Akroterion

I have selected ten epigrams attributed to Straton of Sardis and translated them into Afrikaans. The inspiration came to me as I realised that there is a need to break social barriers that have burdened the LGBTQ+ community. I often meet young men who have suppressed their feelings out of fear for their families and social expectations. In order to combat these fears, there is a plethora of published literature that deals with homosexuality, however, there is a clear lack of Afrikaans publications. In the case of these epigrams, it seems that translators tend to shy away from them as they are evidently vulgar and touches sensitive topics and thus, I decided to undertake this translation. These epigrams were admittedly written in a different time with different views on sexuality, this does not, however, deny the existence of sexual attraction and love between the same sex. The more material that is available to young people, the more homosexuality will be normalised, assisting many individuals to accept themselves.

This article seeks to explain why many viewers and fans of the Game of thrones series and the novels that inspired them were disappointed and frustrated with the ending of the eighth season. Although it has long been observed that kingship often coincided with magical powers or the abilities of the seer in a wide range of early human societies, we have come to prefer the heroes whom we celebrate and the seers or wise people who advise them to be separate entities. Bran Stark endured physical disability as the result of an attempted assassination as a child; either in spite of this or because of this, he developed soothsaying powers as a ‘greenseer’ and journeyed beyond the Wall to become the next Three-Eyed Raven. While disability has traditionally been linked to the ambiguous powers of the seer, there is also a strong tradition for this not to be associated with kingship. Then there is the nature of Bran himself. In some ways Bran has remained a child, avoiding normal human relationships and the usual progression of life; at the same time, however, Bran is an old man, with hints of omniscience, longevity and even immortality. He fulfils the Jungian puer-senex archetype. Both Classical and other precedents are used to view Bran as an ambiguous and dualistic figure with whom most fans of Game of thrones can no longer sympathize.

This article surveys the contents of archival material found in the manuscript and archives section of the Special Collections of the University of Cape Town Libraries. In particular, it scrutinises the activities recorded in the Minute Book of the Cape Town Branch of the Classical Association of South Africa, 1927-1940. The details found in the Minute Book shed valuable light on the teaching and research of classical antiquity in South Africa in the early part of the twentieth century, illuminating a lesser-known period of the history of the Classical Association of South Africa.