Wednesday was the tutorial for which I was working so hard to get the Constantine paper done in time. I was happy with my research and conclusions but I didn't have enough time for a nice polished paper before the tutorial. This is okay, since it isn't actually due until Spring 2007, but I wished I had more time.
My supervisor started the tutorial by asking me to read the whole paper aloud to her! That wasn't very fun. But afterwards, we had a good and enjoyable discussion about various points I covered, and she gave me a few suggestions on what to focus more on, etc. Fortunately, she sounded happy with my paper. She said my arguments were good and interesting and the organization worked well. Phew! For now, she said to put that paper aside and move on to the next thing. We'll come back to it sometime next term (mid-spring). I'll try to get some more revisions in whenever I can, but it will remain unfinished for now.
Since then I've been hard at work on preparing for next Wednesday, which is another set of Greek translation. I picked up a couple really good classical Greek dictionaries and grammars (published by Oxford University Press, of course) which have been extremely helpful. With such intensive work (several hours each day!) I'm learning really fast, but still have a very long way to go.
I'm also already trying to get some reading and thinking started on my next paper (due the following Wednesday) - it will be on the development of the primacy of the church of Rome (i.e. how the Pope got to be the big boss).
Today I went to a new lecture, called "Roman Coins and History II: 30 BC - 500 AD." I've been wanting to go to this one - it's at the Ashmolean Museum and the description said each lecture ends with looking at Roman coins! But it's at the same time as my supervisor's lecture on the Trinity, so I thought I better go to hers at least the first week. But today I went for the coin lecture and it was so much fun.
The lecture wasn't super interesting in itself - it mainly had to do with the variation in the percentages of real silver, inflation, locations of mints throughout the empire, and various economic issues. But afterwards we all sat around a long table and we not only got to look at actual Roman coins, but handle all of them! It was the greatest! I got to hold about around ten different coins individually and was able to compare the sizes, weights, and qualities of them and check out the images and Latin inscriptions on both sides. LOVED it! So much better than peering at them in a glass case. Next week will be even better, as the lecture will be about the images on the coins and how the emperors used them both as monuments and propaganda.
This is real fun for me, as I don't have a lot of formal background in Roman history, and certainly not numismatics (study of coins), but I love it and ideally I'd like to be able to teach general Roman history as well as early Christian history. (I suppose that means I'll have to stop thinking of Star Wars whenever I hear "the Republic" and "the Empire"....) But it's also relevant to my current studies, as a significant part of my Constantine paper had to do with what the images on his coins say about his own religion and religious policies. Hopefully next week's Roman Coins lecture will give me more insight into that.
And now, the weekend! If the weather's nice we might take Wilma out for another little trip tomorrow.
Oh, and David bought a couple Euro Lottery tickets today - the jackpot is now up to £100 million (almost $200 million)!! Factoid: In the UK a Quick Pick is called a Lucky Dip. The drawing is tonight - cross your fingers! If we win, my school loans would be paid, Wilma would get a sister, and we'd get a new house down south - David has already figured out that the Channel islands of Jersey or Guernsey are the best nearby tax shelters. My commute to Oxford wouldn't take long in our personal helicopter.
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