NUNTII: Death of Cleopatra

Folks who like more modern artistic interpretations of ancient events will be interested in seeing Edmonia Lewis' Death of Cleopatra, if they haven't already:

According to Art Daily, Edmonia Lewis was the first African-American sculptrix to receive international recognition. More details at Art Daily.

8:47:09 AM    

NUNTII: Another Athenian Freebie

A brief item from Kathimerini reports:

The Culture Ministry yesterday denied press reports it might be planning to charge visitors admission to the recently fenced-off Philopappou Hill in central Athens — which contains several ancient remains, including a lavish funeral monument for the second century AD Roman Consul Gaius Julius Antiochus Philopappus. A recent ministerial decision, which includes a reference to tickets at certain archaeological sites or monuments, does not apply to the hill, the ministry said. The hill, opposite the Acropolis, also boasts sections of the ancient walls of Athens and several ancient rock-cut chambers. Local residents fiercely opposed the fence, fearing an entrance fee would soon be levied. The ministry said the measure was only for security reasons and to protect the antiquities.

8:40:59 AM    

CHATTER: Did I Miss a Meeting?

Clearly my router travails have put me in a nasty mood (the lack of coffee this a.m. no doubt helps as well) ... I'm wading through my scans and in the midst of them all is something from Cape Argus, which is part of the IOL (South Africa) stable of newspapers. In a piece on crystals, inter alia, is this:

The use of crystals dates back to the ancient times in Lemuria and Atlantis, around 10 000BC. They were worn for their healing and transformative powers, as a way of tapping the Earth's energy.

And that got past an editor?

8:38:58 AM    

CHATTER: Caligula's Horse ... Again

The fable about Caligula's horse rears its ugly ... er ... head again, this time in some Malaysian news source:

I have read that the mad Emperor, Caligula, made his horse a consul. But I never dreamt that I would live to see the day when a former MCA president could make his own man a puppet president, thereby having a hand in ensuring that ill-considered advice will be rendered to the top executive of my country.

I guess they don't read rogueclassicism ...

8:26:01 AM    

CHATTER: Sharon Augustus

The Jerusalem Post has a piece commenting on Ariel Sharon which concludes:

We may understand Sharon, but he's hard to imitate. To act in a balanced way in this complex matrix of interests and move forward, one needs an intuitive understanding of human nature and social processes. That is an understanding no computer can provide, but is summed up by the phrase coined by Julius Caesar: Festina lente - Make haste slowly.

Well, it was Augustus, not Julius Caesar, but we can let that one pass, I supposed. But to think that no computer can provide an understanding of festina lente can only come from someone who hasn't tried to make headway with D-links "Quick Install Guide" for a broadband router ... or who has tried to teach a class of 35 how to use Adobe Photoshop to change a photo in a room with only 20 computers, only 13 of which might be working ... or who has tried to teach Dreamweaver to a class of 27 in the same room, only to watch a concatenation of crashes as one learns the hard way that the server and/or the Pentium II's on the network can't handle it ...

8:20:25 AM    

CHATTER: Alexander Flick

If folks weren't aware, there have been a pile of news sources over the past while which have really been playing up the Alexander-the-Great-was-gay thing in anticipation of the upcoming movie. To date, those observations have been confined (as far as I've been able to tell) to 'specialized' publications aimed at a definite audience. Now they appear to be hitting the more mainstream press. In passing in the Globe and Mail (which bills itself as Canada's National Newspaper, even though it doesn't seem to see much beyond Ontario's borders):

Superstud Colin Farrell has two gay roles upcoming: in Oliver Stone's Alexander, where he's Alexander the Great as a bottle blond [...]

Hollywood loves to rally 'round a cause, though, especially if it generates cash. So if Bush keeps firing his misguided salvos, it could result in more gay-themed projects, which may employ more gay actors. At the very least, it should sell a few extra tickets to Alexander.

Probably an accurate observation ... we'll keep an eye on where the hype goes ...

8:02:36 AM    

CHATTER: Seen in Passing

The opening of a new Taqueria near Harvard also has given rise to (what I hope is) an interesting typo in the Crimson:

Prices range from $1.75 for a beans- only tostada to $4.50 for a grilled vegetable plato.

Pythagoreans will want to avoid the place at any rate ...

7:54:40 AM    

NUNTII: Nemean Games Redux

The UC Berkeley News has more coverage of the revived Nemean Games ... here's some in media res material:

The Nemean Games could not have been revived without the Berkeley research — excavations and subsequent analysis and study — conducted there for decades, said Miller, who joined the faculty in 1973 and plans to retire in December.

“Excavation for its own sake is ridiculous, like carrying out an experiment in a lab without application,” he said. “Scholarly publications are important, but so is making results available to the general public.”

Miller and his students have made headlines for unearthing important antiquities at the site — the stadium and track; an entrance tunnel to the track, lined with the graffiti of ancient athletes; a temple of Zeus; a bathhouse; and what’s considered the world’s oldest athletic locker room.

In 1993, Miller led the reconstruction at the track of an ancient starting device made of wood, rope, and cord that once launched the foot races in antiquity. A major project now in the works is the reconstruction of the temple, where athletes made sacrifices before competing. So far, two toppled columns of the original 34 are back in place; happily, says Miller, three others were not among those thrown down by vandals in 435 A.D.

The idea for the New Nemean Games came from a handful of residents who live near the archaeological site. After observing small-scale foot races held at the track in 1994 during a summer event celebrating the excavated stadium’s completion, they approached Miller about how to keep bringing the stadium to life for the public. That December, the Society for the Revival of the Nemean Games was established, and it continues to organize the games.

For the 100-meter sprint, runners are organized by age and gender in groups of 12. They enter the ancient locker room, remove their clothes, don a simple tunic, and walk through the long entrance tunnel to await their turn on the track. After receiving a lane assignment drawn from a helmet, they take their places at the starting block and wait for a signal to begin the races. A 7.5-kilometer race also is run — from the ancient temple of Herakles near the town of Kleonai to the stadium.

The winner of each race immediately receives a ribbon around the head and a palm branch, and is awarded a crown of wild celery at the day’s end.

“We want to give participants something of the feeling of an athlete in the fourth century B.C.,” said Miller. “The direct contact of bare feet on ancient soil and starting blocks creates a sense of history that has to be experienced to be understood. Many people describe the chill bumps they felt as they passed through the entrance tunnel, from the 21st century A.D. to the fourth B.C.” [more]

7:48:48 AM