Seattle Pacific University
Strabo's Geography preserves a quote taken originally from Pytheas' treatise On the Ocean, in which the Massiliote described some extraordinary conditions near Thoule (Frag. 5: Roseman 1994). Pytheas was struggling to convey a phenomenon in which earth, air and water did not exist in their usual forms, but were suspended in some kind of mixture.
When the 12th century Byzantine Tzetzes wrote extolling allegorical techniques, he chose this vivid passage to illustrate the interpretation of mythological goddesses like Rhea as "elemental" earth. His handling of Frag. 5 proves his acceptance of Pytheas as a physiologos in spite of Strabo's derogatory context. Tzetzes added the element fire, as if it stood in his original, and identified the conditions as those of creation, thereby raising theological, as well as textual questions.
Pacific Lutheran University
The Presbeutikos, a pseudepigraphic oration contained in the Hippocratic Corpus, appears to have played an important role in the formation of the Hippocratic legend. Dating of the composition has varied from c. 350 to c 150 BC, and recent treatments have questioned a more precise dating due to the rhetorical nature of the piece. In this paper I suggest that its rendition of the First Sacred War, in which a mysterious and anonymous Calydonian plays a part, links the Presbeutikos to the period of the Aetolian League's domination of the Delphic Shrine. This period ranges from 278-190 BC, but can probably be narrowed to between 262 and 226 BC.
Boise State University
Euripides' Bacchae, as other tragedies, was performed and it is in the performance that the deeper meaning can come through in ways that reading alone does not afford.
Critical analysis of the text can be augmented by examination of performance constraints. For example, when Pentheus comes to meet Dionysus in preparation for spying on the Bacchae, Dionysus plays with him. He shows his amethustos nature, not drunk, yet drunk, playing with Pentheus as Pentheus attempts to make himself a woman in appearance. In reading the lines:
[[section]]n dej[[currency]]& xrØ xêma deji" pod<
a[[daggerdbl]]rein nin: afin<< d'~ti meydeg.sthkaw fren<<n.
(ll. 943-944, Loeb, Euripides III)
a reader is left with an indifferent feeling toward Dionysus and his playful role. Yet, Dionysus' mask is represented as a smiling mask. When masks become an impossibility, the performance can underline thematic elements not initially obvious to a modern reader, and thereby convey meaning that the masks may have been intended to portray. Acting instills the same playful character that is Dionysus' and thereby adds to the textual analysis of Dionysus' character.
This paper will focus on the presentation of Greek tragedy in the original language, with concern for portraying meaning and seeking verisimilitude, while accounting for the limitations faced by modern audiences and performers.
University of Oregon
Interpretations of Horace's Epistles 1.14 have focused on the philosophical issue of discontent with one's lot as a disease of the animus which takes a flawed attitude to a given social or material condition. Closer examination of Horace's text, however, reveals the limitations of this 'spiritual diagnosis' when applied to a society dependent on slave labor. Specifically, my paper argues that Horace chooses his vilicus as an addressee partly to underscore the difference between the Sabine farm's actual participation in a market economy, dependent on the bailiff's labor, and Horace's own literary construction of the estate as a locus amoenus which returns the poet to himself -- mihi me reddentis agelli (Ep. 1.14.1). The agon which Horace sets up with his bailiff at the beginning of the epistle becomes more than just a rhetorical device to distinguish the philosophically enslaved soul from one free of compulsive and contradictory desires. The Horatian speaker's ataraxia, symbolized by his contentment with the satisfaction of simple needs, in fact depends on the physical labor of the bailiff. A close analysis of the diction, imagery and structure of the poem reveals the degree to which the ideology of otium depends on a sharply defined class or social structure.
University of Puget Sound
Statues in the Roman world were an important symbol of status, and their substance, placement, and the timing of their erection and removal were carefully guarded by officials and watched by the public. Statues could also possess certain animate qualities, such as sweating, bleeding, nodding, and speaking, and were a means of communication with the divine and an instrument of prophecy. Not surprisingly, as important political and social symbols, as quasi-animate and sacred objects, statues were also sometimes targets in popular violence. The aim of this paper is to examine the phenomenon of statue-smashing in Roman riots. The first part defines the phenomenon: What precisely did crowds do to statues in a riot and how frequently did crowds attack statues? The second part will explore the significance of statues and of the attempted destruction of statues for the rioting crowds.
Bellevue, Washington
Plutarch in his Marcellus comments on Archimedes' attitude towards mechanics. These comments portray Archimedes' as having a negative view of the applied sciences, even going so far as stating that Archimedes believed mechanics sordid (égenn[[infinity]]) and vulgar (bãnauson). However, a comparison with the surviving works of Archimedes raises serious objections to the validity of Plutarch's assertions. It can be shown that Archimedes, although recognizing the limitations of mechanics, appreciated its usefulness.
Plutarch's view is a conclusion, influenced by Platonic thought, drawn largely from the fact that Archimedes did not leave any account of the military machines designed by him for Hiero II, which were so effective against the Romans when they besieged Syracuse during the Second Punic War. But a different judgment can be reached. It would have been inappropriate for Archimedes to publish plans of technological innovations that gave a military advantage to his native city.
University of Puget Sound
This paper continues to explore question posed in my presentation last year regarding the selection of visual sources and production practices of engravers of Etruscan mirrors. Using Los Angeles County Museum No. 50.37.20b, a mirror depicting an unusual three-figure composition, I propose to demonstrate how individual figures were frequently 'lifted' by Etruscan artists from a variety of sources and regrouped to form 'unique' depictions. The subject matter of the image on the Los Angeles mirror, for instance, is not a familiar illustration of a well-known myth, but an episode of particular significance to the owner of the object that was created using stock figures from diverse compositions. This practice would have allowed for both speed and variety in the engraver's workshop.
Loyola Sacred Heart High School, Missoula
Plutarch's description of the Lupercalia remains as enigmatic to modern classical scholars as it was to him. However, recent archeological evidence (Ras Shamra texts) may show a previously unconsidered but feasible inspiration and origin of the Lupercalia, including a struggle for fertility, embodied in the goddess Astarte, who was worshipped in Etruscan Caere, 15 miles north-west of Rome in the 6th century BCE. This papers seeks to highlight similarities between Astarte's Near Eastern religious tradition and the enigmatic description of the Lupercalia by Plutarch, including a struggle fort fertility, paired boy messengers, a forehead wound, and subsequent laughter. It will also show similar motifs in ancient Vedic and modern Christian religion.
Montana State University
It seems now to be widely believed that heirship was the principal and underlying motivation in the setting up of epitaphs of the deceased-commemorator type (E. Meyer, JRS (1990), 74 ff.). Commemoration on stone, it is suggested functioned primarily as a method of discharging the duty of heirship, which can be understood to have existed even where it is not explicitly recorded. My position is that there is nothing in the epigraphic record itself to show that even a majority of commemorators were heirs. The pattern of commemoration attested on the epitaphs of two north African sites, Lambaesis and Theueste, seems to indicate that the practice was driven instead largely by sentiment and family affection.
Seattle University
University of Montana