Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity Commons^™

Aristotle's Analytic Tools, Mary Mulhern

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Aristotle developed analytic tools to deal with conceptual difficulties that were important in his time. Some of these tools are his explicit analysis of homonymy, his eightfold classification of subjects and predicates and its elaboration into the predicaments and predicables, his syntactical analysis of ordinary language sentences, and his construction of a formal language for deductive and demonstrative syllogistic. Some of these conceptual difficulties are traceable to theories of Ideas, in which definitory predicates were not distinguished from non-definitory ones, as for instance in Hypothesis V of the Parmenides, where it is argued that the (non-existent) one is not equal …

Studying Mathematics For The Sake Of The Good, Andrew Payne

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

In the Republic, Socrates describes the good as the end of all human action: “Every soul pursues the good and does what it does for its sake. It divines that the good is something but it is perplexed and cannot adequately grasp what it is or acquire the sort of stable beliefs it has about other things, and so it misses the benefits, if any, that even those other things may give.” I wish to examine how humans act for the sake of the good in the sections of the Republic following this passage. Human action is oriented toward the …

Sagp Newsletter 2007/8.1 (December), Anthony Preus

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Includes the SAGP Programs with the Eastern Division (December 28, 2007) in Baltimore, with the American Philological Association (January 4, 2008) in Chicago, with the Pacific Division (March 2008) in Pasadena, and with the Central Division (April 2008) in Chicago.

Threat And Hope: Women’S Rituals And Civil War In Roman Epic, Vassiliki Panoussi

Arts & Sciences Book Chapters

Drawing upon the latest research in gender studies, history of religion, feminism, ritual theory, performance, anthropology, archaeology, and art history, Finding Persephone investigates the ways in which the religious lives and ritual practices of women in Greek and Roman antiquity helped shape their social and civic identity. Barred from participating in many public arenas, women asserted their presence by performing rituals at festivals and presiding over rites associated with life passages and healing. The essays in this lively and timely volume reveal the central place of women in the religious and ritual practices of the societies of the ancient Mediterranean. …

Sagp/Ssips 2007 Abstract Collection, Anthony Preus

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

This is a collection of abstracts from the 2007 SAGP/SSIPS conference, in alphabetical order by name of author.

The Function Of Mythology And Religion In Ancient Greek Society., Cara Leigh Sailors

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The ancient Greeks are prime subjects of study for those wishing to understand the roles that religion and mythology play in a society and how the two interact with each other. This paper covers what I feel after my study of Greek mythology and religion are the eight functions of mythology: history, education, explanation - both of the natural world and the culture of each society, legality, genesis, what happens after death, and entertainment; as well as the two function of religion: civic and spiritual. In the first chapter, in order to show each of the mythological functions, I summarize …

Augustus Deified Or Denigrated: The Political Subtext Of Anchises' Speech In Aeneid Vi, Scott D. Davis

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

In 27 B.C., Octavian became Augustus. The chaos of the civil wars had ended and an emperor was at last in Rome. As the princeps states in his Res Gestae, he had obtained all things "per consensum universorum" and upon achieving victory over his enemies, the doors of the temple of Janus were closed, peace was restored and the governance of Rome had ostensibly been returned to the Senate and the Roman people. Then, "quo pro merito," Octavian received the title of Augustus and the doors of his temple were adorned with the corona civica. A gold shield …

Aristotle On Mathematical Existence, Phil Corkum

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Do mathematical objects exist in some realm inaccessible to our senses? It may be tempting to deny this. For one thing, how we could come to know mathematical truths, if such knowledge must arise from causal interaction with non-empirical objects? However, denying that mathematical objects exist altogether has unsettling consequences. If you deny the existence of mathematical objects, then you must reject all claims that commit you to such objects, which means rejecting much of mathematics as it is standardly understood. For, as David Papineau (1990) vividly puts it, it is doublethink to deny that mathematical objects exist but to …

On The (In)Consistency Of Aristotle's Philosophy Of Time, Tiberiu Popa

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Aristotle’s mind-dependence theory of time is considerably more than an eccentric afterthought formulated in a short passage, as many believe; rather, it is firmly anchored in Physics IV, especially in Ch. 11. A number of formulations that may seem purely epistemic or propaedeutic in nature do in fact have ontological significance, pointing to the fact that time’s existence hinges crucially on our capacity to perceive change. Aristotle seems to be echoed in crucial respects by contemporary theories of time, notably by A. Grünbaum’s.

Lies Breathed Through Silver: Mythological Constructs In Tolkien’S Works, Joshua Mccrowell

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

It’s not hard to imagine the English air being warm the night John Ronald Reuel Tolkien brought Clive Staples Lewis hard won into Christianity. The image of their lengthy midnight talk has since become almost mythic to those who study those two authors because of the impact that Christianity (and the other) had on each other’s lives. Lewis’ most famous works - everything from Narnia to his Space Trilogy to his apologetics - all are based on and inspired by his faith. Similarly, Tolkien once said that “The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic …

Socrates's Great Escape: Philosophy And Politics In The Crito, Matthew King

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Many contemporary students of Plato hold that the arguments Socrates gives the personified Laws in the Crito do not represent Socrates’s own views, but rather work on assumptions to which Crito adheres, but Socrates does not. But if the Laws’ arguments are not Socrates’s own, then we seem to be left with a bewildering problem: why would Plato provide us with arguments that Socrates does not believe in, for a conclusion which Socrates evidently does believe in? After all, Socrates does remain in prison to face his execution; evidently, he believes that that is what he ought to do. This …

The Tension Between Altruistic Character And Self-Serving Possession In A Classical Socio-Political Ethic, Jeremy S. Neill

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Much of the Nicomachean Ethics treats egocentrism as an ineffectual and pernicious social vice out of which humans ought to be habituated. In the Politics self-centeredness is almost universally portrayed as a useful and enduring constituent of human psychology. The system of private property described in the Politics can hardly be a necessary social institution when Aristotle claims in the Ethics that the habituation process is capable of permanently fixing our attention upon public and altruistic fiscal ventures. This interpretive discrepancy between the two texts demonstrates that Aristotle’s defense of private property is ineffectual in its attempt to preserve the …

Sagp Newsletter 2006/7.2, Anthony Preus

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Programs of the Society with the Pacific Division, April 7, 2007, in San Francisco, and with the Central Division, April 20, 2007, in Chicago.

Centum Homines: The Prototype Of The Alexander Mosaic And The Military Museum In The Hellenistic World, Peter Nulton

Peter E. Nulton Ph.D.

Although it is generally accepted that the Alexander Mosaic copies a painting of the 4th Century BCE, the attribution of this prototype has never been settled. Numerous attempts have been made to associate it with painters recorded in Pliny's Natural History, notably Philoxenos of Eretria, and Alexander's court painter, Apelles.

If the painting were the work of any artist whose name survives, as strong a case can be made for Aristeides of Thebes as for Apelles or Philoxenos. Since Pliny's comment that Aristeides painted a battle against the Persians follows his treatment of the works of Apelles, he is likely …

(Review) Caesar In Gaul And Rome: War In Words, Eric Adler

Classics Faculty Publications

“[Andrew M. Riggsby has written] . . . an insightful monograph on the Caesarian portion of the BG [De bello Gallico]. The result will prove useful not only to those interested in Caesar, but also to scholars whose work focuses on the nature of Roman imperialism and ancient ethnography. . . . Caesar in Gaul and Rome demonstrates its author's familiarity with contemporary theoretical perspectives (postcolonialism, semiotics, etc.), yet never seems dogmatic or arcane. [The author] may not single-handedly reverse [negative] scholarly attitudes toward Caesar's commentarii, but his work goes a long way toward demonstrating what can be gleaned from …

Reflections On Greek Bronze And 'The Statue Of Humanity'. Heidegger's Aesthetic Phenomenology And Nietzsche's Agonistic Politics, Babette Babich

Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections

No abstract provided.

El Patrimonio Cultural De La Ciudad De Alicante: Avance Para Un Catálogo. Bienes Inmuebles., Pablo Rosser

pablo rosser

Primer avance de fichas patrimoniales sobre el patrimonio cultural de Alicante, en su aspecto de Bienes inmuebles.

Body Parts And Their Epic Struggle In Ovid’S Amores, Leisa M. Muto

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This thesis examines how body parts in Ovid’s Amores provide the location for an epic battle between the conflicting genres of Tragedy and Elegy. The first chapter summarizes past Ovidian scholarship. The second chapter examines how Ovid separates body parts of the amator and the puella in Amores 1.4 and 1.5 in order to deny the lovers complete unification. The third chapter expands the conclusion of the second by analyzing poems in Books 2 and 3, which contain a significant number of body parts, to determine how the amator’s interaction with the puella’s body parts reflects his lack of union …

Summary Report For The 2007 Season, Mark Schuler

Excavation Reports

In 2007, excavation work continued on areas surrounding the domus of the North-East Church complex, exposed the west street south to the Decumanus Maximus, continued conservation, cleaning, and documentation of the nave mosaic carpets (F544 and F589), and concluded study of the human remains from the masonry tomb. This report will address work done in the following areas:

• The Masonry Tomb
• The South Hall and Related Chambers
• The Chambers West of the Portico
• The Western Street (“Via Sacra”) and Related Buildings
• The Eastern Street and Related Buildings
• The Nave Mosaics
• Conservation

Resembling Nothing: Image And Being In Plato, Yancy Hughes Dominick

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

A crucial application of Plato’s views on the use of images in philosophy occurs through the use of the image relationship as an image for the relation of forms and particulars. The relation of a picture to the object it depicts, or that between a reflection and what it reflects, can be seen as analogous to the relation of a particular to the form in which it participates. Although the attack on the image model as analogous to the relation of forms and particulars in the Parmenides threatens to undermine any reliance on that model, this essay will present a …

Book Review: Empire Of Ashes, Jeanne Reames

History Faculty Publications

Three historical novels about Alexander the Great were published in 2004 to coincide with the November release of Oliver Stone’s epic film on the conqueror: The Virtues of War by Steven Pressfield, who is best known for Gates of Fire (1998) about the Battle of Thermopylae; Queen of the Amazons by Judith Tarr, who wrote about Alexander once before in Lord of the Two Lands (1993); and Empire of Ashes by relative newcomer Nicholas Nicastro.

On The Meaning Of Strōtēs In "P.Oxy". Xvi 1951, Adam Serfass

Adam Serfass

No abstract provided.

Imperium, Potestas, And The Pomerium In The Roman Republic, Fred Drogula

Fred K. Drogula

Justice Fred Blume And The Translation Of Justinian's Code, Timothy G. Kearley

Timothy G. Kearley