Some happy thoughts for you today – because it’s been a LONG week, and I’d like to focus on some positive things to balance out the doom and gloom!
The WCC-SCS Classics Auction has been storming along this week, and ends tonight. My own little contribution to the auction (a bespoke bookplate design for the winner) has been going down much better than I expected, and at one point had more bids than anything else!

Unfortunately just about everything in the auction has gone over my very limited budget (and I really did want all of it!) – but that’s very good news for the COVID Relief Fund!
If you’re reading this on Friday there’s still time to bid for things: the auction doesn’t close till late tonight! It’s all in a good cause, to raise money for classicists affected financially by the pandemic – so if you have any spare money burning a hole in your pocket, this is an excellent use for it!
Some other lovely news this week… It was great to receive a hopeful message from Sarah and John Thomason, whose classical travel company was an early casualty of the pandemic disruption:

More details to follow soon, I hope!
Today also signals the start of the annual Heritage Open Days – and lots of them are taking place online. If you tick the online events box in the search terms, you’ll see that a whopping 700 virtual events are listed! I haven’t had a chance to root through them all (unsurprisingly!) – but there are tours of museums, historical sites, churches and cemeteries, seminars, soundscapes and all kinds of other interesting stuff. So even if you’re stuck at home, or away from the UK, you can still spend the weekend having a pleasant wander around. There are also in-person tours, although numbers tend to be limited. Personally, I’m planning on joining one of the curator tours of Arbeia next week – they fit in nicely with school pick-up and drop-off times!
There’ve been no Comfort Classics posts this week, for which I apologise! The start of the new term has overtaken everybody, so I’m expecting just the occasional interview for a while. I’m still planning to do one myself – when life allows!
I’ve been pretty swamped myself, getting my son back to school (so far, so good!) and trying to get my new library built before the wave of incoming 2020 students hits (which is always fun, by the way: one of my favourite times of the year, despite the chaos!). The library sort-out has naturally led to a lot of discoveries from years gone by, and the inevitable re-reading. It made me laugh today to see that Mary Beard has been up to much the same thing – that’s pretty good company to be in!
This week from around the Classical Internet
News
Roman gaming piece in Chester – BBC
The Life and Death of Ancient Cities: Review – The Guardian
New virtual reality project – Greek Reporter
Secrets under Brough football pitch – Hull Live
Roman building at Bamburgh – Chronicle Live
Subject profile: Classics and Ancient History – The Guardian
A classical tribute to Diana Rigg – The Edithorial
Comment and opinion
Ancient condiments – Exploring History
No Caudine Forks? – In Medias Res
The School of Athens – BBC Culture
Analysing ancient handwriting – Haaretz
Was Plato a feminist? – Tales of Times Forgotten
Artists exploring mythology and race – The New York Times
The Phrygian cap in art – Roman Times
Ovid and wishes – Society for Classical Studies
The Circo Maximo Experience – OU Classical Studies Blog

Podcasts, video and other media
Penelope’s Dream – Lore and Legend
Ancient Iraq exhibition: virtual tour – Great North Museum
The Olympics – Ancient History Hound
Events
Online Seminar: ‘Cursing as a Transferable Technology’ – Open Material Religion
Online course on Latin Love Elegy – Gina May Events
Poetry Competition open – The Latin Programme

I’m currently in Cyprus (paphos to be exact) so for my Heritage Open Days experience (and because all the times I’ve been to Paphos I’ve really wanted to go but never had the time) today I visited the Archaeological Site of Kato Paphos and wandered round the houses of Dionysus, Orpheus, the villa of Theseus, the Odeon and agora plus many other ruins within the site. The floor mosaics were so beautifully preserved they could have been created yesterday.
Just here for a week so will try to visit a couple more sites if I get time.
LikeLike
Oh, I am SO JEALOUS! Sounds like a fabulous trip!
LikeLike
It is. But 35deg heat and a north easterners skin make unhappy bedfellows 😂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for the heads-up on the ‘Heritage open days’ website Cora Beth. Lots of great stuff on there… too much almost. If I ever manage to get back to The UK I might even visit some of these places.
LikeLiked by 1 person