2009-2010 CWRU CALENDAR
OF CLASSICAL EVENTS (includes all University Circle Institutions)
FALL TERM
"Silk Route and Diamond Path: The Archaeology of Tibetan Buddhism."
Wednesday, September 9, 2009, 7:30 pm
Professor Mark Aldenderfer (University of Arizona)
AIA Lecture
For most westerners, Buddhism is timeless, and Tibet remote and romantic. For the archaeologist, though, the two are intimately connected. There is a substantial material expression of Tibetan Buddhism that is tied to pre-Buddhist political institutions, imperial expansion and collapse, and subsequent transformation into the monastic and temple tradition found on the plateau today. In this paper, I will discuss what is known of Tibetan Buddhist archaeology within this outline, and will describe the historical and cultural influences on the expression of Buddhism on the plateau, and the transformations it is undergoing in the modern political climate. My perspective is unique: at present, I am the only western archaeologist conducting research in the Tibet Autonomous Region.
"New Insights into Fort Ancient Social Structure and Settlement Patterning."
Wednesday, October 14, 2009, 7:30 pm
Professor Robert Cook (Ohio State University, Newark)
Fort Ancient peoples were the last prehistoric inhabitants of the Middle Ohio River Valley, circa A.D. 1000-1650. The best known of their villages is the SunWatch site, located in Dayton, Ohio along the Great Miami River. Recent analyses at the site and other settlements in southwest Ohio are revealing new details about Fort Ancient social structure and settlement patterning with respect to interactions with neighboring Mississippians and responses to environmental fluctuations. This presentation highlights these recent findings as well as discusses work in progress.
"Menander and the Politics of Early Hellenistic Athens."
Friday, October 23, 2009, 2:00 - 4:00 pm, The Ohio Classical Conference
Armington Room, Hilton Garden Inn, 1100 Carnegie Avenue, Cleveland
Assistant Professor Paul Iversen (CWRU)
Those who attend must pay a registration fee. For the complete 2009 OCC program on Oct. 23 and 24 in Cleveland, click here.
"Pythagoras, Numa, and Ovid: Exile at the Beginning of Roman Religion and Law."
Thursday, October 29, 2009, 4:30 pm, Clark 309
Professor Matthew McGowan (Fordham University)
Pizza and Panegyric
Thursday, November 5, 2009, 12:00-1:15 pm
Mather House 408
Lunch provided
This lunchtime meeting will give students a chance to meet Classics professors and students as they learn about the requirements for a Major and a Minor, as well as about our courses in Greek, Latin and Greek and Roman literature, history, civilization, art and archaeology. In addition, there will be a presentation about our summer courses and research opportunities abroad.
"Uncorking the Past: The Quest for Wine, Beer, and Extreme Fermented Beverages."
Wednesday, November 11, 2009, 7:30 pm
Professor Patrick McGovern (University of Pennsylvania Museum)
AIA Lecture
The history of the human species and civilization itself is, in many ways, the history of fermented beverages. Drawing upon recent archaeological discoveries, molecular and DNA sleuthing, and the texts and art of long-forgotten peoples, Patrick McGovern takes us on a fascinating odyssey back to the beginning when early humanoids probably enjoyed a wild fruit or honey wine. We follow the course of human ingenuity in domesticating plants of all kinds - particularly the grapevine in the Middle East, rice in China, and the cacao (chocolate) tree in the New World - learning how to make and preserve wines, beers, and what are sometimes called "extreme fermented beverages" that are comprised of many different ingredients. Early beverage-makers must have marveled at the seemingly miraculous process of fermentation. When they drank the beverages, they were even more amazed - they were mind-altering substances, medicines, religious symbols, and social lubricants all rolled into one. The perfect drink, it turns out, has not only been a profound force in history, but may be fundamental to the human condition itself.
The speaker will illustrate the biomolecular archaeological approach by describing the discovery of the most ancient, chemically-attested alcoholic beverage in the world, dating back to about 7000 B.C. Based on the analyses of some of the world's earliest pottery from Jiahu in the Yellow River valley of China, a mixed fermented beverage of rice, hawthorn fruit/grape, and honey was reconstructed. The laboratory's most recent finding is a fermented beverage made from the fruit pod of the cacao tree, as based on analyses of ca. 1200 B.C. pottery sherds from the site of Puerto Escondido in Honduras. As the earliest chemically attested instance of chocolate in the Americas, this beverage might well have been the incentive for domesticating the cacao tree. Like grape and rice wine, chocolate "wine" - in time made only from roasted beans - went on to become the prerogative of royalty and the upper class, and a focus of religion. Some of these beverages, including the earliest alcoholic beverage from China (Chateau Jiahu), the mixed drink served at the "King Midas" funerary feast (Midas Touch), and the chocolate beverage (Theobroma), have been re-created by Dogfish Head Brewery, shedding light on how our ancestors made them and providing a taste sensation and a means for us to travel back in time.
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ISPARTA ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY NIGHT
Thursday, November 19, 5:30 - 9:30 PM 2009
Ford Auditorium and Allen Memorial Library on CWRU's campus
Free and open to the public
Co-Sponsored by the Baker Nord Center, the Turkish-American Society of Northeast Ohio and the Cleveland Archaeological Society
5:30 PM in the Ford Auditorium: Dean Taylor will join us and sign or announce progress towards a bilaterial agreement between CWRU and Sülyman Demeril Üniversitesi (Isparta,Turkey).
6:00 PM in the Ford Auditorium, "The Isparta Archaeological Survey: the Culture, Environment, and Landscapes of Ancient Konane and modern Gönen" by Professor Bilge Hürmüzlü, Sülyman Demeril Üniversitesi (Isparta,Turkey).
Professor Hürmüzlü will talk about the first full season, and future plans, of the Isparta Archaeological Survey (IAS), a newly-formed interdisciplinary research collaboration between the Department of Archaeology at Sülyman Demeril Üniversitesi, Isparta, the Department of Classics at Case Western Reserve University (including both faculty who teach and students who take CLSC 318/418), members of Rutgers, University, and members of The University of Applied Sciences, Berlin.
Professor Hürmüzlü will detail how in the first full season we surveyed the area of the ancient city of Konane, which lies in and around the modern village of Gönen just north of the modern city of Isparta. She will also talk about how CWRU students can get involved.
7:00 PM in the Allen Memorial Library upstairs from Ford Auditorium. Reception featuring Turkish Music and Food.
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6th Annual City Dionysia
Saturday, November 21, 2009, 10:30 am
Strosacker Auditorium
Free and open to the public
The Sixth-Annual City Dionysia competition will take place on Saturday, November 21th, 10:30 AM at CWRU's Strosacker Auditorium. The City Dionysia is an opportunity for regional and state high schools to compete for cash prizes via a 15-minute performance of a classical tragedy; the 2008 City Dionysia will feature Aeschylus' Agamemnon.
For more on this event, which is free and open to the public, see here
"Piranesi and Vico in the 'Age of Reason': New Science, New Media, New Terrors."
Wednesday, December 2, 2009, 4:00 pm, Guilford Hall 323
Charles Burroughs and Florin Berindeanu, CWRU Department of Classics
This lecture is free and open to the public. For a flyer, click here.
SPRING TERM
"Building Power: The Architecture of the Emperor Maxentius in Rome (306-312 CE)."
Wednesday, February 10, 2010, 7:30 pm
Professor Elisha Dumser (Ursuline College)
Acclaimed emperor against the wishes of the reigning Tetrarchy during a popular uprising in Rome in 306 CE, Maxentius fought to legitimize his rule and solidify his power for all six years of his reign. Unlike the Tetrarchs, who had forsaken Rome to establish smaller capital cities across the Empire, Maxentius promised to renew Rome as the seat of the imperial power. He styled himself as Rome's conservator urbis suae, the 'preserver of the city', a slogan popularized on his coinage that publicly proclaimed the importance of Rome and his architectural patronage there for his political platform. His prominent building commissions - which included the city's largest temple and the world's most expansive cross-vaulted interior space - were located in the heart of the ancient city. In antiquity, they reminded Romans daily of his commitment to the Urbs; today, their innovative architectural forms testify to the skill and creativity of the late-antique architects working under his command. This talk introduces Maxentius, his turbulent times, and his striking architectural works, and hopes to convince the audience that Maxentius was unusually adept at manipulating the political and economic leverage of large-scale public benefactions - in Rome, Maxentius sought to truly build power.
"Pharaoh at the Bat: Ancient Egyptian Bat and Ball, the Earliest Archetype of American Baseball."
Wednesday, March 10, 2010, 7:30 pm
Professor Peter Piccione (University of Charleston)
Donald R. Laing, Jr. Lecturship of the Cleveland Archaeological Society
This colorful lecture examines the history of the Egyptian gaming-ritual, "Batting the Ball" and compares it to baseball in a manner that balances serious erudition with popular appeal. It illustrates scenes on the walls of temples and discusses the ancient game's equipment and aspects of play, including the results of new findings the author made this spring (2009) in Egypt. It recounts its probable origins as a recreational children's game and its deep connections to Egyptian cosmology, religion, specific deities, etc. Then the lecture essentially asks the question, "did the Egyptians invent baseball?" It compares Egyptians' notions about their ball game to the historical American passion for baseball and how the legends and traditions Americans have created derive from a myth-making process similar to that of the Egyptians. Likewise, it draws illustrated parallels among Egyptian ball-gaming, Mayan ball games, and modern cinema films about baseball, such as "Field of Dreams" and "Bull Durham". It also presents the possibility of professional female ball players in Egypt long before the short-lived All-American Girls' Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL), 1943-1954.
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VERGIL WEEK, TUESDAY 29 MARCH - FRIDAY 3 APRIL
Various events including Continuous public reading of Vergil's Aeneid
Contact Professor Timothy Wutrich for further details (216-368-6026)
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"Significant Others: The Construction of Identity in Greek Art."
Wednesday, April 14, 2010, 7:30 pm
Professor Timothy McNiven (Ohio State University, Marion)
Men in ancient Athens defined who they were, and why they held power, by creating images of all the "others" — women, barbarians and monsters — and showing why members of these groups were inferior. By examining these images, we can get insight into what it meant to be a citizen in the new democracy of Athens.
Title TBA
Wednesday, May 12, 2010, 7:30 pm
Professor Patty Gerstenblith (DePaul University)
The Pat Douthitt Lecture
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