Classics Commons^™

Ajax By Sophocles: A New Performance Translation, Maura Giles-Watson

English: Faculty Scholarship

AJAX

by Sophokles

A new performance translation by Maura Giles-Watson

Directed by Ray Chambers and Lisa Berger

Original Cast

2017 Production

Old Globe/USD Shiley Graduate Theatre Program

Athena / Chorus 9: Nora Carroll

Odysseus / Chorus 10: Talley Beth Gale

Ajax: Lorenzo Landini

Chorus Leader 1: Samantha Sutliff

Chorus Leader 2: Sam Avishay

Chorus Leader 3: Larica Schnell

Chorus 4: Suzelle Palacios

Tekmessa: Christina Okolo

Angelos / Chorus 8: Jose Martinez

Teucer / Chorus 5: Renardo Pringle Jr.

Menelaus / Chorus 6: Daniel Joeck

Agamemnon / Chorus 7: Ajinkya Desai

Nicole Ries, Stage Manager

Kate Morton, Assistant Stage Manager

Maura …

Tools And Crafts, The Terminology Of Textile Manufacturing In 1st-Millennium Bc Babylonia, Louise Quillien

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

What did sheep shears in the 1st millennium BC Babylonia look like? We are not sure. Many cuneiform texts were written about textile work in Babylonia, but it was largely about administration or accounting. There were hardly any descriptions of the actual tools and processes. In this article we go back over the words, the iconography, and the archaeology in an attempt to find these missing descriptions. This study is limited to Babylonia during the 1st millennium BC, and this period correspond to a state of the Akkadian language, called Neo-Babylonian. At these times, major evolution took place. Mesopotamia entered …

Garments, Parts Of Garments, And Textile Techniques In The Assyrian Terminology: The Neo-Assyrian Textile Lexicon In The 1st-Millennium Bc Linguistic Context, Salvatore Gaspa

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

At its political and territorial apex in the 8th and 7th centuries BC, Assyria developed into an imperial society characterised by the coexistence of languages and cultures of various origins. The policy of deporting and resettling conquered peoples across the Empire’s territory caused the spread of the Aramaic language and alphabetic script as well as the use of Aramaic as a co-official language alongside Akkadian. The linguistic change caused by these events in the Empire’s core territory emerges from the late stage of the Assyrian dialect, which shows the impact of Aramaic on various grammatical and lexical elements of the …

Textile Terminologies, State Of The Art And New Directions, Salvatore Gaspa, Cécile Michel, Marie-Louise Nosch

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

The first published volume dedicated to the diachronic study of ancient textile terminologies gathered contributions on Semitic and Indo- European studies based on texts dated mainly to the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC.1 It provided a rich body of data and the first steps in elaborating a methodology of how to analyse textile terminologies and technologies according to various categories. Yet, it also highlighted the problems that were encounter in such studies. For example, some areas such as Greece, Italy, Anatolia and Italy are rich in texts providing numerous textile terms but do not yield many ancient textiles, which can …

List Of Contributors

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

The 42 contributors include Salvatore Gaspa, Cécile Michel, Marie-Louise Nosch, Elena Soriga, Louise Quillien, Luigi Malatacca, Nahum Ben-Yehuda, Christina Katsikadeli, Orit Shamir, Agnes Korn, Georg Warning, Birgit Anette Olsen, Stella Spantidaki, Peder Flemestad, Peter Herz, Ines Bogensperger, Herbert Graßl, Mary Harlow, Berit Hildebrandt, Magdalena Öhrman, Roland Schuhmann, Kerstin Droß-Krüpe, John Peter Wild, Maria Mossakowska-Gaubert, Julia Galliker, Anne Regourd, Fiona J. L. Handley, Götz König, Miguel Ángel Andrés-Toledo, Stefan Niederreiter, Oswald Panagl, Giovanni Fanfani, Le Wang, Feng Zhao, Mari Omura, Naoko Kizawa, Maciej Szymaszek, Francesco Meo, Felicitas Maeder, Kalliope Sarri, Susanne Lervad, and Tove Engelhardt Mathiassen.

Sha’Atnez – The Biblical Prohibition Against Wearing Mixed Wool And Linen Together And The Observance And Enforcement Of The Command In The Orthodox Jewish Communities Today, Orit Shamir

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

Jewish law forbids Sha’atnez – wearing mixed wool and linen together was forbidden for the Jewish population. The article will first explain the meaning and acronym of sha’atnez, and then review the sha’atnez textiles which were found in the Land of Israel. The possible reasons for the prohibition of sha’atnez will be presented and remarks on observance and enforcement of the law in Orthodox Jewish communities today will be made according to ethnographic investigation.²

The concept of sha’atnez: Jewish law forbids sha’atnez – wearing garments of mixed wool and linen. This is mentioned twice in the Hebrew Bible: …

Beschaffung Und Handel Mit Farbstoffen, Peter Herz

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

Farbstoffe sind alles andere als ein leicht zu behandelndes Thema, denn von wenigen Ausnahmen abgesehen, die die mineralischen Farben betreffen, geht die archäologische Nachweisbarkeit in der Regel fast gegen Null, was gerade für die Textilfarben sehr bedauerlich ist. Die frühesten Nachweise auf einen internationalen Handel mit Farbstoffen stammen aus dem Ägypten der 4. Dynastie. In vielen Gräbern dieser Epoche finden wir Wandgemälde aus einem ganz speziellen Blau, dem sogenannten Ägyptischen Blau. Einer der Grundstoffe war Lapislazuli oder Blaustein, ein Mineral, das noch heute in den östlichen Teilen von Afghanistan abgebaut wird. Von dort aus wurde das Rohprodukt mit Eselskarawanen bis …

Remarks On The Interpretation Of Some Ambiguous Greek Textile Terms, Stella Spantidaki

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

The study of written sources of the Classical period (5th and 4th centuries BC) reveals the existence of a very rich vocabulary related to textile production. There are terms referring to materials, tools, manufacture and decoration techniques, colours, people and places related to textile manufacture. Many terms are quite clearly defined, while others present major difficulties in their interpretation. Usually these concern terms for tools, such as κερκίς (pin beater or shuttle) and ἡλακάτη (distaff or spindle) or terms describing fabrics with some kind of decoration. Among the decorative terms, some refer to specific decorative techniques, such as κατάστικτος (embroidered) …

Armenian Textile Terminology, Birgit Anette Olsen

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

The part of the Armenian vocabulary that is inherited from the Indo-European protolanguage is notoriously limited, variously estimated to include between 450 and 700 stems. Otherwise, the lexicon is dominated by etymologically obscure elements and an impressive amount of Middle Iranian loanwords, reflecting the centuries of Iranian political dominance. In particular the Parthian loans, introduced during the Arsacid dynasty (247 BC-224 AD), have left their mark on the Classical Armenian language, attested from the early 5th century, to a similar extent as Old French on English or Low German on Danish, so that linguists until the late 19th century still …

Sabellic Textile Terminology, Peder Flemestad, Birgit Anette Olsen

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

Despite numerous recent studies of Italic textiles and textile production etc., no systematic study has so far been attempted regarding the textile terminology of Italic languages besides Latin. The present study seeks to remedy this, making a first step into the textile terminology of Sabellic languages, predominantly Oscan and Umbrian. There are two types of sources for Sabellic textile terminology: inscriptions and glosses in Greek and Latin literature. Both are, however, fraught with uncertainties. The glosses, as for example seen in the case of Etruscan, may have been misunderstood or misinterpreted and should be treated with due caution, and there …

Tunics Worn In Egypt In Roman And Byzantine Times: The Greek Vocabulary, Maria Mossakowska-Gaubert

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

The principal element of the fashion in clothing introduced in Egypt with the arrival of the Romans was a tunic made of two rectangular pieces of fabric sewn together. Such a tunic either would leave the arms naked, or cover the arms to the elbow (fig. 1). This fashion changed with the turn of the 2nd and 3rd century AD. At this time, in addition to the tunics without sleeves, the inhabitants of Egypt started to wear tunics with ‘true’ sleeves – long or short, wide or tight – inspired by the Eastern fashion: the manner of making the tunics …

Ars Polymita, Ars Plumaria: The Weaving Terminology Of Taqueté And Tapestry, John Peter Wild, Kerstin Droß-Krüpe

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

In Roman Egypt papyrologists and archaeologists sometimes seem to inhabit two different, if parallel, worlds, each apparently unaware of the treasures to be found in the other. This paper, however, is a co-operative venture between an ancient historian with papyrological interests – Kerstin Droß-Krüpe – and an archaeologist – John Peter Wild. In the research field of textiles we overlap, and we want to offer you insights from each of our worlds. At some point in the later 2nd century AD an unnamed magnate in the territory of the Lingones in central Gaul dictated a will in which he stipulated …

Χιτών – Δαλματική – Μαφόρτης – Σύνθεσις: Common And Uncommon Garment Terms In Dowry Arrangements From Roman Egypt, Kerstin Droß-Krüpe

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

With regard to ancient textile terms, dictionaries could potentially generate a false sense of security. Their formal accuracy might let us think that we are, without doubt, provided with the term that corresponds perfectly with a particular expression from an ancient Greek and/or Latin document. However, translations in dictionaries are almost exclusively based on reading and interpreting ancient literary sources and tend to neglect documentary evidence. But documentary sources, such as papyri, are a valuable and unique resource for research, referring to manifold aspects of social and economic history. Above all, they offer an insight into the minutae of individual …

Zur Bekleidung Der Krieger Im Avesta: Rüstung Und Magischer Schmuck, Götz König

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

Während die in Altavestisch komponierten Lieder des Avesta (die Gāϑās und das Yasna Haptaŋhāiti) einen rituellen Dichtungsstil pflegen, der sich in eigentümlicher Weise gegen die Dinge der Welt weitgehend verschließt, d.h. Wörter, die auf Materiales – auf in Raum und Zeit Identifizierbares – sich beziehen, vermeidet, stellen die in Jungavestisch abgefaßten metrischen wie prosaischen Texte des Avesta eine weitaus ergiebigere Quelle zur Rekonstruktion der materiellen avestischen Kultur dar. Richten dabei diejenigen Texte, welche die tägliche bzw. zu bestimmten Anlässen zu feiernde, um die altavestischen Texte herum komponierte Priesterzeremonie bilden (Yasna bzw. Yasna mit Vīsparad), ihre Aufmerksamkeit auf …

Xie, A Technical Term For Resist Dye In China: Analysis Based On The Burial Inventory From Tomb 26, Bijiashan, Huahai, Gansu, Le Wang, Feng Zhao

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

In May 2002, a burial site was found in Bijiatan, Huahai, in the Gansu province. During the following two months, the Gansu Institute of Archaeology excavated the graveyard and 55 tombs were excavated in total. A female corpse wrapped in several layers of silk garments was found in tomb 26 together with a burial inventory.

The Burial Inventory from Tomb 26: A burial inventory is a list of buried items that would accompany the deceased to the afterlife. It was commonly found in the tombs in northwest China during the 4th to 7th centuries AD.The inventory of Tomb 26 is …

Weaving A Song. Convergences In Greek Poetic Imagery Between Textile And Musical Terminology. An Overview On Archaic And Classical Literature, Giovanni Fanfani

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

In an analysis of the household-management (οἰκο- νομία) in the first book of the Politics, Aristotle discusses the nature and use of tools (ὄργανα), both inanimate (τὰ ἄψυχα) and animate (τὰ ἔμψυχα). While such a distinction is functional, in Aristotle’s argument, to illustrate the priority of the latter group (represented by the assistant, ὁ ὑπηρετής, and the slave, ὁ δοῦλος) over the first, what interests us here lies mainly within the realm of inanimate tools. As commentators to the passage have not failed to notice, a first literary frame of reference for Aristotle’s exemplum fictum is to be found …

Der Text Als Gewebe: Lexikalische Studien Im Sinnbezirk Von Webstuhl Und Kleid, Oswald Panagl

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

Die Thematik des folgenden Beitrags ist gleichsam doppelt gepolt. Sie ist zunächst im terminologischen Feld der Prozesse, Instrumente und Produkte der Sachbereiche von Weben und Flechten verankert. Zugleich ist sie auch in den metaphorischen Verwendungsweisen der zugehörigen Sinnbezirke bzw. Wortfelder, also im weitgespannten Horizont der Herstellung von Stoffen, Tüchern und Gewändern verortet. „Vom Textil zum Text“ ließe sich die Intention des Artikels bündig zusammenfassen: Dabei verläuft also die Richtung der Bedeutungsentwicklung des Produkts in ihrer Tendenz gegen den Vorgang der zugehörigen morphologischen Ableitung. Ich möchte mich meinem Vorhaben zunächst mit einem Blick auf die bekannten beiden konversen Zugänge zur Semantik …

Dignity In Homer And Classical Greece, Patrice Rankine

Classical Studies Faculty Publications

Woven into the distress of Homeric epic, which often laments the terrors of war, the violence of passion, and the desperation of life, are records of ancient customs that hint at a deep respect for culture and human worth. To take but one example, recall Hector's refusal to take wine from his mother when he is bloody from battle. This moment is apt to strike modern readers as trivial. In fact, it reifies important ancient distinctions between war and peace, home and battlefield, and the equally ancient sentiment that to everything, there is a season. In this case, no matter …

William Shakespeare As A Purveyor Of Re-Productions: Understanding Shakespeare’S Plays As Profitable Products, Giannina Ong

Canterbury Scholars

This project, “Recasting William Shakespeare in The Business of Playwriting,” works to reinvigorate the value gained by reading Shakespeare by:

• Beginning with espousing the importance of reading Shakespeare as a practical businessman first, instead of the mythological literary genius that men decades and now centuries after Shakespeare marketed and herald him as. Although this is not the primary focus of this paper, it is an important framework that begins to enable us to shift our presumptions of the canonical text, Romeo and Juliet .
• The next section sets the backdrop, i.e. the environment, in which Shakespeare used an emerging profession …

Hercules, Mummius, And The Roman Triumph In Aeneid 8, Matthew P. Loar

Department of Classics and Religious Studies: Faculty Publications

Book 8 of the Aeneid opens with Aeneas finally reaching the future site of Rome, where he meets Evander and the Arcadians sacrificing to Hercules in a grove near the banks of the Tiber. Evander invites the Trojans to share the Arcadians’ feast, and after he sates his guests with food and wine he recounts the origins of the Arcadians’ ritual, relating how Hercules vanquished the robber-monster Cacus, erstwhile landlord of the Aventine. Evander’s initial description of Hercules reveals a triumphant hero, a victor arriving in Rome with the spolia from his prior conquest in tow (8.200–204):

attulit et nobis …

Don Quixote, Man Of Ink, Nicholas J. Shuber

Honors College Theses

The story of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes is a novel that has transgressed throughout the years in the forefront of Hispanic literature. The story is a satire to most people, laughing about the idiocy of the books of knight-errantry. Don Quixote has been analyzed as such a comedy ever since its release, and this idea has affected the perspectives of everyone who has researched it before. However, an argument could be made that this is indeed not the only way that the novel can be seen. The idea that is purported in …

Grammars And Rhetorics, Ian Cornelius

English: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Grammar and rhetoric were the disciplines charged with teaching correct and effective use of language in antiquity. In the Middle Ages, these disciplines served to maintain Latin as a language of culture, religion, and administration over much of Europe. Grammatical studies flourished in medieval England following the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity. Subsequent developments in grammatical and rhetorical studies in Britain in the Middle Ages track deep changes in the social conditioning of literacy and social demands upon literacy. Among the medieval English innovations in these disciplines were the teaching of Latin as a foreign language, the cultural accommodation …

French Women In Art: Reclaiming The Body Through Creation/Les Femmes Artistes Françaises : La Réclamation Du Corps À Travers La Création, Liatris Hethcoat

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The research I have conducted for my French Major Senior Thesis is a culmination of my passion for and studies of both French language and culture and the history and practice of Visual Arts. I have examined, across the history of art, the representation of women, and concluded that until the 20^th century, these representations have been tools employed by the makers of history and those at the top of the patriarchal system, used to control women’s images and thus women themselves. I survey these representations, which are largely created by men—until the 20^th century. I discuss pre-historical …

The Epic Of Gilgamesh: Selected Readings From Its Original Early Arabic Language. Including A New Translation Of The Flood Story, Saad D. Abulhab

Publications and Research

This book introduces the earliest known literary and mythology work in the world, the Epic of Gilgamesh, in its actual language: early Classical Arabic. It provides a more accurate translation and understanding of the important story of the flood, one of the key stories of the monotheistic religions. In this book, the author was able to decipher the actual meanings and pronunciations of several important names of ancient Mesopotamian gods, persons, cities, mountains, and other entities. He was able to uncover the evolution path of the concept of god and the background themes behind the rise of the monotheistic religions. …

Publication In Martial's Time And The Publication Of His Works, Jack Kaufmann

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

I have attempted in this thesis to broadly discuss the nature of literary publication in classical times, characterized by (a) the lack of printing presses or any other means to make multiple copies of a work except by writing out each copy by hand, and (b) the lack of any copyright or other protection of a writer’s work. These factors led to a very different concept of publishing than our modern one. I have then focused on the epigrams of Martial (ca. 40 A.D. – 103 A.D.) in particular, because (a) his epigrams contain a wealth of information relating to …

Nietzsche’S Digital Alexandrians: Greek As Musical Code For Nietzsche And Kittler, Babette Babich

Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections

No abstract provided.

Virgil In Virginia: Eighteenth-Century Pastoralism And The Novus Ordo Seclorum, Alley Jordan

Theses

This work examines classical reception in early America. Specifically, it addresses the role of classical ideas on pastoralism in the thought of one of America’s founders, Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson is best known for his role in the forming of United States government, but he was also influential on developing the idea of “America.” As such, his political theory on agrarian republicanism has strong ties to how the classical poets, such as Virgil and Theocritus, likewise thought about the relationship between land and government.

The Curse As A Garment In Greek Tragedy, Judith Fletcher

Ancient Studies Faculty Publications

This article considers how Greek tragedy adapts the metaphor of the curse as a garment used in Ancient Near Eastern rituals and treaties. Using this comparative material, I analyze the fatal garments used by female characters in Aeschylus’ Agamemnon, Sophocles’ Women of Trachis, and Euripides’ Medea.

Poor, Pitiful Monsters From Homer To Borges, Robin Mcallister

English Faculty Publications

This article reviews famous monsters in Western literature that reveal a hidden humanity or affinity with the hero that elicits compassion or emphasizes their bestiality in surprising ways. Their monstrosity is often a distorted mirror image of the hero’s humanity. Shakespeare’s Caliban is a famous example of the affinity between monster and protagonist. Homer’s Polyphemus, the first monster in Western tradition establishes certain traits that persist through later literature: lawless, barbarian, cannibal, and giant. Polyphemus hates men, but loves his old ram. Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon in Beowulf are giants, lawless, cannibals. The dragon Beowulf dies fighting anticipates …

Western Classics In Modern Japan (German), Frank Jacob

Publications and Research

A presentation paper (invited guest lecture) delivered at the Institute of Ancient History at Marburg University, Germany, July 12, 2016.