Boston Area Classics Calendar
October 2018
The Archaeology of Hollywood—Screening and Panel: The Lost City of Cecil B.
DeMille<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/boston-area-classics-calendar?t…
Wed., Oct. 10, 6 – 8:15 p.m.
HARVARD ART MUSEUMS, Menschel Hall, Cambridge, MA 02138
In 1923, the legendary Hollywood director Cecil B. DeMille produced the silent film “The
Ten Commandments,” the precursor to his 1956 masterful remake starring Charlton Heston.
DeMille shot the first film in the sand dunes of Santa Barbara County, California, about
150 miles North of Hollywood, where he built an enormous “City of the Pharaoh” set.
Designed by Paul Iribe, the “father of Art Deco,” it was the largest set in motion picture
history—but when the production finished filming, the city mysteriously vanished.
In 1982, Peter Brosnan, a film student at New York University, was sitting in a bar one
night when someone told him that there were ancient Egyptian Sphinxes buried somewhere in
the California Dunes. It sparked his imagination, and he embarked on what would become a
thirty-year battle to prove the existence of these Sphinxes and discover DeMille’s Lost
City.
On October 10th, 2018, The Harvard Classics Department invites you to a screening of this
“irresistible detective story” (Hollywood Reporter), followed by a panel with director
Peter Brosnan, executive producer Francesca Silva, and project archaeologist M. Colleen
Hamilton. The panel will be led by led by Peter Der Manuelian, professor of Egyptology,
and Adrian Stähli, professor of Classical Archaeology.
The screening and discussion will take place in Menschel Hall, Lower Level. Please enter
the museums via the entrance on Broadway. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m.
Free and open to the public, but seating is limited. Tickets will be distributed beginning
at 5:30 p.m. at the Broadway entrance. One ticket per person.
Complimentary parking available in the Broadway Garage, 7 Felton Street, Cambridge.
Support for this program is provided by the Richard L. Menschel Endowment Fund.
www.harvardartmuseums.org…<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=ht…
New England Ancient History
Colloquium<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/boston-area-classics-calenda…
Thu., Oct. 11, 5:30 – 9:30 p.m.
TRINITY COLLEGE, Smith House, 300 Summit Street, Hartford, CT 06106
Registration information:
lauren.caldwell@trincoll.edu<mailto:lauren.caldwell@trincoll.edu>
Timothy Joseph (College of the Holy Cross) will offer for discussion his paper
"Lucan, Carthage, and Roman Historical Epic," with commentary from Andrew
Johnston of (Yale University)
New England Ancient History Colloquium
Ian Kirby (Harvard
University)<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/boston-area-classics-calend…
Fri., Oct. 12, 5 – 6 p.m.
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, Boylston 335, Harvard Yard, Cambridge, MA 02138
"The diachronic syntax of English neither...nor and either...or"
GSAS Workshop "Indo-European and Historical Linguistics”
linguistics.fas.harvard.edu…<https://linguistics.fas.harvard.edu/calenda…
Seth Schein (University of California
Davis)<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/boston-area-classics-calendar?tr…
Tue., Oct. 16, 4:30 – 6:30 p.m.
UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST, 301 Herter Hall, 161 Presidents Drive,
Amherst, MA 01003
“Contextual Relevance and the Meaning of Formulaic Epithets in Iliad 1.1-100”
Free and open to the public
Sponsored by the Department of Classics, UMass Amherst
Further information: lisa@classics.umass.edu<mailto:lisa@classics.umass.edu>
Thomas Biggs (University of
Georgia)<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/boston-area-classics-calendar?…
Thu., Oct. 18, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
BROWN UNIVERSITY, 60 George Street, Room 108, Providence, RI 02912
“Civil War, Sovereignty, and the Poetic ‘State of Exception’ in Lucan’s Bellum Civile”
www.brown.edu…<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.…
Russell Scott (Bryn Mawr
College)<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/boston-area-classics-calendar?…
Fri., Oct. 19, 3 – 6 p.m.
UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST, 240 Integrated Learning Center, 650 N.
Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01003
Fifteenth Annual David F. Grose Memorial Lecture
“David F. Grose and the Glass from Cosa”
With remarks by Andrea De Giorgi (FSU), Nora Donaghue (FSU), and Jason Moralee (UMass)
Reception to follow
Free and open to the public
Further information: lisa@classics.umass.edu<mailto:lisa@classics.umass.edu>
Martha Nussbaum (University of
Chicago)<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/boston-area-classics-calendar?…
Fri., Oct. 19, 5:30 – 7 p.m.
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, Fong Auditorium, Boylston Hall, Harvard Yard, Cambridge, MA
02138
"Working With and For Animals: Getting the Theoretical Framework Right"
This lecture is the Keynote for the 12th Annual Harvard Graduate Conference in Political
Theory.
Martha C. Nussbaum is the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics,
appointed in the Law School and Philosophy Department at the University of Chicago. She is
an Associate in the Classics Department, the Divinity School, and the Political Science
Department, a Member of the Committee on Southern Asian Studies, and a Board Member of the
Human Rights Program. She received her BA from NYU and her MA and PhD from Harvard. From
1986 to 1993, while teaching at Brown, Nussbaum was a research advisor at the World
Institute for Development Economics Research, Helsinki, a part of the United Nations
University. She has received honorary degrees from sixty colleges and universities in the
US, Canada, Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe. She is an Academician in the Academy
of Finland, a Fellow of the British Academy, and a member of the American Academy of Arts
and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society. Among her awards are the Grawemeyer
Award in Education (2002), the University of Chicago Faculty Award for Excellence in
Graduate Teaching (2001), the Centennial Medal of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
at Harvard University (2010), the Prince of Asturias Prize in the Social Sciences (2012),
the American Philosophical Association's Philip Quinn Prize (2015), the Kyoto Prize
in Arts and Philosophy (2016), and the Don M. Randel Prize for Achievement in the
Humanities from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2018).
ethics.harvard.edu…<https://ethics.harvard.edu/event/keynote-lecture-mar…
Nadav Asraf (Harvard
University)<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/boston-area-classics-calend…
Tue., Oct. 23, 6 – 7:30 p.m.
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, Barker Center, 12 Quincy St., Room 110, Cambridge, MA 02138
"'When I leave the beautiful and severe Hellenism': On Cavafy's
Translations into Hebrew"
Mahindra Humanities Center Seminar: Modern Greek Literature and
Culture<http://mahindrahumanities.fas.harvard.edu/content/modern-greek-l…
mahindrahumanities.fas.harvard.edu…<http://mahindrahumanities.fas.harvar…
Hannah Čulik-Baird (Boston
University)<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/boston-area-classics-calend…
Wed., Oct. 24, 5 – 7 p.m.
BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY, Room 303, Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education,
Waltham, MA 02453
"Loss and Recovery of Knowledge at Rome"
How well do the Romans know their own history? In a world where records of the past rot
away, are eaten by worms, mice, larvae, are accidentally or deliberately set on fire, how
is a Roman of the late Republic supposed to understand Rome's past? In the De Lingua
Latina(5.5), Varro wrote: uetustas pauca non deprauat, multa tollit; “there is little that
time does not distort, much it obliterates completely.” Join me in an exploration of the
challenges faced by Romans interested in understanding their city's history, and what
kind of strategies they developed to recover "lost" knowledge.
Reception to follow immediately after the talk from 6:00-6:30 p.m.
Open to the public. Free parking. For a campus map and parking information, please see
www.brandeis.edu…<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__ww…
Contact Heidi McAllister (hmcallis@brandeis.edu<mailto:hmcallis@brandeis.edu>) or
Sybil Schlesinger (sybilsch@brandeis.edu<mailto:sybilsch@brandeis.edu>) with any
questions.
Sarah Spence (Medieval Academy of
America)<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/boston-area-classics-calendar?…
Wed., Oct. 24, 5:30 – 6:30 p.m.
BROWN UNIVERSITY, 90 George Street, Room 208, Providence, RI 02912
“‘The little of our earthly trust’: Vergil's Aeneid and the Geography of Loss”
Sarah Spence is Distinguished Professor Emerita of Classics and Comparative Literature at
the University of Georgia and Editor of Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies.
The Michael C.J. Putnam Lecture
www.brown.edu…<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.…
Archaeological Exploration of
Sardis<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/boston-area-classics-calendar?tr…
Fri., Oct. 26, 3 – 4:30 p.m.
HARVARD ART MUSEUMS, Menschel Hall, 32 Quincy Street Cambridge, MA 02138
Since its founding in 1958 by Harvard and Cornell Universities, the Archaeological
Exploration of Sardis has excavated, conserved, and published on aspects of the ancient
city of Sardis in western Turkey from prehistoric through Islamic periods. The expedition
is one of the longest running international projects sponsored at Harvard and is one of
the oldest classical archaeological projects in the Mediterranean. Harvard students who
participate in the program gain academic, professional, and cultural experience while
contributing to archaeological research, conservation efforts, presentations, and
publications related to the site.
As part of Worldwide Week at Harvard 2018, this event brings together the museums staff
and Harvard faculty and students involved in the project to discuss their work and to
illuminate how team members from various fields and institutions around the world
collaborate to advance research about Sardis. Speakers will include Nicholas Cahill, field
director of the Sardis expedition and the Simona and Jerome Chazen Distinguished Chair in
Art History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; Adrian Stähli, professor of classical
archaeology in the Department of the Classics at Harvard University; Susanne Ebbinghaus,
the George M.A. Hanfmann Curator of Ancient Art and head of the Division of Asian and
Mediterranean Art at the Harvard Art Museums; Frances Gallart Marques, the Frederick
Randolph Grace Curatorial Fellow in Ancient Art at the Harvard Art Museums; and Bahadır
Yıldırım, expedition administrator for Sardis at the Harvard Art Museums.
The lecture will take place in Menschel Hall, Lower Level. Please enter the museums via
the entrance on Broadway. Doors will open at 2:30pm.
Free admission, but seating is limited and available on a first-come, first-served
basis.
The excavation at Sardis is conducted with the permission and support of the Ministry of
Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey. Current conservation work at Sardis is also
supported by an award provided by the United States Government, Department of State, U.S.
Embassy Ankara.
Worldwide Week at Harvard 2018 (October 22–26, 2018) showcases the remarkable breadth of
Harvard’s global engagement. During Worldwide Week, Harvard schools, research centers,
departments, and student organizations host academic and cultural events with global or
international themes.
www.harvardartmuseums.org…<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=ht…
November 2018
Denise Eileen McCoskey (Miami
University)<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/boston-area-classics-calend…
Thu., Nov. 1, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
BROWN UNIVERSITY, 90 George Street, Room 208, Providence, RI 02906
“‘Race Mixing’ & The Fall of Rome: The Role of Eugenics In Early 20th Century
Classical Scholarship”
Eugenics, a doctrine originating in the work of Francis Galton at the end of the 19th
century, proposed that selective breeding could be used to ensure the general
“improvement” of human populations. This lecture examines the ways eugenics and
associated concepts like “race mixing” and “race-suicide” were applied to various ancient
phenomena, such as the so-called “fall of Rome,” by American classicists of the early
twentieth-century.
events.brown.edu…<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__e…
Symposium—Between Art and Asset: Silver Vessels from Antiquity to
Today<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/boston-area-classics-calendar?tru…
Sat., Nov. 3, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
HARVARD ART MUSEUMS, 32 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
Silver vessels have been prized possessions in many cultures, both ancient and modern.
Some of the most elaborate vessels in the Animal-Shaped Vessels from the Ancient World:
Feasting with Gods, Heroes, and Kings exhibition are fashioned from silver. What makes
this material attractive for artists, and what makes drinking from silver vessels pleasant
to the palate? Which intangible qualities have promoted the material’s use? How has
appreciation of the vessels been influenced by the fact that silver often served as
bullion and coins—and hence could be “cashed in”? This symposium will bring together art
historians, a conservator, a numismatist, and a silversmith to explore these and related
questions, including the function and uses of precious metal vessels, the role of
craftsmanship, the symbolic qualities of silver, and silver’s relationship to other luxury
materials. The presentations will focus on the ancient Mediterranean and Near East, the
Byzantine world, China, and the Americas.
Speakers:
Angela Chang, Conservator of Objects and Sculpture, Head of the Objects Lab, and Assistant
Director of the Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies at the Harvard Art
Museums
Henry Colburn, Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial Fellow in Ancient Near Eastern Art at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Eurydice Georganteli, Lecturer on History of Art and Architecture and Medieval Studies in
the Department of History of Art and Architecture at Harvard University
Kenneth Lapatin, Curator of Antiquities at the J. Paul Getty Museum
Ethan Lasser, Theodore Stebbins Jr. Curator of American Art and Head of the Division of
European and American Art at the Harvard Art Museums
François Louis, Associate Professor and Director of Doctoral Studies at the Bard Graduate
Center
Joanne Pillsbury, Andrall E. Pearson Curator of Ancient American Art at the Metropolitan
Museum of Art
Adam Whitney, Silversmith
The symposium will take place in Menschel Hall, Lower Level. Please enter the museums via
the entrance on Broadway. Doors will open at 9:30am.
Free admission, but seating is limited.
Complimentary parking available in the Broadway Garage, 7 Felton Street, Cambridge.
www.harvardartmuseums.org…<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=ht…
The Odyssey in Song: A Folk Opera by Joe
Goodkin<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/boston-area-classics-calendar?t…
Mon., Nov. 5, 5 – 7 p.m.
BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY, Room 002, Lown Center, Waltham, MA, 02453
Joe Goodkin's Odyssey is a 30 minute original musical performance of 24 original
songs with lyrics inspired by Odysseus' famous exploits. It represents in a
contemporary musical mode both the abridged plot and the performance circumstances of
Homer's original oral composition of The Odyssey. A discussion will follow the
performance. Joe has performed his Odyssey over 270 times in 36 U.S. states and Canada,
and has been honored with several ASCAP Composers awards.
Reception to follow immediately after the talk from 6:00-6:30 p.m.
Open to the public. Free parking. For a campus map and parking information, please see
www.brandeis.edu…<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__ww…
Contact Heidi McAllister (hmcallis@brandeis.edu<mailto:hmcallis@brandeis.edu>) or
Sybil Schlesinger (sybilsch@brandeis.edu<mailto:sybilsch@brandeis.edu>) with any
questions.
www.joesodyssey.com<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__…
Alain Schnapp (Université Paris 1
Panthéon-Sorbonne)<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/boston-area-classics…
Wed., Nov. 14
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, TBA, Cambridge, MA 02138
TBA
James Loeb Lecture
Jay Jasanoff (Harvard
University)<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/boston-area-classics-calend…
Fri., Nov. 16, 5 – 6 p.m.
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, Boylston 335, Harvard Yard, Cambridge, MA 02138
TBA
GSAS Workshop "Indo-European and Historical Linguistics”
linguistics.fas.harvard.edu…<https://linguistics.fas.harvard.edu/calenda…
Nina Papathanasopoulou (Connecticut
College)<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/boston-area-classics-calendar?…
Wed., Nov. 28, 5 – 7 p.m.
BOSTON UNIVERSITY, 745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 409, Boston, MA 02215
“Serpent Heart: Animality, Jealousy, and Transgression in Martha Graham's Medea (Cave
of the Heart)”
Sponsored by the BU Center for the Humanities
Study Group On Religion and Myth in the Ancient World at Boston
University<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.bu.e…
R. R. R. Smith (University of
Oxford)<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/boston-area-classics-calendar?t…
Thu., Nov. 29 – Fri., Nov. 30
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, TBA, Cambridge, MA 02138
TBA
James Loeb Lecture
December 2018
Alan Nussbaum (Cornell
University)<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/boston-area-classics-calend…
Fri., Dec. 7, 5 p.m.
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, TBA, Harvard Yard, Cambridge, MA 02138
TBD
GSAS Workshop "Indo-European and Historical Linguistics”
Nino Luraghi (University of
Oxford)<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/boston-area-classics-calendar?t…
Thu., Dec. 13, 5 – 6:30 p.m.
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, TBA, Cambridge, MA 02138
"The Peloponnesian Peace"
March 2019
Bernard Frischer (Indiana
University)<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/boston-area-classics-calend…
Wed., Mar. 13
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, TBA, Cambridge, MA 02138
"Rome Reborn"
Mahindra Humanities Center Seminar: Civilizations of Ancient Greek and
Rome<http://mahindrahumanities.fas.harvard.edu/content/civilizations-anc…
Catherine Grandjean (Université de Tours,
France)<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/boston-area-classics-calendar?t…
Tue., Mar. 26, 6 – 7:30 p.m.
HARVARD ART MUSEUMS, Menschel Hall, 32 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
"The coinage of the Achaian koinon, between federal authority and civic autonomy.”
Ancient galleries open until 8 p.m.
llse and Leo Mildenberg Memorial Lecture
April 2019
New England Ancient History
Colloquium<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/boston-area-classics-calenda…
Thu., Apr. 11
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, TBA, Cambridge, MA 02138
UMass Classics
Colloquium<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/boston-area-classics-calenda…
Fri., Apr. 26, 3 – 6:30 p.m.
UMASS AMHERST, Campus Center, Amherst Room (Tenth Floor), Amherst, MA
"Transforming History: Generic Interaction in Ancient Historiography in Honor of
Professor Elizabeth Keitel"
3:00 to 6:30 p.m. - followed by banquet (details TBA).
Speakers:
1) Jane Chaplin (Middlebury), When Historians Make History
2) Timothy Joseph (Holy Cross), Ubique lamenta: The place of lament in Latin epic and
historiography
3) Christina Kraus (Yale), Multiplying disasters: the many-fronted, multiplex bellum in
Livy 5
4) John Marincola (FSU), Asinius Pollio and the Roman Revolution.
www.umass.edu…<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.u…
View the entire calendar
online<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/boston-area-classics-calendar>
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