Ancient World Seminar
Convenor: Dr Frederik Vervaet, School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, fvervaet@unimelb.edu.au.
The Ancient World Seminar is held at 1-2 pm usually on Monday during semester for presentations and discussions of papers from students and academic staff on all aspects of the ancient world.
To be added to the email list to receive details of meetings email the convenor.
Venue: Old Arts Theatrette C unless otherwise indicated.
Programme for Semester 1
11:00, Tuesday 21 February, Theatre 3, ICT Building, 111 Barry Street
Professor Richard Hunter, Cambridge University
The Song of Ares and Aphrodite
Richard Hunter is Regius Professor of Greek at Cambridge University (U.K.) and a graduate of the University of Sydney. His publications include commentaries on Hellenistic poets (such as Apollonius of Rhodes, Theocritus and Callimachus) and the ancient Greek novel. Professor Hunter's seminar is co-hosted with La Trobe University.
27 February
Frederik Vervaet, University of Melbourne
Crassus' Command in the Third Servile War: A Reassessment
In 71 BCE, the political career of M. Licinius Crassus gained rapid momentum as he secured both a privileged ovation and the consulship on the strength of his victorious command against Spartacus and his followers. Although the facts of his military operations against the rebelling slaves and their followers are quite well known, the precise nature of his official position as commander-in-chief in the Servile War continues to divide Roman historians. This paper will carefully revisit the extant sources in an attempt to produce a plausible solution to this problem.
5 March
Louise Hitchcock, University of Melbourne
The 2011 University of Melbourne & Bar-Ilan Excavations at the Philistine Site of Tell es-Safi/Gath
12 March
Konstantinos Vlassopoulos, University of Nottingham
Greeks and Barbarians: Globalisation and Glocalisation in the Ancient Mediterranean
19 March
Jak Jakar, Tel Aviv University
State-controlled Agricultural Production in the Land of Hatti
26 March
Postponed
2 April
Stephie Nikoloudis, University of Melbourne
A 60th Anniversary: Celebrating Michael Ventris and the Decipherment of Linear B
This year marks the 60th anniversary of Michael Ventris' announcement on the BBC (1st July 1952) that the language underlying the Bronze Age Aegean 'Linear B' script was an early form of Greek. Ventris' decipherment was a major breakthrough, complementing the archaeological investigations of the time by giving scholars access to the textual information recorded in the Linear B tablets about the socio-political, economic and religious facets of life in the Mycenaean world. This paper traces Ventris' key role in the decipherment of Linear B, alongside the significant work of Alice Kober, Emmett Bennett Jr. and John Chadwick.
16 April
Andrew Reynolds, University College London
The Message of the Gallows: Archaeology and the Emergence of Anglo-Saxon Judicial Practice
This paper will explore the contribution of archaeology to understanding the emergence of formal judicial practice in Anglo-Saxon England. While historians often argue that organised judicial behaviour is a feature of the period of King Alfred and after (later 9th-11th centuries), archaeology reveals much earlier origins, during the period of kingdom formation in England in the 7th and 8th centuries. Themes to be covered will include the tensions and interconnexions between textual and archaeological evidence, the nuanced use of landscape to express judicial authority and the socio-political contexts within which formal judicial practice
23 April
Saul Bastomski, Monash University
Jewish Romans and Israel's Guilt
30 April
Jeroen Wijnendaele, University College Cork
Freebooters in the Later Roman Empire: The Case of Sebastian (ca. 432-442 CE)
This seminar will focus on the extraordinary wanderings of Sebastian. As supreme commander of the Imperial West, Sebastian lost the struggle for power against Aëtius and was exiled in 434. Ten long years he was forced to reinvent himself as mercenary, freebooter and warlord, on an epic journey that took him from Africa, to Italy, Constantinople, Sicily, Gaul, Spain, and back to Africa. When imperial service was no longer possible, Sebastian had to hire out his services to the Visigoths, the aristocracy of Tarraconensis, and the Vandals. Special consideration will be given to his retainers – the notorious buccellarii - who provided Sebastian with significant military independence but also formed a source of social instability. His odyssey will be investigated to illustrate issues of naval power and piracy. Finally, Sebastian’s career will be used as a case study to clarify international relations between the various powers of the Late Roman World.
7 May
David Rafferty, University of Melbourne
Gallia Togata in the Late Republic
The northern or continental part of Italy was known to the Romans of Republican times as Cisalpine Gaul, or as Gallia Togata - 'toga-wearing Gaul'. After the lex Pompeia of 89 BC, it was in the uniqe position of being a territory whose inhabitants were largely Roman citizens, yet who were under the sway of a Roman governor with imperium. This seminar will argue that this unique position was largely responsible for the curious fact that, despite being a largely peaceful province, Cisalpine Gaul was continually governed by consuls - the natural commanders of Rome's army. Since it was as governor of Cisalpine Gaul that Caesar crossed the Rubicon and so ended the Republic, this is a question of some importance in understanding the nature of the late Republican political and administrative systems, and the changing answer to the question: ‘what was a province’?
14 May
Mark Hebblewhite, Macquarie University
Empty Words in an Age of Chaos? The Roman Military Oath in Late Antiquity
The Roman military oath (Sacramentum) had been sworn by the army since the Republican epoch and survived well into the imperial era. But despite this longevity scholars know little regarding the oath itself, let alone its impact and effectiveness in the maintenance of military loyalty. This paper will seek to assess all aspects of the Sacramentum during the tumultuous period stretching from the accession of Maximinus Thrax in 235 up until the death of the Theodosius the Great in 395. It will seek to not only establish the form and content of the oath but also to assess its impact on the loyalties of the Roman army and its role in the wider context of the 'suite' of tactics used by the imperial power to maintain its unique relationship with the army.
21 May
Caroline Tully, University of Melbourne
Gannôt... or not? Gardens, Groves and the Asherah
Our knowledge of ancient gardens is based on a combination of archaeological, iconographic and textual evidence, with the earliest reference being found in the third millennium BCE Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh. Specific garden archaeology in the Levant has mainly dealt with later periods such as the Herodian period palaces at Jericho and Caesarea, botanical remains at Masada, the Hasomonean palaces of Hyrcanus I and Alexander Jannaeus, the palace garden at Tyrus (Iraq el-Amir in Transjordan), the Nabatean site of Petra and the recently discovered garden at Ramat Rahel in Israel. These sites have been approached more systematically and deliberately in regard to the recovery of physical garden evidence than most examples from the pre-Iron Age II, excavated during the 20th century, which tend to exhibit palaeobotanical evidence as a by-product rather than a deliberate result of excavation and to depend more heavily on architectural indications, themselves influenced by and interpreted in regards to biblical texts. This paper seeks evidence for sacred trees, groves or gardens at rural sanctuaries in the landscape of the pre-Iron Age II Levant and assesses their likelihood through examination of iconography, architecture, texts and palaeobotany.
28 May
Nicolas Zorzin, University of Melbourne
Archaeology as a Socio-political Actor: Rethinking the Objectives of the Archaeological Practice - A Case-study in Thessaly (Central Greece)