tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5730513615909994019.post6003689449290027139..comments2024-03-29T07:22:38.372+00:00Comments on Pop Classics: The Roman Mysteries: The Colossus of RhodesJuliettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00203399623895589924noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5730513615909994019.post-440108506792527322010-05-24T15:09:12.084+01:002010-05-24T15:09:12.084+01:00There is a new translation of Valerius Flaccus'...There is a new translation of Valerius Flaccus' _Argonautica_ into English verse by Professor Michael Barich of Kenyon College:<br /><br />http://xoxoxpress.com/titles.php?g=poetry<br /><br />A review of the translation can be found in the _Bryn Mawr Classical Review_:<br /><br />http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2009/2009-09-52.html<br /><br />Michael Barich<br />Classics Department<br />Kenyon College<br />Gambier, OH 43022<br />barich@kenyon.eduAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5730513615909994019.post-63789401715891533352009-11-01T20:25:56.096+00:002009-11-01T20:25:56.096+00:00Could be - especially if it's not a family nam...Could be - especially if it's not a family name.Juliettehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00203399623895589924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5730513615909994019.post-16437315811289177442009-11-01T20:03:34.748+00:002009-11-01T20:03:34.748+00:00Well, I got the floppy eared thing from Brill'...Well, I got the floppy eared thing from Brill's New Pauly, but now that you mention it, that does rather sound like the sort of bowdlerization that develops from teaching Latin to generations of schoolboys. The Valerii Flacci were a very large chunk of the very large gens Valerius, which makes one wonder, if your supposition is correct, just how the fellow who earned the original cognomen wound up as the ancestor of so many. (There were a few other gens with Flacci as well.)<br /><br />Once you get properly into the first century, the whole cognomen thing gets rather confusing. As the tria nomina conventions broke down, it became increasingly difficult to tell what was a familial cognomen and what was personally earned. For our fellow here, Flaccus is definitely a long-standing family name, but what about the Setinus and, more importantly, the Balbus? Balbus means stutterer, and since it's at the end of a run of three cognomina, it makes me wonder if it wasn't a personal cognomen and thus that he had a stammer.DemetriosXnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5730513615909994019.post-40578570649386344282009-11-01T19:00:47.078+00:002009-11-01T19:00:47.078+00:00I think it might have been industrial Britain. I k...I think it might have been industrial Britain. I know children were used as chimney sweeps a lot, because they could fit up the chimneys, so it would make sense if they were used in mining as well. Those wouldn't be slaves though, just very badly paid workers.<br /><br />As far as I know, names like Flaccus and other names relating to physical attributes got attached to one person and then passed down to their children and freedmen, so the later generations wouldn't necessarily have the physical attribute they were named after. It just means 'floppy' or 'flaccid', so it could be referring to ears, but I think the Romans were more dirty-minded than that... ;)Juliettehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00203399623895589924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5730513615909994019.post-23633550955612242182009-11-01T13:57:12.278+00:002009-11-01T13:57:12.278+00:00Doesn't Flaccus actually mean floppy eared? An...Doesn't Flaccus actually mean floppy eared? An odd cognomen and one which I have difficulty visualizing the root of. This particular Valerius Flaccus (there was a boatload of them) also bore the cognomens Setinus and Balbus. Does he stutter in the book?<br /><br />I know you're right about the Romans (and the Greeks) not using children in the silver mines, but somewhere in my brain is a memory of horror stories involving children being used in mining operations. Since they are smaller, the tunnels don't have to be as large or something. Was that perhaps early Industrial Britain? I'm just not sure.DemetriosXnoreply@blogger.com