Across the whale in a month (13, ops!): da Roma antiga para a Veneza moderna, em apenas 320kms...

Hoje foi dia de vista a museu, em Los Angeles, que nos remeteu à antiguidade clássica, e de viagem pelo deserto de Mojave, em direção a Las Vegas, onde chegamos na Itália moderna, a de Veneza e seus canais, tudo dentro de um hotel...

Pela manhã fomos à Getty Villa, um monumento arquitetônico e uma homenagem de um grande colecionador, o homem mais rico do mundo em sua época, aos gregos e romanos, com uma infinidade de obras maravilhosas, que se combinam perfeitamente ao ambiente arquitetônico construído para abrigá-las.

Quem não visitou ainda a Getty Villa, na praia de Palisades, litoral de Los Angeles, não pode perder essa incursão, se estiver na Califórnia. Não existe nada igual no mundo, nem na Grécia, nem em Roma, nem em nenhum outro lugar. Absolutamente extasiante, a exemplo desta Leda e o cisne, entre dezenas de outros mármores, vasos, ânforas, bronzes, enfim, tudo o que se encontra em museus italianos, talvez, mas sem o charme deste pequeno grande museu histórico.

Carmen Lícia e eu passamos horas caminhando, e depois almoçamos no restaurante da própria Villa, antes de pegarmos a estrada para atravessar o deserto de Mojave, e o Death Valley (de raspão), em direção a uma outra maravilha construída pelo homem.

A viagem é tranquila, embora o trânsito das vias expressas de Los Angeles, e até San Bernardino seja alucinante de intenso. Provavelmente demoramos mais para fazer menos de 50 milhas do que nas 200 outras restantes, pelo deserto e pelas montanhas, embora sempre com um tráfego intenso, tanto de carros quanto de caminhões.

Nos hospedamos no The Venetian, que faz, com o Palazzo, ao lado, o maior conjunto veneziano depois da própria Veneza. Quem desejar saber como é, e quão grande é, este hotel com canais e gôndolas, 36 restaurantes, dezenas de lojas de luxo, centenas de mesas de jogo (que ainda não visitamos), pode entrar no site do hotel.
Inacreditável: eu tinha vindo a Las Vegas para ver o kitsch, e reformulei totalmente minha concepção de luxo, sofisticação e raffinement, pois não existe nada absolutamente kitsch, ou brega, e tudo é de muito bom gosto, com excelente decoração.

Ainda não comecei a fotografar, mas fiz duas no iPad, enquanto aguardava o jantar no Tintoreto: ataquei de linguine com camarões Pescadora, e um copo de Pinot grigio. Carmen Lícia se contentou com uma salada caprese (muzzarella de búfala e tomates) e um copo de Chianti.
Espresso, mais um passeio rápido, e descanso.
Amanhã, terça-feira, vamos à descoberta de Las Vegas e já nem temos mais certeza de que o Parque Nacional do Grand Canyon estará aberto para a próxima etapa da viagem: o governo está fechando, por falta de orçamento, e com isso fecham todos os parques nacionais...
Bem, não se pode dizer que o Congresso americano brinque em serviço: se é verdade que a peça orçamentária é a coisa mais importante da vida de uma nação, então os EUA são uma nação verdadeira, não o arremedo de país que temos, onde o orçamento não vale nada, nem o papel onde é impresso...
Paulo Roberto de Almeida
Las Vegas, 1/10/2013

O melhor dicionario sobre a Antiguidade Classica que o dinheiro NAO precisa comprar...

Absolutamente fenomenal e de graça...
Aqui: http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA/home.html
Consultem, estudiosos...
Paulo Roberto de Almeida

mail: Bill Thayer

Italiano

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LacusCurtius Educational Resource:  a Selection of Articles from

A 19th-Century Classical Encyclopaedia

William Smith, D.C.L., LL.D.:
A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities
John Murray, London, 1875.

This single volume, of 1294 pages in rather fine print set in two columns and amounting to well over a million words, is a treasure trove of information on the ancient world, and was for many years a standard reference work, carried thru several British and American editions from the first in 1842 to the last in 1890‑91 with relatively few alterations. It shares one of its selling points with the Web: many illustrations. They are woodcuts, but often rather good ones, and sometimes clearer than photographs could be.

Like any encyclopedia of course, Smith's Dictionary should be used with caution: it is a secondary source, the field covered is very extensive, many authors are involved, and even when it was published could not for each article have represented the latest work. Also, the authors were classicists rather than technical experts in architecture and engineering, so that articles on these latter subjects are sometimes sorely deficient (for example, the article on bridges). Thus it was never absolutely first-rate, and I need not add that for scholarly work, especially where 150 years of archaeological investigation have by now intervened, it is superseded. Furthermore, the gentle reader is reminded that our authors were chiefly Englishmen, so the work tends to focus a bit more on matters important to the study of Roman Britain.

Finally, these articles need to be read not only with a grain of salt, but sometimes lightly and with a few grains of common sense as well. For example, in describing the objects or activities of Aug life, the authors will tell us that ancient doors were wide enough for people to walk thru and that their thresholds and lintels were meant to support weight, and so forth; some things don't change much, and the younger student especially will need to look at things simply and naturally, just as she does with the world around us in our own day.

But as an educational text, in view of the paucity of solid material (and the relatively large amount of nonsense) on the Web, almost all of what Dr. Smith and his collaborators have to say remains valuable: I eventually expect to put all the Roman articles online, mostly as background material for other webpages. With exceptions, I do not intend to put any of the Greek material online.

Having launched his career with this dictionary as a young man of 29, Dr. Smith went on to produce many valuable reference works in the fields of antiquity and early Christianity, for which he was knighted at the close of his life. The 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica includes a good biographical sketch of him.

I've modernized and simplified some of the punctuation, but have otherwise transcribed the text faithfully, and included the woodcuts. At the same time, I've tried to link the references to Latin texts or other sites on the Web, as appropriate; and have sometimes further illustrated the text with my own photographs. For citation purposes, the pagination of the original is indicated in the sourcecode as local links.

In the best medieval manner, I occasionally comment the text in a footnote, or when I manage to express myself succinctly, as Javascript annotations that you can read by placing your cursor over the little bullets,º or sometimes over the images.

About those bullets:

• Blue: relax. Blue bullets stay on the page (notes, unit conversions, etc.).
• Green: go. Green bullets go somewhere, in another window.
• Red: stop and think! Red bullets open another page in the same window. If you don't want to lose your page and have to reload it later, you should do a "New Window with this Link".

Finally, a word on the references given in the Dictionary. Just as we in the early 21c still find this work useful although published in 1875, Smith's Dictionary regularly refers to 17th- and 18th‑century works. Some are superseded, but others remain quite valid: it would be arrogance on our part, to say nothing of stupidity, to believe that our own generation invented everything. Finding these works is unfortunately a different matter; many of them are sitting unconsulted in the Rare Book Rooms of university libraries: I hope that librarians are giving thought to putting them online.

The citation of inscriptions is a special case. The collections of Gruter (1602) and Orelli (1828‑1856) are the most frequently referenced, but are now absorbed into the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. I do hope eventually to provide the CIL equivalents; for now, I can at least point the serious student — should there be any other kind? — to a Gruter‑CIL concordance at the CIL site itself.

The 1875 text of Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities is in the public domain, of course. My own photographs though, and technically my own notes as well as any reworked woodcuts (as when I've color-coded them or turned them into gifmaps), are not in the public domain. If you have doubts as to copyright, just ask. 

Articles transcribed on my site
(major articles are in boldface)

A reminder also that articles continue to be added from time to time:
the What's New Page is here.

On the other hand, that's a sign that eventually the dictionary will be complete; you will be able to browse it letter by letter. For now, just the letters not greyed out:

A • B • C • D • E • F • G • H • I • J • K • L • M 
N • O • P • Q • R • S • T • U • V • X • Z

General Topic Areas		Entries
Agriculture & Mining	crops	Olea (olive)
	implements	Aratrum (plow) • Capistrum • Crates(wicker matting) • Culter (various kinds of knives, part of a plow, etc.) • Jugum (yoke) • Ligo (type of hatchet) • Oscillum • Pala(spade) • Pedum (shepherd's crook) • Raster(hoe or rake) • Rutrum (also a hoe) • Stilus •Torculum (press) • Tribula (threshing drag) • Vannus (winnowing fan)
	land & property	Ager • Fundus • Hortus (garden) • Villicus  See also the law of land and property.
	mining & metals	Metallum • Aes • Argentum • Aurum •Electrum • Orichalcum
	surveying	Agrimensores • Pomoerium
Architecture	public buildings	Amphitheatrum • Balneae (the baths) •Basilica • Bibliotheca (library) • Chalcidicum• Circus • Colossus • Columbarium •Crypta • Curia • Exedra • Horreum(storehouse) • Lesche • Maenianum •Odeum • Porticus • Templum • Theatrum •Velum
	elements	Abaculus • Abacus • Acroterium • Antefixa• Apsis • Arcus (arch) • Astragalus •Atlantes or Telamones • Atticurges •Camara • Cardo (door hinge) • Caryatids •Cyma • Entasis • Epistylium • Fascia/Taenia• Fastigium • Fornix • Metope • Scalae(stairs) • Spira • Testudo • Tympanum • Walls: Murus and Paries
	materials	Later (brick) • Tegula (tile)
	monuments	Arcus Triumphalis (triumphal arch) • Fons(fountain)
	the Roman house	Domus • Apotheca • Cella • Focus (hearth, brazier) • Pergula • Triclinium (dining room)
	decorative art	Abacus (panel) • Emblema (inlay)
Daily Life	Food, clothing, furnishings, entertainment, games, utensils, music, occupations, social customs, slavery, theatre, timekeeping, weights and measures: over 230 articles, some of them long and detailed, and many of them illustrated, are listed on their own separate index page.
Education	Athenaeum • Paedagogus
Engineering	roads & bridges	Angiportus • Callis • Mansio • Milliare (the Roman milestone) • Pons • Stratores • Viae• Tympanum
	tools & machinery	Machinae • Cochlea (screw press, pump, revolving door) • Dolabra (chisel) • Fistuca(pipe) • Fornax (kiln, furnace) • Securis (axe) • Serra (saw)
	waterworks	Antlia • Aquaeductus • Aquarii • Cloaca(sewer) • Columbarium • Emissarium •Fistula (pipe) • Forma • Hydraula (hydraulic organ) • Librator • Pharos (lighthouse) •Piscina • Tympanum
Implements	timepieces	Horologium (sundials, water clocks); see also Polus
	writing, instruments & materials	Atramentum (ink) • Calamus (reed pen) •Commentarius • Liber (book) • Nota(shorthand) • Stilus (stylus) • Tabulae(tablets)
	instruments of torture	Crux (cross) • Furca • Tympanum
	miscellaneous	Abacus • Amussis • Ascia (adze) • Asilla •Buxum • Calathus (women's work-basket) •Calculi • Circinus (compass) • Colores(pigments) • Corbis (type of basket) •Cortina • Ferculum • Flabellum • Forma(mold, cobbler's last) • Fuscina (trident) •Fusus (mold, spindle) • Incus (anvil) • Libra(scales) • Malleus (hammer) • Norma(T‑square) • Regula (ruler) • Retis (net) •Trutina (steelyard)
Law	Over 260 articles, many of them long and detailed, are listed on their own separate index page.
Medicine	Medicina • Medicus (the doctor or practitioner) • Chirurgia(surgery) • Aliptae • Archiater
Political Life	cast of characters	Advocatus • Delator and Quadruplatores(paid informers) • Orator • Ordo
	government	Adlecti • Admissionales • Aediles •Apparitores • Cancellarius • Censor •Comes • Comitia • Consul • Conventus •Curia • Dictator • Honores • Illustres •Interpres • Interrex, Interregnum • Judex •Legatus • Lictor • Praecones • Praefectus Annonae • Praefectus Praetorio • Praefectus Urbi • Praetor • Proconsul • Quaestor •Quinqueviri • Rex • Salarium • The Senate• Tabularium • Tribunus • Viaticum •Viator • Vicus
	public relations	Apotheosis • Augustus • Caesar • Fasces •Rostra • Sceptrum • Suggestus • Thronus •Tribunal
	taxes and finance	Vectigalia • Aerarium • Aes Equestre(includes Aes Hordearium and Aes Militare) • Aes Uxorium • Alimentarii Pueri et Puellae• Annona • Aurum Coronarium • Centesima(sales tax) • Congiarium (welfare payments) • Decumae (land rental fee) • Fiscus •Manceps • Portorium (customs duties) •Publicani • Quadragesima (excise tax on imports) • Quinquagesima (on the sale of slaves) • Scriptura (on grazing) • Tributum •Vicesima
Religion	Over 200 articles, some of them quite long and detailed, are listed on their own separate index page  (temples, priests, ritual, festivals, divination, magic etc.).
Society	Ephebus • Familia • Gens • Hospitium (hospitality) • Libertus(freedmen) • Nobiles • Patricii (patricians) • Plebs See also the law articles index.
Trade & Commerce	banking	Argentarii • Chirographum • Fenus(interest on loans) • Mensarii • Negotiatores
	food industry	Macellum (market) • Mola (mill) • Pistor(baker) • Salinae (saltworks)
	money & coins	Moneta • As • Cistophorus • Denarius •Libella • Sestertius
	professions	Fabri
	shops, etc.	Caupona (tavern) • Taberna (shop)
Transportation	on land	Antyx • Arcera • Carpentum • Carruca •Cisium • Clitellae (saddlebags) • Covinus •Currus (chariot) • Ephippium (saddle) •Esseda • Frenum (bridle) • Harmamaxa •Lectica (litter) • Pegma (float) • Petorritum •Pilentum • Plaustrum • Rheda • Sarracum •Thensae
	postal system	Angaria
Warfare	Some 80 articles, some of them quite long and detailed, are listed on their own separate index page  (the Roman army, ships, siege engines, weapons, etc.).