Sunday, August 17, 2008
Friday, August 15, 2008
War Reporting in Georgia
I'm probably not the only person who is not surprised that Russia has reverted to type, and invaded Georgia.
But if this journalist is any indication of the backbone the Georgian people have ....
Tamara Urushadze was shot at, but continued reporting.
But if this journalist is any indication of the backbone the Georgian people have ....
Tamara Urushadze was shot at, but continued reporting.
The Battle of Roncevaux Pass AD 778
At school in France, after Vercingetorix one skips on to Charlemagne and the Chanson de Roland. The song commemorates the fight between Charlemagne, the good Christian king, and Spain, and is the 'first' great work of literature in French. Roland himself died on the 15th of August 778 during the Battle of Roncevaux Pass against the Basques. Ironically, given that the Muslims of Spain were the enemy, this battle was fought between two rival Christian rulers.
Monday, August 11, 2008
On Musculature ....
Anyone who has ever worked on Greek sculpture will probably have the same reaction to the athlete on the right - wow.
I'd always assumed that this sort of muscle definition around the iliac crest / hips and abdomen could only be achieved by men. In fact, I'm sure if a section of a sculpture of her torso were found in an excavation - say from just below the bust down, minus you know what - absolutely everybody would without question catalogue it as coming from a man.
via Yahoo Sport - caption:
BEIJING - AUGUST 11: Ana Paula Conelly and Larissa Franca of Brazil celebrate a point against Natalia Uryadova and Alexandra Shiryaeva of Russia during the beach volleyball event at the Chaoyang Park Beach Volleyball Ground on Day 3 of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 11, 2008 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
I'd always assumed that this sort of muscle definition around the iliac crest / hips and abdomen could only be achieved by men. In fact, I'm sure if a section of a sculpture of her torso were found in an excavation - say from just below the bust down, minus you know what - absolutely everybody would without question catalogue it as coming from a man.
via Yahoo Sport - caption:
BEIJING - AUGUST 11: Ana Paula Conelly and Larissa Franca of Brazil celebrate a point against Natalia Uryadova and Alexandra Shiryaeva of Russia during the beach volleyball event at the Chaoyang Park Beach Volleyball Ground on Day 3 of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 11, 2008 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Ceci n'est pas un Marius ....
I know that I've used this before to illustrate Marius .... but I should actually point out that I don't believe it's an image of him.I have no idea where the 'original' is now, but it's meant to be vitreous paste engraved with his portrait and found at Palestrina.
Palestrina is ancient Praenesta, where his son died - hence this would be a very good 'provenance' for a collector, since it would suggest that it is pre 82 BC and was owned by his son or one of his supporters ... We tend to think of fake provenances as being a feature of the modern art market - to hide the origins of looted objects - but they were used from the Renaissance onwards to add 'interest' to objects.
Here's the problem. Marius was one of Rome's 'great' so all collectors wanted an image of him, and many catalogues of cameos and signets I've looked through claim to include images of him .... but there don't seem to have been any that survived, so these were faked.
The reason that I know that this is a fake, without having seen it, is that 'Marius' has a beard. The very early Republicans wore beards, but these went out of fashion and were not revived until Hadrian. In Marius' day one did not have a beard - and the only time he is recorded with a beard was when he was in mourning during his exile (ie in 88 & 87, before his the 7th consulship of 86 in the inscription). Mourning was practised when someone died, when one was accused of a serious crime or when in exile - family and supporters also wore mourning - but since this was considered a 'low' period in one's life, and one was depicted in portraits at the height of one's glory ... this cannot be a portrait of Marius.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
On Antiquities Going Home
The Telegraph has a very interesting profile of the man who has done such a great job getting so many looted archaeological treasures returned to Italy. Maurizio Fiorilli: scourge of the tomb raiders -
What I found fascinating was the opening paragraph - it seems that the death of Pasquale Camera started the current investigation. He was one of many middlemen involved in looting - and an "ex-police captain" ... which shows what archaeologists were up against. Throw in the local mafia in the south, and archaeological sites didn't stand a chance.
My kind of town ...
and the great thing is that since my desk is currently chaos, I don't even have to visit to know what it's like!Another great sign from Sign Spotting.
(via The Times)
Saturday, August 09, 2008
The Battle of Pharsalus
The 9th August is the anniversary of the Battle of Pharsalus, fought in 48 BC between Caesar and Pompey. Pompey decided to try a new tactic - dragging out the battle in order to tire out Caesar's men, rather than charging them. It didn't work, and the result was:
Julius Caesar 1 - Pompey the Great 0
Pompey fled to Egypt, where he was killed by Ptolemy XIII's men. Caesar fought on against Sextus Pompeius, Cato and co, but in reality his victory at Pharsalus ended this Civil War, and the First Triumvirate. Then Caesar was appointed dictator for life, which in turn led to his murder.
Caesar's description of the battle is preserved - Livius has the text.
Pharsalus on Google Earth can be found here.
Julius Caesar 1 - Pompey the Great 0
Pompey fled to Egypt, where he was killed by Ptolemy XIII's men. Caesar fought on against Sextus Pompeius, Cato and co, but in reality his victory at Pharsalus ended this Civil War, and the First Triumvirate. Then Caesar was appointed dictator for life, which in turn led to his murder.
Caesar's description of the battle is preserved - Livius has the text.
Pharsalus on Google Earth can be found here.
Friday, August 08, 2008
Taking the cake ...
The Divorce Cake.One of many 'interesting' cakes to be found on this great blog:
Cake Wrecks - When professional cakes go horribly, hilariously wrong
Cloning Neanderthals?
Sometimes readers leave very good questions in the comments, which are worth answering fully as a post.
About We Have Neandertal DNA ...
Having discussed this fully and at great length with several of my girlfriends .... The answer would have to be "Yes" - and if Neanderthals have already been cloned, this might explain some of the men we've dated over the years.
About We Have Neandertal DNA ...
Winchester whisperer said...
Do you think they can clone them?
Do you think they can clone them?
Having discussed this fully and at great length with several of my girlfriends .... The answer would have to be "Yes" - and if Neanderthals have already been cloned, this might explain some of the men we've dated over the years.
'Nazi' Converts to Judaism
Really it's a few of their children, and grand-children, who have converted
The sins of their fathers - The Guardian:
A relative of Hitler is now Jewish and living in Israel. So is the son of a Waffen-SS man. Tanya Gold talks to the descendants of Nazis who have embraced Judaism
Two years ago I read a strange little story in an obscure American magazine for Orthodox Jews, claiming that a descendant of Adolf Hitler had converted to Judaism and was living in Israel. I had heard rumours in Jewish circles for years about "the penitents" - children of Nazis who become Jews to try to expiate the sins of their fathers. Could it be true? I dug further and discovered that a man with a family connection to Hitler does indeed live in Israel as an Orthodox Jew. Virtually unnoticed in the English-speaking world, he was exposed seven years ago in an Israeli tabloid. Then he sank from sight. I went to Israel to meet him - and on the way I was plunged into the strange subculture of the Nazi-descended Jews. [continue reading]
The sins of their fathers - The Guardian:
A relative of Hitler is now Jewish and living in Israel. So is the son of a Waffen-SS man. Tanya Gold talks to the descendants of Nazis who have embraced Judaism
Two years ago I read a strange little story in an obscure American magazine for Orthodox Jews, claiming that a descendant of Adolf Hitler had converted to Judaism and was living in Israel. I had heard rumours in Jewish circles for years about "the penitents" - children of Nazis who become Jews to try to expiate the sins of their fathers. Could it be true? I dug further and discovered that a man with a family connection to Hitler does indeed live in Israel as an Orthodox Jew. Virtually unnoticed in the English-speaking world, he was exposed seven years ago in an Israeli tabloid. Then he sank from sight. I went to Israel to meet him - and on the way I was plunged into the strange subculture of the Nazi-descended Jews. [continue reading]
Thursday, August 07, 2008
We Have Neandertal DNA ...
This is rather exciting (and the interesting section I've put in bold), so I will post the whole press release from Eurek Alert:
Complete Neandertal mitochondrial genome sequenced from 38,000-year-old bone
A study reported in the August 8th issue of the journal Cell, a Cell Press publication, reveals the complete mitochondrial genome of a 38,000-year-old Neandertal. The findings open a window into the Neandertals' past and helps answer lingering questions about our relationship to them.
" For the first time, we've built a sequence from ancient DNA that is essentially without error," said Richard Green of Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany.
The key is that they sequenced the Neandertal mitochondria—powerhouses of the cell with their own DNA including 13 protein-coding genes—nearly 35 times over. That impressive coverage allowed them to sort out those differences between the Neandertal and human genomes resulting from damage to the degraded DNA extracted from ancient bone versus true evolutionary changes.
Although it is well established that Neandertals are the hominid form most closely related to present-day humans, their exact relationship to us remains uncertain, according to the researchers. The notion that Neandertals and humans may have "mixed" is still a matter of some controversy.
Analysis of the new sequence confirms that the mitochondria of Neandertal's falls outside the variation found in humans today, offering no evidence of admixture between the two lineages although it remains a possibility. It also shows that the last common ancestor of Neandertals and humans lived about 660,000 years ago, give or take 140,000 years.
Of the 13 proteins encoded in the mitochondrial DNA, they found that one, known as subunit 2 of cytochrome c oxidase of the mitochondrial electron transport chain or COX2, had experienced a surprising number of amino acid substitutions in humans since the separation from Neandertals. While the finding is intriguing, Green said, it's not yet clear what it means.
" We also wanted to know about the history of the Neandertal's themselves," said Jeffrey Good, also of the Max-Planck Institute. For instance, the new sequence information revealed that the Neandertal's have fewer evolutionary changes overall, but a greater number that alter the amino acid building blocks of proteins. One straightforward interpretation of that finding is that the Neandertal's had a smaller population size than humans do, which makes natural selection less effective in removing mutations.
That notion is consistent with arguments made by other scientists based upon the geological record, said co-author Johannes Krause. "Most argue there were a few thousand Neandertals that roamed over Europe 40,000 years ago." That smaller population might have been the result of the smaller size of Europe compared to Africa. The Neandertals also would have had to deal with repeated glaciations, he noted.
" It's still an open question for the future whether this small group of Neandertals was a general feature, or was this caused by some bottleneck in their population size that happened late in the game?" Green said. Ultimately, they hope to get DNA sequence information for Neandertals that predated the Ice Age, to look for a signature that their populations had been larger in the past.
Technically, the Neandertal mitochondrial genome presented in the new study is a useful forerunner for the sequencing of the complete Neandertal nuclear genome, the researchers said, a feat that their team already has well underway.
###
The researchers include Richard E. Green, Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany; Anna-Sapfo Malaspinas, University of California, Berkeley, CA; Johannes Krause, Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany; Adrian W. Briggs, Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany; Philip L.F. Johnson, University of California, Berkeley, CA; Caroline Uhler, University of California, Berkeley, CA; Matthias Meyer, Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany; Jeffrey M. Good, Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany; Tomislav Maricic, Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany; Udo Stenzel, Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany; Kay Prüfer, Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany; Michael Siebauer, Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany; Hernán A. Burbano, Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany; Michael Ronan, 454 Life Sciences, Branford, CT; Jonathan M. Rothberg, The Rothberg Institute for Childhood Diseases, Guilford, CT; Michael Egholm, 454 Life Sciences, Branford, CT; Pavao Rudan, Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Zagreb, Croatia; Dejana Brajkovic, Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Institute for Quaternary Paleontology and Geology, Zagreb, Croatia; Željko Kucan, Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Zagreb, Croatia; Ivan Gušic, Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Zagreb, Croatia; Mårten Wikström, University of Helsinki; Liisa Laakkonen, University of Helsinki; Janet Kelso, Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany; Montgomery Slatkin, University of California, Berkeley, CA; and Svante Pääbo, Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.
Complete Neandertal mitochondrial genome sequenced from 38,000-year-old bone
A study reported in the August 8th issue of the journal Cell, a Cell Press publication, reveals the complete mitochondrial genome of a 38,000-year-old Neandertal. The findings open a window into the Neandertals' past and helps answer lingering questions about our relationship to them.
" For the first time, we've built a sequence from ancient DNA that is essentially without error," said Richard Green of Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany.
The key is that they sequenced the Neandertal mitochondria—powerhouses of the cell with their own DNA including 13 protein-coding genes—nearly 35 times over. That impressive coverage allowed them to sort out those differences between the Neandertal and human genomes resulting from damage to the degraded DNA extracted from ancient bone versus true evolutionary changes.
Although it is well established that Neandertals are the hominid form most closely related to present-day humans, their exact relationship to us remains uncertain, according to the researchers. The notion that Neandertals and humans may have "mixed" is still a matter of some controversy.
Analysis of the new sequence confirms that the mitochondria of Neandertal's falls outside the variation found in humans today, offering no evidence of admixture between the two lineages although it remains a possibility. It also shows that the last common ancestor of Neandertals and humans lived about 660,000 years ago, give or take 140,000 years.
Of the 13 proteins encoded in the mitochondrial DNA, they found that one, known as subunit 2 of cytochrome c oxidase of the mitochondrial electron transport chain or COX2, had experienced a surprising number of amino acid substitutions in humans since the separation from Neandertals. While the finding is intriguing, Green said, it's not yet clear what it means.
" We also wanted to know about the history of the Neandertal's themselves," said Jeffrey Good, also of the Max-Planck Institute. For instance, the new sequence information revealed that the Neandertal's have fewer evolutionary changes overall, but a greater number that alter the amino acid building blocks of proteins. One straightforward interpretation of that finding is that the Neandertal's had a smaller population size than humans do, which makes natural selection less effective in removing mutations.
That notion is consistent with arguments made by other scientists based upon the geological record, said co-author Johannes Krause. "Most argue there were a few thousand Neandertals that roamed over Europe 40,000 years ago." That smaller population might have been the result of the smaller size of Europe compared to Africa. The Neandertals also would have had to deal with repeated glaciations, he noted.
" It's still an open question for the future whether this small group of Neandertals was a general feature, or was this caused by some bottleneck in their population size that happened late in the game?" Green said. Ultimately, they hope to get DNA sequence information for Neandertals that predated the Ice Age, to look for a signature that their populations had been larger in the past.
Technically, the Neandertal mitochondrial genome presented in the new study is a useful forerunner for the sequencing of the complete Neandertal nuclear genome, the researchers said, a feat that their team already has well underway.
###
The researchers include Richard E. Green, Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany; Anna-Sapfo Malaspinas, University of California, Berkeley, CA; Johannes Krause, Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany; Adrian W. Briggs, Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany; Philip L.F. Johnson, University of California, Berkeley, CA; Caroline Uhler, University of California, Berkeley, CA; Matthias Meyer, Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany; Jeffrey M. Good, Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany; Tomislav Maricic, Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany; Udo Stenzel, Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany; Kay Prüfer, Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany; Michael Siebauer, Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany; Hernán A. Burbano, Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany; Michael Ronan, 454 Life Sciences, Branford, CT; Jonathan M. Rothberg, The Rothberg Institute for Childhood Diseases, Guilford, CT; Michael Egholm, 454 Life Sciences, Branford, CT; Pavao Rudan, Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Zagreb, Croatia; Dejana Brajkovic, Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Institute for Quaternary Paleontology and Geology, Zagreb, Croatia; Željko Kucan, Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Zagreb, Croatia; Ivan Gušic, Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Zagreb, Croatia; Mårten Wikström, University of Helsinki; Liisa Laakkonen, University of Helsinki; Janet Kelso, Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany; Montgomery Slatkin, University of California, Berkeley, CA; and Svante Pääbo, Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.
I seem to be male ...
I've already done the writing test - and found that I write like a man.
Apparently I also browse the internet like a boy .... according to this test.
Meanwhile the 'reading level' of the blog has gone up ....
Apparently I also browse the internet like a boy .... according to this test.
Meanwhile the 'reading level' of the blog has gone up ....
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
New Light on Old Picts
Revisionism has come to the Picts.
The truth about the Picts - The Independent:
They have been dismissed as savages who resisted the march of civilisation. But the remains of a monastery found in the north of Scotland suggest the Picts have been wronged
By Ian Johnston
The Picts have long been regarded as enigmatic savages who fought off Rome's legions before mysteriously disappearing from history, wild tribesmen who refused to sacrifice their freedom in exchange for the benefits of civilisation. But far from the primitive warriors of popular imagination, they actually built a highly sophisticated culture in northern Scotland in the latter half of the first millennium AD, which surpassed their Anglo-Saxon rivals in many respects. [continue reading]
The truth about the Picts - The Independent:
They have been dismissed as savages who resisted the march of civilisation. But the remains of a monastery found in the north of Scotland suggest the Picts have been wronged
By Ian Johnston
The Picts have long been regarded as enigmatic savages who fought off Rome's legions before mysteriously disappearing from history, wild tribesmen who refused to sacrifice their freedom in exchange for the benefits of civilisation. But far from the primitive warriors of popular imagination, they actually built a highly sophisticated culture in northern Scotland in the latter half of the first millennium AD, which surpassed their Anglo-Saxon rivals in many respects. [continue reading]
Couldn't Resist ...
this photo ... although if any students are reading this, please do not be tempted to re-create this as a Fraternity prank ...
A woolly jumper: The sheep that leapt onto the roof of a two-storey house - Daily Mail
Monday, August 04, 2008
Pretending to write a book ...
during August, so there will be almost no posting. I might add the odd item, but should probably avoid doing so.
Instead I will add posts I find interesting to my Reader Shared Items, which can be found here.
For Archaeological news, and items of interest in Classics, as always I highly recommend David Meadows' Rogue Classicism. He also has a Shared Items feed, though ... I'm not sure of the URL for it (sorry).
Instead I will add posts I find interesting to my Reader Shared Items, which can be found here.
For Archaeological news, and items of interest in Classics, as always I highly recommend David Meadows' Rogue Classicism. He also has a Shared Items feed, though ... I'm not sure of the URL for it (sorry).
Saturday, August 02, 2008
Lions as Military Monuments
The 2nd August 338 BC marks the date on which Philip II pretty much put an end to the independence of the city states, and created a Macedonian empire, with his victory at the Battle of Chaeronea. Diodorus Siculus, Library, has a description of the battle.
What is more interesting is that Philip erected a lion monument to commemorate his victory - the cenotaph is still extant, and I wrote about it in my thesis - which can be seen from above.
View Larger Map
There is a similar monument in Macedonia at Amphipolis - because the town was an important naval base, and it seems to be the tomb of someone very important, some believe it to be the grave marker of an admiral.
View Larger Map
Google Earth has a photo of the site -
View Larger Map
What is more interesting is that Philip erected a lion monument to commemorate his victory - the cenotaph is still extant, and I wrote about it in my thesis - which can be seen from above.
View Larger Map
There is a similar monument in Macedonia at Amphipolis - because the town was an important naval base, and it seems to be the tomb of someone very important, some believe it to be the grave marker of an admiral.
View Larger Map
The Battle of Cannae 216 BC
The 2nd of August is the anniversary of the Battle of Cannae (216 BC), one of Rome's great defeats - and which led to the accusation of incestum against a Vestal Virgin (something must have angered to gods for Rome to lose so badly, so someone must have done something wrong ...).
Lucius Aemilius Paullus and Gaius Terentius Varro had almost twice the number of men Hannibal had in Apulia (sixteen legions to his ca. 50,000), but the Carthaginian was tactically superior. The simplest way to describe what he did is to say that he drew them into an arc, encircled them, then slaughtered them - up to 70,000 Romans died, including the consul Aemilius, the two consuls from the previous year, and 80 of the 300 Senators; possibly another 4,000 were captured.
Cannae is the battle that makes Hannibal a great, and which all successive generals hope to emulate - annihilation of the opponent.
Rome lost 85% of her army, up to 75,000 men, and much of her ruling class at Cannae. This would stand as a record until the 6th October 105 BC when 80,000 Roman soldiers and some 20,000 followers would be massacred by the Cimbri and Teutones at the Battle of Arausio. The combination of the fear of the 'Gauls,' and his ability to defeat them following this great loss, was what made Gaius Marius so great a general.
After Cannae Rome's Allies began to desert her, and the whole of southern Italy was open to Hannibal. The obvious course would have been to march on Rome, though Hannibal realised that this would have stretched her resources. By the rules of ancient warfare the Romans should have capitulated after such a great defeat, and become part of the Punic Empire - that they did not is one of the things that made them great, and ultimately led them crush Carthage.
The defeat had shown the Romans that they needed to change the way they fought - if they were going to ignore the rules about when to submit, they might as well throw out the rules of Greek warfare too. The phalanx was abandoned in favor of columns, and greater flexibility (Marius further broke down the structure into cohorts). The command structure simplified - one consul was in charge rather than both. The changes were quickly implemented, so that after the Battle of Zama (202 BC), Scipio Africanus was able to bring the Second Punic War to a close (201 BC).
Lucius Aemilius Paullus and Gaius Terentius Varro had almost twice the number of men Hannibal had in Apulia (sixteen legions to his ca. 50,000), but the Carthaginian was tactically superior. The simplest way to describe what he did is to say that he drew them into an arc, encircled them, then slaughtered them - up to 70,000 Romans died, including the consul Aemilius, the two consuls from the previous year, and 80 of the 300 Senators; possibly another 4,000 were captured.
Cannae is the battle that makes Hannibal a great, and which all successive generals hope to emulate - annihilation of the opponent.
Rome lost 85% of her army, up to 75,000 men, and much of her ruling class at Cannae. This would stand as a record until the 6th October 105 BC when 80,000 Roman soldiers and some 20,000 followers would be massacred by the Cimbri and Teutones at the Battle of Arausio. The combination of the fear of the 'Gauls,' and his ability to defeat them following this great loss, was what made Gaius Marius so great a general.
After Cannae Rome's Allies began to desert her, and the whole of southern Italy was open to Hannibal. The obvious course would have been to march on Rome, though Hannibal realised that this would have stretched her resources. By the rules of ancient warfare the Romans should have capitulated after such a great defeat, and become part of the Punic Empire - that they did not is one of the things that made them great, and ultimately led them crush Carthage.
The defeat had shown the Romans that they needed to change the way they fought - if they were going to ignore the rules about when to submit, they might as well throw out the rules of Greek warfare too. The phalanx was abandoned in favor of columns, and greater flexibility (Marius further broke down the structure into cohorts). The command structure simplified - one consul was in charge rather than both. The changes were quickly implemented, so that after the Battle of Zama (202 BC), Scipio Africanus was able to bring the Second Punic War to a close (201 BC).
The Battle of the Nile, 1798
On the 2nd of August 1798 the British fleet under Nelson decisively defeat the French fleet, leaving Napoleon stranded in Egypt.
The battle is a little outside of my usual time period, but I mentioned it in my book The Elgin Marbles, for two reasons: a) Egyptology started under Napoleon, and b) the Ottoman Sultan gave the Parthenon sculptures to Lord Elgin partly in gratitude for the British help in getting the French out of Ottoman Egypt.
And since we're on the subject of Nelson, in case someone is looking for a great book to read this summer ... Kate Williams' biography of Emma Hamilton, Nelson's mistress, is one of the best biographies I have read for a long time.
England's Mistress: The Infamous Life of Emma Hamilton - UK
England's Mistress: The Infamous Life of Emma Hamilton - US
The battle is a little outside of my usual time period, but I mentioned it in my book The Elgin Marbles, for two reasons: a) Egyptology started under Napoleon, and b) the Ottoman Sultan gave the Parthenon sculptures to Lord Elgin partly in gratitude for the British help in getting the French out of Ottoman Egypt.
And since we're on the subject of Nelson, in case someone is looking for a great book to read this summer ... Kate Williams' biography of Emma Hamilton, Nelson's mistress, is one of the best biographies I have read for a long time.
England's Mistress: The Infamous Life of Emma Hamilton - UK
England's Mistress: The Infamous Life of Emma Hamilton - US
Friday, August 01, 2008
Happy Birthday Pertinax
Pertinax is one of those emperors about whom we can remember little more than his name.
He was born in Alba on the 1st August 126, the son of a Freedman. His first job was as a grammar teacher, but he soon made his way into the army and climbed the cursus honorem in this way - the Parthian War, then tribune in Britain and along the Danube frontier, then procurator in Dacia, more German Wars, a suffect consulship, the governorships of various provinces (Moesia, Dacia, Syria, Britian), putting down a military mutiny in Britain, the proconsulship of Africa ... then the murder of Commodus, which led to his own brief reign as emperor for 86 days. The Praetorians who had put him on the thrown murdered him.
He was born in Alba on the 1st August 126, the son of a Freedman. His first job was as a grammar teacher, but he soon made his way into the army and climbed the cursus honorem in this way - the Parthian War, then tribune in Britain and along the Danube frontier, then procurator in Dacia, more German Wars, a suffect consulship, the governorships of various provinces (Moesia, Dacia, Syria, Britian), putting down a military mutiny in Britain, the proconsulship of Africa ... then the murder of Commodus, which led to his own brief reign as emperor for 86 days. The Praetorians who had put him on the thrown murdered him.
Happy Birthday Claudius
Born Lugdunum (Lyons), 1st August 10 BC.
Claudius was bookish, rather than a great general like his brother Germanicus ... but his reign did see the conquest of Britain by Aulus Plautius (AD 43).
Claudius was bookish, rather than a great general like his brother Germanicus ... but his reign did see the conquest of Britain by Aulus Plautius (AD 43).
McCain as Hannibal?
Wonkette seem to have noticed a parallel between a leaflet for the 2008 GOP Convention in Minneapolis Saint Paul ... and the Second Punic War ... I'm kinda going off Senator Obama, so I hope that Senator McCain is not Hannibal in this one. He may be the general whose name we remember from the war, and yes he did very well at Cannae, but he's also the one who lost the war in the end ... mind you, I can see Obama as Scipio Africanus (the elitism and education, not the name).GOP Convention To Be Blood-Soaked Reenactment Of Second Punic War - Wonkette
Anabasis: the Movie?
Apparently the best known military retreat is going to be made into a movie by Columbia. Might Xenophon win an Oscar for best original story? Or would that go to Robert Schenkkan, the Pulitzer Prize winner, who has written the script? I guess 300 is very 2007, so 2009 will be the year of the 10,000?
After returning from fighting for Cyrus the Younger - against Artaxerxes II - Xenophon returned to Athens and wrote up the 'expedition'. For those who would like to swot up on the story line before they see the movie, an English translation of Anabasis can be found here.
Xenophon was then exiled from Attica, and took refuge with the Spartans. They gave him land near Scillous, which is believed to be modern Skillountia, where he built a temple of Ephesian Artemis. That temple is assumed to be a small scale replica of the famous Archaic temple, and so to have been built in the Ionic order.
[The town's Doric temple of Athena is still preserved - for those interested in construction, its conglomerate is of even poorer quality than the temples of nearby Olympia, and the surface had to be covered in plaster to conceal the shells. It also had some very nice architectural sculpture in the pediments (now in Olympia Museum); although the publisher dates these to the late 5th century, in relation to the date of the temple, in my thesis I thought that they were from the 330s, in relation to comparanda such as the Priene coffers and Tegea, and added at a later date.]
Columbia acquires 'Anabasis' epic - Variety.
Via David Meadows.
After returning from fighting for Cyrus the Younger - against Artaxerxes II - Xenophon returned to Athens and wrote up the 'expedition'. For those who would like to swot up on the story line before they see the movie, an English translation of Anabasis can be found here.
Xenophon was then exiled from Attica, and took refuge with the Spartans. They gave him land near Scillous, which is believed to be modern Skillountia, where he built a temple of Ephesian Artemis. That temple is assumed to be a small scale replica of the famous Archaic temple, and so to have been built in the Ionic order.
[The town's Doric temple of Athena is still preserved - for those interested in construction, its conglomerate is of even poorer quality than the temples of nearby Olympia, and the surface had to be covered in plaster to conceal the shells. It also had some very nice architectural sculpture in the pediments (now in Olympia Museum); although the publisher dates these to the late 5th century, in relation to the date of the temple, in my thesis I thought that they were from the 330s, in relation to comparanda such as the Priene coffers and Tegea, and added at a later date.]
Columbia acquires 'Anabasis' epic - Variety.
Via David Meadows.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
St. Ignatius of Loyola
Today is the feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola, who founded the Society of Jesus (better known as the Jesuits) - he died on the 31st July 1556.
He initially rejected the clerical path his family had planned for him. Ignatius started his career as a soldier in the service of Spain, rising through the ranks, before moving to service in Spanish Navarre. Then in 1521 during the Siege of Pamplona by the French ... he was hit by a cannon ball. One leg was broken, the other badly injured, and his military career came to an abrupt end. Whilst recovering from the injuries and the surgery to 'fix' them - which sounds a lot worse than the wounds themselves - he read various religious works and found his new vocation.
He initially rejected the clerical path his family had planned for him. Ignatius started his career as a soldier in the service of Spain, rising through the ranks, before moving to service in Spanish Navarre. Then in 1521 during the Siege of Pamplona by the French ... he was hit by a cannon ball. One leg was broken, the other badly injured, and his military career came to an abrupt end. Whilst recovering from the injuries and the surgery to 'fix' them - which sounds a lot worse than the wounds themselves - he read various religious works and found his new vocation.
PhDiva on Facebook
Facebook has now added Blogs - and PhDiva can be found here.
I'm happy to add people as friends - just mention the blog or book something, otherwise ... well I tend to ignore people if I don't know why they are adding me.
I'm happy to add people as friends - just mention the blog or book something, otherwise ... well I tend to ignore people if I don't know why they are adding me.
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