Author Topic: Classics Forum  (Read 352826 times)

ginny

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Re: Classics Forum
« Reply #600 on: September 09, 2013, 01:28:24 PM »
News You  Can Use: A Theater Event!
Coming soon, to a theater near you? For one night only, September 25! The blockbuster exhibit at the British Museum will close September 29.

On September 25 at 7:30  will be presented in local theaters in the US.

This trailer shows what it's about:

http://www.fathomevents.com/?utm_source=Fathom&utm_medium=PressRelease&utm_campaign=Pompeii#!pompeii/video/10611

Quote
"Pompeii from the British Museum" Brings Ancient Roman History to Life in Exclusive Cinema Even


CENTENNIAL, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Offering an exclusive look deep into the ancient past of a lost Roman civilization, NCM Fathom Events and More2Screen present "Pompeii from the British Museum*" on Wednesday, Sept. 25 at 7:30 p.m. local time. Presented in select movie theaters nationwide for only one night, the event tells the story of life in the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum nearly 2,000 years ago before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. "Pompeii from the British Museum" marks the first cinema event to be produced by a museum for a major exhibition, providing a private view of the British Museum's blockbuster show Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum. Accompanied by music, poetry and eyewitness accounts, attendees will be taken behind the scenes to explore the homes and lives of the inhabitants of the thriving industrial hub of Pompeii and the small seaside town of Herculaneum prior to the devastating volcanic eruption of the volcano, Mount Vesuvius.

"Pompeii from the British Museum" will be presented in more than 460 select movie theaters around the country through NCM's exclusive Digital Broadcast Network. Tickets are available at participating theater box offices and online at www.FathomEvents.com. For a complete list of theater locations and prices, visit the NCM Fathom Events website (theaters and participants are subject to change).

Introduced by the British Museum's director, Neil MacGregor, this stunning presentation will take viewers on a fascinating tour of the exhibition, featuring insights from renowned experts who will bring these extraordinary objects to life, including Paul Roberts, the curator of the exhibition; Mary Beard, professor of Classics at Cambridge University; historian Bettany Hughes and interviewees such as Italian chef Giorgio Locatelli and gardening specialist Rachel de Thame. Audiences will be taken along a Roman street and into various rooms of a local house, with objects on display from the citizens' daily lives, including intricate pieces of jewelry, sculpture, mosaics, cooking equipment, food and even an extremely rare find of wooden furniture—carbonized by the high temperatures of the ash that engulfed Herculaneum.

"NCM Fathom Events and More2Screen will take audiences on a fascinating journey into the ancient past during the highly acclaimed 'Pompeii from the British Museum' cinema event," said Shelly Maxwell, executive vice president of NCM Fathom Events. "Attendees will become globe-trotting archaeologists in this unforgettable adventure for one special night - all in the comfort of their local movie theater."

The British Museum's incredible exhibition on Pompeii and Herculaneum has already received glowing, five-star reviews from press outlets including London's The Times as well as The Sunday Telegraph, The Daily Telegraph ("stunning...superb"), The Independent on Sunday ("a wonderful show of wonderful things"), and Metro ("a brilliantly told story of love, life, sex and death"). The exhibition is the first of its kind on these important historical cities that has been hosted at the British Museum and the first such major exhibition in London for almost 40 years. The result of close collaboration with the Archaeological Superintendency of Naples and Pompeii, the exhibition brings together more than 450 fascinating objects—including both recent discoveries and celebrated finds from earlier excavations—many of which have never before been seen outside Italy.

*Content not suitable for all ages

(Prominently shown in the trailer are two artefacts from the House of Caecilius!)

Check the theaters nearest you:  http://www.fathomevents.com/#!pompeii/more-info/theater-locations




What interests me is the Behind the Scenes at the British Museum promised:



If you didn't get a chance to get to England this summer, you may be interested in this event. (If it's not near you, however, it's a pretty good bet it will soon be out on DVD or on Netflix, this is just a  head's up in case you might like to experience it.)

Tickets can be purchased ahead at Fandango.com and printed from home or picked up at the theater.


Maryemm

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Re: Classics Forum
« Reply #601 on: October 06, 2013, 07:58:06 AM »
Someone sent me the following the other day. All facts supposed to be true................but not personally checked. Still, interesting!!
Apologies for any bad language!
                                           


 
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Take a moment to read this  as you will learn something...if only right at the end.

Railroad tracks.
The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number.

Why was that gauge used? Because that's the way they built them in England , and English expatriates designed the US railroads.

Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used.

Why did 'they' use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they had used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing.


Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on some of the old, long distance roads in England , because that's the spacing of the wheel ruts.



So who built those old rutted roads? Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (including England ) for their legions. Those roads have been used ever since.

And the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels.

Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome , they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Therefore the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. Bureaucracies live forever.

So the next time you are handed a specification/procedure/process and wonder 'What horse's arse came up with this?' , you may be exactly right. Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses. (Two horses' arses.)
 
Now, the twist to the story:

When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah


The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains, and the SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds.


So, a major Space Shuttle design feature of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's arse. And you thought being a horse's arse wasn't important? Ancient horse's arses control almost everything...

Frybabe

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Re: Classics Forum
« Reply #602 on: October 06, 2013, 09:07:14 AM »
Hi Maryemm, that is amusing and very plausible isn't it.

Here is the myth buster website Snopes take on it. While they mark it false, they also say that it may be false in detail, but overall there is truth to it. An interesting read even if not as funny.

http://www.snopes.com/history/american/gauge.asp

Maryemm

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Re: Classics Forum
« Reply #603 on: October 09, 2013, 11:06:43 AM »


 Had to include it because of the Roman reference!!     ;D

Thank you for that link, Frybabe. It's new to me

Frybabe

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Re: Classics Forum
« Reply #604 on: October 13, 2013, 11:45:40 AM »
One can only hold off so long on the absolute NEED to buy a book or two. My latest so to arrive acquisitions are:

Greek and Roman Medicine - Ian Dawson

Beyond the Edge of the Sea: Sailing with Jason and the Argonauts, Ulysses, the Vikings, and Other Explorers of the Ancient World - Mauricio Obregon

Route 66 A.D. : On the Trail of Ancient Roman Tourists - Tony Perrottet

Just couldn't resist those titles. Why back, I had seen a title on Roman Medicine, but when I went back to actually find and buy it, it was nowhere to be found. The second listed has maps, charts and such; I think the author actually followed the suspected routes. The last reminded me, fondly, of Lindsey Davis's Didius Falco series and his holidays which included Alexandria and the Olympic games in Greece.

Maryemm

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Re: Classics Forum
« Reply #605 on: October 30, 2013, 12:56:14 PM »



Breathtaking Roman sculpture of eagle devouring a serpent is plucked from the London earth





See:  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2478904/Roman-sculpture-eagle-devouring-serpent-unearthed-London.html

ginny

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Re: Classics Forum
« Reply #606 on: October 30, 2013, 06:09:01 PM »
Wow!! Thank you so much, Mary! That's amazing!

PatH

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Re: Classics Forum
« Reply #607 on: October 30, 2013, 08:40:54 PM »
That is an amazing sculpture.  Did any of you, more experienced than I, share my feeling that the eagle's head is particularly Roman looking?

One thing really frustrated me:

Quote
It came out of the ground 'covered in soil and unrecognisable' in September in the last few hours of an excavation that had lasted several months.
To an archaeology fan, that means they were just starting to get down to the really good stuff, which will now be buried under that hotel or whatever is being built over the site.  Maybe the rest will be uncovered centuries from now.

Maryemm

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Re: Classics Forum
« Reply #608 on: November 02, 2013, 08:17:30 AM »


 Yes, too true, alas, and I shan't be here to report on the finds! :o

Maryemm

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Re: Classics Forum
« Reply #609 on: November 19, 2013, 09:59:17 AM »



'Gate to Hell' guardians recovered in Turkey - unique marble statues warned of a deadly cave.






See:

http://www.sott.net/article/268879-Gate-to-Hell-guardians-recovered-in-Turkey-unique-marble-statues-warned-of-a-deadly-cave





ginny

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Re: Classics Forum
« Reply #610 on: November 19, 2013, 10:13:33 AM »
Oh my goodness!! Thank you so much , Maryemm!! It's a pleasure to come in here and see what is new!

Dana

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Re: Classics Forum
« Reply #611 on: November 19, 2013, 11:40:07 AM »
Wow!  I was just there this fall....Hierapolis and Pamukkale....saw the travertine terraces and the hot springs and the old ruins.
I wonder if that coiled snake motif could be an origin of that evil eye charm they have over there....

Frybabe

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Re: Classics Forum
« Reply #612 on: November 19, 2013, 04:27:56 PM »
Stunning find. Wow is right.

Frybabe

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Re: Classics Forum
« Reply #613 on: December 08, 2013, 10:18:52 AM »
I ran across this article this morning about the tunnels and quarries under Rome.

http://www.fox4now.com/features/4inyourcorner/Secret-labyrinth-of-tunnels-under-Rome-mapped-234599321.html

PatH

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Re: Classics Forum
« Reply #614 on: December 09, 2013, 12:21:00 PM »
Goodness, Frybabe, I had no idea of the quarry tunnels.  There is no mention of artifacts found in the tunnels--probably all cleaned out through the years.  And as modern buildings get taller and heavier, more and more tunnels won't be able to support the weight.

ginny

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Re: Classics Forum
« Reply #615 on: December 09, 2013, 06:36:41 PM »
Maybe that's why they say the Hall of Justice is sinking under its own weight. Very interesting,  thank you for bringing it here!

Maryemm

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Re: Classics Forum
« Reply #616 on: December 20, 2013, 09:51:54 AM »








 Don't know how I missed this!!

 See: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-22086375

Frybabe

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Re: Classics Forum
« Reply #617 on: December 20, 2013, 09:58:35 AM »
Thanks, MaryEm.

Here is another article about the scrolls found at Herculaneum. I don't think it is telling us much we didn't already read about earlier.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25106956

Maryemm

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Re: Classics Forum
« Reply #618 on: December 21, 2013, 07:55:30 AM »

 Still so interesting, FryBabe.

ginny

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Re: Classics Forum
« Reply #619 on: December 21, 2013, 08:04:20 AM »
Both of those are of extreme interest, thank you for bringing them here, Maryemm and Frybabe.

The photos in both are wonderful. I thought also the rationale that we must excavate Herculaneum now before Vesuvius goes again, possibly sealing the ms. forever was interesting.

Hope you all have a wonderful holiday!

Frybabe

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Re: Classics Forum
« Reply #620 on: December 21, 2013, 12:52:23 PM »
It does add some to what we learned when reading Carol Goodman's The Night Villa, doesn't it Ginny?

ginny

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Re: Classics Forum
« Reply #621 on: December 21, 2013, 01:38:55 PM »
Yes it does, and if anybody wants to know what  a Maenad is, they need look no further. :)

Maryemm

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Re: Classics Forum
« Reply #622 on: December 22, 2013, 10:32:15 AM »




PatH

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Re: Classics Forum
« Reply #623 on: December 22, 2013, 04:20:37 PM »

ginny

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Re: Classics Forum
« Reply #624 on: December 23, 2013, 09:39:03 AM »
Thank you, Mary,  what a beautiful decoration!

 I'm going to steal it.   :)


Thank you, Pat, for that fascinating article. I'm so glad you put it in here. I just put down the New York Times. Did I see that? No! And I'm very glad to hear it because I'm actually  going to get to see it.   It's leaving Rome, but  is going to Paris and I'm going to be there right there at it...cant miss that.

I don't know how many of you are familiar with the Horrible Histories or Rotten Romans series?

But they have an hilarious one on Augustus.  And every time I see him and all his accomplishments especially the bit about building the city of brick I have to think back to this wonderful thing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngTSwzn7VtI


A little holiday present.   Enjoy!  And happy holidays.    (The one on Caligula invading Britain is probably the best of them all, though. )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-ZxyZUgtHs

Clever clever people with a lot if truth to them.  

Frybabe

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Re: Classics Forum
« Reply #625 on: December 23, 2013, 10:20:54 AM »
What fun those are, Ginny. My favorite is Tabellarii messenger.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqCL6t41mjE

PatH

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Re: Classics Forum
« Reply #626 on: December 23, 2013, 07:22:00 PM »
Ginny, I'm glad you're going to see the exhibit.  It was frustrating how few pictures the article had.

The Horrible Histories are hilarious.  That's a good Christmas present.

Happy holidays, all.

Frybabe

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Re: Classics Forum
« Reply #627 on: December 24, 2013, 08:55:50 AM »
The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia is exhibiting items from Pompeii. My sister and I are hoping to find a bus trip to see it. So far, no luck, although the Amtrak has an excursion listed. The price for the train and the exhibit are separate, and it doesn't include anything else. Expensive considering bus trips to Franklin usually run around $80-90 and include lunch. It might be a little more expensive for the special exhibits, but I kind of remember that the King Tut exhibit bus trip was less than $100.

ginny

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Re: Classics Forum
« Reply #628 on: December 24, 2013, 10:32:23 AM »
Frybabe!! What exciting news!! I went to the website:  http://www.visitphilly.com/events/philadelphia/one-day-in-pompeii-at-the-franklin-institute/ and it looks fabulous!! Through April 27 so hopefully we can all see it. I'll alert the classes when we return, many thanks!


Maryemm

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Re: Classics Forum
« Reply #630 on: January 02, 2014, 07:52:50 AM »




Maryemm

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Re: Classics Forum
« Reply #631 on: January 05, 2014, 12:07:34 PM »

Frybabe

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Re: Classics Forum
« Reply #632 on: January 19, 2014, 09:40:11 AM »
I ran across this presentation about ancient art/artists while looking at YouTube stuff on Pompeii. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEZaLEgSzQI  Read the blurb (open the show more section to read all of it) My untrained eyes didn't start seeing changes until more than half way through.

mabel1015j

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Re: Classics Forum
« Reply #633 on: January 29, 2014, 11:48:59 AM »
Something you all might want to play around in:

From this morning's Open Culture newsletter.......as schools and colleges moved to be multicultural in the 80s and 90s, some moved away from Western literature. Howard Bloom wrote a book suggesting a "Western Canon" many of which are available for free online. Here's the article and the list along with some audio of Bloom discussing the battle. I wish i could find an interesting MOOC - college class - that discussed them for  me, i'll have to look.

http://www.openculture.com/2014/01/harold-bloom-creates-a-massive-list-of-works-in-the-western-canon.html

Frybabe

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Re: Classics Forum
« Reply #634 on: February 14, 2014, 08:27:15 AM »
I discovered on Project Gutenberg a three Geography set (covering all 17 books) of Strabo's Geography, translated w/notes by Hamilton and Falconer. While I was at it I downloaded a book of Welsh lyrics and one of Magyar folktales.

ginny

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Re: Classics Forum
« Reply #635 on: March 08, 2014, 02:19:25 PM »
Wow, Frybabe! That Project Gutenburg is really a treasure, isn't it?

Thank you Mary and Mabel for those interesting links.

It might be a good idea to get up a page of these items, like the Strabo in translation, it's not new like most of our submissions are here but it's certainly worth knowing about for research.


PatH

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Re: Classics Forum
« Reply #636 on: March 14, 2014, 10:22:06 PM »
I got a real treat today—a chance to see a statue that impressed me from photos in 4th grade art history, one that stayed with me.  It’s The Dying Gaul.  It was dug up in Rome in the 1600s, and is a Roman copy of a Greek bronze  original from the 3rd century BC, Asia Minor, celebrating the victory of the king of Pergamon over the Gauls.  From the brochure: “From both the Romans and the Pergamene Greeks, the subject also held larger  significance: the triumph of civilization over barbarism.”  I would say that this sculpture gives barbarism a fair shot at nobility.

It hasn’t been out of Italy since Napoleon’s time, but it came to the National Gallery here, and I finally got my act together and saw it.  Wow: It’s even more impressive in person than in pictures, and like any really good sculpture, it shows good lines from all angles as you walk around it.





Here’s a National Gallery link, which has better pictures than mine, plus a link to the brochure.

http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/exhibitions/2013/dying-gaul.html

ginny

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Re: Classics Forum
« Reply #637 on: March 14, 2014, 10:28:11 PM »

Wow, Pat! That is fantastic. I did not know it was at the National Gallery, isn't that fine! (And exciting news).

Thank you so much for bringing it here, I think your photos are marvelous.


PatH

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Re: Classics Forum
« Reply #638 on: March 15, 2014, 07:41:09 AM »
It's not at the National Gallery for much longer, unfortunately.  I wish I had gone to see it sooner, so I could have seen it twice.

Frybabe

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Re: Classics Forum
« Reply #639 on: March 15, 2014, 07:57:16 AM »
Breathtaking!

I wonder what happened to the original bronze stature from which the marble was copied.