Gladiators!

My apologies for the silence of late. I have been simply swamped this week, and it only promises to get worse. No rest for the weary! But then, it is once again probably my own fault for over-scheduling myself.

Let this be a warning to others. Another warning to others who are applying to grad schools: send out your applications as early as possible, and don't trust the USPS! I received a letter from Oxford dated a good month after sending my application stating that my app arrived late, and thus they would not be able to consider it. Naturally, it only took three days for their letter to get to me.

I wish I could muster the energy to be mad about this, but I'm too busy to be mad.

Anyway, as the subject line promises, an article about gladiators! It basically discusses the use of forensic research to figure out some of how gladiators fought. It's interesting, and I like the picture they use. It's a nice shot of two "gladiators" in front of the Colosseum.

Although, it's really not as good as this picture that my friend took of a "gladiator" using a cell phone.

Fonts and another CFP

This one's from the Latinteach list: Pompeian font. It looks fun, at any rate.

Also, I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but Papyri, a Stanford University Undergraduate Journal for Classical Scholarship, has a CFP. They're looking for papers "in Classical philsophy, archaeology, art history, literature, philology, history, politics, linguistics, religion, drama, science, etc." The deadline is Feb 28, and the contact e-mail is stanfordpapyri at gmail dot com (obviously, you'll have to fill in and replace the "at" and "dot"). I e-mailed them, and they're saying they're looking for papers 10-30 pages in length and using MLA or TAPA formatting.

Roman tombstones, History Carnival, and grad schools

Well, David Meadows, happily, is back with us! He's also posted this article about a Roman tombstone found in Britain.

Also, many thanks to Natalie Bennett of Philobiblon for the mention in the History Carnival No XXIV.

In case anyone's keeping track of my grad school status (I guess that was the original purpose of this blog), I've received one acceptance and one rejection so far. Both of them were mostly expected, and the rejection was actually a lot nicer and more encouraging than I was hoping for. But I know I started my languages late, so it is to be expected.

Moral of the story? If you think you might possibly want to study Classics in grad school, start your languages ASAP! ;-) Don't let it hit you unexpectedly in your junior year!

Of course, I'm still waiting on a few more schools. So we'll see.

A few interesting finds...

Since David Meadows is away due to a death in the family (my condolences, by the way. I know it can't be easy), I better try to pick up some of the slack.

Thanks to a friend, here's an article on the largest Macedonian tomb of nobles found.

Here's another article on it too.

Also, an update on the mummies from the Valley of the Kings.

Lastly, an article on a prehistoric leader unearthed in Rome.

The Odyssey 15 Seconds

Homer's Odyssey in 15 seconds. It's an amusing video, anyway, and worth a look.

Also, there's another article here on the tomb found in Egypt that I mentioned yesterday.

In case anybody actually missed this...

I've seen/heard about this all over the place, so I doubt anyone's missed it. But just in case, Intact tomb found in Egypt's Valley of the Kings.

Headless sphinx?

First of all, my apologies for the lack of posts lately. This final semester is going to be a crazily busy one. I think I forgot to account for the fact that I've not always been a linguist, and now I suddenly find myself in four language classes, plus two others. I now spend most of my time translating. It's not a complaint, just a "maybe I should've thought that one through a little harder." Oh well.

Secondly, I really shouldn't be posting this minute, but I'm eating dinner anyway and saw this: Archaeologists Unearth Headless Sphinx.

It's worth clicking, and it's also worth clicking on the picture slideshow on the top. Not only will it gives you shots of the sphinx (when I first saw the title, I wondered how they knew it was a sphinx, but part of the headdress is still there); it will also show you the athlete-torso, and dispersed throughout the slideshow are pictures of the Artemidorus Papyrus.

Anyway, back to the sphinx and athlete. Why is it that everyone's so interested in the sphinx that they don't actually bother telling you that this "athlete" is, in fact, headless, armless, AND legless? This, of course, begs the question of how they even know it's an athlete. Maybe they already know something about Hadrian's villa. But still, I, personally, would like to know a little more about this so-called athlete. They keep saying "what appears to be a headless sphinx," when it's pretty clear there's nothing else it could be. However, they seem fairly certain that this torso is an athlete. It truly baffles the brain.

I would, of course, appreciate any insight anyone else might offer on this "athlete"-torso.

More on the Medea Project

Well, I confess I was so darned curious about that Medea Project mentioned in the previous post, that I thought I'd e-mail Dr. Rabinowitz and ask her about it myself. I mean, her e-mail and phone number were plastered on the article, so I hardly think it was too out of line.

Anyway, she e-mailed me back very promptly! And she was very friendly. Apparently, she's not really affiliated with the project and was just talking about it and explaining its use. The article didn't actually say either way, so I wasn't sure myself.

She also attached a draft of what she read to the APA. Since I don't have any explicit permission to post it, I shan't. However, while I'm still not sure I agree with all the logic behind the Medea Project, I do believe some of it has been cleared up for me. She explicitly addresses the Euripidean ending. Apparently, in their modernized version of the play, the modern Medea actually dies.

She also talks more about the women this project is helping (and they're not *just* reading/staging Medea) and emphasizes that there is a certain amount of Personal Responsibility as well. Moreover, she emphasizes that the theatre alone cannot assist these women and that other reforms and work need to be done.

Anyway, I'm quite glad I e-mailed her. It's clear she cares a lot about prison education. And while I may be a bit skeptical myself about associating specifically Medea with prison inmates, the project has some very good ideas behind it.

Edited to add: I'm a little weirded out that blogger seems to have lost my post from yesterday. I hope it reappears soon...

Well, if anyone's looking for the post, it seems to be accessible here, but blogger is not acknowledging its existence any longer. Ho hum.

On Latin, Comics, and Medea

In case anyone was looking for non-Classical Latin sources, there is the White Trash Scriptorium. It has some interesting things, including a Glossary of Latin Words Found in Records and Other English Manuscripts and some Neo-Latin links.

Also, there was a cute grammar related Get Fuzzy comic yesterday, which can be found here. You might just as well read today's follow-up while you're at it too. Actually, you might just as well keep reading. I blame Certain People who know who they are for my new Get Fuzzy addiction. :-P

Lastly, since I'm just all over the place today, David Meadows points to an article about Nancy Rabinowitz on the Medea Project. It supposedly helps women prison inmates "Develop Sense of Personal Agency."

Now, here's the thing. I absolutely adore Medea (so much that everyone who knows me already knows that I'm a Medea Freak), and I've greatly enjoyed Nancy Rabinowitz's work. But I'm a bit skeptical about using Medea as a model for prison inmates. I guess this comes from the fact that I just caught part of a special on parents who actually killed their children. I mean, from Euripides at any rate, I get that you can kill your children (because your husband is an Ass and a Wretched Unmentionable Cur) and get away with it, flying off in a dragon-drawn chariot. Apollonius makes you feel for Medea and ultimately rewards her as well.

Exploring and understanding Medea's power is wonderful and important, but I'm not sure we want a bunch of prison inmates specifically believing they should be relating to Medea. Sure, maybe "he had it coming" (as I pointed out in my paper last sem on Medea), but I should hope they're teaching something about Personal Responsibility as well...

Unless the point is that these women got caught, and if they really want to do it right, they need to avoid getting caught?

I guess, really, the point is that these women are supposed to see that they too went too far and are killing a part of themselves. But still, she flies away on a dragon-drawn chariot. She continues to live on as her kick-ass self, murdering others and has another child. Is this really what you want to teach prison inmates??

A little inspiration and some CFPs

This may get me into a certain amount of trouble, but one of the objections I have had with academia is the apparent need for everyone to have an extreme focus on a rather minute subject of interest. As someone who regularly obsesses over minor details, I see the appeal for this and the need, but I fear it is often practiced to the exclusion of understanding the greater context of this extremely important detail. And often, this leads to a failure to truly understand the subject at all. I, of course, am not pointing any fingers. In fact, I would like to emphasize that this has nothing to do with anyone in my Classics department, lest anyone get the wrong idea about the great level of respect I have for my profs. But I've seen it occur. Most often with people studying English literature who don't understand the Classical background, but this is not always the case.

Anyway, today, I was reminded of the use of spreading one's horizons and looking elsewhere and, in fact, not spending so much time zoning in on just one subject. In fact, I was sitting in my Tolkien class, attempting to tone down my references to all things Greek and Roman, when Tolkien himself made brief reference to the Greeks (not his ghost, his article) and thus inspired what I hope will be a promising future paper or thesis topic for a Classics course. Unfortunately, that did mean I probably missed out on the later part of the class, since I was too busy ruminating on this idea. But such is life.

In fact, this is one of the points I was trying to make in my Statement of Purpose for my grad apps. I hope it didn't screw me over, and I truly wish I'd had this inspiration before sending them all out. Oh well.

In other news, a couple CFPs have come to my attention, if anyone's interested:

The Nature and Function of Water, Baths, Bathing, and Hygiene from Antiquity through the Renaissance
Call for Papers

Hosted by Northern Arizona University, this conference will explore depictions, discussions, and interpretations of water from antiquity to the Renaissance. We will seek to understand how water and all things associated with water e.g., baths, bathing, hygiene, dams, water rights, agriculture, pollution, rites, and, of course, a plethora of symbols, concepts, and ideas emerging from an understanding of water were elucidated, even socially constructed, and how these descriptions and discussions influenced the politics, literature, religion, and architecture of early cultures. The conference will examine how the uses and disputes of water in daily life, ceremonies, and literature transformed, and were transformed by, the cultures in which they resided.
We encourage scholarly submissions from a wide array of disciplines, including any papers that explore the theme of water through presentations on art, archaeology, history, literature, religious studies, linguistics, rhetoric, anthropology, sociology, environmental studies, and technology.
Proposals should be 300 to 400 words in length and can be submitted online to Dr. Anne Scott (Anne.Scott@nau.edu) or Dr. Cynthia Kosso (Cynthia.Kosso@nau.edu, 928-523-9305). Proposals will also be accepted via regular mail; send these to the Department of History, Northern Arizona University, Box 6023, Flagstaff, AZ 86011.

For more information, please contact Dr. Scott or Dr. Kosso.

DEADLINE FOR CALL FOR PAPERS: APRIL 30, 2006
CONFERENCE DATES: OCTOBER 5-7, 2006


The Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto, together
with the Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, invites
abstracts for a conference entitled

**Alexander the Great in Medieval and Early Modern Culture**
University of Toronto, 8-10 March 2007.

The life of Alexander the Great is one of the most frequently treated subjects of the Middle Ages. It figures prominently in Latin epic and the vernacular literatures as well as in historiography and the fine arts. Papers on late medieval and early modern treatments of Alexander are especially welcome.

Topics might include:
- theorizing the transformations of the medieval and Renaissance Alexander;
- historical, cultural, social meanings and contexts of Alexander texts and artefacts;
- images and constructions of space, gender, and ethnicity;
- the uses of Alexander in genealogical fictions and political representation;
- manuscript and print transmission of Alexander material;
- material culture; Alexander in medieval art; illuminations and woodcuts accompanying Alexander texts;
- literary vs. historiographical status of texts; verse vs. prose; fabulous vs. historical;
- Latin vs. vernacular;
- practice and theory of translation and adaptation of Alexander texts in various vernacular literatures.

Keynote speakers:
Christopher Baswell (UCLA)
Christine Chism (Rutgers)
Klaus Grubmiller (University of G?ttingen)

Please send an abstract (max. 250 words) for a paper in English or French and a brief vita or CV which includes institutional affiliation to the
organizers (email preferred): Markus Stock, University of Toronto: , or: Stefanie Schmitt, University of Frankfurt am Main:

Consideration of abstracts will begin 31 March 2006.

Ah! There is much of interest today...

Firstly, from the Classics-L list, Roman-Era Benefactors' Tomb Unearthed.

Secondly, from blogographos, Paul Levinson's science fiction book The Plot to Save Socrates, which just looks really interesting. I'll have to get that ASAP. Not that I'll have time to read it. Oh well.

Thirdly, for those of you in the D.C. area, there are a couple interesting performances coming up! First is CUA's performance of the opera "The Furies" Feb 9-12. It's new; it's one act, and it's apparently part of a trilogy. I certainly wish I'd heard about the others earlier! Ah well.

We also have The Persians at the Shakespeare Theatre, coming up April 4 - May 21.

Thanks much to my Greek prof for reminding me about that, but she's probably not reading this.

Lastly, much thanks to The Elfin Ethicist for the mention in the History Carnival XXIV. Such mentions always make me feel more important than I actually am. :-D

And as a side note, just because I think it's funny, I'm sure that David Meadows really did cause damage to the fabric of time by mentioning the History Carnival XXIV on his ClassiCarnival post today. It's too bad I don't hold blog-carnivals, or I'd jump at the chance to twist it further. :-D Actually, you all are probably thankful I can't do that...