Legs, legs, everywhere

I didn't watch the Oscars last night, but I'm quite bemused about all the hoopla over Angelina Jolie's Right Leg. Apparently it's set off a rash of badly-photoshopped images of her leg invading various situations, my favorite being this one:

I guess it's a bit scandalous, though I hardly see how a high-slit dress could qualify as "scandalous" here in the second decade of the 21st century. But it reminded me of something else once deemed rather scandalous, I'm sure: in the transition between Archaic and Classical sculpture, draped females started to exhibit drapery that was rather...clingy. And over time, more and more of the underlying surface was revealed. Take, for example, one of the Caryatids from the Erechtheion:

This here is a copy from Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli, but you get the idea. The left leg is more traditionally Archaic, shrouded entirely by the drapery. The maidens from the porch were, after all, rather Archaistic in form - look at their solid poses (since they functioned like columns) and their hairstyles. But right there, oh-so-inconspicuously, the kore's right leg is readily visible under the diaphanous drapery. The drapery is so thin, it's as if it isn't even there. Scandalous in the 5th century BCE? I wouldn't be at all surprised.

Image of the Caryatid from Tivoli is scanned from A. Scholl. 1995. “Χοηφοροι: Zur Deutung der Korenhalle des Erechtheion.” JdI 110: 179-212.

Aromatic Rosemary

One of my favorite occasional blogs, The Cloisters' The Medieval Garden Enclosed, has a new blog post up about rosemary. I learned that rosemary is a member of the mint family, and that it is native to the Mediterranean.

Reading about rosemary reminded me of how we'd find it in abundance in Greece, as you can see in detail above at the Temple of Ammon Zeus at Potidaea in the Chalkidike, and I also remember it quite clearly from Lavrion, where the plant was covered in a magnificent spider web.

Read more here about rosemary, from the Met: The Virtues of Rosemary.

AJA Archaeological Resources for Students

The American Journal of Archaeology has compiled this handy list of links students of archaeology (or for those interested in learning more about archaeology.

Here you can find links for resources in archaeology, including everything from excavation possibilities, to career advice for aspiring archaeologists/academics, to some incredibly technologically-advanced digital resources in archaeology.

dissertation beginnings

Even though I'm not quite ABD, I'm beginning the dissertation writing process this semester by taking a Dissertation Writing Workshop class. In addition, my current fellowship proposal (due in less than 2 weeks, eek!) marks the beginning of a sort of informal prospectus.

Things gathered from tonight's class:
- The process is like an oxygen mask - you have to put your own mask on; no one is going to do it for you.
- "No" is your friend
- Index cards. In the same way that I write out daily to-do lists on index cards, it will be helpful for me to take notes on index cards, one for each book/article. And maybe file them in a box? A sort of addenda to my ongoing bibliography
- It will be beneficial for me to learn to work in small blocks of time. One, because in all likelihood I won't have the advantage of being able to treat the diss. like a 9-5 job. Two, because my ADD-mind works better in small blocks of time anyway. Really, things that occur in small blocks of time is the way for me to get things done.
- Always remember: - BETTER DONE THAN GOOD

I have a daily goal to write every day. Something more than just emails. After a 10-hour day like today, a blog post might just have to suffice. But it's a start.