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In his Commentary on the Republic, Proklos Diadochos (c.412-485) addresses the value of myths
in the education of youths, and, in particular, he evaluates their traditional sources, drama and
epic (Baltzly et al. 2018). Drama, as Proklos determines, is a totally mimetic genre (In remp. I
14.20), and, at its best, it presents characters who imitate their station in life appropriately (In
remp. I 15.13). Through these considerations of literary genres, however, Proklos dismisses

In 62 BC, the tribune Metellus Nepos proposed a law to the assembly, but was vetoed by his colleagues before he could read the text aloud to the voters. In response, he recited it from memory instead (Plut., Cat. Min. 28.1; Dio 37.43.2). Nepos’ feat of memory seems remarkable.

Leda and the Swan in the Work of Three African American Women Poets: June Jordan (1936-2002), Lucille Clifton (1936-2010) and Lyrae Van Clief-Stephanon (1971- )

While there has been some influential scholarship on the relationship between law and comedy (Carey 2000, MacDowell 2013, and Buis 2019), the remit of these studies has been limited to Aristophanes’ earlier plays.

After the disaster at Trasimene in 217 BCE the Romans sought the gods’ help, vowing a ver sacrum, an archaic ritual sacrifice of all the year’s offspring (Livy 22.10.1-6). Livy’s report of the vow has been interpreted as evidence for archaic religious practice as well as the ritual origins of Roman law. This paper reassesses the Ver Sacrum vow by analyzing its Latin style and narrative contexts to offer insight into Livy’s presentation of law, a neglected topic (cf. Milnor 2007).

In this talk, I argue that an oddly persistent urban legend of Vedius Pollio feeding people to lampreys can shed light on the gradual accumulation of imperial adjudicative power over the first century C.E. According to a story preserved or referenced in several imperial authors (e.g., Fasti 6.643-48, de Ira 3.40.2-4, de Clem. 1.18.2, NH 9.77, Ann. 1.10.5, Dio Cass. 54.23, de Pall. 5.6.2), Augustus prevented his courtier Pollio from feeding an enslaved child to specially trained man-eating lampreys.

kalos kalos in Context: Callimachus’ Unreal Aesthetics

While dramatised trials and references to law are common throughout Athenian tragedy (see e.g. Allen 2005; Harris, Leaõ & Rhodes 2010), Euripides’ Hippolytus stands out especially for its close engagement with contemporary legal discussions. In a set of opposing speeches (936-80, 983-1035), Theseus and Hippolytus effectively partake in a form of litigation as they argue concerning the latter character’s supposed sexual violation of his stepmother Phaedra (see e.g. Barrett 1983 ad loc., Lees 1891: 28-31).

This paper argues that Josephus’ laudatory portrait of Julius Caesar offers an aetiology for the special relationship Josephus hoped to (re-)establish between the imperial Caesars and the Jews following the Flavian victory in 70 CE. In both the Bellum Judaicum and the Antiquitates Judaicae, Caesar’s interactions with the Jews are amplified (or exaggerated). Josephus suggests that Caesar only escaped the siege of Alexandria thanks to the support of Antipater, Hyrcanus II and the Jews (BJ 1.187-192; AJ 14.127-136).

This paper aims to show how Martha Graham’s Night Journey captivates us by drawing on its primary model, Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus, and on Ancient Greek sculpture and vase painting.