Carnivalesque IX: The past is back to haunt you
Welcome to the October Carnivalesque. Thanks in abundance got to Sharon and Julie for letting me host Carnivalesque IX, and agreeing to the Hallowe’en theme and to Ghostbones for the use of the image Ordinary Everyday Ghost for the cover.
Hallowe’en aside, this month’s issue is AM, ancient and medieval. I’ve defined the end of medieval period as being “not early modern”. That’s vague but it meant I could include one or two entries I liked. Next month’s will be early modern (or should that be post-medieval, PM?) and there’s a vacancy for host. There’s also a host needed for the December AM edition. Given the chance I’d grab that too, but that would undermine the carnival concept. Visit the Carnivalesque home page at http://carnivalesque.blogsome.com/ for more details.
Finally remember in cyberspace no one can hear you scream, or even say “My goodness, that was interesting”. Most of the entries have comment forms, so if you enjoyed something written by one of the authors then why not let them know?
Carnivalesque AM comes out every couple of months, so News wouldn’t be an appropriate section, but perhaps Current Affairs is. We start with…
Illegal Excavations at the site of Galinoporni in Cyprus noted by Ioannis at Mediterranean Archaeology.
The Stoa notes the arrival of Digital Classicist.
…and Campvs Mawrtivs notes a striking new tactic in an election campaign – honesty. Scroll down for the promises of someone who clearly knows what he’s talking about.
It’s a start of a new academic year and more plans are being laid.
Another Damned Medievalist at Blogenspiel notes Just…aargh as she tries to marshall a new paper.
Conferences, yet again, records Rebecca Goetz’s thought on the subject at (a)musings of a grad student.
Quod She finds that teaching Chaucer is More like a history class? Really?. She writes: “Oh, and I invite those of you who aren’t academics or former academics to comment from the student perspective or perhaps the general audience perspective.”
At Classics etc., Helen has been travelling to the sun-soaked island of Thera, so that you don’t have to.
Going where many would fear to tread is Brain Ulrich of Brian’s Study Breaks, who examines new evidence of religious claims to Sacred Jerusalem.
Aydin Örstan of Snail’s Tales records a trip looking for land snails in Turkey where he found Niobe is still crying.
For those of you who missed them, Mark A. Rayner at the Skwib has recovered The Lost PowerPoint Slides (Leifr Eiríksson Edition)
Finally when you get there it would be nice to be able to take a decent photograph. Thorgrim at the Megalithic Portal has written an article on Better Megalithic Photography
You can tell winter is on its way. The night get longer, the days colder and grumpiness becomes more pointed. The most thoughtful rants on the web I’ve found are:
The Ministry of Reshelving finds a novel solution to Pyramid Power books at Rogue Classicism.
Can Chaucer be rapped? Then longen hos to goon on pilgrimages by Jeff at Quid nomen illius? has an answer.
…and the ever entertaining Got Medieval gets even with Medieval Cabbage Taunting
As an experiment I thought it would be interesting to take a topic and see where people from different periods went with it. This section was open to Early Modern as well as Ancient and Medieval sites. With October 31 approaching the theme is Hallowe’en. There are no plans to theme other Carnivalesque editions yet, but if you think it’s a good (or bad) idea then make yourself heard in the comment box at the foot of the page. Hallowe’en is an eclectic bunch.
Ghosts, murders and providence comes from Sharon Howard at Early Modern Notes, who picks up where Hamlet left off.
A reply piece is at Earmarks in Early Modern Culture. Kristine Steenbergh writes upon Crime detection and ghosts and a tale of Ghostly revenge.
I take a different view and asks where ghosts come from. Are ghosts Gods for the ordinary person?
Diaries of A Lady of Quality has an entry by Miss Frances Williams Wynn (with the assistance of Natalie Bennett) on the The Wynard Ghost Story: Oct. 16th, 1803.
The ancients certainly thought it best to keep ghosts away by keeping the spirit of the dead pacified.
Anastasia of In Saecula Saeculorum includes wonderful photos in her discussion of some offering vessels in ancient Greece.
Troels Myrup of Towards an Archaeology of Iconclasm took a Trip to Arles and examined the sarcophagi of the Christian burials there.
There’s not just ghosts around at Hallowe’en.
Philip Harland at Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean blog reveals the terror of Demons and everyday life: Giving birth to monsters.
Martial’s Dexiocholus at Michael Hendry’s site Curculio reveals an ancient malady an why you wouldn’t want to kiss a man with a bad leg.
Meanwhile at the Daily Kos, DarkSyde notes that a pestilence from the Middle Ages may yet return to the modern world in Night of the Living Dead: Blood Warriors.
The final two entries in this section reminded me of the classic Swedish film Mønti Pythøn ik den Hølie Gräilen.
Mr.H. at Giornale Nuovo presents A True Account of What Happen’d in the Kingdom of Sweden.
…and what do we with do with witches? As Sir Bedevere found out – BURN THEM! I’ll stretch the Hallowe’en theme to breaking point to include A Forgotten Humanitarian at Philobiblion by Natalie Bennett. It’s not strictly Hallowe’en, but it does tell of how it came to be that women weren’t burned at the stake in England.
It could be easy to trivialise the aftermath of Katrina with a reference to Atlantis. Logographer finds a better ancient comparison in making sense of catastrophe in On Choosing to Stay.
A catastrophe of a different sort. A return to Prehistory? concludes the series of four posts on Bryan Ward-Perkins’s The Fall of Rome at the OUPblog.
Mary Harrsch of Roman Archaeology reveals plans at Oregon to recreate The Solarium of Augustus.
Ralph the Sacred River by Ed Cook reveals the earliest remedy that includes the hair of the dog… but finds it wasn’t a hangover cure.
Stephen C. Carlson at Hypotyposeis talks about The Seriousness of Forgery in Antiquity.
One of the most useful things I find on blogs are reviews of work, and this edition of Carnivalesque has plenty of comment. We start with Persia and the east.
Philobiblion on Forgotten Empire: The World of Ancient Persia, a review of an Ancient Persian exhibition at the British Museum.
Classics in Contemporary Culture on Persian Fire: The First World Empire and the Battle for the West.
Glaukôpidos on HBO’s Rome. I link to notes on Episode six, but you can work your way back.
The ARLT on the big problem with The Roman Government of Britain by Anthony R. Birley.
John Hawks notes a review of The Singing Neanderthals.
And with a few final entries this edition of Carnivalesque comes to a close.
Not strictly a blog, but wonderful nonetheless, the AHDS has released The Sutton Hoo Research Project 1983-2001 compiled and edited by Martin Carver to public access.
Alterior at Fascinating History has the graphically illustrated Sex Trivia from Ancient Rome, which is suitable for over-18s only. (I don’t know what more I could say to boost clicks-through).
The final link was suggested by Sharon Howard. BibliOdyssey is a wonderfully illustrated blog and she couldn’t decide which entry to choose to nominate. Neither could I until I saw this one. I arbitrarily chose this one as the study of ancient cuisine could be described as Archaeogastronomy.
Apart from the crossword below, which is an experiment to see if it will for students at Leicester, this edition of Carnivalesque is over. I hope you enjoyed it. For the next edition keep checking the Carnivalesque home page. In the meantime, the next History carnival is on the 15th of October at Acephalous. Other carnivals, including Carnivalesque can also be found at The Truth Laid Bear’s ÜberCarnival.
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