ante diem vi kalendas martias

• Regifugium -- a festival which didn't really happen on "February 24" but actually six days before the kalends of March, which was usually during a period of intercalation. Roman writers suggested this festival was a celebration of the expulsion of the Tarquins, although modern scholars have their doubts. Whatever the case, on this day the Rex Sacrorum would offer some sort of sacrifice in the Comitium and then run away as fast as he could.
• 259 A.D. -- martyrdom of Montanus and companions
• 1999 -- death of David Daube

::Thursday, February 24, 2005 5:40:51 AM::

Today's selection:

eristic @ Merriam-Webster

disponible @ Worthless Word for the Day

::Thursday, February 24, 2005 5:35:20 AM::

::Thursday, February 24, 2005 5:32:22 AM::

::Thursday, February 24, 2005 5:27:45 AM::

How's this for a catchy intro to a drama review in Minnesota Daily?:

If the prologue from “The Iliad” were combined with two tragedies by Euripides and set to original music, the result could be “Desperate Housewives” in a fifth century B.C. prisoner-of-war camp.

“The Women of Troy,” a new production of the Frank Theatre, combines these elements with poise and vigor. [more]

Desperate Housewives ... another one of those shows I've never managed to see (I caught "Lost" for the first time last night ... can't find any ClassCon in it yet, but it has potential).

::Thursday, February 24, 2005 5:20:37 AM::

At About.com's Classic literature site this a.m., we shudder to read:

The first scene of "Cymbeline" opens "in the middle of all the action," a literary technique called "in medias res". This literary technique is commonly used in epic poetry, and was originated with the poet Horace.

Er ... wrong 'H' ... [it just occurred to me that 'in media res' would be a good blog name]

::Thursday, February 24, 2005 5:13:43 AM::

Okay ... maybe it's my current shingles outbreak or my lack of caffeine (which I gave up for Lent ... shudder) , but I'm officially confused. On the one hand, there's this article from AGI:

Minister Giuliano Urbani presented to the Scientific Study Commission for Ship Museum of Pisa a feasibility study, promoted and financed by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Pisa today, for placing in a museum the Roman ships found in the San Rossore digs, developed by the Bocconi University - ASK (Art, Science and Knowledge) with the collaboration of the Normale School of Pisa. Notable remains of ancient ships and their loads were found in December 1998, in a Ferrovie dello Stato site in Pisa-San Rossore just over 500 metres from Piazza del Duomo. The quantity and quality of the find attracted scholars and the public to exhibitions in Pisa, Florence and New York, A communication said that the results of the feasibility study will allow the realization of a detailed executive project to publicly present the results of a discovery by the Tuscany Archeological Superintendency which gained previously unknown scientific knowledge regarding the knowledge of courses, the means and technology of ancient navigation. Placing the Roman ships in a museum - which foresees recovery, conservation, safeguarding and promotion phases - will certainly contribute to the relaunch of one of the most important artistic Italian cities, becoming a factor of economic and territorial development for Pisa.

Meanwhile, a report from ANSA (in Italian) assures us that the museum will cost 25 million Euros (so we're one step beyond 'feasibility study', no?) while one from AdnKronos tells us the museum will open in 2009!

::Thursday, February 24, 2005 5:08:53 AM::

Regular rc reader GK passed this one along (thanks!) ... in the wake of the discovery of a palace in the Forum, Laputan Logic has an interesting piece on Romulus and Remus, with a nice poem by Kipling too ...

::Thursday, February 24, 2005 5:00:00 AM::

From Ginny Lindzey (whom I also belatedly thank for the Michele Valerie Ronnick interview heads up yesterday) comes this news:

CPL Forum ONLINE is officially Live! You can find it two ways. Either go to the CPL (Committee for the Promotion of Latin) website at www.camwscpl.org and click on the link at the top right or go to http://www.marshall.edu/classical-studies/cplFORUMonline.html This is a referreed resource of pedagogical articles and reviews. We would like for it to become a valuable free resource for teachers and students. The articles featured have been published elsewhere in Classical Journal or other professional journals. Feel free to suggest articles for publication or reprinting.

[nice site ... folks who don't have some way of reading Flash might have difficulties with the page, though]

::Thursday, February 24, 2005 4:53:03 AM::

Peter Stewart, Statues in Roman Society. Representation and Response.

Michel Casevitz, Daniel Babut, Plutarque. Oeuvres morales, Tome XV, 1ère partie. Traité 70: sur les contradictions stoïciennes. Traité 71: Synopsis du traité "que les stoïciens tiennent des propos plus paradoxaux que les poètes". Collection Budé.

Paul Botley, Latin Translation in the Renaissance. The Theory and Practice of Leonardo Bruni, Giannozzo Manetti and Erasmus.

Miriam Taverniers, Metaphor and Metaphorology. A selective genealogy of philosophical and linguistic conceptions of metaphor from Aristotle to the 1990s.

Martina Hirschberger, Gynaikôn Katalogos und Megalai Ehoiai. Ein Kommentar zu den Fragmenten zweier hesiodeischer Epen. BzA 198.

Judith M. Lieu, Christian Identity in the Jewish and Graeco-Roman World.

Mogens Herman Hansen, Thomas Heine Nielsen, An Inventory of Archaic and Greek Poleis. An Investigation Conducted by The Copenhagen Polis Centre for the Danish National Research Foundation.

Anton Bierl, Arbogast Schmitt, Andreas Willi, Antike Literatur in neuer Deutung. Festschrift für Joachim Latacz anlässlich seines 70. Geburtstages.

::Thursday, February 24, 2005 4:49:37 AM::

5.00 p.m. |DCIVC| The Most Evil Men in History: Caligula
dna

6.00 p.m. |DTC| Finding Atlantis
The search for the lost civilization of Atlantis has captured the imagination for the last 2,000 years. Examine the evidence gathered by three teams, each with its own theory. Discover mysterious links to ancient civilizations lost to time.

8.00 p.m. |DISCU| Pompeii: The Last Day
On August 24, AD 79, Mount Vesuvius showered the city of Pompeii with ash, smoke and rock. The city lay undisturbed under volcanic debris for more than 1,500 years. Follow a compelling account of the city's final 24 hours, based on the buried evidence.

8.00 p.m. |HINT| But Whose Truth Was the Truth?
In Part 3, we examine how heresies emerged, the literature they produced, and the dangers they posed to the early Christian Church. Few have heard of the 50 "other" gospels that circulated in antiquity, including the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, and writings by Judas Iscariot and Pontius Pilate. Then, there are countless letters--some of them valid, others dangerously heretical, and a few that nearly made it into the accepted canon. And we learn in this investigation that if these "heresies" had been included in the New Testament, Christianity and our understanding of Christ would be fundamentally different.  

Channel Guide

::Thursday, February 24, 2005 4:40:39 AM::