University of Washington
In Livy's history of the early Republic the fall of Veii and the subsequent sack of Rome by the Gauls raise the question of a Roman migration from a devastated Rome to an empty but standing Veii. Camillus' great speech (5. 51-54), confirmed by an omen immediately after, settles the question of habitation. Placed at the end of Book 5, the speech makes an emphatic conclusion to a chapter in Rome's history which moves from victory to abject defeat to survival. Written as Augustus was refounding the Roman state, reordering the empire, and restoring both temples and traditional Roman religion, Livy's account, despite its fictional elements, uses the past as an object lesson for the present. My paper will look at Camillus' speech as a map of the proper relations between conqueror and conquered which plots the appropriate movement of peoples and disposition of goods. The correct practice for Romans founds empire in implicit contrast to the barbarian practice of looting and moving on. Camillus' argument against migration draws boundaries between the city of Rome and the external territories it rules and establishes a sacred topography for the imperial metropole. Camillus' Rome, inscribed by the gods, makes literal Livy's metaphor of history (praef. 10) as an inscribed monument. In effect, the historian and his hero use time to map space: imperial history is written on the geography of the city.
Linfield College
Juan as Odysseus washed ashore on Skheria, Lambro as Odysseus returning to Ithaka, both face a modern, not a Homeric nostos, in a world no longer ruled by the obligations of the guest-host relation. Byron splits Odysseus into two heroes here and thereby heightens their double failure. Juan does not find generous Alkinoos, ready to marry him to Nausicaa; Lambro does not find a Penelope, mourning over his long absence. Haidée's Cycladic isle is not part of Homer's Mediterranean, but of Byron's, and that makes all the difference.
Langara College, Vancouver, B.C.
This paper will examine evidence for marriage between foreigners and Athenians towards the end of the fourth century. This is the period when Euthydike, of the family of Miltiades and Kimon, married Ophellas of Cyrene, and then Demetrius Poliorcetes; her son by Ophellas was apparently accepted as an Athenian citizen, and the name Ophellas was perpetuated in the family, celebrating the connection with a foreigner. Was this part of a general increase in toleration at Athens of foreigners marrying Athenians, or was it a return to the sixth century custom of important Athenian noble families seeking marriage alliances with their own class outside Athens? Can Athens loss of power after Chaironea, and lose of influence after the victories of Alexander, help explain any changes?
Wilfrid Laurier University
The extensive treatment of silence, along with its relationship to nature and good and bad poetry, is one of the major ways in which Callimachus connects the beginning and end of his hymn to Apollo. In the prooimion of the poem, the human audience, the sea, and the mythological characters Thetis and Niobe become silent in the presence of Apollo's divine song (17-24). The silence of the sea shows how the music of Apollo can overturn the ordinary workings of nature, while the silence of Thetis and Niobe represents the complete disruption of ordinary human behavior in the face of that song. In order to reveal what type of song Apollo's music entails, Callimachus alludes to images of silence from Pindar, Pythian I. At the end of the poem Callimachus uses silence and the sea in a somewhat different way. Apollo vigorously shuts up Envy, who 'does not like a poet who does not sing even as much as the sea' (107ff.), and then consigns Blame to oblivion as well (113). As a result, the sea becomes a metaphor for the type of poetry which the singer is not to imitate, while silence may be perceived as the absence of song. When we compare the role of silence at the beginning and end of the poem, we see it progress from marking divinely inspired song to coinciding with the music's divinely ordained conclusion.
Callimachus' use of silence is, in fact, tied in with other thematic features which connect the two portions of the hymn. These include Apollo's kick of the door in line 3, which corresponds to his kicking of Envy at 107, the use of the paean shout to demarcate structural divisions within the poem (h.2.21, 25, 80, 97, and 103), and devices such as the selection priamel and the break-off formula. Callimachus' use of these features, like his treatment of silence and the sea, help to illustrate his view of what ideal poetry should be.
University of Oregon
The roles that painters' inventiveness and alternate epic/lyric traditions play in Archaic vase-representations of Iliadic and Odyssean mythology are much debated. Usually, the more complicated an epic scene depicted in a painting, the less likely it is that the many details have been fabricated by the painter, because it was especially difficult for a painter to invent a complicated new plot line on a vase. This guideline may receive its most severe test in the case of Melbourne 1643/4, a "Chalkidean" psykter ascribed to the Inscriptions Painter and dating to ca. 540 B.C., because this work differs in almost all details from the Iliadic scenes to which it is related and yet seems aware of epic traditions.
The Melbourne psykter shows five battles between eleven warriors, all of whose names are inscribed (one is fragmentary). While nine of the ten warriors with complete names are known to us from the Iliad, only two (Gaukos and Menestheus) are involved in a duel in that poem. Nevertheless, there are striking connections between our Iliad and the psykter in motif, if not in detail. For instance, in our Iliad Charops and Hippolochos, though not brothers, are each killed defending their brothers; and the two are shown on the psykter fighting Diomedes as a pair.
Melbourne 1643/4 exhibits a knowledge of the Homeric tradition, if not our Iliad, and presents an excellent piece of evidence to assess whether the Inscriptions Painter was influenced by our Iliad, his own inventiveness, or, as argued here, by other Iliadic poems.
Concordia University
The tone of Euripides' Heraclidae 630-747 has not been explained. The scene is written to make the audience laugh, and without an adequate authorial motivation this may seem ill-at-ease in a tragedy. This paper seeks to present such a motivation. It is necessary first to establish that the scene is indeed funny. In his commentary on the play (Oxford 1993), John Wilkins denies any humour in the scene. An examination of the scene in performance clearly shows the response Euripides sought from his audience. Euripides situates the scene in the play in such a way that more serious elements of the play are not lost.
It is this contextualization of the scene which provides the dramatic motivation for its existence. The play is about Heracles' legacy: in one way or another every character manifests some aspect of Heracles' personality. In a similar way, every scene is in some way reminiscent of an aspect of Heracles' personality. To the Athenian public, Heracles was a figure of comedy as much as of tragedy. It would be remiss of Euripides to ignore this dimension in an encomium of Heracles. The play celebrates Heracles as a mortal hero, as a god, as a soldier, as a servant, and as a father. It remembers him through tragedy, but is mindful of a lighter and more popular aspect, the comic Heracles. This is why the comic arming scene is in the play.
University of Puget Sound
In our modern, technologically sophisticated society handwritten documents have become rare. Increasingly secretaries and typewriters are being augmented or replaced by word-processors, faxes, and E-mail, so that busy, middle class people are putting pen to paper less and less frequently. Some scholars have assumed that it was equally rare for upper class Romans to produce written documents in their own hands. In a recent study of ancient literacy for example, it was stated that while the ability to read was general among the upper classes of the Roman Empire, such persons did not themselves do much writing because, "there were suitably trained slaves available" (W. V. Harris, Ancient Literacy [HUP 1989], 249). If true, this view has serious implications for our understanding not only of the social history of the ancient Romans, but also their cultural history. For it is largely on the basis of the assumption that elite Romans rarely wrote in their own hands, that references to manuscripts that were written out, or even corrected, by well-known Romans have been taken as evidence for both literary forgeries, and for the credulity of the ancient writers who regarded such documents as genuine. This interpretation has in turn caused the second century A.D.--a time when Roman intellectuals took a keen interest in collecting and studying earlier literature--to be regarded as a period in which literary forgeries were rife.
The underlying assumption, however, seems dubious, or at least in need of serious qualification. In fact, there are quite a number of passages that portray upper class Romans writing various types of documents--letters and reports, as well as literary compositions--in their own hands. The question is whether these represent normal practice or are exceptional. This paper will try to answer the question through the analysis of a text that refers to numerous instances of autograph writing, and that has also been posited as critical evidence for the prevalence of literary forgeries in the Antonine Age. It will attempt to clarify under what conditions writing was done by Romans who are not professional scribes, and will draw attention to how Latin authors distinguished between the act of writing itself, and the process of having works copied by trained slaves. By underlining the wider currency of writing among the ancient Romans, I hope to show both that the evidence for literary forgeries in the Antonine Age is less abundant than some have thought, and that the act of writing, far from being tainted by servile associations, was closely connected to other activities--literary composition, public speaking and public administration--that were of central importance to upper class Romans of the Imperial Age.
University of Winnipeg
Those associated with the conspiracy to murder Caesar have been frequently criticized for not having a plan for the aftermath of their action, though this is an issue which I have attempted to address in an earlier paper and, at least, among the conspirators there was a common commitment to the elimination of autocracy. On the other hand, when dealing with Caesar's adherents, though there is recognition of the very obvious division between Antony and Octavian, scholars frequently write about their attitudes as if a homogeneous Caesarian group existed. Yet a careful study of those who had close ties with Caesar and whose political activity from March to December of 44 can be discerned reveal a situation which was really quite fluid and in which there appears to have been a great deal of uncertainty on the part of individuals about the course of action to which they should commit themselves. Indeed, it is this very lack of unity which made Antony's position very much more vulnerable than is generally accepted to be the case. Even in the military sphere, one can detect a vulnerability which was not really remedied until Antony and Octavian reached their accommodation in 43. Thus, those who dismiss the conspiracy as a failure almost immediately after Caesar's assassination are somewhat premature in arriving at their conclusion.
University of Alberta
Although attention to the role of rhetoric can tell us something about the development of argumentation about torture in Athens, we are left to ponder why the Athenians believed it to be in any way a reliable means of obtaining truthful information. Clearly, when the correct procedures were followed, they did believe it to be reliable. In private disputes it was for them a means of verifying information through people (slaves) who were believed by both sides to know the truth concerning some material point. If a party tortured a slave unilaterally, the report of what was revealed did not bind judges. However, torture that occurred through the agreement of both parties was binding, not for the judges but for the parties directly. Therefore, to agree to the torture of a slave involved a huge risk. In two speeches Antiphon relates several points that when combined with other passages, from philosophers as well as orators, illuminate the problem significantly. The use of torture results on the one hand from the Athenian view of slave psychology and on the other from the need to achieve accountability in testimony.
St. George's School, Vancouver, B.C.
Ovid tells many stories of divine seduction/rape of mortals. Usually the story comprises a male assault on a female. Yet in this Book IV episode, tables are turned: the canny nymph "rapes" the guileless boy. The story should strike us with horror as an older, lecherous women assaults a nubile, young man. As we look closer, however, it is clear that Ovid is having a merry romp with his audience as he interlards the narrative with outrageous puns and (sometimes) corny sexual imagery.
University of Puget Sound
A fine Etruscan mirror of the late fourth century B. C. in the Santa Barbara Museum of Art serves as an excellent example of a number of problems connected with the study of the production of this category of objects.
Santa Barbara Museum of Art no. 1981.64.7 is a relatively large round tang mirror of good quality in a rather sad state of preservation. The somewhat convex obverse is edged by an exquisite bead and reel pattern with an inner border of tiny circles; the extension bore an exuberant palmette now mostly obliterated. The reverse has a lovely vine border issuing from a palmette in the extension. A three-figure mythological scene of good draughtsmanship occupies the tondo.
The growing volumes of the Corpus Speculorum Etruscorum provide us with ever more sophisticated information regarding this category of Etruscan artisanship. It is now possible to look beyond the question of iconographic interpretation and dating and to seek to identify local workshops and their particular practices and sources.
This paper proposes to analyze thoroughly Santa Barbara no. 1981.64.7 in order to place it in a workshop and to point out the peculiar technical and artistic aspects of such an atelier in the context of a limited group of like works. Examinations of this sort ultimately will help provide a clearer picture of local production and trade throughout Etruria.
University of Toronto
The Iliad contains four arming scenes. These scenes are typical scenes, largely made up of formulaic verses, similar to sacrifice, arrival and reception scenes. Although they are typical scenes, the Iliad's arming scenes are linked thematically to the larger narrative sequence in which they are placed. For Agamemnon, Patroclus, and Achilles, arming scenes are placed at the beginning of their aristeiai in order to single out the warrior before he goes out for his greatest military achievement on the battlefield. Paris' arming scene does not, however, fall into this pattern. He is shown arming before his duel with Menelaus in book three; therefore, the audience can reasonably expect that Paris will be victorious in the duel. The opposite, of course, happens, and Paris is only saved from death by the intervention of Aphrodite. Why, given his defeat, is Paris given an arming scene? Logically, the poet should have Menelaus, who will be the victor in the duel, arming.
I will argue that Paris' arming scene, in conjunction with his performance in battle, is evidence that in the oral epic tradition Paris was an heroic figure, one who was comparable to Agamemnon, Patroclus, and Achilles. In the most traditional sections of the Iliad, that is in its battle scenes and in typical scenes like battle scenes, we can still see the vestiges of this portrayal of Paris.
University of Alberta
Roman Imperial magistrates executed Christians ob nomen Christianum, that is simply for being Christian. Yet formal renunciation, sealed by sacrificing to the gods, swearing by the genius of the emperor and cursing Christ was enough to earn acquittal. This procedure is attested by the correspondence between Pliny as governor of Bithynia-Pontus and Trajan (Pliny Epp. 96 and 97) and was followed by the later provincial governors. Profession of Christianity is therefore a peculiar sort of crime: paenitentia alone procures venia.
In this paper, I would like to approach this legal anomaly from both the Roman and the Christian perspectives. First, I examine the methods used by the state to solve the Christian problem. What means were used to secure apostasy? How genuine did the renunciation have to be? Close examination of Pliny's procedure in dealing with Christians provides a model for examination of the procedure of other governors as related in the Acta Martyrum preserved by the Christians during the second and early third centuries. Then I examine how this procedure may have shaped the Christian accounts of martyrdom and the possible influence this may have had on theological and pastoral ideas related to confession and apostasy.
I limit the texts under discussion primarily to the second and early third century, when persecution was local and sporadic; in the third century the nature of persecution changes, when in the reign of Decius the Christians universally faced persecution in an effort to achieve conformity.
University of Alberta
The paper reports on new excavations carried out by the University of Alberta at the site of the so-called "Villa of Scorpianus" at Carthage. The site was first explored by the French in the late 19th century, exposing the partial remains of a mid-Imperial Roman villa and adjacent bath building. A mosaic inscription from the villa, now in the Carthage Museum, names the charioteer Scorpianus and suggests links with the Circus games. Work at the site in 1994 concentrated on renewed exploration of the bath building, in particular of the cold water piscina and flanking rooms of the frigidarium. A new architectural study of the building was begun, including detailed analysis of the water supply system and of the many traces of interior mosaic and marble decoration.
University of Idaho
This paper attempts to demonstrate that in his speech against Androtion Demosthenes creates a portrait of Androtion as a student of Isocrates, using anti-Isocratean ideas expressed by Plato in the Gorgias, Protagoras, and especially the Phaedrus. Specifically, in the Phaedrus, Plato satirizes Isocrates' use of the term technikos, which Demosthenes echoes in his description of Androtion as a technites tou legein. The speech against Androtion, marking the beginning of Demosthenes' activity as a political orator, therefore produces the first of Demosthenes' famous literary portraits, or caricatures, of his political adversaries. It may also help to clarify Demosthenes' relationship to Isocrates and Plato, both of whom some ancient authorities have claimed as his teacher.
University of British Columbia
Although only a tiny number of the approximately 1500 identifiable coins found during the excavation of the Roman city of Anemurium on the coast of Rough Cilicia were local issues, it has proved possible to study the mint's history through the surprisingly large quantity (nearly 500) known to exist in public and private collections. A preliminary inventory of this material has produced 105 issues covering a 200 year period from ca. A.D. 50, when the city was still part of the Kingdom of Commagene, through 253. Some issues are represented by one or two specimens at most, but in some instances, especially in the third century, as many as twenty specimens of an individual issue survive. Thus it is possible to establish die-links not only within the same mint, but with at least one other local mint. There is also much of iconographical interest in the reverse. A considerable range of deities and heroes (Artemis, Athena, Dionysus, Poseidon, Zeus and Perseus) is depicted and in a variety of representations. A selection of these will be presented in detail. This information compensates greatly for the sparse evidence for the city's cults and temples available from the archaeological and epigraphic record.
Concordia University
Lead-glazed decoration is usually mentioned only in passing in general handbooks on ancient terracotta figurines. Such figurines were produced for a short period of time--from approximately 50 B.C. to A.D.50 --at various sites in Asia Minor, most notably at Kyme, Myrina, Smyrna and Tarsus. During this same period the streaked and mottled gold, brown or green glazes also appear on pottery and lamps. S. Mollard-Besques (Les Terres Cuites Grecques [1963] 90) suggests that the use of these glazes on terracotta figurines was an attempt to emulate the bronze patina or gilded surfaces of similar statues in metal.
In June of 1989 the Canadian excavators unearthed a small lead-glazed terracotta statue of Eros from the area of the Hellenistic sanctuary of Demeter, which occupied the most prominent location on the ancient acropolis of Mytilene. It is now on display at the archaeological museum in that city (#24231). Although the figurine is incomplete, it is preserved from neck to lower legs and may be identified as Eros by the partially preserved wings protruding from its back. The pose echoes that of well-known figurines in terracotta from Myrina as well as small-scale works in bronze. This well-modelled, distinctively decorated figure of Eros illustrates the desire of poorer folk to imitate the fashions of the wealthy as well as epitomizing the shared artistic tradition current in both metal and clay, while placing the city of Mytilene firmly within the sphere of influence of the culturally dominant coastal cities of Asia Minor.
Reed College
In the year 354/3 Demosthenes seems to say that the symmories being used to defray naval costs number 20 (14. 16-17), but no other source speaks of 20 symmories, and it is not clear whether the naval symmories are the same as or separate from the symmories used for eisphora. The standard view is that there were two separate systems; E. Ruschenbusch has argued for a single system. The standard view can not be right. Dem. 14. 16-17 indicates that Periandros' law directed that the existing symmories be applied to the trierarchy. All of the exemptions mentioned there are based on the inability to provide personal service as a trierarch; these exemptions, which no longer make sense after a trierarch is redefined as a contributor to naval costs, predate the law of Periandros. Even if the number of those on the list is raised from 1200 to 2000, ineligible persons and properties will continue to be included. The underlying assumption is that the generals start from symmories constituted for some purpose other than naval costs. That purpose is eisphora.
The single-system hypothesis has one main weakness. With 20 rather than 100 symmories from 378/7-358/7 it becomes impossible to identify the 300 proeispherontes with the three leaders of each symmory. This paper offers a new interpretation of Dem. 14.16 which eliminates the difficulty.
And still more abstracts.....
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