Before Venice, Altinum

This rather short article was forwarded to me by my mother. It discusses that, through satellite imaging, one can see the outlines of an ancient city about 7 miles north of Venice near Marco Polo Airport. Plans to excavate are underway by the Universities of Padua and Venice.

Here is an excerpt:

Using satellite imaging, the outlines of the ruins can be clearly seen about three feet below the earth in what is now open countryside.

The discovery of the extensive town was found at Altino, known in Roman times as Altinum, more than seven miles north of Venice, and close to Marco Polo airport.

The ruins include streets, palaces, temples, squares and theatres, as well as a large amphitheatre and canals, showing Altinum was once a wealthy and thriving city.

Quote of the Day: Aeschylus' "Agamemnon" 1560-66

I am about to teach Aeschylus' trilogy, the Oresteia, which is actually the only tragic trilogy proper that has survived from antiquity. The basic story is that Agamemnon, on his way to Troy, sacrificed his daughter, Iphigenia, in order to assuage the anger of Artemis, who, along with her brother Apollo, favored the Trojans. In response, when he returned home ten years later, his wife Clytemnestra, and her lover, Aegisthus, murdered him. Yet, in response to that, Orestes, the son of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon avenged his father's death by killing his mother. In turn, the Furies, who punished those who killed a blood relative, sought to punish Orestes. In the end, Orestes lands in Athens as he runs from the Furies. There, Athena, in a new form of justice, decides the case by a judicial court. So, we move from archaic "eye for an eye" justice to new judicial systems represented by the emergent democratic city-state.

The Chorus, in the "Agememnon," the first of the three plays, responds to Agamemnon's death and trying to grasp the limits of the older form of justice by revenge:

Here is anger for anger. Between them
who shall judge lightly?
The spoiler is robbed; he killed, he has paid.
The truth stands ever beside God's throne
eternal: he who has wrought shall pay; that is law.
Then who shall tear the curse from their blood?
The seed is stiffened to ruin. (Aeschylus, Agamemnon
1560-66)

The chorus recognizes the legitimacy of the older justice of blood for blood, anger for anger, sword for sword. But asks a question: "Then who shall tear the curse from their blood?" When, indeed, does the cycle of revenge and counter-vengence ever stop in an ever devolving spiral of violence?

Ph.D. Comic--Seminars

I have a feeling I will be posting on Ph.D. Comics more often...perhaps a comic of the day along with the more studious quote of the day. Anyway, here is a comic that caught my eye:

Umm...I know a few full professors like that...always into their new gadgets!

Fact-Checking

I sometimes wonder if candidates exaggerate, mischaracterize, etc., assuming that most people will not double-check their facts.

So, let's double-check! There are some general fact-checking organizations out there to check out, but here is also the NYTimes checker. You can read it along with the transcript of last night's debate and alongside streaming video of the debate itself. All right here. It also refers to some of the other non-partisan fact-checking groups.

"Steady Hand at the Tiller"

Repeatedly tonight in the second Presidential debate, John McCain said we need a "steady hand at the tiller." So, I guess that means Obama is the better candidate based upon McCain's own statement, since, as far as I can tell, McCain has been much more unstable in recent weeks.

I got the distinct impression that this was a debate for the Presidency of fantasy land...since it didn't really match realities on the ground, but I did feel that Obama approached reality more often than McCain did. To be fair, though, all groups and especially national identities are somewhat imaginary...so the America they were talking about (the one that is the greatest nation in the world, and so on and so forth) exists in imagination.

Imagination is important! The "idea" of what America is is a two-edged sword, however. The image of America is something that has suffered in the world, it makes it dangerous for US travelers to other places, and it makes it difficult in diplomatic relations. Nonetheless, while fantasy America is important, we really need to handle everyday realities!

Ph.D. Comics

I have just added to my sidebar a link to Ph.D. Comics. It is an online comic strip based upon the wacky world of doctoral graduate students!

Here is a recent one on being a TA:

Quote of the Day: Herodotus' Histories 3.21

In my class we are reading the kaleidoscopic multicultural literary monument of Herodotus' Histories. I personally really like Herodotus. While he often exoticizes the people he discusses, he breaks down any Helleno-centrism, undercuts difference at the same time he constructs it. He gives a message that not only should one respect one's own customs, religious or otherwise, but one must always respect others' as well. If not, then bad things will happen to you! So, in Book 3, Cambyses, the Persian King, takes over Egypt and does things that are sacrilegious to the EGYPTIANS, but would be perfectly normal in Greece, namely, burning the dead (Histories 3.16). He forces Greeks to think about basing what is acceptable and unacceptable upon local norms rather than their own (a lesson Odysseus learns the hard way). In fact, he notes that while the Greeks may think their customs are the best, so does everyone else! So, in that respect, Herodotus undercuts any sense of cultural superiority, leveling the playing field. By bringing in similarities and differences, convergences and divergences, between peoples, primarily the Greeks, Persians, and Egyptians (but others too), Herodotus sets up a system not only of some sort of cultural relativism, but cultural interrelationalism. Each group is unique in that they uniquely configure a set of practices that are partially shared by others, and interact with others.

The text also shows another form of breach. Not only must one respect other peoples' customs, one must respect their boundaries. So, getting to the quote of the day, we have the Ethiopian king commenting on territorial expansion of the type that Cambyses, and later Xerxes, undertakes:

If he [Cambyses] were a good man, he would not want to possess any land other than his own, and he wouldn't have enslaved people who have done him no wrong. (Herodotus 3.21; trans. Waterfield)

What happened to Cambyses according to Herodotus? Because he failed to respect religious customs and traditions (see 3.38) and political boundaries, he went insane, was overthrown by rebellion at home, and was wounded in the same way that he had sacrilegiously wounded a sacred Apis bull in Egypt (3.64)!

Dead Sea Scrolls at Jewish Museum

The Times reports that some Dead Sea Scroll fragments are at the Jewish Museum until January 4. See article here. Moreover, Jim Davila has some notes of caution against some of the language used in the article against Dead Sea Scrolls scholarship here. Anyone who lives in NYC (like myself) or will be visiting between now and then should pop in a take a peek.

Go see these six encased bits of ancient text at the Jewish Museum’s new exhibition, “The Dead Sea Scrolls: Mysteries of the Ancient World,” before it closes on Jan. 4. Go, but not because these scraps are themselves new to our understanding. Though these six “scrolls” have never been seen in New York before, and though three have never before been exhibited anywhere, the literature about these findings has become as voluminous and familiar as the texts are gnomic and condensed.

NOTE: In an earlier version of this post, I mistakenly said the Jewish Museum was in Brooklyn. It is in Manhattan at Fifth Avenue and 92nd St. I apologize for the mistake! So, after you visit the Met, or MoMa, or whatever on Museum Mile, head on down to the Jewish Museum and see some Scrolls!

Under the Spell of Latin

According to the New York Times, interest in the study of Latin among Middle and High School students is on the rise all across the U.S. The reason? It seems that the use of Latin in the spells of Harry Potter books has planted a seed of interest!

See the entire article here.

Knowing Latin might also help you if you're ever caught in the following situation:

Ken Schenck is the New Cat in the Hat

Ken Schenck, professor of New Testament and Philosophy at Indiana Wesleyan University and a scholar also fascinated with the Epistle to the Hebrews, posted this video on YouTube and on his own blog, Quadrilateral Thoughts, and I thought I would help disseminate it.

Indiana Wesleyan is a much more conservative counterpart to my alma mater, Illinois Wesleyan, which definitely leans left (and that's an understatement). As he notes on his site, he liked McCain a lot in the past (and perhaps still), but he does not like McCain's more recent choices and actions and does not think he will make a good President, something the following video makes very clear. He also notes that his position is not necessarily representative of his institution.





Theater, in many ways, captures issues better than dry analysis. I'm not sure if this is comedy or tragedy, however. Perhaps ultimately comedy and tragedy collapse into one another. (I'm thinking about this because I am about to teach the ancient Greek tragic poets.) Ken, you have far more time on your hands than I do, it seems!

Politics in the Pulpit

Churches and religious organizations from all points of view often endorse one candidate or party over another. My earlier post on Catholics and Dems versus Reps makes illustrates this point within a particular tradition.

But what does this say about the variegated philosophies of what separation between church and state actually means? Are they completely separate spheres, one caring for the soul and the other for the body, as the Lockean perspective suggests? Or, are things more complicated than that? Indeed, the Lockean perspective applies only if one thinks of religion as a completely private thing, but anyone who studies religion realizes this ultimately derives from a particular perspective of Christian Protestant belief, whereas other Protestants, Catholics, Orthodox, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Daoists, Taoists, etc., may disagree, saying that their "religion" encompasses an entire way of life, both private and public.

Whether we find evangelical groups supporting McCain (something that is highly ironic, as I have noted so many times--just follow the tags on "McCain" where they match up with "Evangelicals"), or, where I occasionally attend at the Riverside Church, where I have seen both Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton as guest speakers, although technically after the service was completed in a "town hall meeting" that happened directly after the benediction.

The interrelationships between church and state have been, are, and probably always will be convoluted, complicated, and labyrithine. But whether or not religious groups violate the wall of separation between church and state when the politick in the pulpit, they do violate the tax code! That's right! Under President Johnson, the tax code was revised to state that for a not-for-profit organization to maintain tax-exempt status, the organization, at least, may not support or oppose a political party or politician. But now many evangelical preachers are blatantly disregarding this to a degree unheard of before--they are actually sending the IRS a copy of their sermons that support John McCain and a copy of the tax code with that line crossed out. They are making a clear call for revision.

See full discussion in NYTimes here.

Catholics: Democrat or Republican?

In the NY Times today there is an article of the internal divisions among Catholics regarding political parties. Which party, Democrat or Republican, best represents the full panoply of teachings of the Catholic Church?

The debate comes down to respect for human life. Conservative Catholics, most prominently Catholic bishops, have focused on the issue of abortion, equating abortion with homicide, saying that "liberals" who say they are for social justice are ironically endorsing homicide.

In Scranton, Pa., every Catholic attending Mass this weekend will hear a
special homily about next month’s election: Bishop Joseph Martino has ordered
every priest in the diocese to read a letter warning that voting for a supporter
of abortion rights amounts to endorsing “homicide.”

This, of course, leaves only Republican candidates eligible for voting according to these conservative bishops. I am largely annoyed by politicking from the pulpit. But all sides actually do it. The other side, however, says this is just one of many teachings in the Catholic Church, and, in fact, when considering the wider teachings overall, the Democratic Party fits the bill. On issues like poverty, social justice, education, health care, immigration, racism, and the war in Iraq, the Catholic Church tends toward the position articulated by the Democratic Party. Does one issue of being pro-choice outweigh all of these others?

Scranton is an interesting place for this to occur. Since it is the childhood home of Joe Biden, himself a Catholic.

Scranton, the focus of disproportionate amount of attention because it was the childhood home of Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., the Democratic vice-presidential candidate, has become a flashpoint in the battle playing out nationwide in weekly homilies, pastoral letters and diocesan newspapers. Scranton is also one of several heavily Catholic, working-class cities in swing states — like Pittsburgh, Erie, Pa.,
Cleveland, Cincinnati, Detroit and St. Louis — where a new network of liberal groups like Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and Catholics United are trying to promote the church’s social justice teachings.

Catholics make up about a quarter of the electorate nationwide, and about a third in many of the most heavily contested states in the Northeast and Midwest, an increasingly central focus of both presidential campaigns.

The entire article just demonstrates how Catholicism is not just one thing. That there are many different forms it can take based upon local circumstances and emphases taken by different clergy, laity, and organizations. All of these "Catholicisms" focus on life, but they all see it differently. For the entire article, go here.

Election Drinking Games

I have recently heard that there is actually an election / debate drinking game. I can't remember all of the rules, but I do remember one of the rules was that people had to take a drink every time the word "maverick" was said during a debate. I bet these people were sauced last night!

I just googled it, and evidently this was quite widespread, with many different groups developing drinking games for the Vice Presidential Debate in particular.

See this page from ABC News.

Sarah Palin and Religion

I just watched this clip posted by James McGrath at Exploring Our Matrix, but I thought it raised some really important issues, and, therefore, should be reposted by any readers I may have that he does not (although he attracts far more readers than I do).





I might take issue with the unexamined overuse of the term "fundamentalist," although I was happy for the note that you can find Pentecostals throughout the spectrum of social and political issues--they are not just "fundamentalists" and the religious right. What clip failed to note, however, is that the Assemblies of God, which as a whole is quite conservative (although you will find more left-leaning folk at least among the laity here and there) is (or at least it used to be) the largest Pentecostal denomination in the world. It is a somewhat decentralized denomination (technically it is called a "cooperative fellowship"), but its decentralization creates a degree of flexibility that, in fact, works to its benefit, allowing for its continued expansion. A flexibility that allows it to use more modern methods and innovative ways to mobilize, such as the youth-oriented Masters Commission mentioned in the video. In sum, this is an effective system of dissemination of theology, ideology, interpretation, etc., including the issues of the "end times" that forms the focus of the clip.

But the "self-fulfilling prophecy" remark particularly caught my attention, looking at how particular, prominently 19th and 20th century, interpretations of Revelation could shape people's perspectives in terms of foreign policy, transforming very complex issues into apocalyptic binary terms of "good" and "evil" that create more misunderstandings of the dynamics of events, transforming the variegated groups in the Middle East into a monolithic "other." If such a perspective dominantly shapes U.S. foreign policy, then these "other" groups can never get a fair hearing...and if someone is not being heard, then they will find a way...feeding back into the self-fulfilling prophecy.

On a lighter note, for those of you who have seen Thomas Trask in the past, has he gained some weight in this clip? And, to be a televangelist these days, do you have to have a double-chin? Perhaps I need more Ben & Jerry's to get that job.

Strategic Misuse of Language?

One of the things I have been teaching my students this semester is to pay very close attention to the details of the text, how the details of a text can question, invert, and toy with broader themes. I especially force them to pay attention to repetitions and what is added and taken out, for example when Achilleus tells his mother Thetis about his interactions with Agamemnon? It appears highly repetitive, but when you look closely, he alters certain words to give different nuances, and he adds a little and omits a lot. We did the same with Persephone's personal account of her abduction by Hades and the narrative point of view of the same event. Both cases are children recounting events to their mothers, and manipulating their speech for different ends. In some ways, they may be playing a part, a role, in order to tell the other person what they want to hear or in order to get what one wants. Both Achilleus and Persephone did this.

What's this have to do with politics? (I have already pointed out to some students to pay close attention to representation, omissions, etc., in the debates, both by the candidates themselves and also by the commentators). How not only the candidates will engage in forms of rhetoric, but how the talking heads will omit, add, or shift to differently nuanced words when paraphrasing or even "quoting" the candidates.

Many people are speaking about Sarah Palin's use of "folksy" language. Let's just call it casual colloquial language for the moment. Some express bafflement. Others anger. Many talking heads think she is deliberately trying to connect with the "Joe Sixpack" voter (one of Palin's phrases last night) by being self-consciously improper in her speech patterns, the assumption being that speaking in a professional manner would be condescending, something that Democrats feared Biden would be, but, alas, was not.

What does this mean, though? What assumptions would be involved in such a strategic misuse of language? Is not such misuse of language itself condescending? Does it not send the message that the Republican Party ASSUMES that the average voter is uninformed or misinformed about the issues and therefore will connect with a candidate who is just as uninformed? Are we the only country in the world that wants non-professional leaders? Indeed, one of the biggest criticisms of Obama is that he is TOO professional, TOO much the professor. Oh, for shame! To have a professional sounding President who has facility with the English language...I mean, we haven't had one in a while.

This gets me to a previous post last night on "nuclear" versus "nucular." The mispronouncment of this word drives me crazy. We all know that George W. Bush mispronounces this word. And I commented last night that Palin consistently mispronounced it. BUT THEN I remembered something. Does everyone remember her acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention? I was watching that with someone, and I can distinctly recall that I said out loud, "At least she doesn't say 'nucular.'" I recall it because it was the only positive thing I could think to say. WHAT HAPPENED between then and now? While her use of colloquialisms has been rather consistent, there is something strange about this. This is rhetoric. In the words of Ecclesiastes, this too is vanity. This, too, is a form of condescension.

But is it a condescending rhetoric that works? It does have a certain track record, does it not? Think of the famously misinformed Dan Quayle. Or perhaps think of our current President. This seems like a general Republican strategy in the past 20 years. As far as polls indicate, which I don't necessarily trust, many people find that they connect with her, that they like her, BUT that she does not seem ready. They may not connect as well with Biden, but they feel like he is more skilled at dealing with the current crises of the economy, foreign policy, and the war in Afghanistan and Iraq. And that he understands the complexities of these issues more thoroughly.

We must be careful, therefore, with our language. We must realize how we create worlds with it. How we can build up and destroy with language. And how we can create a net with it and entrap people. We must be on guard against language, what language is revealing, and, much more importantly, what it is hiding. Once you get past the rhetorical positioning created by the strategic use of colloquialism and misuse of language, then we can assess what that language is designed to do (positively) and what it is meant to distract us from (negatively).

A Lesson in Pronunciation

I am watching the Vice Presidential Debate right now.

Just so Sarah Palin (and, by the way, George W. Bush) knows, you do not pronounce the word "nuclear" as "nucular."

First say "nu." Then "cle." And finally "ar." "Nuclear."

I just heard Joe Biden say it correctly. Do it the way he does.

Christ the Magician Coffee Mug

Ok...so I doubt it was used for coffee, but that is how I use cups that look like this. So, some people appear to be interested in this new find off the coast of Alexandria in an area that had fallen into the Mediterranean Sea. Underwater archaeological search has found many interesting finds in the area of Alexandria that has slid into the sea. This find is a fairly well-preserved cup that dates sometime between the second century BCE and the first century CE.

April Deconick has recently posted on it at Forbidden Gospels here. She has further links to others' posts there.

The cup says "diachrestou ogoistais." The "e" in the "diachrestou" is an "eta." One issue is how to divide the words. The first side is pretty easy: "dia chrestou." The second side is not so sure. But I tend to think it is "o goistais." Other word divisions are definitely possible, but I am not sure at the moment what they would be. The reason, now, this little cup is getting so much attention is that it has been interpreted as "by Christ the Magician." This reminds me of Morton Smith's theory argued in his book, Jesus the Magician (guess what his theory was). It would be the first mention of Jesus outside of the New Testament...and given the dating, to the first century!

But the dating is the first problem. The first century is the latest possible date. It could very easily be earlier, which would put quite a damper onthe whole "Christ" theory.

What does the inscription itself mean? Let's deal with the second side first. IF this word is divided as "o goistais," then "magician" is not far off, although it is probably not the best translation. The root word probably comes from goaw: "to enchant." The usual form of the noun form is "goes." Another form of this is "goates" and another is "goetes" (all the "e's" here are eta's). Since eta and iota, especially in diphthong form with the omicron would sound nearly indistinguishable, I have little problem with the spelling issues here. The combination of the sigma and the tau combines these many different forms together (particularly the first and the last).

It does not have to be "enchanter" however. The same verb goaw also means to wail, to weep, to lament. So, the person could be a mourner. The "enchanter" form actually seems to come from "to wail / howl out enchantments" (Liddell and Scott). So, it may mean "mourner" as much as "enchanter."

What about "dia chrestous"? As April has noted, this is probably overblown. While the eta / iota switch is possible, since this is so common in this period, Chrestos / Chrestus was a fairly common name in this period, especially among slaves since it means "useful one." So, perhaps this means, "through Chrestos the useful one, the enchanter / mourner."

Even so, do the two sides necessarily refer to the same entity? Probably, but nonetheless the useful one named Chrestos may not be the same person as the enchanter or mourner. So, perhaps you get to the enchanter through Chrestos, the useful one.

Of course, all of this is highly speculative and tentative. And, in fact, I doubt we can conclude much of anything from this little cup, which appears to have some connection to either "magical" or perhaps mourning rituals (or, perhaps mourning rites that include magical elements).

Although, who knows? Perhaps I would be amazed at what scholars two thousand years from now try to conclude from my fairly strange coffee mugs that I keep around should any of them miraculously survive. They may think my "Jesus Saves" coffee mug, which has a picture of Jesus cutting out coupons, was part of an important religious ritual. And they would be right...for what is more sacred than morning coffee? Other than brunch of course?

UPDATE: First of all, I have no idea why my paragraph breaks are not showing. Secondly, Jim Davila has a nice roundup of recent discussions of this "magic bowl" at paleojudaica, including a reference back to this very post. I must be moving up in the world... And despite my guesses above, I agree with Jim and others that no one really is sure about the meaning of "ogoistais." We are all guessing at this point.

Quote of the Day: Odyssey 15.69-71

Here is a little morsel that we discussed in my class, Literature Humanities:

I would disapprove of another
hospitable man who was excessive in friendship,
as of one excessive in hate. In all things balance is better.
(Odyssey 15.69-71; Trans. Lattimore)

This statement is made by Menelaos to Telemachos. My students know why I think this statement concerning hospitality or guest-friendship or xenia is significant. Xenia, or guest-friendship, was an extraordinarily important custom and ancient Greece and in the ancient Mediterranean and ancient Near East as a whole. It would have been especially important for itinerant bards who would rely very heavily on the institution. It follows certain procedures. Usually, when a stranger comes, the host will give them food and drink, perhaps a bath, perhaps a bed to sleep on, and then and only then will they ask who they are, where they come from, etc. In the end, if they are social equals, or both people of high rank, they will exchange gifts. This quote demonstrates the balance that the entire story of the Odyssey seeks to strike between the Phaeacians (Phaiakians) who are so excessive in friendship that they take it to absurdity. Firstly, at each point they are a bit excessive. But when it comes to the "gift," the king of Phaiakia offers his own daughter to a stranger he does not even know--at this point it is good to note that they are out of order: they have not learned who the stranger (happens to be Odysseus) is and are offering their daughter in marriage as a present. This pushes the limits of guest-friendship to absurdity.

On the other end is usually placed the Cyclops, Polyphemos. He is isolated and untrusting. While Odysseus breaches things a bit by going into the cave and beginning to eat Polyphemos' food uninvited, the Cyclops clearly has no respect for the institution of guest-friendship nor its patron, Zeus. He asks who they are before offering anything (although Odysseus and his men helped themselves). For the "meal" here, though, the Cyclops begins to eat Odysseus' men. His "gift" to Odysseus is that he will eat him last. This parody on guest-friendship demonstrates the opposite of the Phaeacians. But both positions are excessive. The Phaiakians are exceedingly trusting and hospitable, the Cyclops is exceedingly distrustful (he is afraid Odyssues is a pirate, and, well, he is not far off since Odysseus had just sacked a city) and inhospitable. Both groups, however, are somewhat naive, or, at least have a certain innocence about them. They both contrast Odysseus in their lack of cunning and guile. Whereas Odysseus is always cunning, resourceful, the "man of many ways (polutropos)."

The key to all of this, however, is that Odysseus is telling the Phaiakians the story about the Cyclops. He seems to relish in telling them, the most naive people imaginable, just how cunning and deceptive he is, and, yet, in the end, they refuse to believe that he is so deceptive (11.362-9). This puts things in a pickle, however. Since Odysseus is telling a story about how deceptive he is, if the king of the Phaiakians (Alcinous / Alkinoos) is right in saying that he cannot be so deceptive, Odysseus has been telling a deceptive story about being so devious. Or, if Odysseus' story is true, then his deceits throughout are true. Either way, he has been deceitful.

Do we believe anything that Odysseus says?