The Greek in Italy project is advertising for a new fixed-term post doctoral research associate. I've worked on the project for the last three years, and it is a fantastic team to be a part of! You can find the details of the ad below. Please get in touch if you have any questions about the... Continue Reading →
Mauss, Oscan and translation problems
I mentioned over here that there were some mentions of Oscan in Marcel Mauss's The Gift, and also that there were some problems with some of the English translations of this essay. I thought I'd expand on this year, in case anyone happens to be reading The Gift and wants to know a bit more about... Continue Reading →
The EU, Erasmus and me
This week has been very difficult and sad for many of us. Even writing that feels like a ridiculous understatement, but I don't know what else to say. Those of us working and studying at UK universities are worried (among many many other worries) about our colleagues and our students from outside the UK, and... Continue Reading →
Ancient languages and John Wilkins’s Real Character
I mentioned that at Geoff Fest last week I gave a paper on the "reception" of Oscan - mainly consisting of mentions of Oscan in slightly unexpected contexts from the sixteenth century onwards. One of those instances was in An Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language, written by John Wilkins in 1668. Wilkins was a... Continue Reading →
Geoff Fest
This weekend we celebrated the retirement of our Professor of Comparative Philology, Geoff Horrocks. I've worked with Geoff for a number of years, during which he's been my second PhD supervisor and a co-investigator on the Greek in Italy project. As the speeches at last night's dinner attested, everyone has their favourite memories of Geoff's... Continue Reading →
Exchange in the Mediterranean
The new book Échanger en Méditerranée: Acteurs, pratiques et normes dans les mondes anciens turned up in my pigeon hole this week - and I'm thrilled to see it in physical form at last! I was also sent some beautifully produced physical off-prints of my chapter - I haven't seen one of them in ages, and they look... Continue Reading →
It’s all Greek to Anna
It's All Greek to Me is a brand new blog by my colleague Anna Judson. Anna is an expert on Linear B, linguistics and Greek in general, so I know that lots of readers will be interested in her site. Anna has long been a major contributor to the Res Gerendae graduate student Classics blog, but... Continue Reading →
Sicily – Culture, Conquest and Battering Rams
Last week I enjoyed a nice afternoon off, checking out the British Museum's "Sicily: Culture and Conquest". I highly recommend it - the displays are fascinating, though somewhat crowded (as always). The exhibition focusses mainly on the Greek and Norman periods of Sicilian history, so go with that in mind if you're expecting lots of... Continue Reading →
Laurence Seminar 2016: Migration, Mobility and Language Contact
On the 27th and 28th May, the E Caucus and the Greek in Italy project are hosting the Laurence Seminar 2016, a yearly conference at the Faculty of Classics, Cambridge. This year, our theme is Migration, Mobility and Language Contact in Italy and the Western Mediterranean. Over the past decade, language contact has become a key... Continue Reading →
Venetic seminar week 2
This week at the Faculty of Classics, we held the second Venetic seminar (summed up by one attendee as "Close Encounters of the Venetic Kind"). We tackled a few more of the shorter inscriptions as a warm up, including one of the dedicatory styluses from Este - you can see a selection of these in... Continue Reading →
