Thoughts on Antiquity

Haaretz has an article quoting Joe Zias about Essenes and Qumran. For two opposing views in the article:
The presence of the eggs of intestinal parasites, typically present in human intestines, in a relatively limited area, in the place described in the scrolls and by Josephus, led researchers to conclude that they discovered the bathroom of […]

On the ABTAPL list I receive a list of copyright events from Graham Cornish’ Copyright Circle. Most of the items indicate the endless encroachment of lawyers on access to learning.  But in the current list there are two entries which indicate a contrary trend.  
V&A to scrap academic reproduction fees.   By Martin Bailey
In a move which […]

As I mentioned earlier, I am trying to learn Syriac.  A week ago I went down to London, and 5 of us had a day of intensive tuition.  It was interesting that several had bought the grammars, but had been quite unable to get into them.  We were taught how to form and transliterate the […]

Who says the Romans didn’t rhyme? Wikipedia does:
“Rhyme was not used in Latin poetry until it was introduced under the influence of local vernacular traditions in the early Middle Ages.”
While it did not dominate poetry as it did (and to some extent still does) in English, clearly rhyme was utilized in Latin. Here’s the first […]

“Michelle”, written by Paul McCartney, on Rubber Soul, now is translated into Latin for your aural pleasures. I left the French, save the tagline, intact. Also, you should be able to sing along with the original, unlike many other “translations” of popular music. Enjoy!
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Missella, ma bella,
Illa verba videntur bona
Ma Missella
Missella, ma bella
Sont des mots qui […]

I have just discovered that someone has scanned a lot of the volumes of the MGH and placed them online.  You can find them here.  Sadly they have not made whole volumes downloadable (why not?).  Among other things, the Chronography of 354 is there.