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As one of the first prose writers and the author of an unusual cosmology, the sixth-century author Pherecydes of Syros is a fascinating and important figure. However, his work is fragmentary and difficult to reconstruct. Some progress has been made by Schibli (1990) and West (1963, 1971) among others, but much is still disputed. An overlooked aspect of this discussion is that there are unmistakable references to Pherecydes’ work in the poetry of Callimachus and Apollonius.

In this talk, I argue that the tragic scholia reveal distinct critical methodologies in their approach to mythography, thus shining new light on the reception of the tragedians and the culture of ancient scholarship. Specifically, the scholia to Euripides tend to explore the network of myths with which his stories intersect, while those to Sophocles consider the impact his versions have on the play’s success.

What do fishing nets do? They catch fish, but what about nets abandoned long ago, tattered and torn? One such net in Alciphron plays a frayed and fraught role in mediating the fictitious correspondence of two fishermen (1.17–19). In so doing, it sheds light on a perplexing but little-noticed puzzle: how so worthless a thing as this net becomes an object of envy and lust. (Zanetto 2018: 126; Rosenmeyer 2001: 294n48, 315.)

While the origins of the Stoic principle of προπάθεια (propatheia) remain mysterious, the concept was much more popular in certain philosophical and religious debates of late antiquity. προπάθεια essentially softened the almost impossible ideal of the Stoic sage who does not feel passions by conceding that the initial impression of a passion is not a willful action, and therefore does not vitiate the individual. The most prolific user of the concept was not a Stoic philosopher at all, but rather Didymus the Blind (313–398), the patristic commentator and instructor.

This paper presents a brief comparative analysis of the zodiacal melothesia which appears in Manilius’ epic Latin astrological poem Astronomica (20-40 CE) and in the Yavana Jātaka (transl. “Greek Horoscopy”) of Sphujidhvaja, the first Sanskrit horoscopy text (2nd-4th cent. CE). Melothesia refers to the arrangement of the 12-sign Babylonian zodiac on 12 regions of the human body which they govern.

Magicae Herbae, Alchemy, and the 15th Century Reception of Pliny’s Historia Naturalis

Ancient Greek contained various terms we could translate as human ‘skin.’ One might therefore wonder how these words differ in meaning. In this paper I focus on two particularly common examples of these skin terms: khrṓs (χρώς) and dérma (δέρμα). By mapping each term’s discrete associations I am able to point out both overlap and differences in their meaning, and highlight their sociocultural significance.

Of all the cities of Roman Hispania, the colony of Augusta Emerita (Mérida) has provided one of the richest collections of evidence for doctors and the practice of medicine in Rome’s western provinces (Bejarano 2015). Various collections of medical instruments have been discovered in burials in the colony’s suburbium, while six inscriptions apparently attest medical practitioners, as well as a seventh from Emerita’s large territory (Rémy & Faure 2010, Catalogue: Lusitanie, nº 2-6, 8 and AE 2009, 518).

During the second century CE, the Greek physician and polymath Galen of Pergamon practiced medicine in Rome and, instrumental to his success, composed expansive diagnostic, surgical, and anatomical texts that set the medical precedent up until the Renaissance. Many of his texts also narrate clinical encounters between this notable physician and specific patients whom he treated.

Prediction encourages students to synthesize information, apply concepts, anticipate results, and revise thinking. Yet, while common in STEM, prediction is less intuitive to the Classics classroom. How can students “predict” historical events and ancient texts? Based on active learning approaches to classical art history, this talk shares successful applications of prediction through the withholding and revelation of information.