New online resources for Chinese classicists

Launched in 2015, Dickinson Classics Online will provide resources for Chinese students and scholars of Latin and Greek. This collaboration between western and Chinese scholars will include lexica and grammars, language teaching tools, and new commentaries and translations. The first tool available on the website is a Chinese version of the Core Latin and Greek Vocabularies from the Dickinson College commentaries.

Where Chinese versions of Latin and Greek texts are available, many are translations of modern European language translations, often enfused with modern western perspectives that are not necessarily present in the original text. New Chinese translations and tools for translation will therefore be extremely valuable to both current and new generations of Chinese students and scholars of Ancient Greek and Latin.


Links:

Dickinson Classics Online

http://www.dickinson.edu/news/article/1766/east_meets_western_classics

http://www.depauw.edu/news-media/latest-news/details/31968/

New PhD in the field of Classical Antiquity and contemporary visual art

TECHNE: Call for proposals/expressions of interest: PhD study in the field of classical antiquity and contemporary visual art,  Royal College of Art/Royal Holloway, University of London

Students with an interest in pursuing interdisciplinary PhD study in any area of classical antiquity and contemporary art practice are invited to send in letters of enquiry/proposals to Dr. Jaspar Joseph-Lester (Royal College of Art) and Professor Ahuvia Kahane (Royal Holloway, University of London). The proposed research may adopt historical, critical, philosophical or practice based approaches, or any mix of the above and may focus on any aspect of Greek or Roman history, culture and thought in relation to contemporary art.  

Students whose proposals are accepted will be jointly supervised by Dr. Jaspar Joseph-Lester, Reader in Fine Art, Royal College of Art, and Prof. Ahuvia Kahane, Prof. of Greek, Royal Holloway, University of London and may submit their primary registration for the Ph.D. to either RCA or RHUL. We expect to submit supervisees for RHUL/RCA the TECHNE PhD awards scheme. Interested students are also invited to come to a TECHNE Open Evening on 11 Nov., 2015, from 5.30 to 7.30pm at the Royal Holloway’s central London premises at 11 Bedford Square, WC1B 3RA (Montague Place – just behind the University of London’s Senate House – for map, see  https://www.google.co.uk/maps?q=WC1E+6DP&hl=en&sll=52.8382,-2.327815&sspn=10.932975,19.753418&hnear=London+WC1E+6DP,+United+Kingdom&t=m&z=16), room 003 (drinks and nibbles will be served).

Email enquiries: jaspar.joseph-lester@rca.ac.uk or ahuvia.kahane@rhul.ac.uk

Ahuvia Kahane, MA, DPhil

Professor of Greek, Department of Classics, 

Royal Holloway, University of London, FW017

Egham, Surrey, TW20 0EX

+44 (0)1784 443 208 (office)
+44 (0)7799 41 81 41(mobile)
Akahane3208 (Skype)

Hadrian's Wall of Sound

The ancient site, famous for keeping the barbarians at bay, provides a stunning backdrop for this most cultured of events - a novel outdoor music gathering that moves along the expanse of the wall from Carlisle to Newcastle.  Harps, Saxophones and the good old Ucayali provide some of the diverse sounds emanating from this splendid cacophony.

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-england-32974175

If anyone from the library is/has been lucky enough to have taken any pictures that you want to share, remember to use the #BBCMusicDay  #joliheroics

Virtual tour of the Library

There is now a link from the Library Home (News) page to a tour of the library, starting at the Reception desk, through / past the literature corridor and rooms and onto the Papyrology and Epigraphy room.  Turning left from here, you reach the archaeology room with the main journal collection at the end of the room, before turning left again into the history / civilisation room, the numismatics room and the computer room.

Nostell Priory Greek Vases Archive

 

This important series of early nineteenth-century manuscripts was rediscovered in 2014 within the Beazley Archive in Oxford University's Classical Art Research Centre.

The papers document the purchase and display of the famous collection of classical Attic and South Italian vases and other objects acquired by Charles Winn, 8th Baronet of Nostell, from Naples in 1819. They include numerous letters written in 1818 between Charles Winn and his agent Dr. Richard Harrison negotiating the prospective purchase from the seller of the collection, Abbe H. Campbell. Matters discussed include the price, custom dues and potential rival bidders. Later letters deal with the financial arrangements, efforts by Cambell to sell Charles Winn other antiquities (including sculpture), details about packing and transport, and finally a notice that the collection had sailed for England on 9th February 1819. Also included is the original printed catalogue of the collection compiled by Campbell before the acquisition in 1818. Some later material (undated, but written on paper watermarked in 1837), may provide evidence for additional purchases of vases from the Mainwaring Collection in Lincolnshire.

When the vases were sold from Nostell Priory by Christie's in 1975, the archival material was retained and ended up in the Beazley Archive among the papers of Sir John Beazley. The vases themselves are now dispersed in public and private collections around the world. The decision has been made to reunite the manuscripts with the sequence of Nostell Priory papers to which they formerly belonged, which are now held by West Yorkshire Archive Service (http://www.archives.wyjs.org.uk).

Letters and Manuscripts 1818-1837: View Nostell Priory Greek Vases Archive Scans

The 1818 Sales Catalogue: View Nostell Priory Sales Catalogue 1818 Scans

The killing sand may return to the Colosseum

 

In July 2014, Professor Daniele Manacorda made the proposition that the floor should be returned to the world famous Flavian Amphitheatre.  The floor has been absent since its removal in the 19^th century, when it was removed during excavations.  Since then, the Amphitheatre has been missing its floor (and sand) and the exposed innards of the hypogeum have been an iconic part for visitors to the attraction and experts.

This was all a very nice idea in principle, until last week when the Italian Minister for Culture, Dario Franceschini, reignited the debate by suggesting that it was one of the main ideas he was proposing for his scheme to boost tourism to Rome. 

The Flavian Amphitheatre was inextricably linked with gladiatorial combat, despite there also being beast hunts, executions, chariot races, animal hunt and reports that the arena was flooded for the infamous naumachia.  Gladiators have seen a resurgence in popular media in the past few decades with Ridley Scott’s Gladiator (2000), and more recently with the television series Spartacus (2010). 

However, this news has not recieved unanimous approval.  Dr Salvatore Settis, a Professor of classical archaeology and former head of Italy's cultural heritage council, argues that whilst Italy is suffering from economic troubles and financial stringencies, the idea of refitting the floor to the Colosseum is ridiculous.  “We are living a dramatic moment for cultural patrimony. In this situation, I do not think that giving the Colosseum back its floor is a priority.”

If you are interested in reading more about the Flavian Amphitheatre or about gladiators, then we suggest the following from our catalogue: -

·         Gladiators : violence and spectacle in ancient Rome
Dunkle, Roger.
Harlow ; New York : Pearson/Longman, c2008.

Classmark: 152F DUN

·         The gladiators : history's most deadly sport
Meijer, Fik.
New York : Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin's Press, c2005.

Classmark: 152F Copy 2 MEI

·         The Colosseum
Hopkins, Keith, 1934-2004.
London : Profile Books, c2005.

Classmark: 113M HOP

·         Colosseum : Rome's arena of death
Connolly, Peter, 1935-2012.
London : BBC Books, c2003.

Classmark: 113M CON

·         The Colosseum
Los Angeles : J. Paul Getty Museum, c2001.

Classmark: X 113M COA

Electra returns to the Old Vic theatre with Frank McGuinness’ adaptation of Sophocles’ play

(UNTIL 20^th DECEMBER)

Kristin Scott Thomas and director Ian Rickson reunite to bring Sophocles’ tragedy to The Old Vic in the round. Frank McGuinness delivers a charged adaptation of this classic tale of power and revenge.

Electra is bound by grief following the murder of her father Agamemnon, unwilling to forgive and consumed by a desire for revenge, her anger builds. On the return of her brother Orestes, Electra’s fury explodes without mercy, leading to a bloody and terrifying conclusion.

Interested in Electra or want to know more about Sophocles?  Then check out section 94.11E in the library next time you're in.