example, it has been argued
that contact with Greek culture may have led to radical changes in late
Egyptian literature, or even to the development of entirely new forms and
genres, such as the heroic narratives of the Inaros Cycle (cf. J. Quack,
Die demotische und gräko-ägyptische Literatur (2005), 171-5); or satiric
poetry (H.-J. Thissen, SAK 27 (1999), 369-387); conversely, Manetho's
Aegyptiaca has be seen as an innovative fusion between native Egyptian
forms of chronology and narrative with Greek historiography (cf. John
Dillery, ZPE 127 (1999) 93-116).

Papers are invited which address interactions and engagements between Greek
and Egyptian literature and discourse, including narrative-texts,
religious-texts and magical texts, and the underlying issues of translation
and transmission. Those interested in participating should send an abstract
of 300-500 words as soon as possibl an at any event by February 16th 2007
to GraecoAegyptica AT reading.ac.uk. For further information about the
conference and updates, visit the conference website at
http://www.reading.ac.uk/AcaDepts/lk/GraecoAegyptica/.

The Department of Classics at the Florida State University has been authorized to make the appointment beginning in August 2007 of a new 12-month Assistant in Classics (lecturer) position whose primary assignment will be classroom teaching.  This is a non-tenure track position, renewable upon satisfactory performance.  The Ph.D. must be in hand by July 1, 2007.  The Assistant will teach two large-lecture sections of comparative mythology as well as a third course, usually in Latin or Greek at the undergraduate level, in both Fall and Spring terms; in addition, the Assistant will teach the comparative myth course as an on-line course during one of the six-week summer terms.  Salary will be at least $35,000, plus benefits.  Applications, including a c.v., evidence of teaching, and three letters of recommendation, should be sent to: Assistant in Classics Search, Department of Classics, 205 Dodd Hall, The Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306-1510. Review of applications will begin March 15th, 2007, and will continue until the position is filled. For information about our department, see our website at http://www.fsu.edu/~classics.  The Florida State University is an Equal Opportunity/ Affirmative Action employer, committed to diversity in hiring, and a Public Records Agency.

Busy week, it seems:

N.S. Gill leads us off with a discussion of whether Hades was considered an Olympian ...

Adrian Murdoch has some more Synesius ... here's some more ... he also ponders an op-ed piece on Rome, Scotland and the Philippines ... there's also a couple of items on the Pope's thoughts about Julian here ... and here ...

Dorothy King reproduces a WSJ article on recent finds in Rome ... she also glosses one of Adrian Murdoch's posts on Synesius ...

Mary Beard had some comments on the recent goings-on at the Temple of Zeus in Athens ... the treatment of Shilpa Shetty also led to some thoughts on racism in Ancient Greece and Rome (and a lively post discussion)

Peter Stothard was checking out the reputation of some of Martial's racier poems ...

Michael Gilleland has some thoughts from Quintilian on sleep ... an interesting item on the Wheel of Fortune ... Hesiod on origins ... and various clippings from Seneca on life as punishment ...

Kristian Minck continues to look at reliefs of Roman wagons ... including a Desert edition ...

Philip Harland gathers together some books and reviews about associations in the ancient world ...

Both Eric and Dennis have been profusely posting on various topics at Campus Mawrtius this week ... again, a link to the main page seems the best way to get them all in ...

Nathan Bauman was looking at Euripides' Electra ...

MJD posts about the Persian Wars over at Classics Reloaded ...

Troels Myrup has a report on what he saw at the AIA meeting ...

Nicholas at Nestor's Cup looked at Lycophron of Chalcis ... and execution techniques among the ancient Greeks ...

David Parsons notes the beginning of another Latin mass ...

Laura Gibbs continues her posts of useful Latin education materials ...

Ed Flinn continued posting his collection ... my pick of the week is a Gallienus/Moesia ...

Ed Snible has some useful links on legal and ethical issues for ancient numismatics ...

... and in the interests of tearing the fabric of time again, we'll point you to Tony Keen's hosting of the latest Carnivalesque, dealing with Ancient and Medieval items ... Phil S. also has a roundup of Patristics stuff ...

Father Foster has a repeat this week, looking at the influence of Thomas Aquinas on the Pope ...

This week's comparison of the USA to the ancient world comes from the Daily Targum,

Some reviews of the second episode of Rome are here and (more extensively) here ...

Elsewhere, Blogcritics was pondering who Alexander the Great's father was ...

Issue 9.40 of our Explorator newsletter has been posted ... the weekly version of our Ancient World on Television listings should be up later tonight ...

From BMCR:

Heinz Heinen, Vom hellenistischen Osten zum roemischen Westen. Ausgewaehlte Schriften zur Alten Geschichte. Historia Einzelschriften 191.

Kleopatra Ferla (ed.), Priene. Second edition.

Nikos P. Bezantakos, Christos C. Tsagalis, Mousaon archometha: O Hsiodos kai h archaike epike poiese.

... at the APA site ...

The Department of Classics, Modern Languages and Linguistics invites applications for one limited-term appointment in Classics, in the area of Latin language and literature. Applicants must have a PhD or ABD status in Classical Studies or a related area, and proven excellence in teaching and research. The successful candidate will be expected to teach undergraduate courses in Latin language and literature. Teaching assignments may also include Greek language courses at all undergraduate levels, History, and Archeology.
 
The above position is a full-time, limited-term appointment, beginning August 15, 2007. Hiring is subject to budgetary approval. This position is normally at the rank of Assistant Professor. Applications should consist of a letter of intent, a curriculum vitae, a list of publications, a statement of teaching and research interests, and three letters of reference. Review of applications will begin March 1, 2007 and continue until the position is filled.

Contact: Dr. Brad Nelson, Chair, Department of Classics, Modern Languages and Linguistics

Email: bnelson AT alcor.concordia.ca

... seen in the Canadian Classical Bulletin

The Department of Classics at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, invites applications for two (2) one-year, non-renewable appointments effective September 1, 2007. Rank and salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience.  We seek outstanding and enthusiastic scholars who have demonstrated excellence in both teaching and research. The successful applicants will have their Ph.D. or be very close to receiving the degree. They should expect to teach a full course load (2.0) at the undergraduate level in introductory courses in Greek, Latin, Greek and Roman civilization, or ancient literature in translation.

A letter of application (with current CV, a statement of research and teaching interests and any other materials candidates wish to submit for consideration) should be sent to Professor Caroline Falkner, Head, Department of Classics, John Watson Hall, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6, Canada. Phone 613-533-2745; fax 613-533-6739; email classics@post.queensu.ca . Candidates should also arrange for three letters of reference to be sent to the above address under separate cover. Consideration of candidates will commence on March 5th, 2007 and continue until successful candidates are selected.

Queen's is committed to employment equity and diversity in the workplace and welcomes applications from women, visible minorities, aboriginal people, persons with disabilities, and persons of any sexual orientation or gender identity.  The University invites applications from all qualified individuals; however, Canadians and Permanent Residents will be given priority.  The academic staff at Queen's University are governed by a Collective Agreement between the Queen's University Faculty Association (QUFA) and the University which is posted at http://www.qufa.ca .

... seen in the Canadian Classical Bulletin

British Epigraphy Society Spring Meeting 2007
The University of Edinburgh, School of History and Classics
May 5th 2007

The BES spring meeting 2007 will be held at the University of Edinburgh
on May 5th, 2007. The Meeting is organised by the School of History and
Classics at Edinburgh University, and will take place in the David Hume
Tower Conference Room. The Meeting will concentrate on epigraphic
manifestations at the borders of empire - in both a geographic and an
ideological sense.
The Meeting will be preceded by the Gordon MacKay Public Lecture on May
4th 2007, to be given by Prof. Paco Beltran (Zaragoza).
A complete programme and the booking form will be availabe shortly at:
http://www.shc.ed.ac.uk/classics/index.htm

Programme:

May 4th 2007, 18.00:
Prof. Paco Beltran (Zaragoza), 'The first epigraphies in Spain: 2nd to
1st centuries BC'

May, 5th, 2007, 10.00:
Prof. L.J.F. Keppie (Hunterian, Glasgow), 'The distance slabs from the
Antonine wall: an introduction'
and
Prof. David J. Breeze (Historic Scotland), 'The distance slabs in their
international setting'

12.00:
Dr Eberhard Sauer (Edinburgh), 'Milestones: misunderstood stone monuments?'

14.30:
Short reports

15.30:
Dr Bjorn Paarmann (Fribourg), 'Editing and commenting on the Athenian
Tribute Lists in 2007'

17.00:
Reception

For further information and a booking form please contact the organiser,
Dr Ulrike Roth (U.Roth AT ed.ac.uk) or visit our web-site:
http://www.shc.ed.ac.uk/classics/index.htm (from December 1st)

Call for Participants
Symposium: Graeco-Roman Philanthropy and Christian Charity
DePauw University
Greencastle, IN 46135
March 17-18, 2007
Contact: Dr. Jinyu Liu, Assistant Professor of Classical Studies
Email: jliu AT depauw.­edu

Ever since Paul Veyne's seminal work Le pain et le cirque (1976), the
nature of ancient euergetism (benefaction)­, which is widely attested
in all kinds of ancient sources including inscriptions from the first
three centuries CE, has been extensively explored. Scholars have
reached consensuses that benefactions in the Graeco-Roman cities were
not directed at the poorer segment of the society but at the citizen
body at large and that the benefactors were not motivated by
altruistic goals but by the desire of self-promotion. There has been a
general tendency to emphasize the discontinuity between ancient
euergetism and Christian charity. Recently, Susan Holman (2001) and
Peter Brown (2002)'s works have lent further support to this
differentiation by bringing into focus such topics as the development
of Christian rhetoric concerning poverty, invention of "the poor" and
their acquisition of cosmic significance in late antiquity.

Despite these superb contributions to a profound understanding of the
rise of Christian charity, there are still many missing links in our
understanding of the transition from ancient euergetism to Christian
charity particularly on the micro-level. How, for example, did
different ideas and practices meet, clash, or mutually influence each
other in the transitional period of the fourth century CE? To what
extent were the changes in the honorific languages and practices
embedded in the change of beliefs or the structural change of the
Roman society? How did socio-economic elements such as inflation, or
the evolving "epigraphic habit" factor into the changing forms of
benefactions and honorific practices in local contexts?
This symposium will attempt to explore these questions from a number
of angles. We welcome the insights of ancient social historians,
historians of late antiquity, epigraphists, philologists, Biblical
scholars, philosophers, Medievalists, anthropologists and sociologists.
Areas of interest include but are not limited to:
• Forms of benefaction in the Ancient World
• The beneficiaries
• Motivations of public and private benefactions
• Honorific languages and practices
• Attitude(s) towards poverty and the poor
• Philanthropy and economy

The event is free and open to all. Grants are available on a First
Come, First Serve Basis to the participants to underwrite travel
expenses, and lodging.
If you wish to present a paper or volunteer as discussants/­moderators
at the symposium, please submit a brief abstract or statement of
interest (Max. 300 words) with your affiliation and contact
information before February 28, 2007 by mail or email to:
Jinyu Liu
303 East College
DePauw University
Greencastle, IN 46135

jliu AT depauw.­edu

The Classics Department at the University of Arizona in Tucson would like to
introduce you to our Classics M.A. program, which has enjoyed remarkable
growth since its inception in the 1980s and continues to expand. It is now
regarded as one of the premier M.A. programs in the United States. To
complement its well-established program in Classical Archaeology and
Classical Philology, the University of Arizona has recently implemented M.A.
degree tracks in Ancient History and Latin Pedagogy.

* Students may emphasize Classical Philology, Classical Archaeology, Ancient
History, or Latin Pedagogy. For specific program requirements, please visit
our website, http://www.coh.arizona.edu/classics/default.html, and click on
Graduate Program.

* Qualified Graduate Teaching Assistants may teach their own sections in our
Basic Latin and Summer Intensive Latin Programs. Qualified students may also
serve as Graduate Teaching Assistants in the Modern Greek Program.

* M.A. students are encouraged to participate in summer fieldwork directed
by departmental faculty in Italy, Greece, Tunisia, and Egypt.

* Our graduates have gone on to top ranked Ph.D. programs in both Classical
Archaeology and Classical Philology. Graduates whose emphasis is Latin
Pedagogy have taken appointments in secondary schools and community colleges
throughout the country.

* A number of Graduate Fellowships, Teaching and Research Assistantships, as
well as waivers of tuition and fees, are available.

The Department of Classics normally has about twenty-five graduate students
in residence. These students enjoy the breathtaking beauty of Tucson and its
surrounding mountain ranges, its benign desert climate ("it's a dry heat"),
and a relatively low cost of living. Interested students are invited to
visit the department, or to contact any of our faculty or student
representatives.

Applications for fall 2007 are due February 15; the deadline for
international students is January 15. For more information, please get in
touch directly with Professor David Christenson, Director of Graduate
Studies (christed AT email.arizona.edu / 520-621-5326).

M.A. in Classics with Emphasis in Latin Pedagogy

(33 credit hours)
1. Proficiency in French, German, or Italian.
2. 3 units of Methodology.
3. Qualifying examination in Latin (translation) and in ei