REVIEW: Latest from BMCR

David Kovacs, Euripidea Tertia. Mnemosyne Supplementa, 240.

::Saturday, September 20, 2003 6:03:47 PM::
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MOVIE: Titans

"ccc" alerts us to the production of a new movie with a Classical theme. Titans will look at the lives of Greek gods in their teenage years as they are coming to grips with their destinies to be divine (yikes ... can you imagine Zeus as a teenager?). More (but not much more at this point) info at IGN.com (don't get excited by the reference in the article to Elektra ... that's a spinoff of the Daredevil movie from last summer).

::Saturday, September 20, 2003 10:50:59 AM::
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REVIEW: Tanagra -- Myth and Archaeology

The Louvre is hosting an exhibition of tanagras, which are probably one of the earliest examples of a 'fad' -- they're terra cottas which were popular in Greece ca. 340 - 300 B.C.. Full review at Art Daily (with one photo); a bit more info can be had (in French; alas ... it's the same photo) at the Louvre's own site.

::Saturday, September 20, 2003 8:31:55 AM::
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REVIEW: Nike: Games and Victory

The International Herald Tribune has a review of an exhibition at the Colosseum in Rome under the above title. Here's a tease:

When it came to sport, the two great players in the ancient world, the Greeks and the Romans, were at a considerable variance. The Romans hardly knew which way to look when confronted in the stadium by stark naked athletes of both sexes streaking past; and the Greeks, faced with men and women fighting to the death or being torn limb from limb by wild animals in the arena, could only wonder at what kind of culture would regard this as a suitable day out for the family. But, one way or another, the Greeks and Romans between them laid the basic foundations of competitive sports as they are now played around the globe.

The rest ...

::Saturday, September 20, 2003 8:18:35 AM::
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NUNTII: Into the Lion's Den?

The University of California at Santa Barabara is initiating a live-in residential learning program in its dorms and the first 'live-in' prof will be Classicist Apostolos Athanassakis. His hopes?

One of Athanassakis' hopes for his next year in Manzanita is to instill in his fellow residents a love of proper Greek hospitality, including the offering of refreshments to visitors.

Full story at the Daily Nexus ...

::Saturday, September 20, 2003 8:10:44 AM::
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NUNTII: Roman Artefacts in Scotland

Construction of a housing development in Kintore have revealed plenty of archaeological material, including:

An archaeological dig at the site of the new Stewart Milne Homes' scheme at Deer's Den, off Forest Road, has uncovered remnants dating back 6,000 years to Iron Age and Roman times.

The artefacts will be excavated and recorded and could end up as museum pieces.

Bread ovens and evidence of a cremation are among the finds uncovered by a team of archaeologists at the site.

Ian Shepherd, principal archaeologist with Aberdeenshire Council, has been working with Edinburgh firm AOC on the dig, and says the area has proved to be a hotspot for such finds over the years. He said: "This is part of what must be one of the largest archaeological complexes to be excavated, certainly in the North-east. From that we have got a considerable insight into nearly the whole prehistory of the whole Kintore area. What has been found is a variety of Roman material, as there was a marching camp on the site."

Full story (there isn't much more than what you've seen) ...

Addendum:

I just came across this in the Trimontium Trumpet (scroll down if you want to find this one under the heading Kintore Marching Camp):

T D Richardson of the Antonine Guard sends a piece about the excavation of this site S of Inverurie by AOC in advance of a housing development. (Murray Cook is thanked for permission to refer to his site report). There is a string of these camps across Aberdeenshire, perhaps Agricolan or Severan, Kintore being 110 acres.

It is a multi-occupation site from Neolithic to Middle Ages, with 27 round houses and 120 ‘ovens’ from the Roman period . " A portion of the U-shaped ditch of the marching camp 1.8m deep, 3m wide, was exposed in excavation. One find from the ditch - a melon bead (mid first millennium AD)...There are a dozen possible latrine pits.. The figure-of-eight ovens contained charcoal and ash, and the shallower end was often lined with stones. Finds included a finger ring, nails, remains of two carbonised bowls, two possible iron ingots. The ovens, one group oriented N-S, the other E-W, may have been used for cooking or metal processing, or both. Stone robbing from some of the ovens may indicate more than one occupation." Agricolan camp organisation and layout seems to have been more orderly than is shown here, which may lead to a late Roman dating. Some of the round houses were burnt down in situ. Possible connection with the advance of the Roman army group?

::Saturday, September 20, 2003 8:00:45 AM::
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THIS DAY IN ANCIENT HISTORY

ante diem xii kalendas octobres

• Mercatus -- as generally happened at Rome after a lengthy festival, a few days would be devoted to 'shopping' to allow folks to restock their cupboards
• 356 B.C. -- birth of Alexander the Great**

::Saturday, September 20, 2003 7:35:12 AM::
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