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(page underdevelopment, with more internal links to come. 27 December 2006)   AMERICAN PHILOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION SPEAKERS' BUREAU The American Philological Association maintains a roster of enthusiastic speakers who are available to address a wide variety of audiences--civic groups, professional societies, library and other reading groups, middle schools and secondary schools, junior and senior colleges, universities, and many other organizations. A glance through the dozens of topics described below will make clear the breadth of presentations that are available. The best way to set up a talk is to contact the speaker directly. Speakers' e-mail addresses are listed here; speakers' telephone numbers and addresses are available in our on-line Directory of Members. The e-mail addresses posted here are, we hope, correct and up-to-date; if you find yourself unable to get through to the speaker you're looking for by phone or mail, the best strategy is probably to contact the Executive Director of the Association, Dr. Adam Blistein, at blistein@sas.upenn.edu. We also have available State Co-Ordinators in a number of states; it is up to you whether you wish to contact a speaker directly or to contact the State Co-Ordinator for your state, if there is one, or for a nearby state, who can help you pin down someone who is both available at the time you want and suited to the interests of your audience. Notes about the Speakers' Bureau for APA Members: This list is not meant to be exclusive. We would be delighted to list more speakers. APA members who would like to be listed here should send descriptions of the talks they are interested in giving (not more than three) to the Vice President for Outreach, Barbara Gold, at bgold@hamilton.edu. Also, if your state has no Co-Ordinator, you are heartily encouraged to volunteer by writing to Prof. Gold. Finally, you may notice that we do not have provincial co-ordinators for Canada, or potential Canadian speakers. This does not mean we are not eager to have them. Prof. Gold would be extremely pleased to hear from Canadian residents who are APA members and would like to serve in either or both capacities.   State APA Outreach co-ordinators, arranged in alphabetical (state) order: Alabama Kirk Summers Beza1519@aol.com Arizona Alan Haffa Alan.j.m.haffa@pcmail.maricopa.edu Gonda Van Steen gonda@email.arizona.edu Arkansas Daniel Levine dlevine@uark.edu Colorado Owen Cramer Ocramer@ColoradoCollege.edu Connecticut Nancy Lister, NLLISTER@aol.com Delaware Nicolas Gross nik@udel.edu Iowa Madeleine Henry mhenry@iastate.edu Louisiana Davina McClain mcclaind@nsula.edu Maine Peter Aicher aicher@usm.maine.edu Minnesota Jim May may@stolaf.edu Michigan Arthur Verhoogt verhoogt@umich.edu Missouri Ted Tarkow tarkowt@missouri.edu Nebraska Vanessa Gorman Vgorman1@unl.edu Nevada Andrew Bell bella@nevada.edu New Jersey John Lenz jlenz@drew.edu New York Stephen Daitz SGDaitz@aol.com John Van Sickle jvsickle@brooklyn.cuny.edu Nancy Lister, NLLISTER@aol.com Ohio Kathryn Gutzwiller Kathryn.gutzwiller@uc.edu Duane Roller droller@lima.ohio-state.edu Oklahoma Samuel Huskey huskey@ou.edu Pennsylvania Dan Berman dwb11@psu.edu Rhode Island Joseph Pucci joseph_pucci@brown.edu Tennessee David Tandy dtandy@utk.edu Texas Tim Moore timmoore@mail.utexas.edu Vermont Barbara Saylor Rodgers bsaylor@zoo.uvm.edu West Virginia Charles Lloyd lloydc@Marshall.edu   For quick reference there follows a list of available speakers and topics; immediately below this list you will find another one containing actual descriptions of the talks. Both lists are arranged alphabetically in order of speaker's last name. I. SPEAKERS AND TOPICS Roger S. Bagnall, Columbia University The People of Roman Egypt Berenike: A Roman Port on the Red Sea From Pharaonic Egypt to Christian Egypt Women's Letters from Ancient Egypt Daniel Berman, Penn State University Seven Heroes, Seven Samurai, Seven Gunslingers: Aeschylus' Seven Against Thebes and its Cinematic Successors Lawrence J. Bliquez, University of Washington Death and Burial among the Greeks and Romans, Attitudes and Practices (with slides) Medical Practice in Pompeii and the Roman Empire(with slides) Home Life in Ancient Athens (with slides)  Deborah Boedeker, Brown University Hero Cults and History (with slides) Nets and Veils. Women in the Theater of Dionysus  Eugene Borza, Professor of Classics Emeritus, The Pennsylvania State University The Royal Macedonian Tombs at Vergina (with slides) Images of Alexander the Great in post-Classical times The post-Classical Parthenon and the ongoing Acropolis restoration program (with slides) Nineteenth century travelers to Greece Stanley Burstein, California State University, Los Angeles Egypt and Greece: A Contested History (with slides) Aithiopian Images in Classical Literature (with slides) Alexander and Alexandria (with slides)  William M Calder III, University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign Myth, Scandal and History: The Heinrich Schliemann Controversy Today (with slides) The Triumph of Christianity: Some Historical Suggestions Philology vs. Philosophy: The Wilamowitz-Nietzsche Quarrel: Was there a Winner? Stephen Daitz, CUNY A Recital of Ancient Greek Poetry A Recital of Classical Latin Poetry A Recital of Ancient Greek and Latin Poetry. Judith DeLuce, Miami University of Ohio Helpful Women and Ungrateful Men In the Beginning: Creation Myths and Life on Mars Old Age in Antiquity Helene Foley, Barnard College, Columbia University Gender and Sexuality in Modern Performance and Adaptation of Greek Drama (with slides) Reinventing the Ancient Greek chorus on the Modern Stage (with tape or CD) Greek Drama and Politics on the Modern Stage Mary-Kay Gamel, University of California at Santa Cruz Violence in Contemporary Film: A Classical Perspective Museum or Laboratory? Ancient Scripts on Stage Staging Ancient Drama: the Difference Women Make Judith P. Hallett, University of Maryland Women in Ancient Rome: their image, reality, and influence(with slides) What Saves Homer and Vergil, and Sappho, and Sulpicia too The First Century in the Roman Empire: bringing the PBS-TV series to the K-12 Latin and social studies classroom   Kenneth Kitchell, University of Massachusetts at Amherst Animals in Greek Life (heavily illustrated) A Hundred Uses for a Dead Hedgehog (with slides) Africa in the Ancient World (with slides) David Konstan, Brown University The Emotions of the Ancient Greeks  Donald Lateiner, Ohio Wesleyan University Insult and Humiliation in Ancient Athens (with slides) Greek Body Language: What the Pots are Telling You (with slides) Daniel Levine, University of Arkansas Barefootedness in Ancient Greece The Death of Homer in the Ancient Biographies Nancy Lister Roman Germany: What is the Reality Roman Civilian Settlements in the Provinces of Germany T. Davina McClain, Louisiana Scholars' College at Northwestern State University Tusan Homichi meets Achilles: The Hopi tale "Field Mouse Goes to War" as an Introduction to Greek Epic (illustrations via PowerPoint) The Lives of Roman Women (illustrations via PowerPoint)  Tom Palaima, University of Texas at Austin Home Front and War Front in Ancient Greece and Modern America 3500 years of Bureaucratic Administration Group Working vs. the Individual Genius: The Decipherment of Linear B Terence Rattigan and "The Browning Version" (with some use of videocassette)  Judith Perkins, St. Joseph College Heliodorus's "Aithiopika": Imperialism, Identity and Displacement The Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles as social documents Kurt Raaflaub, Brown University Leaders in War and Bravery: The Athenian Ideology of War in the Late Fifth Century (with slides) Poverty, Frugality, Nobility: Contrasting Views on 'Poverty' in Classical Antiquity The Truth about Tyranny: Tacitus and the Historian's Responsibility in Early Imperial Rome Duane W. Roller, The Ohio State University Client Kings: Sympathetic Monarchs on the Fringes of the Roman Empire Greeks and Romans on the Atlantic Ocean. Herod the Great Elizabeth Scharffenberger, Columbia University Political Humor in Classical Athens Classical Drama, Ancient and Modern The cultural context of Plato's philosophy John H. Starks, Jr., University of North Carolina at Greensboro Comic (or Tragic) Actors and Acting in the Greek and Roman Worlds Inferior Argument Wins Every Time: Learning Aristophanes On Stage (with some use of videocassette) Actresses in the Roman World Hannibal's Carthage (with web-based images) Richard Talbert, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Travel, Ancient-Style (with slides) Making a classical atlas for the 21st century Ancient Sparta's class struggle revisited   Thomas Van Nortwick, Oberlin College The First Family: Homer's Odyssey and the Idea of Family Oedipus and the Sphinx: Heroic Individualism and the Life of the Community Dionysos in America: Sacred and Civic in Community Life Gonda Van Steen, University of Arizona Aristophanes in Modern Greece: Fun all over again. Ancient Tragedy (Aeschylus' Persians) in the Making of the Modern Greek Nation State: Rehearsing Revolution Ancient Greek Drama on Modern Greek Prison Islands Arthur Verhoogt, University of Michigan Classics from Crocodiles: Greek Literature in Egypt The Wastepaper World of Egypt: Papyri and Everyday Life in Ancient Egypt A Civil Servant in Action in Ptolemaic Egypt: Menches, village clerk of Kerkeosiris (120-110 BCE)     II. SUMMARIES OF TALKS LISTED ABOVE AND E-MAIL ADDRESSES OF SPEAKERS   Roger S. Bagnall, Columbia University bagnall@columbia.edu The People of Roman Egypt When Octavian took control of Egypt at the death of Cleopatra in 30 BC, three centuries of Macedonian rule had transformed the country. The Romans complicated matters further, and Roman Egypt was a multicultural society in which a wide variety of influences was at work. For a large number of people, it was hard to talk about anyone as being simply Greek or Egyptian; many were both, and Roman too. Berenike: A Roman Port on the Red Sea This remote town served as the Romans' main shipping center for wine sent to Indian princes in return for all sorts of deplorable luxuries. It was a central node in a system of trade involving the Mediterranean, the Nile, and camel caravans across the Egyptian desert. Recent excavations have yielded a wide variety of texts and objects giving vivid detail to our picture of how this trade worked and what life was like in a town without its own water supply. From Pharaonic Egypt to Christian Egypt "Egyptian" doesn't mean the same thing in all historical periods. Despite many continuities in daily life, profound change --religious, linguistic, and social-- separates the ancient Egypt familiar to most people from the Coptic culture of late antiquity. Understanding this change takes us into the transformations of Egypt at the hands of foreign rulers, from the Persians to the Romans. Women's Letters from Ancient Egypt How close can we get to the handwriting and words of individual women whose letters survive on papyrus and pottery? From more than 300 Greek and Coptic letters some answers emerge, including a sense of the lively and colloquial language that fills the letters. Egypt's bilingual society could write letters only in Greek for 250 years, but when Coptic was developed to represent Egyptian in writing, women preferred it to Greek.   Daniel Berman, Penn State University dwb11@psu.edu Seven Heroes, Seven Samurai, Seven Gunslingers: Aeschylus' Seven Against Thebes and its Cinematic Successors I begin by examining Aeschylus' tragedy Seven Against Thebes especially in reference to matters of representation of heroism, geography of the city of Thebes, and the signs on the seven heroes' shields.  The talk then moves to a discussion of two twentieth-century films, Seven Samurai (1954), directed by Akira Kurosawa, and The Magnificent Seven (1960), directed by John Sturges.  Though neither of these films are direct adaptations of the Aeschylean play, the themes discussed in the fifth-century drama are apparent, with telling amplifications, subtractions, and other modifications, in the influential Samurai film and, to a degree, in the western as well.  The lecture includes clips from both films.   Lawrence J. Bliquez, University of Washington lbliquez@u.washington.edu\  Death and Burial among the Greeks and Romans, Attitudes and Practices (with slides) This talk will discuss what family and friends did when someone departed this life in the Greco-Roman world. We will be interested in what the ancients thought about death as well as what they did about it. The influence of pagan practices on those later employed by Christians will also be considered. Medical Practice in Pompeii and the Roman Empire(with slides) This talk should appeal to anyone interested in the history of medicine. In exploring medical practice during the Roman Empire I shall deal with such topics as the ethnicity and social status of the doctors of the time. I shall focus in particular on the conditions under which they worked and their equipment, as revealed by excavation of graves and settlements, in ancient Pompeii above all. Home Life in Ancient Athens (with slides) What did an Athenian house look like? How was it furnished? What did its inhabitants wear and what did they eat and drink? How did they keep clean and what did they do for amusement? The lecture explores these and other questions.   Deborah Boedeker, Brown University Deborah_Boedeker@brown.edu Hero Cults and History (with slides) Simonides was the most famous Greek poet at the time of the Persian invasion in the early fifth century, but most of his works have been lost since antiquity. In the 1990's, much more of his poetry came to light again when papyrus fragments were published of a collection of Simonides' poems. One of these, composed shortly after the event, deals with the battle of Plataea, the disastrous last stand of the Persians in mainland Greece. The battle is already "mythologized" in Simonides' version: gods and ancient heroes apparently take part in the narrative, while the Greeks who fought at Plataea are assimilated to their legendary predecessors at Troy. Is Simonides suggesting that those who died in this contemporary battle have become immortal heroes as well? Nets and Veils: Women in the Theater of Dionysus Whether they appear as named characters (Clytemnestra, Antigone, Medea, Lysistrata) or anonymous chorus members (Furies, Women of Trachis, Trojan Women, Assembly-Women), female roles comprise the large majority of all who appear in classical Greek tragedy and comedy. This talk first analyzes the range of things these imagined women actually do on stage, from mourning to plotting to problem-solving, and then asks why Athenian drama--which was written, produced, directed, acted, and judged entirely by men--may have focused so heavily on female characters. Eugene Borza, Professor of Classics Emeritus, The Pennsylvania State University borza@fast.net The Royal Macedonian Tombs at Vergina (with slides) I have several versions of my analysis of the royal Macedonian tombs at Vergina (not Philip II). Images of Alexander the Great in post-Classical times This lecture explores literary and political images of Alexander in post-Classical times, with a concentration on the modern era. The post-Classical Parthenon and the ongoing Acropolis restoration program (with slides) I have a general lecture on the post-Classical Parthenon, with an emphasis on the ongoing Acropolis restoration program: Parthenon as Classical temple Catholic Church, Orthodox Church, mosque, and noble ruin. Nineteenth century travelers to Greece I have a general lecture on nineteenth-century travelers to Greece, many of whom came as romantic philhellenes and wound up shocked at the realities of life in the modern Balkans. Stanley Burstein, California State University, Los Angeles sburste@earthlink.net Egypt and Greece: A Contested History (with slides) This paper places the controversy over Black Athena in historical context and examines the evidence for Egyptian influence on Greek culture. Aithiopian Images in Classical Literature (with slides) A paper that traces the changing image of the ancient African kingdom of Kush in Classical literature from Homer to the end of antiquity. Alexander and Alexandria (with slides) A general talk about the significance of Alexandria in Alexander's reign, the later history of the city and its contributions to Greek culture, and the importance of archaeology--particularly underwater archaeologyófor our knowledge of ancient Alexandria.   William M. Calder III, University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign wmcalder@uiuc.edu Myth, Scandal and History: The Heinrich Schliemann Controversy Today (with slides) The talk with slides and a one page handout has been enormously popular and sometimes (St Louis!) draws audiences of over 400 hearers and makes the newspapers. The Triumph of Christianity: Some Historical Suggestions. The only connection that most Americans have with classical antiquity is via Jesus. I tactfully (neither believers nor skeptics are offended) present the case. There has always been an animated discussion. For thirty years I have taught the subject and thus learned how to make it interesting. Philology vs. Philosophy: The Wilamowitz-Nietzsche Quarrel: Was there a Winner? The talk brings up a number of problems still raging in academic circles. I defend Wilamowitz but invite comments from the Nietzsche faithful. I have a useful handout and overheads. I have had splendid discussions both here and in Germany. The talk appeals to Classics, German and Philosophy departments and can also be adapted for a general audience.   Stephen Daitz, CUNY SGDaitz@aol.com A Recital of Ancient Greek Poetry Introduction (what I'm trying to do and why), followed by selections from Homer, lyric poets, tragedy, and comedy. Each selection is read first in English translation, then in the original Greek in the restored historical pronunciation. A Recital of Classical Latin Poetry Introduction, followed by selections from Cicero, Catullus, Horace, and Vergil. Each selection is read first in English translation, then in the original Latin in the restored historical pronunciation. A Recital of Ancient Greek and Latin Poetry. The format is similar to 1 and 2 with a few selections from each.   Judith DeLuce: deluce@po.muohio.edu Helpful Women and Ungrateful Men A feminist reading of the folktale pattern of the helpful princess - Ariadne, Medea, Dido-who provides important help for the hero and who is then abandoned by that hero. This paper considers assumptions about caregiving, the role of the hero, and why the motif insists on the abandonment of the helper. "In the Beginning: Cosmogonic Myths and Life on Mars": an examination of Frederick Turner's 1986 "Genesis" as an adaptation of creation myths. In his poem Turner uses a variety of motifs from world mythology as he tells the story of the terraforming (making the planet habitable for human life) of Mars. At the same time that Turner recalls earlier cosmogonies, his creation poem departs significantly from tradition. Old Age in Antiquity A variety of possible talks including "Creativity in Old Age: Ovid in Exile": an examination of the poet's creativity across the lifespan, with an emphasis on his writing from exile when he was an old man. This paper draws inspiration from Butler's theory of the "life review" and considers the phenomenon of creativity in old age.   Helene Foley, Barnard College, Columbia University Hf45@columbia.edu Gender and Sexuality in Modern Performance and Adaptation of Greek Drama This lecture will try to make sense of the current attraction to performing and revising Greek drama on the modern stage world wide. Although the 1970s and 1980s often condemned Greek drama for its reductive or even misogynist representation of gender roles, recent theater has found in it a rich and vitally attractive vein for performance and exploration. This lecture looks at why and how, addressing everything from feminist and postmodern revisions to cross-dressed and single-sex performance. The lecture will include extensive video clips from recent performances. Reinventing the Ancient Greek chorus on the Modern Stage Modern performance and adaptation of Greek drama has often struggled unsuccessfully with the Greek chorus, a dramatic element of the original plays that often seems alien to contemporary theater, despite the existence of our own most popular dramatic form, the American musical. This lecture will explore recent lively attempts to make the chorus a vital presence on the modern stage. It will include extensive visual and aural demonstrations on tape or CD. Greek Drama and Politics on the Modern Stage Greek drama in classical Athens aimed to present traditional stories for a huge contemporary audience. Modern directors and playwrights have turned to Greek drama in increasing numbers as an art form that interweaves public and private issues and addresses profound political and social questions that other media avoid addressing. The fact that it does so without being crudely topical is an important part of the attraction. This lecture will discuss recent theatrical attempts made worldwide to deploy Greek drama to address such major cultural questions on stage.   Mary-Kay Gamel, University of California at Santa Cruz mkgamel@cats.ucsc.edu Violence in Contemporary Film: A Classical Perspective This paper discusses different depictions of violence and uses Aristotle to argue that "good" use of violence (i.e. not cartoon violence) can deepen filmic texts. Museum or Laboratory? Ancient Scripts on Stage This paper deals with the question of "authentic" productions of ancient drama, basically arguing that superficial similarities to ancient production conditions are less important than deeper structural ones. Staging Ancient Drama: the Difference Women Make This paper deals with various kinds of feminist involvement in producing ancient scripts.   Judith P. Hallett, University of Maryland Jh10@umail.umd.edu Women in Ancient Rome: their image, reality, and influence (with slides) This talk focuses on three well-known images of ancient Roman women from the classical period. It considers how these images both do and do not reflect what our full historical record suggests to have been Roman reality, and looks at Roman women's later influence. The first image is furnished by the well-known phrase "Caesar's wife must be above suspicion." We find the second in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, the characterization of Antony as "the triple pillar of the world transform'd into a strumpet's fool." Vergil's Aeneid supplies the third: the claim that varium et mutabile semper femina, "woman is always a different and changing thing." What Saves Homer and Vergil, and Sappho, and Sulpicia too This talk is structured around various reflections that draw heavily on my own personal experience about how the field of classical studies has evolved, and thrived, over the course of the twentieth century. It gives credit for the survival of classics as a valued intellectual enterprise here in the United States to efforts largely made by women classics teachers and devotees. Among them is Edith Hamilton, author of the best-selling Mythology and the Greek Way. The First Century in the Roman Empire: bringing the PBS-TV series to the K-12 Latin and social studies classroom As a member of the advisory board that worked with Lyn Goldfarb, Margaret Koval and Keith Bradley on the four-part PBS-TV documentary, and as one of the "talking heads" on the program as well, I provide background on the series and its goals. I also offer suggestions for integrating the first and fourth episodes of the series into Latin and social studies classes, particularly Latin classes studying either the literature of the Augustan Age in connection with the Advanced Placement Vergil and Latin Literature exams or the late first century CE.   Kenneth Kitchell, University of Massachusetts at Amherst kkitchel@classics.umass.edu Animals in Greek Life (heavily illustrated) I can especially lately deal with the issue of pets in the lives of the young Greeks. There is a lot more information than anyone lets on. I also deal with the issue of "them" versus "us." The Greeks, like the rest of us, were very interested in figuring out the difference between animals and humans. Some of their conclusions are quite interesting. Also I treat the issue of where the wild world stopped and the so called civilized polis world began. The line is much murkier than supposed. A Hundred Uses for a Dead Hedgehog (with slides) This paper deals with folklore of animals--everything from 100 uses for a dead hedgehog to beliefs such as that if a wolf saw you before you saw it then you lost your voice. I do a great deal of Pliny the Elder and Aelian here. I also trace some lore all the way from Herodotus up to the Middle Ages, Shakespeare, and today. Africa in the Ancient Word (with slides) It is Africa as a land of wonders. Animals to be sure but also the strange races of people who inhabited Africa --- e.g. folks whose ears were so large they used them as blankets. And I talk about the first man to sail the Atlantic African Coast, Hanno the Carthaginian.   David Konstan, Brown University David_Konstan@brown.edu I offer lectures on "The Emotions of the Ancient Greeks." I can speak about the different ways in which the ancients understood and experienced such emotions as anger, envy, jealousy, love and hatred, fear, and pity, and will emphasize similarities and differences with modern views. Lectures may be requested on specific emotions (for instance, anger or jealousy), or on several emotions together. Both philosophical texts and great works of classical literature are considered. The lectures are suitable for either the general public or university audiences.   Donald Lateiner, Ohio Wesleyan University dglatein@owu.edu  Insult and Humiliation in Ancient Athens (with slides) Perikles denies Athenians traded dirty looks. This lecture looks at the dark underbelly of street life in ancient Athens. Drawing on evidence from Homer (ideological background), Attic vases, Aristophanes, Plato, and law court speeches of Lysias and Demosthenes, I gather evidence for "dissing" body language, threatening gestures and postures, and physical following and fighting --not to mention nose-biting. I excavate Macho paradigms that required instant tit-for-tat responses and I try to explain why this information "gets lost" in most treatments of the "Glory that was Democratic Greece" as well as in our own peaceful American democracy.   Greek Body Language: What the Pots are Telling You (with slides) Nonverbal behavior studies are sweeping various fields of the social sciences but humanists and historians too can enrich the texture of their evidence by examining literature, art, and archaeology for communicative actions. This lecture introduces audiences to the nature of "speech without words," both intended and "leaked." Then we discuss categories of images on Athenian pots of the most accomplished painting, such as grieving parents, wedding scenes, orgiastic or symposiastic parties, and so forth. Finally we discuss the intersection of lived gesture and the economics and ideology of Attic image-production: who made, sold, chose, and bought the pictures of daily life that we see on Athenian pottery. The lecturer acts out certain non-sexually explicit examples.   Daniel Levine, University of Arkansas dlevine@uark.edu Barefootedness in Ancient Greece (illustrations via PowerPoint) This is something that can be for either general or academic audiences. It is heavily illustrated with power point slides, and deals with barefootedness in modern times, and then compares ancient Greek images and ideas. When did barefootedness have special meaning? We examine sources dealing with the dead, philosophers, soldiers, worshippers, and lovers. We look at Greek vase paintings, tragedy, comedy, history and mythology. The Death of Homer in the Ancient Biographies (slides can be arranged) Adaptable to a variety of audiences, this paper examines the tradition of the fisher boys' lice riddle that Homer cannot solve, and his subsequent death from chagrin. Thesis: This is a 'turning of the tables'; it is 'poetic justice.' The youths -- whom the poet denigrates in the Iliad and Odyssey--get the better of Homer in a contest of wits, and thus fulfill the oracle which had predicted his death. I look at young men in the epics, and at fishing and fishermen in the ancient world, and how their images contributed to the biographical stories.  Nancy Lister NLLISTER@aol.com Roman Germany: What is the Reality? A presentation on the Romans' development of their three provinces, Germania Inferior, Germania Superior and Raetia after the Varus disaster in the Teutoberg Forest, what imperial policy under Augustus to the time of Marcus Aurelius meant for the development of the Limes and the provincial system in Germany in the first and second centuries, how the Limes came to be consolidated on the river systems of Germany in the third and fourth centuries including the withdrawal of the Romans from Germany in the mid-third century after the invasions from the north and east. Question to be considered is did the Romans ever really give up the Limes. Roman Civilian Settlements in the Provinces of Germany A presentation of the development of the villae rusticae and other habitation units on and below the Limes, why they exist in large numbers, what they had to do with the military occupation, the life style of the indigenous peoples and the Romans in the provinces, a discussion of the archaeologically important sites in Germania Superior and Raetia and their contributions to medieval Germany. Question to be considered is how did women and children live on the frontier of the Roman world in the second and third centuries and how do we know about their lives. T. Davina McClain, Louisiana Scholars' College at Northwestern State University mcclaind@nsula.edu Tusan Homichi meets Achilles: The Hopi tale "Field Mouse Goes to War" as an Introduction to Greek Epic (illustrations via PowerPoint) The Hopi tale "Field Mouse Goes to War" contains a number of elements which are similar to some of the key elements of Greek epics such as epithets, messenger scenes, hospitality/guest-host rituals, arming scenes, heroic boasting, and the duel. Reading the Hopi tale before dealing with the Iliad or the Odyssey offers students a chance to become familiar with some of these elements before tackling all of the richness of the Homeric epics.  The Lives of Roman Women (illustrations via PowerPoint) If men took care of the politics and the wars in ancient Rome, then just what did women do? The answer to the question is everything. They bore and raised children. They managed the house. They influenced political situations. In times of war, they prayed to the gods, donated money, and even fought when battles came to the city walls. They made wool, or worked in shops or delis, and in brothels. Women loved their husbands and children and their lovers, and on occasion, betrayed them all. Through examining images of women, we see both the ideals and the reality of some women's lives. And by meeting individual women through inscriptions and thestories men wrote about them, we can get a better sense of life in the world of ancient Rome for all Romans.   Tom Palaima, University of Texas at Austin tpalaima@mail.utexas.edu Home Front and War Front in Ancient Greece and Modern America (with music) Explores how ancient Greek societies (Athens and Sparta) and 20th century Europe and the USA dealt culturally and institutionally with the experience of war and its effects on individuals and societies as a whole: how societies prepared people for war, what they trained people to do in war, and how they 'brought them back'. Looks at 'mythic' responses to war of every imaginable kind from personal letters and diaries to journalism, history (oral and written), documentary and fictional film, music, poetry, drama, short stories and novels, and even a classic essay by Freud. Looks at particular case studies. 3500 years of Bureaucratic Administration (with slides) Looks at a particular case example of an administrative inventory from the Bronze Age Palace of Nestor as an example of the 'bureaucratic mindset' that is necessary to manage complex economic and socio-political relationships. Discusses the place of the individual and individual freedom within the bureaucratic state. Emphasis on modern analogies. Group Working vs. the Individual Genius: The Decipherment of Linear B (slides) Uses original papers by the principal scholars (and interviews with those who knew them) involved in the decipherment of Linear B to illustrate how a new theory of collaborative work in architecture created the mold for attacking this daunting problem. Provides an insider look at the minds of three scholars working just after World War II on one of the greatest intellectual feats of the 20th century.   Terence Rattigan and "The Browning Version" (with some use of videocassette) Examines the uses of classical Greek and themes from classical Greek literature in a modern play, Terence Rattigan's *The Browning version* and its two film treatments (a 1951 British version and a 1994 American version). Comments on the creative process by emphasizing how mythic ideas and detailed scholarship are manipulated for a popular audience. Will require showing two ca. 5-minute segments from the films.   Judith Perkins, St. Joseph College laela@aol.com Heliodorus's "Aithiopika": Imperialism, Identity and Displacement The close association of Greek culture and Roman imperialism in the East used to be accepted rather uncritically, but modern studies of the charged interrelations between empire and culture suggest a closer look. This talk will discuss the Greek novel the Aithiopika, by Heliodorus, an author who identifies himself as a Phoenician from Emesa (a Syrian or Arab?). The plot of the romance focuses on a beautiful Greek priestess who in the course of many adventures discovers she is "really" an Ethiopian princess. My analysis will show how Heliodorus's narrative challenges such notions as identity, authenticity, place and displacement, just as modern examples of colonialist literature so often do. I will suggest that such categories may have had personal relevance for this sophisticated Greek writer who is "really" Phoenician. The Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles as social documents As second and third century examples of Christian fictional narratives, the Acts share similarities with the contemporaneous Greek novels. Their portrayal of the apostles converting the wives of high officials and breaking up their marriages inverts the typical romance plot. This talk will look at the theme of broken boundaries central to the Acts as seen in their repeated emphasis on women escaping domestic space (and apostles entering it) and characters entering and exiting prisons at will. Through these themes, Christians manifest their intent to "break out" of the order of things and to resist social formulations that keep certain people in their place or out of place. These examples of Christian popular literature will be shown to manifest a radical social agenda.   Kurt Raaflaub, Brown University Kurt_Raaflaub@Brown.edu Leaders in War and Bravery: The Athenian Ideology of War in the Late Fifth Century (with slides) The question I wish to explore with the audience is what made the Athenians, citizens of a city-state and a democracy, go to war almost incessantly and obsessively in the decades after the Persian War. In search for the ideological forces underlying or driving this attitude, I take the audience on a walk through harbor and city, showing, and reflecting on, what the Athenians would have seen at various places and what associations this would have conjured up in them about the necessity of war, power, and empire. I will conclude with the discussion of two plays (Lysistrata and Trojan Women), pondering the problem of the extent to which the theater was able to undercut or question the martial ideology that dominated society and politics.  Poverty, Frugality, Nobility: Contrasting Views on 'Poverty' in Classical Antiquity This lecture was triggered by my reading of Jacob Riis' "How the Other Half Lives," an immensely powerful and influential investigation and critique of the living conditions of tens of thousands of urban poor in late19th-century New York. Surprisingly (at least outside of Judaic and early Christian studies), this topic has remained largely unexplored. In a broad survey of Greek and Roman authors and documents, I discuss various attitudes toward, and perceptions of, poverty, and end with some comments on the situation of the urban poor in Rome in late republican and early imperial times--a situation that reveals uncanny similarities to what Riis observed. The Truth about Tyranny: Tacitus and the Historian's Responsibility in Early Imperial Rome The question I am trying to answer is what Tacitus meant with his famous statement at the beginning of the Annals, that he wanted to write sine ira et studio, and to what extent this claim can be maintained even in view of his seemingly partisan and certainly very negative assessment of all Julio-Claudian emperors. My lecture offers insight into how the thinking of even a powerful and independent intellectual is inevitably shaped by traumatic experiences he and his society lived through and how an author copes with the sense of individual and collective failure. Beyond Tacitus, my interpretation offers insight into the meaning and purpose of ancient historiography in general. Duane W. Roller droller@lima.ohio-state.edu Client Kings: Sympathetic Monarchs on the Fringes of the Roman Empire Roman power was maintained at the dangerous margins of empire by a system of friendly and allied kings. These sympathetic monarchs were placed on the throne by the Roman power structure and struggled to maintain a balance between local interests and Roman needs. They were not always successful, but important in the process of Romanization, creating islands of Roman culture, scholarship, art, and civilization in regions previously untouched by classical civilization. Greeks and Romans on the Atlantic Ocean. Although the Pillars of Herakles were seen as the edge of the civilized world, from as early as the sixth century BC Greeks ventured out into the Atlantic, going south into West Africa and north into the Arctic. This lecture explores the far reach of Greek exploration and the evidence for Greek comprehension of places not associated with the classical world such as Cameroon and Iceland. Herod the Great Although best remembered for his involvement in the origins of Christianity, Herod was in fact a highly erudite monarch who skillfully balanced the needs of his territory with those of Rome, attracted a wide variety of scholars and intellectuals to his court, and indulged in an innovative building program. He was typical of the blending of Roman and non-Roman ways that created the diversity of the later Roman empire, laying the pattern for Mediterranean culture in post-Roman antiquity. Elizabeth Scharffenberger hypsipyle@earthlink.net Political Humor in Classical Athens This talk focuses on Aristophanes' political humor (both ad hominem and more general humor), with a view to comparing it to today's political humor, and with the goal of offering some reassurance that the apparently vituperative tone of our current political culture is nothing new! Classical Drama, Ancient and Modern I offer discussions (especially pre- and post-performance) of any number of modern dramatizations of classical texts or plays that deal with classical themes, for example Mary Zimmerman's "Metamorphoses"; Charles Mee's "Big Love," Joanne Akalaitis' "Iphigenia Cycle"; and Tom Stoppard's "The Invention of Love." The cultural context of Plato's philosophy This talk examines ways in which the institutions and practices of Athenian democracy influenced Plato's political/ethical philosophy and theory of knowledge.   John H. Starks, Jr., University of North Carolina at Greensboro jhstarks@uncg.edu Comic (or Tragic) Actors and Acting in the Greek and Roman Worlds (web-based images) A broad survey of the best literary, documentary and archaeological evidence placing Greek tragedy and comedy in their proper performance contexts. This paper seeks to expose listeners to the range of data (scripts, scholia, papyri, inscriptions, theater ruins) that provide a context for understanding the production and staging of ancient Greek and Roman drama. I can concentrate on comic or tragic performance depending on audience preference. Inferior Argument Wins Every Time: Learning Aristophanes On Stage (with some use of videocassette) This talk uses video clips, textual presentation and directorial commentary to examine what students and I have learned from producing edited scripts of Aristophanes for public performance. If the talk coordinator believes the audience will be receptive to participation in on stage activities, this can be turned into a mini-workshop on performing and improving comedy scenes. Actresses in the Roman World In this talk I review the ancient documentary and literary sources that give us a glimpse at women of the ancient stage. Their performance opportunities were limited to the comic mime and the balletic pantomime, plus various genres of dance, but their societal impact is clear in Roman satire and law, and in Christian polemic. As a counterbalance to the biases of these upper class writers, scattered tomb inscriptions and graffiti reflect the admiration of fans and family. Above all, this talk seeks to examine the professional life of the actress onstage, backstage and offstage. Hannibal's Carthage (with web-based images) This talk surveys the most important political, social and religious traditions that contributed to the rise and fall of this powerful mercantile city.   Richard Talbert, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill talbert@email.unc.edu Travel, Ancient-Style (slides) This is a talk that re-engages its listeners with a pre-modern era where nothing moved faster on land than a galloping horse, or on water than a sailing ship with the wind favorable. So, in this world of the Greeks and Romans, who was it that traveled and why? How far and how fast ? With what types of ship or vehicle (if any) ? More broadly, what vision of the world around them did Greeks and Romans develop from literature and maps (if they could read), from tradition and hearsay ? Did the majority even want to travel in fact ? And if not, why not ? Making a classical atlas for the 21st century In 2000, with publication of the Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World, a 12-year project in the ancient field which I spearheaded achieved its ambitious goal: production of the first major classical atlas to appear in over a century (yes, the last one completed dates to the 1870s). Sponsored by the APA, this project came to involve close to 200 scholars worldwide, and required raising approximately $4.5 million in funding support. The talk offers insight into how the project's aims were defined and how the major obstacles were overcome against the odds. It concludes by outlining the initiatives now under way as a result to exploit cartography more fully than ever in the study of the classical world, using state-of-the-art digital technology and GIS. Ancient Sparta's class struggle revisited The standard impression of classical Spartan society supported by modern experts is that a small, elite master-class found itself locked in brutal conflict with a large, oppressed under-class. Through their labor this under-class (most of them helots) permitted the masters a leisured life-style; but at the same time it presented a menace that affected many of the state's key decisions in both domestic and foreign policy. The talk proposes an alternative perspective. It demonstrates how the standard impression is by no means the only possible interpretation of the fuzzy picture sketched by our ancient sources, and it points to an ever-widening gap between image and reality at Sparta. For the master-class to promote the former in favor of the latter was convenient, and even today we may still accept this image too readily, as did many outside-observers of Sparta in antiquity. Thomas Van Nortwick, Oberlin College Thomas.Van.Nortwick@oberlin.edu The First Family: Homer's Odyssey and the Idea of Family Our first experience of living in groups is the family. How does that experience inform our idea of who we are? How does it prepare us to respond to or live in other groups? Odysseus' journey in the Odyssey is a return home, to his family and to the community in which he was born. Along the way, he meets and sometimes lives among a fantastic variety of different societies. Because he needs help to get back home, he must work to integrate himself into the customs and values of each new place. And as he wins the trust of each new group, he reaffirms his own personal identity. Looking through Homer's prism, we may ask ourselves how our own experience of family echoes through our later attempts to find a community that "fits" us, and how the American tradition of welcoming newcomers from other cultures works for and against the forming of communities. Oedipus and the Sphinx: Heroic Individualism and the Life of the Community Can we pursue our dreams as individuals and contribute to our community at the same time? Do we define who we are by our place within the community or by our individual identity apart from it? Ohio was settled by people we like to think of as "heroic," in their courage, fierce will, and pride at being "independent." Behind these attitudes lie ideas derived in large part from the Greek concept of heroism. Using Sophocles' play Oedipus Rex as a guide, we will look at how the figure of the hero in Greek literature characteristically interacts with his community, and in particular how the hero's pride and willfulness can be both creative and destructive within the community. We will then return to the present to see how modern American ideas about individualism and achievement show the same ambivalence in the context of communal ideals.   Dionysos in America: Sacred and Civic in Community Life Churches have been at the center of American social life since the Pilgrims, and spiritual communities of all kinds help define the identity of Ohio cities and towns today. But as new kinds of spirituality develop, old communal boundaries are challenged. For example, recent issues raised by the clash of religious belief and civil law have prompted many Americans to reexamine the American political tradition of the separation of church and state. Euripides' "Bacchae" is a play about the arrival in a small, homogeneous community of a powerful new god with frightening rites of worship. Faced with the apparent threat of civic chaos, the Theban king Pentheus attempts to ban the worship of Dionysos. The results offer a rich commentary on the delicate balance of sacred and secular in communal life. Beginning there, we will look at how new forms of spirituality in our own time sometimes strain the social fabric of communities, forcing a redefinition of communal identity.   Professor John Van Sickle (Brooklyn College) jvsickle@brooklyn.cuny.edu Greek & Latin Names of Plants: A Gardener Friendly Guide (Power Point presented) Summary:        The scientific names that botanists assign to plants cause grief for many gardeners. Learning the nomenclature cold can challenge even horticultural professionals. To help with enjoyment, recollection, & employment of botanical names, this presentation offers practical steps toward greater familiarity & ease with the Greek & Latin elements embodied in the complex technical nomenclature.        The lecturer exploits Power Point to convey methods of analyzing botanical names developed by experience teaching vocabulary building & working in his own garden, which supplies some of the illustrative examples. References regarding previous presentations available at: http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/classics/jvsickle/btguid.htm.   Arthur Verhoogt, University of Michigan verhoogt@umich.edu Classics from Crocodiles: Greek Literature in Egypt Papyri from Egypt keep adding new texts to the corpus of Greek (and Latin) literature. This lecture will introduce and discuss recent contributions made by literary papyri to our knowledge (and appreciation) of classical Greek literature. It will also discuss the role of Greek literature in Egypt, in both education and private and public life. The Wastepaper World of Egypt: Papyri and Everyday Life in Ancient Egypt This lecture will present some "life histories" of a number of inhabitants of Egypt with the help of papyrus documents. Special attention will be given to Egypt under Greek and Roman rule. We will, among others, follow the legal struggle of a Greek soldier to regain possession over his family's house (inhabited by Egyptian mortuary priests) in Ptolemaic Egypt; and discuss the eating of an official archive by mice and worms, and the financial and social effect this had on one particular family in Roman Egypt. A Civil Servant in Action in Ptolemaic Egypt: Menches, village clerk of Kerkeosiris (120-110 BCE) One of ancient Egypt's many officials whose archive has been preserved is Menches, village clerk of Kerkeosiris between 120 and 110 BCE. His archive, although largely official in nature, describes many events with a personal touch, such as the "raid" on the village by a group of young rascals (resulting in theft of, among others, doors and women's clothing) and the "strike" of some of his colleagues.