The Death of Language

Interesting feature story on the BBC4 Radio website entitled "The Death of Language?" I was fascinated to read about the rebirth of the Hebrew language in this article.

Latin Challenge!

The BBC Magazine has a new seven question Latin quiz online today, as part of their University Challenge series!

Speak Latin and Impress a Knight!

A Latin quote from last weekend's episode of Robin Hood on BBCAmerica. The gang is looking for the Thesaurus Patriae ("Treasure of the Nation", a take-off on "National Treasure") Djaq, the female Saracen warrior, translates the meaning of the phrase and a rather impressed knight declares, "She speaks Latin! WHAT A WOMAN!"

On a previous episode ("Get Carter!") Robin Hood has seemingly been slain by an assassin, who prays in Latin over the outlaw's apparently dead body, as Robin's friends carry him into the city of Nottingham. Upon arriving at the castle, the Sheriff of Nottingham dismisses the retinue, growling "Enough with the gobbledygook! Exeunt!")

You'll also occasionally hear some Latin on the new series of Doctor Who, so it is possible that many of you Latin and Classics majors may have a future with the BBC! Keep studying!

Better Late Than Never! Beware the Ides!

This should have been posted earlier, but the Ides fell on a Saturday this year. Oh well, better late than never...

As most of you undoubtedly already know, according to the Roman calendar, the Ides take place every month on either the 15th (March, May, July and October) or the 13th (all others). The Ides of March are the most famous Ides because Julius Caesar was assassinated on the 15th of March, 44 BC.

National Public Radio seems to take the Ides of March pretty seriously, because they have quite a few streaming audio clips in their archives commemorating Caesar's demise.

• Ides of March After-Party: Roman Drinking Songs?
• Commemorate Caesar: Take a Deep Breath
• The Roots of Caesar Salad
• Brush Up Your Shakespeare
• Ides of March: A Condensed Version of Julius Caesar featuring Orson Welles, ca. 1938

From the BBC comes lesson plans for Sixty Second Shakespeare and a page from the Sixty Second Times outlining the events of the day!

Enjoy!

Photo courtesy of the Vroma Image Archive

Roman Mysteries on BBC

Caroline Lawrence's Roman Mysteries series premiered on May 8th, 2007, in Great Britain. No word if or when it will be available in the United States, but in the meantime you can enjoy the Roman Mysteries Game, see a video trailer, find out about the characters and see an episode guide on the BBC website above. If you're in the UK, tune in to BBC1 on Thursdays at 4:30 pm.

Of course, you can always read Caroline's books while you wait. Start with Thieves of Ostia, the first book in the series. In this book, you'll be introduced to the main characters -- Flavia, Jonathan, Miram, Nubia and Lupus -- as they seek to solve the mysterious deaths of dogs in their neighborhood. Followup titles include Secrets of Vesuvius, Pirates of Pompeii, Assassins of Rome and 12 more titles.

Caroline Lawrence maintains an author's website where interested readers can read her bio, check out her blog, download and print nifty bookplates, and read the newscroll to find out what's coming up next for Flavia and her author.

<