Classics Commons^™

Eudaimonism And The Demands Of Justice, Andrew Payne

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

The ancient eudaimonists were not misguided when they gave a prominent place to the human function in their ethical theory. Most modern reconstructions of eudaimonism do not employ the human function in this way. Though this gives them the appearance of being more streamlined and plausible, they fail to unify a life which respects the demands of justice. It is evident that in the Republic and other ancient ethical works humans are presented as acting out of concern for the good of others. They show respect for justice and act from altruistic motivation, and this is one source of value …

The Nuptial Ceremony Of Ancient Greece And The Articulation Of Male Control Through Ritual, Casey Mason

Classical Mediterranean and Middle East Honors Projects

This work is the result of recent scholarship which has stimulated renewed dialogue concerning the status of women in ancient Greece. It is both a reconstruction of the nuptial ceremony and an investigation of the rituals within it. Ritual actions are used to express an idea or ideal about culture, and through the examination of these rituals we may evaluate both how and why men in ancient Greece exercised complete power over women. This new interpretation both confirms and contradicts our old beliefs, and is a constructive contribution to our modern discussion of ancient gender issues.

"Prodigiousness Of Diction": Marianne Moore And Sir Thomas Browne, Secret Sharers Of A Like Tradition, Laura Nicosia

Department of English Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

No abstract provided.

Who’S Anti-Roman? Sallust And Pompeius Trogus On Mithridates, Eric Adler

Classics Faculty Publications

Contemporary scholars of Roman imperialism have discussed the Ways in which ancient historians denigrate non-Romans and thereby present intellectual justifications for Roman conquest. This paper offers a case study that questions this position's validity: an examination of Sallust's Epistula Mithridatis (Hist. 4.69M) and Pompeius Trogus' speech of Mithridates (Justin 38.4-7). I argue that Sallust offers a more powerful attack on Roman foreign policy than does Trogus, whom many scholars have deemed "anti-Roman," and conclude that Roman historians are capable of using speeches of foreigners to engage in Roman self-criticism.

Arsinoe Ii As Epic Queen: Encomiastic Allusion In Theocritus, Idyll 15*, Andrew Foster

Faculty Publications

This paper will illustrate how Idyll 15’s intertextual affiliation with the Odyssey and Greek historiography embellishes the poem’s explicit encomium of Arsinoe II. By alluding to Arete, Circe, and Helen and augmenting these allusions with reports of Egypt and Egyptian conquerers given by Herodotus and Hecataeus, Theocritus subtly depicts Arsinoe II as a semi-divine Greek and Egyptian queen whose wealth, status, and beneficence exceeds even that of the Homeric women to whom she is compared.

The Modern Construction Of Myth [Review], Erwin F. Cook

Classical Studies Faculty Research

The Modern Construction of Myth, by Andrew yon Hendy, is an interdisciplinary survey of the construction of myth in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The author's thesis is that modern theories of myth can be divided into three broad groups, folkloristic, ideological, and constitutive, and that they all derive from an original, romantic, construct. The survey is organized diachronically, with some attention to taxonomy and axiology. I find the author's thesis entirely persuasive: what follows is meant to serve as a guide to the overall argument and additionally to highlight various important threads that remain somewhat diffuse in …

Review Of Archäologische Berichte Aus Dem Yemen, Vol. 9 (2002), Peter Magee

Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology Faculty Research and Scholarship

No abstract provided.

On David Roochnik's Beautiful City: The Dialectical Character Of Plato’S Republic, James Ambury

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

“Despite appearances to the contrary, especially passages from Book 8, the Republic actually offers a qualified and cautious defense, rather than a resounding condemnation, of democracy. This defense, however, is specifically dialectical” (2). Thus begins David Roochnik’s short but intriguing study of Plato’s Republic, a dialogue long regarded as evidence that Plato was an enemy of democracy. While Socrates adamantly condemns both democracy and the democratic man, Roochnik argues that the Republic as a work is dialectical in character, and only viewed as such can we come to truly grip Plato’s intention when composing it. The Republic, so …

The Mind In Motion: Walking And Metaphorical Travel In The Roman Villa, Timothy M. O'Sullivan

Classical Studies Faculty Research

Cicero’s De oratore imagines a conversation on eloquence among the leading Roman statesmen of the late second and early first century B.C.E., including L. Licinius Crassus and Q. Lutatius Catulus. As is typical in his early philosophical and rhetorical works, Cicero goes to great lengths to defend his choice of subject matter, and he transfers his anxieties to his characters, who frequently reflect in a rather self-conscious manner upon the form of the dialogue itself. On the morning of the second day of their discussion, for example, Crassus voices a concern that with their Socratic style of question and response, …

Found In Transition: Orality-Literacy Cues Discovered In A Rhetorical Examination Of Platonic Dialogues, Barbara Jane Clopton-Blackwell

English Theses & Dissertations

The shift from an oral society to a literate one occurred in Ancient Greece with the advent of the alphabet (Ong, Orality 90). The Greek culture is generally considered to be a unique example of a culture which developed literacy internally (Havelock Muse 1), Details of the cultural transformation remain unclear, just as the history of the development of the Greek alphabet is rife with rumors of foreign influence and predecessors. The shift was, nevertheless, a strongly internal process, an evolution of culture as much as of technology.

The transition from orality to literacy brought many conflicts. As a philosopher …

Apology As Prosecution: The Trial Of Apuleius, Thomas Nelson Winter

Department of Classics and Religious Studies: Faculty Publications

In the middle of the second century A.D., Apuleius was accused of magic. This dissertation offers an essentially new view of how the trial originated, and a new view of the speech which Apuleius gave on the occasion. It points out that there is no reason to distrust the evidence of the Apology. The widespread view that Apuleius misrepresents the accusation lodged against him has no real support: nowhere has Apuleius been caught in an untruth; his principle accuser was a rash, convicted perjurer, his accusation against Apuleius was perjured, and it seems unlikely that a perjured accusation required …

Antisthenes' Theory Of Unique Enunciation: Similarities, Differences, And Possible Influences, Fouad Kalouche

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

In this paper I will focus on Antisthenes’ theory of unique enunciation, and will then discuss its similarities and differences with, and/or possible influences on, other theories on language that flourished around the 4th and 3rd centuries BCE. I showed elsewhere that Antisthenes’ theory of language is a practical application or a strategy that has direct implication for his ethical project. My aim here is merely to highlight the originality and relevance of Antisthenes’ theory by presenting it and contextualizing it, before assessing relevant similarities and differences between certain positions of Antisthenes and those of some Skeptics, Sophists, Cyrenaics, and …

The Concept Of Abstraction, Allan Bäck

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Philosophers deal with abstractions. Being reflective, they also have come up with theories about what these abstractions are. Aristotle is no exception, and indeed gave what came to be a canonical account of abstraction. Here I shall investigate what Aristotle thinks abstraction is. I shall conclude that Aristotle views abstraction as selective attention.

As its very name suggests, abstracting (ἀφαιρέω) consists in taking away something from an object. The root verb, αἱρέω, suggests additionally a sense of grasping or of choosing, of taking for oneself something of what lies ready to hand.

These lexical meanings leave open a wide range …

Sagp Newsletter 2005/6 March Pacific, Anthony Preus

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

No abstract provided.

(Review) Globalizing Roman Culture: Unity, Diversity And Empire, Eric Adler

Classics Faculty Publications

Reviews Richard Hingley's book entitled Globalizing Roman Culture: Unity, Diversity and Empire. London and New York: Routledge, 2005. Pp. xiii, 208. ISBN 0-415-35176-6. $29.95.

Των Λογων Ο Πρωτος Τε Και Σμικροτατος, Sph. 262c6-7: The First And Littlest Of Sentences, John J. Mulhern

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

In this paper I show that the orthodox syntax suggested in Sophistes 262C6-7 and the surrounding text is not adhered to in the dialogues. Within the limited universe of monadic atomic sentence syntax extended with constants for existence and unity, in fact, all but three of the 14 possible irregular forms are used in one or other of the three dialogues instanced here. Self-predication, which, in the mid-twentieth-century, fascinated so many scholars, turns out to be just one among the many varieties of irregular syntax in the dialogues.

The nonadherence of other interlocutors to the Eleatic Stranger’s description of monadic …

Courage And Knowledge At Protagoras 349e1-351b2, David Wolfsdorf

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

At Protagoras 349E1-350C5 Socrates argues for the identity of courage and knowledge, and at 350C6- 351B2 Protagoras objects to Socrates’ argument. Between 1961 and 1985, a few valuable contributions in English were made to the interpretation of these passages. None, however, is entirely satisfactory. And in the last twenty years, among some cursory treatments in studies not particularly focused on these passages, no notable progress has been made.

The objective of this paper is to present a more satisfactory interpretation of Socrates’ argument and Protagoras’ objection, in particular by engaging with a set of problems with which previous commentators have …

Self-Knowledge, Tyranny, And The Delphic Oracle In Plato's Charmides, Alan Pichanick

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

My focus here is the discussion between Critias and Socrates regarding the message of the oracle at Delphi: “Know yourself”. This is the only substantive discussion of the oracle outside the Apology, so we should give it careful attention, if we are at all interested in the philosophy of Socrates and those who in any way follow or depart from him. For though sôphrosunê may be elusive, the dialogue makes it clear that it is deeply connected, whatever its nature is, to the philosophical outlook of Socrates, tying together his ethical and epistemological stances. The task of understanding sôphrosunê is …

“Since Merlin Paid His Demon All The Monstrous Debt”: The Celtic In Keats, Brandy Bagar Fraley

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This thesis argues that the Keatsian critical canon refuses to acknowledge the influence of Celticism in the works of John Keats and that such a gap displaces his poems from their cultural context and also prevents re-readings that might add depth and distinction to his place in the Romantic canon. After discussing the Celticism inherent in the literature, art, and social phenomenon of Keats’s day and briefly reviewing the scarce criticism that exists on the topic, the author reveals the prevalence of Celtic philosophies, figures, myths, and settings in Keats’s poetry. Then, she further argues that Keats through the feminized …

Summary Report For The 2006 Season, Mark Schuler

Excavation Reports

In 2006, excavation continued work on areas surrounding the domus of the North-East Church complex, completed work on the masonry tomb, and continued conservation and cleaning of the earlier nave mosaic (F544). This report will address work done in the following areas: •

• The North Gate Area
• The Southern Street
• The South Hall and Related Chambers
• The Chambers West of the Portico
• Cistern D
• The Masonry Tomb
• The Nave Mosaic

Nietzsche’S “Gay” Science, Babette Babich

Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections

Offers a reading of the allusion to the 'Provencal' in Nietzsche’s The Gay Science, including the troubadour’s art (or 'technic') of poetic song, an art at once secret, anonymous and thus nonsubjective, but also including logical disputation, for which it is the model, and comprising, perhaps above all, the important ideal of action (and pathos) at a distance: l’amour lointain. But beyond the Provençal character and atmosphere of the troubadour, Nietzsche’s conception of a joyful science, Nietzsche's 'gay' science also adumbrates a critique of science understood as the collective ideal of scholarship, and including classical philology as much as logic, …

Vases Marked For Exchange: The Not-So-Special Case Of Pictorial Pottery, Nicolle E. Hirschfeld

Classical Studies Faculty Research

Large, bold marks are painted or incised on the handles or bases of thirty-seven pictorial vases. These same kinds of marks and same patterns of marking are found on non-pictorial Mycenaean pottery. In general, marks on Mycenaean pottery are rare and the circumstances of their use are not yet fully understood. It is clear that they are associated with Cyprus, and it is most likely that they are associated with Cypriot traders. The marks do indicate that pictorial vases were handled through the same channels and documented in the same manner as the trade in linear and pattern-decorated Mycenaean pottery.

Inherent Instability: Disproving Luttwak's Thesis Of Defense In Depth, Adam Stilgoe

Undergraduate Review

No abstract provided.

Review Of The Routledge Dictionary Of Latin Quotations: The Illiterati's Guide To Latin Maxims, Mottoes, Proverbs, And Sayings, By Jon R. Stone, Fred W. Jenkins

Roesch Library Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Reburying The Treasure—Maintaining The Continuity: Two Texts By Śākya Mchog Ldan On The Buddha-Essence, Yaroslav Komarovski

Department of Classics and Religious Studies: Faculty Publications

The rich and interconnected universe of Śākya Mchog Ldan’s views, including those on the buddha-essence, cannot be limited to or summarized in a few neat categories. Nevertheless, the following two interrelated ideas are crucial for understanding Śākya Mchog Ldan’s interpretation of the buddha-essence: 1) only Mahāyāna āryas (’phags pa) have the buddha-essence characterized by the purity from adventitious stains (glo bur rnam dag); 2) the buddha-essence is inseparable from the positive qualities (yon tan, guṇa) of a buddha; In his writings, Śākya Mchog Ldan argues against identifying the buddha- essence as a mere natural …

Review Of "Thucydides And Pindar: Historical Narrative And The World Of Epinikian Poetry" By S. Hornblower, Rosaria Vignolo Munson

Classics Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Review Of Augustine: De Civitate Dei (The City Of God), Books I & Ii, Edited With An Introduction, Translation And Commentary By P.G. Walsh, Catherine Conybeare

Greek, Latin, and Classical Studies Faculty Research and Scholarship

No abstract provided.

To Sit In Solemn Silence? Thronosis In Ritual, Myth, And Iconography, Radcliffe G. Edmonds Iii

Greek, Latin, and Classical Studies Faculty Research and Scholarship

To explain Strepsiades' initiation in Aristophanes' Clouds, recent scholars have referred to a thronosis ritual at the Eleusinian mysteries to describe the process wherein the initiate sits on a stool with head covered. The term thronosis, however, properly belongs to Korybantic initiation ritual, not to the Eleusinian Mysteries. Not only are the terms employed to describe the rituals different, but the iconographic representations of the ritual and the mythic paradigms are different as well. The puriticatory silent sitting of the Eleusinian initiate should not be confused with the bewildering and terrifying treatment of the enthroned initiate in a …

Das Mykenische Siedlungsmuster Messeniens Und Die Struktur Des Pylischen Reichs, Michael Cosmopoulos

History Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

From Orthodoxy To Heresy: A Theological Analysis Of Sonnets Xiv And Xviii, Timothy J. Burbery

English Faculty Research

The commentary on Milton's eighteenth sonnet ("On the Late Massacre' in Piedmont") is rich and extensive. Kester Svendsen's often cited 1945 essay, the first close reading of the poem; ushered in many other interpretations of its biblical imagery, as well as speech-act analyses, reader- response discussions, and at least one Foucaldian study. Yet even though a religious conflict inspired the sonnet, and although numerous interpreters have paid close attention to the work's biblical texture, no sustained theological account of the poem has been offered. The present essay seeks to fill that gap by examining the work in light of two …