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Category Archives: Ancient Jokes
Frigidus Lusus
After uploading my first published article two days ago, I thought I should add the second today, also on Marcus Argentarius. This one involves an obscene pun on the name of Antigone – not the Sophoclean protagonist but a probably-fictional … Continue reading
Posted in Ancient Jokes, Curculio: Greek, Greek Epigram
Tagged Antigone, Argentarius
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A Hermetic Pun in Marcus Argentarius
I have just uploaded my first published article, “A Hermetic Pun in Marcus Argentarius XII G-P (A.P. 5.127)”, Hermes 119.4 (1991): 497. Since it is about an obscene pun on the name of Hermes, I of course sent it to … Continue reading
Philogelos V (75)
Σχολαστικὸς νοσῶν, εἶτα πεινῶν, ὡς οὐδέπω τετάρτη ὥρα ἀπηγγέλη, ἀπιστῶν πρὸς ἑαυτὸν τὸ ὡρολόγιον ἐκέλευσε κομισθῆναι. A pedant, being sick and then hungry, and suspicious as the fourth hour was never announced, ordered the sundial to be moved into his … Continue reading
Philogelos IV (256)
Σχολαστικὸς εἰς χειμῶνα ναυαγῶν καὶ τῶν συμπλεόντων ἑκάστου περιπλεκομένου σκεῦος πρὸς τὸ σωθῆναι, ἐκεῖνος μίαν τῶν ἀγκυρῶν περιεπλέξατο. A pedant, as his ship was sinking in a storm and his fellow passengers were each one embracing a piece of tackle … Continue reading
Philogelos III (25)
Σχολαστικὸς ἐν τῶι πλέειν χειμῶνος ὄντος σφοδροῦ καὶ τῶν οἰκετῶν κλαιόντων· Μὴ κλαίετε, ἔφη· πάντας γὰρ ὑμᾶς ἐν διαθήκαις ἐλευθέρους ἀφῆκα. A pedant on a sea-voyage, when there was a severe storm and his slaves were weeping, said: “Don’t cry: … Continue reading
Philogelos II (2)
Σχολαστικὸς κολυμβῶν παρὰ μικρὸν ἐπνίγη· ὤμοσε δὲ εἰς ὕδωρ μὴ εἰσελθεῖν, ἐὰν μὴ μάθῃ πρῶτον καλῶς κολυμβᾶν. A pedant nearly drowned while swimming; he swore that he would not go into the water again, if he did not learn first … Continue reading
Philogelos I (55)
Σχολαστικὸς εὐτράπελος ἀπορῶν δαπανημάτων τὰ βιβλία αὐτοῦ ἐπίπρασκε, καὶ γράφων πρὸς τὸν πατέρα ἔλεγε· Σύγχαιρε ἡμῖν, πάτερ· ἤδη γὰρ ἡμᾶς τὰ βιβλία τρέφει. A witty pedant, in difficulties for money, began to sell his books, and writing to his father … Continue reading
Casaubon – and Cicero?
At Laudator Temporis Acti, Michael Gilleland quotes a witticism of Casaubon. It looks to me like a far more succinct variation on a story Cicero tells in his De Legibus – or rather has his character Atticus tell, since it’s … Continue reading
Posted in Ancient Jokes, Latin Literature
Tagged Atticus, Cicero, Isaac Casaubon, Michael Gilleland
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Grammatical Humor
Palladas once more (A.P. 9.489): Γραμματικοῦ θυγάτηρ ἔτεκεν φιλότητι μιγεῖσα παιδίον ἀρσενικόν, θηλυκόν, οὐδέτερον. A grammarian’s daughter, having known a man, gave birth to a child which was masculine, feminine, and neuter. (translated by W. R. Paton)
Posted in - Epigrams, Ancient Jokes, Ephemerides
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Catching Up
I just uploaded three jokes to the Ioci Antiqui page, which still leaves me five days behind. Next week is ‘Winter Break’, so I should be able to catch up soon. Now I have some Interim reports to compile before … Continue reading
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Mini-Centennial
I just uploaded the 100th joke to the Ioci Antiqui page — actually two versions of the same joke, by Lucilius (or Lucillius) in Greek and Martial in Latin. Like today’s Greek joke, tomorrow’s joke, from a prose author not … Continue reading
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Caught Up Again
Earlier today I uploaded six jokes to the Ioci Antiqui page, covering February 1st through 6th. These are in a new PDF file for February, here.
Posted in Ancient Jokes, General
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So Much for January
The last of the January jokes is now up, and I suppose I will go ahead and start a February PDF file tomorrow night. I won’t have time to test HTML Greek display before the weekend.
Posted in Ancient Jokes, Announcements
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Catching Up and Looking Ahead
I’m putting the finishing touches on the six jokes necessary to bring Ioci Antiqui up to date. They should be up in an hour or so. I’m still mulling over how and when to make the transition to posting jokes … Continue reading
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Not Quite Caught Up
I spoke wrote posted too soon. The Ioci Antiqui page is again behind, though by only one day, since I have deleted the epigram of Martial that I’d already used for November 23rd. I’ll try to catch up tomorrow.
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Caught Up
As promised, January’s Ioci Antiqui are now caught up through tomorrow (Monday), with five new jokes for the 19th through the 23rd, of which one or two are actually funny — opinions may differ as to which one or two. … Continue reading
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Ioci Antiqui
Sorry about the missed days: I’ve been under the weather and bogged down in end-of-semester grading. I will post five more ancient jokes by midnight tonight to make up the deficit. These will be in the usual PDF file. At … Continue reading
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Ioci Antiqui 76
Philárguros diathékas gráphwn heautòn kleronómon étaxen. A greedy man writing his will made himself his own heir. This is Philogelos 104. Not very funny? It’s actually better than average for the collection. Underlined e and o represent eta and omega … Continue reading
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Problems with Ioci Antiqui
I hadn’t planned to start posting these as ordinary posts, but Filezilla is refusing to upload my PDF file. Is 118k too big? I’ll try again in the morning — or perhaps the afternoon, since it’s the first day of … Continue reading
Posted in Ancient Jokes, Announcements
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Advice Needed
Now that I have my laptop back and have found a temporary and partial fix for my spam-comment problem (more on that soon), it’s time to start posting more regularly. But first I have a question for my readers. I’m … Continue reading
Posted in Ancient Jokes, Announcements
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