YLE's Nuntii Latini has returned from its summer vaction. Here are the latest headlines:

Urbs antiqua in Peruvia reperta (20.8.2004)

Spelunca Iohannis Baptistae? (20.8.2004)

Olympia Atheniensia (20.8.2004)

De pretio petrolei (20.8.2004)

Feriae iam finitae (20.8.2004)

Listen to the broadcast ...

The University of Crete, Department of Philology (Division of Classics), is pleased to announce the organization and hosting of the third Rethymnon International Conference on the Ancient Novel to be held in Rethymnon, Crete on 23-24 May 2005. RICAN has been following with success the tradition established by the Groningen Colloquia on the novel organized in the past by Heinz Hofmann and Maaike Zimmerman. The topic of RICAN 3 will be: "The Greek and the Roman Novel: Parallel Readings", and is expected to include approximately 15-20 invited speakers.

For further information, please contact the conference organizers:
Michael Paschalis, paschalis@phl.uoc.gr,
Stavros Frangoulidis, frango@phl.uoc.gr,
Conference e-mail: RICAN@phl.uoc.gr.

... from the Ancient Narrative mailing list

Links to full-text pdf. articles ...

Genre: Theory and Practice

R. Bracht Branham, "The Poetics of Genre: Bakhtin, Menippus, Petronius"

Kevin Corrigan and Elena Glazov-Corrigan, "Plato's Symposium and Bakhtin's Theory of the Dialogical Character of Novelistic Discourse"

Ahuvia Kahane, "Epic, Novel, Genre: Bakhtin and the Question of History"

Gary Saul Morson, "Genres, Aphorism, Herodotus"

Rereading Bakhtin on Ancient Fiction

Tim Whitmarsh, "Dialogues in Love: Bakhtin and his Critics on the Greek Novel"
 
Jennifer R. Ballengee, "Below the Belt: Looking into the Matter of Adventure Time"

Steven Smith, "Bakhtin and Chariton: A Revisionist Reading"

Maria Plaza, "The limits of Polyphony: Dostoyevsky to Petronius"

Centrifugal Voices

Richard Fletcher, "Kristeva's Novel: Genealogy, Genre, and Theory"

Francesca D'Alessandro Behr, "Open Bodies and Closed Minds? Persius' Saturae in the light of Bakhtin and Voloshinov"

Christine Mitchell, "Bakhtin and the Ideal Ruler in 1-2 Chronicles and the Cyropaedia"
 
Francis Dunn, "Narrative, Responsibility, Realism"

The Ancient Narrative website has more comprehensive links (including links to abstracts and methods for contacting authors).

Not sure why, but I appear to have forgotten to include this AP item in this a.m.'s Explorator:

Archaeologists exploring the bottom of the sea off the island of Capri have found the wrecks of three ancient ships that once plied the Mediterranean between Rome and northern African colonies.

Culture Minister Giuliano Urbani took a mini-submarine tour Thursday to see the latest additions to Italy's rich archaeological heritage, which were found earlier this month.

The wrecks were found off the island in the Gulf of Naples at a depth of about 430 feet, said private TV Canale 5, showing underwater footage of the finds on Friday.

A starfish rested on piles of amphorae, the slender terra cotta storage containers the ancient Romans used to transport goods, and colorful fish darted through the openings between the relics.

Archaeologists said one of the wrecks, from the 1st century, had been transporting goods on the route between Rome and what is now Tripoli, Libya.

A second ship, also from the first century, sank with a load of the containers, which were typical of those used to transport fruit, while the third vessel, from the 4th century, was laden with similar vases containing a popular condiment of the time based on a kind of fish sauce.

The underwater expedition also found ships from medieval times as well as more recent wrecks from World War II.

"For decades, we've been thinking about mapping the bottom of our seas for archaeological purposes, but today you can do it with new technologies," the Italian news agency ANSA quoted Urbani as saying.

Thanks (and apologies) to JMM and KD for the heads up.

Issue 7.17 of our Explorator Newsletter has been posted ... enjoy!

7.00 p.m. |HINT| Time Team: Papcastle, Cumbria
When Ray and Helen Buckingham started building work on an extension to their Cumbrian house in Papcastle, England, they found what looked like Roman pottery and building-stone fragments. Puzzled, they contacted Time Team--actor Tony Robinson (Baldrick in "Blackadder") and his team of archaeologists, historians and other experts. Was the couple's garden part of a Roman settlement or military staging post? Time Team has just three days to piece together the surprising story.

HINT = History International