Bulletin 33.1 November 2002
1. Minutes of the 2002 CAPN Meeting
The meeting was called to order by President Malcolm Wilson at 1:00. It was moved to approve as distributed the minutes of last year's meeting; they were approved by acclaim.
After some discussion members voted to make the usual contribution of 165.00 to the National Committee for Latin and Greek. Members expressed a wish that the mission of the NCLG be better known.
Since there were no applicants to the scholarship fund it was agreed to extend the deadline until April 1.
Members agreed to hold a joint meeting with CACW in Calgary in 2003, and that there should be help given on the American side. The members decided to leave it up to the executives to appoint the CAPN contact.
The following tentative schedule was put forth:
2003 Calgary
2004 Seattle ?
2005 Reed
The slate put forth by the nominating committee was defeated by the slate put forth by members:
President
Vice President
Secretary / Treasurer: Mary Jaeger
Bulletin Editor: Malcolm Wilson
There was no new business, so after a vote of thanks to the University of Oregon and to outgoing CAPN President Malcolm Wilson for "a wonderful conference" the meeting was adjourned at 1:25 p.m.
2. Treasurer's Report
Classical Association of the Pacific Northwest
TREASURER'S REPORT
as of April 29, 2002
SCHOLARSHIP FUND
Balance as of April 21, 2001 2024.43
- award -400.00
+ Interest (thru 3/31/02) 13.84 + Contributions 234.20
Balance as of March 31, 2002 1872.47
____________________________________________________
GENERAL FUND
Balance as of Feb. 27, 2001 1979.63
+ Deposits
dues, contributions, subscriptions 1041.56 + Interest (thru 4/29/02) 3.58
+1045.14
Sub-Total 3024.77
- Expenses:
Paid subscriptions 555.83
Printing (3/01, 10/01, 1/02) 448.31
NCLG contribution (01, 02) 330.00
-1334.14
Balance as of April 29, 2002 1690.63
+ additional deposits
- outstanding checks -45.00
Balance as of May 1, 2002 1645.63
____________________________________________________
Submitted by Catherine Connors
CAPN Secretary-Treasurer
Department of Classics
University of Washington, Seattle WA 98195
6. News from Members
Hi--some news from UBC; I am still waiting for more from my colleagues.
Tony Barrett received a prestigious two year Canada Council research
fellowship, one of only 17 awarded across Canada, to work on a new book on
early imperial women in the Roman empire. His book on Livia was featured
on a September cover of the Times Literary Supplement.
Hector Williams continued his archaeological work at Stymphalos and
Mytilene. At the former site last summer most of the focus was on study
and conservation; the team lifted most of the remaining wall plaster from
the early Roman villa, a project started last year. On August 31 Hector
was made an honorary citizen of the township of Stymphalia in a ceremony
attended by the provincial governor, the mayor and over 300 townsfolk.
The Department of Classics at Whitman College is delighted to welcome
Professor Bernard Fenik to our faculty. Professor Fenik is a well-known
scholar of Homer and Epic, formerly chair of the Department of Classics at
the University of Cincinatti and before that a professor at Princeton
University. Professor Fenik has come out of retirement to accept Whitman's
Johnston Chair. In addition to participating in Whitman's required
First-Year Core course, "Antiquity and Modernity," Professor Fenik is
offering "Ancient Mythology," "Conflicted Heroes and the Heroic Tradition,"
and "The Classical and Biblical Traditions in the Crucible of Modernity."
Best Regards,
Dana Burgess
Here is a small nugget of news covering Seattle Pacific University. If it
is inappropriate to include work under adjudication, please delete my
reference to my Josephus article.
---
Owen Ewald enters his second year as the sole full-time classicist at
Seattle Pacific University. His courses this year include Elementary Latin
and a freshman seminar comparing ancient and modern slavery, and he has an
article on the Jewish historian Josephus under adjudication. Adjunct
Professor In Chul Shin, working on his M.A. in teaching English to speakers
of other languages, is teaching a course called Ancient Civilization,
covering Pharaonic Egypt through the Roman Empire.
Reed College
Things are going well during a period of change in the Classics Department at Reed. Richard Tron is on sabbatical this year, and preparing for retirement next year. The department hopes he will continue to offer occasional Classics courses as a professor emeritus in the years ahead. Walter Englert was on sabbatical last year working on projects on Lucretius and Cicero. He finished his translation of Lucretius’ On the Nature of Things for Focus Classical Library, which will appear in 2003, and is currently working on a project on Cicero’s Philosophical Works. He also published an article, "The Death of Socrates and the Development of Greek Philosophy," in Events that Changed Ancient Greece, ed. B. Zweig (Westport, 2002). He assisted the Classic Greek Theater company stage a production of Aristophanes’ The Birds (in English) at the Reed College amphitheater in September, 2002. This year he is teaching beginning and intermediate Latin, advanced Greek (Aristophanes), advanced Latin, and Classical Mythology. Nigel Nicholson is on sabbatical this year and should finish his book on the representation of charioteers and trainers in victory memorials, part of which will soon be published in The Cultures within Greek Culture: Contact, Conflict, Collaboration, edited by Leslie Kurke and Carol Dougherty (Cambridge). Last year, he taught Humanities, introductory Greek, literary theory, and a new class on early Greek lyric poetry. Reed also welcomes three new faculty members this fall. Ellen Millender has joined the department as a tenure-track assistant professor in Classics and Ancient History. Ellen taught most recently at the University of Iowa. This summer she ran a panel at the Berkshire Conference on the History of Women entitled "Unveiling Spartan Women," and is now editing a volume on Spartan women. She will also be giving a paper ("Lacedaemonios Tyrannos: Athenian Democratic Ideology and the Construction of Spartan Despotism") at a conference at the University of Cardiff this summer. Her article "Novmo ‘Despovth’: Spartan Obedience and Athenian Lawfulness in Fifth-Century Greek Thought," appeared in E. Robinson and V. Gorman, eds., Oikistes: Studies in Constitutions, Colonies, and Military Power in the Ancient World Offered in Honor of A. J. Graham (Brill, 2002), and another article on "Herodotus and Spartan Despotism" will appear in in A. Powell and S. Hodkinson, eds., Sparta: Beyond the Mirage (London, 2002). Ellen continues to work on a monograph on Athenian depictions of Spartan society as something non-Greek. Meredith English Monaghan has joined the department as a one-year visiting assistant professor. She recently received her Ph.D. from Stanford University, where she wrote a dissertation on "Unfinished Business in the 'Argonautica' of Valerius Flaccus". This past May she attended the University of Crete's annual International Conference, where she gave a paper entitled "Juno and the Poet in Valerius Flaccus". She is currently teaching First Year Greek and Freshman Humanities.
Alex Nice has recently joined the Reed staff as a visiting assistant professor from the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. He gave a talk at the APA meeting in Philadelphia on 'Conceptualising Divination at Rome: Attitudes and Approaches in the Second Century BC'. He published an article in 'Acta Classica' on Cicero's De Divinatione, and another on Juvenal Satire 3 is shortly to appear in Collections Latomus XI
.
University of Idaho
Programs:
The first Eta Sigma Phi event (on September 5) was a report by two of the
returning Kennedy scholars, Van Anderson and Annike Christophersen. Last
spring we were able to send five students to College Year in Athens summer
programs. Three participated in the Athens session and two in the
Archaeological program at Thera. Two of the scholars went on to graduate
schools, Travis Puller to study classics at the University of Vermont and
Nate Preston to the University of Chicago religious studies program. The
third graduate, Robyn Horner, is working in Phoenix and plans to go into
museology. We hope to offer at least one travel grant this spring. The
Kennedy Scholarship, made possible by the generosity of Father A. Thomas
Kennedy (of Twin Falls, Idaho), goes to juniors or seniors with limited
travel experience to help them visit classical lands. Other events for the
semester are: October24, "Come Starve with Me: Dining on the Cheap in old
Rome" with low-budget Roman treats prepared by Cecelia Luschnig and November
14, Louis Perraud, "Erasmus in the Classroom." The presentations are on
Thursdays at 5:00 in the Administration Building. For spring we have lined
up so far Kathryn Meyer and Mary Jane Engh for the next instalment of their
series on Feminae Habiles, and Thomas Talboy, an alumnus of our program, who
will talk on the fragments of Sophocles. Watch for details of these and
other events on our web page: http://www.its.uidaho.edu/classics/
People:
Louis Perraud continues his work on the Erasmus project. He is currently
translating and editing the commentary on the Gospel of Mark. He is also
contributing courses to the new core curriculum.
Abstracts of Papers Heard at the 2002 CAPN Meeting
He Didn't Start the Fire: The Legend of Julius Caesar and the Burning of the Library at Alexandria
It is commonly believed that the library at Alexandria was burned, and either wholly or partially destroyed, by Caesar during his siege of Alexandria in 48 BCE (Pfeiffer 1901.45-50). This is merely a legend, however; its origin can be traced to the misinterpretation of a statement in Seneca's De Animi Tranquilitate, which orthodox scholarship has mistakenly attributed to Livy, thus lending it more credibility. The legend is in fact absent from all sources from the first century, and most later ones also. Moreover, the few sources that do reference the incident (Plutarch, Aulus Gellius, Cassius Dio, and Ammianus Marcellinus) show a number of serious inconsistencies. I will conclude by tracing the progress of this legend over time, and making some suggestions to account for its development.
Rebecca Schneider
Reed College '01
Francis Malec
Reed College
Abstract for 2002 CAPN Convention
The Role of Condemned Vestal Virgins During the Reign of DomitianTwice during Domitian’s fifteen-year reign the emperor tried and executed Vestal Virgins. In AD 83, the first of these prosecutions and condemnations occurred. Earlier this same year Agricola and the British legions had failed to accomplish their promised goal of subjugating England by the end of the campaign season. This proved to be a major setback for the emperor and his plans for moving some of the British legions to Germany. In response to this military failure, accusations were made against a group of the younger Vestal Virgins defaming their chastity. In AD 89, Domitian executed Cornelia, the chief vestal, after Rome was shamed by both Saturninus’ revolt and the full military retreat from northern England. Previous major Roman military defeats preceded the convictions of Vestal Virgins, and these failures under Domitian were treated in the same way as certain Republican defeats, with the Vestals receiving the blame.
Wally Englert"Halfway to Happiness: A Reading of Apuleius' _Golden Ass_."
The paper begins by outlining some current approaches to the _Golden Ass_, and argues that there is a third way of interpreting the text and especially Book XI besides the two ways Winkler suggests. Winkler has argued that the text sets out two possible interpretations of Lucius' conversion to Isis (that Lucius has found true happiness in Isis, or that Lucius is duped by the Isis cult and continues to be an ass). I argue that the text presents a third possibility. Lucius' life after his conversion to Isis in Book XI is superior to his former human/asinine life, but as Winkler has pointed out, there are still serious problems with it. Using evidence drawn from Plutarch's _On Isis and Osiris_ and other Platonizing texts, I argue that the _Golden Ass_ points the reader in the direction of a philosophic critique of Lucius' conversion to Isis. Lucius is headed in the right direction, but has not gone far enough. He takes the myths and cult of Isis as literally true, instead of seeing that they are allegories for true philosophical understanding of the universe. Lucius, therefore, is only halfway to finding true happiness. Benedict Lowe
Assistant Professor of History
Western Oregon University
The Imperium of Cn. Calpurnius Piso
The First Catilinarian Conspiracy has long been the object of scholarly endeavour thanks both to the unreliability of our sources and the ingenuity of scholars in remedying this lacuna. Although valuable studies have served to weed out some of the more extravagant fabrications an accurate understanding of the events remains elusive. Several important aspects of the alleged conspiracy have not been adequately explained and it is my intention to consider the appointment of the conspirator Cn. Calpurnius Piso as Quaestor Pro Praetore and governor of the province of Hispania Citerior. It is my contention that Piso has been the victim of posthumous denigration and that his appointment need not be viewed either in the context of the conspiracy of 66/65 BC or the anti-Pompeian politics of the mid to late 60s BC.
Word Count: 138.
Ethan Spanier
San Francisco State University
History Department
San Francisco, CA
The Generation Gap and Its Struggle for Civic Virtue: An Analysis of Thucydides VI.9-24
Some scholars consider Thucydides an artist, sculpting archetypal characters to convey a message while remaining within the bounds of historicity. In Book VI, Thucydides uses the speeches of Nicias and Alcibiades as a vehicle to deliver a message with a deeper subtext on the Perclean ideal of civic virtue as understood in Book II. The debate between Nicias and Alcibiades is framed as a discussion between older and younger generations with each side using the age of the other to prove their argument. Furthermore, the debate is characterized as a struggle between youthful passion (duserôtas) seated in the chest (epithumia), and elderly wisdom (katorthoûntai) seated in the mind (pronoia). In Thucydides’ final analysis, he claims that all Athenians "fell in love with" (erôs enepese) the idea of the Sicilian expedition regardless of age. The imagery of passion as infectious is employed to chastise Athens for lack of civic virtue (II.49, II.59) while civic virtue idealized in the Funeral Oration (II.35-46.) focuses upon thought and intellect.
Novi Atque Nobiles: Scipio’s Subversive Young Nobles in Sallust’s Jugurtha 8.1
P. Andrew Montgomery
Classics Department
202 Schaeffer Hall
University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA 52242"Novi Atque Nobiles: Scipio’s Subversive Young Nobles in Sallust’s Jugurtha 8.1"
A division exists among commentators as to whether Sallust identifies two classes of individuals or one in the phrase novi atque nobiles (BJ 8.1). The arguments have focused on whether Sallust uses novi as a synonym for iuvenes. Latte, whom Koestermann follows, suggests that Sallust finds his literary precedent in the Greek usage of ÓÂÔ›, indicating the age of these Romans. Paul, however, argues for two classes of individuals, the novi homines and the nobiles, two political classes frequently contrasted in Sallust’s writings. Neither interpretation is adequate. Novi in this phrase refers to the radical nature of the nobiles, who have abandoned the mos maiorum in preference for personal gain. This reading of novi is consistent with Sallust’s portrayal of the nobility in the Jugurtha, underscoring the political tensions which come to a head in the Mamilian quaestio (40.5) and the election of Marius to the consulship (84.1).
[148 words]
Eric ORLIN
I propose to examine the development of annual ludi in Rome as an aspect of the creation of a new sense of Romanness in the face of Rome’s transformation from a city-state to an imperial power. The Ludi Magni remained the only annual ludi in Rome until the late 3rd century, when in rapid succession they were joined by the Ludi Plebei, the Ludi Apollinares, the Ludi Megalenses, the Ludi Ceriales, and finally by the Ludi Florales. It is noteworthy that each of the cults to which annual ludi were attached showed significant foreign influence. I suggest that this represents a conscious effort to establish ludi as a distinctly Roman form of celebration as well as to establish these cults as 'Roman'. The Romans thus invested an existing practice with additional significance in order to shape a sense of identity as the territory they controlled expanded beyond the Italian peninsula.
Matt Fox
Orpheus, an Athenian Shaman
Orpheus represents one of the richest mythological traditions in the
West. Modern classicists who deal with Orpheus (including Burkert, Graf,
and West) have each in their own way discussed early Orpheus in terms of
Thracian shamanism. This is proper, but so far has failed to discuss
both Orpheus and shamanism in light of long-term reception of each.
History of shamanism has come a long way recently. We now know that the
concept of Shaman‚ has a history going back to 17th century European
ethnographic encounters, and that Orpheus was first called a ŒSchaman‚
by 18th century Enlightenment theorists. I juxtapose classicists‚
constructs of early Orpheus with modern reception history of shamanism
to show how we can understand Orpheus‚ and Orphic‚ in ancient Athenian
cultural discourse as surprisingly analogous to our own use (and abuse)
of the concepts of shaman and shamanism. In other words, Orpheus is an
Athenian shaman.
Lara IAHO
By all standard modern accounts, Ptolemy I relied upon the counsel of Demetrius Phalereus for the creation of certain important civic institutions in the new city of Alexandria: lawcodes, and the Museum and Library. Demetrius was the pupil and colleague of the Peripatetic writer Theophrastus, and it is to this Peripatetic influence that credit is typically given when historians seek to explain the impetus behind the collecting of scholars and books at Alexandria. Although direct evidence for Demetrius’ role is extremely sketchy, and although several scholars have argued that these institutions’ primary causes might lie elsewhere, Demetrius persists in appearing as the "guiding mind" behind the idea of the Museum and Library. This paper will question modern historians’ fixation on Demetrius, and suggest that, in seeking to root such Alexandrian institutions in a purely Hellenic context, scholars marginalize other formative influences on Ptolemaic administration and rulership in Egypt.
Livy and Velleius on the "Fall" of the Republic
Emil Kramer,
University of Oregon
This study underscores the significance of structure in Livy's and Velleius' historiography of the late Republic. Livy designed his history in such a way that it emphasized the dissolution of the Republican constitution and drew the reader's attention to the lack of continuity in the imperial government that followed. Velleius arranged his treatment of the late Republic in such a way that, so far from appearing incongruous with Republican history, the felicissimus status (2.91.2) achieved by Augustus appears as the direct outgrowth and the culmination of what had come before. The political implications of these two approaches are obvious: Livy's approach was essentially negative and could only reflect negatively on the new regime; Velleius' approach was positive and was clearly meant to add legitimacy to the new regime. Both authors achieved their respective historiographic goals partly through the artificial structural devices that they imposed on their material.