Volume 1

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 https://vimeo.com/57934924 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… 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 Athenian demos 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… 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,… 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… 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Based on hitherto unpublished archival material, this paper offers a brief biographical account of Charles Louis William Merlin, who served on Her Britannic Majesty’s consular service in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… Read more