The Boston Area Classics Calendar for February 3, 2017
PLEASE NOTE: * = new entry, ** = alteration or addition to an existing entry
*Leisure and Luxury in the Age of Nero: The Villas of Oplontis Near Pompeii
SMITH COLLEGE, Museum of Art, 20 Elm Street at Bedford Terrace, Northampton, MA 01063
Fri., Feb. 3, 2017
Exhibition runs until August 17, 2017
Featuring works seen for the first time outside Italy, this groundbreaking exhibition
centers on the ancient town of Oplontis on the Neapolitan coast, a site that was buried
and preserved when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE. The exhibition focuses on two
adjacent, spectacular Roman archaeological sites—one an enormous luxury villa (“Villa A”)
that once sprawled along the coast of the Bay of Naples, the other a nearby
commercial-residential complex (“Villa B”), where products from the region were exported.
Ongoing excavations of the villas have revealed a wealth of art, including sculpture that
adorned the gardens along with ordinary utilitarian objects that together demonstrate the
disparities of wealth, social class, and consumption in Roman life. This is the first
major exhibition to address this important site, less well known than the more famous
sites of nearby Pompeii and Herculaneum, which were also victims of the Vesuvian eruption.
SCMA is one of three national venues for the exhibition, and the only east coast venue.
This exhibition is organized and circulated by The University of Michigan Kelsey Museum of
Archaeology in cooperation with the Ministero dei Beni delle Attività Culturali e del
Turismo and the Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Pompei, Ercolano e
Stabia.
*Nicholas G. Blackwell (NC State)
TUFTS UNIVERSITY, 62 Talbot Ave, Somerville, MA 02144, Pearson Hall 104
Fri., Feb. 3, 2017, 7 – 8:30 p.m.
"Construction Methods and Political Statements at Mycenae: New Analysis of the Lion
Gate Relief and Treasury of Atreus."
*Critical Perspectives on the Practice of Digital Archaeology
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, TBA, Cambridge, MA 02138
Sat., Feb. 4, 2017, 8 a.m. – 1 p.m.
The creation, management, sharing, and preservation of digital data and media have gained
great prominence in archaeological research, grant making, policy making, and software and
systems development. Digital data has much promise. It can help us engage with wider
communities, explore new research questions, and create and preserve a vastly enriched
body of archaeological documentation. Digital data also has a certain glamor, gained in
large part through its associations with the burgeoning tech industry. However, does our
celebration of speed, efficiency, precision and innovation sometimes make technology a
superficial distraction rather than a substantive means toward learning? How do we
encourage more meaningful intellectual engagement with new media as they transform
archaeology? This conference represents an opportunity to take stock and more thoughtfully
consider how our embracement of digital technologies is transforming archaeological
practice.
More info:
archaeology.harvard.edu…<http://archaeology.harvard.edu/event/critical-p…
Jacqueline Arthur-Montagne (High Point University)
BROWN UNIVERSITY, Rhode Island Hall, Room 108, 60 George St., Providence, RI 02912
Mon., Feb. 6, 2017, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
"The Song of Ismenias in the Alexander Romance: Imperial Prose Fiction Critiques the
Canon"
More info:
www.brown.edu…<https://www.brown.edu/academics/classics/sites/brown.edu.…
Samuel Ellenport, Master Bookbinder and Historian
AMHERST COLLEGE, Morgan Hall, Room 110, 165 S Pleasant St, Amherst, MA 01002
Thu., Feb. 9, 2017, 5 – 7 p.m.
“The Classics and the Information Revolution of the Late 15th Century”
Tyler Jo Smith (University of Virginia)
Wellesley College, Founders Hall Room 120, 106 Central St, Wellesley, MA 02481
Thu., Feb. 9, 2017, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
"War and Peace: Trojan Narratives on Ancient Greek Vases"
The Archaeological Institute of America’s 2017 Noble Lecture co-sponsored by the Wellesley
Department of Classical Studies.
For parking information, please see
web.wellesley.edu…<http://web.wellesley.edu/map/>
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/>
Hellenistic Sardis Project
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, TBA, Cambridge, MA 02138
Thu., Feb. 23 – Fri., Feb. 24, 2017
TBA
*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, so please pass this information to anyone who
may be interested. 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…
*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, TBA, Cambridge, MA
Mon., Feb. 27, 2017, 6 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
Roger Wilson (University of British Columbia)
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, Barker 133, Cambridge, MA 02138
Mon., Mar. 6, 2017, 5 – 7 p.m.
TBA
First lecture of two.
Roger Wilson (University of British Columbia)
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, TBA, Cambridge, MA 02138
Tue., Mar. 7, 2017, 6 – 7:30 p.m.
TBA
Second lecture of two.
*"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…
**Susanne Gaensicke (J. Paul Getty Museum) & Stefan Hagel (Institute for the Study of
Ancient Culture, Austrian Academy of Sciences)
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, Barker 114, 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, 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)
For more information: allen.m.ward@att.net<mailto:allen.m.ward@att.net>
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/>
*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"
Subscribe to weekly emails:
http://lists.fas.harvard.edu/mailman/listinfo/calclass-list
Subscribe to/download calendar:
http://classics.fas.harvard.edu/boston-area-classics-calendar
New event submissions/current event revisions welcome:
calclass@fas.harvard.edu<mailto:calclass@fas.harvard.edu>.
PLEASE send event information in the format modeled above.