I hate to be predictable – but this week’s news has been dominated by Pompeii and classical controversy, and I just can’t resist jumping in! For anyone who’s been living under a rock for the past week, here’s a round-up of what’s been going on.

 

The discovery

A discovery was made in Pompeii of a charcoal graffito which mentioned a date of 17^th October, and it was posted on Instagram earlier this week. It’s a lovely little graffito which commemorates someone’s special binge-eating day – but that’s not what has drawn attention. No, we’re all fixated on the date: what are the implications, how much does it matter and can we agree to disagree?

 

 

What are the implications?

Pliny, our source for the dramatic story of the eruption of Vesuvius, tells us that the eruption took place on the 24^th of August, 79CE. At least, he probably told us that: some people dispute the manuscript’s reliability. But if a charcoal graffito from 17^th Oct was still preserved on a wall when the volcano blew, it suggests that the date of the eruption must have been later, presumably sometime in the autumn. This fits with some other evidence, like the presence of pomegranates (an autumn fruit) and the warm clothes that people were wearing. It’s a theory that has been around for a long time (I mentioned it myself, back in August), but this new evidence adds a little more weight to it.

 

How much does it matter?

The popular press have been enjoying this one: the story has appeared in numerous papers and news outlets around the world, as “a discovery that will rewrite history”. As far as the press is concerned, this is a revelation. You can read some of the UK’s press coverage here:

• The BBC
• The Telegraph 
• The Guardian 
• … and The Times, with my favourite headline: ‘Builder’s graffiti reveals truth about Pompeii’

Outside the mainstream media, some academics have questioned the value of the graffito: the main arguments are summed up by Peter Kruschwitz, who points out (among other objections) that charcoal marks indoors could have lasted a while. Scholars have also criticised the excitement around the discovery, asking whether the precise date of the disaster really makes any difference to anything. Prominent among those are Mary Beard, who concludes that the date doesn’t matter, and Neville Morley, who comes to the conclusion that perhaps it does matter. Reasons why it might matter have been presented by Kristina Killgrove in an article for Forbes and explained further on Twitter; the shift from summer to autumn can make a difference to interpretations of seasonal diseases, for instance.

 

 

Can we agree to disagree?

Unfortunately social media, as it often does, has turned nasty over the debate, raising questions about attitudes within the discipline of Classics. You can read a forceful critique of Mary Beard’s response in this thread by Kristina Killgrove, which contrasts the disciplines of Classics and Anthropology in terms of their entrenched attitudes and openness to new people and ideas. It also raises the issue of how we should use social media responsibly, and questions the status of junior female academics within Classics (an issue which Neville Morley picks up in the update to his original blog post, by exhorting people to read Killgrove’s piece as well as his). Whatever side you find yourself on in this debate, it certainly raises some important questions about scholarship.

 

Some final thoughts

There’s one thing about the press coverage which I find fascinating: the popular acceptance that the history books can be rewritten, and that knowledge is not fixed. As a Classics teacher, I spend a lot of time trying to teach people that the transmission of history should be treated critically: but perhaps, in these days of ‘fake news’, that’s become an obvious truism. People today approach information not with ‘humility’ (as the Italian Minister of Culture has said); instead we delight in the overturning of traditionally accepted ‘facts’. I see that as a good thing – although I may be in the minority!

I also may be in the minority in experiencing the almost irresistible urge to write something on my wall in charcoal and see how long it lasts. Is that just me?!

 

This week in other news…

 

News

Not all loot at the British Museum – The Guardian 

… and British Museum Twitter takedown – RT 

… and more on the British Museum – Forbes 

Early Jerusalem – Live Science 

New Orestes project – Institute of Classical Studies 

Misusing Socrates – Huffington Post 

Roman remains in Cumbria – Gov.uk 

Graveyard of ancient ships – Neos Kosmos 

 

Comment and opinion

Homer’s influence – TLS 

Translating Homer – TLS 

… and more Homer – TLS

… and Homer in Turkey – TLS 

Advice on distance learning – Classical Fix 

Pandora and technology – Project Syndicate 

Animals and drinking vessels – Hyperallergic 

Ares and misogynists – Pharos 

Interpreting ancient music – Greek City Times 

The Aeneid’s time warp – Medium 

Experiencing the ancient world – Le Temps Revient 

The difficulties of studying Carthaginian warfare – Ancient World Magazine 

Ancient vampires? – New Atlas 

When coins become counters – Coins at Warwick 

Walpole the antiquarian – Strawberry Hill House 

Using the EAGLE portal – Society for Classical Studies 

What to do with an Ancient History PhD – Game Fragger 

Sensory conference experiences – OU Classical Studies Blog 

The Roman Brexit – The Conversation 

How Latin got woke – The Nation 

The number of the beast – Kiwi Hellenist

Prehistoric music? – New York Times 

Reading Linear B – e-ni-jo-te 

The myth of the Great Library – Ancient World Magazine 

Himmler, white supremacy and the state of Classics today – LA Review of Books 

Gladiator and The Bachelorette – GQ 

What is ‘Classics’? – Quentin Broughall 

Ancient middle-age spread – Greek Reporter 

Visiting Plato’s Academy – Donald Robertson 

Want to learn Sanskrit? – All Things Sanskrit 

Latin Thriller – Medium 

 

Podcasts, videos and other media

Returning to the Roman Baths – Archway Project 

Propertius and his time – Literature and History 

The history of language teaching – The Endless Knot 

Fakes and forged antiquities – Ipse Dixit 

Race and ethnicity – The History of Ancient Greece 

Roundup of podcasts – The Partial Historians 

Talking about Tiberius – Life of Caesar 

Shakespeare’s Romans – BBC Radio 4 

Appius Claudius takes centre stage – The Partial Historians 

Tragedy music – Ataraxia Alpha 

 

And finally…

What does Virgil want to tell you? Think of a problem you’re dealing with, and see what the Sortes Virgilianae have to say about it.