®

A publication of the American Philological Association Vol. 4 • Issue 1 • Spring 2005

OF BATTLES AND THE WRITING Book Review: Cattus OF HISTORY: THE BATTLE OF Petasatus THE TEUTOBURG FOREST by James B. Rives Jennifer Morrish Tunberg and Terence O. by Madelyn Bergen Dick Tunberg, trans. Cattus Petasatus: The Cat in the Hat in Latin. Bolchazy-Carducci Publish- ers, 2000. Pp. 75. Illustrations throughout. ometime in the fall of the year Paperback $16.95. ISBN 0-86516-472-X; A.D. 9, three Roman legions made S Hardcover $22.50. ISBN 0-86516-471-1. their way through a wooded and marshy area, now the community of Kalkriese northwest of modern Osna- ne of the more curious literary brück, Germany (see Fig. 2, page 2). Osub-genres is that of Latin translations While negotiating narrow sandy paths of classic children’s books. Over the last through a great moor located at the foot forty-five years we have had Winnie ille Pu of a modest hill, they were attacked by a large force of German tribesmen hidden (Alexander Lenard, 1960), Fabula de Petro among the trees. The guerillas were led Cuniculo (E. Peroto Walker, 1962), Alicia by Arminius, a German warrior of one of in Terra Mirabili (Clive Harcourt Car- the ruling clans of the Cherusci, who ruthers, 1964), Domus Anguli Puensis had been an officer in the auxiliary (Brian Staples, 1980), Ursus nomine branch of the Roman army. The com- Paddington (Peter Needham, 1999), the mander of the Roman legions was P. Fig. 1. Granite blocks showing the path Quintilius Varus (also known in some Tunbergs’ own Quomodo Invidiosulus of the Roman army at Kalkriese. The sources as P. Quinctilius Varus), a rela- nomine Grinchus Christi natalem abro- disarray in the foreground illustrates tive by marriage of the Emperor Augus- gaverit (1999), Regulus (Augustus Haury, the disintegration of the Roman line tus, who had been appointed Legate of during the ambush by the Germans. 2001) and, most recently, Harrius Potter et the Rhine Army with the added respon- Photo credit: Madelyn Bergen Dick. Philosophi Lapis (Peter Needham, 2003); sibility of establishing a new Roman Hellenophiles will be pleased that an province in northern Germany. Over the Romans retreated from northern Ger- next three days, some 15,000 soldiers many after Germanicus’ incursions in ancient Greek version of Harry Potter and and assorted camp-followers were mas- A.D. 15 and made no further attempts the Philosopher’s Stone has also now been sacred in that moor: this is now called to colonize the area, but the Germans published (Andrew Wilson, 2004). the Battle of the Teutoburger Wald or may have venerated the battle site as a I must confess that I have not always the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. The sacred place (Peter S. Wells, The Battle been a huge fan of such works. One of the Romans lost three legions (XVII, XVIII, That Stopped Rome: Emperor Augustus, pleasures of good children’s literature is the and XIX). Varus committed suicide on Arminius, and the Slaughter of the Legions the battlefield; his head was later sent in the Teutoburg Forest, 2003, 177-199, simplicity and lucidity of the writing, the by the Germans to Rome via another continued on page 2 continued on page 3 tribal chief. The victor Arminius did not enjoy the fruits of his labors long; he Classics and the 77th annual Book Review: “Gardener’s Latin: was killed about a decade later by mem- scripps national spelling bee ...... 4 A Lexicon”...... 13 bers of his own family, and his wife and Notable Web SIte: “The VRoma Book Review: “Climbing Olympus: son died in Roman captivity. Eventual- Project” ...... 5 What You Can Learn From greek ly the moors and wild animals and the myth and wisdom...... 16 The Story of the Alphabet ...... 6 relative silence of German oral tradi- An Adventure on Mount tion buried the site of the battle in the She’ll Always have paris: Helen Olympos...... 17 in Wolfgang Petersen’s “Troy”...... 10 mists of time. Guidelines for contributors...... 20 The German tribes did not leave a What’s Cooking? New (and old) written record of their triumph since Inside in Ancient food Studies...... 12 their culture was not a literate one. The OF BATTLES AND THE WRITING OF HISTORY: THE BATTLE OF THE TEUTOBURG FOREST continued from page 1

235). It is perhaps not impossible to find creating the province of Germania that sufficiently pacified and that he could obscure traces of this battle and its after- had been started by Drusus, the brother move quickly in establishing full math deeply buried in the myths that of the future emperor Tiberius. Varus, Roman rule, did not pay too much have come down through oral traditions assuming that the German tribes were continued on page 8 in the guise of epics that are the basis for the Nibelungenlied and Gudrun and related stories. One particular memory might be enshrined in the battle between Siegfried and the dragon; the latter is a beast with scaly armor and fiery breath. It has been suggested that this may be the monstrous image of a Roman soldier (Wells, 30). The Romans themselves were not eager to advertise this disastrous event; they were profoundly superstitious about such horrendous defeats of their well-trained and much-feared legions by obscure tribesmen. This may have pre- x Kalkriese vented the reestablishment of the three lost legions. The Roman sources do not deliberately hide the battle from our view, but they are not particularly forth- coming with details either. The earliest account comes from C. Velleius Paterculus, a Roman officer who, sometime about A.D. 30, pub- lished a Compendium of Roman History. Velleius concentrated on the personality of Varus and briefly described the bat- tle. P. Cornelius Tacitus wrote an account in his Annals after A.D. 110; his very full discussion was really about Germanicus who went to northern Ger- many in A.D. 15, found the battle site, buried all the bones of the dead sol- diers, and defeated the German tribes at the Weser River. In the reign of Hadri- an, L. Annaeus Florus included a description of the events in his Epitome (ca. A.D. 125). To this we must add the account of Hadrian’s personal secretary, C. Suetonius Tranquillus (ca. A.D. 69- ca. 140), who in his Life of Augustus left a vivid description of Augustus as he received the news of the destruction of three of his legions. Suetonius also reported information on the disaster, much condensed, in his Life of Caligula. At the beginning of the third century, the Greek historian Cassius Dio (ca. A.D. 150-235) reassembled the story from many sources into a dramatic retelling. What then happened in A.D. 9 in the Fig. 2. On this map of Roman military camps at the time of Augustus and Tiberius, saltus Teutoburgiensis, that fearsome place Kalkriese is marked with an X (http://www.geschichte.uni-osnabrueck.de/projekt/ somewhere northeast of the Rhine fron- frame2.htm). The little squares mark the Roman camps. The arrows mark troop move- tier? This is the story Roman historians ments during the time of Augustus. The map is part of the Web site Kalkriese: Die have told us and archaeologists have Örtlichkeit der Varusschlacht, Ein studentisches Projekt an der Universität Osnabrück expanded: Augustus sent Varus to (http://www.geschichte.uni-osnabrueck.de/projekt/start.html). The map is by Edward northern Germany to finish the job of Menking, Universität Osnabrück, ©1997, and is used courtesy of Dr. Wolfgang Spickermann, Universität Osnabrück. 2 Book Review: Cattus Petasatus continued from page 1

way that the authors achieve striking effects only 220 words, their vocabulary is fairly while limiting themselves to ordinary vocab- straightforward, and they provide a con- ulary and constructions. Yet words and venient glossary at the end. Likewise, their idioms that are ordinary in English are not sentences are short and simple, and the necessarily easy to render in Latin, a chal- context will make the meaning clear even lenge that the translators generally meet to readers puzzled by the grammar. For with great labor and ingenuity. As a conse- beginning students, the strong rhythmic pat- quence, the translations themselves often tern should make this a painless lesson in strike me as more belabored and ingenious pronunciation and word accent; for more than simple and lucid, a shift in register advanced students, it could serve as the that, in my view, pretty much defeats the basis for a discussion of quantitative versus whole point. accentual meters. Most importantly, for And then a friend gave me a copy of everyone, it will make Latin fun, and that is Cattus Petasatus (see Fig. 3). My expres- a rare achievement. As the Cat himself says sions of polite gratitude quickly turned to (on page 18 of the original), “It is fun to unfeigned delight as I opened the covers have fun/ But you have to know how.” and sampled what lay inside: here at last is a Latin translation that truly captures the James B. Rives ([email protected]) is Asso- spirit of the original. And what an original! ciate Professor in the Division of Humanities As most people know, Dr. Seuss wrote The and the Program of Classical Studies at Cat in the Hat in 1957 as a book for York University in Toronto, Ontario. When beginning readers, with the idea that it had not reading children’s literature (in English), to be simple enough for them to read on he studies religion in the Roman Empire their own but also fun enough for them to Fig. 3. The Cat in the Hat. ™ & © 1957 and teaches courses on Latin language and want to read it at all. He achieved the sim- Dr. Seuss Enterprises, L. P. All rights literature and Roman culture. reserved. Used by permission. plicity by strictly limiting his vocabulary to 220 words, virtually all of them one-sylla- metrical beat (hence the insistent rhythm) ble, and by using only the most basic syn- and end-rhyme in the last two syllables of Current Events tax. But it was in the fun that his genius lay. every couplet (hence even more insistent in Classics Quite apart from his absurdist scenario and rhyme than the original). Here, for exam- imaginative illustrations, his very use of lan- ple, is their version of the Cat’s opening arbara Gold, the APA Vice- guage was fun: the insistent rhythms and lines on page 7: BPresident for Outreach, and rhymes of his verses make them almost two members of the APA Outreach Committee, Mary-Kay Gamel and impossible to stop reading. In these “Cur sedetis?” inquit ille, respects, The Cat in the Hat would seem Judith P. Hallett, will establish an “Ludos vobis dabo mille! APA Web site for “Current Events one of the worst candidates for translation Cattus, etsi sol non lucet, in Classics” (lectures, museum into Latin since insistent rhythms and rhymes Ludos vobis huc adducet! openings, outreach events) and are not things that most of us associate with find people in key areas around the Latin literature. Obviously, this is not Vergil, but then country who can feed steady infor- mation to that site. Mary-Kay To a large extent, however, we do this neither is Dr. Seuss Milton, and it is won- not because accentual rhythms and end- Gamel will coordinate theatrical derful to see the Tunbergs achieve the same productions, films, and videos in rhymes are incompatible with the Latin lan- sorts of effects in Latin that Dr. Seuss did in particular. They will create links to guage but simply because classical authors English. These effects are so basic and yet existing Web sites of this nature deliberately avoided them. Strong rhythms so delightful that one does not need much and also use state coordinators to and rhymes seem to have played more of a Latin to enjoy Cattus Petasatus. (The Tun- help identify classically-related events around the country; many of role in popular verse and came into their bergs have now applied the same tech- own in the Middle Ages. It is from this tradi- these coordinators will ideally be niques to a translation of Green Eggs and leaders of the state classical organi- tion that the Tunbergs have drawn their Ham [2003] with apparently equal suc- zations. Any ideas for creating and inspiration, as they explain (in English as cess.) maintaining such a Web site would well as Latin) in an appendix on their verse Could this book serve beginning readers be welcome. Please contact Bar- form. In place of Dr. Seuss’ largely anapes- of Latin in the same way that Dr. Seuss’ bara Gold at [email protected]. tic rhythms and end-rhyme in alternating original serves beginning readers of Eng- lines, they use a line of four trochees with a lish? Undoubtedly. Although the Tunbergs 3 very high coincidence of word accent and did not manage to restrict themselves to CLASSICS AND THE 77TH ANNUAL SCRIPPS NATIONAL SPELLING BEE by Judith P. Hallett

arrived at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in vignette on the Bee Idowntown Washington, D. C. – for U. S. News and headquarters of the 77th Annual World Report – Scripps National Spelling Bee – on the insisted that I morning of June 2, 2004, just in time to accompany her to catch Round Two of the competition. Spellbound (2002), a Amphora had asked me to attune my cinematic chronicle reportorial antennae to the classical of the 1999 competi- reverberations of this event: the words tion, publicized by of Greek and Roman provenance cho- the promotional sen to measure orthographical knowl- logo “Little kids. edge, and the students and teachers of Big words. American the Latin and Greek languages partici- dreams.” Directed pating as spellers, officials, and staff. by Jeffrey Blitz, an And as the occasion literally demanded, alumnus of The I made a beeline for the press desk in Johns Hopkins Uni- order to obtain my 2004 Bee Week Guide, versity Writing the official kit for members of the Seminars and the Fig. 4. Professor Jacques Bailly at the media. University of Southern California film 2003 Scripps National Spelling Bee. Also available online at program, Spellbound fully lived up to its Image used courtesy of the Scripps www.spellingbee.com, the Guide title, mesmerizing me with the power of National Spelling Bee. Photo credit: contained the schedule for Bee Week both its narrative and message. Mark Bowen/Scripps National Spelling (the final rounds and social events held While it lost out to Michael Moore’s Bee. in the nation’s capital from Sunday, Bowling for Columbine in the category of May 30 through Friday, June 4); details Best Documentary Feature Film at the identified as Latin students, and one as about the Scripps National Spelling Bee 2002 Academy Awards, Spellbound offers a major beneficiary of intensive tutoring program, competition, and prizes; media a glimpse of contemporary American in Latin and Greek etymology. Most information; contest rules; statistics society and values that is every bit as important from the perspective of classi- about the 2004 Bee participants and perceptive and affecting as Moore’s. cists, Jacques Bailly, a former national previous finalists; a list of past champi- But, as Anton Bitel, an Australian classi- champion, does a star turn on screen as ons and their winning words; photos and cist now based in England, noted in his the Associate Pronouncer: he holds a brief biographies of Bee officials and review (available online at www.movie- doctorate in classics from Cornell Uni- staff; and photos accompanied by longer gazette.com/cinereviews/461), Blitz’s versity and is Associate Professor of biographies of all the 265 middle school subtle, indeed lyrical, mode of cinemat- Classics at the University of Vermont student spellers who qualified for the ic expression contrasts sharply to (see Fig. 4). 2004 finals. Moore’s signature, showboating In 2003, Bailly ascended to the posi- And, yes, swarms of representatives approach. tion of Pronouncer. According to the Bee from both broadcast and print media Blitz himself accounts for his film’s Week Guide, once the Word Panel for surrounded me. The cable television gross of more than $5 million, and the each Bee creates the final word list for sports network ESPN had exclusive live popular appeal that a figure of this mag- that year’s competition, the Pronouncer coverage rights for much of the compe- nitude implies, by observing that some then researches each word’s pronuncia- tition. Other media outlets were also viewers regard the Bee as a “kind of tion or pronunciations, compiling allowed to broadcast the event live up American Dream, where ‘mastery’ of detailed notes about various aspects of until ESPN’s live broadcast began and English suggests mastery of culture.” these words. During the oral rounds of even to tape the event during ESPN’s He also suspects that the film’s focus on the Bee, after Professor Bailly has pro- live broadcast for airing at a later time. the support and unconditional love nounced the word to be spelled, a What I gleaned from the Bee Week afforded the contestants in the Bee by speller may not only query him about Guide was welcome as well as edifying, their families resonated widely. how the word is pronounced but also the culmination of a year-long learning The film interweaves the stories of ask him to define it, identify what part process. I was a spelling bee champion eight Bee finalists: middle school stu- of speech it is, use it in a sentence, and myself in my senior year at Cheltenham dents from different social and econom- give its etymology. When providing (Pennsylvania) High School, triumphing ic backgrounds, educational institutions, information about the language of origin when the other finalist, himself a former ethnic groups, and regions of the United for each word, Bailly draws heavily on victor, missed the “s” in “grosgrain.” States. Classics gets a significant cut of Webster’s Third New International Dictio- Yet I knew almost nothing about the the cinematic action. “Big” words of nary, one of the competition’s sponsors. Annual Scripps National Spelling Bee Greek and Latin provenance pose some And as the words given the contestants prior to June 2003, when my daughter – of the most unforgettable challenges to in 2004 alone testify, those with Greek a journalist who had just finished a the contestants. Some of the finalists are and Latin roots vastly predominate. 4 Of the twenty-five qualifying words Notable Web Site: “bots” with preprogrammed dia- in Round One, eighteen derived from The VRoma Project logue (some of it in Latin) such as Greek or Latin, for example, Boeotian, the emperor Antoninus Pius onomatopoeia, rhinorrhagia, separate, http://www.vroma.org supererogatory, and triskaidekaphobia. and a greedy landlady in the Subura, and take a Among the Greek and Latin words in by Barbara F. McManus Round Two were apocope, corybantic, chariot ride in the Circus flebile, Laodicean, litotes, Pierian, n the VRoma homepage, a Maximus. pyrrhic, and urticant. Strikingly, many Oglobe with a Roman gate A tour guide, Let’s words of classical derivation on these Go, VRoma! (Eamus lists are, in fact, “technical terms” that at its center invites visitors to time classicists habitually employ in learned travel to an interactive simulation VRomam), helps visitors discussions of ancient Greek and of the ancient city of Rome (see Fig. navigate the streets of this Roman literature, history, geography, 5). The adjoining scroll offers links to complex city. Although the and religion. classical images and other cultural and ped- Fig 5. VRoma homepage Speaking about the Bee several agogical Internet resources created by (http://www.vroma.org). months later at the October 2004 meet- ing of the Classical Association of the VRoma core faculty. Atlantic States (CAAS), Bailly acknowl- Launched with the help of a 1997 simulated city is rich with images, this is not edged and explained the pride of place National Endowment for the Humanities a three-dimensional virtual-reality re-creation awarded in the 2003 and 2004 Scripps (NEH) Teaching with Technology Grant, the of Rome. The technology has been kept sim- National Spelling Bees to words of VRoma project has been bringing “the ple deliberately so that people all over the Greek and Latin origin, including spe- excitement of classical studies” (to quote world can connect with equipment no more cialized vocabulary items beloved of sophisticated than a browser and an Inter- classicists. To some extent, this classical Amphora’s mission statement) to a diverse emphasis is predictable. As the peda- group of users. They range from a middle- net connection. This also encourages users gogical material posted on the Bee web- school student who wrote “I have never to draw actively on their own imaginations site (under the rubric of “Carolyn’s Cor- really been interested in history until the in order to weave together the images, tex- ner”) documents, difficult spelling subject of Rome came up,” to a high-school tual cues and information, and interactive words in English are overwhelmingly student studying Latin in New Zealand who objects into a meaningful vision of the Latin and Greek in origin. ancient city. The VRoma MOO aims to offer This classical emphasis also belongs wants to “to get a feel of the ‘experience’ to a longstanding Bee tradition. The rather than just studying it,” to a concert an immersive, emotionally engaging “virtu- very first Bee champion, in 1925, earned pianist and conductor “with a passionate al field trip” to ancient Rome. his crown with “gladiolus”; his four interest in Ancient Greece and Rome,” to a The other resources offered by VRoma immediate successors captured theirs non-academic from the Netherlands who do not require logging in to the MOO. The with “abrogate,” “luxuriance,” “albu- desires to “keep the Classics alive, show most widely used of these is the Image men,” and “asceticism.” Decades later, Archive, containing thousands of high-quali- two champions of my own acquaintance Romans might be all dead but were never won with “meticulosity” (in 1950) and boring.” ty images related to classical antiquity and “eudaemonic” (in 1960). Bailly owes his Central to the VRoma community is an designed for use on the Web. These photo- own 1980 victory to “elucubrate”; the online “place,” a virtual environment com- graphs were donated by classics faculty 1981 winner who now directs the Bee – bining Web and MOO (Multi-user dimen- and are available without charge for non- Page Pipkin Kimble – owes hers to “sar- sion, Object Oriented) technology that can commercial Internet or classroom use. They cophagus.” And though “Purim,” include photos of many objects and arti- “luge,” and “kamikaze” are to be found be visited as a guest or as a registered user on the roster of winning words from with personal password, character name, facts not easily accessible from other 1983 through 1993, words of classical and avatar. Here users can chat with other sources, especially a growing collection of derivation have more than held their connected users in real time. They can also detailed images of ancient coins. own as makers of champions in the past virtually walk through the fourteen regions For example, without VRoma, one decade: viewers of Spellbound may recall of Rome, learn about the various buildings would have to visit the Terme Diocleziano, that Nuper Lala, the 1999 winner, now a University of Michigan undergraduate and how they were used, converse with continued on page 6 and a Bee staff member, acquired her laurels with “logorrhea.” In media interviews held between Aristophanes’ Frogs Now Available on CD rounds of the competition on June 2, 2004, Bailly shared some thoughts on he original Broadway cast recording of the 2004 Lincoln Center Theater production of what he, as an educator, regards as the TAristophanes’ Frogs is now available on CD from PS Classics (http://www.psclas- goals and achievements of the Bee. He sics.com). For a discussion of this production as well as other recent productions of Aristo- defined the Bee as a quintessentially phanes’ comedies, see “‘The Time is the Present, the Place is Ancient Greece’: The (Very) democratic educational program, insofar as winning depends on both merit and Contemporary Comedy of Aristophanes,” by Elizabeth Scharffenberger in Amphora, luck. In addition, he underscored that Issue 3.2 (Fall 2004). An electronic link to this issue may be found at the APA Web site the biggest winner of any spelling bee is (www.apaclassics.org). continued on page 19 5 Notable Web Site: THE STORY OF THE ALPHABET The VRoma Project by David Frauenfelder continued from page 5

National Museums of Rome, to see a sec- f you have ever wondered what it many ancient tales to the present day. ond-century A.D. bronze owner’s stamp Itakes to convert a scholarly subject Man begins with a fascinating into popular yet intelligent nonfic- account of the alphabet’s infancy. In (signaculum) of a businesswoman who tion, just ask two lovers of classics, John 1990 at Wadi el-Hol, a little-known imported wine and oil (particularly appro- Man and David Sacks. They will tell archaeological dig near Egyptian priate to this publication since small you it takes a lot of perspiration – and a Thebes, Egyptologist John Darnell dis- amphoras are used as word dividers on the little inspiration from Homer. covered stone-carved marks resembling stamp). The image has been reversed so Sacks and Man have both written a proto-alphabet. Immediately, he good reads on the history and use of the feared that robbers would hack the alphabet, from its roots in Egypt to its inscriptions out of the rock and sell various contemporary offshoots. Man’s them on the black market. The race book is Alpha Beta (2001); Sacks’ book is against time described in the book was Letter Perfect (2004). Neither is a profes- first told to Man by Darnell’s wife Deb- sional classicist, but each strives to give orah Darnell, also an Egyptologist. the Greek and Roman aspects of the “Deborah felt a violent rush of adrena- alphabet their full due. And they are line,” Man writes of the Darnells’ dis- inspired rather than daunted by the covery of robbers at the dig site, then mass of data surrounding our ABC’s. quotes Deborah Darnell directly, “‘All I Sacks catalogues, letter by letter, the can compare it to is if you were to come enormous impact of the alphabet on the home and there was somebody beating world, compiling facts and history rang- up your children’” (72). ing from the ancient Phoenicians to the The vividness of Man’s description origin of the phrase “O.K.” Man, for his adds interest to what potential readers part, focuses on the alphabet as a whole. in the popular audience might have con- In an interview graciously granted to me sidered mere squiggles, an early form of Fig. 6. Bronze owner’s stamp of Coelia for this article, Man reveals that he a script found in the Sinai desert called Mascellina (http://www.vroma.org/ wrote Alpha Beta using the alphabet Proto-Sinaitic (Sacks also includes a images/mcmanus_images/signaculum.jpg). “like a character in a story. It has an ori- detailed discussion and photographs of Photo credit: Barbara McManus. gin and a journey, and evolves, and the script). The Darnells had found along the way, fascinating things hap- what they considered to be the alphabet pen.” And Man does mean one alphabet in its infancy emerging from its mother that the letters read in the order that they with one origin: “The alphabet, despite script, Egyptian hieroglyphics. Semitic would appear on the stamped item: the its multifarious forms, was a unique “mercenaries” (Sacks) or “marauders” outer circle gives her name in Latin, idea, arising only once, spreading across (Man), who lived in Egypt around 2000 “[belonging to] Coelia Mascellina, daugh- cultures and down centuries.” B.C. and spoke “Proto-Sinaitic,” would ter of Gnaeus,” while the inner circle is an Man’s earliest experiences with clas- have been responsible for the invention, abbreviated version of her name in Greek sics provided a solid foundation for his having seen the potential in hieroglyph- visualization of the alphabet as the hero ics to express their own language. This (see Fig. 6). An image like this, presenting in a kind of epic journey. At twelve, he inscription, the argument goes, is a little-known information about women’s par- listened raptly as his Latin teacher in a record of that early expression. ticipation in Roman trade, helps VRoma to British boarding school read to the class Man speculates that the Exodus fulfill its mission of bringing to a broad an English translation of the Odyssey, a (another good story) may be a memory audience “the excitement, immediacy, and little every day, until they finished the of the migration of this Semitic people ‘virtual re-creation of lost contexts’ that mod- poem. “There’s a tremendous arc to that to Israel with the new type of writing story,” he continues in the same inter- that was eventually used to record the ern technology can expedite” (quoted from view. “All the various storylines come to major events of the monotheistic the VRoma NEH grant proposal). the same point. You never feel as if Hebrew religion. From there, the neigh- you’re in a digression.” In fact, the boring Phoenicians acquired this form of Barbara F. McManus ([email protected]) Cyclops episode of the Odyssey so cap- writing as well and spread it to Greece is Professor of Classics Emerita at The Col- tured Man that he leads off Alpha Beta through traders and artisans. lege of New Rochelle in New York. She is with an account of his first encounter In Greece, Man finds, the alphabet with the monster. “From those vivid becomes a powerful engine for the a founder and co-director of the VRoma readings . . . I received a clear message: transmission of ideas. He writes that, Project and has recently completed a term the story – speaking so directly from so without the alphabet, none of the as APA Vice President for Professional Mat- remote a time – mattered.” Greeks’ achievements would have sur- ters. She is the author of Classics and Femi- At first glance, the development of vived them. Like a happy coincidence nism: Gendering the Classics (1997) and is the alphabet might promise a story more in a novel or movie (except that this is a currently writing a biography of the pio- compelling to scholars than to general true story), “They [the Greeks] just readers. But Man sees the hidden happened to live near one of the cul- neering woman classicist Grace Harriet potential in recounting the journey of tures that had stumbled on the alphabet, Macurdy (1866-1946). 6 the essential medium for transporting so and they just happened to be at a crucial The Classical Buzz stage in social evolution that made them worth sharing” (xii). open to its adoption” (16). This happy That word “story” is again no coinci- This is a coincidence led to a number of stunning dence. Sacks personifies each letter in sentiment intellectual and social achievements. the alphabet, giving it a quirky person- ordinary This enticing side discussion – a vari- ality, starting on page 44 with A as ancient Greeks ation on how small groups of people “First and Best” (“Associated with would have produced great change, explored in beginnings, fundamentals, and superior- understood from books such as Thomas Cahill’s How the ity, the letter A has traveled first class firsthand knowledge. For Irish Saved Civilization (1995) and The down through history.”) and ending, on them, myths combined entertainment, Gifts of the Jews (1998) – still takes sec- page 358 with Z as “Exzotic” (“a conso- history, even scholarship: myths were ond place to the alphabet as character in nant that can seem racy and elusive or “at first the sole explicit form of intel- a story. Man wonders how, if the Greeks just plain disadvantaged”). Letter Perfect lectual activity,” according to Walter got along fine as an oral society (as Mil- excels particularly in tracing the evolu- Burkert, a distinguished scholar of man Parry and others have taught us), tion of the letters, as in his discussion of ancient religion and mythology (Greek the alphabet found its place in the Hel- the ancient Roman k-sound trio, C, K, Religion, trans. John Raffan, 1985, 8). lenic world. How did it, like Odysseus and Q: “K drew the short straw of the Scholars will differ concerning the among the Phaeacians, prove its worth? arrangement: it came to be almost evidence presented by John Man and To answer the question, Man let his entirely neglected by the Romans. By David Sacks. The scholarly world is imagination work on a very early and about 300 B.C. it was used for only a always refining and rethinking its incomplete inscription from the Dipy- handful of Latin words” (206). In the answers within its own specialized lon Vase, a large, wide-mouthed, intri- city name Karthago, “the unusual K milieu. But thanks to these two engag- cately-painted piece of pottery dating to must have looked extra creepy to ing authors and others like them, a about 750 B.C., which reads “Who now Roman eyes” (206). The wryness in busy, easily-distracted modern world of all dancers dances most playfully, let Sacks’ narrative (a reviewer in the Bryn receives a worthy message: the ancient him . . . .” Man writes (219): Mawr Classical Review referred to it as world matters. “perkiness”) aims to hold the readers’ Imagine the end of a dance contest, attention as he guides them through David Frauenfelder (frauenfelder@ the winner recalling the herald’s open- complicated scholarly issues. ncssm.edu) teaches Latin, Greek, and Greek ing invitation and wanting some Both authors have distilled a tremen- Mythology at the North Carolina School of reminder for his family or his patron of dous amount of complex information Science and Mathematics. More of his what the pot means. He shouts to the into their respective books. How did crowd: “Does anyone here know thoughts on the classical and contemporary Phoenician writing?” they do it? worlds may be found at http://www.myth. An eager hand reaches up . . .“What They started with good teachers. typepad.com. should I write?” Both studied at Oxford University, writ- “What the herald said: Who now of all ing weekly essays critiqued by tutors. dancers dances most playfully, let him Sacks graduated from Swarthmore Col- APA Speakers Bureau be rewarded with this pot.” lege before receiving his M.A. in Clas- The man scratches with a sharp stone sics from Oxford, where he studied with he APA maintains a roster of enthu- on the black paint. “Look, now the ancient historian Oswyn Murray, author siastic speakers who are available pot speaks!” T of Early Greece (1986) and co-editor of to address a wide variety of audiences The Oxford History of the Classical World. Man does not suggest that this episode – civic groups, professional societies, Man studied French and German at library and other reading groups, mid- happened in an actual ancient Greek Oxford and then did graduate work in dance contest. He uses the story to illus- the history of science. Both are full-time dle schools and secondary schools, jun- trate his argument that “Writing, rather writers who have also spent decades ior and senior colleges, universities, than being imposed from the top down, fine-tuning their style for popular audi- and many other organizations. is a bottom-up activity, spread not by ences. The Speakers Bureau can be found scholars but artisans” (222-23). Through Sacks emphasizes the need to by going to the APA Web site at imagination, Man makes complicated research, research, research – then con- www.apaclassics.org and clicking on scholarship accessible to a lay audience. dense with maximum clarity. “Here’s a While Man concentrates on the histo- good discipline,” he told me in a recent Outreach, listed on the left hand side of ry and transformative power of the interview. “Take three years of your life the screen of the home page. Under alphabet as a whole – the big picture, so to research, say, the history of Commu- Outreach, you will find the Speakers to speak – Sacks, in his book Letter Per- nism. Then boil that down to the best Bureau. The Bureau lists e-mail address- fect, highlights each letter (the book is 500 words you can write.” Sacks also es of dozens of speakers as well as an outgrowth of a series of essays he emphasizes that “You have to picture descriptions of the talks they are pre- wrote over a period of twenty-six weeks why this is important to the general for the Ottawa Citizen newspaper). Sacks reader – why he or she should care.” pared to give. A glance through the thus analyzes his subject in minute Sacks’ comment brings us back to topics described there will make clear detail but, at the same time, never loses Man’s contention that story is all impor- the breadth of presentations that are sight of his audience, the general reader. tant in interpreting classical subjects for available, from “Medical Practices in “I proceeded,” he writes in his preface, the general reader. “There is something Pompeii and the Roman Empire” to “to dip into other aspects of the story fundamental about narrative to human “Women’s Letters from Ancient Egypt.” . . . . What I uncovered was a trove of beings,” he says. “All information bene- wisdom and lore worth celebrating. And fits from connecting with emotion.” 7 OF BATTLES AND THE WRITING OF HISTORY: cal finds in this area. Indeed, Theodor THE BATTLE OF THE TEUTOBURG FOREST Mommsen, the leading nineteenth-cen- tury German historian of ancient Rome, continued from page 2 disagreed profoundly with that choice and had already championed a location attention to German customs or to the near Osnabrück. About a hundred years Germans’ enormous sense of their own later, archaeologists proved him right. worth. Blind to warnings from some It took a military engineer with a German leaders, he trusted Arminius at bent for excavating battle sites to locate his peril. Persuaded by the German the place. Beginning in 1987, Major chieftain that a revolt was brewing Tony Clunn spent a decade reconnoi- somewhere northwest of the probable tering a very large area north of site of his summer camp, Varus agreed Osnabrück where he was stationed with to a detour to quash the incident as he the British army. He found coins and was moving his legions from the Weser investigated treasure hoards and coin River towards their winter quarters near collections that had been unearthed Xanten on the Rhine. Halfway between over the centuries. He also realized that these two locations, a large number of the building of the Mittelland-Kanal in German tribesmen ambushed the the nineteenth century had altered the Roman forces in an area of moors, bogs, landscape and lowered the water table and dense forests. Over a three-day of the region and thus dried up moors period, almost all of the Roman legions and marshes and made them more and their camp followers were killed. accessible. In the fascinating narrative Early Roman sources are very sparse of his book, In Quest of the Lost Legions: on detail; there is an assumption that The Varusschlacht, Discovering the Varus the description of the battle was either Battlefield (1999; an expanded and too well known or too gruesome to bear revised edition is due for release short- repeating. The writers are far more ly), excerpts from his diaries are inter- interested in the aftermath. Suetonius spersed with learned discussions of tells us that Augustus was horrified: important archaeological insights. Those “Indeed, it is said that he took the dis- Fig. 7. Nineteenth-century manor house elements are made vivid through his aster so deeply to heart that he left his that now serves as the headquarters of (admittedly) fictionalized account of hair and beard untrimmed for months; the archaeological team at Kalkriese. what must have happened to the sol- he would often beat his head on a door, Photo credit: Madelyn Bergen Dick. diers – a chilling retelling of the total shouting: ‘Quinctilius Varus, give me annihilation of almost 18,000 people. back my legions!’ and always kept the I visited the battle site on a bright anniversary as a day of deep mourning” of judgement in the commander than of June day in 2003. The approach to the (Life of Augustus, 23, trans. Robert valour in his soldiers,” wrote Velleius site is through a gateway and a modest Graves, Penguin, 1979). Velleius says (Compendium CXX.5); and from the man building that leads to a small courtyard, only: “Hemmed in by forests and who knew the participants, this is a dev- a children’s playground, and a rustic- marshes and ambuscades, it [Varus’ astating evaluation. What is missing style restaurant. Also at the site is a army] was exterminated almost to a man from all the accounts is a good knowledge well-preserved manor house from the . . .” (Compendium, CXIX, trans. F. W. of where the event had taken place: early nineteenth century that now Shipley, Loeb, 1924). Florus repeats quite soon, the saltus Teutoburgiensis had serves as the headquarters of the archae- this story and adds details of the Ger- ceased to be a real place and had ological team (see Fig. 7). man tribesmen torturing their captives become a state of mind, a wild forest of Throughout the Middle Ages and (Epitome 2.30). Information about the the imagination. beyond, this site was a thriving agricul- battle is summarized by Tacitus as a In the nineteenth century, after the tural community, ruled over by a local preface to his description of Germani- defeat of Napoleon, patriotic Germans aristocratic family. Now the battle site cus’ campaign in A.D. 15 (Annals 1.61). with solid classical educations and an has been allowed to regain its natural Cassius Dio weaves all these layers interest in historical research began to state of forest, marshy meadows, and together and gives a full account of the study the origins of German history, and moors, with few exceptions. Among battle, repeating the main outline but this battle became crucial to their inves- these are a replica of a Roman frontier adding details about the weather – it tigations. Wells details this process in fort that serves as the museum, the was raining and very windy – and a gen- The Battle That Stopped Rome (30-36, remains of partially-rebuilt German pal- eral description of the battlefield with 228); so does Simon Schama in his isades, which were the earliest finds of its deep ravines and dense forests insightful book, Landscape and Memory the archaeological excavations (see Fig. (Roman History LVI.20-1). To sum up (1995, 75-120). About 1875, a statue of 8), and granite slabs marking the the information succinctly, our historical Arminius, now called “Hermann der ordered advance of the Roman army sources agree that the disaster was a Cherusker,” was erected near Detmold into the moors and showing its disinte- combination of German treachery and in what were believed to be the rem- gration during the ambush (see Fig. 1, Roman stupidity: “. . . Varus, who was, nants of the Teutoburger Wald. The page 1). If one stands at the top of the it must be confessed, a man of character site, which I visited in 1981, resembles Roman fort, the sheer vastness of the and of good intentions, lost his life and Cassius Dio’s description of the battle site becomes instantly apparent: a rough his magnificent army more through lack even though there were no archaeologi- estimate of the area considered for 8 This battle prevented the develop- development of European history. ment of Germania as a Roman province. The battle also determined the limits Archaeological evidence has substantiat- of Roman domination in central Europe. ed the attempt of the Roman imperial The area east of the Rhine and north of government to create in north and the Danube remained outside Rome’s northeastern Germany a province on the political control, and the outposts built model of Gaul. This was probably a by Augustus became the main defense defensive action spurred on by the inse- points on a long frontier. It also allowed curity of the Roman government over for the development of language and its northern frontiers, which led to customs in northern Germany that owed Roman armies marching across the area little to Rome. Without the German vic- Fig. 8. At the left, a reconstruction of the to the Elbe River. The Romans won tory in the Teutoburg Forest, would German palisades at Kalkriese; at the most of the armed conflicts, but they there have been well-trained and well- right and behind, a reconstruction of the seem never to have been able to beat armed Angles, Saxons, and Frisians Roman defenses. Photo credit: Madelyn the tribes into submission. Augustus ready to invade Roman Britain? Would Bergen Dick. spent much time in his early imperial there have been a Frisian dialect that career on the Rhine, and his appoint- came to be the basis of English, as ably archaeological excavation is several ment of Quintilius Varus, who had been demonstrated in Melvyn Bragg’s The miles in diameter (see Fig. 9). The a successful governor in North Africa as Adventure of English: The Biography of a guide at the site remarked that it could well as in Syria, seemed a shrewd move. Language (2004)? Would the German easily take twenty-five years before the The Roman government had every elements of law and government and, entire area is thoroughly examined. The hope of success; Roman supply galleys indeed, of life-style have flourished and incredible number of finds, mostly came from Gaul into the Weser estuary become so dominant in the develop- Roman, shown at the museum give but and south on that river, deep into the ment of the European Middle Ages? a faint indication of what might still be German countryside. Varus’ summer In short, the massacre in the saltus in the ground. Among the exhibits are a camp was located in Hessen, north of Teutoburgiensis, now known as the com- spectacular mask (see Clunn, 103-104), modern Frankfurt, and his winter quar- munity of Kalkriese, proved a profound both large and small items used by a ters were on the Rhine near the modern lesson in imperial vulnerability from Roman army, and human and animal Dutch border. Had the venture been which Augustus never recovered and bones of every description, most very handled more diplomatically and had which became deeply enshrined in the small. Also on display are coins, both the various German tribes in the area bedrock of imperial politics. The geo- from the hoards collected over the cen- felt that it was to their advantage to cul- graphic expansion of the Roman turies and those found by the archaeo- tivate the Roman connection, then the Empire moved beyond the accomplish- logical team, among them several gold success of Arminius to mobilize his ments of the first century A.D. in coins newly minted in the reign of countrymen against the intruders might Britain and the Balkans, but the Augustus. not have been quite so spectacular. Romans did not go beyond the German But no amount of sunshine and chil- Beyond that, the defeat of the Roman frontier established early in the reign of dren’s laughter can quite obliterate the legions had a marked impact on the Tiberius: “The result of this disaster feeling of a brooding quietness: if your development of the German tribes. was that the empire, which had not imagination is good enough – and mine Roman occupation of Gaul and con- stopped on the shores of the Ocean, was is – the noise of the battle, the moans of frontation with German communities checked on the banks of the Rhine” the dying, and the shouts of the victors along the Rhine frontier had produced a (Florus, Epitome, 2.30, trans. E. S. Fos- seem to echo over the site. Marching more warlike society among the Ger- ter, Loeb, 1929). For better or worse, along the granite slabs that mark the mans, and archaeological evidence from the northern lowlands, with their rivers advance of the Roman legions into grave deposits attest to this develop- and moors, their isolated agricultural chaos and death and walking slowly ment (Wells, 213-20, 236). This process homesteads and small villages, contin- along grassy paths, I found myself of militarization continued and would ued over the centuries to create their speaking in hushed tones to my com- have profound consequences for the versions of law, government, and lan- panions and making frequent stops to guage and, with these, the foundations survey the landscape. Almost two-thou- of modern Europe. sand years have passed since those three days of slaughter, but that does not Madelyn Bergen Dick has been teaching lessen the importance of the events that medieval history at York University in occurred here nor the almost eerie Toronto, Ontario since 1968. She is current- effect upon the site. ly the Chair of the School of Arts and Letters, In the study of history today, battles Atkinson Faculty of Liberal and Profession- no longer loom as large as they once did. al Studies. She has published Mater Spiri- And yet historians cannot avoid the use tualis: The Life of Adelheid of Vilich of these defining historical markers. (1994) and articles in Medieval Germany, The battle of Actium in 31 B.C. was one An Encyclopedia (2000). Her current such decisive battle in the history of Fig. 9. Battle site as seen from the research is on German aristocratic women in Rome. It started the Roman Empire reconstructed Roman fort. The granite the tenth century. She has had a life-long under Augustus. The battle of the Teu- blocks, bottom right, show the path of interest in the battle of the Teutoburg Forest. toburg Forest, which we know about the Roman army. Photo credit: Madelyn mostly from the losers, was another. Bergen Dick. 9 SHE’LL ALWAYS HAVE PARIS: HELEN IN WOLFGANG PETERSEN’S TROY by Monica Silveira Cyrino

eaders of Homer’s Iliad often Achilles, that is apparently all he could candy whose smolder might just launch Rnote that the epic presents fewer afford. Kruger, a placid blonde newcom- a scuffle between her date and any com- female characters than the er with just a few films to her credit, is a modities trader who hits on her at a Odyssey. There are several complex former ballet dancer and model-turned- Manhattan cigar bar” (“Myth Behavin’,” female figures in the Odyssey, perhaps actress who, at the age of twenty-seven, Entertainment Weekly, May 21, 2004, 55). because many of the episodes according looks much younger. After an interna- This “downsizing” of Helen’s charisma prominence to women take place in tional search that launched a thousand in the film requires an exploration of the domestic locations, such as the house- head shots, in the fall of 2003, Petersen choices that led to casting Kruger in the hold of Penelope and Odysseus in Itha- chose Kruger for the role, and Warner role and an examination of why the ca. Due to the Iliad’s martial theme and Brothers issued a press release where result might seem aesthetically and dra- narrative, however, opportunities for the director praised her “stunning beauty matically inadequate. mortal female characters to emerge as . . . charisma and artistry” (quoted by First, it would be enormously diffi- developed characters are limited: either Fred Schruers in “Troy Story,” Premiere, cult to find an actress to portray Helen they are family members of the Trojan May 2004, 50). who would satisfy everyone or even heroes who stay safely within the walls Kruger is certainly beautiful, but some of the viewing audience. Many of the besieged citadel, or they are gerata, people have a picture of Helen in their “prizes,” prisoners of war won by the minds, either perfectly clear or a little Greek heroes and held in the tents of fuzzy, but indelible and wholly their the invaders’ encampment. Then there own. Nancy Worman, one of the many is Helen, the Spartan femme fatale classicists who have written about the whose actions started the war – she iconic Helen of the literary tradition, has abandoned her husband, Menelaus, for recently observed that Helen remains the handsome Trojan prince Paris, and elusive, unattainable, hard to grasp, the Greeks then decided to seek retri- always mobile, and on the verge of dis- bution. In the film Troy (2004), Wolf- appearing (“The Body as Argument: gang Petersen, acclaimed German direc- Helen in Four Greek Texts,” Classical tor of several films with largely if not Antiquity 16.1, April 1997, 151-203). exclusively male casts, such as Das Boot Even when Helen stands still for a (1982), In the Line of Fire (1993), Air moment, as she does among the Trojan Force One (1997), and The Perfect Storm elders on the wall at Troy (Iliad 3.139- (2000), makes drastic revisions to the 244), she is covered in shimmering veils way in which Homer portrays the Iliad’s that impede any knowledge of her: she handful of female characters. Petersen is never readily visible, never easy to attenuates some of these female charac- apprehend, clad in gleaming robes that ters (Andromache), amalgamates some Fig. 10. Diane Kruger as Helen from stun the viewer’s vision. The idea of of them with other characters (Briseis Troy (Warner Brothers, 2004). Helen – goddess, queen, temptress, and Cassandra), and even eradicates runaway wife, whore – exists in an ever- them (Hecuba) in his cinematic version there are very few women working in changing dynamic, to be molded to of the Trojan legend. So viewers rightly the film industry today who are not individual desires as needed. ask why the female characters have such images of perfection. In fact, all the Thus, any tangible face set upon this a minimal presence onscreen and, in actors in the movie Troy, male and shiny, slippery canvas is bound to disap- particular, why the central figure of female, are exceptionally good-looking, point and frustrate the viewer. Just as Helen is noticeably marginalized in the and the filmmaker’s emphasis on physi- Helen is imagined by people in differ- film’s narrative and represented as a cal beauty is entirely consistent with the ent incarnations, perhaps she is imag- bland and manifestly unconvincing heroic ideals of the Iliad. As Petersen ined in culturally-specific ways. image of her Homeric self. said: “I think these epic stories need Petersen, the native German director, In a film that reportedly cost more attractive people. So I decided I will go may have chosen his own country- than $200 million, industry watchers for a high standard of beauty” (quoted woman, Kruger, because she embodies expected Petersen to cast a well-known by Josh Tyrangiel, “Troy Story,” Time, a familiar image of Helen he has long actress of international stature as the May 10, 2004, 69). held in his mind’s eye. While he has not ravishing Spartan queen Helen. Despite Nevertheless, whether or not Kruger commented on his casting of a Teuton- rumored interest from such Hollywood is pretty enough for the role, many ic-looking Helen, Petersen did discuss heavyweights as Nicole Kidman and viewers feel that there is something his choice of a specifically fair-haired Julia Roberts, Petersen instead cast a insubstantial or insufficient about her, a and light-eyed appearance for his movie relatively unknown young German diminutive or adolescent quality that queen: “Helen of Troy had to be other- actress, Diane Kruger (see Fig. 10). fails to capture the sexual magnetism of worldly, a blond aberration among the Petersen said he wanted “fresh faces,” this legendary beauty. As film critic Lisa swarthy Greeks,” noting that Kruger’s and after paying $17.5 million for Amer- Schwarzbaum observed: “Kruger . . . “lambent blue-green eyes and aristo- ican movie star Brad Pitt to play turns the beauty of yore into that of arm cratic bearing” would set her apart from 10 superior nature of her beauty over that found in all other mortal women. According to sociologists, since brown hair is the norm in Mediterranean cul- tures, blond or red hair would be consid- ered “deviant,” both unusual and, thus, remarkable hair colors (noted by Martha Barnette, “Fixed Signals,” Allure, Octo- ber 2004, 280). Even so, if the director wanted to portray a “golden” Helen, still he could have cast an extraordinary tawny-haired actress of international renown, such as Cate Blanchett, Gwyneth Paltrow, or Charlize Theron, who have earned sev- eral Golden Globes and Oscars among them. The burnished metallic veneer of their award statuettes would metaphori- cally reflect the radiance of Helen’s epic beauty, just as their fame and prestige suggest Helen’s own notoriety. Kruger’s distinction as a character in the film is also marked, perhaps inadver- tently, by her Teutonic accent. The other mostly British and Australian actors in the film intone their lines in the haute-Eng- Fig. 11. Diane Kruger as Helen and lish style called Received Pronunciation, Orlando Bloom as Paris from Troy mos, “with nice hair” (as at Iliad 3.329) attempting to render their differently (Warner Brothers, 2004). is often misleadingly translated “fair- accented English into one harmonious haired.” When Helen makes her public timbre. Kruger’s rounded German elocu- the rest of the cast (quoted by Schruers, entrance in the teichoskopia, the “view tion, therefore, sets her apart from the “Troy Story,” 114). from the wall” in Iliad 3, the Trojan eld- Greek as well as the Trojan characters. In Whether Petersen was referring to ers remark: “She seems strikingly like sounding so different from the other char- ancient or modern Greeks is unclear: the the immortal goddesses in her look” acters, Kruger recalls the Italian actress Homeric epics, however, depict certain (Iliad 3.158). Throughout the epic liter- Rosanna Podestà who was cast as Helen heroes whose hair is xanthos, “golden” or ary tradition, the most beautiful of the in Robert Wise’s earlier epic film Helen of “tawny” (Menelaus: Iliad 3.284 and often goddesses is Aphrodite, and the fact Troy (1956). Podestà spoke no English elsewhere; Achilles: Iliad 23.141; that the epithet “golden” is exclusively and had to learn her lines by rote. It is Odysseus: Odyssey 13.431), and many reserved for her has been much dis- perhaps not surprising that Kruger also Greeks today, especially in Larissa and cussed by classicists (such as Paul looks very much like Podestà (both are farther north, are quite blond. Yet the Friedrich, The Meaning of Aphrodite, petite and blonde) since Petersen could notion persists that the fair-haired Greek 1978); in the Iliad alone, the goddess is have been influenced by this cinematic was (and is) an anomaly, as film critic called chrusee, “golden,” several times “tradition” (see Fig. 12). Richard Corliss asks with deliberate (3.64, 5.427, 19.282, 22.470, 24.699). If Whatever her appearance, Helen irony: “Who knew Greece had so many Helen resembles the goddess should impress the eye and strike the blonds?” (“That’s What You Call a Aphrodite, whose avatar she is often heart with her powerful, astonishing Homer,” Time, May 10, 2004, 72). Per- considered, Helen must be marked by presence. The most jarring visual quali- haps the director intended Kruger’s yel- goldenness in some way, whether by ty displayed by Kruger as Helen is her low hair to make a visual link between the actual color gold, or metaphorically miniaturization, a combination of her Helen’s distinctive appearance and the by the value of gold, expressing the youth and slight build, which can per- divinity of the demigod Achilles as haps be attributed to the “Orlando Fac- played by Pitt, with his long, straw-col- tor.” One of the first actors cast by ored locks. Petersen seems to suggest Petersen was Orlando Bloom, the slen- Helen’s fair appearance is an effect of the der teen idol who played Legolas in the Greeks’ imagining her as not just better Lord of the Rings trilogy. Petersen gave than but different from them, thereby him the role of Paris, the winsome but associating her with the most elite class of reckless young prince of Troy whose heroes and reflecting her semi-divine sta- abduction of Helen provokes the inva- tus as the daughter of Zeus. sion of Troy by the Greek forces. After Whether Petersen’s idea is valid – casting Bloom, the director may have that Helen’s exceptional quality should wanted an actress to play Helen who be visually indicated by some particular did not outclass her screen lover in coloring – the fact remains that the epic terms of personality, maturity, and literary tradition does not really specify Fig. 12. Rosanna Podestà as Helen and physical stature (see Fig. 11). what she looked like: her epithet euko- Jack Sernas as Paris from Helen of Troy Yet several sources support the (Warner Brothers, 1956). continued on page 18 11 WHAT’S COOKING? NEW (AND OLD) IN ANCIENT FOOD STUDIES by Christopher Grocock and Sally Grainger

he study of food in Greco-Roman described as popular with the lower the sauce described in Horace is that Tantiquity has taken a huge leap classes), chopped herbs, and saffron Apicius sometimes refers to it as simplex. forward in the last few years. from Parnassus. For Emily Gowers, the Furthermore, the oenogarum sauces in Knowledge of how people in the culinary meaning is superficial; the Apicius also contain pepper, spices, liqua- ancient world produced, processed, and poet/cook is concocting mixed and men (somewhat different from garum and consumed their food, as well as how messy iura, “laws,” rather than sauces muria, but nonetheless a fish sauce), they regarded it and wrote about it, that are tasty (The Loaded Table, 1993, sweet wines, and occasionally oil. Signif- affords valuable new insights into Greek 157). But are we to assume that a sauce icantly, Apicius states that these oenoga- and Roman history. such as this could actually have been rum sauces are often thickened with We find descriptions of the food con- made and consumed or that the ingredi- starch, which probably makes the “sim- sumed by the ancients in many kinds of ents have merely been chosen for their ple” sauce into a “double.” Gowers, literature, such as agricultural manuals metaphorical meaning? Is it possible though, interprets this latter concoction and natural histories. Since these that these ingredients are intentionally as symbolizing the “two-faced nature of sources present this information in a wrong or unusual compared with “real” contemporary law” (156). straightforward manner, it is relatively sauces? Does it matter that the recipe Horace’s reference to the ius simplex easy to interpret the content. But what was not potentially good to eat? We raises other issues: is it relevant that the about the frequent references to food would still assert that it must have been gourmet is using muria rather than that we find in ancient literary works, consumable at the level of real food as garum, or do we have to rethink the idea particularly in genres such as satire and well as being consumable as metaphor: that muria is an inferior fish sauce? Why comedy? the power or “taste” of the latter is is there no pepper? Other such sauces In recent scholarship on this topic, a dependant on the reality of the former. include it. Is this a more sophisticated division has arisen that we can best cat- As it happens, this kind of sauce actu- and subtle idea of oenogarum in contrast egorize by using terminology borrowed ally existed. Called an oenogarum, in to the less selective sauces in Apicius? from the philosophy of language and many ways it resembles the basic sauce What does this tell us about Apicius? theology as “cognitive” or “realist” on that we find described in Apicius (the Yet, in spite of the difficulties of the the one hand, “non-cognitive” and recipe collection attributed to the gour- cognitive versus non-cognitive division “anti-realist” on the other. For the “cog- met Apicius that we can date, by the last in ancient food studies, scholars are still nitive” or “realist” school – represented recipes that were added to the collec- governed largely by one or the other by Andrew Dalby, Phyllis Pray Bober, tion, to the fourth-fifth centuries A.D.). approaches. John Wilkins, in his non- Patrick Faas, and the current authors – Apicius has 459 recipes written and col- cognitive approach, not only rejects the actual practices and substances lie lected by slave cooks over many cen- culinary information but also rejects behind (or correspond to) the surviving turies, and its beginnings may be as early much of the food that he finds written evidence about food, its use, as the mid-first century A.D. One reason described there: “. . . the predominant and its status. Scholars following the for identifying Apicius’ basic sauce with flavor we have found in ancient Greek “non-cognitive” or “anti-realist” food . . . is a rank, slightly rotting quali- approach – represented by John Wilkins ty” (John Wilkins and Shaun Hill, Arche- and Emily Gowers – prefer to see refer- stratus: The Life of Luxury, 1994, 23). ences to food, its use, and its status pri- Wilkins is specifically referring to Greek marily (if not exclusively) in symbolic and Roman food and its use of fish terms in a conceptual world created by sauce and other potent spices such as authors, which may not necessarily have asafoetida (silphium). Such a damning any link with actual ancient culinary critique of ancient cooking needs com- practice. ment for it is surprising how common- The division between cognitive and place an attitude it is. To suggest that non-cognitive approaches is in some the ancients chose to eat food that was respects, however, a false one; there are rank and rotten is to misunderstand many layers of meaning in ancient liter- completely the nature of the ingredients ature, and adhering to one at the and how they interact. Such misunder- expense of the others is to fail to see the standings play havoc with literary appre- whole picture. A simple example may ciation of the texts, too. help to clarify the issue: in Horace’s Wilkins goes even further in his striking philosophical Satire 2.4, we are study The Boastful Chef (2000) and told by the philosopher who holds forth rejects the idea that New Comedy’s that we ought to know about the “sim- Fig. 13. Christopher Grocock in his depiction of the growing interest in gas- ple” and the “double” sauce (Horace, Roman persona with a portable cooking tronomy among Athenians need have Sat. 2.4.63-9). The ingredients of the hob at the Roman site of Corbridge on any link with what they were actually “simple sauce” are oil, fragrant pure Hadrian’s Wall,1999. On the hob is a eating. It is a literary study, not an wine, muria (a kind of garum elsewhere replica testum (“portable oven”) that is exploration of culinary practice in being heated by charcoal. 12 ancient Athens. (We might expect Book Review: Gardener’s Latin: A Lexicon something more definitive as far as actu- al foodstuffs are concerned in his forth- by John M. McMahon coming Food in the Ancient World [with Shaun Hill, June 2005]). As noted Bill Neal. Gardener’s Latin: A Lexicon. another species designation. In fact, simply above, Emily Gowers, who also follows Algonquin Books (http://www. by paging through the species listings ran- a non-cognitive approach, considers algonquin.com), 1992. Pp. viii, 136. domly, the casual reader may easily learn, culinary references in Roman Satire to Numerous illustrations. Hardcover $14.95. through repeated exposure, some basic Latin be superficial, primarily fulfilling a ISBN 0-945575-94-7. vocabulary. metaphorical and symbolic function. Scholars following a cognitive Yet the work comprises more than botan- approach, on the other hand, argue that ill Neal’s posthumously published Gar- ical definitions. While the multitude of references to food in satirical literature Bdener’s Latin: A Lexicon is a sprightly entries alone would make Gardener’s Latin correspond to some actual culinary facts. little book that will inform and delight a a handy reference tool, the basic listing of Andrew Dalby has written extensively wide variety of readers. Organized around species names itself is enhanced and on ancient cooking and society, largely enriched on almost every page by an array with a Hellenistic slant, in the last few an alphabetically arranged listing of over years. Dalby’s first book, Siren Feasts two thousand Latin species designations, it of charming images. Moreover, a random (1996), traces the tradition of Greek cui- takes the reader on a scientific, historical, glance at the page margins rewards the sine from its earliest prehistoric origins and cultural journey through descriptive reader with an engaging potpourri of prac- to the late Byzantine period. Dalby botanical terminology. The work’s intended tical gardening information, curious folk assumes that when characters in fourth audience is first and foremost the amateur belief, historical anecdotes, and quotes and century B.C. comedy display an interest anecdotes drawn from a variety of writers in gastronomy, they reflect the senti- gardening community; but despite some ments of actual people in Athens at that limitations and oversights, it provides any- both ancient and modern. time: “Gastronomic opinions were one interested in plants and their names a The combination of these two features something more than the whims of indi- fertile source of information. adds an expansive quality to the book. Con- vidual authors” (112). In the introduction (iii-viii), garden writer sider the material accompanying the species Dalby’s invaluable handbook Food in Barbara Damrosch effectively recounts the designation euphorbioides (“resembling the the Ancient World from A to Z (2003) has spurges, Euphorbia”). Here the reader is entries not only on the food and drink development of the Linnaean system of but also on the aromas of archaic and binomial nomenclature. She makes a solid treated to an attractive line drawing of a classical Greece, of the Hellenistic case for using proper botanical Latin in spurge plant, to the English herbalist Greek states, and of the Roman modern horticultural applications. Her lucid Culpeper’s instructions for using the plant to Empire. His other books cover a wide but light-hearted explanations serve as a fit- remove warts, to Neal’s own comments on its range of culinary topics. Dangerous ting prelude to Neal’s listing of the individ- medicinal qualities, and to a quote from Pliny Tastes: The Story of Spices (2000) begins the Elder explaining that the genus name hon- in the ancient world and traces the story ual species designations. That treatment, of spices to the present day. Flavours of ranging from abbreviatus to zonalis, zonatus, ors Euphorbus, the physician to King Juba. In Byzantium (2003) is invaluable for its is simple, direct, and eminently useful. Most addition to other bits of classical information, insights into the Eastern Roman of the species names are given in the adjec- among its pages can be found references to Empire and the ways in which Roman tival nominative singular masculine form. myth, history, science and medicine, and liter- food evolved, with the addition of Arab Less often, entries exhibit alternatives to that ature with quotes from Homer, Vergil, and influences, into medieval food. Empire Shakespeare, among others. of Pleasures: Luxury and Indulgence in the pattern. Accents are added to each entry Roman World (2000) concerns not just for help in basic pronunciation. The Despite this far-ranging richness, howev- food but all aspects of manufacture and straightforward English translations are as er, the attentive reader should be wary of a farming in the form of a gazetteer. It literal and brief as accuracy permits. few weedy tangles that Neal has allowed combines the pace and scope of a narra- Even for those with no knowledge of Latin, to crop up here and there. Noteworthy tive with the versatility of a reference the book’s simple alphabetical arrangement among these is that an entire sidebar text, thanks to its place-by-place organi- description (as in euphorbioides above) zation. Empire of Pleasures also goes can lead to a ready awareness of the basic beyond the Roman Empire and offers meaning of Latin words. Thus, under the letter may be devoted to one botanical genus an equally well-documented account of B, thirteen names begin with the same com- even though genus names are not properly food production in Africa, along the bining form brevi- (“short”), including, for part of the work’s main listing. This tenden- trade routes beyond Egypt, and even in example, such terms as brevicaulis (“short- cy, though nicely sprucing up an otherwise China and India. stemmed”) and brevirostris (“short-beaked”). unadorned list of technical terms, may at Also cognitive in its approach is Phyllis first seem slightly out of character for a Pray Bober’s Art, Culture, and Cuisine: Likewise, recognizing how new species Ancient and Medieval Gastronomy (1999), names are formed in combination with one work devoted primarily to a straightforward which is a vast survey of gastronomy that another can help the reader understand the enumeration of species names. gives Greece and Rome due prominence. naming process itself. For instance, the terms There are also some surprising omis- She produces a comprehensive account of folius (“leaved”) and florus (“flowered”) are sions. Several common Latin and Greek Roman dining and eating using evidence frequently combined with another descriptive names for ordinary plants used as modern from both archaeology and literature, with term, as in brevi-folius (“short-leaved”), to form continued on page 14 continued on page 14 13 Book Review: Gardener’s WHAT’S COOKING? Latin: A Lexicon NEW (AND OLD) IN ANCIENT FOOD STUDIES continued from page 13 continued from page 13

species designations are absent: cepa a discussion of key recipes from Apicius, (“onion”) as in Allium cepa and faba and also gives a sound defence of that (“bean”) as in Vicia faba, to mention just book against the all-too-common charge two. A lack of pronunciation guidelines of “over-seasoning.” beyond the simple accentuation included Around the Roman Table (trans. Shaun with each entry may leave some Latinless Whiteside, 2003) by Patrick Faas is a comprehensive account of Roman food readers at a loss. Confusion may also arise and dining from a very practical view- for some because of an occasional lack of point, covering the history of gastronomy consistency in giving adjectival gender in Rome, dining etiquette, the meal and forms. As for additional references, one the menu, and serving dishes and kitchen should add to Neal’s helpful bibliography equipment. He covers flavors and basic Robert Shosteck’s Flowers and Plants: An ingredients and also gives numerous Fig 14. Sally Grainger in her Roman redacted recipes based on originals. International Lexicon with Biographical persona at the Roman site of Corbridge Underpinning the cognitive approach on Hadrian’s Wall, 2001, with some Notes (1974), a more comprehensive but that we prefer are studies in economics young visitors. similarly accessible treatment of both com- and archaeology. P. Garnsey’s Food and mon and Linnaean plant names. Society in Classical Antiquity (1999) dis- type of fish sauce. Liquamen and muria are Lastly, it would be remiss not to mention cusses food availability, using evidence also considered similar forms of fish sauce. one glaring factual error in the book that from archaeology in Italy and a wider These sauces were used, often in place of European context to good effect and salt, as a seasoning in cooking in the resonates in the larger realm of Roman his- focusing on bone and dental health as a kitchen as well as at table. Roman poets tory. The entry capricornis (“like a goat’s guide to nutritional outcomes. The often talk of stinking garum: Horace horn; of or from or from below the Tropic of book’s second half explores the social, describes muria with a powerful odor in Capricorn”) is accompanied by the patently religious, and cultural functions of food Sat. 2.4.66, and Pliny the Elder actually false statement that “the constellation of and its metaphorical use, depending describes garum as the liquor from putre- Capricorn is visible only in the Southern more on symbolic and structuralist faction, though we must not take this too approaches. Joan P. Alcock’s Food in literally (Pliny, HN 31.93). Garum could Hemisphere.” Having adopted the constel- Roman Britain (2001) draws on archaeol- be made from salt and the intestines of lation as his own personal birth symbol, ogy from Britain; her observations are freshly-caught fish, but it could also be surely the emperor Augustus would have corroborated by literary sources from made from the flesh of fish and from had some reservations about that claim. Italy. Food in Antiquity (ed. J. Wilkins, smaller fish such as anchovy, with various Despite any shortcomings, though, Gar- D. Harvey, and M. Dobson [1995]) is a amounts of added intestines to speed up collection of essays that provide some dener’s Latin deserves a place on the refer- the dissolving and fermenting process. remarkable and penetrating insights When freshly made and well kept, these ence shelf within ready reach. Educators, in into food staples, their social and reli- fish sauces were not necessarily rotten; fact, might even consider its use as a gious context, and a wider exploration however, if they were exposed to the air, vocabulary building tool for students in the of foodways in the Ancient Near East then the mixture would oxidize and give a biological sciences. Anyone else leafing and Britain, as well as in the Greco- “stale or off ” smell. through its pages is sure to reap a rich har- Roman world. What went into Roman fish sauce is a Two very important reference works vest from Neal’s pleasant foray into the complex issue (the most detailed merit mention as well. The Cambridge account of garum and liquamen is Robert world of botanical nomenclature. World History of Food (ed. K. F. Kiple I. Curtis, Garum and Salsamenta [1991]). and K. C. Ornelas, 2000) contains 2,153 Suffice it to say, though, its salt content John M. McMahon (mcmahon@ pages and uses the work of a diverse was sufficiently high and the fish so lemoyne.edu) received his Ph.D. in Classical range of historians, anthropologists, and freshly caught that preservation rather Studies from the University of Pennsylvania scientists from the United States. This than decay was the result. The sauce of book, which began its life as a history of (1993) and is Associate Professor of Clas- choice in Apicius is not garum but liqua- food and nutrition, is very well men, and we cannot assume that these sics at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New researched from a scientific perspective. sauces were the same at all times York where he directs the classics program. The Oxford Companion to Food (ed. Alan despite suggestions from ancient An avid amateur naturalist since childhood, Davidson, 1999; revised ed. by Tom authors that they were. Liquamen seems his scholarly activities include research and Jaine, forthcoming) is another excellent to have been made largely from anchovy writing on natural history, folklore, and med- reference work. Since the sections con- and corresponds to nuc nam, the South- cerning classical food are written by icine in classical literature. He also serves in east Asian fish sauce; nuc nam has a com- Andrew Dalby, the researcher may use plex flavor-enhancing quality that is par- local town government and has long been this volume with confidence. ticularly successful in redacted recipes an advocate for environmental responsibility No survey of Greco-Roman food stud- using sweet and sour ingredients such as and sustainable development. ies, however, is complete without a dis- honey and sour wine and also with the cussion of garum. This is the name for a complex spice mixtures that are typical 14 of Roman sauces. the techniques involved in Roman Roast and grind all the spices to a fine But scholarly approaches aside, what cooking generally, and in turn, this has powder. Cut the strips of belly pork is also of great interest to classicists and informed our translation. into dice, or if you have the pork in cooks alike is reproducing Roman We fully acknowledge that to turn one piece, cut through the meat while recipes in the modern kitchen. There the recipes in Apicius into successful keeping the skin intact as above. Mix the spices with the fish sauce and rub are a great number of modern recipe dishes is a tricky business. There are it thoroughly into the pork meat. books containing redacted ancient few quantities provided, and judging Refrigerate for 3 days. Tie up the recipes. We would obviously recom- the amount of each ingredient required whole joint as a parcel with the fat on mend The Classical Cook Book (1996) by is a skill that takes time to acquire. the inside. Roast the meat well so that Sally Grainger and Andrew Dalby: Sally Roman sauces have been condemned it is crisp. Cut or pull off the individ- Grainger has selected recipes that are for their “contrasting and self-defeat- ual pieces of cooked meat and serve easy to reproduce and reflect the diversi- ing” use of numerous spices and herbs with the sauce below. ty of foods and tastes available. A Taste of in the same sauce (Bober, 156). But by Grind 6 peppercorns with ¼ teaspoon ½ the Ancient World (1992) by Ilaria Giacosa actually comparing the average Apician roasted lovage seed. Add to pint sweet also has excellent recipes corresponding sauce with any recipe from the Asian wine (such as Muscat de Rivesaltes) and ¼ pint fish sauce. Bring to the boil closely to the originals. She is able to subcontinent, one finds that the cooks and thicken with starch such as arrow- link the ancient recipes closely to her who wrote the recipes in Apicius are root or corn flour. Pour over the freshly native Italian cuisine, which gives new often rather sparing in their use of roasted meat and serve. insights into the originals. Roman Cook- spices. In any complex blend of spices ery: Ancient Recipes for a Modern Kitchen and liquids, a balance is necessary to Sally Grainger ([email protected]) is a (1999) by Mark Grant gathers up practi- ensure that the resulting sauce is not chef and food historian who lives in England cally every usable recipe from the discordant: sour, sweet, bitter, and salt – in a small Surrey village with her husband ancient world not found in Apicius, cov- all must be in harmony with the spices. Dr. Christopher Grocock, a teacher of ering nearly 1,000 years of developing The Latin term temperare, “to temper” Latin and ancient history in a local school. culinary history and drawing on a vast or “balance the flavors,” is a frequent array of literature. In themselves, these instruction in the Apician recipes, and it recipes are not distinctive or unified, but is the secret of any good sauce. ® (ISSN 1542-2380) is published twice a year by the American Grant argues that they share a “lower As an example of how these issues Philological Association (APA). The APA, founded in status” as everyday and ordinary food, as may be addressed, here is a translation of 1869 by “professors, friends, and patrons of linguistic opposed to the recipes in Apicius, which a recipe from Apicius for Ostian ofellae, science,” is now the principal learned society in North America for the study of ancient Greek and many define as catering to “high status” taken from our forthcoming edition of Roman languages, literatures, and civilizations. eaters. His premise is false: both the the text, with an adaptation for modern While the majority of its members are university and recipes that are found in Cato, Columel- use. Ofellae are highly seasoned marinat- college classics teachers, members also include scholars in other disciplines, primary and secondary la, Galen, Pliny, Anthimus, and the vast ed meat pieces, in this case belly pork, school teachers, and interested lay people. The APA array of foodstuffs described in New that may be served as a gustum (starter). produces several series of scholarly books and texts and the journal Transactions of the American Philologi- Comedy preserved in Athenaeus can cal Association. An annual meeting is held each Janu- hardly have unity or represent “vulgar” Translation of Apicius 7.4.1 ary in conjunction with the Archaeological Institute society in contrast to the food in Apicius. of America. This conclusion has also led Grant erro- Ostian ofellae: mark out the ofellae All of the APA’s programs are grounded in the rigor pieces on the skin, leaving the skin and high standards of traditional philology, with the neously to define garum and fish sauce study of ancient Greek and Latin at their core. Howev- generally as a high-status product not uncut. Pound pepper, lovage, dill er, the APA also aims to present a broad view of classi- seed, cumin, silphium, one bay berry; cal culture and the ancient Mediterranean world to a consumed by the general populace. pour on liquamen, pound again. Pour wide audience. In short, the APA seeks to preserve and Archaeological evidence alone points to transmit the wisdom and values of classical culture and into the roasting dish with the ofellae. to find new meanings appropriate to the complex and widespread consumption of all the fish- When it has marinated for two to uncertain world of the twenty-first century. sauce products. Quality is another mat- three days, lay it out and tie it up in a The APA’s activities serve one or more of these ter, however: high-status garum was rela- cross-shape and put it in the oven. overarching goals: • To ensure an adequate number of well- tively expensive compared with the fish When you have cooked it, separate trained, inspirational classics teachers at all levels, sauces made with unselected fish prod- the ofellae which you have marked out, kindergarten through graduate school; ucts. and then pound pepper, lovage, pour • To give classics scholars and teachers the tools they need to preserve and extend their knowledge of We have applied our various skills on liquamen and a little passum so that it becomes sweet. When it is simmer- classical civilization and to communicate that knowl- (one of us is a Latinist specializing in edge as widely as possible; ing, thicken the sauce with starch, • To develop the necessary infrastructure to the late and medieval periods, the other smother the ofellae and serve. achieve these goals and to make the APA a model for a former professional chef turned food other societies confronting similar challenges. historian) to an edition of Apicius (forth- The APA welcomes everyone who shares this Adaptation for Modern Use vision to participate in and support its programs. All coming, 2006). The work has taken APA members receive Amphora automatically as a many years of research and what can 2 lb belly pork (in strips or as a whole benefit of membership. Non-members who wish to only be described as “field trials.” We piece) receive Amphora on a regular basis or who wish fur- ther information about the APA may write to The have experimented with the recipes ½ teaspoon peppercorns ½ American Philological Association at 292 Logan Hall, using replica equipment, making use of teaspoon lovage seed University of Pennsylvania, 249 S. 36th Street, experimental archaeology in a con- 1 teaspoon dill seed Philadelphia, PA 19104-6304, or at the e-mail 1 teaspoon cumin address: [email protected]. The APA Web trolled environment and also cooking site is at www.apaclassics.org. 1 good pinch asafoetida powder for large audiences of tasters who have Members are urged to pass this copy of Amphora 1 laurel berry (from a bay leaf bush, on to non-members and to request additional copies confirmed (or rejected!) our offerings not flowering laurel which is of Amphora from the APA office. (see Figs. 13 and 14). This iterative poisonous!) process has allowed us to understand 2 tablespoons fish sauce (use nuc nam or nam pla) 15 Book Review: Climbing Olympus: What You Can of Achilles in the Iliad, the obstinacy of Learn From Greek Myth and Wisdom both Antigone and Creon, the barbarous acts of Medea, and even the hubristic acts by Thomas J. Sienkewicz of Pericles and his fellow fifth-century Athe- Stephen Bertman. Climbing Olympus: riors like Glaucus and Hector and the artis- nians. What You Can Learn From Greek Myth tic ideal portrayed in the sculpture of the With the aid of rationalism one can and Wisdom. Sourcebooks, Inc. discus thrower by Myron. At the same time, move to “Restless Curiosity,” the sixth pillar (http://www.sourcebooks.com), 2003. Pp. the myths of Niobe, Arachne, and of wisdom. As persistent seekers of such 230. Paperback $14.95. ISBN 1-57071- Agamemnon serve as warnings to humans wisdom, Bertman suggests Ulysses deter- 929-2. about the dangers of arrogance, of pursu- mined to hear the beautiful but fatal song of ing excellence inappropriate to humanism. the Sirens, Psyche desirous to know the limbing Olympus is a self-help book “Practice of Moderation” is, therefore, identity of her mysterious husband, and the C founded upon the values of ancient the third pillar of Greek wisdom. The Greek philosopher Socrates, whose relentless Greece. Stephen Bertman, who holds a emphasis on the golden mean, on modera- quest for knowledge eventually led to his Ph.D. in Greek and Latin literature from tion, Bertman suggests, can be seen in the execution in 399 B.C. Columbia University, uses life-forming prin- very structure of the Greek language with The seventh pillar is “Love of Freedom.” ciples culled from Greek history, philoso- its balanced periods marked by the parti- Bertman offers the myth of Menelaus’ strug- phy, and mythology to show how the cles men and de and with its fondness for gle with Proteus as a metaphor for the ancient Greeks can serve as a model for a symmetry and ring-composition. At the human struggle to achieve freedom. He full and satisfying life in the modern world. same time, he offers a series of admonitory also sees this theme in the Greek war of He challenges his readers to think of the myths in which humans are destroyed by resistance against Persian servitude, in the ancient Greeks not as kindred souls but as immoderation: Icarus, who flew too close to growth of Athenian democracy, and even aliens from another world who were guid- the sun; Hippolytus, whose extreme chastity in the release of Persephone from the ed in their living by principles radically dif- led to punishment at the hands of Aphrodite, Underworld. Freedom from death, howev- ferent from those used today. Writing not goddess of love; and the excessive anger er, is more problematic, as illustrated by so much for the classical scholar or Hel- of Agamemnon and Achilles at the begin- the myths of both Alcestis and Orpheus and lenophile as for the reader to whom the ning of the Iliad. Eurydice. world of ancient Greece is a foreign experi- In order to achieve the appropriate bal- The last pillar is “Individualism.” Bert- ence, Bertman draws this reader into the ance between excellence and moderation, man sees the Greek celebration of the indi- climb toward Olympus by good storytelling a person needs “Self-Knowledge,” Bert- vidual in the many hero cults of Greek accompanied by the promise of useful man’s fourth pillar of wisdom. Here, of mythology, which include stories such as guides for everyday life. While many of course, he focuses on Apollo’s shrine at Jason’s quest for the Golden Fleece and the Bertman’s models, like Achilles and Delphi where the words “Know Yourself” legends surrounding Alexander the Great. Ulysses, would be labeled as privileged were inscribed on the temple facade and The story of the Lotus-Eaters in the Odyssey males today, others, like Athena, Penelope, where the Greek hero Oedipus failed to illustrates the disadvantages of lost individu- and Psyche, offer a more diverse perspec- recognize the truth of the fatal oracle given ality, while the myth of Narcissus is a warn- tive for the modern reader. to him by the god. Oedipus’ downfall was ing against extreme individuality or self- Bertman’s Olympus stands on eight pil- his arrogant pride in his intellectual excel- absorption. lars of ancient Greek wisdom. The first of lence, the intelligence by which he solved Bertman concludes his construction of these is “Humanism,” which Bertman the riddle of the Sphinx. Yet this same rid- the Greek temple of wisdom with a caution explains by telling the stories of the choices dle-solver failed to know himself, killed his about obstacles that may inhibit the efforts of Achilles and of Ulysses (the Roman name own father, and married his mother. Bert- of the modern reader. These include the that Bertman prefers to the Greek “Odysseus”). man also cites Plato’s “Allegory of the lure of technology, affluence, and the Achilles chose a short but famous life over Cave” and the story of Ulysses in the cave speed of travel and communication, all of a long life in obscurity. The vulnerable heel of the Cyclops as examples of the human which, for Bertman, encourage a false by which he died at Troy is, for Bertman, a struggle in search of self-knowledge. sense of security, factual knowledge, and symbol of the essential fragility of humanity. As the divine embodiment of “Rational- experience rather than true wisdom and Similarly, Ulysses’ decision to reject an ism,” the fifth pillar of wisdom, Bertman self-knowledge. Bertman remains cautiously immortal existence with the goddess Calyp- appropriately chooses Athena, the Greek hopeful that, despite such impediments, so to return to his beloved Penelope and goddess of wisdom. On the human level, future human beings may be able to recre- inevitable death in Ithaca was an affirma- Bertman seeks models of rationalism in the ate a Golden Age founded on these eight tion of humanity, despite its frailty and vul- crafty weaving of Penelope, Ulysses’ wife, pillars of Greek wisdom. nerability. and in the skilled workmanship of Daedalus, In an addendum to this climb, Bertman The second pillar is “Pursuit of Excel- the builder of the Cretan labyrinth. For also considers some of the wisdom offered lence,” which Bertman aptly presents in the examples of irrationality, Bertman suggests by the ancient cultures of Rome, Israel, context of the heroic code of Homeric war- the Centaurs fighting the Lapiths, the wrath continued on page 18 16 AN ADVENTURE ON MOUNT OLYMPOS by Stephen G. Daitz

any readers of Amphora will within hailing distance. But finally sight Mremember both the highly and sound disappeared. I continued on interesting account by Ourania the path as quickly as the pain would Molyviati of her climb up Mount Olym- allow, meeting no one. I tried to walk pos (Amphora, issue 2.1) and Janice faster but soon realized that I would not Siegel’s account of her own climb make it back to Litokhoron before dark. (Amphora, issue 2.2), which became the Daylight disappeared, and I could no foundation of the large collection of longer see or find the path. When I tried Web pages on her site, Dr. J’s Illustrated to advance, I would crash into trees and Guide to the Classical World. The follow- bushes. Ironically, I could see, far in the ing is a small sequel to those two distance, the lights in Litokhoron, but Olympian tales. Fig. 15. Mytikas, the highest of the eight to my frustration, I was unable to get I was driving north from Athens on a peaks of Mount Olympos. Photo credit: from here to there. I wondered what summer day in the 1960’s on my way to Janice Siegel (http://lilt.ilstu.edu/drjclassics/ was the best way for me to pass the the Vatopedi Monastery on Mount sites/olympos/mytikasBIG.htm). increasingly cool night on the slopes of Athos. My intent was to investigate a Olympos. (There was not even a wild medieval manuscript of Euripidean olive bush for me to crawl under as quotations (a gnomologion) in the Vato- fairly steep and rigorous, but nothing Odysseus had done when he finally pedi library. I passed a road sign saying dangerous. We reached the highest emerged on the shore of Scheria, land of “Litokhoron” (in Greek) and remem- peak of Homer’s “many-peaked Olym- the Phaiakians.) bered having read in the Guide Bleu of pos,” Mytikas (around 9,000 feet), As I stood there wondering, I heard a Greece that Litokhoron was the town around 10 a.m., after two hours of steady faint noise about ten yards away. Then from which climbs up Mount Olympos climbing (see Fig. 15). The view from silence. I cautiously advanced in the generally began. Since I did not have a the top was literally like that enjoyed by direction of the noise and then heard it specific appointment at the Vatopedi the gods. I could imagine Zeus standing again. I stopped; the noise stopped. library and since, as I thought, I might on the highest summit of the then- Something strange was going on. After not pass this way again, I decided to known world, gazing not only at the four or five repetitions of this cat-and- stop and see what the possibilities were other surrounding high peaks such as mouse game, I caught a glance of a crea- of making the climb. As it happened, in Stefani and Profitis Ilias but also peering ture ahead of me and saw that it was a Litokhoron, I came upon two young out across the flashing blue of the mule. I looked at him, he looked at me, Americans who were about to start on Aegean and, on a clear day, all the way and apparently we both decided that their way up Olympos. They had hired to Troy. The imagination runs wild. My neither of us was dangerous for the a guide with a baggage mule to accom- only disappointment was in not finding other. I now moved more hopefully in pany them through the valley of Prioni any trace of the throne of Zeus. his direction while he advanced, keep- up to the shelter of Spilios Agapitos. Reluctantly, we started our descent ing the same distance ahead of me. I There they planned to spend the night from this awe-inspiring site with many a suddenly realized that he was knowing- and, the next morning, make the ascent backward glance. Our plan was to stop ly and confidently proceeding along the to the top of Olympos with the official briefly at the Spilios Agapitos shelter for lost downward path toward Litokhoron! mountain guide. I asked if I could tag a light lunch and then to make our way With suspended disbelief, I followed along with them, and they replied that unguided back to Litokhoron, aiming to him for two long hours down this path they had no objection. And so we start- arrive before dark. Here is where I until we reached the main road where ed. began to have problems. Several weeks the nearby lights of Litokhoron lighted We hiked our way in leisurely fash- earlier, I had taken a swim at Nauplion my way to salvation. At this point the ion from Litokhoron through the lovely and had accidentally stepped on a sea mule simply vanished. I am convinced valley of Prioni alongside a small urchin, a small creature with sharp that this mule was Hermes, god of way- stream. To avoid the mid-afternoon spines protruding from its back, one of farers, in disguise. At Litokhoron, I scorching heat, we took a long siesta in which pierced the sole of my right foot. made the appropriate libation. the welcome shade of some trees and I immediately pulled the spine out, and then resumed our hike towards the end although there was some discomfort in Stephen G. Daitz is Professor Emeritus of of the afternoon. By early evening, after the following days, I thought that this Classics at the City University of New York. an upward climb of several miles, we would stop as the puncture healed. I After the ascent of Olympos, he was inspired reached the Spilios Agapitos shelter, was wrong. As I later discovered, the tip to do complete recordings of the Iliad and the which had living quarters for the local of the spine was still lodged in the sole Odyssey in the restored historical pronunci- guide Costas Zolotas and his wife and of my foot, and the constant pressure on ation of ancient Greek. His e-mail is sleeping accommodations for sixty hik- my foot during the hike gradually [email protected]. (He does not have Hermes’ ers. We had a hearty supper and then turned mild discomfort into constant e-mail address.) went early to bed in anticipation of pain. As the descent continued, I found tomorrow’s more strenuous climb. that I had to walk more and more slow- After an early breakfast, we started ly. At first I could keep the two Ameri- upwards. I remember the path being cans in sight. Then I could keep them 17 SHE’LL ALWAYS HAVE PARIS: Book Review: Climbing HELEN IN WOLFGANG PETERSEN’S TROY Olympus: What You Can continued from page 11 Learn From Greek Myth and Wisdom notion that the ancient Greeks prized plays anger and disgust towards her height in both men and women and wayward lover but cannot resist his continued from page 16 associated it with divinity. Both the overwhelming sexual allure (Iliad 3.421- goddesses Aphrodite and Demeter are 47). When the cinematic Helen tells Egypt, and Mesopotamia. described as tall in their respective Paris during an early rendezvous in The climb to Olympus that Bertman Homeric Hymns since their heads hit the Sparta, “Last night was a mistake . . . offers in this little book is well worth the ceiling of the rooms they occupy (Hymn I’ve made many mistakes this week,” it effort for both the general reader and the to Aphrodite, 173-74; Hymn to Demeter, is hard to reconcile this world-weary professional classicist. The former will find 188-89). Centuries after Homer, the comment with the sexual avidity of a Greek historian Herodotus relates a tale young woman just a few nights after an excellent introduction to the wisdom of about the tall peasant girl Phye, who Aphrodite brought her together with her ancient Greece. The latter will be reminded was employed by Peisistratus to portray new lover. of the many reasons why the study of the the goddess Athena as she rode in a Wolfgang Petersen’s Troy offers many classics is so attractive to and rewarding chariot to proclaim the return of the visual and aural thrills, but the film’s for serious scholars. tyrant from exile (The Persian Wars 1.60). presentation of Helen falls short of satis- As for Helen’s age, she herself says factory. It would perhaps be unfair to cri- during her lament for the slain Hector at tique the film for its intense, and gener- Thomas J. Sienkewicz (toms@monm. the end of the Iliad: “This is now the ally successful, focus on the martial edu) is the Minnie Billings Capron Profes- twentieth year since I went away and theme of the Iliad, where the characters sor of Classics at Monmouth College in Illi- left my home” (Iliad 24.765-66). Even if of the women are simply not as richly nois. He served as Chair of the Committee one allows for exaggeration on Helen’s developed as those of the male warriors. for the Promotion of Latin for the Classical part as well as for the narrative device of Indeed, the movie Troy was produced in Association of the Middle West and South collapsing “mythological time” over the the context of a modern film industry intervening years, if she had been that celebrates the exploits of macho from 1997 through 2003. He is Vice-chair around twenty when Paris came to Spar- male action heroes, where female char- of the National Committee for Latin and ta, after ten years of war Helen would acters (when they appear at all) tend to Greek and is one of the founders of have to be at least thirty years old by be less fully defined. Petersen’s own National Latin Teacher Recruitment Week. the time the wooden horse rolled into body of work, moreover, suggests his He was recently elected Vice-president of Troy. There was also a tradition in directorial interest in the trials of mas- the American Classical League and, with archaic Greek poetry that Helen left a culinity. Above all, it would be impossi- daughter behind in Sparta when she ble to cast Helen in such a way that sat- LeaAnn A. Osburn, is author of Vergil: A eloped with Paris (see Sappho, fragment isfies most people, especially classicists. LEGAMUS Transitional Reader (2004). 16). Since David Benioff’s script starts Still, it would have made more commer- the story with the couple’s fateful meet- cial and artistic sense to cast a high- ing in Sparta and since the action wattage and easily-recognized celebrity extends over a few brief months, ending in the role, just as Pitt was cast as Coming in Future with the death of Achilles, Petersen Achilles, in order to evoke the superstar Issues of Amphora seems to have telescoped Helen’s age, quality of Helen, her quasi-divinity, her focusing on the ideal mythic moment authority as a symbol of beauty, and her Papyrological Triage: Saving the when she fell in love with Paris and ultimate inaccessibility. escaped with him to Troy. In the film, Most Desperate at Oxyrhynchus and Helen tells Paris that she was sixteen Monica Silveira Cyrino is Associate Pro- Herculaneum when her parents married her off to fessor of Classics at the University of New What’s New at Pompeii Menelaus. Petersen thus puts her in her Mexico in Albuquerque. She teaches and pub- late teens or early twenties by the time lishes regularly on classics, film, and popu- Classics and the U. S. Presidency the Greeks arrived at Troy, which fits lar culture and has appeared as a commen- A Day in the Life of a Classics the very young-looking Kruger. tator on The History Channel. Her next Librarian All the same, by deciding to match book, Big Screen Rome, surveys several his girlish Helen to his adolescent heart- movies set in Roman antiquity and will be Ancient Plagues throb Paris, Petersen missed an oppor- published by Blackwell in December 2005. The Importance of Parents in a tunity to create a provocative story arc She welcomes comments and questions at Classical Education by pairing an older, wiser, more experi- [email protected]. enced Helen with a younger, hotheaded Novel Approaches to the Classics III Paris. The epic Helen expresses both Oral Latin regrets and guilty self-awareness of her role as the casus belli when she is in African-Americans and Classics Troy, telling Priam and the Trojan eld- Naming Children in Ancient Greece ers on the wall that she wished she had died before she left her home (Iliad 3.170); later, in their boudoir, Helen dis- 18 CLASSICS AND THE 77TH ANNUAL SCRIPPS NATIONAL SPELLING BEE continued from page 5 not always the winner of the contest; “industrious, social nature of a bee- any student who has learned a great hive.” deal about English from preparing for a The Guide does not suggest any spelling bee has profited more from the Greek or Roman etymological parent- process of preparation than he or she age for “bee” in this sense, either. As a could have possibly profited from plac- feminist classicist, aware of the associa- ing first. The diversity among the con- tions made between bees and praise- testants rated notice too, as did the dif- worthy women by Phocylides, ferent types of parental, school, and Semonides, and Xenophon, I was hop- community involvement that contribute ing to discover a classical link of this to the success of the competition. It Fig. 16. Speller April DeGideo at the sort. The best connection that I could often takes the proverbial village to pro- 72nd Annual Scripps National Spelling ascertain between this type of “bee” duce a spelling champion. Bee in 1999, from the film Spellbound and industrious, communally-minded One benefit of the Bee, not articulat- (ThinkFilm, 2002). Photo courtesy of women is that forty-two of the seventy- ed in these interviews, but obvious to David Fenkel. nine champions (53%) since 1925 have classicists, is that by heightening aware- been girls. And, with the exception of ness of Greek and Latin “word power” A list of the eighty-five sponsoring the three girls who won with “knack,” among middle school students, teach- newspapers – which serve English- “schappe,” and “chihuahua” in 1932, ers, and parents, the Bee promotes the speaking populations in the Bahamas, 1957, and 1967 respectively, all of these study of classical languages, particularly Europe, Jamaica, Saudi Arabia, and the female spelling champions owe their Latin. During the CAAS luncheon ses- U. S. (including Guam, Puerto Rico, and victories to words of classical derivation. sion at which Bailly spoke, another 1999 the U. S. Virgin Islands) – appears at the Bee finalist who appears in Spellbound, end of the 2004 Bee Week Guide. The Judith P. Hallett ([email protected]) is April DeGideo – now a student at New Guide’s biographies of the 2004 finalist Professor of Classics at the University of York University – delivered a tribute in spellers sponsored by each newspaper Maryland, College Park, and a member of Latin to Mimi Bender, with whom she would suggest that classicists are already the Amphora Editorial Board. began to study Latin at Mount St. having an impact on what these young Joseph Academy in Flourtown, Penn- people study, both in and out of school. sylvania in the fall of 1999, after and They state that the Des Moines Register’s Amphora because of her stellar performance in Matthias Gassman “has studied Latin Amphora is named after the the Scripps National Spelling Bee (see and Greek and is a member of a classics Greek and Roman storage vessel Fig. 16). April’s parents, memorably honor society”; that Grant Remmen, of the same name. Appealingly interviewed in the film and strongly from the Fergus Falls (Minnesota) Daily anthropomorphic in form, with its supportive of her four years of studying Journal, “earned perfect scores on the narrow neck, rounded belly, and Latin, were also there to support her in National Latin Exam and the National tapered foot, this two-handled vessel her Latin speaking debut and to honor Mythology Exam”; and that Charlotte served to transport and distribute a variety her teacher. Blacklock, from the Times Herald Record of useful and highly valued commodities all In his CAAS presentation, Bailly in Middletown, New York, takes part in over the ancient world. The symbol of the amphora captures the urged classicists to get involved as vol- “a great books tutorial involving the spirit of our publication. The two handles at unteers in the local qualifying competi- reading, study and culture of ancient the neck of the amphora symbolize the tions sponsored by Scripps newspaper Greece.” Greek and Roman worlds. The base sym- chains and thereby offer further encour- For the record, the Bee Week Guide, bolizes our world today. One needs a firm agement for Latin (and eventually relying on the authority of Webster’s Dic- grip on both the top and bottom to release Greek) language study to the participat- tionary, defines the “bee” in “spelling the contents. Just as an ancient amphora ing spellers and their families. Classi- bee” as a collaborative rather than a held many types of food – olive oil, wine, cists are particularly suited to such competitive venture: “a community fruit, meat, and fish, for example – our pub- lication offers a wide range of articles on involvement because of their expertise social gathering at which friends and classical antiquity, designed to nourish the in Latin, the “key” parent language of neighbors join together in a single activ- mind in a variety of ways. People from all Bee vocabulary, as well as in Greek. So, ity (sewing, quilting, barn raising, etc.), walks of life used amphoras. So, too, our too, their training requires familiarity usually to help one person or family.” It publication is designed to be used by every- with the modern languages that have also suggests that the word in this sense one with an interest in the classical past. exercised the greatest influence on con- derives from Middle English bene, For articles on the amphora in the temporary English: French, German, which means a “prayer” or “favor.” ancient world, see Mark Lawall, “The Italian, and Spanish. Indeed, no other Cognate with “boon,” bene was used in Amphora and Ancient Commerce,” Amphora, issue 1.1 (Spring 2002); and profession offers its practitioners the pre-industrial England for “voluntary Elizabeth Lyding Will, “From Italy to India: same “skill set,” one needed at many help given by neighbors toward the Mediterranean Amphoras and Roman Eco- competitions. Classicists also know how accomplishment of a particular task.” nomic History,” Amphora, issue 2.2 (Fall to use a dictionary correctly, to interpret The Guide adds that recent scholars 2003). Electronic links to past issues of what its entries say and do not say, a have rejected any connection between Amphora may be found on the APA Web special skill possessed by very few. “bee” in this sense and the insect or the site (www.apaclassics.org).

19 ® GUIDELINES FOR CONTRIBUTORS A Publication of the American Philological Association Sponsorship: Amphora, a publication Suggested Length of Submissions: sponsored by the Committee on Out- Articles (1200-1800 words), reviews reach of the American Philological (500-1000 words). Editor Association, is published twice a year, in the spring and fall. Anonymous Refereeing: Submissions Anne-Marie Lewis will be refereed anonymously. York University Readership: Amphora is intended for [email protected] a wide readership that includes those Footnotes: Amphora is footnote free. with a strong enthusiasm for the Any pertinent references should be classical world: teachers and students, worked into the text of the submission. Editorial Board present and former classics majors, administrators in the field of education, Addresses for Submissions: Marty Abbott community leaders, professional Submissions (and enquiries) may be Director of Education, American classicists, and interested academics sent either by mail to the postal address Council on the Teaching of Foreign and professionals in other fields. below or electronically to the e-mail Languages (ACTFL) address below: mabbott@actfl.org Submissions: Amphora welcomes sub- missions from professional scholars and Dr. Anne-Marie Lewis Adam Blistein experts on topics dealing with the Editor, Amphora Executive Director, APA worlds of ancient Greece and Rome Department of Languages, Literatures, [email protected] (literature, language, mythology, history, and Linguistics culture, classical tradition, and the arts). Ross Building S 561 Helene Foley Submissions should not only reflect York University Barnard College sound scholarship but also have wide Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 [email protected] appeal to Amphora’s diverse outreach CANADA audience. Contributors should be will- [email protected] Mary-Kay Gamel ing to work with the editor to arrive at a University of California-Santa Cruz mutually acceptable final manuscript [email protected] that is appropriate to the intended audience and reflects the intention of Barbara Gold Amphora to convey the excitement of Hamilton College classical studies. [email protected]

Judith P. Hallett University of Maryland, College Park [email protected] [email protected]

American Philological Association Non-Profit Org. Ann Olga Koloski-Ostrow 292 Logan Hall, University of Pennsylvania Brandeis University U.S. Postage 249 S. 36th Street PAID [email protected] Philadelphia, PA 19104-6304 Permit No. 2563 E-mail: [email protected] Philadelphia, PA Daniel Mendelsohn Web site: www.apaclassics.org [email protected]

Matthew S. Santirocco New York University [email protected]

Andrew Szegedy-Maszak Wesleyan University [email protected]

Susan Ford Wiltshire Vanderbilt University [email protected]

20 Copyright © 2005 by the American Philological Association