Knowledge Commons | Marina Díaz Bourgeal | Group Activity https://hcommons.org/members/marinadb/activity/groups/ Public group activity feed of which Marina Díaz Bourgeal is a member. Sat, 04 Apr 2026 13:22:01 -0400 https://buddypress.org/?v=10.6.0 en-US 30 hourly 2 6dd9f7e0cd23e509badd9d367e3ec287 Meredith Warren deposited Requiring Apologia? Merchants and Artisans in Acts of the Apostles in the group Late Antiquity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1898297/ Tue, 10 Sep 2024 03:00:42 -0400 Christian merchants, artisans, and service providers were explicitly targeted by early critics of the movement, who felt, in line with contemporary prejudices, that such people were dirty, ignorant, and prone to the vices of greed and deceit. Detractors hoped to attack Christianity on two intersecting fronts: that the faith was morally bankrupt…[Read more]

]]> 0 98882d783562cfefc1c2c50432067434 Meredith Warren deposited Requiring Apologia? Merchants and Artisans in Acts of the Apostles in the group Ancient Greece & Rome https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1898294/ Tue, 10 Sep 2024 03:00:05 -0400 Christian merchants, artisans, and service providers were explicitly targeted by early critics of the movement, who felt, in line with contemporary prejudices, that such people were dirty, ignorant, and prone to the vices of greed and deceit. Detractors hoped to attack Christianity on two intersecting fronts: that the faith was morally bankrupt…[Read more]

]]> 0 27f8a574c6c7dcbf0291158b025e5b29 Stephe Harrop deposited Greek Tragedy in the Drama Studio: Lecoq, Agonism, and the Politics of Choral Pedagogy in the group Ancient Greece & Rome https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1890994/ Fri, 05 Jul 2024 03:00:27 -0400 This chapter considers the ways in which classics education takes place within the drama studio; the understandings of ancient theatre practice and its current meanings which are (explicitly or tacitly) promulgated within studio settings; and the implications of dominant training models and practices for wider cultural understandings and…[Read more]

]]> 0 27f8a574c6c7dcbf0291158b025e5b29 Stephe Harrop deposited Greek Tragedy in the Drama Studio: Lecoq, Agonism, and the Politics of Choral Pedagogy in the group Ancient Greece & Rome https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1890993/ Fri, 05 Jul 2024 03:00:27 -0400 This chapter considers the ways in which classics education takes place within the drama studio; the understandings of ancient theatre practice and its current meanings which are (explicitly or tacitly) promulgated within studio settings; and the implications of dominant training models and practices for wider cultural understandings and…[Read more]

]]> 0 8f1143779709ca076552f06cc8a7da8d James Robert Burns started the topic New Group: History of Slavery and Unfreedom in the discussion Ancient Greece & Rome https://hcommons.org/groups/ancient-greece-rome/forum/topic/new-group-history-of-slavery-and-unfreedom-2/ Sat, 01 Jun 2024 22:07:01 -0400 Welcome to the 'History of Slavery and Unfreedom'

So far as I am aware, this is the first and only Humanities Commons group dedicated to the study of slavery.*

The past decade has seen a large number of publications that address slavery in a range of historical societies (e.g., The Cambridge World History; The Palgrave Handbook; On Human…[Read more]

]]> 4c4fb303c4d92dbd8f52ca9e68a5460f James Robert Burns deposited ‘Slaves’ and ‘Slave Owners’ or ‘Enslaved People’ and ‘Enslavers’? in the group Late Antiquity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1887767/ Sat, 01 Jun 2024 03:00:43 -0400 Studies of slavery increasingly refer to ‘enslaved people’ rather than ‘slaves’, and, to a lesser extent, to ‘enslavers’ rather than ‘slave owners’. This trend began with scholarship in the United States on plantation slavery but has spread to other academic publications. Yet ‘slave’ continues to be widely used, indicating not everyone is aware o…[Read more]

]]> 0 1fbd0124e8b56f051384020b58abc447 Thomas J. Nelson deposited Sappho’s Rose-Fingered Moon and Traditional Referentiality in the group Ancient Greece & Rome https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1886477/ Sat, 18 May 2024 03:07:38 -0400 This article reassesses Sappho's description of the moon as βροδοδάκτυλος, “rose-fingered” (fr. 96.8 Voigt)—an epithet that is usually restricted to Dawn in archaic poetry. This apparent incongruity has prompted much perplexity among scholars, with various attempts to explain the adjective’s significance, or even to emend the epithet away. Here, I…[Read more]

]]> 0 06012a6c4ca70cd6833bd0feb05dad01 Meredith Warren deposited Bearing a “Jewish Weight”: A New Interpretation of a Greek Comedic Papyrus About Athletics (CPJ 3.519) in the group Ancient Greece & Rome https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1884596/ Wed, 01 May 2024 03:22:32 -0400 This article offers a new interpretation of the phrase “Jewish weight,” especially as it is used in the Greek papyrus known as CPJ 3.519. The Roman-era papyrus preserves part of a work of otherwise unknown fiction, probably a script of a comedic mime about an athletic contest in a gymnasium. Contrary to previous interpreters, a new reading of the…[Read more]

]]> 0 ccab6a10b4f96af9231d0d7a3c74dcec Meredith Warren deposited The Greek Hat: 2 Maccabees 4:12 as a Euphemism for Reverse Circumcision in the group Late Antiquity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1884594/ Wed, 01 May 2024 03:22:28 -0400 Biblical Hebrew is known for its creative avoidance of mentioning intimate body parts. Did such euphemisms continue in Greek-speaking Judaism? This article proposes that the “Greek hat” in 2 Maccabees 4:12 is not (or at least not only) a literal hat or a vague metaphor for Hellenism, as has been suggested through the centuries. Instead, it is a s…[Read more]

]]> 0 06b05e363277c0f35bee47cd74c11199 Henning Ohst deposited Beschreibung von Cod. Guelf. 1027 Helmst., Handschriftendatenbank der Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel (2023) in the group Late Antiquity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1879871/ Tue, 19 Mar 2024 03:00:10 -0400 Manuscript description of Cod. Guelf. 1027 Helmst., containing texts of Priscianus, Boethius, Horace, Ambrose and Sidonius Apollinaris

]]> 0 4ffa8ef5cf7332da062ca378c02488eb Adam Parker deposited Teething Problems: Pierced tooth amulets and sensing pain in the Roman archaeological record in the group Ancient Greece & Rome https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1877895/ Tue, 27 Feb 2024 03:00:03 -0500 References in ancient literary texts refer to the use of pierced teeth as amulets used for the prevention and reduction of teething pains in infants. In this paper, I explore some of the sensory aspects of this phenomenon by centralising pain as a sensory experience. I draw on a dataset of these objects from Roman Britain in order to contextualise…[Read more]

]]> 0 ed0f08a0f7e6dafffe6dfccf48cbe5d2 Matthew Korpman deposited "What is “the Middle”? Theological Diversity in Valentinian Christianity," Academia Letters (2021): 1-5. in the group Late Antiquity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1870478/ Wed, 10 Jan 2024 03:02:21 -0500 This short-form article explores the various presentations of "the Middle" within Valentinian authored documents (the Gospel of Truth and Gospel of Philip) and sources which report about the Valentinians (Irenaeus and his report about Ptolemy's theology). It suggests underscores the deep distinctions each view has and suggests that these may be…[Read more]

]]> 0 747db96ae9f6b00aace7546889130d9e Elodie Paillard deposited Les ludi Graeci chez Cicéron in the group Ancient Greece & Rome https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1868901/ Fri, 22 Dec 2023 03:01:04 -0500 This article re-analyses in detail the meaning of the expression ludi Graeci which appears in two of Cicero’s letters (Ad Fam. 7,1 and Ad Att. 15,5). A careful examination of the first instance reveals that ludi Graeci indeed referred to theatrical performances in Greek language and not merely to Latin plays that followed Greek models. A brief s…[Read more]

]]> 0 ebaa7d87750ebd09ad419273b3bdf9b7 Mark Beumer deposited From Mithras to Jesus. Ritual Dynamics of Christmas in the group Late Antiquity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1867645/ Tue, 12 Dec 2023 03:00:44 -0500 At Christmas, Christians celebrate that Jesus was born on December 25 as the son of God andthe Virgin Mary. But this event is not unique. In this article, I show that the birth of Jesus hasseveral non-Christian predecessors, whereby various elements of the ritual dynamics have beenChristianized and implemented into the figure we know today as Jesus Christ.

]]> 0 d6f8be6018bf326eeb7e7f16338f8bcd Mark Beumer deposited From Mithras to Jesus. Ritual Dynamics of Christmas in the group Ancient Greece & Rome https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1867642/ Tue, 12 Dec 2023 03:00:11 -0500 At Christmas, Christians celebrate that Jesus was born on December 25 as the son of God andthe Virgin Mary. But this event is not unique. In this article, I show that the birth of Jesus hasseveral non-Christian predecessors, whereby various elements of the ritual dynamics have beenChristianized and implemented into the figure we know today as Jesus Christ.

]]> 0 92d5f907c6425144d7523141629183c6 Rafael Neis deposited In Comics: When a Human Gives Birth to a Raven in the group Late Antiquity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1865519/ Tue, 21 Nov 2023 03:00:32 -0500 In comics: how ancient rabbis upend “traditional” ideas of reproduction, gender, and humanity. A blog post commissioned by UC Press Blog about the book When a Human Gives Birth to a Raven: Rabbis and the Reproduction of Species.

Link: htt…[Read more]

]]> 0 be492bc40d05fe4489194aaef5e4d6a7 Elodie Paillard deposited 5 Greek Theatre in Roman Italy: From Elite to Autocratic Performances in the group Ancient Greece & Rome https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1862389/ Mon, 23 Oct 2023 03:00:03 -0400 Elodie Paillard, 'Greek Theatre in Roman Italy: From Elite to Autocratic Performances', in E. Csapo, H.R. Goette, J. R. Green, B. Le Guen, E. Paillard, J. Stoop, P. Wilson, Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World, De Gruyter, 2022

]]> 0 89bf0b8f938302a1b223f04e9e4fc7c3 Elodie Paillard deposited The Stage and the City in the group Ancient Greece & Rome https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1862211/ Fri, 20 Oct 2023 03:00:03 -0400 This book explores the staging of non-élite characters in the seven extant tragedies of Sophocles and how they related to contemporary middling citizens. The structure of fifth-century Athenian society underwent deep changes between the early and late plays of Sophocles. The appearance and growing political importance of a middling…[Read more]

]]> 0 e6ee4794da2811506ab3a73a731df70a Lloyd Graham deposited A life in the balance: Divine judgement by weighing in the group Ancient Greece & Rome https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1859627/ Mon, 25 Sep 2023 18:03:23 -0400 This paper compares psychostasia and/or kerostasia concepts from Indo-European, Semitic and adjacent cultures, and relates them to Cognitive Metaphor Theory. In the context of metaphysical weighing, the religions of ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome all associated lightness with goodness and/or a favourable outcome; Hinduism does likewise. The…[Read more]

]]> 0 9a8cab8f5cebfd90a10d5ba92097fd9b Henning Ohst deposited Zeitschriftenschau Fachwissenschaft (Mnemosyne 76.3, 2023/WS 135, 2022), Forum Classicum 66, 2023, 148–151 in the group Late Antiquity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1857782/ Fri, 08 Sep 2023 01:06:30 -0400 More detailed discussions on Thomas Biggs: Sown Men and Rome’s Civil Wars. Rethinking the End of Melinno’s Hymn to Rome (Mnemosyne 76.3) and Gerlinde Bretzigheimer: Intertextualität und Intratextualität in Ausonius’ Epitaphia heroum (Wiener Studien 135).

]]> 0 1055884aa8235678afa77e7ce88695b6 Danijela Tešić Radovanović deposited Some Aspects of Decorations on Early Christian Lamps from the Central Balkans, in the group Late Antiquity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1855374/ Thu, 17 Aug 2023 01:09:53 -0400 This paper aims to examine models by which symbolism of light and lamp in
the Mediterranean region was manifested in the early Christian visual culture,
i.e. lamp representations from Central Balkans. Lamps with Early
Christian representations are considered in the context of transculturality
of Late Antiquity, as well as political and…[Read more]

]]> 0 51c4b00b2f67e54db75d4a5bddfe145d Danijela Tešić Radovanović deposited Some Aspects of Decorations on Early Christian Lamps from the Central Balkans, in the group Ancient Greece & Rome https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1855371/ Thu, 17 Aug 2023 01:09:10 -0400 This paper aims to examine models by which symbolism of light and lamp in
the Mediterranean region was manifested in the early Christian visual culture,
i.e. lamp representations from Central Balkans. Lamps with Early
Christian representations are considered in the context of transculturality
of Late Antiquity, as well as political and…[Read more]

]]> 0 16d62487bd81a28a58274503642efeb1 Danijela Tešić Radovanović deposited Fish symbol and maritime motifs on late antique lamps from Central Balkans in the group Late Antiquity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1855369/ Thu, 17 Aug 2023 01:09:06 -0400 Elements of Christian visual culture appeared in
various media in monumental and applied art during the late
antique period, from painted decoration in the catacombs,
through funerary monuments, to utilitarian objects such as
jewellery and lamps. The paper analyses the symbolic meaning
of fish and maritime motifs in the context of the late…[Read more]

]]> 0 896e7df7eb8e877669e51d84fac7034d Danijela Tešić Radovanović deposited Visual Representations of Saint Menas and Saint Thecla: Objects and Sources in the group Late Antiquity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1855364/ Thu, 17 Aug 2023 01:08:41 -0400 On a number of pilgrimage objects from Late Antiquity, St Thecla, a highly revered saint, also known as Thecla the Protomartyr, is shown accompanied by St Menas, whose tomb in Egypt was the pilgrimage centre associated with healing miracles. The saintly couple appear in ad bestias compositions or in a simplified variant as two saints with a cross.…[Read more]

]]> 0 ff5dbc64958c316c10cafbbc41aa003b Henning Ohst deposited Greek and Latin Poetry of Late Antiquity. Form, Tradition, and Context, hg. v. Berenice Verhelst u. Tine Scheijnen (2022), Plekos 25, 2023, S. 327–339 in the group Late Antiquity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1850332/ Tue, 27 Jun 2023 02:23:48 -0400 The volume under review is based on the premise that there is no real dialogue between Greek and Latin studies on the literature (and especially on the poetry) of Late Antiquity, at least not a dialogue as intense as with regard to the earlier, 'classical' literature. The reason for this is not least the problem that mutual dependencies between…[Read more]

]]> 0 48c627c4408977b8e93aac69abc2836e Henry Colburn deposited A Brief Historiography of Parthian Art, from Winckelmann to Rostovtzeff in the group Ancient Greece & Rome https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1847835/ Thu, 01 Jun 2023 02:24:29 -0400 The early history of the study of Parthian art may be profitably divided into three overlapping phases. The first phase, ‘Ordering’, begins with Johann Joachim Winckelmann’s dismissive assessment of Parthian art, at this point known mainly from coins, as derivative and barbaric. The second phase, ‘Exploration’, begins in the mid-ninet…[Read more]

]]> 0 e9c448db9c6534f20278934e895ff4c6 Henning Ohst deposited Zeitschriftenschau Fachwissenschaft (Mnemosyne 75.6, 2022 u. Hermes 150.4, 2022), Forum Classicum 66, 2023, S. 62–68 in the group Late Antiquity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1847375/ Sat, 27 May 2023 02:23:47 -0400 More detailed Discussions on J. van Waarden: Leafing through Pliny with Sidonius. Sidon. Ep. 1.1, Plin. Ep. 1.1, 1.2, and 1.5, and Satire, Mnemosyne 75/6, 2022, 1021–1043 (62–64) and G. Wöhrle: Fragmente im
Überfluss. Zur Problematik eines philologischen Begriffs, Hermes 150/4, 2022, 385-404 (64–67).

]]> 0 4ba5d22cf6472fba4cfab4b1c4b4f330 Mark Beumer deposited Hygieia. Identity, Cult and Reception in the group Late Antiquity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1846901/ Tue, 23 May 2023 02:26:12 -0400 This article examines the Greek goddess Hygieia by looking at her identity, cult status in the ancient world and subsequent scholarly reception. Should she be viewed as a goddess or a personification? By studying Hygieia primarily as a concept of health within ancient medicine, as well as a personification and a goddess, it will be argued that…[Read more]

]]> 0 c1ef5e0fcd60e705707eca5943fa1ea7 Mark Beumer deposited Hygieia. Identity, Cult and Reception in the group Ancient Greece & Rome https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1846899/ Tue, 23 May 2023 02:25:43 -0400 This article examines the Greek goddess Hygieia by looking at her identity, cult status in the ancient world and subsequent scholarly reception. Should she be viewed as a goddess or a personification? By studying Hygieia primarily as a concept of health within ancient medicine, as well as a personification and a goddess, it will be argued that…[Read more]

]]> 0 d2f18a7decfb6836118e59b12d37cb4f Mark Beumer deposited A Woman’s Touch. Hygieia, Health and Incubation in the group Late Antiquity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1846896/ Tue, 23 May 2023 02:25:34 -0400 In this paper, I argue that Hygieia has to be viewed as a full goddess in Greek religion and medicine, with a special focus on her position within the Asklepios cult. I will examine her identity, to which scholars attribute several labels like goddess, abstraction and personification. I further argue that Hygieia’s role in performing incubation r…[Read more]

]]> 0 bd236189ca81233b944534ca8a576fb8 Mark Beumer deposited A Woman’s Touch. Hygieia, Health and Incubation in the group Ancient Greece & Rome https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1846893/ Tue, 23 May 2023 02:25:04 -0400 In this paper, I argue that Hygieia has to be viewed as a full goddess in Greek religion and medicine, with a special focus on her position within the Asklepios cult. I will examine her identity, to which scholars attribute several labels like goddess, abstraction and personification. I further argue that Hygieia’s role in performing incubation r…[Read more]

]]> 0 df0e3302217ccf0dc05bf6c4fc5d3f62 Mark Beumer deposited The Foundation of Anthropology to Ritual Studies in the group Late Antiquity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1846890/ Tue, 23 May 2023 02:24:45 -0400 The present paper aims to investigate the role of anthropology in the development of Ritual Studies as an inter-disciplinary platform, with a focus on ritual dynamics by using a historiographic description, focusing on thetransition of Greco-Roman to Christian culture. This study attempts to shed light not only on the contributionof anthropology…[Read more]

]]> 0 f73f81c80830a09eca68d868444c0b72 Mark Beumer deposited The Foundation of Anthropology to Ritual Studies in the group Ancient Greece & Rome https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1846887/ Tue, 23 May 2023 02:24:06 -0400 The present paper aims to investigate the role of anthropology in the development of Ritual Studies as an inter-disciplinary platform, with a focus on ritual dynamics by using a historiographic description, focusing on thetransition of Greco-Roman to Christian culture. This study attempts to shed light not only on the contributionof anthropology…[Read more]

]]> 0 b177bc3c9b2742fa54a7c9eff552194c Henning Ohst deposited A Companion to Isidore of Seville, hg. v. Andrew Fear u. Jamie Wood (2020), Plekos 24, 2022, S. 65–77 in the group Late Antiquity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1843575/ Thu, 04 May 2023 02:24:08 -0400 The Companion assembles a total of twenty chapters in English throughout, which - as explained in more detail in the Introduction by the two editors - are thematically divided into three sections ("parts"): "Isidore's Contexts" (chapters 1-4, including the "Introduction"), "Themes in Isidore's Works" (chapters 5-13), and "Transmission andReception…[Read more]

]]> 0 04081e62157f754426a6d45af5870996 Elton Barker deposited Journeying through Space and Time with Pausanias’s Description of Greece in the group Ancient Greece & Rome https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1839755/ Wed, 05 Apr 2023 02:23:53 -0400 Sometime in the second century CE, Pausanias of Magnesia (modern-day Turkey) wrote the Description of Greece. Ostensibly a tour of the places to see on the Greek mainland, the Description also provides historical accounts related to the topography through which Pausanias moves. Little attention has been given to how these building blocks of…[Read more]

]]> 0 52b5ff9a92e6a35357d825fe47564479 Ermanno Malaspina deposited For a Pre-history and Post-history of the Corpus Leidense With a List of the Manuscripts of De natura deorum in the group Ancient Greece & Rome https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1835113/ Thu, 23 Feb 2023 02:23:38 -0500 The present article examines the Corpus Leidense, the group of eight Ciceronian treatises among which the De natura deorum was also transmitted, focusing on its archetype. The second and longer section contains the first complete list of the 174 identified manuscripts of De natura deorum, with 57 new items added to the 117 already listed by Pease…[Read more]

]]> 0 77f73f6404f7131aa2308f8c9bed4024 Elton Barker deposited BMCR review of Greta Hawes, Pausanias in the world of Greek myth. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2021. Pp. xii, 237. ISBN 9780198832553 in the group Ancient Greece & Rome https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1834850/ Mon, 20 Feb 2023 02:24:03 -0500 Recent scholarship has done much to challenge the long-held antipathy towards Pausanias, even if some of the best studies appear “enamored not so much of Pausanias himself as they are of the idea of Pausanias”. As one of the leading new Pausaniacs, Greta Hawes has been at the vanguard of efforts to get the measure of this storied landscape. Her…[Read more]

]]> 0 e24fda2f56d9b9b59e5be94ac84be5d1 Elton Barker deposited Die Another Day: Sarpedon, Aristodemos, and Homeric Intertextuality in Herodotus in the group Ancient Greece & Rome https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1833858/ Sat, 11 Feb 2023 02:27:59 -0500 The subject of this chapter is a single contested word in Herodotus' Histories. In it I explore its semantic range and use it to think about broader questions of Herodotus’ interplay with Homer. Where many of the Homeric touches in Herodotus can be put down to, and more productively used, as examples of traditional referentiality or, at least, n…[Read more]

]]> 0 b4d32efbebca788c546ab80c25280743 Nikos Tsivikis deposited Messene: a Bibliography on the Archaeology and History of the city v.01/12/2022 in the group Late Antiquity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1824820/ Sat, 03 Dec 2022 02:23:40 -0500 A work-in-progress, this is an extended bibliography on Messene covering the period from 1831 and up to today. It includes the excavation reports and archaeological/historical publications of ancient and byzantine Messene in Messenia, SW Peloponnese. Please send via mail or message any corrections, suggestions and additions.

]]> 0 54f0db233885214df9a578b21281a56b Olivier Dufault deposited Early Greek Alchemy, Patronage and Innovation in Late Antiquity in the group Ancient Greece & Rome https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1816080/ Sun, 02 Oct 2022 02:23:45 -0400 New evidence on scholarly patronage under the Roman empire can be garnered by analyzing the descriptions of learned magoi in several texts from the second to the fourth century CE. Since a common use of the term magos connoted flatterer-like figures (kolakes), it is likely that the figures of “learned sorcerers” found in texts such as Luc…[Read more]

]]> 0 b1221e7afef5996d09be0267e5882518 Amit Gvaryahu deposited Review of Katell Berthelot, Jews and Their Roman Rivals: Pagan Rome’s Challenge to Israel. in the group Late Antiquity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1795012/ Wed, 21 Sep 2022 02:23:45 -0400 Review of Katell Berthelot, Jews and Their Roman Rivals: Pagan Rome’s Challenge to Israel. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2021. Pp. 552. ISBN 9780691199290. $45.00.

]]> 0 226042e4d95d329dd6f49345296a8029 Andrew Jacobs deposited “Coloured by the Nature of Christianity”: Nock’s Invention of Religion and Ex-Jews in Late Antiquity in the group Late Antiquity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1793769/ Sun, 11 Sep 2022 02:27:12 -0400 It is my modest goal in this essay to trace how Nock uses conversion to produce religion(s) and then to explore its similarities to and differences from an analogous construction of religion-through-conversion in late antiquity.

]]> 0 b09cc5698114124e4a615fd6daec8a1f Thomas J. Nelson deposited Iphigenia in the Iliad and the Architecture of Homeric Allusion in the group Ancient Greece & Rome https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1793767/ Sun, 11 Sep 2022 02:26:45 -0400 In this paper, I argue that the traditional narrative of Iphigenia’s sacrifice lies allusively behind the opening scenes of the Iliad (1.8–487). Scholars have long suspected that this episode is evoked in Agamemnon’s scathing rebuke of Calchas (1.105–8), but I contend that this is only one moment in a far more sustained allusive dialogue: both th…[Read more]

]]> 0 c512da43c2fcec190bcb86c2eca890ac Thomas J. Nelson deposited Beating the Galatians: Ideologies, Analogies and Allegories in Hellenistic Literature and Art in the group Ancient Greece & Rome https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1793766/ Sun, 11 Sep 2022 02:26:18 -0400 Hellenistic literature and art commemorated victories over the Galatians through a variety of analogies and allegories, ranging from the historical Persian Wars to the cosmic Gigantomachy: each individual victory was incorporated into a larger sequence in which order constantly quelled the forces of chaos. This paper explores this analogical…[Read more]

]]> 0 d50ace12320588f9bfab6270a2c1a0e2 Thomas J. Nelson deposited Intertextual Agōnes in Archaic Greek Epic: Penelope vs. the Catalogue of Women in the group Ancient Greece & Rome https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1793765/ Sun, 11 Sep 2022 02:25:52 -0400 Archaic Greek epic exhibits a pervasive eristic intertextuality, repeatedly positioning its heroes and itself against pre-existing traditions. Here I focus on a specific case study from the Odyssey: Homer’s agonistic relationship with the Catalogue of Women tradition. Hesiodic-style Catalogue poetry has long been recognized as an important i…[Read more]

]]> 0 fd42176f87c7dc9c91c4bf9537d4bc9d Thomas J. Nelson deposited Archilochus’ Cologne Epode and Homer’s Quivering Spear (fr. 196a.52 IEG2) in the group Ancient Greece & Rome https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1793764/ Sun, 11 Sep 2022 02:25:25 -0400 In this note, I highlight a hitherto unrecognized literary resonance in the climactic final verses of Archilochus' First Cologne Epode: Archilochus parodically and subversively reworks the Homeric description of a quivering spear. This Homeric resonance caps the poem's ongoing clash between the generic conventions of epic and iambus, while also…[Read more]

]]> 0 101f75986a29864b836328ffc4b2f6c2 Thomas J. Nelson deposited Repeating the Unrepeated: Allusions to Homeric Hapax Legomena in Archaic and Classical Greek Poetry in the group Ancient Greece & Rome https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1793763/ Sun, 11 Sep 2022 02:24:59 -0400 In this paper, I investigate the repetition of Homeric hapax legomena in archaic and classical Greek poetry. Scholars frequently assume that fine-grained engagement with Homeric rarities is a distinctive feature of the Hellenistic period, but I reveal the significant precedent for this phenomenon in earlier poetry. Proceeding through comedy,…[Read more]

]]> 0 6d279bdc8c63d6ecd22969c216fd9c2b Thomas J. Nelson deposited Tragic Noise and Rhetorical Frigidity in Lycophron’s Alexandra in the group Ancient Greece & Rome https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1793762/ Sun, 11 Sep 2022 02:24:33 -0400 This paper seeks to shed fresh light on the aesthetic and stylistic affiliations of Lycophron’s Alexandra, approaching the poem from two distinct but complementary angles. First, it explores what can be gained by reading Lycophron’s poem against the backdrop of Callimachus’ poetry. It contends that the Alexandra presents a radical and polem…[Read more]

]]> 0 2698089e1deec8909eb9cc01358b74a6 Thomas J. Nelson deposited The Coma Stratonices: Royal Hair Encomia and Ptolemaic-Seleucid Rivalry? in the group Ancient Greece & Rome https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1793761/ Sun, 11 Sep 2022 02:24:06 -0400 In this paper, I investigate how Ptolemaic poets' presentation of their queens compares with and relates to the practice of their major rivals, the Seleucids. No poetic celebration of a Seleucid queen survives extant, but an anecdote preserved by Lucian sheds intriguing light on Seleucid poetic practice (Pro Imaginibus 5): queen Stratonice, bald…[Read more]

]]> 0 35b38f830ed29e2ed8eca941cf827c95 Thomas J. Nelson deposited Achilles’ Heel: (Im)mortality in the Iliad in the group Ancient Greece & Rome https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1793760/ Sun, 11 Sep 2022 02:23:39 -0400 In this article for sixth-formers and school teachers, I explore the story of Achilles' heel and Homer's likely suppression of the myth in the Iliad. Homer's Iliad appears to acknowledge, but simultaneously reject, an alternative tradition in which Achilles was more than mortal, part of a broader downplaying of heroic invulnerability and…[Read more]

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