NUNTII: Endangered Archaeological Sites

The World Monument Fund (no, I had never heard of it either ... I thought UNESCO did this sort of thing and there does not seem to be any affiliation) has come up with its top 100 most-endangered sites list. If you have the patience to wait for their extremely slow server to load, you will find a number of sites which fall within the purview of our interests:

• Palaikastro (Greece)
• Helike (Greece)
• "Port of Trajan Archaeological Park" (Italy)
• Roman Villa at Rabaçal (Portugal)
• Temple of Augustus (Turkey)
• "Ephesus Archaeological Site"
• Panticipaeum (Ukraine)

Of course, there's a pile of Near Eastern sites (for obvious reasons), but we'll leave them to our friends at "palaeojudaica" or you can grow old waiting for the WMF server itself .... They have more info on the sites, apparently, but I've got to go to work in the a.m..

::Wednesday, September 24, 2003 8:40:18 PM::
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REVIEWS: Medea and Oedipus at Colonus

The National Theatre of Greece is currently performing Medea in California. An early review is in which suggests the performance probably wasn't as enjoyable as it should have been (and some editors still have problems spelling the name of the playwright):

San Francisco Chronicle

Meanwhile, there was a pile of hype for the 'sequel' to Oedipus Rex being performed in Salt Lake City. By an interesting bit of synchronicity, this production was also marred by 'outside forces'.

The Salt Lake Tribune ...

::Wednesday, September 24, 2003 8:24:14 PM::
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REVIEWS: From BMCR

Michael C. Alexander, The Case for the Prosecution in the Ciceronian
Era.

Christer Bruun and Anna Gallina Zevi (edd.), Ostia e Portus nelle loro
relazioni con Roma. Acta Instituti Romani Finlandiae, 27.

::Wednesday, September 24, 2003 8:16:44 PM::
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NUNTII: Roman Olive Press Found?

Some guy in Malta was wandering down the road looking at one of those rubble sorts of walls one sees all over the Mediterranean and he spots what he believes to be a Roman olive press. It does seem to come from an area with a pile of archaeological sites, so maybe he's right. Full story (with photo) at the Malta Times ...

::Wednesday, September 24, 2003 8:08:50 PM::
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AUDIO: Father Foster

As folks might be aware, "the pope's own latinist" Father Foster regularly chats about things Latin and latinate on Vatican Radio but it is not cached or saved. If you have RealAudio and click here, though, for the next few hours you should be able to get the story (a stroll around old Rome) ... it starts at ca. the 11.45 mark.

::Wednesday, September 24, 2003 6:13:05 AM::
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THIS DAY IN ANCIENT HISTORY

ante diem viii kalendas octobres

• 15 A.D. -- birth of the future emperor Vitellius (?)

::Wednesday, September 24, 2003 5:55:54 AM::
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NUNTII: History of Cinnamon

Here's an interesting tidbit from the history of cinnamon:

A famous, but particularly notorious, use of this warm spice was by Roman Emperor Nero (A.D. 54 to 68) who, after murdering his wife, attempted to make amends by ceremoniously burning her body with a year's worth of cinnamon.

Not sure of the source on that one, but the rest of the article is in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ...

::Wednesday, September 24, 2003 5:46:44 AM::
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NUNTII: Roman Coin Hoard Found

A brief item in Doncaster Today relates the discovery last year of a rather large hoard of Roman coins dating to the third century A.D.. The finder will receive the usual 'market value' reward. The article ... (no photos, alas).

::Wednesday, September 24, 2003 5:39:08 AM::
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TTT: Golden Age of Roman Drama

N.S. Gill over at "about.com" has put up a "Golden Age of Roman Drama Timeline" which looks like it could be very useful. Check it out at ...

::Wednesday, September 24, 2003 5:30:39 AM::
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