Discoveries.

With all of the technology we have available to us now, we assume that we've found most of the ancient material that has survived since Roman and Greek times. This is why I was so excited to read about a brand new discovery - a poem by the Greek female love poet Sappho which hasn't been read aloud since roughly 300 AD (according to here - an alternative translation is also available at the bottom of the post)! 

A translation by Tom Payne, available here:

Still, you keep on twittering that Charaxos

comes, his boat full. That kind of thing I reckon

Zeus and his fellow gods know; and you mustn’t

make the assumption;

Rather, command me, let me be an envoy

praying intensely to the throne of Hera

who could lead him, he and his boat arriving

here, my Charaxos,

Finding me safely; let us then divert all

other concerns on to the lesser spirits;

after all, after hurricanes the clear skies

rapidly follow;

And the ones whose fate the Olympian ruler

wants to transform from troubles into better –

they are much blessed, they go about rejoicing

in their good fortune.

As for me, if Larichos reaches manhood,

[if he could manage to be rich and leisured,]

he would give me, so heavy-hearted, such a

swift liberation.

Another translation is available here. 

It's almost the entire poem which is surprising, usually only small fragments are found and only one complete poem of Sappho has survived! As a Classics student, I got so excited - it's hard to imagine people living that long ago so to find more pieces that were written and performed so long ago is incredible! 
There is also another poem that was discovered (both given to an Oxford Classics fellow together) which is only fragmented so it's an incredible discovery (a little on that here)!

If you want to read the full article with a little historical background and explanation, click here.

Jess xx

The writer and the philosopher.

Lately, I've been feeling like I should be doing homework and work which I haven't actually got any that I can do properly and it's causing me to put more unneeded pressure on myself. Does anyone else feel like this sometimes? 

Today I used my free to do some extra research work for my most recent English Lit and Classics lessons which was quite fun, I got to research about The Knight's Tale by Chaucer and then researched Friedrich Nietzsche for Classics! 

We're studying War in English which is covering Ancient Greece (a modern re-working of the Iliad) to World War 2 (The Ghost Road) so it's a really interesting module! I've always meant to look into the works of Chaucer as he is widely known as the Father of English Literature and the best poet of Medieval times so it's quite exciting getting to learn about him and his works! So far he seems pretty interesting and once I get time, I fully intend to read The Knight's tale in full as the story seems to be really interesting! 

We're reading the Iliad and the Aeneid in Classics so to introduce us to the topic, my teacher is doing some lessons that introduce the Greek and Roman concepts of Heroism which is also really interesting as it's quite different from modern times and they actually greatly differ from each other! It's quite philosophy based at the moment so it can be slightly hard to understand sometimes as I don't study it, but once it's all explained, I'm finding it all amazing! I was considering philosophy for AS level but I didn't want another essay subject, I regret that decision quite a bit sometimes! My teacher mentioned Nietzsche and as I'd heard of him before from when I studied The History Boys at GCSE (also another fantastic piece of work, I highly recommend the written play and the production) so I decided to research him which has been super interesting but sometimes a bit complicated as I've been clicking on links trying to understand concepts left, right and centre! 

I love this sort of researching work as I feel more like I'm becoming independent and closer to University work, I'm honestly so excited for September now, I just hope I get in! 

Jess xx

Sun, Sea and Sand in Sicily!

I've just come back from a week long trip to Sicily with my college - doing Ancient history and Classics = good trips to hot places! I haven't been on many plane journeys and I only remember one (yay Durham....) so it was quite exciting and scary to be going on a trip that was longer than an hour. It wasn't as bad as I had expected because everyone on the trip was sitting together so it was fun as we could talk to each other without annoying other passengers! On the way there, there was a 2 year old that wouldn't stop crying and screaming which was in the row in front of me. It was the single most annoying thing I've ever had to put up with.
The one thing I do love about flying is the duty free. You can buy things for cheaper so stuff that's a bit pricey is actually more affordable! After having my Benefit 'Laugh with me LeeLee' perfume for a while, I was super excited to see a benefit stall at duty free and I ended up searching through all of the different products until I found one that I fell in love with completely.

Cutest palette ever with the nicest colours!
The design is adorable!

The 3 eyeshadows are nice and subtle colours, very wearable!
Very handy mirror too! 

The kit contains 3 eyeshadows, creaseless cream eyeshadow,
bo-ing concealer, eye bright, bad gal lash mascara and 3 types of brush.

It also comes with a how-to booklet with added tricks!
It's so helpful and makes it easier to use!

Being someone who doesn't wear a lot of make up, this palette is perfect because it's subtle but looks amazing! The amount of powders and creams in the pack is overwhelming at the start but once you get your head around what goes where, it's so simple! I love it so much, it's really easy to apply and the booklet is super handy.

In Sicily, we visited lots of temples,  amphitheatres, a Roman town and other ancient buildings. We also went to the beach a lot which isn't usually my sort of thing, but it was nice to just relax at the beach after a long day of walking! Annoyingly nearly all of my pictures are still on my camera so I'll do an extra picture post when I put them on to my computer eventually! I have a couple of pictures from my phone of some of the beaches though!

This was taken from a beachside restaurant with the nicest pizza ever!

I didn't go on the beach here because it was too hot but the view was amazing! 

The weather was so nice out in Sicily, it was really hot but it was a different heat than it is in England so now I'm back it doesn't feel too hot!
On the last day, we got to look around Catania, a really nice town that looked how you would imagine Italy. We saw another amphitheatre that was right in the centre of the town and then we went shopping! United Colors (they spell it like that...it still annoys me...) of Benetton had a massive sale on so me and a couple of friends went for a browse and I found a really gorgeous top!

I have a weakness for stripes but at €21, how could I resist?!

I also have an addiction with spots...so at the airport back to England, I bought a spotty red scarf! It was €12.50 so it was amazing! It's such a nice, light material and it's actually really big when fully stretched out! I'm reminded of Minnie Mouse; it's a shame that the weather isn't cold enough to wear it at the moment though!

Minnie mouse scarf!

It was a really great trip and I got to spend time with some of my favourite people from college and get closer to others so it's been a great start to summer so far! 

Jess xx

A week in the life of Jess

Well this week has been rather hectic to say the least...I'm just glad to be back blogging again! I've missed it!
I've had a crazy amount of work, with exams looming, it's only destined to get worse sadly!
So...as I said on Monday, Friday and Saturday I actually went and did stuff!!
On Friday I went to the Classics open day at Oxford which was amazing! I met up with some friends by accident and ended up spending half of the day with them until I went for a quick tour around the Ashmolean museum. It was completely amazing!! The other people at the open day were so smart though, one guy read Ancient Greek backwards off a gem on display! It was amazing but scary that he could be a potential rival in getting a place at Oxford...
I lost my friends after the museum tour and I hung around with a girl that I met on the tour! Obviously being me, we ended up in the sweet shop!
I went to a lecture about Hercules and how he can be related to various colonies popping up and some events in history and stuff. It was actually pretty cool! And I felt quite proud that I recognised some of the authors of sources and knew something about them!
Oxford is absolutely breathtaking though, the buildings are gorgeous and they have all the shops anyone could ever need! The colleges are spread out over the whole city which is good because you have to actually walk to get to places so you get to see more of Oxford as you move around which is great!
It just looks crazily hard to get in to, and seeing the people I'm up against, it seems my chances of getting in there are dwindling by the second.
On Saturday I had a few girl friends round and I had a movie day/party for my birthday which is on Wednesday!! It was great seeing all of my old school friends again because it's been ages. I love how it always feels like it's only been a day or two since we last saw each other when we meet up, I love them so much! It was nice to see my college friend and outside any school friend got on with the others super well though! Always makes things easier! They got me some fantastic presents too, they know me so well!

The Dan & Phil top is amazing; Katie, you're fantastic!
The Colin the Caterpillar and Percy Pig sweets are from my friend Phoebe,
a reminder of our awesome GCSE Geography lessons!
The Exploding TARDIS mug, mini malteaster bunnies and stickers are from Julia
 who definitely summed me up in 3 presents!!
I love these girls!

My mum's dog walking friends also got me a gorgeous Roman bird pendant and it's just amazing and beautiful and I love it!

How gorgeous is this?!

I got a free today instead of Extended project and my presentation (YAY!) so I went to Boots and took advantage of their 'Buy 2 Barry m nail polishes, get £1 off' deal and bought these beauties! I ended up spending £10.96 which isn't a lot for 4 nail polishes for a fairly decent brand! I'm currently wearing the Gelly nail paint (far right on the pic) and its super shiny and it's gone on pretty well! They're all great colours for when Spring/Summer finally show up so I feel super prepared for then with regards to my nail colours!

I love these, from left to right: Berry, Mint Green, Blue Moon, Prickly Pear

I'm beyond excited that it's my birthday in 2 days, this week feels like it's going to be good; I've already got an A on my last Ancient History essay which I'm super proud of! I think I'm getting the hang of my subjects now!

Anyway, I'm tired so I'm off! Hopefully I'll blog again soon, I've missed this crazy amounts!
Jess xx