The Boston Area Classics Calendar for February 10, 2017
PLEASE NOTE: * = new entry, ** = alteration or addition to an existing entry
Johanna Hanink (Brown University)
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, Barker 133, 12 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA
Mon., Feb. 13, 2017, 5 p.m.
"The Personified State in Classical Athens”
Event Series: Mahindra Humanities Center Seminar: Civilizations of Ancient Greek and Rome
More info:
mahindrahumanities.fas.harvard.edu…<http://mahindrahumanities.fas.harvar…
Anke Walter (University of Rostock)
BROWN UNIVERSITY, Rhode Island Hall, Room 108, 60 George St., Providence, RI 02912
Mon., Feb. 13, 2017, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
"Anniversaries in Statius' Thebaid: Order and Disorder of Time"
More info:
www.brown.edu…<https://www.brown.edu/academics/classics/sites/brown.edu.…
Maurizio Forte (Duke University, William and Sue Gross Professor of Classical Studies,
Art, Art History, and Visual Studies; Founder, DIG@Lab)
WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY, 113 Downey House, 294 High Street, Middletown, CT 06459
Thu., Feb. 16, 2017, 4:30 – 6:30 p.m.
“Archaeology of Etruscan Cities: The Vulci 3000 Project”
More info:
www.wesleyan.edu…<http://www.wesleyan.edu/classics/>
**Samuel Ellenport, Master Bookbinder and Historian (RESCHEDULED)
AMHERST COLLEGE, Morgan Hall, Room 110, 165 S Pleasant St, Amherst, MA 01002
Thu., Feb. 16, 2017, 5 – 7 p.m.
“The Classics and the Information Revolution of the Late 15th Century”
*Courtney Ann Roby (Cornell University)
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, Emerson 106, Harvard Yard, Cambridge, MA 02138
Fri., Feb. 17, 2017, 2 – 3:30 p.m.
“Re-ordering mechanics in Hero of Alexandria”
For more information or to obtain the optional secondary readings, contact Graduate
Student Coordinators: Marco Romani-Mistretta
(romanimistretta@fas.harvard.edu<mailto:romanimistretta@fas.harvard.edu>) or James
Zainaldin (zainaldin@g.harvard.edu<mailto:zainaldin@g.harvard.edu>).
Event Series: GSAS Workshop "Technical Traditions in Greece and Rome"
*Christophe Rico (Polis Institute)
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, Boylston 203, Harvard Yard, Cambridge, MA 02138
Fri., Feb. 17, 2017, 4 – 6 p.m.
Ancient Greek Teaching Workshop
Professor Rico will demonstrate methods for teaching ancient Greek in an immersive way.
The first part of the presentation requires no previous knowledge of Greek and will use
TPR (Total Physical Response). The second part will demonstrate Story Building and is
suitable for students who have had one semester of Greek.
More info:
www.polisjerusalem.org<http://www.polisjerusalem.org/>
Hellenistic Sardis Project
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, TBA, Cambridge, MA 02138
Thu., Feb. 23 – Fri., Feb. 24, 2017
TBA
*Chris Hallett (UC Berkeley)
MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE, Dwight Hall 101, 50 College St, South Hadley, MA 01075
Thu., Feb. 23, 2017, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
" Ancient Bronzes as Art Objects: Roman Collectors & Corinthian Bronzes"
With the emergence of large-scale art collecting by the super-rich at Rome, there emerged
a novel kind of statuette referred to as “Corinthian bronzes”. What such bronzes were like
has up until now remained something of a mystery. Chris Hallett argues that many of these
notorious statuettes actually survive and stimulated the conspicuous use of “processional
statuettes” in rituals and public ceremonies throughout the Roman world.
Sponsored by the Archaeological Institute of America and the Amy M. Sacker Fund, Mount
Holyoke College
Thomas Palaima (University of Texas at Austin)
BOSTON UNIVERSITY, School of Theology, Room
409, 745 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02155
Mon., Feb. 27, 2017, 4 – 6 p.m.
"Personal Agency and the Big Switch 1962-1964: Thucydides, Bob Dylan and Stanley
Kubrick."
Sponsored by the Boston University Center for the Humanities, the Department of Classical
Studies, and Arion, A Journal of Humanities and the Classics.
This lecture is free and open to the public. For more information on this lecture or on
the Study Group, please visit our website
www.bu.edu…<http://www.bu.edu/classics/lectures-conferences/religion-and…
Event Series: Study Group On Religion and Myth in the Ancient World at Boston University
More info:
www.bu.edu…<http://www.bu.edu/classics/lectures-conferences/religion-and…
Elena Boeck (Dumbarton Oaks)
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, Warren House, Room 201, Cambridge, MA 02138
Mon., Feb. 27, 2017, 5 – 6:30 p.m.
"Rome, Constantinople, Troy: Triangulating Past and Present in the Fourteenth
Century"
More info:
mahindrahumanities.fas.harvard.edu…<http://mahindrahumanities.fas.harvar…
Carlos Noreña (University of California, Berkeley)
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, Boylston 237, Harvard Yard, Cambridge, MA
Mon., Feb. 27, 2017, 6 – 8 p.m.
"Romanization in the Middle of Nowhere: The Case of Segobriga"
This paper addresses the problem of historical change in a small town in the provincial
backwater of a large, premodern empire. It examines the evidence for urban form, cultural
identity, political organization, and social hierarchy in Segobriga, an insignificant
Roman municipality in central Spain (in the province of Hispania Tarraconensis), during
the period c. 200 BCE to 200 CE. Emphasis is placed not on local particularism in
Segobriga, but rather on the town’s adherence to empire-wide patterns in urbanization and
urbanism; its assimilation to Roman cultural norms; and its incorporation into a
supraregional sociopolitical order. Drawing upon insights from historical sociology and
cultural anthropology, and focusing on questions of motivation, agency (both individual
and collective), and causation, the paper argues that changes in the politics, society,
and culture of Segobriga all went together in a recursive manner, and that they were
ultimately triggered by what I call a “general convergence” of social power in the
Mediterranean world near the end of the first millennium BCE. The transformation of
Segobriga, the paper concludes, should be seen as a case study in the process of
“Romanization”—not, however, defined as an index of acculturation, but rather as an
umbrella term for the making of a distinctively Roman configuration of power. The goals of
the paper, then, are both substantive and conceptual, and are meant to contribute to a
wider discussion of the intersection between (asymmetric) power and (translocal) culture
in the premodern world.
Event Series: Mahindra Humanities Center Interdisciplinary Graduate Workshop: New
Approaches to Ancient Evidence
*Lakshmi Ramgopal (Trinity College)
COLLEGE OF THE HOLY CROSS, Smith Hall, Room 201 1 College Street Worcester, MA 01610
Thu., Mar. 2, 2017, 4 – 6 p.m.
"Proximate to Power: The Roman Diaspora, Rome, and the Emperor"
Directions:
www.holycross.edu…<http://www.holycross.edu/maps-directions-and-transpor…
Contact Ms. Toni Methe (tmethe@holycross.edu<mailto:tmethe@holycross.edu>) with any
questions.
*The Futures of Classical Antiquity
SMITH COLLEGE, Seelye Hall 106, Northampton, MA 01063
Sat., Mar. 4, 9 a.m. – Sun., Mar. 5, 2017, 4 p.m.
A one-day symposium on possible futures for Classical Studies in twenty-first century
America. Five speakers address the challenges facing the Classics and the Humanities in
general, and offer their views on approaches and areas of inquiry that may best serve an
increasingly diverse and globalized citizenry.
Joy Connolly, Provost at the Graduate Center, City University of New York
Connected Classics: Research and Teaching in the Public Interest
Gregory Crane, Professor of Classics and Digital Humanities, Tufts Univ./Leipzig Univ.
Redefining and Supporting Classics for a Diverse America in a Global Age
Emily Greenwood, Professor of Classics, Yale University
Voyaging into Old-New Worlds: Imagining the Future through the Past via Classical
Receptions
Denise McCoskey, Professor of Classics, Miami University
“But then you read”: Why Ancient Identity Matters (and how to keep it that way)
Dimitri Nakassis, Professor of Classics, University of Colorado, Boulder
Doing Archaeology in a Digital Age: Challenges and Opportunities
**Roger Wilson (University of British Columbia)
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, Barker 133, Cambridge, MA 02138
Mon., Mar. 6, 2017, 5 – 7 p.m.
“Caddeddi on the Tellaro: A Late Roman Villa in Sicily and its Mosaics”
The Roman villa in contrada Caddeddi on the R. Tellaro, near Noto in southeast Sicily, was
discovered by chance in 1971. Although brief notes have been published about the villa and
its mosaics, and the site is mentioned in passing in general surveys of late Roman villas,
it and its fine mosaics have until very recently lacked a detailed publication. They date
to the second half of the fourth century AD, and so belong to a generation later than the
famous floors of Villa Casale near Piazza Armerina. This talk considers the iconography of
the three main mosaics at Caddeddi: a mythological scene, the ransoming of the body of
Hector; a floor depicting a bust of Bacchus at the center with satyrs and maenads in the
panels around; and an action-packed hunting scene with many episodes paralleled in general
terms on the Piazza Armerina floors. The paper also sets the Caddeddi mosaics in context
by comparing details from all three with mosaic comparanda in north Africa, and comes to
the conclusion that, although not all details can be paralleled there, the mosaics at
Caddeddi, like those at Piazza Armerina, were all laid by itinerant African craftsmen,
almost certainly based at Carthage.
Event Series: James Loeb Lecture
**Roger Wilson (University of British Columbia)
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, Barker 114, 12 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
Tue., Mar. 7, 2017, 6 – 7:30 p.m.
“Dining with the Dead: New Light on Early Byzantine Sicily at Punta Secca (RG)”
Punta Secca (in Ragusa province) on the south coast of Sicily is a late Roman and early
Byzantine village, partly excavated in the 1960s and 1970s and identified as the Kaukana
of the ancient sources, where Belisarius set sail for the conquest of Africa in AD 533.
This talk will describe a more recent excavation, focused on one building (a house), which
examined in detail its building phases and the commercial contacts that its inhabitants
enjoyed with other parts of Sicily—and indeed the wider Mediterranean world. Finds include
the earliest securely dated example in Europe of a thimble, and what may arguably be the
earliest depiction of a backgammon board. The biggest surprise was the discovery of a
substantial tomb placed in what was probably the yard of the house in the second quarter
of the seventh century AD, and of evidence for associated feasting in honor of the
deceased. Who was inside the tomb, and why did that person deserve this level of respect?
What evidence was there for feasts, and what was eaten? Was it a pagan or a Christian
burial? And what was the tomb doing here, in a domestic setting, rather than in the
village cemetery, or indeed, if the deceased was Christian, in or near the church? These
and other intriguing questions will be addressed in this talk, and the discovery set in
the context of what else is known about such practices in late Roman and early Byzantine
funerary culture.
Event Series: James Loeb Lecture
*Nicholas G. Blackwell (NC State)
TUFTS UNIVERSITY, 62 Talbot Ave, Somerville, MA 02144, Pearson Hall 104
Thu., Mar. 9, 2017, 7 – 8:30 p.m.
"Construction Methods and Political Statements at Mycenae: New Analysis of the Lion
Gate Relief and Treasury of Atreus."
*China/Rome Forum on Economic Histories
BROWN UNIVERSITY, Joukowsky Forum, Watson Institute, 111 Thayer St. 02912
Mon., Mar. 13, 2017, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Join this comparative forum on Chinese and Greco-Roman economic histories.
Richard Von Glahn (UCLA) will present his new book, The Economic History of China From
Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century (2016). Walter Scheidel (Classics, Stanford) and Joe
McDermott (Chinese History, Cambridge) will respond. All welcome.
*Joel Christensen (Brandeis University)
COLLEGE OF THE HOLY CROSS, Smith Hall, Room 201 1 College Street Worcester, MA 01610
Wed., Mar. 15, 2017, 4:30 – 6:30 p.m.
Lecture on Homer; title TBA
Directions:
www.holycross.edu…<http://www.holycross.edu/maps-directions-and-transpor…
Contact Ms. Toni Methe (tmethe@holycross.edu<mailto:tmethe@holycross.edu>) with any
questions.
"Foreign Relations in the Ancient Mediterranean World"
BOSTON UNIVERSITY, CAS 200, 725 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02155
Sat., Mar. 18, 2017
9th Annual Graduate Student Conference of Classical Studies
Sponsored by the Boston University Center for the Humanities and the Department of
Classical Studies
More information as well as the registration link can be found at:
www.bu.edu…<http://www.bu.edu/classics/lectures-conferences/graduate-stu…
**Stefan Hagel (Institute for the Study of Ancient Culture, Austrian Academy of Sciences)
and Susanne Gaensicke (J. Paul Getty Museum)
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, Barker Center, Room 114, 12 Quincy St. Cambridge, MA 02138
Mon., Mar. 20, 2017, 4 – 6 p.m.
"Hellenistic Music in Africa, 10 BCE: Reconstructing the Instruments from Queen
Amanishakheto's Pyramid"
Event Series: Mahindra Humanities Center Seminar: Civilizations of Ancient Greek and Rome
More info:
mahindrahumanities.fas.harvard.edu…<http://mahindrahumanities.fas.harvar…
Christelle Fischer-Bovet (Univ. of Southern California)
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, TBA, Cambridge, MA 02138
Mon., Mar. 20, 2017, 5 p.m.
TBA
Andrew Ollett
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, Harvard Yard, Boylston Hall 105, Cambridge, MA 02138
Wed., Mar. 22, 2017, 5 – 7 p.m.
"Complementizers in Middle Indic"
New Digs and Discoveries at Sardis in Turkey
HARVARD ART MUSEUMS, Menschel Hall, Lower Level, 32 Quincy Street (use entrance on
Broadway), Cambridge, MA 02138
Wed., Mar. 22, 2017, 6 – 7:30 p.m.
Research from the Archaeological Exploration of Sardis in western Turkey, sponsored by
Harvard and Cornell Universities, continues to produce exciting and unexpected surprises.
In this lecture, Director Nicholas Cahill, professor of art history at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison, will present recent results from the expedition. Cahill will discuss
ongoing excavation at a sanctuary of the Roman imperial cult and its transformation in
late antiquity; work in the area believed to be the palace of Croesus and new evidence for
the earliest occupation of the city; one of the largest Roman triumphal arches known; and
conservation and restoration projects.
Free admission. Complimentary parking available in the Broadway Garage, 7 Felton Street,
in Cambridge. For more information, please contact Robin Woodman at 617-495-3940 or
robin_woodman@harvard.edu<mailto:robin_woodman@harvard.edu>.
The Sardis Biennial Lecture is sponsored by the Archaeological Exploration of Sardis to
present new excavation finds and current research. Work at Sardis is authorized by the
Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism and has been sponsored by the Harvard Art Museums
and Cornell University since 1958.
Event Series: Sardis Biennial Lecture
More info:
archaeology.harvard.edu…<http://archaeology.harvard.edu/event/new-digs-a…
Lothar von Falkenhausen (University of California, Los Angeles)
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, TBA
Thu., Mar. 23, 2017, 5 – 7 p.m.
"Trying to Do the Right Thing to Protect the World's Cultural Heritage: One
Committee Member's Tale"
The Archaeological Institute of America’s 2017 Norton Lecturer will speak as part of
Harvard's East Asian Archaeology Seminar series.
**Charles Bartlett (Harvard University)
COLLGE OF THE HOLY CROSS, Hogan Campus Center Suite A (4th floor), 1 College St,
Worcester, MA 01610
Thu., Mar. 23, 2017, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
“Sovereign Debt in the Hellenistic World" with commentary by Joseph Manning (Yale
University)
Directions:
www.holycross.edu…<http://www.holycross.edu/maps-directions-and-transpor…
Please contact Ms. Toni Methe (tmethe@holycross.edu<mailto:tmethe@holycross.edu>) if
interested in attending the meeting and dinner.
Event Series: New England Ancient History Colloquium
Gasper Begus (Harvard University)
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, Harvard Yard, Boylston 105, Cambridge, MA 02138
Wed., Mar. 29, 2017, 5 – 7 p.m.
"A Diachronic Model for Explaining Unnatural Sound Changes”
Paolo Visonà (University of Kentucky)
HARVARD ART MUSEUMS, Menschel Hall, Lower Level, 32 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
Wed., Mar. 29, 2017, 6 p.m.
"From Byrsa to the Tiber: Carthaginian Coins and History"
New evidence from hoards, overstrikings, and excavation finds across the western
Mediterranean in the last 50 years has significantly increased our knowledge of
Carthaginian coins and their circulation patterns in the core regions of the Punic world,
from North Africa to Spain. As mediums of payment, stores of value, and social artifacts,
Carthaginian coins were used in diverse contexts and by different ethnicities.
In this lecture, Paolo Visonà, associate professor at the University of Kentucky at
Lexington, will discuss how these coins provide essential information on the history and
the economy of Carthage, underscoring its connectivity with other Punic centers and its
relations with its Mediterranean neighbors and rivals, particularly Cyrene, Syracuse, and
Rome.
Following the lecture, select galleries related to the talk will remain open until 8pm.
Free admission. Complimentary parking available in the Broadway Garage, 7 Felton Street,
Cambridge.
To honor the memory of renowned numismatist and scholar Leo Mildenberg (1912–2001) and his
years of friendship with Harvard University, a fund was established by his friends and
colleagues and endowed in 2005 by his wife, Ilse Mildenberg-Seehausen.
Event Series: Mildenberg Lecture
More info:
www.harvardartmuseums.org<http://www.harvardartmuseums.org/>
*Emma Dench (Harvard University)
COLLEGE .OF THE HOLY CROSS, Smith Hall, Room 201 1 College Street Worcester, MA 01610
Wed., Apr. 5, 2017, 4:30 – 6:30 p.m.
“Ethnography and history in the Roman world”
Directions:
www.holycross.edu…<http://www.holycross.edu/maps-directions-and-transpor…
Contact Ms. Toni Methe (tmethe@holycross.edu<mailto:tmethe@holycross.edu>) with any
questions.
Event Series: New England Ancient History Colloquium
Elizabeth Irwin (Columbia University)
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, TBA, Cambridge, MA 02138
Wed., Apr. 5, 2017, 6 – 8 p.m.
TBA
Event Series: James Loeb Lecture
Eric Frederickson (Harvard University)
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, Harvard Yard, Boylston Hall 103, Cambridge, MA 02138
Wed., Apr. 12, 2017, 4 – 6 p.m.
"Dating (Classical Hebrew) Texts Linguistically: A Bayesian Approach.”
Brooke Holmes (Princeton)
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, TBA, Cambridge, MA
Fri., Apr. 21, 2017, 3 – 4:30 p.m.
Topic: TBA
Event Series: GSAS Workshop—"Postclassicisms: Literary Secondariness in Antiquity and
Beyond"
More info:
classics.fas.harvard.edu…<http://classics.fas.harvard.edu/links/gsas-wor…
Tim Whitmarsh (University of Cambridge)
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, TBA, Cambridge, MA 02138
Wed., Apr. 26, 2017, 5 – 7 p.m.
TBA
Event Series: James Loeb Lecture
Adam Gitner (Indiana University, Bloomington)
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, TBA, Cambridge, MA
Wed., May 3, 2017, 4:30 – 6 p.m.
Topic: TBA
Event Series: GSAS Workshop—"Postclassicisms: Literary Secondariness in Antiquity and
Beyond"
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