The Agorē in Epic and Archaeology

Jim Marks | 30 November 2012

Art/Archaeology Mythology/Religion Research Symposium Papers

Ritual Practice and Material Support: Objects in Ritual Theories

Citation with persistent identifier: Patera, Ioanna. “Ritual Practice and Material Support: Objects in Ritual Theories.” CHS Research Bulletin 1, no. 1 (2012). http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hlnc.essay:PateraI.Ritual_Practice_and_Material_Support.2012 Confined to the religious sphere [ritual] has some minimal utility. But used in the wide manner of ethologists (the rituals of copulation), archaeologists (with their ritual objects), the sociologists (discovering rituals of family living) and the anthropologists (rituals, more rituals, yet more rituals), there is little to be… Read more

Language/Literature Research Symposium Papers

Abstract: Collective Emotion in Thucydides

Thucydides’ well-known endorsement of Pericles praises his ability to perceive the fears of the Atheniandemos and steer them in the direction that benefits the affairs of the state. This endorsement reflects a preoccupation that permeates his History: the role that individual and collective emotion plays in political decision-making and action. This paper examines Thucydides’ depiction of the nature, characteristics, and effects of emotions primarily as collective responses. The Mytilenean debate and the… Read more

Language/Literature Research Symposium Papers

Abstract: Lesbos Between Athens and Sparta

Archaic Greek poems referred to a specific historical context and to a specific audience. To understand the meaning of these poems, it is necessary to reconstruct their contexts. Because of the lack of evidence about archaic Greece, different societies have to be compared: in the case of Sappho and Alcaeus, parallels are made between Lesbos and Sparta or Athens. However, because Spartan and Athenian society were structurally different, it is… Read more

Language/Literature Research Symposium Papers

Abstract: Rethinking the Homeric Polis

Descriptions of communities in the early Greek epics—like descriptions of places, people and things in general—tend to be cursory. Three features, however, recur with some frequency, each of which belongs to the public sphere: a central meetingplace (agorē), freestanding temples, and a city wall that encircles the entire settlement. Communities in which a significant part of an epic narrative is set—Troiē and the camp of the Akhaioi before it, Odusseus’… Read more

Art/Archaeology Research Symposium Papers

Abstract: On Her Majesty’s Service: C. L. W. Merlin and the Sourcing of Greek Antiquities for the British Museum

Based on hitherto unpublished archival material, this paper offers a brief biographical account of Charles Louis William Merlin, who served on Her Britannic Majesty’s consular service in Greece for almost 50 years (1839-1887). His extensive correspondence (1864-1892) with the British Museum, offers the opportunity to reconstruct Merlin’s role in the sourcing and trafficking of ancient objects directly from Athens to London. The study of this material, which is currently ongoing,… Read more

Mythology/Religion Research Symposium Papers

Abstract: Ritual Practice and Material Support: Objects in Ritual Theories

“Ritual” has long attracted classicists. While building on anthropological theories, however, the field of classics has not yet fully explored or integrated recent developments into its hermeneutics. While anthropologists have written and thought a great deal about “ritual” and the adequacy of the term for describing repetitive actions in religious as well as profane contexts, classicists continue to use the term without questioning its theoretical implications. “Ritual” conveys indeed dichotomies… Read more

Epigraphy/Papyrology Research Symposium Papers

Abstract: The Image and the Text: Dedicatory Epigrams on Stone and Strategies of Communication in Archaic and Classical Athens

My project deals with the interplay between image and literary-linguistic features of Archaic and Classical Attic dedicatory epigrams on stone in the communication with their two-fold audience, the god and the passers-by or, more broadly and importantly, the patron’s fellow citizens. Since epigrams were part of the ordinary life and “formulaic” on several respects, including their structure (shape of the monument, type of alphabet and dialect, layout of the text),… Read more

Language/Literature Research Symposium Papers

Collective Emotion in Thucydides

Citation with persistent identifier: Visvardi, Eirene. “Collective Emotion in Thucydides.” CHS Research Bulletin 1, no. 1 (2012). http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hlnc.essay:VisvardiE.Collective_Emotion_in_Thucydides.2012 §1  In classical Athens, negotiations in diverse public contexts – forensic, deliberative, poetic – explicitly evoke and examine the role of the emotions.[1] At the same time, in the context of the debate over the relationship between nature and culture (φύσις and νόμος), emotions occupy an interesting, if slippery, position because they… Read more

Language/Literature Research Symposium Papers

Lesbos Between Athens and Sparta

Citation with persistent identifier: Caciagli, Stefano. “Lesbos Between Athens and Sparta.” CHS Research Bulletin 1, no. 1 (2012). http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hlnc.essay:CaciagliS.Lesbos_Between_Athens_and_Sparta.2012 Archaic Greek Poetry and Quellenforschung §1  A correct understanding of the social and historical background of an archaic Greek poet is necessary for the analysis of his poetry. In fact, the Greek poetry was essentially prag­matic, since it referred to a well-defined social context and to a well-defined audience: a Greek poet… Read more

Art/Archaeology Research Symposium Papers

On Her Majesty’s Service: C.L.W. Merlin and the Sourcing of Greek Antiquities for the British Museum

Citation with persistent identifier: Galanakis, Yannis. “On Her Majesty’s Service: C. L. W. Merlin and the Sourcing of Greek Antiquities for the British Museum.” CHS Research Bulletin 1, no. 1 (2012). http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hlnc.essay:GalanakisY.On_Her_Majestys_Service.2012 The Diplomatic Pouch §1  The collection and trafficking of antiquities and art objects through the intervention of diplomatic services is neither new nor revelatory.[1] With regard to Greek antiquities, this subject has already been discussed either in relation… Read more