Bread & Circuses

Advanced Higher Classical Studies in Scotland

Just before Christmas I mentioned that I had spent a chunk of the last nine months working with the Scottish Qualifications Authority, best-known for coordinating school exams in Scotland, on its papers for classical studies. At the time I posted the most recent exemplar papers for Higher Classical Studies. The specimen paper for Advanced Higher - the exams that pupils take when they are 17/18 - has just been published. More details on the Advanced Higher Classical Studies page. For those who are interested in the paper itself, it is attached as a pdf.

Download ClassicalStudiesSQPAH

Fifth century German hoard follow up

Those with longer memories will recall late Roman, fifth century hoard found in Rhineland Palatinate that was instantly dubbed the legendary Nibelung treasure. It made the deadlines in February last year (previous posts here and here).

I had been curious what happened to Benny C, the chap accused of looting the treasure. It appears that he was put on probation for 15 months and ordered to pay an EUR3,000 fine to a children's hospice.

Full story in the Berliner Morgenpost here.

Total War: Attila

A splendid review in the New Statesman of the computer game Total War: Attila:

The game offers no sympathy to the plight of Rome, its fall is not seen as being tragic in any way. If you’re a very good player you can stem the tide, but by and large to play as the Western Roman Empire is like choosing to attend a wedding as the cake.

Read the review here.

The Eruption of Vesuvius

Via Vesuvio Live, a brilliant video produced by Melbourne Museum that shows how Vesuvius erupted and how it destroyed Pompeii in August AD79. Well-worth a look:

 

New Discoveries on Roman Battlefield in Germany

News has been rather quiet on the Battle of the Harzhorn front - the battle in AD238 between the Romans under Maximinus Thrax and the Germanic tribes, uncovered in 2008. My last post on the subject was a year ago.

Although the 2014 season was not spent digging, this does not mean that archaeologists under lead archaeologist Petra Lönne were not busy. The Hannoversche Allgemeine has a good update today:

Archäologen haben auf dem römisch-germanischen Schlachtfeld am Harzhorn im Landkreis Northeim erneut wertvolle Schätze geborgen. "Obwohl wir 2014 nicht gegraben, sondern nur oberflächlich gesucht haben, haben wir erneut mehrere Hundert Metallfunde gemacht", sagte Northeims Kreisarchäologin Petra Lönne. Unter den Fundstücken befinden sich Waffen und Waffenteile, Münzen, Teile von Pferdegeschirr und jede Menge Sandalennägel.

Full story can be read here. Another article in Die Welt. My last significant post here.

Scrolls from the Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum

There has been a great deal of excitement about the news yesterday that a new technique might help scholars reads the carbonised scrolls from the Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum. I thought it worthwhile pulling together the better articles.

The article with the nuts and bolts of the research is "Revealing letters in rolled Herculaneum papyri by X-ray phase-contrast imaging" in Nature Communications.

There is a good summary of the research at Nature.com by Richard Van Noorden in "X-rays reveal words in Vesuvius-baked scrolls". Reuters and National Geographic are good.

More general perspectives are given in the New York Times and Independent. The Guardian is also worth a look for the video below. 

 

Germanicus 2015 - Kalkriese Museum

The special exhibition this year at the Kalkriese Museum focuses on Germanicus, either the best emperor Rome never had or a preening self-important idiot. Either way, it was Germanicus who (eventually) defeated Arminius after the Battle of Teutoburg Forest.

Ein Superstar vor der RTL-Ära? Doch, das gab es. Als der attraktive Liebling seiner Truppen und der Massen 19 n.Chr. im zarten Alter von 29 Jahren verstarb, verfiel das römische Volk in eine Trauerhysterie. Sogleich machte das Gerücht eines Giftmordes die Runde.

„Germanicus führte in den Jahren 14 bis 16 mit einem Drittel der römischen Legionen und 1000 Kriegsschiffen zwischen Ems und Elbe einen brutalen Rachefeldzug“, erzählt Museums-Geschäftsführer Joseph Rottmann. Feldzeichen zurückgewinnen, Arminius stellen, Germanien erobern – das war seine Mission. Das Imperium schlug zurück.

A great preview in the Osnabrücker Zeitung. There is more information on the exhibition which runs from 20 June on the museum website which also has a pdf flyer.

New Plans for the Antonine Wall

An article in the Milngavie and Bearsden Herald about new plans to capitalise on the Antonine Wall. The views of businesses are currently being canvassed:

Businesses are being urged to help build on the popularity of the Antonine Wall and complete an online survey as part of efforts to maximise the pulling power of what was the northern most frontier barrier of the Roman Empire.

The wall runs through five local authority areas - East and West Dunbartonshire, Glasgow City, North Lanarkshire and Falkirk.

East Dunbartonshire Council and its fellow authorities - together with Historic Scotland - manage and promote the wall and have commissioned the survey as part of a wider economic impact assessment. It’s hoped the business survey will help to identify the historic wall’s current and future potential as a major tourist attraction.

The full article can be read here and the survey is here.

Carausius - First Emperor of Britain

There was a good piece, a couple of days ago in the Times, about the Frome Hoard and the Emperor Carausius (AD286-293), also known as the Squatter Emperor. Inevitably behind the firewall, Jack Malvern's piece has (thankfully) been reprinted in The Australian. Sam Moorhead is on fine form in the article:

Sam Moorhead, the finds adviser for Roman coins at the British Museum, said that the 850 pieces minted by Carausius suggested that he was among the most colourful and sophisticated men to have ruled the land.

“I’m convinced this man was a salty sea-dog,” Dr Moorhead said. “A tall, dark, burly man with curly hair and a raffish beard. He’s an absolute bruiser.”

The coins suggest that Carausius’s seven-year reign, before he was assassinated by his finance minister, was one of sophistication, grandstanding and relentless propaganda.

He also makes the entertaining parallel in the relationship between Carausius and his finance minister/successor Allectus, and British prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

This mini British breakaway empire was eventually put down in AD296 by Constantius Chlorus, father of Constantine the Great.

Apokalyptischer Orkan entschied die Varusschlach

A rather good article in German newspaper Die Welt about the Battle of Teutoburg Forest ahead of a documentary which was shown yesterday afternoon - perfect Christmas fare... or something like that. For those who speak German and who missed it you can watch it again here for the next couple of days. I should also probably mention that I am in it.