Autumn Animations: The Rattle, The Banquet, The Doctor’s Game, and ‘Teaching Ancient Greece’.

Time to reflect on a busy few months and bring you some animations, pictures and updates! Early Autumn saw us visiting the University of Fribourg in Switzerland, to release new animations for the Locus Ludi project (https://locusludi.ch/ ). Under the leadership of Veronique Dasen, Locus Ludi has been exploring play and games in classical antiquity. Results from the project were presented at a university open day, Explora 23. Panoply’s Sonya Nevin presented the Locus Ludi artefact animations. These animations have stretched us beyond vases to include wall-paintings and low-relief stone carvings. Perhaps you’ve seen Hide and Seek in Herculaneum, made from a fresco in the volcano-hit city. You will have had less chance to see the new vase animation, The Rattle, and its companion video, About the Rattle. You can see them here below and they now have their own page, with a bonus PowerPoint, on the main Panoply site. We’ll add a few other Locus Ludi animations in the New Year once their related resources have been finalised.




Above, The Rattle and About the Rattle made from a small jug now housed in the British Museum. For more on this topic, see https://www.panoply.org.uk/rattle .

Explora 2023 also saw members of the public playing Roman board games and there was a screening of the project’s documentary about a mercury-filled Roman dice that some cheeky Romans used for cheating at dice games.

Above, a Roman-style board-game prepared by Ulrich Schӓdler, played at the University of Fribourg’s Explora Open Day.

Above, Panoply’s Sonya Nevin presents the new artefact animations at Explora 23 at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland.

Above, Explora 23 was a public showcase of research from across the University of Fribourg.

Meanwhile back in the UK, a new exhibition was opening at the Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology at the University of Reading. Locus Ludi – Anyone Can Play! was inspired by Locus Ludi and included all sorts of aspects of play and games in antiquity. Panoply collaborated with the Ure Museum team to make an animated documentary for the exhibition about an ancient board game from the Roman collection at Colchester Castle. You can see The Doctor’s Game here (length 1.55 min):

Above, a case from Locus Ludi – Anyone Can Play! at the Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology, University of Reading. For an interactive version, visit the exhibition homepage

After a pit stop in Cambridge, we were off to Sicily. We travelled round this fabulous island and popped in to see Ludovico Portuese of the University of Messina. Ludovico leads the GALATEO project ( https://galateo.unime.it/), exploring etiquette in ancient Mesopotamia. You can read about his research and use of ceramics as evidence in this recent Panoply interview. Earlier in 2023, Panoply animated two artefacts for the GALATEO project, which can be seen online and irl in the Penn Museum in the USA:


Above, The Banquet, made as part of the GALATEO project from an Assyrian ivory plaque. For more on it, see: https://www.panoply.org.uk/banquet.


Above, Worshipping the Gods, made as part of the GALATEO project from a Mesopotamian stone stele. For more on it, see: https://www.panoply.org.uk/worshipping-gods

We visited some fabulous ancient sites in Sicily, saw plenty of great vases in the well-stocked museums, and caught a puppet-show – the traditional Sicilian artform which is an ancestor of vase animations.

Above, a beautiful depiction of Perseus by the Phiale Painter, white ground calyx krater in the Agrigento Archaeological Museum (inv. A67, Beazley 214231).

Above, puppets from the Puppet Museum at Syracuse; a show at their theatre is a must for animation fans

Autumn also saw us return to University College Dublin to talk about how things have developed at the Panoply Vase Animation Project since we began animating vases in the UCD School of Classics way back when.

Above, a poster for Sonya's talk at University College Dublin on the history of the Panoply vase animations.

Meanwhile, our old friend, Hoplites! Greeks at War has gone on display as part of the Hoplites exhibition at the Déri Museum in Hungary. Having the animation displayed amongst the warfare artefacts gave visitors a chance to see the equipment in action, making it clearer what it was for and how it worked.

Above, visitors to the Hoplite exhibition at Déri Museum in Hungary, where vase animation put helmets and other equipment in context.

Last, but not least, we are glad to report progress on a project we’re very excited about: Teaching Ancient Greece. Lesson Plans, Vase Animations, and Resources. Teaching Ancient Greece, edited by Panoply’s Sonya Nevin, is a book of resources for using the Our Mythical Childhood vase animations in teaching and learning. It’s nearing completion and will be out next year. While hard copies will be available to buy, we’re delighted that it will be available as an Open Access download, through its publisher, Warsaw University Press. It features contributions from teachers and other educators all over the world and is chock full of handy resources and bright ideas. Watch this space for more news. In the meantime, checkout the other Open Access publications in the Our Mythical Childhood series:

Susan Deacy, What Would Hercules Do? Lessons for Autistic Children Using Classical Myth (2023), featuring vase illustrations by Panoply's Steve K Simons.

Katarzyna Marciniak (ed.), Our Mythical Hope. The Ancient Myths as Medicine for the Hardships of Life in Children’s and Young Adults’ Culture (2021), essays on antiquity in modern young people's literature.

Lisa Maurice (ed.) Our Mythical Education. The Reception of Classical Myth Worldwide in Formal Education, 1900-2020 (2021), how classical myth fits into school curricula around the world.

Elizabeth Hale and Miriam Riverlea, Classical Mythology and Children's Literature... An Alphabetical Odyssey (2022), a guide to the use of classical myth in modern children's lit, featuring an a-z of chapter illustrations by Panoply's Steve K Simons.

Above, Teaching Ancient Greece. Lesson Plans, Vase Animations, and Resources, will join these Open Access Our Mythical Childhood publications in 2024. Download your free copies from the Warsaw University Press site: https://www.wuw.pl/tra-eng-58207-Our-Mythical-Childhood.html

Thanks for all your support over the year. We wish you all the best for your new adventures in 2024!