ANCIENT, Medieval, and Studies Upcoming AMRS Events: Renaissance The Trident Movie Night: The Princess Bride Volume XVIII, Issue 3 February, 2011 Thursday, 17 February Food at 6:30, movie at 7:00 A Student’s Pilgrimage “Lectrix and Scriptrix: By Becca Pollard Women Writers & Readers in Ancient Rome” Lecture by Judith P. Hallett, University of Maryland Last December, AMRS majors and minors went on Monday, 21 February 7 pm in CORNS 312 a grand pilgrimage to The Cleveland Museum of Art. While it was not as poetic as Chaucer’s “Editing Shakespeare (for the first time)” Canterbury Tales, we all set forth (thankfully by Lecture by Jill Ingram, Ohio University van and not by horse) led by our fearless knights, Wednesday, 23 February 4:10 in the Bayley Room Dr. DeMarco and Dr. Arnold to visit the relics of the saints. However, any good pilgrim would have The Idols of March: AMRS Karaoke Night been very disappointed as we learned that the March 15th treasures of cloth, bone, and other assorted body Stay tuned for more information! Planning meeting on Friday 18 February, noon in Sturges 009 parts, were either lost or too Pick your song: http://www.youtube.com/user/historyteachers sacred for some of the churches to release to the museum. Fortunately for us, we were more The Staff of The Trident: engrossed with the workmanship of the cases than in praying to or gaining sacred powers Student Editor: Amanda Holt from Thomas Becket’s leg or St. Paul’s finger. Most of the cases were incredibly ornate, clad in Contributing Students: Alex Garner, Erika Hankins, Caitie gold and jewels, but one caught my attention… Morphew, Rebecca Pollard Continued on next page Contributing Staff: Dr. Lee Fratantuono AMRS Chair: Dr. Patricia DeMarco INSIDE THIS ISSUE: AMRS Office Manager: Paula Travis Ladon the Dragon, p. 3 The Origins of Valentine’s Day, p. 4 What Can I Do With An AMRS Major?, p. 5 Do you have a suggestion for The Trident? Update from Dr. Fratantuono, p. 6 Do you want to help contribute? What an Idiom!, p. 7 Would you like to receive the Trident in your mailbox? Upcoming Events, p. 8 Contact Amanda Holt at [email protected] 8 What an Idiom! as it was essentially a chunk of Hoist With Your Own Petard marble with a hole at the top and another at the front. Pilgrims, I There's letters seal'd, and my two schoolfellows, learned, would pour oil through the Whom I will trust as I will adders fang'd— top and collect it at the base…after it They bear the mandate, they must sweep my way had collected divine power from the And marshal me to knavery. Let it work; skull of the martyr housed inside. For 'tis the sport to have the enginer Another interesting container looked more like a sword sheath Hoist with his own petar[d], an't shall go hard than anything else, yet I learned it was designed for a human But I will delve one yard below their mines arm bone to protrude from the top so the devoted pilgrim could And blow them at the moon. -Hamlet Act 3, scene 4, 202–209 kiss it. Crosses contained shards of wood, some containers held soil and rock from the Holy Land, and others still held Have you ever claimed to be hoist with your own petard, without cloth claimed to be the part of the burial shrouds of Saints, having any idea what a petard might actually be? martyrs, or even Jesus Himself. After we exited the exhibit of relics we took a trip A petard was a small explosive device—sometimes conical, through modernity to find the illuminated manuscripts, and low sometimes rectangular; sometimes metal, sometimes wood; but and behold, right before we found them, we found the weapons always chock-full of gunpowder—that was used to breach barricaded walls and gates. It was especially favored during the Elizabethan era. room. As medieval studies major and a member of MARRCA, I absolutely adored this room. While most of the weaponry was To be hoist with one’s own petard is just a more expressive way of more Musketeer than knight, the center piece was a set of saying, as a more understandable idiom suggests, that the plan armor upon a metal horse also adorned with armor. It was backfired. Not only were you hit with the fallout, but you were beautiful. I was finally dragged away to see the manuscripts thrown into the air by the force. Ouch. which turned out to be my favorite part of the trip. Each piece of vellum or paper, depending on the time frame, was dec- orated sparing no detail. Several of us spent quite a bit of time analyzing the pictures and their meanings with Dr. DeMarco, who gave us insight into some of the symbolism present. Overall it was a great experience. While we did not find divine power, we did find awe and enlightenment, standing before the same relics, weapons, and manuscripts that people worshipped, fought with, and read so long ago.● Seventeenth century illustration of a petard from "Sketchbook on mil- itary art, including geometry, fortifications, artillery, mechanics, and (Public domain) pyrotechnics" 7 2 From Metamorphoses to Monaco: Ladon the Dragon: the Origin of Draco A Classicist’s Scholarly Leave By Erika Hankins During the academic year of 2010-2011, I am on sabbatical Many people know that Perseus fought a dragon to free and scholarly leave to complete a number of projects. Andromeda, Jason stole the Gold Fleece from a dragon, and Herakles The first is my monograph Madness Transformed: A Reading (Roman: Hercules) fought the Hydra at Lerna as his second labor. of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, which is scheduled to appear in the first However, few people know about Ladon, the dragon who guarded the half of 2011 (my third book). As of St. Martin’s Day, 2010, proofs of golden apples in the Garden of the Hesperides. King Eurystheus the completed volume are being corrected. In conjunction with that ordered Herakles to retrieve the golden apples as his eleventh labor. project, I am reviewing a book on Ovid for Classical Philology There are two versions of this myth. In the first version, Hera- (besides three Bryn Mawr Classical Review articles on other books). kles asked Atlas to get the apples for him while Herakles support- Second, I completed an article on Palinurus in Virgil’s Aeneid ed the world on his shoulders; when Atlas returned with the apples, for the 2011 Latomus (a Belgian classics journal), and an additional Herakles tricked him into taking the world back while Herakles ran article with my student and advisee Cynthia Susalla for the edited off with the apples. collection Studies in Latin Literature and Roman History XVI (also The second myth involves La- published in Belgium) due out in 2012. Plans are in hand for an don the dragon. Ladon was additional article on the pseudo-Virgilian Aetna. said never to be able to sleep I have also completed the last of over a hundred entries for the or even close his eyes so he forthcoming Virgil Encyclopedia project, the most entries of any could continually protect the single contributor. golden apples. Herakles went This spring, my main scholarly focus will be on my to the Garden of the commentary on Book V of the Aeneid. I have also drafted a proposal Hesperides on Mt. Atlas and for a commentary on the first book of Quintus Smyrnaeus’ fought Ladon, who was killed Posthomerica, which focuses on the heroine Penthesilea. Work also in the battle. Then Herakles continues on a Tacitus Reader with Professor Mary McHugh of threw Ladon into the sky. La- Gustavus Adolphus College, the second volume of a critical edition don wrapped his tail about the of the Latin sermons of Peter the Lombard with Professor Stephen North Pole, guarding the world Maddux of the University of Dallas (the first volume is with the as he once guarded the tree of series editor), and a critical edition of the Appendix Vergiliana. the golden apples. His name In the summer of 2011 (May-early August), I will be a faculty became Draco, the Greek word associate for a study program in Rome, and will be visiting with for dragon (Worthen 1991 classics colleagues in Brussels and Paris, and with philatelic 202). colleagues in Monte Carlo, Monaco. One of my Virgil Encyclopedia The battle between Draco and entries is ―Virgil on postage stamps.‖ One of the most noteworthy is Herakles is eternalized in the a Monaco stamp with the line from Aeneid VI that mentions the Rock stars. Next to Draco is the of Monaco. constellation Herakles, his club forever raised and ready to Dr. Lee Fratantuono strike. Associate Professor of Classics and William Francis Whitlock Worthen, Thomas. 1991. The Myth of Replacement: Stars, Gods, and Order in the Universe. Professor of Latin Tuscon: The University of Arizona Press. 6 3 The Origins of Valentine’s Day William Shakespeare makes mention of Valentine’s Day By Alex Garner in Hamlet, Act IV, Scene 5, once again linking that day to being one’s valentine. John Donne also used Valentine’s Day in some Valentine’s Day traditions are often said to be nothing more than of his writing for James I’s daughter Elizabeth and an excuse for greeting card, flower, and chocolate companies to make a Frederick V’s Valentine’s Day wedding. massive profit, and in truth they have little to no true association with The ―Roses are red, violets are blue‖ line comes the origin story, that of Saint Valentine, a martyr.