Classics Commons^™

Ratiocination And Socrates' Daimonion: A Practical Solution, Anthony K. Jensen

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Socrates's commitment to 'follow the argument wherever it leads' seems to be at odds with his notorious 'divine sign' or daimonion. It appears in several dialogues as a divine force that Socrates cannot help but to obey, even in some cases where no negative consequences would seem to have otherwise obtained. This paper explores the meaning of the daimonion in the religious and cultural contexts of early Greece, concluding that the scope of the daimonion is restricted to Socrates' practical activities rather than his theoretical engagements.

Mousike Techne: The Philosophical Practice Of Music In Plato, Nietzsche, And Heidegger, Babette Babich

Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections

After retracing the breadth of the definition of music in antiquity to the end of justifying the sense in which one may speak of 'the music of philosophy' as Plato's Socrates does, this essay re-reads the Platonic distinction between philosophy as the highest kind of music and performative, as heard or played sung music as a lower form. It then turns to an exploration of Nietzsche's writing style conceived on a muscial model precisely qua aphoristic and concludes with a review of Heidegger's thought as musically composed or adumbrated.

Summary Report For The 2005 Season, Mark Schuler

Excavation Reports

In 2005, excavation focused on areas surrounding the domus of the Northeast Church complex and on conservation of the nave mosaic. This report will address in turn work done in:

• A. The northern chambers
• B. The south vaulted chamber
• C. Chambers west of the portico
• D. The cisterns of the Northeast Church complex
• E. Conservation work

Did The Ancient Greeks Have A Concept Of Human Rights?, Anthony Preus

Philosophy Faculty Scholarship

"Although there is no single word in the classical Greek that captures the sense that modern political thinkers give to the word "rights" as it is used in the phrase "human rights," classical Greek and Roman texts have a good deal to contribute to 21st-century discussions of human rights."

Palamedes' "Writing Lesson": On Writing, Narrative, And Erasure, Thomas E. Jenkins

Classical Studies Faculty Research

In this essay, I shall consider some striking parallels between legends of writing as manipulated by both Jacques Derrida and Euripides; more specifically, I shall investigate how each author dissects a narrative-or narratives-of writing's invention in order later to construct writing as an inherently unstable semiotic system. In each instance, a seemingly straightforward "myth" of writing is re-narrated in a dark and sardonic vein, one that downplays the technical aspects of writing and highlights instead the hermeneutical ambiguities encoded within this new technology. The Greek myth of Palamedes (as re-narrated by Euripides) hinges on the invention and eventual misapprehension of …

Alcman's Parteneion And Eliade's Sacred Time, Lee E. Patterson

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Fragment I of the seventh-century Spartan poet Alcman, better known as the Louvre Partheneion, remains one of the most vexing specimens of Greek lyric. Scholars have debated with great vigor about the meaning of various elements in the poem: the Tyndaridae legend, H6poV (line 14), oV (line 61), the light imagery, the horse imagery, the Pleiades (line 60), the "Ten" and the "Eleven" (lines 98-99), and so on. Although definitive interpretations are elusive, I believe that one viable solution to the meaning of these elements and their function in the poem is at hand through a hitherto unexplored avenue of …

Die Zyprische Keramik Aus Dem Schiffswrack Von Uluburun, Nicolle E. Hirschfeld

Classical Studies Faculty Research

Mehr als 150 zyprische Gefäße Öllampen und Vorratsbehälter (Pithoi) wurden aus dem Schiff herausgeschleudert und auf dem Meeresgrund zerschmettert, als dieses Schiff in der Spätbronzezeit bei Uluburun unterging. Zyprische Keramik zählt zu den bekannten Exportprodukten der Spätbronzezeit. Sie wurde in zahlreichen Siedlungen des östlichen Mittelmeerraums angetroffen, einschließlich Sardiniens als westlichstem Punkt. Jedoch gibt die Entdeckung dieser Keramik in entlegenen Siedlungen Anlass zur Überlegung, wohin, in welchen Mengen und zu welchem Zweck sie exportiert wurde. Folgende Fragen wären zu beantworten: War dieser Exportartikel von Angebot und Nachfrage abhängig? Stellt diese Keramik ein Mittel im Geschenkeaustausch dar? Wurde sie durch private oder …

Hints And Guesses: Discerning Value, Richard Liddy

Department of Religion Publications

No abstract provided.

Cardinal Martini On Bernard Lonergan: Bernard Lonergan At The Service Of The Church, Richard Liddy

Department of Religion Publications

No abstract provided.

Projecting The Passion: The Invention Of The 'Judeo-Christian Tradition' In The Roman/Biblical Genre Of Postwar American Film, Don Michael Burrows

Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal

This paper traces the changes in the American view of the relationship between Jews and Christians from the First World War to the present as reflected in motion pictures from the earliest of the biblical epics to Mel Gibson's The Passion of Christ. It demonstrates that the "Judea-Christian tradition " as it has developed since the Second World War is a political theme that functioned first as anti-fascist propaganda and then as anticommunist propaganda that portrayed Jews and Christians as good and free in contrast to Nazis and communists; and it shows what an effective medium the movies were in …

Roman Depiction Of The Aethiops Type In Literature And Artwork, Evin Demirel

Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Johannes Buxtorfs Charakterisierung Des Judentums: Reformierte Orthodoxie Und Christliche Hebraistik, Stephen G. Burnett

Department of Classics and Religious Studies: Faculty Publications

Die wissenschaftliche Beschäftigung mit dem Judentum erhielt durch Johannes Buxtorf (1564-1629) eine neue Perspektive. Obwohl sein Zugang durch die Theologie der Orthodoxie geprägt war, zeigte er sich augerordentlich gut informiert über das Judentum. Seine regelmäßigen Kontakte zu Juden und seine tiefe Vertrautheit mit der jüdischen Literatur gehen zurück auf seinen Lehrauftrag als Hebräisch Professor an der Baseler Universität, auf seine Tätigkeit als Zensor der Stadt Basel für Hebräische Druckwerke und auf seine Vertretung der Waldkirch-Druckerei von 1596 bis 1612. Buxtorf lebte und wirkte in einer Zeit, in der jüdisch-christliche Kontakte einen “Zweck” haben mussten, wie Jacob Katz herausgestellt hat. Dennoch …

Landscape And Memory: Al-Nabulsi's Ta'rikh Al-Fayyum, James G. Keenan

Classical Studies: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Uthman b. Ibrahim al-Nabulsi composed his description of Egypt's Fayyum province in the 1240s A.D. His Ta'rikh al-Fayyum starts with nine summary chapters followed by a massive tenth chapter, a geographical gazetteer arranged alphabetically by villages. The text is predominately concerned with the author's present day, leaving no doubt the region's landscape had changed significantly since late antiquity. Almost all the village names were Arabic. The people had been Arabized—and Islamicized: only small Christian pockets remained. The sacred landscape had been correspondingly reconfigured. Additionally, the Fayyum, which had experienced a shrinkage of arable land and a loss of villages in …

Jerusalem, Sanhedriya A-4613/2005, Keren Ben-Or

Favissa: Past Archaeological Excavation Reports

In 2005, a trial excavation was conducted in the Sanhedriya quarter of Jerusalem (map ref. 2207–8/6341–3), under the direction of K. Ben-Or. The excavation was conducted in the area of the quarry (see excavation file for the plan and photographs).

La Música En Los Cultos Dionisiacos, Adriana Renero

Publications and Research

Para penetrar en el mundo musical griego es preciso alejarnos de nuestras categorías estéticas habituales y pensar en modos, ritmos y armonías diferentes. Al mismo tiempo, es indispensable advertir que en la sociedad griega arcaica la música ocupaba un lugar fundamental, pues mantenía estrechos vínculos con la medicina, la astronomía, la religión, la filosofía, la poesía y la pedagogía, entre otras disciplinas. Lo anterior responde a que la música era considerada un arte peculiar y ambiguo dotado de “poderes especiales” porque actuaba como fuerza capaz de precipitar al hombre a la locura, al mismo tiempo que la curaba, o bien, …

A Medallion Of Constantius Ii, Julia Ruff

Lawrence University Honors Projects

This study offers a comprehensive examination of a medallion of Constantius II in the Ottilia Buerger Collection of Ancient and Byzantine Coins at Lawrence University.

Should The ‘Elgin Marbles’ Be Returned To Greece?, Nancy Sultan

Scholarship

The Greek temple to the goddess Athena, Parthenos ( Maiden) -the Parthenon-is one of the most revered historic monuments in the world. It was built between 447-432 B.C.E. on the rock of the Acropolis in Athens, where it still stands, a holy ruin. For nearly 2,500 years the Parthenon has embodied the ancient Greek ideas of justice, reedom, and intellectual and artistic excellence that marked the height of the political power of Athens in the fifth century. It has endured centuries of earthquakes, military operations, weather, pollution, and looting. Fragments of monumental sculpture from the Parthenon and other buildings on …

Fergus Millar: Rome, The Greek World, And The East. Volume 2. Government, Society And Culture In The Roman Empire (Book Review), Walter Stevenson

Classical Studies Faculty Publications

In Fergus Millar's discussion of his teacher, Ronald Syme, he states, "we can afford to take his stature as a historian as a presupposition and should not shirk the duty of asking what his work has been, what we have learnt from it" (p. 399). Likewise, now that Millar's papers have been intelligently collected into two volumes, the second of which roughly covers the first four centuries of our era, we attempt to ascertain the significance of one of the most influential ancient historians of the last forty years.

Rüdiger Kinsky (Ed.), Diorthoseis. Beiträge Zur Geschichte Des Hellenismus Und Zum Nachleben Alexanders Des Grossen. Bza, 183 (Book Review), Walter Stevenson

Classical Studies Faculty Publications

This volume presents five elaborations on lectures given at a seminar for Gerhard Wirth's 75th birthday (December, 2001). Kinsky explains in his terse introduction that the papers are dedicated to revising standard views of Alexander's reception and the history of Hellenism. In this spirit, the title "Diorthoseis" refers to a continuous process of reconstructing ancient history and periodically revising these reconstructions by reassessing all evidence. The breadth of this description fits the essays, but whatever is lost in focus is made up for in clearly formulated issues and engaging syntheses.

Contracts In Athenian Law, Ellen Knopf

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation investigates contracts and the contractual language of 4^th century B. C. Athens. Its main source is Attic oratory although there is some discussion of inscriptions. Since no ancient Greek word has the same range of meanings as the English word 'contract', the first task is to consider the characteristics of transactions that will count as contracts in the study and to define the term. After giving criteria for identifying contracts, the study examines Greek words whose dictionary definitions include the word 'contract'. Part I surveys the terms, όμολογία, συγγραϕή, συμβόλαιον and συνθήκη, discussing their senses in oratory …

Christian Aramaism: The Birth And Growth Of Aramaic Scholarship In The Sixteenth Century, Stephen G. Burnett

Department of Classics and Religious Studies: Faculty Publications

Since the mid-nineteenth century, Jewish historians have marveled at the vigorous growth and vitality of Christian Hebrew scholarship in early modern Europe. Ludwig Geiger and Moritz Steinschneider chronicled parts of this astonishing and unexpected phenomenon. During the past 50 years, Karlheinz Burmeister, R. Gerald Hobbs, Bernard Roussel, Gerard Well, and Jerome Friedman have provided biographies and analyses of the achievements of some of the most important Christian and Jewish scholars who made this possible. In my own research I have sought to quantify the growth of Hebrew learning among Christians through analyzing the Christian Hebrew printing industry as it developed. …

"Spokesmen For Judaism": Medieval Jewish Polemicists And Their Christian Readers In The Reformation Era, Stephen G. Burnett

Department of Classics and Religious Studies: Faculty Publications

When Christian Hebraists reprinted Jewish polemical works they served as "Spokesmen for Judaism" in two different ways. While it is true that Christian Hebraists did report authentically Jewish opinion when they ppblished Jewish polemical texts or excerpts from them, they did so in ways, which reflected Christian standards and expectations. All of the scholars who served as editors and translators of medieval Jewish polemics were university professors, who were obligated by law, oath and conscience to defend the Christian confession of the state, which supported their university. They were sometimes required to enforce the censorship ordinance of their locality as …

Reginald Pecock On The Authority Of Reason, Scripture And Tradition, Stephen E. Lahey

Department of Classics and Religious Studies: Faculty Publications

Bishop Reginald Pecock (c. 1390–1461) is remembered for vernacular works formulated to combat Lollardy using reason, not the force of ecclesiastical authority. He argued that Scripture’s teachings are true not because they are in Scripture, but because they are evident to unassisted reason. While scholars have explored his arguments in ecclesiastical and historical context, little analysis exists of the scholastic background to Pecock’s conception of the relation of reason to faith. This article suggests that Pecock’s arguments are grounded in the thought of Aquinas and Scotus, and illustrates how his understanding of reason’s capabilities directs his conception of the authority …

Gendered Interpretations: Two Fourth-Century B.C.E. Performances Of Sophocles' Electra, Anne Duncan

Department of Classics and Religious Studies: Faculty Publications

While the evidence for theatrical practice in the ancient world is admittedly spotty, we are fortunate to have anecdotal evidence concerning two different performances of Sophocles' Electra, both from the fourth century B.C.E., by two of the most famous tragic actors in ancient Greece, Theodorus and Polus, who apparently played Electra. The evidence suggests that their performances may have differed widely; it is even conceivable that the role was something of a yardstick for measuring great actors of the day (a la Hamlet). I will argue that these two "star" actors gave radically different interpretations of the character of Electra, …

Johannes Buxtorfs Charakterisierung Des Judentums: Reformierte Orthodoxie Und Christliche Hebraistik, Stephen G. Burnett

Department of Classics and Religious Studies: Faculty Publications

Die wissenschaftliche Beschäftigung mit dem Judentum erhielt durch Johannes Buxtorf (1564-1629) eine neue Perspektive. Obwohl sein Zugang durch die Theologie der Orthodoxie geprägt war, zeigte er sich außerordentlich gut informiert über das Judentum. Seine regelmäßigen Kontakte zu Juden und seine tiefe Vertrautheit mit der jüdischen Literatur gehen zurück auf seinen Lehrauftrag als Hebräischprofessor an der Baseler Universität, auf seine Tätigkeit als Zensor der Stadt Basel für Hebräische Druckwerke und auf seine Vertretung der Waldkirch-Druckerei von 1596 bis 1612. Buxtorf lebte und wirkte in einer Zeit, in der jüdisch-christliche Kontakte einen ,,Zweck" haben mussten, wie Jacob Katz herausgestellt hat. Dennoch besaß …

Women In Wisdom Tradition: Review Of Carol Fontaine, Smooth Words: Women, Proverbs And Performance In Biblical Wisdom, Sidnie White Crawford

Department of Classics and Religious Studies: Faculty Publications

Smooth Words is a well-researched and entertaining, if somewhat uneven, book on women in the Wisdom tradition in ancient Israel. Fontaine, a faculty member at a small Protestant seminary in Newton, MA, writes with her students constantly in mind, her interactions with them informing her scholarship throughout the book. She is also in dialogue with other scholars in the fields of Wisdom literature and feminist scholarship, a dialogue that gives the book academic rigor and depth.