Classical Studies Support

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