Classics Commons^™

The Platonic Sophists Against The Sophist: Complicating The Socratic Divide, Audrey Wallace

Bryn Mawr College Dissertations and Theses

If one were to look for a Platonic definition of a sophist, it would seem that there could be no better place than Plato’s Sophist, in which the Stranger and Theaetetus lay out a series of definitions in an attempt to articulate what makes a sophist. The Stranger’s definition of a sophist as a persuasive teacher of ἀρετή for pay, combined with the clear bias of Plato against these competitors of Socrates, has often led scholars to read these characteristics as the target of Plato’s critique and as markers of Socrates’ superiority.

However, by looking at Plato’s characterization of …

A Society Impaired: Why Students Must Be Taught Mythology, Elise Hayen

Emerging Writers

This piece investigates why mythology taught in schools is not being retained by most students and therefore causing a major deficit of understanding in society. The author analyzes why mythology is still relevant and how it has impacted our world by shaping our language, our brain, and our perception of the world. Different educational methods are introduced to demonstrate how mythology education can be advanced in all levels of schooling. Lastly, the author shares stories from teachers and students that have successfully integrated impactful mythology into their curriculum and in order to see how this impacted their communities.

Tragedy And Martyrdom: Greek Drama And The Passion Of Ss. Perpetua And Felicitas, Miranda J. Acuna

Scripps Senior Theses

A religion of the late ancient Mediterranean, Christianity evolved at the cross-sections of the Hellenic and Hebrew legacies as it gradually gained followers across the Roman Empire. Between attracting converts and resisting prosecution from imperial authorities, the Jesus movement was compelled to juggle the pagan world with its monotheistic convictions. This paper contributes to the growing scholarship that identifies how Christianity competed with the Greco-Roman world and its enduring pagan culture. Namely, it identifies characteristic similarities between early Christian martyrdom narratives and Classical Greek tragedy. Examining one of the oldest Christian martyrdom hagiographies, the Passion of Ss. Perpetua and Felicitas …

A Wrath That Remembers: A Feminist Companion To Aeschylus' Agamemnon, Mary Iris Allison

Scripps Senior Theses

This project is a feminist translation and companion to Aeschylus' Agamemnon, which includes detailed footnotes and references to secondary authors that provide a feminist reading of the text.

Plato's Critique Of Scientific Management In Charmides, Kenneth Knies

Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

I discover resources in Plato’s Charmides for a critique of management as a form of knowledge. After interpreting in a practical register Critias’ idea of a science that would comprehend all sciences without understanding any of their objects (166c – 175a), I argue that the paradoxes with which Socrates confronts this idea can be overcome. With reference to F.W. Taylor’s Principles of Scientific Management, I show how this overcoming depends upon transforming productive activity so that it no longer requires the knowledge of products that characterizes techne. As Socrates foresaw, a science that has all ways of working as …

Nahal Talia, ‘Ar‘Ara In The Negev A-9589/2023, Ilan Peretz

Favissa: Past Archaeological Excavation Reports

In May 2023, a trial excavation was conducted in Nahal Talia (Permit No. A-9589/2023; Map ref. 202351-601/561296-546), prior to the construction of a new residential neighborhood in ‘Ar‘ara in the Negev. The excavation, on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and funded by The Authority for the Development and Settlement of the Bedouin in the Negev, was directed by I. Peretz, with the assistance of Y. Alamor (administration), A. Montagu (surveying, photography, and drafting), A. Tamir (district archaeologist and acting excavation director), S. Talis and D. Eisenberg-Degen (counseling), Y. Abadi-Reiss (flint), I. Azulay (plans) and laborers from the Palestinian Authority.

Artistic Representation And Self Esteem, Brianna Davis

Honors College Theses

Dependent upon the constructs of the perception of self and the viewpoint of others, humans base the value of their self esteem on outer perspectives rather than internal ones. For this thesis in particular, the outer perspective to be examined is representation in the field of the arts. This thesis project explores the process of self esteem, artistic representation in the arts, how one affects the other, a history of the correlation between the two, and ways to inform and educate the masses with the tools necessary to advance representation in the arts thus raising the self esteem of its …

Athanasius Pulled Apart: Heresiology And The (Dis)Membered (Fe)Male Body, Jennifer Barry

Cultural and Philosophical Inquiry Articles

In this article, I engage Athanasius of Alexandria’s invocation of the infamous dismemberment of the unnamed woman found in Judg 19. By the fourth century, this story of gang rape—along with other preserved stories of sexual violence—found in Judges, were scattered throughout early Christian literature. Judges 19 holds a particularly troubling history in the late ancient context. The story of the rape and dismemberment of the unnamed woman in Judg 19 gave life to another story and typified a style of writing that I characterize in the article as a heresiology. The spectacle of Judges, along with other gruesome deaths …

Ovid's Caeneus As A Queer Hero: Understanding Gender And Gender Variance In The Ancient Mediterranean., Rj Palmer

Theses and Dissertations--Modern and Classical Languages, Literature and Cultures

Caeneus, as written in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, is a notable blend of ancient and Hellenistic versions of the myth. Ovid’s Caeneus can be understood as a transgender man, since he was assigned female at birth, but asks for his gender to be changed by the god Neptune, and goes on to live the rest of his life with the body, appearance, and social roles of a man. Ovid incorporates Caeneus’ trans identity with his use of grammatical gender endings for Caeneus, using masculine gender for Caeneus except when discussing his pre-transition childhood, or when the centaurs address him mockingly while fighting. …

Elite Women In The Mediterranean 31 Bc – 1380 Ad: An Investigation Into Female Agency, Identity, And Patriarchy Across Classical And Christian Paradigms, Julia Maurer

Capstone Showcase

This paper explores the responses of elite women to patriarchal regimes across the Classical Pagan and Medieval Christian paradigms in the Mediterranean from 31 BC to 1380 AD. While the current historiography acknowledges the radical differences between the two worldviews fundamental to the core values of Western Civilization, an investigation of three women that can be taken to be emblematic examples of the periods in which they lived reveals a striking continuity in the nuanced social roles available to women. This continuity contradicts expectations of significant changes reflective of this revolutionary paradigm shift.

I utilize Julia Augusti, Vibia Perpetua, and …

Bibliography, Eric Kondratieff

Faculty/Staff Personal Papers

Bibliography of publications by Eric Kondratieff.

From Homer To Rome And Beyond: A Study Of The Ruler Cults Of The Hellenistic World, Sarah Meade

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Rulers at the helm of imperial states seem to be surrounded by material culture and protocol (i.e. rituals) to legitimize their position and ensure the continued loyalty of their subjects. An interesting iteration of this phenomenon are the ruler cults of the Hellenistic world, which evolved out of ancient Greek hero worship. When Alexander of Macedon began his conquests, he not only utilized the familiar aspects of the Greek cults, but he also integrated Egyptian and Persian practices in order to establish his ruler cult. Alexander’s influence was then responsible for the ruler cult spiking in popularity during the Hellenistic …

Reading Selves/Writing Selves: Tracing The Intellectual History Of Writing As A Technology Of The Self, Olivia Hopewell

Bryn Mawr College Dissertations and Theses

From the advent of writing in the ancient Mediterranean world, people have found ways to forge a connection between their selves and the text. Whether by means and for purposes of representation, translation, or presentation of the self, writing as a technology has long functioned as a method of enacting selfhood. This dissertation constructs an intellectual history of writing as a technology of the self in the ancient Greek and Latin imaginary, considering the works of Plato, Augustine, Ausonius, and Dhuoda. This history and these textual case studies then serve as a point-of-departure for a discussion of the ramifications of …

An Epic Of Tragic Proportions: [In]Forming The Politics Of Statius’ Thebaid Through Greek Tragic Intertext, Dianne Elizabeth Boetsch

Bryn Mawr College Dissertations and Theses

Statius’ epic poem, the Thebaid, has often been compared to Virgil’s Aeneid and many studies rightfully devote their attention to this text. I argue, however, that Greek tragedy equally plays an integral role in our reading and understanding of the Thebaid. Statius’ relationship with Greek tragedy in his epic is pronounced, ubiquitous, and intentional throughout the Thebaid and it is no less prevalent and relevant than the Aeneid for an understanding of the poem. The extant Greek tragic plays that treat the Theban story and Polynices and Eteocles’ conflict include Aeschylus’ Seven Against Thebes, Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus, Oedipus at Colonus, …

Hard-Hearted Scrolls: A Noninvasive Method For Reading The Herculaneum Papyri, Stephen Parsons

Theses and Dissertations--Computer Science

The Herculaneum scrolls were buried and carbonized by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79 and represent the only classical library discovered in situ. Charred by the heat of the eruption, the scrolls are extremely fragile. Since their discovery two centuries ago, some scrolls have been physically opened, leading to some textual recovery but also widespread damage. Many other scrolls remain in rolled form, with unknown contents. More recently, various noninvasive methods have been attempted to reveal the hidden contents of these scrolls using advanced imaging. Unfortunately, their complex internal structure and lack of clear ink contrast has prevented …

A Survey Of Ancient Book Text Mining Technology, Litao Lin, Dongbo Wang

Journal of Scientific Information Research

[Purpose/significance]Adopting deep learning, natural language processing and other text mining technologies, methods and concepts to conduct text mining on a large number of ancient Chinese books is not only conducive to popularize the dissemination and popularize of Chinese traditional culture, but also playing an important role in enhancing the soft power of Chinese culture.[Method/process]On the basis of clarifying the concept of text mining in ancient books, grasp the application status of text mining technology in ancient books as a whole, algorithms, models, and tools widely used in ancient text mining are sorted out from five aspects:text feature extraction technology, vocabulary-level …

Feminist Retellings Of Homer's The Odyssey, 2005-2022, Brenna R. Bretzinger

CURE Proceedings

Over the past two decades, there has been a significant increase in the number of feminist retellings of Greek mythology. These retellings serve to give voice to the marginalized female characters from ancient stories whose characterizations were deprioritized over their male counterparts. Furthermore, these stories connect the plights of ancient women with modern feminists to champion issues that women continue facing today. This study focuses on retellings of Homer’s The Odyssey, but these ideas and arguments are still largely applicable to other retellings of Greek mythology. Along with discussing The Odyssey, this project also analyzes three feminist retellings: …

Malthi In Media: Peopling An Ancient Village In Virtual Space, Rebecca Worsham, Sarah Kam, Annika Lof, Nora Sullivan, Aurora Bagley

Other Student Projects

STRIDE Project "A Digital Archaeology of Malthi, Greece"

/="/">Digital applications have increased the possibilities for the visualization of archaeological material. Here are presented two reconstructions of the Bronze Age settlement Malthi, created using Minecraft and Twine, both readily accessible programs. These recreations draw on data from archaeological work at the site and are intended to depict alternative interpretations of the settlement, allowing for the uncertainty inherent in archaeology. They are likewise intended to invite interaction with the site beyond physically visiting, with the goal of increasing participation in the formation of knowledge about Malthi. The approach advocated here is …

Ancient Loom Weights At The J. Paul Getty Museum, Marie Louise Nosch, Caroline Sauvage

Classics and Archaeology Faculty Works

The article presents a group of twenty-two mostly unpublished terracotta loom weights in the Villa collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum. Most have been classed as coming from the southern Italian Peninsula and are discoid or hemispherical. A functional analysis based on experimental archaeology demonstrates that these loom weights were used for weaving fine cloth. Their decoration includes dots and lines, imprints of coins, and images pressed in a mold of figures from mythology, and the iconography draws on themes from domestic life and women’s experiences. The assemblage of pyramidal and discoid or hemispherical loom weights may reflect chronological …

The Materiality Of Textiles And Textile Tools In The Late Bronze Age Eastern Mediterranean, Caroline Sauvage

Classics and Archaeology Faculty Works

This paper examines the materiality of Late Bronze Age Eastern Mediterranean (including the Aegean) textiles, fibres and textiles tools and aims to explore the relationship between people and their cloth and clothing while considering the diverse material properties of each garment and tool. It focuses on elite clothes and textiles. The article highlights the agency of matter and how the assemblage constituted by the individual elements of Late Bronze Age garments (natural fibres, imported or local dyes, colourful embellishments of beads, precious metals, and threads) acted on its environment as well as on its wearer. It also focuses on the …