The not so "new" arrival of the Judean Date Palm Tree
The Judean Date Palm Tree is the stuff of legends, and that's what happened to it. Once flourishing in antiquity this iconic tree of Judea slowly died out...UNTIL. Yes, that's right! In 1960's at an excavation of Herod the Great's palace, a 2,000 year jar was unearthed with some seeds for this legendary tree! When they planted the seed, a momentous event occurred: these seeds were the oldest known tree seeds to germinate and continue to thrive. Read the rest here.
Classicist Mary Beard Comes to Argue with Plato; Not Praise Him
The renowned author and classicist Mary Beard is at it again. She is well known for her documentaries along with confrontational stances on "Does Latin have a Future" early this summer at the British Museum. However, she recognizes the students and teachers priority to question texts; even those so integrated into Western Civilization that we take them for granted at times.
Read on here.
6,000 Year Old Wine Found in Ancient Greece
Everything gets better with age, right? The find was from at Diliki Tash in Northern Greece. However, there was no tangible wine found; ceramic pieces were discovered having wine residue. This residue was then tested and analyzed. It is believed to be the oldest "traces" of wine in Europe.
Read more on it here.
The British Museum filmed a behind the scenes look at their exhibit: Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum, which ran from March 28th to September 29th, 2013. It was a collaboration of various museums who authorized the careful exchange and borrowing of several prized possessions.
The film presented to the audience many staff from the British Museum and specialist from ever field. The film took audiences on a journey that was the last days of Pompeii and Herculaneum. As an audience member, we were exposed to the grandeur and simplicity that went into grooming, preparing for the day, cooking, going about business and then an in depth look at Mount Vesuvius' activity and destruction.
The film was a tribute to individuals who had no knowledge of the site or its history, but it was also a treat for students of the ancient world who were given a personalized tour of rarely seen items by great scholar.
Mary Beard walked us through the life and day of individuals of Pompeii and Herculaneum. She disclosed very early on to cease an expectation that all Romans lived in such a luxurious way and reminded the audience of the slave to citizen ratio. She also graced us with her Latin translating various scenes and inscriptions.
Carbonized Bread
Giorgio Locatelli explained the food of the time period that was evident from the well-preservation of the ash. In the following video, he attempts to recreate the famous carbonized bread found at Pompeii. The following link provides a video, explanation and receipe.
Andrew Wallace- Hadrill is a man who loves to find the treasures that many disregard. He is one of the leading archaeologist who go wear no man wishes to go: into the sewers. In the film, he share a wealth of knowledge that he and his team discovered in the sewers (which were used to human waste as well as trash). They is a sundry of pottery from all over the world, "misplaced" jewelry, and evidence of their diet.
A piece depicting the fertility of the Pompeii region due to the volcanic soil.
There is a wonderful app that looks at items in detail for a small fee. Overall, the experience was well worth the $15.00 and the occasional glances from the 10 other audience members. But, I will say there was some quiet joy, when I saw a mother and young son come to the showing.
The world is moving at the speed of light with out new gadgets and gizmos from tablet to Androids to laptops to game consoles, et cetera. There seems to be no more time for the language that has immensely shaped our current culture: Latin.
Often, those who study or have learned Latin at some point in their academic career have asked themselves or even their professors: "What is the point of learning Latin? It is a dead language, right?"
To this question, I shudder to think what else in our world may be forgotten or disregard for simply being "considered" redundant or outdated.
Latin is every bit alive and thriving as other foreign language, perhaps even in some regards more so than current day foreign languages. It is older than most languages and is the great-great-grandfather of many European and romance languages today. Due to Latin's age, its "believed" redundancy, and the outdated attitude adopted towards it, now more than ever there is a new interest and spark concerning Latin, Latin speakers, writers, students, users, and it's usefulness.
Recently, June 14th to be exact, the British Museum conducted a three day debate on " Does Latin Have a Future?" The debate discussed at some length Latin's place in classrooms, culture, and overall it's usefulness in society today. While some may not see the usefulness for Latin within our culture let alone our classrooms; many would beg to differ.
Mary Beard ,a Classics Professor at the University of Cambridge and the Chair for the Debate "Does Latin Have A Future," made the following video on Latin basics and in everyday life. In this video, she shows to some young students Latin's common place appearances in our language, literature, and even pop icons.
While there are many who despise Latin for its antiquated content and the blogger Donald Clark being one of them (refer to his 10 Reason Not To Learn Latin). I would say unto them that Latin is alive in everyday literature, culture, politics, grammar, et cetera.
Latin's Usefulness:
Learning Latin helps you learn other languages.
Latin is extremely precise in its cases, structure and reason which therefore allows students of Latin to have extremely skillful cognitive and logical skills.
Learning Latin roots, prefixes, and suffixes will increase your vocabulary and understanding of other words.
Besides ancient Greek, it is the only language that we can read texts from more than 2,000 years ago on philosophy, politics, religion, science, culture, et cetera. It is part of the foundation of Western Civilization and should not be overlooked or forgotten.
Further proof that Latin is not a dead language: Pope Francis or Franciscus has his own twitter account in which he tweets in Latin: Summi Pontificis Breviloquentis Twitter. The twitter account launched in January with a name based on Cicero's quote "Breviloquentem iam me tempus ipsum facit," – Time itself makes me now speak briefly
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He has over 114,000 followers and counting; while it is sanguine to assume that all 114,00 speak or understand Latin- it is highly unlikely. However, his tweets, which average no more than a sentence or two, may give rise to others taking an interest to Latin.
