Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Classical Greece and Rome

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[edit] Polyenos

Any ideas who the Polyenos in this erotic image by Agostino Caracci is? He usually seems to have picked real historical/mythological figures as nominal titles for these images, yet I can't find a Polyenus in the Iliad or Odyseey related to Chryseis, only a Macedonian strategist of entirely the wrong period called Polyaenus.

There are other possible Polyaeni, for example Polyaenus of Lampsacus, but I can't identify this couple. Andrew Dalby 14:01, 29 November 2006 (UTC)
Yes, that kind of confirms my impression that this Polyenos might be a fictional creation of Carracci's, paired with a 'factual' (ie appears in literature) woman to give it some false kudos/legitimacy. Might anyone have an Oxford Classical Dictionary to hand, or a well-indexed copy of the Iliad or Odyssey? He might be in there. Neddyseagoon - talk 16:22, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

And, while at it, is Glycera in this one a verified classical Athenian courtesan? And is there enough on her for an article? Neddyseagoon - talk 22:53, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Glycera: interesting question. I think possibly yes. I'll have a look this afternoon, unless someone forestalls me. Andrew Dalby 10:38, 29 November 2006 (UTC)
It turns out there is an article, Glycera (courtesan), though it needs wikification if anyone feels like it. The girl in the picture doesn't seem to correspond with any of the three known Glyceras: the date is wrong. Andrew Dalby 13:34, 29 November 2006 (UTC)
Er, yes, I started it in the meantime! :-) Though if you or anyone could help update and wikify it that would be great. I think there's also potential with her predecessor Polynice too, and other Hellenistic and classical Athenian courtesans and hetairae, though whether I'll have the time for making them myself is doubtful.Neddyseagoon - talk 16:22, 29 November 2006 (UTC)
Ah, right, I didn't notice that it was you! You move fast. I agree about the work that needs doing, including other courtesans waiting in the wings. I am an Athenaeus enthusiast, and he's a good basis to start with, so I may be one of those taking up your challenge. Andrew Dalby 12:37, 5 December 2006 (UTC)
An Athenaeus enthusiast? - then Venus Kallipygos might be up your street. Neddyseagoon - talk 17:53, 5 December 2006 (UTC)
How right you are. Andrew Dalby 19:05, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Plutarch

I'd like to expand and properly categorize Plutarch in Wikipedia. His works are basically his Parallel Lives and The Moralia. There are 2 articles on Parallel Lives, one on The Moralia, and one on pseudo-plutarch which I gathered together into a template at Template:Plutarch. There is already a template to collect all the subject's of Plutarch's Lives together and it can be found at Template:Plutarch's lives, though it basically has nothing to do with Plutarch other than he covered the lives of those people. All these templates/articles have their uses, but the totality of Plutarch's coverage at Wikipedia seems disorganized.

I would like to:

  1. Find all biographical knowledge available on the Life of Plutarch
  2. Find the best way to break down the Plutarch article into sections
  3. Report more on Plutarch's Lost Works
  4. Break down the two sections, Parallel Lives and Moralia, to best summarize the totality of information covering these works.
  5. Cover Plutarch's life and career in more depth (his time as magistrate)?
  6. Create a graphical Timeline of Plutarch's time on Earth.
  7. Cover his historical context... way of covering history, influence on pop culture.
  8. Report interesting tidbits on Plutarch that are currently being ignored.
  9. Report all major/important translations made of his works.

The Plutarch article should eventually grace Wikipedia's main page as a Featured article.-BiancaOfHell 12:54, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

I'll take you up on that I think, if I have the time. Neddyseagoon - talk 14:51, 5 December 2006 (UTC)
Cool. There's a lot of work to be done. I've left stubs here and there. I'm particularly interested in figuring out where to find information on the Life of Plutarch (books, forewords, introductions, analyses, etc...) BiancaOfHell 22:26, 5 December 2006 (UTC)
Which stubs are those? A list might be handy. :-) Neddyseagoon - talk 22:41, 5 December 2006 (UTC)
List of Current Stubs at the Plutarch article
  1. Education
  2. Travels
  3. Lost Works
  4. English Translations
Translations should probably have something on Italian and French, etc... BiancaOfHell 14:06, 6 December 2006 (UTC)
You may want to check out the International Plutarch Society. http://www.usu.edu/history/ploutarchos/plout.htm Zeusnoos 14:11, 6 December 2006 (UTC)
Thanks. I have pestered them to help us out. Hopefully a few of them will show up and contribute their expertise. -BiancaOfHell 18:05, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Category talk:Ancient Greek art

May I draw your attention to the discussion I've started there. Neddyseagoon - talk 15:08, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Calling Platonic lovers--some articles on Plato's dialogues appear to contain original research

My fellow Plato-lovers, may I call your attention to Meno, Phaedo, Crito, Theaetetus (dialogue), Protagoras (dialogue), Charmides (dialogue), among other Platonic dialogues? I have tagged all of these pages with a {{original research}} template, because User:Brenda maverick, who has done some heavy editing on these pages, appears to have inserted her own interpretation of the dialogues into the articles. It would be helpful if other editors could look at the problem (if there is one). --Akhilleus (talk) 05:43, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

Achilles, I looked at one dialogue, Crito. Everything was fine up to the paragraphs about social contract, then it started to sound like a conference paper. I removed these sections because they do not describe the dialogue but place value judgments on the arguments, when, in typical style for Socratic dialogues, Plato leaves the questions open to the readers. Zeusnoos 14:33, 7 December 2006 (UTC)
The Phaedo article was not as bad. One section stood out like a sore thumb ("Sub-textual interpretation"). There was no fixing it since the entire premise was incorrect (that transmigration was wildly unknown to the Greeks) and has been argued against since at least 19th century scholars. The author of that section claimed "some scholars" think Hindu texts were in circulation. There is no support for this claim. There certainly were Orphics and Pythagoreans and other such cults, though. Zeusnoos 14:48, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Social class in Rome

The article Social class in ancient Rome needs serious attention. I've corrected its worst misapprehensions but it still needs proper sourcing and verification. --Nicknack009 00:53, 27 August 2006 (UTC)

I brought this back from the archives, because it's an interesting topic, and deserves more attention. I myself will contribute to it, ASAP. -69.70.169.168 21:09, 11 December 2006 (UTC)
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