Boston Area Classics Calendar
September 2020
Racetrack to Salvation: The Circus, The Basilica, and the Martyr
<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/boston-area-classics-calendar?trumbaEmbed=view%3devent%26eventid%3d147316299>
Mon., Sep. 21, 5 – 6:30 p.m.
Zoom: mit.zoom.us… <https://mit.zoom.us/j/93274587072>
PRESENTED BY: Kim Sexton (Fay Jones School of Architecture + Design,
University of Arkansas) and Lynda Coon (Dean of the Honors College,
University of Arkansas)
ABSTRACT: Six basilicas constructed by Christians in fourth-century Rome
relate purposefully to ancient athletic structures, namely the circus and
the stadium. This relationship grew out of the shared cultural traditions
of Classical athleticism and the cult of Christian martyrs materialized in
the built environment and serving mixed religious audiences. These six
“circus basilicas” mimicked the most iconic features of Roman racetracks,
whether designed for sturdy horses or swift humans. The similarities in
design between circus and basilica were not mere accidents of history
bearing only “pseudo-resemblances” to pagan monuments. Rather, the
architectural features of circus basilicas bear witness to an ancient
Christianity practiced outside the city walls in the fourth century only to
be eclipsed by newer styles of worship in subsequent epochs. Here, the
martyr keeps company with the charioteer; the pagan dissolves seamlessly
into the Christian; the godhead metamorphoses into the ultimate spectator
at the games; and the athletic spaces of the later Roman Empire transmute
into a racetrack to salvation. This subject is not new, but typically
scholars have located the circus basilica within the context of Classical
hero cults rather than the cult of Christian martyrs. This presentation
brings together a wealth of sources—architectural, archaeological,
artistic, and literary—combined with interdisciplinary methodologies to
demonstrate how the Roman votaries of Jesus harnessed the cultural prestige
and cosmological systems of the circus to promulgate the faith and exercise
cultural dominion over the empire.
MIT Ancient & Medieval Studies Colloquium Series
<https://history.mit.edu/lectures-and-seminars/ancient-and-medieval-studies-colloquium-series>
calendar.mit.edu…
<https://calendar.mit.edu/event/racetrack_to_salvation#.X2Dp05NKhTY> [image:
Racetrack to Salvation: The Circus, The Basilica, and the Martyr]
Stuart Tyson Smith (University of California, Santa Barbara)
<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/boston-area-classics-calendar?trumbaEmbed=view%3devent%26eventid%3d148064358>
Tue., Sep. 22, 4 p.m.
Zoom <http://maps.google.com/?q=11611+E+58th+St%2c+Tulsa%2c+OK+74146>
"Black Pharaohs? Egyptological bias, racism, and Egypt and Nubia as African
Civilizations"
In a new line of research, Smith applies a postcolonial approach to modern
scholarly and popular views of ancient Egypt as not truly African and Nubia
as its subordinate, confronting the intersection between racism and
longstanding academic and political bias.
hutchinscenter.fas.harvard.edu…
<https://hutchinscenter.fas.harvard.edu/event/stuart-t-smith-black-pharaohs-egyptological-bias-racism-and-egypt-and-nubia-african>
[image:
Stuart Tyson Smith (University of California, Santa Barbara)]
Wentao Zhai (Harvard Law School)
<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/boston-area-classics-calendar?trumbaEmbed=view%3devent%26eventid%3d148093435>
Thu., Sep. 24, 6 – 7:30 p.m.
Online, Zoom
"Translating *The Aeneid *into Chinese" RSVP for Zoom link:
https://forms.gle/aQ32EG3fDnmGtFht5
Methods and Practice in Classics Workshop
<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/links/methods-and-practice-classics-workshop>
forms.gle… <https://forms.gle/aQ32EG3fDnmGtFht5>
Kelly Dugan (Trinity College, CT)
<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/boston-area-classics-calendar?trumbaEmbed=view%3devent%26eventid%3d148144039>
Wed., Sep. 30, 6 – 7 p.m.
Via Zoom, Contact classics(a)brandeis.edu if interested in attending.
"Henry 'Box' Brown and Classical Rhetoric: A Case Study on Racist
Practices
in 19th-century American Publishing"
www.brandeis.edu… <https://www.brandeis.edu/classics/news/index.html> [image:
Kelly Dugan (Trinity College, CT)]
October 2020
Eos Reads for Black Lives
<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/boston-area-classics-calendar?trumbaEmbed=view%3devent%26eventid%3d147805705>
Fri., Oct. 2, 12 – 1 p.m.
Zoom Info TBA
In response to the Black Lives Matter protests that have been happening
across the US and around the world since the spring, Eos
<https://www.eosafricana.org/announcements/eos-reads-special-session>, a
scholarly society for Africana receptions of Ancient Greece and Rome, has
decided to hold a special session entitled: Eos READS for Black Lives.
We would like to host a workshop within the community of Classicists at
Harvard (both within the Classics Department, and those affiliated with
Classics research around the university), on the proposed date of October
2, 2020, 12-1pm. We welcome undergraduates, graduate students, postdocs and
faculty. For folks interested in participating, there is a brief survey
<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1gSZl9uzTsMciZBrEK3hcT68j45HLXcCrLsrBURhYGDA/viewform?edit_requested=true>
that
you can fill out to express your interest and share some ideas with us
about how to organize this session.
www.eosafricana.org…
<https://www.eosafricana.org/announcements/eos-reads-special-session>
Antigone in Ferguson
<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/boston-area-classics-calendar?trumbaEmbed=view%3devent%26eventid%3d147800243>
Fri., Oct. 2, 5 – 7:30 p.m.
Virtual. Registration required:
aifoctober2.eventbrite.com.
Antigone in Ferguson is a groundbreaking project, developed by Theater of
War Productions, which fuses dramatic readings by acclaimed actors of
Sophocles’ Antigone with live choral music performed by a diverse choir,
including activists, youth, teachers, police officers, and concerned
citizens from St. Louis, Missouri and New York City, culminating in
powerful, healing discussions about race and social justice. Antigone in
Ferguson was conceived in the wake of Michael Brown’s death in 2014,
through a collaboration between Theater of War Productions and community
members from Ferguson, MO, and premiered at Normandy High School, Michael
Brown’s alma mater, in September of 2016.
Please register for this event at
http://aifoctober2.eventbrite.com/.
theaterofwar.com…
<https://theaterofwar.com/projects/antigone-in-ferguson> [image:
Antigone in Ferguson]
Davide Napoli (Harvard University)
<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/boston-area-classics-calendar?trumbaEmbed=view%3devent%26eventid%3d147963158>
Thu., Oct. 8, 6 – 7 p.m.
Zoom. Registration required below.
Warrior Catalogues in Aeschylus' *Persians*: Death, Memory and
Intertextuality
Registration
<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdoLlnIm_mvrDMlk-yJHpp5PqOqM_MvjVPocO0SS2qFmXOLiA/viewform>
required.
Methods and Practice in Classics Workshop
<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/links/methods-and-practice-classics-workshop>
docs.google.com…
<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdoLlnIm_mvrDMlk-yJHpp5PqOqM_MvjVPocO0SS2qFmXOLiA/viewform>
Seth Schein (University of California, Davis)
<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/boston-area-classics-calendar?trumbaEmbed=view%3devent%26eventid%3d140013589>
Tue., Oct. 13, 12 – 1:15 p.m.
Zoom. Registration required below.
Workshop on *Iliad* commentary
This will be an interactive workshop. Participants are asked to prepare by
reading *Iliad* 1.551-611 (in Greek) in advance.
Registration <https://forms.gle/REgxTn4kc5oyNKdj6> required. Zoom link and
readings will be shared in advance to those who register.
Mahindra Humanities Center Seminar: Civilizations of Ancient Greek and Rome
<https://mahindrahumanities.fas.harvard.edu/civilizations-ancient-greece>
forms.gle… <https://forms.gle/REgxTn4kc5oyNKdj6>
Adriaan Lanni (Harvard Law School)
<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/boston-area-classics-calendar?trumbaEmbed=view%3devent%26eventid%3d147626344>
Thu., Oct. 22, 6 – 7:30 p.m.
Zoom. Registration required at link below.
"Extracting Modern Lessons from Classical Athenian History"
Register <https://forms.gle/tgryW9HfPKAALm5T8> to receive the Zoom link.
Methods and Practice in Classics Workshop
<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/links/methods-and-practice-classics-workshop>
forms.gle… <https://forms.gle/tgryW9HfPKAALm5T8>
November 2020
Samantha Richter (Harvard University)
<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/boston-area-classics-calendar?trumbaEmbed=view%3devent%26eventid%3d147948962>
Thu., Nov. 5, 6 – 7 p.m.
Zoom. Registration required below.
Framing the Transformative Nature of the Greater Panathenaia within a
Modern Urban Theory
Registration
<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScVxP4K7FaGUtz6y8GDa7ootMG2UWSGkkAJDsMvXuFg7x8jnQ/viewform>
required.
Methods and Practice in Classics Workshop
<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/links/methods-and-practice-classics-workshop>
docs.google.com…
<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScVxP4K7FaGUtz6y8GDa7ootMG2UWSGkkAJDsMvXuFg7x8jnQ/viewform>
Danielle Allen (Harvard University)
<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/boston-area-classics-calendar?trumbaEmbed=view%3devent%26eventid%3d147711821>
Thu., Nov. 19, 6 – 7 p.m.
Zoom. Registration required at link below.
Title TBA
Danielle Allen is the James Bryant Conant University Professor and Director
of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University.
Register <https://forms.gle/6juTQKreZsgosoGj9> to receive the Zoom link.
Methods and Practice in Classics Workshop
<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/links/methods-and-practice-classics-workshop>
forms.gle… <https://forms.gle/6juTQKreZsgosoGj9>
March 2021
Joshua Billings (Princeton University)
<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/boston-area-classics-calendar?trumbaEmbed=view%3devent%26eventid%3d148064140>
Thu., Mar. 25, 6 – 7:30 p.m.
Zoom <http://maps.google.com/?q=11611+E+58th+St%2c+Tulsa%2c+OK+74146>
July 2021
Classical Association of New England Summer Institute
<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/boston-area-classics-calendar?trumbaEmbed=view%3devent%26eventid%3d147046638>
Mon., July 12 – Sat., July 17
Brown University, Providence, RI (dates will be confirmed in Jan. 2021)
On the theme
* “Power and the Individual in the Ancient Mediterranean World”graduate
credit available*
For more information and registration details, go to
www.caneweb.org
Please direct questions to the CSI director Amanda Loud at
summerinst(a)caneweb.org
caneweb.org… <https://caneweb.org/new/?page_id=165>
View the entire calendar online
<https://classics.fas.harvard.edu/boston-area-classics-calendar>
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