AbleMedia LLC

Needham, MA - October 26, 2005 – Clothes may make the modern man, but in ancient Rome it was his regal ride complete with a baboon and wild donkeys, according to Elizabeth Tylawsky, a Latin teacher at Norwich Free Academy in Connecticut. Tylawsky is this month’s AbleMedia Silver Chalice winner for her Jeeps and Hummers in Antiquity? Crossover Vehicles and Conspicuous Consumption published on the Classics Technology Center on the Web (CTCWeb, http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb).

“With this straightforward article, Ms. Tylawsky earns virtual ‘bling’ of pure silver,” said Wendy E. Owens, CTCWeb Editor-in-Chief. “She may not be able to mount it on the hood of her car or hang it around her neck, but CTCWeb’s worldwide audience recognizes the AbleMedia Silver Chalice as the indicator of some of the best Classics materials on the Internet.”

“I am especially delighted to be published on CTCWeb because a lack of ready access to publications is a problem for all teachers and academics, not just those working in the secondary schools,” Tylawsky said. “Journals and books are expensive and major research libraries cannot always make them easily available to those working in the field. It is a very good thing to see that CTCWeb is trying to supply this need.”

In her sterling tract, Jeeps and Hummers in Antiquity?, Tylawsky focuses her investigation on the modes and styles of transportation flaunted by the rich and famous of Rome in the 1st century CE and the garish vehicles they paraded as public-relations tools. Tylawsky describes tricked-out raeda and essedum, two of the showiest state-of-the-art vehicles in antiquity, used by Roman leader Mark Antony to marshal favorable public opinion both at home and abroad.

Through the letters of the Roman statesman Cicero, the verse of the Roman poet Horace’s, and historical facts about the conspicuous consumption of ancient Rome’s elite, Tylawsky reveals that the flashiest show in the empire was Mark Antony’s vehicular entourage, replete with pimps, a mime actress, lions, and civil servants. According to Tylawsky, through his ostentatious display of conspicuous consumption, Mark Antony won the heart of the Egyptian queen Cleopatra and the loyalty of the Eastern Roman Empire.

Each week AbleOne’s sponsor, AbleMedia, salutes contributors for outstanding submissions to the AbleOne Consortium (http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/consortium/), the CTCWeb Showcase (http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/showcase/), and CTCWeb Netshots™ (http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/netshots.html). Each receives the Bronze Chalice award. AbleMedia awards Silver Chalices for the outstanding submissions of the month. At the end of each year, AbleMedia awards Gold Chalices for the outstanding submissions of the year.

AbleOne serves millions of educators, students, and other users in over 100 countries and the number of users is tripling annually. AbleOne’s CTCWeb is a repository of practical tools, for classicists and other educators, to enhance the use of computer technology in Classics education. At CTCWeb, students, educators and others find the free dissemination and open exchange of practical educational materials, systems, and applications by individuals and organizations involved in the Classics community. AbleMedia sponsors CTCWeb as part its AbleOne Education Network.

The AbleOne Education Network (AbleOne) is an online educational resource for millions of educators and students at the K-12 and post secondary levels around the globe. For eighth years, AbleOne’s has used the Internet to provide quality teaching and learning materials to its rapidly growing corps of dedicated users: educators, students, and other curious minds worldwide. For more about AbleOne go to http://ablemedia.com/ableone.

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