We asked summer intern Oliver Hughes, an undergraduate, to identify and reflect on his three favorite articles from Amphora. Here are his reflections.
Margaret Malamud’s “Patriarchy and Pietas in the Star Wars Trilogy” explores the historical myth central to George Lucas’ films – the ancient virtue, liberty, and prosperity of a Republic, which, having decayed into the decadence and tyranny of Empire, is ultimately restored through the deeds of the central hero, Luke Skywalker. Malamud deftly traces the resonance of this essentially conservative, nostalgic myth in both imperial Roman thought and contemporary imagination before laying it bare as a central part also of the Star Wars story. She expands the analysis to include the closely related theme of filial piety intertwined with the films’ politics, and links this too to a quintessentially Roman perspective. Malamud then concludes with an analysis of American history of the time to account for the attraction of Star Wars’ ancient central myth to its contemporary audience.
Malamud’s article combines historical, social, cultural, and literary analysis spanning two thousand years for what I consider a remarkably compelling, well-argued, and ultimately interesting examination of a cultural phenomenon of both tremendous cultural import and clearly linked to classical thought. Her study leads us not to the appropriation of the past and its stories, but to the examination of ourselves in its example, as another society responding in an intriguingly comparable way to a perception of social and political experience far from new.
Donald Lateiner’s “Greek and Roman Kissing: Occasions, Protocols, Methods, and Mistakes” explores the place of the kiss in Greek and Roman culture. This was substantially more versatile than the sexualized role of modern kissing, in which only vestiges of non-romantic connotations have survived, mainly in kisses between family members and more rarely friends – but almost never on the lips. By contrast, Lateiner unfolds for us the differences in the cultural practice of ancient Greece, where the “salutation-kiss” on the head between friends and the supplication-kiss on the hand (Priam’s to Achilles may be the most famous) far outweighed the romantic kiss. Lateiner leads us through the way kisses filtered and reflected social hierarchy, perhaps especially in the ancient Near East, where Persian subjects kissed their king’s foot, and Numidian kings could not be kissed at all for sheer divinity. I find this discussion not only fascinating but fresh and expanding in its revelations about an act seemingly ossified largely as romantic in contemporary times. Lateiner contrasts also the practice of the Romans, whose poetry (certain names spring overwhelmingly to mind) contains more amorous kisses, while still retaining those between family relations. He also brings to light another aspect of Roman kissing, full of anxiety and abuse, having mainly to do with the unpleasantness of kissing those with undesirable or “polluted” mouths. The hold this had on the Roman imagination seems to have been considerable, and this is quite an interesting angle to see. The gulf between us and the culture of antiquity extends beyond linguistic and religious differences after all, down to modes of personal behavior as well.
Milena Minkova and Terence Tunberg in “Oral Latin: Loquimur Quo Melius Legamus – We Speak to Read Better” examine the issue of oral Latin in the classroom, discussing Latin’s history as a spoken and semi-spoken language even after the Empire and advancing the case for spoken Latin with a treatment of its value and some ideas for its most effective management. They provide first an interesting account of spoken Latin’s academic history in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, when many Latin schools required students not only to speak Latin, but in fact to speak only Latin. Given also Latin’s overwhelming preeminence in academe and the Church, Minkova and Tunberg point out that it was only practical to have a firm grasp of its oral form, without which large swathes of discourse would remain inaccessible. This is a valuable reminder that viewing oral Latin as contemporary trend and sharp departure from previous practice grossly overlooks an integral part of the history of Latin instruction. It seems to me that pointing out this precedent does a great deal to legitimize today’s oral Latin efforts. Minkova and Tunberg emphasize also the practicality of spoken Latin even today in the simple fact of its value in developing fluency. Though reading will remain the primary goal of Latin acquisition, making conversation forces the mind to grapple with syntax and form in a different, more active way, and so lends itself to a suppler control of the language, an outcome which outcome can only be welcomed.
More October 2018 Newsletter Content
Read Wells Hansen's announcement about the new direction for Amphora
SCS intern Dori Newman talks about her favorite pieces from the SCS Blog
Check out the two citations for the winners of the SCS Collegiate Teaching Award
