Text of An Online Chat Held with Michael Wood ('In Search of the Trojan War'),
connecting Berkeley and London, May 14, 2003

12:58:32 [athena] hello~

12:58:43 [Anthony] I just spoke with London and Michael Wood will be here in about 5 minutes. One of his associates is logging him in right now...

12:58:55 [Kel] hello hello

12:59:03 [Anthony] Greetings, msg! Well done!

12:59:51 [susannette] Good am all

12:59:59 [Kel] i wonder how many people are going to come

13:00:06 [Anthony] Hi, Kel! Susanette! Tsunami!

13:00:20 [Anthony] Hi, Athena!

13:00:32 [tsunami] Hey all!

13:00:34 [Kel] hi professor

13:00:43 [Anthony] Greetings to Michael_W - ....

13:00:47 [msg] hello

13:00:57 [susannette] yes...hello

13:01:05 [msg] yes, thank you for coming

13:01:06 [Kel] hi!

13:01:18 [Michael_W] hello everybody: michael here

13:01:28 [Anthony] probably quite a few over the hour - there are a lot of exams and exam preps going on, of course

13:01:36 [Hepteptimi] greetings

13:01:49 [Anthony] Hello, Michael! Welcome to Berkeley....

13:02:08 [Michael_W] hello anthony: nice to be with you

13:02:17 [Anthony] We're very happy to welcome you and very grateful to you for taking the time to join us.

13:02:34 [msg] how much load can the server tolerate?

13:02:53 [Anthony] One word to everyone. Worth checking out the Query / Help button at bottom left

13:03:06 [Anthony] msg, we'll find out!

13:03:06 [Kel] atleast 50 people...thats how many were in here before the midterm...

13:03:10 [Michael_W] thanks: its a nice opportunity to revisit old passions: I'm still a great lover of greece and thgings Greek: we go every year with our kids.

13:03:33 [Anthony] Michael, I think you just came back from doing the voice over for a new project?

13:03:40 [Hepteptimi] I may be going there for the first time this summer

13:04:52 [susannette] What are you currently working on, Michael?

13:04:53 [kshama] the documentary series was made when?

13:04:58 [Anthony] Michael, when did you first get involved with things Greek?

13:05:01 [Michael_W] yes:I've been working for the last two years on a documentary life of Shakespeare, which I've hoped to do for many years: it will be on PBS in the New Year. Its another old passion: made several films years ago: even toured the States with the bard twice when I was at oxford!!!

13:05:40 [Anthony] In Search of was made in, what, 1985?

13:06:09 [susannette] It seems you are attracted to great mysteries!

13:06:16 [Anthony] Welcome Rebecca, Lizzie, aroo, SeaOtter....

13:06:34 [Anthony] Hi Lorca and Kshama!

13:06:36 [Michael_W] ok: Like all of you I am sure, I fell in love with Greece and Greek myth, etc before I ever went there: then when I was 18 at Oxford I played in the Agamemnon at Delphi in the ancient theatre, and spent the rest of the summer hitching around, sleeping out on Mistra, Olympia etc. After that you neve

13:06:41 [Hepteptimi] history and the arts, what needs rememberance

13:07:30 [Michael_W] Slow down! The Troy series was shot 20 years ago this year! Gulp! And great mysteries are always interesting arent they? Esp for TV.

13:07:53 [Hepteptimi] yes, indeed

13:07:55 [Anthony] Tell us, was it easy at that time persuading the BBC to fund and support such an ambitious series?

13:08:46 [Michael_W] Remembrance: I think modernism and globalisation destroys traditional societies and their encoded memories sometimes built up over thoiusands of years. Whats fascinating is to still see and feel the living connections, which is what I've alpways tried to do in my films.

13:09:33 [Michael_W] Not difficult back then. More difficult now, maybe, though Pbs are very supportive too: theres a lot of interest in this kind of film in the US.

13:09:38 [Thetis] Hi, Michael, thanks for joining us. I'm curious to know how much work went into the documentary even before you went to Greece and Turkey; it was such an ambitious task, and I'm wondering what you had planned, and then what you came away with after going there.

13:10:55 [Hepteptimi] yes, it seems an impressive undertaking

13:11:53 [Michael_W] I'd been fascinated by the question of the historicity of Troy, Homer etc, since school: when I was a student, Denys Page's book was out, and very exciting, even if some oif its conclusions have dated. the basic idea was right I think.

13:12:07 [msg2] Michael, you seem to have many "in search of"-titled documentaries -- do you think that reflects a difference from how other documentarists structure their work (ie, are your docuemtnaries a search for you, viewers, both and why do you prefer that model)?

13:12:37 [Michael_W] But always on such films you do a vast amount of research before you start, and more that never hits the screen.

13:13:23 [Michael_W] A search is a good format for the viewer. You share the excitement of discovery. The programme maker is not just telling the viewer what to think

13:13:31 [Thetis] that's what's fascinating for me about this documentary, having seen it twice now--you are all over the place, geographically and intellectually

13:13:44 [Hepteptimi] it seemed there was immense research, every site shown had pertinent details to add to the impact

13:13:44 [susannette] I was curious about funding as well. What came first, the book or the series? Did the book make finding funding for the series easier? How much did the popularity of the material play into this?

13:14:00 [Anthony] That book of Denys Page was given as Sather Lectures here at Berkeley.]

13:14:25 [Michael_W] Also, the journey format opens the viewer up to the exoerience. Landscape is a big thing in history. I guess though you are classicists you will know works like Braudel: Mediterranean: great insights even for students of the Bronze Age

13:14:30 [Hepteptimi] yes, I must agree ,I found the presentation very acceptable

13:15:39 [Michael_W] As for book and series: you do them together. Which can be a real struggle: I still look at the Troy book and see the Schliemann and Evans chapters as quite well written with the research digested; later chapters more hasty and undigested. A hazard of the job

13:16:00 [tsunami] thats interesting

13:16:07 [kshama] hi professor and all

13:16:12 [msg2] there was also a great emphasis on actually showing the travel, not just destinations - shots of taxis careening around mountain roads etc. - how much of a pain was it to film those?

13:16:54 [Michael_W] Journeys also bring the texts alive of course; I found that very strongly on the Alexander journey. Passages in Arrian which stumped even Bosworth came alive once you were in the Persian Gates on on the Jhelum river.

13:17:00 [Hepteptimi] I was imagining that the crew showed up early

13:17:15 [achilles] Is there anything you wish you'd added to the book/series, looking back, 20 years later?

13:17:18 [SeaOtter92] I was wondering what was the most difficult part of making the documentary was for you.

13:17:19 [Kel] there must have been cameras all over....

13:17:45 [msg2] big brotherish 24/7 surveillance? that would seem a bit overbudget

13:17:55 [Michael_W] Too much emphasis on the travel in teh Troy films, I thought. Many too many car shots: but that was the director preference. It was quite a new style then. No car shots in Shakespeare!(Well, one!!!)

13:17:56 [Hepteptimi] yes, the Hittite quests and archives, a very interesting mystery

13:18:31 [Thetis] maybe you could do a recreation of Pausanias' travels and explain some of the more nebulous passages there, too? (kidding...)

13:18:39 [Michael_W] I'd like to do a new Troy series, given the sensational new finds at Troy, and in the Hittite archive. What was speculation then looks solid now.

13:18:47 [e_berger] Micheal, how would you characterize the Greek people today versus how you'd concieve of them in Ancient times?

13:19:51 [Michael_W] Well, as you know I did a little film on Pausanias in teh early nineties on the iera odos. I'm a fan. Even on holiday with teh kids I go searching for the windows to the past. What Harery Potter calls the portkeys, I guess.

13:20:20 [Hepteptimi] hahah

13:20:35 [achilles] what new finds have they discovered at Troy? Not the wooden horse ?!!!

13:20:42 [susannette] As an aspring art historian, I have a lot of challenges imagining space based on slides. I think that is why I enjoyed your approach so much. Plus, with all of those car shots, I felt like and armchair traveler. It was fun. (:

13:20:53 [Thetis] just as long as you don't meet voldemort at the other end

13:21:06 [susannette] lol

13:21:13 [Kel] haha

13:21:23 [Michael_W] Greek people today having aliving connection. In language of course, but also in traditional culture where it still survives. The 400 year Turkish occupation kept Greece from the Enlightebment but it also saved some of the essential things in popular Greek culture...

13:23:23 [e_berger] Interesting, were most people friendly?

13:24:04 [Hepteptimi] they were rebuilding the Parthanon

13:24:43 [Michael_W] Well Greece has changed a lot since I went first, it was just emerging from the Civil War: in the country and the islands the old ideas of hospitality to strangers were still very strong: and esp to Brits as we fought with them against the Axis

13:24:46 [Anthony] A question about interpretation - how we see things: you make the point very strongly that each of the Troy excavators was deeply influenced by the events of their own time...

13:25:26 [Thetis] which parts of Greece do you find yourself returning to again and again?

13:25:42 [chaotica] How accurate do you think our 'reconstructions' of various temples are? THere doesn't seem to be much to work off of...

13:25:54 [Michael_W] Archaeology can only interpret what it finds: they all found what they hoped to find, in a way. And even Manfred Korfmann has been accused of the same in the recent Troy conference in Germany.

13:25:59 [Anthony] ...and one of the striking things about watching In Search of 20 years on is that you present the inquiry from within the context of the Cold War. You evoke a lot from your images of Berlin, postWWII Europe etc.....

13:26:43 [Thetis] chaotica: Greek temples are very regular; once you get a corner or part of a foundation with the proper cuttings preserved, you can make a good guess as to what the rest of it looked like.

13:27:17 [Hepteptimi] yes, the movements of prescious artifacts, evidence

13:27:35 [Michael_W] Reconstructions: there are of course some temples in very good condition: Vassae for example, or the Theseus temple in Athens-plus famous ones in Sicily at Segesta and Agrigento; some are even still used as churches, so in the classical period we can be pretty confident I think. Bronze Age is a di

13:27:39 [msg2] the recovery of "priam's gold"

13:27:45 [chaotica] I'm just thinking about the intricate artwork that seems to be almost entirely destroyed- how would you be able to duplicat e that?

13:27:49 [kshama] michael wood should visit berkeley and its greek influenced architecture

13:28:00 [Thetis] Chaotica: also, they were built according to a well-documented proportional system--it's in the writings of the Roman architect Vitruvius, from the 1st cent CE

13:28:06 [msg2] yes, we are rich in neoclassicalism here

13:28:13 [Michael_W] Invite me!!!!

13:28:34 [Kel] come visit us!

13:28:38 [chaotica] Consider yourself invitied- we would love to have you here!

13:28:51 [kshama] preferably before may 21

13:28:53 [Anthony] .... like you I was brought up in postWWII England, and the language of the Cold War - but watching In Search of here in 2003 with a group whose average age is 19 or 20, I'm struck by how much the language of our perceptions has changed

13:28:58 [kshama] and a certain final

13:29:06 [Kel] haha

13:29:08 [Michael_W] Love to: my publisher in teh US is UC Press, so I should

13:29:17 [chaotica] : ) So long as it's before the 24th, I'm happy

13:29:30 [Michael_W] Anthony: in what way?

13:30:51 [susannette] Yes, come out! Even those of us who are not studying in the Classics depatment are interested in your methodology.

13:30:58 [Michael_W] Of course Troy is an old series in TV terms-its even a bit embarrassing that its still doing teh rounds. I guess you'd say episodes 3 and 4 of Alexander: Kabul etc, are more the modern style.

13:31:01 [msg2] im not sure you'd want to make "In Search of Berkeley" though...

13:31:14 [susannette] methodolowonder how things have changed...or, due to current events, how much is the same. How do you view the current climate with regard to English-speaking, and particularly American, scholars?

13:31:20 [Kel] haha msg

13:31:29 [susannette] sorry..typo

13:31:54 [Anthony] Well, when I see you walking over a German-looking bridge on a grey day wearing a raincoat that conjures up all sorts of values and assumptions with which I then view what you report on survival from the past, human behavior etc.

13:32:34 [Michael_W] Well, we did treck from Galveston Bay through the North Mexican desert to the Pacific coast in Conquistadors, on routes thousands of years old: you'd be surprised what history lies beneath your feet!

13:33:07 [lorca] indeed

13:33:11 [msg2] anthony, since i can barely even guess what that would evoke in historical terms, i must agree about the difference of perspective

13:33:14 [Kel] wow that must be awesome

13:33:56 [chaotica] I wonder if there is a Berkeley 7 here...right under our feet

13:33:59 [Michael_W] Yes: Checkpoint Charlie seems a memory now. I grew up believing the division of Europe was likely to be permanent. But thinking of the scen in the Berlin Museum: the Troy relics bombed in 1945 -reminds me of other scenes I have filmed: the destroyed Museum in Kabul with its hellenistic treasures

13:34:19 [Anthony] ...so I wonder what difference you think it would make if you did In Search of in 2003, or what difference it will make if/when you do a Troy-Revisited series...

13:34:32 [Hepteptimi] the modern images really helps give some geo-cultural perspective to put it in a more modern context

13:34:38 [msg2] for the journeys in your films (especially the sacred way), how closely do your actual travels reflect the story in the film?

13:34:46 [susannette] I plan on focusing on central Europe, and I think that the Iron Curtain still exists in many ways, even if it is in the minds of my "baby boom" parents.

13:34:49 [Michael_W] ...And the Baghdad Museum destroyed only days ago. We filmed there for our Legacy series for PBS, films I'm very proud of. The cradle of Civilisation: a sobering thought.

13:35:27 [Hepteptimi] yes, we were all informed and quite upset over the destruction

13:35:53 [msg2] there was a mourning period in the chat that week

13:35:56 [Michael_W] I think the modern images do give a perspective, History is here and now. its what we make it. I've never been that keen on getting people dressed up as Tudors, say, in TV documentaries. The living connections are more interesting to me

13:36:06 [chaotica] It blows my mind how a city like Troy can simply get 'lost'...how can a major city simply fall by the wayside?

13:36:14 [susannette] lol! Thanks for that!

13:37:05 [Michael_W] A propos of Iraq, I've been involved with Iraqi human rights groups since 91: we made a big film on PBS called Saddam's latest war, about the destruction of the south in 91, and the draining of the Marshes. So it has all been grim viewing recently.

13:38:23 [Thetis] thanks for coming by, Michael; see the rest of you next week!

13:38:44 [Michael_W] Lost cities: Cities get lost throughout history: Peru, Guatemala, Iraq, Troy, you name it: cities come and go: in Iraq there are ruined cities founded in 5000BC which survived into Islamic times and even now have villages near or on the site; but they went, through environmental decline, war or wh

13:38:59 [Anthony] You know, there are a lot of people here who haven't had a chance to speak yet - I'd like to ask everyone: I imagine that while you were watching In Search of, there must have been questions or wonderings you had - maybe quite small things, maybe large. What were they? What would you like to ask?

13:39:52 [chaotica] I just have a hard time imagining the loss of, say, San Francisco

13:39:54 [Kel] hmm...how did you become involved in making documentaries michael?

13:40:26 [Anthony] And there's nearly a thousand years of European history which is the history of loss, and recovery from loss

13:40:47 [msg2] there are many ways in the "trojan war" that you seem to be trying to make books work within a film - you yourself shown reading, or carrying a book, etc -- considering the inherent difficulty of that, i think it was well-done... but do you think that's important, or like the "car shots"?

13:40:59 [Michael_W] I did three years of a doctorate at Oxford, became a news journalist in TV, then moved to making documentaries; then got a chance to make history films, and ended up hosting them

13:41:18 [chaotica] very well, I might add

13:41:30 [Anthony] [Chaotica: go east from SF for 100 miles and you come to China Camp, a near-deserted village area. 150 years ago it had a population of 50,000

13:41:42 [msg2] yes, the flames touching on the book and face while reading about the sack of troy...

13:42:00 [Kel] ah china camp...thats a sad place today

13:42:11 [tsunami] .

13:42:17 [Michael_W] Texts of course are the basis of the tale: Homer, Linear B, Hittite, right up to Schliemann and Dorpfeld. I think/thought it good that the audience knew the tale was based on sources which are open to more than one take

13:42:30 [kshama] what is china camp?

13:42:59 [Hepteptimi] yes, having the sources presented as the sources of extrapolation was very helpful

13:43:10 [Nazish] I joined the chat a little late so I apologize if somebody already asked this but why do you think there is a revival of popular interest in the trojan war?

13:43:24 [msg2] dont worry, no one did

13:43:38 [Michael_W] Going back to Anthony's Q: if I were to do a Troy series now-which I would like to-it would be less dramatic I think: I'd go more for the kind of actuality scenes with witnesses which we used in say Alexander

13:43:40 [Hepteptimi] ah, yes, there is a movie coming out, Brad Pit?

13:44:05 [msg2] and many others, including several form Peter Jackson's LotR

13:44:06 [chaotica] and orlando bloom

13:44:24 [chaotica] there's also going to be one with Vin Diesel, but that's about Hannibal

13:44:29 [Michael_W] I think interest in Troy never stops. Along with Alexander. Hollywood is planning movies on both tales just now. In fact I think Oliver Stone is already filming.

13:44:31 [Hepteptimi] hahahah

13:44:52 [Kel] oh wow

13:45:19 [Hepteptimi] quite impressive, having the classics move to the forefront

13:45:30 [Michael_W] I tried to get Stone to adopt the tale that Alex was assassinated with the collusion of Aristotle(!!!!!) but he wouldnt bite, strangely enough

13:45:35 [Hepteptimi] I could only hope they stay accurate (and interesting )

13:46:04 [msg2] well, then... having spent so much time yourself in pursuit of the myth, why do you think it keeps drawing people back so strongly?

13:46:05 [Michael_W] The classics have everything though dont they? Homer is still the greatest

13:46:13 [chaotica] did you get a chance to see the Helen of Troy miniseries?

13:46:32 [chaotica] if so, what did you think?

13:47:04 [Hepteptimi] yes, I always feel some romantic glory as I read classics

13:47:13 [Michael_W] People are always fascinated by myths and mysteries: but also by the past itself: where did we come from: what made us what we are. These are basic urges in all society

13:47:16 [msg2] mr wood was just praising you...

13:47:39 [mystery] hi michael i was just wondering if you had interest in other myth as well, since i am of indian origin, particularly indian myth as having now read a lot of indian and greek mythology, i can draw a number of parallels between the 2

13:47:53 [Michael_W] Didnt see the Helen of troy series. Though in teh new German symposium someone is even prepraed to think she really existed!!!

13:48:09 [Hepteptimi] lol, a play on the logins, clever

13:49:03 [Hepteptimi] Babalonian as well, I think, very true Mystery

13:49:23 [msg2] there are some myths that capture the public imagination so much more than others, even if the others concern those basic urges too -- any idea why?

13:49:27 [Michael_W] Yes I am fascinated by India: have made a dozen or more visits over the years and filmed there. I wrote a little book about a Tamil town and its pilgrimage. There are many fascinating parallels between Tamil cult and the ancient greeks. Its the only place on earth where you can still see ......

13:49:35 [chaotica] You missed an interesting look at the entire Trojan War...I'm guessing you never realized Helen was paraded naked in the court of Menelaus...

13:49:59 [chaotica] but apparently it's historically accurate!

13:50:07 [Michael_W] that kind of culture still alive...in gigantic temples which give a fantastic impression of what say Ephesus or Didima were like

13:50:40 [mystery] as was draupadi in the mahabharata, which led to a great war in indian myth..! it is really strange almost every single story has a parallel

13:50:51 [Michael_W] I must look this series up!!!!

13:51:30 [mystery] yes it is wonderful, as interesting and fascinating as greek myth, and all myth

13:51:36 [Michael_W] I am hoping to do a series with PBS on archaeology and myth: looking again at Troy, but the Mahabharata would be another

13:51:47 [msg2] it was on the "USA Network"; perhaps an import fee will be assessed (kidding, but that is the network)

13:52:05 [Hepteptimi] Roberts Graves and R Caldwell have been noting some Indian-Greek parallels

13:52:20 [Michael_W] So do you do a field trip to greece as part of teh course?

13:52:33 [Kel] ah i wish!

13:52:46 [msg2] funding levels too low by orders of magnitude

13:52:58 [chaotica] that would be wonderful...as it is, I'll be lucky if I ever make it there!

13:52:58 [Hepteptimi] Anthony even presented some

13:52:59 [Kel] most definately

13:53:26 [chaotica] Did anyone here tape the series?

13:53:29 [Michael_W] Well maybe we should all meet up in berkeley: I could bring all my Alexander slides. See the Sogdian Rock!!

13:53:34 [Kel] our course is almost over, though, actually

13:53:41 [msg2] we just get to travel vicariously by watching you... so thanks for the landscape shots!

13:53:53 [Kel] that would be awesome michael!

13:54:09 [Kel] we got to see some of prof. bulloch's slides too

13:54:23 [Michael_W] I dont look like that any more though!!!!

13:54:41 [Kel] haha

13:55:12 [msg2] there's even a connection there, anthony mentioned alexander's fondness for calling himself achilles and his friend patroclus

13:55:38 [chaotica] Do you still give speeches to yourself?

13:55:46 [chaotica] I loved that scene

13:55:55 [Michael_W] One great thing about teh subject though is that it is changing dramatically all the time: Homer, Archaeology, diplomatic, -its all moved on dramatically

13:56:10 [msg2] now, now, he was his own harshest critic

13:56:35 [chaotica] yupyup

13:57:06 [Michael_W] You have to be in my line of business too: its chastening to see a younger version of yourself making a fool of himself

13:57:22 [msg2] what inspired that?

13:58:32 [Michael_W] Harshest critic: sitting in the editing room does it really: you have to watch all your gaffes: and your habits get entrenched over the years !!!!

13:58:55 [Anthony] Michael, what advice would you give to the younger version of yourself (with the same interests and aspirations you had then and still have...)?

13:59:12 [lorca] I must say though I think we all enjoyed your youthful exuberance and passion

13:59:39 [chaotica] definitely

13:59:43 [Michael_W] Never lose your passions-keep nursing them. Even if you go intro a different line of business, they will always come back to enrich you. Curiopsity is a wonderful thing!

13:59:44 [msg2] yes, i would think so; i was only referring to the commentary from the live peanut gallery though - that was the over-the-top part (which can be good, it certainly snaps people to attention)

13:59:55 [chaotica] it was nice to see a documentary that wasn't afraid to have a little fun

14:00:22 [Nazish] yup

14:00:29 [Michael_W] Cant take ourselves too seriously: its only TV

14:01:07 [msg2] your documentaries seem very character-based; you show more of your own personality and thoughts than a lot of them do; is that a conscious effort to make things more lively and let people identify with your search?

14:01:27 [Anthony] We'll try to do something about getting you to Berkeley. More on that afterwards. right now, before you go (it's 1.00 over here, I see) what projects do you have coming up after Shakespeare is done?

14:02:13 [Anthony] [for 1.00 read 11.00! 7.00 pm in London....]

14:02:24 [Michael_W] Yes-I suppose so: you are trying to take people along on quite a complex journey-from LHIIIB pottery to Hittite tablets: you want them to feel comfortable and not too threatened by detail

14:02:41 [Kel] haha i was about to say anthony, my clock only says 11:00!

14:03:25 [msg2] i agree, the personality infusion made it possible to cover deeper material than amny documentaries without boring the audience

14:03:34 [msg2] kel, that was "poetic licence" i think...

14:03:47 [Kel] yes yes, just like monday, right?

14:03:55 [msg2] precisely

14:03:55 [Michael_W] Future projects: a series on four mysteries imnvolving myth, archaeology and epics-Mahabharata etc is one: long term plans to do a big series on Indian history with Indian scholars etc; smaller projects include one on the idea of teh afterlife in different civilisations which someone has brought to

14:04:38 [lorca] we'll be in the lookout for them, no doubt

14:04:49 [Michael_W] ....us(we are a small independent film company). Also hope to get an exhibition together for the Brit Library on the tenth century(my subject)

14:04:49 [Kel] for sure!

14:05:28 [Kel] ah that means we'll all have to go visit england too...

14:05:30 [msg2] Michael Wood: the brand

14:05:42 [Michael_W] Well, I hope you enjoy them: PBS in January is our Shakespeare: history series by the way, life and times, Catholics and prots, Eliz police state etc

14:07:04 [susannette] anything on the authorship debate?

14:07:24 [Anthony] Michael, we could keep you chatting here for another hour, but we promised to let you go at 7.00 pm your time. I'd like to say a very heartfelt Thnk You on behalf of all of us - particularly for this great chat session, of course, but also for your work and those series that contribute such a lot.

14:07:27 [msg2] oh yes, i meant to ask that, thanks susan

14:07:38 [chaotica] Thank you so much for coming- hopefully you'll be able to make it out here sometime soon!

14:07:45 [susannette] Thanks!

14:07:51 [Michael_W] Aftertyhought on Troy: I was so excited by all the living connections, oral traditions, in Asia on our Alexander hjopurney, I would definitely look for more living connections in greece and Anatolia if we did a new one.

14:08:08 [Kel] *claps* thank you!

14:08:15 [msg2] you're right, we shouldn't impose more after youve been so generous

14:08:34 [Anthony] ...such a lot to our understanding of the world, the past in our present. Please plan on recieving an invitation to come to Berkeley, in real time!

14:08:55 [Michael_W] Thanks very much: I've enjoyed it too: thanks for asking me and all the best with whatever you do afterwards

14:08:57 [Kel] you're going to have to let us know when he comes anthony!

14:09:06 [msg2] thank you very much (don't know if you read the e-mail yourself, but hepteptimi and I were the ones who decided this was worth a shot)

14:09:27 [Kel] haha thanks to msg and hepteptimi too!

14:09:45 [lorca] Yes, a warm and hearty thank you

14:10:12 [Anthony] Yes, many thanks to Michael grisolia and Robert Van Spyk!!

14:10:51 [Anthony] Michael: there are many many connections in Greece alright, from past to present, as you well know..

14:10:51 [chaotica] I sense some extra cedit

14:11:01 [Michael_W] Thanks!!! e-mail here is info@mayavisionint.com if anyone has a pressing question: but cant do anything long at the moment as we are in the middle of dubbing shows

14:12:01 [Anthony] [And one of our graduates - unable to be here this morning - has just discovered another of the lost places in Homer (Orneai) and is off to do a preliminary excavation in a few weeks

14:12:02 [wycee] EricE>

14:12:57 [Michael_W] Great-footsloggers after the catalogue of Ships are after my own heart!!!

14:13:39 [Anthony] Alright! I think it's time to let you get back to your family and evening! Many many thanks, Michael, from all of us! I hope we will be getting to see you soon! Good luck with Shakespeare!!

14:13:53 [Michael_W] I've got a couple of minutes, then I must head off to North London: any last qs?

14:14:09 [chaotica] when are you visiting

14:14:13 [Michael_W] Thanks Anthony. Keep in touch. Bye

14:14:25 [msg2] hm, there was an unresolved query about what youd say on the shakespeare authorship debate

14:14:56 [msg2] probably would take an hour to cover that properly, but a sneak peek at least...

14:15:42 [Michael_W] Well quickly: its a load of nonesense: he's a very well documented person for someone of his class. But why theres a mysterty is teh interesting question. It now looks v much as if he came from a Catholic family in a divided land.

14:15:47 [Anthony] msg2: it was all sorted out years ago. Check into a book called 'No Bed For Bacon'....

14:16:51 [Michael_W] ....Which would explain his reticence...his dad was done for money lending, illegal wool dealing, and for his religion(he's on recusancy lists) Even Will's dtr is done for failing to go to Prot Church. It would explain a lot

14:17:40 [Michael_W] I guess I should go now. Thanks again. And all the best.

14:17:53 [msg2] how interesting

14:18:03 [chaotica] !you too! Thank you very much for coming

14:18:04 [Kel] bye michael!

14:18:07 [msg2] thanks to you as well

14:18:18 [msg2] best wishes, and good evening

14:18:40 [Anthony] Safe journey home! Thank You!!

14:22:02 [Kel] that was cool

14:22:18 [Anthony] Well, everyone. Thanks for coming by this morning. And an especial thanks to Michael (Grisolia) and Robert!!

14:22:44 [msg2] you are most welcome

14:23:12 [msg2] and the smae on behalf of robert who i think is off-keyboard at the moment...

14:23:22 [lorca] A very fitting end to your semester, to return to where we started; the Trojan war

14:23:22 [msg2] (same)

14:23:37 [Kel] yup

14:23:42 [Anthony] I think that went very well...

14:23:58 [msg2] i think so too

14:23:59 [Kel] was this your first time talking to michael wood, anthony?

14:24:09 [lizzie] Thanks, Michael and Robert. See you all next week!

14:24:22 [msg2] we seemed to have about the right density of questions

14:24:39 [Kel] yeah i dont think he was too overwhelmed

14:24:39 [msg2] not overwhelming the poor man, but keeping him pretty busy enlightening us

14:24:41 [Anthony] First time, Kel.

14:25:00 [singularty] but not the last hopefully huh

14:25:13 [msg2] yes, you should make it a tradition

14:25:22 [Anthony] I think once we slowed down a bit!

14:25:23 [msg2] (as i mentioned in the email to you last afternoon)

14:25:23 [Kel] now that you've talked to him maybe he'll join chats the next time you teach this class

14:25:50 [singularty] he might be a little too busy to join chats frequently I would imagine, heh

14:25:59 [singularty] okay, good luck with finals all

14:26:04 [msg2] yes, we did once... but keeping up a steady pace for 70 minutes isnt easy

14:26:16 [msg2] a once-per-semester tradition would probably be feasible

14:26:23 [Kel] yup

14:26:42 [Kel] especially since you need to have it during the morning here when a lot of people may be in class

14:26:43 [Hepteptimi] yes, it was wonderful and insightful having him

14:26:45 [Anthony] I'm sure he's got a busy schedule, but I'm sure we'll see him again in these parts. And I've thought for a long while we should get him over in person - time to do that.

14:26:58 [msg2] and as there is no curve in this class, i can wish you all good luck as well

14:27:10 [Kel] yes definately bring him to berkeley!

14:28:00 [Kel] ...then let us know

14:28:28 [Hepteptimi] yes, having him and perhaps a panel in an auditorium would be increadable

14:28:49 [msg2] having the chat is nice too - less lecture-y

14:28:50 [Hepteptimi] he has those slides of interest

14:29:08 [msg2] so both!

14:29:28 [Anthony] agreed

14:29:34 [msg2] i think it's fun for students to actually talk on a equal level with someone theyve been watching as an expert

14:30:06 [msg2] also part of the appeal of the weekly chats with the esteemed Dr. Bulloch i think

14:30:10 [Kel] yup i agree msg

14:30:27 [Kel] yeah...its like he's just one of us

14:30:55 [tlouie84] is michael wood still here?

14:30:57 [Hepteptimi] yes, certainly is, and he also supplemented and updated his previous works a little

14:31:11 [Hepteptimi] no, Michael_W left

14:31:21 [Hepteptimi] that was his login

14:31:21 [msg2] no, Michael_W has elft us for the greener pastures of North London

14:31:34 [tlouie84] noooo

14:31:49 [tlouie84] how disappointing...i had an appointment this morning

14:32:05 [Kel] aww

14:32:07 [tlouie84] how was he?

14:32:19 [msg2] perhaps someone can send you the transcript if you want

14:32:24 [lorca] yes, and thanks to you Prof Bulloch for providing this forum for the course

14:32:29 [Hepteptimi] yes

14:32:43 [Hepteptimi] it has been a good help

14:33:04 [Kel] maybe you should save and post this chat online professor...

14:33:23 [Anthony] I'll try to post the transcript on the website later today or tomorrow.