quorum pars magna fui

För att fortsätta prata facebookande (efterson Sundström själv, eller iaf någon som sade sig vara denna, faktiskt kommenterade på förra inlägget, och jag då blev alldeles svag i knäna, I'm such a fan), bjuder jag härmed på ett fantastiskt återberättande av Aeneiden i FB-format, proveniens okänd, som har dykt upp här och var på nätet. (Finns även som Hamlet och Stolthet och Fördom.)
Jag vet att "the screengrab" är kass och liten, se här i fullständigt format, och ja, den är kronologiskt omvänd.

Annars prokrastinerar jag vilt i fråga om paper och återkommer om kungabesök.

necesse est scribere

Den stora dagen är här, och det bullras och slamras i hela huset, jag har själv gömt mig i min kungliga lägenhet, dels för att håll mig ur vägen, dels för att undkomma tråkningarna för att jag redan är uppklädd (insåg att jag inte skulle orka byta kläder under dagen). Fick höra om felsägningarna på genrepet, ska se om jag kan utverka tillstånd att återge dem.

Rymde dock iväg för kaffe en kort stund, och kan berätta att alla instituten här på via Omero har smyckat sig och hissat flaggorna, de vanligtvis ganska sunkiga små gräsplättarna längs vägen rensade och piffade och fick även bevittna bortbogsering av bilar som inte lytt de forhållningsorder som anslagits för dagen. Jag föreställer mig ngra väldigt arga bilägare.

Har suttit de senast dagarna med ett paper, som väl inte är så knepigt i sig, men vad som varit det jobbiga har varit min fullkomliga oförmåga att ta tag i det, jag har nog aldrig varit så okoncentrerad. Kärnan i detta är väl som vanligt att det faktiskt är svårt och kräver att man arbetar och under en sådan process blir man hyggligt medveten om sina egna brister, vilket inte är särskilt kul. Har även insett att jag typ måste skriva mer, bättre och, ja, bara faktiskt få ner något på papper överhuvudtaget om det någonsin ska bli en avhandling. Hur i hela friden gör man? (Retorisk fråga, och mycket självömkande, sorry 'bout that.)

Vidare har jag just nu ruttnat lite på latin, det händer ibland, one usually bounces back, men det gör det svårt att driva en latinblogg.

Titta istället på, while I try to get my mojo back, på bloggen om Pompeiiana, ett amerikanskt nyhetsbrev (eller fanzine) som fanns mellan 1973-2003 med latinpyssel, artiklar och annat skoj, eller konstatera att även den fantastiska Gun-Britt Sundström facebookar när hon borde jobba (jag är ingen fan av DN-bok, notera just bok, inte litteratur, men gillade iaf denna lilla författerintervju. Notera även att de inte har essäer längre utan "kulturdebatt", och för övrigt är det hög tid för en litt.vet.studie i författares facebookande), att Venanzio är på Fondation Hardt (vill dit!), att Natalie Dee är roligt (se bild ovan), att Köln-situationen gör mig gråtfärdig, och att Malte läser Cicero.

scribere

Det är strålande sol ute och precis lagom vindar och värme, men här sitter jag och stirrar på datorn, sliter med the most hated paper, det var dödlinje i söndags, och jag vet inte riktigt än vad det ens handlar om, och det känns så där härligt hopplöst, ni vet, det stadiet då man förtvivlar över allt i tillvaron.

Jag föreslår att ni beger er bort till SvD och läser denna UnderStreckare om diverse moderna Odysseus-skildrare:

"I en spännande essä utvecklas hur katabasismotivet hos den grekiske filmaren Theo Angelopoulos kopplas till exilen, onekligen ett av 1900-talets mest centrala öden och teman. Hans ”Odysseus blick” spelades in 1994. Huvudpersonen är en grekisk filmare som efter lång exil i USA gör en strapatsfylld rundresa på Balkan under krigets kaotiska slutskede. Filmen berättar två historier vilka tillsammans ringar in det gångna seklet: utvecklandet av den rörliga bilden och filmkonstens tillblivelse samt det evigt återkommande kriget. Slutscenerna i det förödda Sarajevo, där man dansar och sjunger på gatorna när dimman ligger tät eftersom den hindrar krypskyttarna att utföra sitt djävulska värv, är något av det starkare man kan se.

Angelopoulos version av Odysseusberättelsen kan föra tanken till svensk litteraturs mest berömda Homerosadaptation, Eyvind Johnsons efterkrigsroman ”Strändernas svall” (som dock inte omtalas i denna antologi). Den är också ett exempel på en existentialistiskt orienterad tolkning: den ensamme mannen som försöker ta sig hem efter ett katastrofalt krig, plågad av minnen och skuld. Hur ska han någonsin kunna komma hem? Vad är ”hem”? Odysseuskaraktären blir hos Johnson en symbol för mänskligheten vid en civilisatorisk nollpunkt, och samtidigt en sinnligt utmejslad individ i kamp med övermäktiga krafter; historiens eller naturens. "

rex

På förekommen anledning så ska jag bekräfta att, ja, institutet får besök av den svenske kungen och drottningen nu på tisdag, i samband med statsbesök i Italien, och vansinnet har slagit klorna i såväl hus som invånare. Det har fejats och fixats på ett intensivt vis, framsidan har fått ny gräsmatta, blommor har satts lite överallt, terassen och gården skurats, elementen i hallen målats om, och golven bonats glashala.

Vad det gäller individerna, har "outfits" provats och diskuterats, skor varit i omlopp för lån och matchning, och snittarna provätits. (Efter vilket det beslutades att de ska vara mindre och att mängden majonäs ska minskas på vissa.)

Jag har, förvånande nog, även jag ryckts med en smula, vilket är överraskande inte så mycket pga mina politiska övertygelser, som den irritation som många av oss upplever just nu i det att vi måste tömma våra biblio-bord, då den stora bibliotekssalen så sakteliga omvandlas till auditorium, för den festliga presentation som di församlade gästerna, höga som låga, ska beskåda.

Det är intressant, ty jag förstår för första gången i mitt liv något det som mina rojalistiska vänner känner gentemot kungahuset, och då kanske inte så mycket genom det förestående besöket, utan den ständiga kungliga närvaro i mitt liv, som jag tror en nutida svenska kanske bara kan uppleva i det militära, eller i bizarrt fosterländskt sällskap. Jag lever närapå som en 1800-tals människa med tanke på den allomfattande och benevolenta kraft som det kungliga just nu utgör i mitt liv.

För det första, så är jag som doktorand finansierad av Kungliga Vitterhetsakademien, they pay the bills, och det med stor generositet. Detta kungl. har jag kunnat bortse från, eller faktiskt inte ens skänkt en tanke, men i och med vistelsen på institutet har livets ställts lite på ända och det kungliga trätt in rejält i mitt republikanska liv. Min tid här är t.ex delvis finansierad genom stiftelser som administreras av Kungl. Vitt.aka, och närvaron av det kungliga är stark. (Vad jag menar med det "kungliga" är en bra fråga, det är inte nödvändigtvis kungen eller hovet, utan snarare traditionen och myten, kontinuiteten kanske.)

Svenska institutet grundades 1925, "på initiativ av bl.a. kronprins Gustaf Adolf, som blev styrelsens förste ordförande", och efter några kringvandrande år fick man sitt eget hus 1939 (denna Tengbom-ritade fristad!), och då med Prins Eugen som ordförande i inredningskommittén, med ett Malmsten- och Milles-dominerat resultat, och en variant av prinsens "Molnet" i bibblan. Kungen beskyddar vänföreningen, och jag möts var morgon av hans ansikte i form av att stiligt fotografiskt porträtt, samt att jag huserar i det som kallas Kronprinslägenheten (ja, mamma, bilder kommer!) här på institutet. Den är naturligtvis uppkallad efter den sedemera titulerade Gustaf VI Adolf, som med sitt arkeologiska intresse gärna besökte Rom. Institutet är späckat med referenser till denne mecenat, som fotografier tagna i fält, affischer från utställningar som han inspirerat (se ovan), och anekdoter i omlopp.

.

Alltså, jag förstår nu vissa sidor i rojalismen, i synnerhet som dess försvarare alltid brukar erkänna framemot småtimmarna att deras grunder är till största delen känslomässiga (en kamrat beskrev det som "känslan man har på julafton"), och då "kungl." har blivit närapå oreserverat förknippat med positiva ting för mig, ser jag mycket fram emot det kungliga besöket, och lär applådera åtskilligt och uppskattande.

(Dock tycker jag fortfarande det är galet att ha statschef som ett ärvt ämbete. Crazy!)

filia minor Ptolomaei regis vacuam possessionem regni sperans

Kleopatra är ständigt på tapeten, men kanske aningen mer än vanligt just denna vecka då det rapporteras i vår okritiska media att lämningarna av dennas syster, Arsinoë hittats.

I Svd rapporteras (jag börjar helt på allvar tro att de s.k "vetenskapliga" nyheterna sköts av en vagt engelskkunnig bonobo-apa, men jag bör väl erkänna att det bara är en hypotes) nämligen följande:

"Forskare har nu hittat kvarlevor från hennes syster, prinsessan Arsinoe som tros ha dött 41 f Kr, som visar på att hennes mamma hade ett "afrikanskt" skelett, skriver BBC News.
...
– Att Arsinoe hade en afrikansk mor är en verklig sensation vilket leder till nya insikter om Kleopatras familj och relationen mellan systrarna Kleopatra och Arsinoe.
Historien om systrarna är mytomspunnen och delvis våldsam. Den präglas av rivaliteten mellan den maktfulla [sic! Addendum: Får nog ta tillbaka detta sic, då ordet finns i SAOB: MAKT-FULL. särsk. (i vitter stil) till 7: som gör ett storslaget in­tryck, mäktig. Ett maktfullt och äkta diktarord. ] drottningen och hennes syster prinsessan, och många tror att Kleopatra lejde sin älskare Marcus Antonius att mörda Arsinoe. "

Ja, det låter ju väldigt spännande, vad gnäller den sedvanligt griniga latinbloggaren över egentligen?

Jo, om vi börjar rota en smula i detta påstående (något som tog ca 2 minuter), finner vi ur-artikeln i the Times, vari vi kan läsa ytterligare ting (man måste liksom läsa hela texten om man ska göra ett korrekt referat!), såsom hur man identifierade graven:

"The institute’s breakthrough came about after it set out to examine Thür’s belief that an octagonal tomb in the remains of the Roman city of Ephesus contained the body of Arsinöe.
According to Roman texts the city, in what is now Turkey, is where Arsinöe was banished after being defeated in a power struggle against Cleopatra and her then lover, Julius Caesar. "

Samt att man visserligen har skelettet, men huvudet är sedan länge försvunnet, och att den söta bild som visas här och var som Arsinoës ansikte återskapats efter notiser gjorda på 20-talet:

"The distinctive tomb was first opened in 1926 by archeologists who found a sarcophagus inside containing a skeleton. They removed the skull, which was examined and measured; but it was lost in the upheaval of the second world war.
...
Caroline Wilkinson, a forensic anthropologist, reconstructed the missing skull based on measurements taken in the 1920s. Using computer technology it was possible to create a facial impression of what Arsinöe might have looked like.
“It has got this long head shape,” said Wilkinson. “That’s something you see quite frequently in ancient Egyptians and black Africans. It could suggest a mixture of ancestry.” "

Vansinnigt spekulativt, och även om myten säger att detta ska vara egyptiskans gravplats har de inget som helst belägg för detta (det saknas t.ex inskriptioner etc.) utan stödjer sig på gissningar av detta slag:

"After using carbon dating, which dated the skeleton from 200BC-20BC, Kanz, who had examined more than 500 other skeletons taken from the ruins of Ephesus, found Thür’s theory gained credibility.
He said he was certain the bones were female and placed the age of the woman at 15-18. Although Arsinöe’s date of birth is not known, she was certainly younger than Cleopatra, who was about 27 at the time of her sister’s demise.
The lack of any sign of illness or malnutrition also indicated a sudden death, said Kanz. Evidence of the skeleton’s north African ethnicity provided the final clue."

Vi lämnar hela diskussionen om vad Kleopatra och familj må ha haft för rasliga karaktäristika, det är invecklat och det säger ofta mer om tiden då rönen presenteras än om Ptolemaierna, och konstaterar att en av åra största dagstidningar sväljer ungefär vad som helst, och att detta är en "stunt" för en strax kommande BBC-dokumentär, snarare än en ny upptäckt.

(Ytterligare addendum: Mary Beard har redan slaktat storyn!)

consortes

Jag vill utöva en smula kamratlighet i bloggosvären och intranätet, och sålunda visa er på diverse utmärkta inlägg som jag verkligen inte kan tävla med, samt ge en och annan nätresurs:



- Först och främst, jag är väldigt sen i att länka till följande inlägg hos ypperliga Ting och Tankar om det akademiska bloggandet, och damen i fråga har även försökt sprida kunskapen om nätet och den tredje uppgiften:



"En sak som jag tryckte mycket på i min framställning är att bloggar inte är en monolog eller ett digitalt publiceringsverktyg i första hand - det är en dialog med ett större nätverk där man via sin egen blogg ändå har lite kontroll över vad man vill diskutera och hur mycket. Det finns många anledningar till att starta en blogg, bra såväl som dåliga och de flesta av oss som sätter igång har en hel del förvirrade idéer om varför. För mig var det dels ett behov att bryta min isolering, både rumsligt och ämnesmässigt, och dels en önskan om att hitta tillbaka till det roliga med att skriva, där inte varje mening behövde vara så ämlans briljant och referensunderbyggd - och på svenska dessutom, ett språk jag började tappa bort. En av de trevligaste upptäckterna med bloggen som jag inte alls hade förutsett, var hur roligt det var att få kommentarer, mothugg, frågor, funderingar och kritik. Att någon faktiskt visade ett intresse för det man själv var intresserad av! Tro mig, efter åratal av den akademiska självspäkning som försiggår inom många nivåer av humaniora så behöver man få lite bekräftelse på att det man håller på med faktiskt berör andra också."



Kunde inte ha sagt det bättre själv. Det pratas även om kollektiva forskarbloggar i inlägget, vilket jag tycker helt stödjer min idé om att redovisa de svar som ges allmänheten på deras diverse latinfrågor i någon slags hemsiide/blogg-format.



- I T&T diskuteras även granskningen av antiken-ämnet, vilket likaså Lovisa gör:



"Naturligtvis är det svårt som student att kunna tillgodogöra sig ämnets hela bredd och leva upp till Martin P. Nilssons totalitetsideal, något som kanske inte ens är önskvärt. Men om man nu ska ha en historisk del av ämnet måste man ju rimligtivs kunna läsa det historiska källmaterialet. Det ser inte riktigt bra ut när det i en magisteruppsats citeras antika källtexter på engelska skriver högskoleverket och tycks ha stulit min standardreplik rakt av."



- Minerva skriver om slutet på en epok, hur antikmuseet i Lund upphört att existera och samlingarna flyttas. Jag hade själv den stora förmånen att läsa på klassiska institutionen i Lund då den var inhyst i just Antikmuseet, så det smärtar mig att den miljön försvinner, och det var särskilt härligt att som student ha nyckel där och vid hemgång efter nattarbete i biblioteket se månskenet studsa på de runda gudaarmarna):

"I samband med museets nedläggning har en skrift och en film utkommit. För mig känns det värdefullt att ha dessa dokument. Klassiska institutionen eller “Classicum”, där samlingen inhystes, var som ett andra hem för mig när jag var latin- och grekstudent. Det var en svåröverträffad miljö att vistas i. Vilken atmosfär! Huset är så vackert och skulpturerna gjorde sig verkligen bra där."

- Man kan nu läsa Harm Pinksters Latin Syntax and Semantics (som är svår att få tag i) på nätet!

- Jag har en fantastisk kollega, som enligt ryktet även hon strax kommer få uppmärksamhet för sin nätnärvaro, och i ett försök att scoopa Språktidningen ger jag er länken till var runstensfantast och petrofils egen guldgruva, en sida som lyckas kombinera det fornsvenska och Top-model: Rune: work it!

- Slutligen, så kom idag regeringens propostion "Forskarutbildning med profilering och kvalitet". Kan läsas här. Återkommer eventuellt med kommentar.

sacra tori coitusque novos

Jag senaste dagarna färdats Rom-Gbg-Uppsala, därav längre frånvaro och försöker nu varva ner en aning genom att rensa ut den evinnerliga frågelådan.

En kortare reserapport låter sålunda: Disputationen i Göteborg, min första anhalt, var förunderlig, och festen lysande, hoppas detta inte blir den sista latinaren att disputera vid GU.Här i U-a blev jag bums vid ankomst till institutionen ombedd att stå bokbord och försöka locka vilsna gymnasister (som under de åren ägnat sig åt spanska och japaaaaanska på sin lilla friskola) att läsa klassiska språk. Jag tror inte jag gjorde ett överdrivet bra jobb.

Nåväl, till frågelådan, som består av en och annan klassiker, samt en hel del snusk.

Vår första korrespondent frågar:


Jag undrar vad översättningen ; följ ditt hjärta, är på latin?
tack

Jag vill minnas att detta redan besvarats vid något tillfälle, och aha!, det har det minsann:

” […] översatt rakt upp och ner (samt rättstavat) blir det Cor tuum sequere.
När jag googlade det (den sökmaskinen är oumbärlig) fick jag upp en konkurrerande frågespalt där det istället föreslogt Vive natura duce, alltså lev enligt din natur, vilket jag må säga inte är så dumt.”

Och så någon som inte får svar i tid, pauverina!
Då det ju som alla vet är en maskin som svara på frågorna, en maskin som inte behöver tack eller annan feedback på sina översättningar, utan bara en helautomatisk, själlös, gnisslande apparat, så skyller jag på teknikkrångel vad det gäller sent svar:

"Jag skall tatuera mig imorrn och det skall stå citius, alius, fortius sen vill jag lägga till vackare så att det blir snabbre, högre, starkare, vackrare.
Har fått fram att vackrare (adjektiv) heter pulchra stämmer det?

Tusen tack för snabbt svar!"

För det första verkar du inte ha den olympiska treenigheten helt rättstavad; det ska inte vara citius, alius, fortius (en snabb googling visar att denna felaktighet är vida spridd, jag önskar att jag kunde känna skadeglädje över de många felaktiga tatueringar som säkerligen uppstått, men pga mitt ordningssinne bringar mig detta blott fasa) utan Citius, Altius, Fortius. Så går det när man litar på det man hittar på nätet.

Nåväl, om nu ”vackrare” ska läggas till Citius, Altius, Fortius, så ska det inte vara ett adjektiv, om man vill att det ska passa in med övriga ord i ramsan, då dessa nämligen är adverb. Tänker vara så fräck att jag förutsätter att den frågande här blott har blandat ihop begreppen och vill ha ett adverb där i slutet, very presumptive, och föreslå pulchrius.

Nästa:

"Har fått ett tips om dig och din blogg och drar nu ännu en chansning i mitt sökande efter hjälp att översätta.
Har jagat en översättning på nedan nämnda meningar:

I min själ ska mina älskade överleva. I min själ kommer dem jag älskar överleva. Min själ är spegeln av dem jag älskar. Min själ är en spegel av dem jag älskar.
Jag kan tänka mig att en exakt översättning är klurig, men en ungefärlig sitter lika fint.

Skulle vara oerhört tacksam om du har möjlighet att hjälpa mig eller om du vet någon jag kan vända mig till..."

Mina älskade översätts väl lämpligen med carissimi mei, och "överleva" är lite knepigt, jag skulle hellre bara ha ”leva”, och kanske i presens, vivunt (futurum kan väl funka; vivent) och själ är animus, alltså mei in animo vivunt, "mina älskade lever i min själ". På nästa variant säger jag spontant in animo quos amo vivunt.

Vad det gäller varianterna med ”spegel” så är det lilla problemet att det på latin brukar vara speculum, ett ord som har en helt annan laddning för de flesta kvinnor.
Men ett förslag för både "Min själ är spegeln av dem jag älskar" och "Min själ är en spegel av dem jag älskar" (då latinet inte använder sig generellt sett av obestämd artikel) skulle kanske vara animus meus speculum meorum est (är trött idag, så kom gärna med förslag), ”min själ är de minas spegel”.
Det slår mig dock, menar den frågande verkligen spegel? Är det inte spegelbild som egentligen åsyftas? Det beror väl lite på hur man använder ordet spegel, men om man nu menar att ens själ är en spegling, en spegelbild, en avbild av dem man älskar (otymplig svenska), är det imago speculi som ska nyttjas.

Vi återkommer i denna översättning och går vidare till snusket, som inramas av smicker, alltid ett klokt grepp:

Nu när jag ser att du är en kvinna, jag blir jätteskraj!
Jag har velat fråga dig som kille om en sak och då du är en snäll och söt tjej!
[…]
Jag blev så förtjust i din hemsida och det är bara killar som matar maskinen och du är så klok. att du citerar Petrarca "Det är den lärdes plikt att med sin lärdom tjäna också andra...."
Så jag den dumma outbildade har valspråken (som en kung) och självklart på latin, som jag alltid slänger fram vid frågan: om dig själv?

Cogito ergo sum - Coito ergo sum

Liksom om jag skulle vilja tatuera det på pannan (hatar tatueringar och några mynt att prägla på kan inte komma ifråga) min fråga alltså om jag stavar det rätt? om min tanke är rätt uttryckt? om det är fint latin? om det är sånt som inte ens Rabelais använder?
Jag bönfaller ditt humana jag att att upplysa mig, den kunskapshungrade konstnären, vars välde står och faller med sitt valspråk, valspråket som bör bli mänsklighetens och då måste det vara rätt!

Tyvärr är det, om jag nu förstått rätt, jag gissar att det är något verb till coitus som söks, inte helt rätt och alternativet är lite tråkigare, verbet som coitus (”samlag” för er som uppfostrats väldigt skyddat eller inte orkar ta er till en ordbok) är avlett ifrån blir i första person singular presens indikativ (alltså den form du söker) coeo, definitivt tråkigare och med en ganska bred betydelse, det betyder egentligen rätt och slätt ”gå samman”, och i förlängning ”samlas, närma sig , förena sig, bilda helhet” och då förstås även ”ha samlag”.

Dock, duger Coeo ergo sum? Är det snuskigt nog? Cubo och concumbo är alternativ, men ska gärna konstrueras tillsammans med det man tänkt ligga med, och de riktigt grova, såsom futuo börjar inte på c, och kanske känns lite för vulgära.

Den sista fågan inleds med orden ”Jag hoppas att du inte är på ditt pryda humör i dag” och då personen i fråga vill att dess latinska devis ska vara någorlunda unik och inte ”vara spritt för allmän kännedom”, ger jag blott det som efterfrågas på äran och hjältarnas språk, och ni kan roa er med att gissa hur det översattes (pluspoäng till den som känner till den svenska källan) :
"R-nka k-k är det enda som jag får".

Jag var visst på mitt pryda humör idag.

reveni

Vi är så tillbaka i det svenska vanliga bloggandet igen, efter att ha strykt "proffs-bloggare" från listan av yrkesmöjligheter att utforska.

Medan denna plats i etern upptogs av engelska och dataspel och hånande av norskt kaffe har det förstås skett en del i Rom, det största får väl sägas vara att jag äntligen skaffat mig passerkort på the American Academy in Rome.
Det har tagit sin lilla tid, då det verkligen ligger fullkomligt off för det svenska institutet (tar en timme att ta sig dit), och orsaken till detta lär vara att dess benefaktör, J.P Morgan, ville lägga det där just för att kunna se ner på fransmännen.
Nåväl, underbart flådigt hus, med egen kaffebar, hisnande utsikt över Rom (och amerikanske ambassadören vid den Heliga Stolens krocket-plan), trevlig och social lunch att delta i om man så önskar och ett vidunderligt bibliotek. Typisk Oxbridge-imitation med mörkt trä, ett överflöd av brons-byster och galna lampetter, men lär tillbringa en hel del tid där.
Det enda tråkiga är de rigorösa säkerhetsbestämmelser som finns, som alltid införda post 9/11, med speciella passerkort med foto, ett batteri av säkerhetskameror, och inga grupper av utsocknes större än fem personer på institutet samtidigt. Man blir så dyster.

För att bli gladare igen kommer det som borde kommit under veckan, i den ständiga notisformen:

- FokusRom har heldag igen den 21 mars! Platsen är denna gång Lund, och programmet högintressant. (Men varför bara i Pdf? Ni får färre träffar på google, och är redan ganska svårhittade.) Önskar att jag kunde närvara!

- Skrattet får sitt i en UnderStreckare:

"Det stora antika premiärskrattet – det ”homeriska löjet” som man brukar kalla den kollektiva munterhet som gudarna i Olympen och grekerna framför Troja emellanåt hemföll åt – var inte ett vänligt skratt, det hade alltid ett offer. "

- I Uppsala hålls en det under våren en unik föreläsningserie: Theodore Markopoulos, Marie Curie-forskare i bysantinologi, kommer under vårterminen 2009 att hålla en föreläsningsserie om hellenistisk och medeltida grekisk syntax. Föreläsningarna hålls på engelska. De är i första hand tänkta för doktorander och C/D-studenter i grekiska och bysantinologi men är öppna för alla intresserade. Föreläsningsserien löper över sex onsdagar kl 16.15 med början den 25 februari. Lokal: seminarierum 9-3068.

- För att stanna i Uppsala, så gör där ÖG nation ansats att starta en språkpub, där alla som vill öva och dela med sig av sina språkkunskaper träffas. Detta är tänkt som ett utbyte av språkkunskaper och kan vara en möjlighet för studenterna vid moderna språk och lingvistik att få träffa personer som har det språk som de studerar som modersmål. Språkpuben/Language pub är öppet för alla (som har kårleg då detta hålls på nationen under kvällstid)som vill utbyta språkkunskaper med svenska och internationella studenter. Första datumet är den 11 mars, med start kl 19:00 på Östgöta Nation (Trädgårdsgatan 15).

- I Göteborg sker på lördag vad som jag tycker är den viktigaste disputationen i latin i år (ttela, väldens bästa tidning håller med mig och gav disputanden en halvsida), kl 10 på arkeologen. Ses där!

finis ludorum

And so the coverage, or rather one reception, of the conference Greek and Roman Games in the computer age ends.
Here is a small guide for following the whole thing chronologically:

Day one, session one
Day one, session two
Day one session three I
Day one session three II
Day one session four
Interlude
Comment by Tegularius
Day two session one and part of two
Day two session two and three
Andrew Reinhard’s guest entry about his paper
My talk at Trondheim Klassisk studentforening

In other places:
Andrew's blog at eclassics
Local media

And now we return to our regular Swedish programming…

ludi latini

The image above is of the best dedicated, Latin-language game we can find, a bit of freeware from Hungry Frog Software. It is a step above "Hangman" where students arbitrarily guess at letters until they find a combination that works, revealing a Latin word or phrase. It goes beyond traditional find-a-word puzzles where students circle combinations of letters that form a Latin word matching one in a list of terms to discover. The game pictured above uses animation, graphics, color, and allows the student to zap "birds" out of the sky with a . . . um . . . factory, scoring points for hitting birds that are labeled "is", the English translation for the tiny Latin word in the lower-right corner, "est". Sadly, this game fails as both fun and instructional because the word is divorced from any kind of context; the student is not informed or quizzed on its conjugation; the game only quizzes a handful of words; it's not really fun to play and has little replay value.

As the Director of eLearning for Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, it's my job either to find or create interesting digital aides for Latin and Greek students and teachers. As an avid gamer (and a bad Latin student -- I did get better in graduate school), I have always been interested in how we can use games to teach Classical languages. Learning via gaming is not a new concept, and universities like Carnegie Mellon and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have long-term projects committed to creating games and gaming platforms for education. The problem, best articulated by Professor Henry Jenkins of M.I.T.'s Games to Teach project, is:

"Move beyond the current state of edutainment products which combine the entertainment value of a bad lecture with the educational value of a bad game."

This is indeed the Holy Grail: make a game that is fun to play that teaches you something without it seeming to be, well, teaching you something. So how do we do this for Latin?

1) We use existing games that were never intended as Latin instructional tools. There are plenty of games that use Latin to add a bit of mystery or intelligence to make gameplay more interesting or believable: the Final Fantasy series, the Harry Potter series, games from Blizzard Entertainment like Warcraft, Starcraft, and World of Warcraft.

There are also games set in Rome that do provide some real Latin during gameplay. The best of these is Rome: Total War which can be modified (or "modded") with the application of the freely available Rome: Total Realism patch with Latin audio. Now you can hear the generals order their troops around in Latin. The 2006 game, Glory of the Roman Empire, was produced with a Latin-language option out of the box, although many might laugh at the heavily Italianate pronunciation used in the game.

We can take these games one step further, especially in the case of MMOs (massively multiplayer online role-playing games) like World of Warcraft. I run a Latin-language guild, Carpe Praedam, on the U.S. server for Feathermoon where the intent is to run student-teacher diads where the student helps the teacher play and the teacher helps the student with Latin. When used in raids, instances (dungeons), and PvP (player vs. player), this is a great way to practice the use of the active, the imperative, not to mention prepositions and vocabulary specific to armed conflict.

With World of Warcraft and other games, it is also possible to create machinima where students can record Latin dialogues as they happen in-game, handing in the movie files for extra credit or as end-of-term projects. There are dozens of examples of these student-created films on my eClassics site.


2) We can create games from the ground up that focus on teaching/reviewing Latin without foresaking a quality gameplay experience. As I said at the beginning of this post, I was a poor Latin student. I was not wired for learning Latin via grammar charts and repetition (I thrived under a reading approach, however). I have also always been a person who learns best by doing. And I have an addictive personality, which is probably more than the readership wanted to know.

Now, if I can make a game that combines addictive gameplay (i.e. must... get... to... next... level... before... sunrise....) with Latin reading, then great! So, as a work in progress for 2009, I am working with a small team of Latin teachers and programmers to create what is tentatively being called "LatinQuest!". It merges the addictive qualities of completing quests for gold and gear (made popular by World of Warcraft and, to a more funny extent, Kingdom of Loathing), with a graded approach to Latin learning. Easy quests at the beginning of the game feature "easy" Latin (first declension nouns, very basic vocabulary, etc.), while harder quests later in the game feature more "difficult" Latin (periphrastics, anyone?). The player learns as s/he plays. the games supplements what they are learning in class, but gives them a fun way to test what they know. We'll see how development progresses on our first 100 quests. My goal is to allow Latin teachers to submit quests to put into the game once the students demonstrate mastery of the Latin learned in 1st- and 2nd-year. This keeps the Latin content new and fresh, and keeps students (and hopefully some teachers) playing.

My goal with Latin and computer games is not to replace traditional textbooks, but to supplement them with contemporary material for "born-digital" students. Modern languages are already successfully exploiting iPods, iPhones, Nintendo DS, Macs, and PCs for teaching and review in a fun way. I want to do the same for Latin:


Apologies for such a long post! Let me finish by thanking Moa Ekbom for her kind invitation to me to post here regarding the topic of my presentation at the recent Greek and Roman Games in the Computer Age conference. I would be happy to continue a dialogue on the topic of Latin via gaming either here or over on eClassics or via email at areinhard at bolchazy dot com.

Andrew Reinhard
Director of eLearning
Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers
(writing from his home office in Phoenix, Arizona, USA)

de finibus bonorum

The final instalment in the story of my Trondheim adventure, is the talk I was invited to give by the radical student organisation Trondheim Klassisk studentforening, at their wonderful Klassisk aften (classical evenings or rather evening of classicists), a informal lecture series open to the public. (I’m very impressed with their organisational skills.)

The evenings are usually held at the incredibly cosy and delightful antiquarian bookshop Bybroen antikvariat. The same place regularly hosts philosophical evenings, where Arne Naess used to appear, a tough act to follow. (This post is mostly pictures, blurry pictures, my camera wasn’t cooperating, and I seem to have deleted some by accident, there is no photo left of the incredible fireplace. Better ones here.)

As always when I give a talk I am astounded, humbled and thrilled by the fact that people actually come, and this was possibly the best audience I’ve had in my life, they were receptive, intelligent and they thought I was funny, or at least polite enough to laugh at my jokes. My talk wasn’t all that impressive, I tried to describe what as happened with classical languages in Sweden (and to some extent Norway) the last few years, what impact “activism” might have on these recent developments, what such activism entails, and make some dreamy suggestions for the strengthening and enhancement of the position and study of classical languages. (I did have some notes, but promptly lost half of them.)

The best part of the evening was the gathering afterwards, with a spontaneous and delicious dinner and ample drink. The students presented me with an excellent bottle of red wine, which I naturally opened immediately, and to be able to share a glass and discuss the serious matter of the future of the humanities with these marvellous people it truly something I will always treasure. (A special shout out to the young lady with the great American accent and to all the philosophers.) We were joined later in the evening by the two of the hosts of the conference, who later on were nice enough to walk me back to the hotel, as it was once again an icy and spirit-laden night, and I got almost three hours of sleep before flying back to Rome.

I can never give enough thanks to Trondheim Klassisk studentforening, Bybroen antikvariat, the stupendous audience, Andrew for moral support and for listening to the pee-in-cup story, for all questions, and to the man behind it all, Magnus Eriksson, you are a wonder.

educatores

The two last papers, separated by lunch, had a more educational slant.
The first of these, presented by indefatigable Andrew Reinhard, I am fortunate enough not to have to recap, as he has kindly consented to do a guest entry with some of the facts from his presnetation. He is not only the director of eclassics (affiliated with Bolchazy-Carducci), which has a huge wealth of web-resources and in general is an excellent forum for people interested in the classical languages (you should really join, even if the layout is a little messy; it's similar to FB, and I’ll totally be your friend), but also does a great Scottish brogue.

The second, directly after lunch, in some was a dangerous slot, as you are full and sated, was a presentation of VRoma, and the work behind it. VRoma is a, to quote their own text, “a community of scholars, both teachers and students, who create online resources for teaching about the Latin language and ancient Roman culture”, and is mainly a teaching resource, situated in a virtual simulation of the ancient city of Rome circa 150 AD.

The presentation was at times very technical with explanations of the programming, which sadly is impossible for me to relate or even follow, but the simulation seems interesting, and if I was still teaching high school I would probably use it (even if this too feels a little messy at times, wonderful pictures however, se above), especially since “it” speaks Latin!

The conference then reached its end, and there was the usual separation anxiety that is common when you’ve had such intense days together. There will probably be a volume of proceedings, however, how to publish so varied papers was subject to discussion, it was suggested that it be done as a Cdrom (someone noted that it might be outdated soon) or perhaps even online, as much of the material was virtual and should come with plenty of pictures and links.

I cannot thank the organizers enough for inviting me and letting me participate in this groundbreaking conference, and also while allowing me to for a few days call myself a professional blogger (why one would want to do that is something to think about), doing something so unconventional as having their conference blogged, which fits nicely into the theme of the conference, classics in the computer age.

(There will be one more installment, about my talk that night at the students’ association, but this concludes the conference.)

genus ludorum

I will admit to a certain sluggishness the next morning (see microbrewery), but was revived and fortified by the breakfast, apparently voted the best breakfast buffet in Norway (there is a joke in there, somewhere), and then it was back to the university, which is situated slightly outside of town, making it necessary to go there by buss.

We were in a different building on this second and final day of the conference, and getting there provided some unintentional hilarity. Picture the scene, a gaggle (a parliament? A brood? A grumble? A pride?) of academics, poised to scale the small hill leading to the entrance of the building, and realizing that it was completely covered in the most slippery of ice. Half turned back and found another path, some of us were stuck halfway and had to be pulled to safety (thanks to the kind bearded student who came to my rescue). Comedy at its finest.

Settled in the new auditorium, the first paper of the day once again dealt with strategy games of the roman variety; Entertainment and empire. A critical Engagement with Roman themed strategy games. AG, an archaeologist by training, recited some statistics about demographics, economy etc, especially regarding the aging of the game-players, it isn’t something you outgrow, and the high female percentage of these.

We were given a brief historical overview of the numerous games that deal with classical and/or roman culture (Caesar form 1992 is an early example), and I’ll skip most of the technical jargon (turn based?) as it sounds ridiculous when I try to sound conversant with that terminology.

Age of empires, both 1 and 2 were mentioned (the original games focused on Egypt, Babylon, Greece, and Japan, Rome was added in expansion, and the later roman empire also features in AoE 2), these having historical notes in the manual and screens, but using pseudo-historical ages. The game combines resource gathering and warfare.
The next game mentioned was The Praetorians, a much more a straight up war-game with limited resource aspects, focused on 58-45 BC. There are three civilisations; Roman, barbarian, Egyptian, with some religious/magical plays used by non-roman armies, the Romans are, of course, rational, but the Egyptians have priests who can cast spells.

Next, Rome: Total war was discussed (“a turn based game with strategic and tactical levels”), where religion doses play a role. Total war is an interesting title, as it is not so much war as governing with resource. Finally, Legion arena, a relatively recent war game with limited role-playing elements was mentioned, that was endorsed by history channel (which makes us recall the previous session and their catch 22), but despite this it was pronounced “tedious” by our lecturer.

This introduction was obviously tailored to the needs of people like me, who have little experience of games, so that we could follow the reasoning and conclusions.
In studying the key themes of the Roman Empire in games, violence and conflict naturally stand out, with the games repeated emphasis on warfare and conquest, and little sense of the cultural context of violence. Also a theme of civilisation versus barbarism emerges, with limited cultural differentiation, except in very broad stereotypes (this led to a discussion of the accents used in the games, and the “American”-looking Romans and the often dusky “baddies”), and as regards to time and space, there is a very arbitrary mixture of timescales and periodicity, and the landscape exists for urban exploitation. Furthermore, only leaders and soldiers are differentiated, with all games are from the generals’ point of view (well…).

There was also some points made about games in classrooms, and games and the military, and the usual call for reception study, but what really captivated me was the existence of Rome: Total realism, which is a reimagining of the game Rome: Total war, that strives for accuracy, in not only historical timescales, but also in the uniforms and language.
-

Our next speaker, LIP, presented the paper "Warfare in Computer Games: Problems and Possibilities", and basically called for an increase and accuracy of siege warfare in computer games. There is today apparently few such scenarios in the virtual worlds, and we all agreed, after his persuasive arguments that more catapults and sieges would be awesome.
He outlined the uses and documentations of catapults, and in general the history of siege warfare, and introduced me to the trebuchet, which was love at first sight.

The presentation, with several pictures and maps was excellent, but I really can’t recap the history of the catapult here, he did it way better and I advise you all to read his dissertation when it is published.

In hurrying past the catapults and trebuchets, I not only for once have a shot at brevity, but also reach our last presentation that directly has to do with computer games. JHF presented a paper that raised plenty of very interesting questions. His paper “Studies of Rome: Prospects for Research in Ancient History after ‘Gaming’”, basically started with him asking; Can games influence future research topics? As the games set in antiquity probably is one of the most important media for experiencing the past there will be consequences of games for future research.

After discussing some theories on games and learning, some definitions on the concept of history in these virtual scenarios were made. It could be said that history in games is masculine (or “masculine” if you wish) with a focus on war and economy, stereotypically male things, and systematic etc.
For this paper he had conducted some interviews with his students on their experience of playing Roman-themed games. Unfortunately, he had only been able to find male students who were willing to admit to playing these games, the females claimed not to, or at least didn’t admit having indulged.
Findings included that the players enjoyed being a roman commander and that realism was not all that important, but some felt that realism is better, (the above mentioned modified version of Rome: Total war was appreciated), and to the question of what one could learn form the games several had mentioned the uniforms and equipment, and to some extent the timeline, and such things as the cursus honorum. (As some of the students that had participated in the study were in the audience, there were some charming giggles during the presentation, and the row where a majority of them had gathered looked wonderfully self-conscious during certain statements.) In answering the question what they had not learned, these smart kids mentioned that you did not learn much about culture or women, and that more specific facts, such as pertaining to individual emperors were not offered by the games.

As we see there definitely seems to exist self-awareness and critical interpretation regarding the games. However, it was suggested that the portrayal of history and Romans might lead to such possible turns in research interests as a factual oriented history with a materialist conception of history, and the aforementioned “masculinisation” of history. (The end of social and cultural history?!)

I loved this paper, as it tried to discern what kind of impact the games might directly have on the humanities and on the reception of antiquity (it is of course hard to separate such influence from the similar impulses of other pop-culture, for example Rome), as all these factors have a crucial role in shaping cultural memory and understanding of history. In teaching Latin or anything related to antiquity one encounters constantly references to games and other modern media from the students, and I believe one must be aware of their influence and the reception of antiquity that they create. Despite the claims that 40 % of game players these days are female, there seems to be a majority of males involved in the Roman games, and I do wonder about this. It is a recruiting ground for studies in history and classics, does it change perception of antiquity and how should we classicists approach the games and their impact? Plenty of questions to study further were raised, and I do hope to see more of this. The presentation also was one of the few to discuss the invisible women on the games, and the causes and effects of this, there is definitely more here to study. (The conference was, of course, quite male-dominated, which goes to show.)

There surprisingly (or not so surprisingly considering the audience) seemed to be a consensus that games were in no way generally harmful in simplifying and outlining alternative and false scenarios. As someone said, which ties in neatly to the first session of the conference, contrafactual history has been there since Herodotus, and playing and engaging in contrafactual history can give greater appreciation for what actually happened.

The conference isn’t over, there is still the learning and educational aspects to be presented, but the purely game-related presentations have passed, and while I still don’t feel any itch to play, I have gained a greater respect and understanding for the games and this area of reception studies, and believe them to be essential for our field and too important to leave to the studies of media and gaming, classicists and archaeologists must claim parts of this territory and approach the media from their unique perspective.

signum

So, after a catnap, some cookies (I want to mention that there was never any shortage of cookies during the coffee-brakes) and that famous coffee, the last session of the day commenced.

The first paper of this session presented was a bit problematic, I did have a hard time following it, as I, as previously mentioned, really don’t play computer games (or games at all, except Trivial Pursuit, which I love), and this paper was more exclusively focused on the game itself, without the theoretical discussion and external questions of earlier presentations.

GPC told us the sad story of the game “The emperors seal”, which he was not only the project manager for, but also the resident classicist. This game was developed at the turn of the millennium, and there was a lot of money put into this game (1 billion lire was the sum mentioned, which could be impressive, or the price of a second hand Mazda.). It was a big project, and our lecturer was recruited after it had been launched, and thus did not have input in all the aspects of the game, some things, that he as a classicist really didn’t like, were already in place in the game.
This game has the premise, if I understood it correctly, that the emperors seal has been stolen and you have to find it by walking around Rome, it was set during antiquity, and finding clues and stuff. (That kind of game model must have a specific name?)
All I can say is that it was a very pretty game, and several historical statues, mosaics and other authentic artefacts had been added, my limited gamer experience prohibits me from saying much more. This game did however never reach the market, despite two years of work; there was no financial strength to distribute the game.
Even though this was a discouraging tale, I do hope more classicists are hired by the gaming industry!

The final presentation of the first day came highly recommended, several people had told me to make special note of this presentation, which the presenter himself was very glad that I told him after his paper. I’ve promised not to mention his hair.

AL spoke about Caesar IV and veracity of its concept and execution. (Can I just say that I’ve never been to a conference dealing with antiquity with quite so many PowerPoint presentations?) The object of Caesar IV is to build and govern a provincial city, and to follow the cursus honorum to ultimate glory. You have to reach certain levels of culture to be able to do certain things, and many other things are interrelated such as the structure and supply of labour and food (I’m well aware of the absurdity of me explaining a computer game, hence the guest bloggers).

The paper discussed the picture transmitted of antiquity in this game, and how it reflects our views of antiquity. The study of the reception of antiquity today seems at times slightly neglected by us classicists; it doesn’t carry the same cachet as studying reception and assimilation of antiquity during, say the 17th or 18th century.

There was also ample mention of Braudel, such as that his views on history are similar to that of Caesar IV (or could it perhaps be the other way around?), with history only being “ripples on the surface”, and history in this game only being represented by invasions.

The purely fictional details of the game were described, such as the city never being dependent on supplies from the countryside, no slaves exist, and that there isn’t any economic activity on the forum, banks etc are built as separate entities.
Other things were also said to be incorrect, as architecture; schools did not really exist as such, and the large chimneys are completely anachronistic. Furthermore, all governmental buildings are in marble, even in the humble beginnings (apparently better in Caesar III), and the game of course perpetuates the myth of the “white antiquity”.

He concluded with the warning that we (as the experts of this) are loosing control of what is represented of antiquity, fact and fiction are becoming increasingly blurred, which led to an interesting discussion. It was said that there is a kind of Catch 22 for game designers- you are scrutinized much harder if you strive for authenticity, and the harder you try, the more criticism you receive. (You hire more classicists and pay them enough to take the fall for any flaws, that’s my suggestion.)

We were treated to a magnificent dinner that night with more courses (one consisting of cod tongue and fennel salad) and glasses of wine than I recall (I couldn’t very well make notes during dinner), and the conversations were great, with the Yale-gossip as mentioned, and gossip in general. I honestly tried to retire early, as soon as dinner concluded, but was dragged by some nefarious Norwegians (some of whom hadn't enjoyed the foie gras) to a local brewery, and made to sample the produce, and while I thank them all for a lovely time, I do ask; was the whiskey really necessary?

The Latin Connection

One further gaming-latin connection I would like to say a word or two about(I’ll be more brief than before, don’t ya worry), is the use of the language rather than the classical setting. In games taking placing in our time and world it can sometimes be used for flavour, especially in those involving the occult. Here the hero might read ancient texts to find hidden secrets or even be part of a puzzle. This is most common in adventure games, the Gabriel Knight series to use an (old) example. Sometimes it is used solely for the cool(yes, apparently latin can be cool in the right circumstance) , high-falutin’ and mysterious tone, for example in a title. Usually this means using a well known phrase, which might have something to do with the theme or plot, but didn’t really have to be in latin; see Deus Ex, for instance.

Another usage is that of reference point or inspiration. An example(beyond and perhaps more grounded than "God of War”, mentioned by my hostess)is the upcoming game by an independent developer; Solium Infernum, “To reign is worth ambition, though in Hell: Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.” In this case the reference is directly literary, in source as well as in style. The studio(well, it seems mostly to be one guy) first self-developed game was very good, I look forward to this one immensely. The developer has blog himself, mostly about his product but also with some thoughts on game design in general.

The "always already ruins" discussion(great title btw) above, was very interesting, but I would like to add an observation about the standard version of the fantasy world. Many of the fourth subgroup(those with ruins in a fantasy setting) seem taken from these In the “standard” fantasy setting there has usually been an earlier, higher culture that has left ruins behind, which people live or at least go treasure and monster hunting in. This is of course because the prototype for fantasy worlds is Tolkien which had this, and/or medieval europe which of course had the remains of the ancient world around it. These are of course only in-world explanations, but still not completely unreasonable. That sense of decayed grandeur and failed hubris(that may be redundant) the poem Ozymandias(Ozy-Man!) conveys does make for a nice background feeling. Many fantasy worlds also have an old language, sometimes remarkably similar to Latin in tone, style or apperance as well, in which ancient, dangerous but powerful texts may be found.

Oh, and the quote I asked about, for those interested, is from Herbert Marcuse, the original has the line “In a single toss of a ball, the player acheives an infinitely greater........” and so on. Good stuff.
And on that note,
Tegularius

porticula

In continuing the blogging of the second session of the Trondheim conference, I’m going once again to wildly abuse the word fabulous, but I can’t say I have a choice, since we now reached the paper presented by the, yes, fabulous Dr Thea.

She is not only one of the organizers of the conference, but is also a translator of Ovid (I love the norweigan word for translator “omsetjar”), a published writer of fiction, has a doctorate in latin and is a genuinely nice person.

Most fabulously though, she has appeared been a commentator and object of charm for the Norwegian reality show Sjarmørskolen (translates to Charm school), which naturally is some young men trying to learn the art of charm and seduction. (See her here explaining the steps outlined by Ovid, (such as hygiene being an important factor; trimming your nose hairs, cleaning your teeth etc) , and impressing the youngsters of this charm school with her degree (that is the main reason women want graduate degrees, to impress guys).

Anyhoo, her paper tide in nicely with the previous one as they both dealt with the theater of Pompey, this one in a different fashion. Here it rather was how such virtual imaginings can be used in research other than the history of theater and such.

This theater, dedicated to Venus Victrix, was once the most monumental building in Rome, and several models have been attempted for all kinds of purposes in the academia. Such reconstructions do also have their uses in philology. The paper was an attempt to trace similarities between the portico, probably filled with new and ancient statues, surrounding the theater and the Heroides of Ovid, which might have borrowed imagery and characters form this collection of marble portraits.

Visualisation of this portico is of course difficult as both written and archaeological sources are sketchy. Apparently Pliny has some mention, but the best source is the cranky Tatian’s Oratio ad Graecos (33-2), in which he describes the general uselessness of the Greeks, and in describing the statues made of silly women he gives some clue to who might have been portrayed in this portico (a place recommended for a stroll by Ovid and as a pick-up place by Propertius).

Speculating about the statues, their order and identification, brings a contemporary tie-in to the Heroides, which has earlier been hard to give some kind of political slant. I won’t present the rest of the philological evidence, as, hey, brevity, but I will say it was compelling.

Once again coffee, and I think I fell asleep for a few minutes during the break (not that many hours of sleep the night before), but before that, I finally met my long time correspondent Magnus E, who, as you should know, led the student protests against the cut-backs of classical languages in Trondheim.

theatrum

We once again join our heroine as conference recommences after lunch (actual lunch, not only sandwiches (which is what Norwegians usually eat for lunch), but a nice little platter of cold cuts ‘n stuff, and some lovely students close by, with a special nod to the young man in the Grandiosa T-shirt and his stubborn soup eating), and as I’m trying for brevity, this will hopefully be shorter (I’ve been told that my ADHD-audience doesn’t like the longer texts). And sorry for mixing spellings of theatre and theater.

The first paper after lunch (a great slot to be given at a conference) was a dual presentation, “Observations on Staging the Ludi Virtuales”, which was begun by RB from the School of Theatre Studies at King’s College London, who showed his training at the Yale school of Drama in his excellent and effortless reading, with a casual leaning against the podium and a voice that carried beautifully.
This first part could be said to be the theoretical framework and historical reasoning for the second part, that was to present the virtual, reconstructed theatres and their uses, and we thus were treated to an overview of historical and philosophical back-story. Once again we ventured into questioning what is “real”, with the stage evoking multiple realities, simultaneously existing possible worlds and even reflecting something of reality itself, and linking the actual with the mythical.

Skipping some of my notes here in an effort to actually be brief, I however find I don’t want to skip over the mention of the so called memory castles, a mnemonic technique, a ancient device to remember and recall texts or facts, by envisioning them stored in different rooms and cupboards in a imaginary palace, one “stores” the memory on an appropriate shelf in a specific room, and for recalling this, you return to this place, and find this fact or text. This moving through an imaginary castle is similar to computer games, and like in such a world of illusion we hold ourselves in place by memory, and memory was held by illusion. Yep.

Moving on to the second part of the presentation by HD, from the wonderfully named The Centre for Computing in the Humanities, and we were shown these fascinating recreations of roman theatres. They have placed some of these in Second Life, you can watch them being built, but also interact with said buildings. (Let’s not get into the discussion what such educational endeavours mean for Second Life, some say it’s the end of it.)

Reconstructions are not only neat things to show of with and make in fun little programs, they also have, leaving educational aspects aside, relevance for the study of theatre history, as we can get a feel for the space of the stage and its limitations and possibilities, there has for example been some discussion of how sound must have travelled, simulations show that it probably couldn’t even be heard beyond the twentieth row, which brings us to question the previous views of the staging of the plays and their format, and also leads to discussions of other theatrical elements of Roman life, such as parades, funerals etc.

(Some other interesting results have emerged in working with the placement of frescoes in roman homes. Roman wall panting were not about pictures, they were about space. Walking in to such a panted room changed your perception of space of reality, and they were an intermedial blending of an art gallery and theatre, an imagined extension of the villa space, and in visualizing the preserved paintings and similar rooms quite a few new arrangements have been suggested.)

There ahs also been efforts to stage plays on these virtual theatres. By filming actors in front of a blue screen, one has been able to place some action on these ancient and missing stages. (among other Japanese actors from the noh-tradition have been used for their experience in pantomime and masks).

The theater of Pompey was specifically discussed, which is relevant for the next paper, and the whole science in general of visualisations such as of this long gone but important building.
The important thing is, it was said, not to get the reconstruction absolutely right (since we’ll never really know), but , but having your methodology right and open, so people can follow reasoning, and publishing the sources, whatever they are that you rely on. The London charter principles regarding historical visualisation clearly outline this. (Highly interesting!)

This was a incredibly presented paper, thanks is both due to the dramatic reading of RB (who I had the great fortune of sitting next to at the fancy conference dinner and greatly entertained me with stories of past Yale-days, and run ins with future presidents and presidential candidates), and the passion and enthusiasm of HD, which was quite catching.

I’m kinda not succeeding in the brevity-department.

victor

Well, I've been totally and utterly beaten in the blogging of the illustrious "Greek and Roman games in the computer age"-conference. My esteemed colleague in the blogosphere of classics and partner in crime in when it comes to "finding your way back to the hotel in icy Trondheim after trying all the microbrews" Andrew Reinhard, has already done a excellent and neat summary of the conference, and I don't see how I can surpass that. But, as stubborn stupididty rather is my own crowning glory, I will continue, but not today.

ad columnam pervenire

After the notorious Norwegian coffee (it’s in my contract to make fun of it), we moved on to what for me was more familiar ground, namely Herodotus. Being at first deluged with a barrage of facts about this phenomenon that is virtual life, we learned of the “populations” of such worlds, the millions of inhabitants, ant the now extensive economies, and the reported annual gdp of over 1 billion.
As seen here by my quotation marks, the question is whether such populations are real (the economies, if moving real dollars, must perhaps be seen as such), and if the populations and people, (so called avatars for all of you who haven’t picked up a sensationalistic newspaper article about that kooky thing virtual reality), is the “history” created within such context and by such “people” real? And what is real history?

Our tall lecturer SK moved on to describing a virtual event, motivated by an external “real” event, of a World of Warcraft guild gathering to eulogize a member of said guild who had died in this that we call real life, thus an online, virtual memorial service consisting of “fictional” people, for a avatar whose host/owner (I really don’t know the terminology here) had passed.

This guild was attacked during the service by another guild, and this has apparently become an historic occasion, with the film of the deed gathering more then 3 million viewers on youtube since 2006. This is history, as it is a point of reference, something apparently worth chronicling and retelling, even though the incident is completely virtual, except perhaps for the external fact that brought it on, and here I could digress into something external versus internal, and who actually is the agent of this story, avatar or person, but am anxious to get to Herodotus, and thus moving on. (This apparently all ties in to Herodotean reported speech)

The example of Scyllias, in 9.8, following below, with its tall tale set beside what Herodotus seems to think is the truth, put forward the question of why Herodotus reports this fable, and sets these two account, one plausible and one implausible side by side:

8.8 Now the Persians had with them a man named Scyllias, a native of Scione, who was the most expert diver of his day. At the time of the shipwreck off Mount Pelion he had recovered for the Persians a great part of what they lost; and at the same time he had taken care to obtain for himself a good share of the treasure. He had for some time been wishing to go over to the Greeks; but no good opportunity had offered till now, when the Persians were making the muster of their ships. In what way he contrived to reach the Greeks I am not able to say for certain: I marvel much if the tale that is commonly told be true. 'Tis said he dived into the sea at Aphetae, and did not once come to the surface till he reached Artemisium, a distance of nearly eighty furlongs. Now many things are related of this man which are plainly false; but some of the stories seem to be true. My own opinion is that on this occasion he made the passage to Artemisium in a boat.

Similar discussion followed for other passage of Herodotus, once again showing how the implausible is related, and then pointing to the credulous, how the re-enactment of the event is not the actual point, but rather emphasizes the tradition (once again reception!), which leads us to the similarity with the virtual histories of online events, following this pushing away of historic past in favour of the tradition, the retelling, as the images pollute each other, and towards a subjective experience, and posing the question if accuracy is actually the goal, if we could have the actual event, would we want to? (Sorry, I’m not giving a very good explanation, it made perfect sense in Norway)

With the above mentioned “attack”, the event looses its priority, and draws focus to informative mistakes of tradition, with statements becoming ambiguous. There exist several versions of this mentioned attack, many reworked with commentary (sometimes in musical form), an ongoing interpretation and contextualisation.
Virtual historians have a lot to learn from Herodotus regarding focus and narrative, and it is wrong to imagine only “real” history or what actually transpired is worth writing.
(Or something like that, am probably going to come back and purge, rewrite the narrative, give new shape and tradition…)

-

For the next paper my notes are better, and thankfully, it was quite visual, as this was the ultimate presentation before lunch, and we all know how energy levels at times drop at thet hour, but DL held our interest (once the PowerPoint started to work).

Armed with the lovely title “Always Already Ancient-Ruins in the virtual world” and a captivating set of screen grabs form games past, present and future, the paper neatly outlined what could be said to be the four different types of representations of the buildings of antiquity.

The first category was called Reconstruction, with the subtitle The past is a foreign country or It was new then, is represented by pristine, new buildings, appropriately enough, as you the player usually builds them, in games such as Rome:Total War, Caesar IV and empire simulation games (almost always Roman), making the player a contemporary to the buildings.

The second, with the subtitle It is ruined now, was designated as Heritage, and usually has some paring of the present and the past, as being set in a museum or archaeological dig, and thus alludes to the long gone antiquity. The buildings are ruins, sometimes not only to highlight the legendary aspect (Tomb Raider, Legendary, Barrow Hill et al), but also to give a framework of the past, especially if the game is actually set in the past, and the ruins are an easily accessible signal that, hey, this is antiquity!

The third category carries the self explanatory title of Destruction, with instant ruins, and turning buildings into ruins. (“It is one thing to aestheticizie the gradual decay of monumental buildings, another to aestheticizie the effects of disaster”). Examples shown were from Spartan: Total warrior (the back-story, an attack on Rome by the Spartans in the age of Tiberius, drew quite the merriment from the audience, as did the Aztecs attacking the Greeks in Black and White 2.), Asterix, 300 and many more.

However it was not all that common that one got to actively enact the destruction, some games were mentioned where you actually earned point in destroying, if I recall correctly in something called Serious Sam, you actually got to do this in wart was said to be Cicero’s villa, with bonuses inside pots and statues.

The final and largest group was categorized as Fantasy, with the subtitle Was ruined then, and rather presenting the idea that the Romans (or whatever, lots of fantasy in this group) lived among ruins. The ruins are naturally portrayed as ruins even in their contemporary setting because they have always been ruins, we all know that ruins are classical, and one cannot imagine them new. That’s how it was, and that’s how it is. And if there are no ruins, how can one tell one is in “antique” times?
You really can’t recognize the past without ruins, as someone pointed out, who would find a Venus de Milo with arms familiar? We can usually recognize ruins, but not the “real” thing. Also, ruins are prettier. (Yes, an actual aesthetic choice perhaps, ruins have pathos and tie in to that 19-century romantic thing, Ozymandias etc, see below, with the idealized fantasy that is already ruined)

In this category some quite ancient (he!) games were used as examples, such as Clash of the titans and Gladiator (1985), but also newer as Battle for Troy and Hercules: Slayer of the dammed, as well as two forthcoming; Ikarian and Numen.

I'm reluctant to try to find links for games, as people who are interested probably can find better ones than this dilettant, but I will serve som Shelley:

I met a traveller from an antique land

Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,

Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown

And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,

The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.

And on the pedestal these words appear:

"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"

Nothing beside remains: round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,

The lone and level sands stretch far away

ad honores per ludum

What follows in my account of the conference Greek and Roman games in the computer age, which took place in Trondheim, Norway, 20-21 February.
As said this is my account, and my perception of the event, and I do feel a need to state this, as I’m trying to recount lectures that might have been experienced differently by others, and describe theories and ideas put forth clearly and succinctly by others, so any incomprehensibility is the fault of this blogger, not the person who actually presented this idea.

It is an utterly brilliant idea to invite someone to blog a conference which in some way deals with reception (here of antiquity), as you then get the reception of the conference blogged, and thus present an interesting sort of meta-reception on the reception. So, with all these caveats in place, let’s proceed to the actual happening, or rather my notes from this conference, fleshed out with some verbs and links.

I will, for now, spare you the details of how I actually got to Trondheim, but let me just say that I arrived that same morning, and to the university three minutes prior to the conference’s start, instead of arriving to Trondheim the night before, as planned, but the weather gods do not take heed to such plans. I was greeted by the kind organizers, who promised to pay for the cab, and was then seated in time for the kick-off.

The dean, who was no player of computer games held a short introduction, and then our host, SW took the podium, declaring himself happy to seeing us all here “including journalists and bloggers”, and informed us about the financing of this conference, and as a classical philologist acknowledged that we are, with this conference and its subject matter, walking on a field shared by others, something that calls for interdisciplinary work, and that we will see people of a different type than we are used to walking fields that we consider our own, and hinted at a wonderful future for us all.

Before the first presentation, the chairperson of this first session pointed out that this perhaps was the first conference of its kind, at least as organized by classists, and then unleashed the fabulous Dr D on us all. (I’ve previously met MD at the Virgil-conference in Tromsö, and it was a great joy to see him again, as he is really and truly fabulous.)

His paper was a sort of introduction for those of us not well versed in media- and gaming-studies, so called ludology, and briefly discussed such approaches to virtual gaming. He had also done an analysis of British media in the last few months, citing reports that games will eventually eclipse other media, that the gaming industry claims that all other media industries such as television, movies, etc, are stagnant or contracting, with the gaming industry being the only and fastest expanding.
He also discussed the shifts in attitude that are underway when it comes to computer games, from being youth-oriented and “a lonely activity in your bedroom” (a line that brought a round of snickers from the auditorium) to something intergenerational, with parents and children playing together. He also pointed out such things as that “gaming becomes storytelling, and is no longer pre-set trips through linear mazes, a medium that rivals feature films”.
Moving on to a discussion of this new study of gaming, there was some mention of University of Abertay, Dundee, Scotland, which having received substantial grants is a “offers world-leading courses in computer arts and computer games”, and the theories of Huizinga, conceived long before the advent of computer games (he died in 1945) and published in Homo Ludens were outlined. (There are three characteristics that play must have, namely: 1. Play is free, freedom, 2. Is not ordinary or real life, and 3. Play is distinct from ordinary life regarding location and duration, all of which more or less can be applied to computer games.)

We also looked at Social science approaches to games, what effects they have on people, and how do people create and negotiate a game. In such a discussion the constant question of computer games being good or evil reared its head, and such aspects as having to fulfil something to get to the next level were put forward as something good (no one pointed out that one can cheat) and likewise that involvement in multiplayer games apparently makes people reflect more in identity. Of course, educational values were mentioned, but I would have liked to see the theories of Everything bad is good for you at least touched upon.

Moving on to the Humanities approach to gaming, one there looks at the meaning and context of games, what meaning is made through the use of games, the studying games as artefacts, and games as medium. This is done using the critical analysis, rhetoric and vocabulary already established in the humanities, something that is questioned by ludologists, who say we have to introduce a new vocabulary.

Finally, there is the industry and engineering approach, involving the understanding the designs and development of games, that is how to make better games, and also games as drivers of technological innovation (such as graphics or whatever), and the self-historic aspect of the industry, with branch-magazines looking back, discussing and at times idolizing its past.

The paper rounded of with mentions of intermediality (apparently le dernier cri in media studies) and the discussion following this framework and introduction yielded an awesome Buddenbrooks-reference regarding accessibility, citing the situation where the wife and music teacher share something through Wagnerian and the husband can’t access that. I do enjoy a good Mann shout-out.

The next paper was by someone who was actually an expert in game studies in the field of media studies, himself pointing out the horror that no one can actually define game or media precisely, with a paper on the game God of war. We were treated to several clips, and as it was pointed out that GoW (such a professional abbreviation) is one of the most violent in history, the clips did make sense. It was said that the violence was always in contexts.
The games relations to Greek mythology were outside the scope of the paper, but seemed quite freed from any such constraints. This is also an aspect of the games with themes from mythology and history that is subject to discussion, and not so much their fidelity to primary and actual sources, but rather their reworking and reception of them, and the overall “messing” with sources.

A rather telling and hilarious moment was the asking for a show of hands of how many in the learned audience had actually played it, and the lecturers outdrawn OOOOkaaaayyyy following it, which led to an explanation of the basic story of the game. (Which you can find here) There is that messing with sources, some made up symbolic imagery, and plenty of blood. (I’m not really ideal for writing about games.)

The paper did focus some on myths, not the myths as such, but rather how myths try to reflect and explain human experience, especially the inexplicable such as death, and the experience of dying in games, with the perky following statement and question; “you are dead. Continue?” gives us means, as do myths to cope with this inescapable end, and how, if continuing, the context of the situation doesn’t change, neither avatar, but the players experience has increased. Also, failure and death are closely related in games, however things can be changed that have lead to death, you can do this in games, you are even asked to!

My notes say that there then was a “Brilliant reflection of game mythology, info flows”, but tell no more, and my memory is spotty, so let's conclude the first session, that was followed by the coffee brake, which naturally was on time, I do love Scandinavian conferences, everyone is so conscientious of being punctual.