A few clues more – answers

A few more crossword clues with Classical connections – answers:

• Latin
• Circle.
• Whom the gods love
• Indiana
• Omega
• Trireme
• Aphrodite
• Aphrodite
• Stabat Mater
• Isothere
• Emeriti

A few clues more.

A few more crossword clues with Classical connections:

• Language involved in formulating a dodgy dossier. (5)
• Charming woman, about 50, in society. (6)
• Favourites of the Olympians? (4,3,4,4)
• State takes in goddess. (7)
• Last appearance in a home game. (5)
• Vessel said to test soldiers. (7)
• Goddess tied Harpo in knots. (9)
• A Greek goddess paid her to in error. (9)
• Impale a spud, stifling beginning of Mary's hymn. (6,5)
• One annoyed about the consistent summer temperature. (8)
• Chairs in the departure lounge? (7)

Note: I guessed one answer, a word I did not know, by working it out from Greek.

Well, I wonder…

Theological and classical studies are suffering intellectually because the academic tools used to study them have not progressed or evolved the way other scholarly subjects have, says Professor Bradley Mclean of biblical studies at Knox College.

“We think we are being so modern when we approach these disciplines but we continue to approach them fundamentally the same way that 19th-century scholars such as historians Ernst Troeltsch (German, 1865-1923) and Wilahem Dilthey (German, 1833-1911) did,” he says.

Read the article.

Is this satire funny?

I don't know how you react to this.

Classics Professor Irritates Colleagues With Constant “Phrase-Dropping.”

6/30/2005 – Greg Boyd

Berkeley, CA – Professor L. Sminckton Feathersbaugh, PhD, was harshly criticized by his colleagues at the recent meeting of the Association of Classical Historians for his persistent use of colloquial American phrases their annual conference. “It must be an insecurity issue,” complained Dr. Esther Van Epps-Costanza-O'Reilly. “Apparently, he feels he has to impress us by using words and phrases that we aren't familiar with. It's an unwritten rule that, when attending these meetings, we only speak ancient Greek or Latin. But not Feathersbaugh . . . it's like at the party the first night . . . I welcomed him to the meeting, saying `Welcomus vini pretentiousness speakus moribundis.' He looks at me, smiles and says `Yo, Whassup Bitch?' What does that mean? I felt like a jerk because I had know idea what he was saying.”

Feathersbaugh continued to phrase-drop throughout the three-day event. According to Wesley Tinglebottom, Professor of Dead Languages at UC-Davis, he even disrupted the working sessions. “We were in the middle of a discussion called-Caligula: The Formative Years' and I posed the question `Caligulus rapis et torturus irregardless vox populus homos? Feathersbaugh replied `ya know, shit rolls downhill.' I had no clue what that meant and, I must confess, felt very small in front of the group.

The final straw came during the closing ceremonies when Professor Feathersbaugh was publicly chastised for his behavior. “We decided, as a group, to confront him,” Van Epps-Costanza-O'Reilly explained. “We thought we could appeal to his sense of decency and fair play. I asked him `Et dispossessum minutae tracium fraternitarium?' He grabbed his crotch and shouted back `Hey! I gotch yer collegiality right here!' It really was quite unnerving. I don't think we'll invite him back next year.”

Originally posted Dec 2002

Gladiators strike back with a vengeance

I've reported that it was going to happen. Now it has happened.

AGENCIES[ MONDAY, JULY 04, 2005 07:00:14 AM ]

We who are about to die, salute you,”some dozen gladiators, clad in tunics and clasping silver swords and wooden poles bark out in Latin. The crowd goes wild as the strongmen fight, dust flying, heaving groans with every thrust of the sword.

The cheering audience issues a thumbs up or down for the victor and suddenly they are regaled with the thunderous clap of horse-drawn chariots circling the hippodrome.

After a 2,000-year lull, games have again hit the sands of Jordan’s famed Roman-ruin city of Jerash, 30 miles north of the capital, Amman, as a group of Jordanian investors and a Swedish history buff are re-creating gladiator matches and chariot racing at Jerash’s 2nd Century hippodrome. It’s a tamer version, admittedly — no lions, no lethal blows when the audience of tourists gives a thumbs down.

“I thought it was great,”Christine Nimer a tourist from Southport, Conn., said after a show Thursday.
“We’re headed to Rome and know we won’t be seeing anything like this there. The re-enactment really brings people back in time.”

Sporting a white toga bordered with a distinctive purple stripe, Stellan Lind — the Swede who had the idea for the games — serves as master of ceremonies.

“Our motto is to make the ruins come alive,”said Lind, a former pharmaceutical chief and driving force behind the Roman Army and Chariot Experience, neatly dubbed “RACE”.

Former Jordanian police and soldiers from the Jerash area play the Roman soldiers and gladiators. They were trained by British stuntmen for the fights.

This Mr Chips is not retiring.

It's all Greek (and a little Latin) to Nicholas Sturch

Mr. Holland's Opus” and “Goodbye Mr. Chips” came to mind after reading about Nicholas Sturch, who has taught Latin, Greek and art history at York School for 40 years. A colleague of his wrote to say that Sturch is an unrecognized treasure in Monterey County who teaches more than a full load of classes, including Greek during his lunch period.

If you feel like reading about a fellow Classics teacher, here's the interview in full.

UK bottom of the languages league

Press Association
Tuesday July 5, 2005

The UK is the worst in Europe for developing language skills and that is affecting economic performance, according to a new report released today.

This is hardly new, but if you want to read the article, it's in today's Guardian.

While you are there, enjoy Ted Wragg on the recycling of buzz words and phrases.

Incidentally, the best report finding (and the most important for Latin) came two years ago: “They also found studying a language hard.”