NOTES FROM A TIME SIFTER

By: Smitty Smith

Not only has Life Long Learning changed its name but it is offering 15 History class in their Fall Season. First the name change: Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Ringling College. It doesn’t roll off of the tongue but then again it is all about the quality classes they offer. We are only highlighting a few here. Time Sifters Board Member Dr. Steven Derfler is teaching four classes while Time Sifters presenter and member David Miano is teaching two. Derfler is teaching “The Seven Wonders of the World x2”, “Romanesque & Gothic Worlds”, “King Tut”, and “From Spice Routes to Space Age: Living in the Mideast”. Miano is teaching “Archaic Greece” and “The Roman Republic”.

“Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Ringling College” offers continuing studies and lectures on various topics including History. Their schedule is based on the four seasons and each is packed with interesting topics. Visit them on line at www.olliatringlingcollege.org for their complete catalog. We are only highlighting some the fall classes for the History lover.

Registration starts: August 28, 2018. There are three ways to register for classes at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Ringling College: Online, by mail, or in person.
See their website listed above for more details. We hope you find something you like.

This class explores the emergence and development of Roman civilization from the foundation of the city of Rome to the time of Julius Caesar (1st century BCE). Students will be introduced to the works of ancient Roman poets, historians, and thinkers together with art and archaeology to investigate Roman culture and society, as well as the origin and development of republican government, imperialism, technological innovations, and literary and visual arts. Topics include the roles of women and slaves, Roman religion, the Punic Wars, and the revolutions of Marius, Sulla, and Caesar.

The Seven Wonders of the World is a list of remarkable constructions of classical antiquity cited by various authors in guidebooks or poems popular among ancient Hellenic tourists. Although the list, in its current form, did not stabilize until the Renaissance, the first such lists of Seven Wonders date from the 1st-2nd century BC. The new Seven Wonders were chosen in 2007 through an online contest put on by the New 7 Wonders Foundation, in which more than tens of millions of people voted. We will review these new wonders which are all UNESCO World Heritage sites.

“It was an age of intellectual darkness that extinguished the light of Rome. Yet amidst the errors there shone forth men of genius; no less keen were their eyes, although they were surrounded by darkness and dense gloom,” said Francesco Petrarch, an Italian scholar in the 1330s. On the heels of the collapse of the Byzantine Empire, Europe was plunged into a Dark Age — Romanesque in its back-pedaling. But with the dawn of the New Age referred to as the Gothic World, a sense of hope once more embraced the continent.

One of the greatest archaeological discoveries and subsequent mysteries emerged on Nov. 26, 1922, when archaeologist Howard Carter identified the tomb of the New Kingdom Pharaoh, Tutankhamun. Over the next few years, more than 3,500 objects were excavated, along with his intact sarcophagus and mummy. Of 62 tombs discovered in “The Canyon,” as Carter called the King’s Valley, this was the only royal tomb fully intact, with all of its funerary goods. However, further analysis seemed to reveal a dark side—possibly an assassination. In this workshop, we will consider the forensic evidence that offers new clues into the death of the boy-king.

WOW!!! 15 History Classes – Fall Season of Lifelong Learning