Salvete,

Last night I decided today was as good as any to start migrating to our new digs. For those of you visiting via the 'direct route', please update your bookmarks etc. to:

http://rogueclassicismus.wordpress.com/

... which is what I had to use to get into wordpress due to technical difficulties, or you can use our new domain name:

http://rogueclassicism.com/
... which should get you there as well.

Those of you coming via an rss reader of some sort should change the address to:

http://rogueclassicismus.wordpress.com/feed/

ante diem v idus januarias

Agonalia -- one of four dies agonales during which the Rex Sacrorum would sacrifice a ram in the Regia; on this occasion apparently in honour of Janus.

250 A.D. -- martyrdom of Felix and companions in Africa

302 A.D. -- martyrdom of Julian and companions at Antioch

c. 303 A.D. -- martyrdom of Marciana at Caesarea (Mauretania)

• ecumenical (Wordsmith)

• eclectic (Dictionary.com)

• equipollent (OED)

• honest (Podictionary)

The city of Bourgas has a coat of arms which depicts a fortress, to wit:



... and according to the headline, that fortress has been found. Whatever the case, the Wikipedia article whence that image came clarifies things at bit, noting this was the ancient Pyrgos, which became the Roman colony of Dueltum. When one knows that, this salient info begins to make sense:

A text inscribed on a sign from the 2nd century AD sheds light on the name's origins, which, literally translated from Latin, sounds like "Bourgos." The text states that in Roman times many fortresses had been built along the frontier of the Roman colony Deultum. Deultum was established in the last years of the reign of Emperor Vespasian (69-79 AD).

During December 2008, extensive research was carried out on the southeast entrance of the fortress on Foros peninsula near Bourgas, where the massive rectangular tower that had guarded the town gates can be recognised. The outer side of the fortress wall is 2.90m wide; 15m of its length seemed to be well preserved, Drazheva has said.

I'm not sure how old that coat of arms is, but I hae me doots that this is the fortress depicted thereon. Nice find though ...

• Fortress depicted on Bourgas city coat of arms discovered (Sofia Echo)

I don't know about you, but usually when I watch Time Team (they're a couple (or more) years behind in programs here in the Great White North), I'm usually underwhelmed at what they actually find. Every now and then there's a mosaic or an interesting burial, but more often it's a pile of potsherds in the mud (or so it seems). As such, it definitely catches my eye when I read that they've found what appear to be four Roman Temples in Friar's Wash. In addition to outlines which may indicate temples (including a round one!), they've found assorted items dating from the 1st century AD down to Constantine's time (coins, etc.), including some lead curse tablets and some sort of 'stone deity' (for want of a better term). Full story, lacking many photos, alas, at the Advertiser. I imagine I'll be updating this page over the next few days.

• TV team uncover four Roman temples near St Albans (Herts Advertiser)

A couple of items which may be of interest. First is a notice about a series of talks about some recent discoveries in Rome

• Roma sotterranea si svela in un ciclo di conferenze gratuite (Abitare a Roma)


Possibly more interesting is another one from Vejo about an Etruscan tomb dubbed 'La Storta', which was found a decade or two ago and which no one seems to want to excavate:

• La Storta: la tomba etrusca che nessuno vuole riportare alla luce


The latest in the 'theme park' discussion:

• Parco a tema, Cutrufo insiste: «Dovrebbe sorgere a Castel di Guido» (Il Giornale)

We were just yakking about this on the Classics list a couple of weeks ago (and I'm working on an extended blog post on the subject) ... but check this out (semi-creepy):

The Poetry Animations section of Youtube was mentioned by the fine folks at the National Post ... there's close to 250 of these things; this is the closest to anything within our purview.

ante diem vi idus januarias

13 A.D. -- consecration of the signum Iustitiae Augustae by the future emperor Tiberius

ca 175 -- martyrdom of Apollinaris

• etesian (Wordsmith)

• daunt (Dictionary.com)

Some tidbits ...

A bit of hype for the AIA side of the conference:

• A good night out began at home in ancient Greece (New Scientist)
• Ancient Greeks 'loved a good night in' say researchers (Telegraph)
• For ancient Greeks ‘good hedonistic nights out’ were enjoyed at home (News Post)
• Ancient Greeks' homes may have doubled as bars and brothels (Guardian)
• Boozy ancient Greeks 'like Homer Simpson' (Metro)

Not sure this sort of 'reconstruction' is in accordance with my taste:

• Reviving Ancient Scythopolis (Live Design)


Interesting modern art installation in Rome which makes use of a pile of Latin sayings:

• QUO VADIS? (ArtNet)


Another review of Worshiping Women (I think it's the same that we've already seen):

• Liberating ancient Greek women from myth (Washington Post)


Some ideas for teachers:

• Redwood students bring Greek history to life (Mercury News)


Elsewhere, I note the full version of the Gnomon database (it's huge) is now available for downloading (!):

From Libero comes an excerpt from a speech by Lorenzo Parlati, president of Legambiente Lazio, which appears to be one of those environmental type groups whose politics I probably wouldn't otherwise agree with ... the excerpt is a bang=on response to plans to build Roman 'theme parks':

"Fori e Appia Antica, 3.800 ettari; Veio, 7.000 ettari in area romana; Gabii, 300 ettari; Centocelle, 120 ettari: sono almeno 11.000 ettari costituenti il sistema archeologico che compone l'identita' di Roma, il nostro 'vero petrolio'. Davanti a tutto questo ben di Dio, che senso ha individuare un cosiddetto 'parco tematico della romanita'', del tutto artificiale rispetto alla maestosa presenza archeologica dei meravigliosi luoghi della Roma antica?''.

"Eppure - prosegue Parlati - nonostante questa realta', l'amministrazione comunale persiste in una pericolosa idea di dare vita a parchi di ristoranti e giostrine del tutto avulsi dalla storia della citta'. Basta speculazioni e cemento sull'agro romano, per valorizzare Roma ed il turismo al centro dell'agenda devono esserci i luoghi archeologici della citta', nello stesso modo con il quale la stessa amministrazione ha fatto deliberando proprio oggi nuovi stanziamenti per la valorizzazione ed il recupero dell'area di Gabii, a partire dalla cacciata delle macchine dai Fori Imperiali e dal Colosseo, cosa che - conclude - nessuna precedente amministrazione ha avuto il coraggio di fare".

• ROMA: LEGAMBIENTE LAZIO SU PARCO TEMATICO, VALORIZZARE PIUTTOSTO SITI ARCHEOLOGICI

ANSA is reporting a big facelift for the Forum ... here are the details:

The famed architectural sights will then be illuminated by a new lighting system, they said. Sites set for ''a complete clean-up'' include the Colosseum, the Palatine Hill, the Roman and Imperial Forums and Nero's Golden House, said Heritage Undersecretary Francesco Giro.

Long-awaited projects such as an underpass linking the forums and a new walkway up to the Palatine are part of the scheme which aims to restore Rome's ancient splendour by the spring of 2011.

Unsightly scaffolding, rusty fences and open digs will be cleared away ''so that the central archaeological area regains all its sumptuous beauty,'' Giro said.

The ''crowning touch,'' he said, would be an ''integrated'' illumination system for the entire area.

Here's an idea ... howzabout labelling the monuments clearly so you don't waste half your visit trying to orient yourself by the two temples that are labelled?


• Roman forum to get makeover

ante diem vii idus januarias

43 B.C. -- dies imperii (officially) of Octavian

?? A.D. -- the future emperor Tiberius becomes one of the VIIvir epulonum

• candor (Dictionary.com)

• aeglogue (Dr Johnson)

• sanction (Merriam-Webster)

Those of you who like to point out folks in high places with Classics degrees might want to make note of the following ... First, Indenews reports that U.S. Senator Charles Schumer has appointed Jean Bordewich to be staff director of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, which Mr. Schumer chairs. Here's her background (she's currently chief of staff for another politico):

Ms. Bordewich's first experience with the U.S. Senate came soon after she graduated from Brown University with a bachelor's degree in the classics-she specialized in ancient Greek-when she became the press secretary for then-U.S. Senator Richard Stone of Florida. She held that post from 1975-81.

Second, I think we've mentioned the head of the UK's MI5 before, but in case you didn't know, the Times has a nice interview with him which includes this tidbit:

Mr Evans, 50, a classical studies graduate of the University of Bristol, also made clear that his job bore little resemblance to that portrayed in Spooks. The BBC television actors are better dressed and “more omnipotent”, and more prone to histrionics.

The Canadian Press has a timeline of nanotechnology developments which begins thusly:

30 BC-640 AD: Ancient Romans create drinking cups that change colour under different lighting because the glass contains nanoparticles of gold and silver. The colour change suggests nanoparticles behave differently than their macro counterparts, but it is a discovery that wouldn't be recognized for about 2,000 years.

• A timeline of developments that have contributed to the science of nanotechnology

They could have added those reports of Greco-Roman hair-dye making unknowing use of similar technology in hair dye (the story was kicking around a couple of years ago):

• Ancient Hair Dye Harnessed Nanotechnology (Scientific American)
• Ancient Dye but Cutting-edge Science (CNRS)
• Ancient hair dye used nanotechnology (ABC)

Some viscous fellow from the New York Press commenting on a New Year's Eve bash:

Although labeled a masquerade ball, few partiers wore costumes. I knew the crowd would be a snooze when the first person I met was a graduate student studying ancient Greek at my Columbia University day job.

Folks who may have been following me on Twitter or Facebook last night would be aware that I was watching Canada defeat Sweden in the Junior World Cup of Hockey (or whatever it's called ... WJHC). It was held in Canada's capital (Ottawa) and was Canada's fifth gold in a row (wow!). Why I'm mentioning it here is because of a couple of bits of ClassCon which were dropped in the course of the coverage ... first, as the game wound down, the television folks focussed on a guy standing with a pile of hats which the Canadian's would be putting on after their victory ... they sported a very large V which was glossed for the culturally-challenged as "V for five, V for victory". Then, imagine my jaded eyes' collective surprise as a piece in the Telegraph-Journal (out of New Brunswick) begins thusly:

"No day will ever erase you from the memory of time," reads a line from Virgil's Aeneid inscribed on the Valiants Memorial in downtown Ottawa.

I did not know this about this memorial (which was only unveiled a couple of years ago ... I haven't been to Ottawa since). This was a special memorial to honour a handful of folks whose military service to Canada in the past four hundred years (!) was especially noteworthy. According to the National Capital Commission site:

The Valiants Memorial is a collection of nine busts and five statues and a large bronze wall inscription that reads, “No day will ever erase you from the memory of time” (in Latin: “Nulla dies umquam memori vos eximet aevo”), from The Aeneid by Virgil.

Savvy Classicists will recognize the line from book nine, dealing with the Euryalus/Nisus thing ...

Suddenly swamped with tidbits ... presented in no particular order ...

Charlotte Higgins has written a followup to her piece on Herodotus from the other day:

• Herodotus: a historian for today (Guardian)


A semi-touristy thing on the Riace Bronzes:

• Quei magnifici «Bronzi di Riace» soli e abbandonati a se stessi (Il Tempo)


... and another one on the Casale Ghella (a Roman villa site excavated a few decades ago ... need to look more into this one; it looks interesting):

• Casale Ghella sulla via Cassia (Vejo)


A touristy thing mostly on Ithaca:

• No place like Homer (Age)


Blog post about a certain UK leader of the opposition's Classical 'knowledge' (tip o' the pileus to Percival Turnbull):

• "As no less a sage than Eddie Murphy once said ..." (Sadie's Tavern)


Fans of celeb gossip will be interested to know Amy Winehouse is hanging out with Zeus:

• Amy Winehouse's godly hunk (List)
• Winehouse cavorts with new love (Age)


We mentioned this one a while ago, but Rossella Lorenzi is now covering the return-of-the-gladiators-to-Rome story for Discovery News:

• Gladiators to 'Fight' Again at Rome's Colosseum


... I also note that issue 113.1 of the American Journal of Archaeology is out ...

ante diem viii idus januarias

1822 -- birth of Heinrich Schliemann (excavator of Troy, Mycenae)

• avenaceous (Wordsmith)

• candor (Merriam-Webster)

I was originally going to give this the title "Turkey jumps on the repatriation bandwagon", but they seem to have been at it for a while, so I don't think that's quite right -- we do know that they've been trying to recover 'Schliemann's hoard' (or whatever it's called today) from the Pushkin Museum and the Altar of Pergamon from Berlin, with little success. But now a piece in Today's Zaman suggests that Turkey is after more than that but is having somewhat less-than-spectacular success (or is still negotiating). We hear, e.g., that Turkey is negotiating with the Boston Museum of Fine Arts for the return of the Hercules Resting statue (part of which is on loan to the Antalya Museum ... interesting). Dumbarton Oaks and the Getty are also said to have items "smuggled" out of Turkey. Several other museums in Europe and the usual attempts to stop auctions at Sotheby's and Christie's are also mentioned. What seems remarkable in this, though, is their apparent lack of success. Here's the concluding bit:

Turkey has been trying to find and recover smuggled items and artifacts, but it fails to attract support from other countries. For instance, attempts have been made to recover coins seized at Stansted Airport in England. Another motion of request was sent to the German authorities to ask for the return of 1,100 historical pieces seized in a Turkish citizen’s house in Germany; however, the German authorities failed to extend judicial assistance.

Russian authorities have refused to return two silver crosses and gold bracelets from the Byzantine era, smuggled from Turkey and seized in Russia two years ago, asserting that these items were handed over to the current owners.

Speaking to the Anatolia news agency yesterday, Culture and Tourism Minister Ertuğrul Günay said they have been tracking down the historical artifacts smuggled from Anatolia to foreign countries. “We have been following auctions, and we asked for support from the Foreign Ministry and other relevant institutions on this matter,” Günay said. “We have stopped some auctions. There have been some returns. These include some important items, but right now, I can’t share the details with the press. Hopefully I will in the future.”

Noting that he got upset when paying a visit to a museum in a foreign country, Günay further said: “You notice that a huge monument and part of a grave stands right at the center of another museum. I was about to sob recently at the British Museum when noticing that all these artifacts were smuggled from our country and exhibited there.”

I wonder what's up with the 'secrecy' ... I also wonder about the rather-too-easy use of the term "smuggled" in regards to things like Pergamon Altar ...

• Smuggled Turkish artifacts adorn world museums (Today's Zaman)

An interesting hoard of 41 Nummi, a radiate and a forger's mould dating (somewhat vaguely stated) to the 4th century in some cases.

Vic Francis dixit:

"We can’t say exactly where we found the coins because we want to carry on looking there ... The coins have been examined at the British Museum and we now have them back."

The hoard includes 41 Roman Nummi, one radiate, one copper alloy pendant and one forger’s mould some of which are believed to date back to the 4th century.

Richard Abdy (from the British Museum) dixit:

" This group of common fourth century coins comes with an intriguing set of objects ... It is conceivable, but not entirely convincing, that the coins represent a small hoard of Constantinian nummi while the group of Valentinianic/Theodosian nummi may be unrelated finds or indeed form a second hoard ... Otherwise they more likely represent a gradual process of site losses over the course of the century in an area that had also seen specialist metal working activity in the form of coin forging."

• Roman find in Chipping Sodbury (Gazette)

nonae januariae

ludi compitales -- day three of a moveable festival which might occur anytime between Saturnalia and January 5. It was largely a rural occasion involving woollen dolls being made to represent each free member of the household (simple woollen balls would be used to represent slaves) being hung up on the eve of the festival, presumably as offerings to the Lares. There would also follow more formal sacrifices at the compita (places where two farm paths crossed).

1906 -- birth of Kathleen Kenyon (excavatrix of Jericho)

fosse @ OED

elysian @ Merriam-Webster

liminal @ Wordsmith

abstinent @ Dictionary.com


n.b. we're also going to be following Dr. Johnson's Dictionary (a new blog mentioned by Language Hat) ... nothing "Classical" yet, though ....

From the Sun:

WHEN the hero of Monty Python’s The Life Of Brian daubed “Romanus Eunt Domus” on the wall of the Roman HQ in Jerusalem he was trying to prove his rebel credentials.

But instead of impressing the People’s Front of Judea, he got a thick ear from a Roman centurion and a Latin lesson.

For instead of “Romans Go Home” he had written “People called Romanes they go house”.

As punishment for not conjugating his verbs properly, Brian was ordered to write the correct version “Romano Ite Domum” 100 times.

It’s a lesson more pupils in the North could be learning in the future if plans by the classicists and the Government get the go ahead.

But how can pupils benefit from an archaic language which effectively died out 1000 years ago?

Peter Jones — a former lecturer, author of Vote for Caesar and head of the Newcastle-based Friends of Classics charity — explained: “Around half of the English language has Latin roots so it will give you a deeper understanding of how languages develop.

“For example, if you know that porto means ‘to carry’ in Latin you can then understand the root and meaning of a host of English words such as transport, heliport, sea port, but also similar words in other languages such as French or Portuguese.

“It is also a practical language if you want to study botany, the law or medicine, although it’s not a requirement.”

Mr Jones also scoffed at suggestions it was an elitist subject. He said: “Latin is not just for toffs, but for everyone. But it must be available to be taught in state schools as well as public schools.”

David Stevens, an English expert from Durham University, agreed, and added that the new initiative would help to remove the perceived snobbery.

He said: “Latin is still thought of as elitist as it’s taught at top public schools, but making it available to more students will allow them to claim it for everyone.

“Of course, there is the argument that it would be better to spend the time concentrating on modern languages such as French.

“But understanding Latin will help you understand the so-called Romance languages like Italian or French, as well as English.”

At present, Latin can be sat as a GCSE but, because it’s not on the National Curriculum, those exam scores are not included in the school exam ranking system. This has seen its popularity tumble, with only 15 per cent of state schools currently teaching it.

In 1988, just over 16,000 pupils sat GCSE exams in Latin, with 53pc of those coming from state schools. But, by 2000, the figure had dropped to 10,000 and only 37pc of those were from state education.

Meanwhile, the number of qualified Latin teachers is also rapidly falling, with only around 35 a year entering the profession at a time when 60 or more leave every year.

It has led to warnings that if something isn’t done, the subject will soon disappear altogether.

The plans have received qualified support from education chiefs who would have to oversee the increase in the teaching of Latin. Jean Hart, of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: “I personally would not have a problem with Latin being taught in state schools but it would have to be based on choice because not everyone would want to study it.”

• New life for a dead language

A few items of interest ...


A very nice BBC video report on an exhibition of Roman things in Seville, including a VERY interesting sculpture right at the beginning depicting the Battle of Actium:

• Spain's Roman heritage on show


A nice touristy thing on Pompeii (tip o' the pileus to Mike Aquilina):

• Pompeii today: Site of volcanic devastation reveals history at every turn (Post Gazette)


... and one on Vindolanda:

• Vindolanda offers insight into Roman Britain (News.com)


On the origin of the term bankrupt (seems fairly reasonable; I might check it out later):

• Failed bankers used to break tables - or banks (Gulf News)


T'other day we mentioned Colin Renfrew was going to blame the Met and praise the Getty for their acquisition policies; now he's softening his stance on the Met:

• Lord Renfrew vs. the Met, Round 2 (LA Times)


Charlotte Higgins writes about Herodotus in the Guardian (tip o' the pileus to Laval Hunsucker):

• The rest is history (Guardian)

Chris Ann Matteo posted this to the Classics list:

You're Invited...to attend or to tune in to the first podcasts from the Annual Meeting of the American Philological Association and Archaeological Institute of America.

http://podcasting-apa2009.blogspot.com

Visit the website, above, to see the details and listen to a sample recording that describes our program. As the talks are recorded on Saturday 10 January 2009 and are then ready for podcasting, they will be made available on the same website following the meeting.

We are hoping it allows many more lovers of the classsics, both inside and outside of academia, to benefit from the meeting--at low cost and when the listeners has time to download!

We will be meeting and podcasting in real time with real voices at the following time and place:

Saturday 10 January 2009

11:15 a.m. - 1:15 p.m.

Philadelphia Marriott Downtown
Grand Ballroom L
Philadelphia, PA

The public is heartily invited to join us!

Podcasting and the Classics
Sponsored by the APA Committee on Outreach
Chris Ann Matteo and Ed DeHoratius, Organizers
In the field of classical humanities, professors and K -12 teachers alike are witnessing the democratizing
power of the podcast: mp3 players are intimate hardware for our students and the public we want to
reach. They have proven a particularly powerful tool to restore and augment the oral/aural experience in
our teaching and scholarship. This panel will explore different approaches to podcasting in the field of
classics and classical archaeology. The panel explores the roles that podcasts play in our culture for
education, entertainment, and research, and it probes how podcasts will be used in the future of classical
scholarship.
1. Lars Brownworth, The Stony Brook School
12 Byzantine Rulers (20 mins.)
2. Patrick Hunt, Stanford University
Tracking Hannibal: Podcasting without Satellite Maps (20 mins.)
3. Henry Bender, The Hill School, St. Joseph’s University, and Villanova University
To Pod or Not to Pod: Podcasting AP Vergil and Latin Literature (20 mins.)
4. Bret Mulligan, Haverford College
Using the Ear to Train the Eye: Classroom Experiments in Podcasting Latin (20 mins.)
Jennifer Sheridan Moss, Wayne State University
Respondent (10 mins.)

... I've added the site to the Classicarnival blogroll on the side there for your (my) convenience ...

i need to see if it picks up a second post on the same day

... not sure if this is a good thing or not yet.

... please ignore ... again

I think I like the term 'breviaria' better than 'miscellanea' ... or at least I do this a.m. ...

Heavy rains are threatening the archaeological remains at Paestum:

• Inizio 2009 sotto la neve Maltempo nel Meridione allagato lo stadio S. Paolo (Il Giornale)
• Maltempo: forti piogge a Napoli (Leggo)


Brief item on the results of the excavation season at Famagusta-Bamboula (a Bronze Age citadel being excavated by the folks from the University of Cincinnati):

• Excavations at Episkopi-Bamboula complete


The personal satisfaction which comes from learning New Testament Greek:

• My Gospel masterpiece hanging on Archbishop’s wall (Belfast Telegraph)


On pleasure-seeking, ancient and modern:

• Go on, enjoy yourself! Forget the gloom-mongers, the author of a book on pleasure says there's plenty of happiness around... (Daily Mail)


A piece on the Cassandras of Wall Street actually asked a Classicist (Dana Burgess of Whitman College) about the story of Cassandra:

• The Cassandras (Weekend America)


An opeddish sort of thing which seems to be suggesting the incoming U.S. president might be a Caracalla (?!):

• Inheriting An Empire (Indy Bay)


A touristy thing on Vindolanda:

• Vindolanda offers insight into Roman Britain (News.com)


The Histrenact reenactment events diary page might be of interest:

• Reenactment Events Diary

Pompeii: A Series of Research Seminars Presented by the Department of Classics, University of Reading

Spring 2009

Dr. Katharina Lorenz (Nottingham) 'Rhetoric on the wall? Visiting a Pompeian house with Quintilian and Georges Didi-Huberman' 21st of January

Professor Michael Fulford (Reading)
'Pompeii: Recent Excavations in the House of Amarantus'
4th of February
Professor Henrik Mouritsen (King's College London)
'Writing and space in the Roman house'
11th of February

Virginia L. Campbell (Reading)
'Words, Words, Words: A Look at Pompeian Funerary Inscriptions'
and
Dave Newsome (Birmingham)
'Pompeii's Imperial Forum: Rome's Logica Chiusa'
25th of February

Professor Robert Fowler (Bristol)
'Herculaneum: Challenges and Prospects for Future Development'
4th of March


All seminars to be held at 4 pm in Palmer G04, University of Reading, Whiteknights Campus

Contact: Dr. Phiroze Vasunia (p.vasunia AT reading.ac.uk)


Posters advertising the seminar series can be downloaded and printed from: http://www.rdg.ac.uk/classics/about/class-news.asp

*RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF CLASSICS*

*UNIVERSITY** OF WALES**, LAMPETER*

*RESEARCH SEMINAR PROGRAMME LENT TERM*

All papers start at 6pm and are held in the Roderick Bowen research centre. For more information please contact Mirjam Plantinga (m.plantinga AT lamp.ac.uk ) or Owen Hodkinson (o.hodkinson AT lamp.ac.uk ). All welcome.

*Thursday 15 January*: Dr. Lynn Kozak (Nottingham), ‘The Constraints of Desire: the Persistence of Pederasty in Platonic Models of Love’.

*Thursday 22 January*: Prof. Roy Gibson (Manchester), ‘Problems with Pliny the Younger’, a CA paper.

*Thursday 29 January*: Dr. Elton Barker (Christ Church College, Oxford), ‘Homer’s Thebes’, a KYKNOS paper.

*Thursday 5 February*: Dr. Fiona Hobden (Liverpool), ‘History meets fiction in Dr. Who, The Fires of Pompeii’.

*Thursday 12 February*: Dr. James Thorne (Swansea), ‘The state(s) of Gaul at Caesar’s arrival’.

*Thursday 26 February*: Dr. Roger Brock (Leeds), ‘Political imagery in archaic Greece’.

*Thursday 5 March*: Evert van Emde Boas (Corpus Christi College, Oxford), TBC

*Thursday 12 March*: Dr. Altay Coskun (Trier & Exeter), ‘New work on Hellenistic and Roman Galatia’.

*Thursday 19 March*: Melanie Marshall (Brasenose College, Oxford), /Bella plus quam civilia/: Tacitus’ /Histories/ and /aemulatio/ of Lucan’s narrative passages’, a KYKNOS paper.

*Thursday 26 March* (*provisional date): Prof. David Konstan (Brown), ‘Before Forgiveness’, a CA paper.

Bologna University Summer School in Latin Language and Classical Culture (29 June - 17 July 2009) The Department of Classics (http://www.classics.unibo.it) and the Department of International Relations of Bologna University are organising the second Summer School in Latin Language and Classical Culture. The courses will be focused both on language and on literature; further classes will touch on moments of Roman history and the history of art, supplemented by visits to museums and archaeological sites (especially in Rome). The course will be held in Bologna from 29 June to 17 July 2009 for a total of 60 hours (50 hours of classes + 10 hours of cultural activities). No specific qualification is required for course admission. On the basis of their previous knowledge of Latin, the participants will be divided into classes of different levels (beginners and intermediate). All tuition will be in English. For further information (e.g. application form, credits, syllabus of the 2008 course, etc.) please visit: http://www.unibo.it/summerschool/latin E-mail: diri_school.latin AT unibo.it