SCS Newsletter - October 2018 (Amphora) | Society for Classical Studies

Non Omnis Morietur

by Wells Hansen

In October, the SCS bade farewell to Amphora, the outreach publication of the Society for Classical Studies. The Society is now actively promoting outreach and public engagement in ways that make a dedicated outreach publication unnecessary. However, a glance at the history of the Society's outreach efforts reveals that Amphora served an important function during the years in which it was published. Indeed, like Herodotus' Tellos the Athenian, Amphora may now truly be called not just εὐτυχής but ὄλβιος.

Amphora served the SCS well for seventeen years, a long time when one considers the rapid development of social media and the concomitant changes in SCS outreach activities. Before there was an SCS blog, Twitter feed, and so on, there was Amphora, arriving in print by mail, spreading the idea that interest in, and study of, the ancient Greeks and Romans is not an elite or recondite activity, but is a rather a pursuit available to everyone, and one by which many lives are touched in many different ways. All those who worked on, or wrote for, Amphora contributed importantly to sharing with the public at large what we do and what we are interested in. This kind of outreach continues to be a clear priority for the SCS, and it is with a clear mind that the decision has been taken to discontinue Amphora. The blog and the SCS social media feeds are reaching a growing audience and will continue to carry all the content types that were carried by Amphora. Rest assured also that our beloved Amphora has not been ignominiously tossed onto a metaphorical Monte Testaccio of discontinued publications. Instead, a great part of Amphora, like Horace, non omnis morietur; we are working to be sure that all past content will continue to be available at the SCS website, for many of the articles published in Amphora are of enduring value.

My time with Amphora has been deeply rewarding, and has brought me into contact with some of the finest writers, editors, and classicists that I have met as a member of the SCS. It would be impossible for me to thank them all in this space or to render a full account of Amphora's contributions. In a most incomplete way, however, I should like to especially call attention to the contributions of Amphora's previous editors: Margaret Brucia (2001-2003), Anne-Marie Lewis (2001-2007), T. Davina McClain (2008-2012), and Ellen Bauerle (2012-2016). Two executive directors, Adam Blistein and Helen Cullyer, have generously supported our work with their ideas and time. And in recent years, Samuel Husky has offered tremendously patient assistance as we went from paper to ether. Finally, Sarah Bond has given a great deal of attention Amphora amid her many blog responsibilities. We could not have served as well as we did without the support of all these people, and many others as well.

As the Society enters the second half of its second century, outreach and public engagement are as important, and challenging, as they have ever been. The time, resources, and energy that fueled Amphora have not been lost with the discontinuation of this publication; instead they will be eagerly channeled into other projects critical to our outreach mission, a mission that is at the heart of the Society as we know it today.

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