Classics Commons^™

Wounds That Will Not Heal: Heroism And Innocence In Shane And The Iliad, Carl A. Rubino

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

George Stevens’ film Shane, which dates from 1953, remains an especially successful version of the heroic paradigm that is established in Homer’s Iliad. Just as Achilles, the hero of Homer’s poem, considers abandoning the war at Troy in favor of a long and uneventful life at home, the film’s mysterious hero makes a futile attempt to abandon his violent past for a “normal life” as an ordinary farmer in the American west. In the end, however, the threatened status of the domestic world Shane is trying to enter makes it impossible for him to renounce his heroic nature and violent …

“Every Time I Write A Rhyme / These People Think It’S A Crime”: Persona Problems In Catullus And Eminem, Jesse Weiner

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

This essay interprets Eminem’s song, “Criminal” (2000, The Marshall Mathers LP, Track 18), as a Catullan project in establishing distance between the poet and poetic persona, accomplished through Catullan invective. Drawing upon pedagogical experience, I argue that Catullus (a Roman poet of the 1st Century BCE) and Eminem use analogous rhetorical tactics and structures to challenge accusations (real or imagined) of poor character stemming from their poetry. Catullus and Eminem vociferously articulate a separation of art from artist, using common transgressive poetics. Each poet disavows his own self-constructed stance of authenticity with similar threats of violence and postures of …

Book V Of The Mathematical Collection Of Pappus Of Alexandria, Translated By John B. Little, Pappus Of Alexandria, John B. Little

Holy Cross Bookshelf

John B. Little is the translator.

Book V of the Mathematical Collection is addressed to a certain Megethion, about whom we know nothing else. From the context he may have been a student or patron of Pappus in Alexandria. In a heading at the start, Pappus says that the general theme will be comparisons between different geometric figures. The overall structure brings interesting relations and connections to the fore. The book opens with a very well-known and charming discussion of how the importance of such comparisons can be seen by considering the structures built by non-human creatures such as bees. …

Review Of Sarah F. Derbew. 2022. Untangling Blackness In Greek Antiquity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp Xvi, 253. Paperback. (Isbn 9781108817912) $25.99., Emma English

New England Classical Journal

No abstract provided.

A Letter From Cane President Thomas J. Howell

New England Classical Journal

No abstract provided.

Masthead

New England Classical Journal

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

New England Classical Journal

No abstract provided.

Reception Of The Testimonium Flavianum: An Evaluation Of The Independent Witnesses To Josephus’ Testimonium Flavianum, Chrissy M.E. Hansen

New England Classical Journal

The Testimonium Flavianum’s authenticity has been a prominent concern in Jesus studies for centuries. Recent studies have largely ruled it partially authentic, with the works of Whealey, Paget, and Allen arguing that independent witnesses to the Testimonium Flavianum existed beyond Eusebius. This essay assesses the independency of these alleged witnesses to the Testimonium Flavianum and concludes that none hold water. Per this paper’s findings, all versions of the Testimonium Flavianum have their origin in either Eusebius’ Historia Ecclesiastica or Demonstratio Evangelica.

Review Of Melanie Racette-Campbell. 2023. The Crisis Of Masculinity In The Age Of Augustus. Wisconsin Studies In Classics. Madison, Wisconsin: The University Of Wisconsin Press, Wisconsin Studies In Classics. Pp. Xi, 262. Hardcover. (Isbn 9780299343507) $99.95., Jaakkojuhani Peltonen

New England Classical Journal

No abstract provided.

Review Of Ronnie Ancona And Georgia Tsouvala (Eds.). 2021. New Directions In The Study Of Women In The Greco-Roman World. New York: Oxford University Press. Pp. Xvi, 278. Hardcover. (Isbn 9780190937638) $110., J. Jo Spellman

New England Classical Journal

No abstract provided.

Amy Barbour: Biography As Scholarly Self-Fashioning, Talia Boylan

New England Classical Journal

Amy Barbour (PhD Yale, 1902) was one of the first women to receive a PhD in Classics in the United States. This essay describes how Barbour’s social context, gender, and national identity inflected her engagement with transatlantic intellectual trends. A biographical sketch culminating with Barbour’s career at Smith College as Professor of Ancient Greek is followed by a description of her academic achievements in the light of contemporary disciplinary anxiety and the use of biography as a scholarly tool. This two-pronged approach complements the valuable body of scholarship on North American women Classicists, which has focused more on those women’s …

Echoes Of The Past: The Vitellian Women In Tacitus’ Histories, Caitlin Gillespie

New England Classical Journal

This article argues that Tacitus’ characterizations of female members of the Vitellii evoke literary representations of several prominent Roman women of the late Republic and Julio-Claudian era. Tacitus draws upon a range of figures for his Vitellian women, from Fulvia to Livia, Antonia the Younger to Octavia. Literary resonances contribute to Tacitus’ representation of Vitellius as a bad emperor who nevertheless cared about his family. In rejecting or reflecting literary models, Tacitus uses Vitellius’ mother Sextilia, wife Galeria, and sister-in-law Triaria to create echoes and distinctions between past and present civil conflicts.

Statues In Plutarch's Lives, Donald Lateiner

New England Classical Journal

This article surveys where Plutarch mentions statues in the Lives and how they enrich his biographies. He alludes to statues in introductions, after death in conclusions, and in synkriseis. 1] They describe his subjects’ appearance. 2] They expressed community appreciation. 3] After some Hellenic and Roman honorands lost favor or were assassinated, their images suffered destruction. 4] Several communities compensated victims for ignominy by replacing their statues. 5] Several subjects erected statues as propaganda. 6] Several “heroes” address other men’s statues. 7] Statues or their absence counterpoint deaths and funerals. 8] Statues ironically embody excessive ambition. 9] Subsequent ancient …

Review Of Amy A. Koenig. 2024. The Fractured Voice: Silence And Power In Imperial Roman Literature. Madison, Wisconsin: The University Of Wisconsin Press, Wisconsin Studies In Classics. Pp. Vii, 228. Hardcover. (Isbn 9780299345303) $99.95., Sigrid Schottenius Cullhed

New England Classical Journal

No abstract provided.

Full Issue (51.2)

New England Classical Journal

No abstract provided.

Full Issue

Studia Antiqua

No abstract provided.

Towards Orthodox Polity: Episcopal Apology In Eusebius Of Caesarea’S Ecclesiastical History, Chris Cox

Studia Antiqua

During the last twenty years Eusebius of Caesarea’s Ecclesiastical History has received some examination by scholars as a work of apology. In this paper, I propose that one element of Eusebius’ apologetics is a defense of the episcopal polity which existed during his lifetime. This is evident through the priority which the episcopacy is given throughout Ecclesiastical History’s narrative, and the authority that Eusebius presumes the episcopate holds from its origin. Additionally, it is possible that groups which Eusebius considered heretical and who rejected the authority of orthodox bishops may have motivated his episcopal emphasis.

A Pauline Dress Code Or A Roman Analogy: Reinterpreting Paul’S Discourse In 1 Corinthians 11:1–16, Nicole Francis

Studia Antiqua

Historically, the debate surrounding 1 Corinthians 11 has focused on whether or not Paul is referring to women veiling their heads in church or simply wearing their hair up. This debate roots itself in a nearly universally accepted assumption that Paul is requesting a sort of dress-code standard for praying and prophesying in church. While this has been the dominant reading in scholarship for centuries, there are numerous compelling weaknesses in this interpretation. This paper will explore those weaknesses and provide an alternative reading: When confronted with group conflict, Paul attempts to reason his way through the hierarchical structure he …

Retracing The Historical Via Dolorosa: A Logistical Exercise In First-Century Jerusalem, Calan Christensen

Studia Antiqua

Since the identification of Herod’s palace on the Western Hill of Jerusalem as the Praetorium (πραιτώριον) of the Gospels, the notion of Jesus being tried at the Antonia Fortress, and the associated Via Dolorosa, has been relegated to mere tradition. This presented a prime juncture to responsibly reinform a tantamount Christian pilgrimage tradition through the lens of archaeology. Unfortunately, this opportunity has seemingly been neglected by the greater academic community. Any scholar that ventures to mention a plausible route from the Praetorium to Golgotha hastily assumes a route through the Upper City and neglects to cite any compelling evidence. This …

The Different Esthers Of The Septuagint And Masoretic Text: How The Inclusion Of God Changes The Character Of Esther, Heidyn Von Bose

Studia Antiqua

The Book of Esther is a unique work that contains significant differences between the Hebrew and Greek versions of the text. One significant difference is the character of Esther herself. In the throne room scene of chapter five (or addition D in the LXX), the LXX Esther is more passive than the Esther of the Hebrew Bible because of the inclusion of God and more specifically the differences in the power structure between God, Esther, and the king. By analyzing the different characters’ movements and the language describing them in chapter 5 or Addition D, the differences of Esther’s character …