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::Wednesday, November 12, 2003 8:41:28 PM::
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GOSSIP: Duelling Alexanders

Comingsoon.net has a bit of gossip about the two forthcoming Alexander the Great flicks. The one with Nicole Kidman will apparently begin shooting in September, even though Oliver Stone's version is already shooting. Rival director Baz Luhrmann is quoted:

"I think you might want to see that [Stone's film] but it's not much of a stretch of the imagination to imagine mine's going to be different," he told BBCi Films, adding, "I never do anything on anyone else's schedule and I make things when I'm ready, basically."

Well meeeeow!

::Wednesday, November 12, 2003 8:31:20 PM::
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NUNTII: Amathus Excavations

A (very) brief item from the Cyprus News Agency (dated 03-11-12) landed in my mailbox, saying:

An intact dedicatory cippus with an inscription referring to emperor  Tiberius, rich pottery finds, Roman, Byzantine and Hellenic coins, architectural fragments, vessels lamps and terracotas were among the significant revelations of the excavations at the lower city of Amathus, on Cyprus' southern coast.

Hopefully we'll hear more.

::Wednesday, November 12, 2003 8:24:04 PM::
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NUNTII: Steven Saylor Interview

Windy City Media Group has an interview with Steven Saylor which concludes with some details about his next novel:

The next book in the Roma Sub Rosa series is called The Judgement of Caesar and follows my sleuth Gordianus to Egypt for a fateful meeting with Cleopatra. I’ve been building up to Cleopatra for several books now, and I think my vision of The Queen of the Nile is rather different from the way she’s usually portrayed. This was a woman who married her brothers, ruthlessly put her own siblings to death, and literally considered herself a goddess. “Mad, bad, and dangerous to know” might sum up the Cleopatra whom Gordianus encounters. The book should be out in spring 2004.

More ...

::Wednesday, November 12, 2003 8:21:01 PM::
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NUNTII: Early Church Discovery

An "explorator" reader passed this one along (thanks LD!) ... according to television news from France (France 2, I believe), a mid-fourth century A.D. cathedral has been discovered during the excavation of a convent at Arles. The only info on this so far is in French, but the site does have a nice little video of the television news report which includes some interesting shots of the mosaic which decorated the floor of this cathedral at one point (click on the little video camera ... Realplayer).

::Wednesday, November 12, 2003 8:16:50 PM::
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NUNTII: Pisa Ships

According to a brief article in AGI, they're working towards building a museum to house the Pisa ships:

A foundation to manage the Roman ships in Pisa, on the example of the statute passed for the Turin Egyptian Museum, whose prototype contains the general characteristics of will by applied in Pisa. The announcement came from the Minister of Cultural Heritage, Giuliano Urbani, who spoke today in Pisa, together with the minister of Infrastructure Pietro Lunardi in a convention of "The Pisa Ships and Europe. From Conservation to Valorisation," organised for the Italian EU rotating presidency. The second novelty announced by Minister Urbani was the intention to start an industrial project to study the successive steps that "will bring us closer to a museum." A structure, he added, "that will not only be a building but will concern the organisation of a museum space that will be realised in relation to the various state of advancement of the recovery and restoration of the ships."

More ...

::Wednesday, November 12, 2003 8:05:51 PM::
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THIS DAY IN ANCIENT HISTORY

pridie idus novembres

• ludi Plebeii (day 9)

::Wednesday, November 12, 2003 5:49:44 AM::
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NUNTII: Classical Robotry

Check this out:

Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers have crossed a robotic arm with the bottom half of a Segway to make a robot named Cardea that can traverse hallways and push open doors.

Cardea, named after the Roman goddess of thresholds and door pivots, is the one-armed first prototype of a robot designed to have three arms and the ability to safely interact with humans at eye level.

Cardea, of course, enjoys the same 'root' as Cardinal ... transvers hallways ... open doors ... interact with humans at eye level. Three arms would probably be useful ... More on the robot ...

::Wednesday, November 12, 2003 5:37:35 AM::
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NUNTII: Berkshire County Day School Classics Day

The above-named school held a Classics Day and happily got press coverage:

On November 8, 2003 Berkshire Country Day School Latin and Greek students attended the Pioneer Valley Classical Association's Classics Day at Belchertown High School in Belchertown, MA, according to an announcement by Robert R. Peterson, Head of School. Students were offered the opportunity to learn more about the world of the Romans and Greeks by participating in many different contests and activities. The students attended workshops and entered many contests, with B.C.D.S. winners listed:

The winners list follows, with the names of the events, which some folks might find useful for planning their own 'Classics Day'.

::Wednesday, November 12, 2003 5:33:32 AM::
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NUNTII: Apples of Discord

We're in a rush this a.m. because when one is an insomniac one has periods when, Lou Reed-like, "he found he had to crash" (without the Valium) and one sleeps through alarms, coffee pots overflowing on counters etc. So descriptions this a.m. must needs be short. The first comes from amicus noster TP, who sent along a gardening column taking the Iliad as a point of departure for a disquisition about apples ...

::Wednesday, November 12, 2003 5:29:02 AM::
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AWOTV: On TV Tonight

7.00 p.m. |HINT| Incredible Monuments of Rome
"A look at the Colosseum, Pantheon, Forum, and other ancient
monuments that were often places of ritualistic human sacrifices
and torture."

8.00 p.m. |DCIVC| Lost Treasures of the Ancient World: The
Roman Empire in North Africa
dna

9.00 p.m. |HINT| Time Team: Wadden, Dorset
"When Time Team descended on Wadden in Dorset, England, they
outnumbered residents--the village consists of 5 houses. They
were invited by neighbors David James and Grace Brooks, who
found a huge amount of old pottery in their shared garden during
excavations for a septic tank. The pottery dated from Medieval,
Roman, and Iron Age days. The name Wadden derives from Wode Hill
and dates back a 1,000 years, but what lies beneath the handful
of houses that remain? Time Team has 3 days to find out."

HINT = History International

DCIVC = Discovery Civilization (Canada)

::Wednesday, November 12, 2003 5:14:58 AM::
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