"Listening to Cynthia Shelmerdine describe the writing on a Greek tablet from more than 3,000 years ago, it’s like she was looking over the scribe’s shoulder as he worked. She points out details and nuance of technique, the condition of the tablet and what it means, literally, and for the world of Greek archaeology." Read more …
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Some months ago, a piece by Leah Mitchell and Eli Rubies on Classics and reception studies in the 21st century reiterated the importance of studying the reception of classical antiquity. It was a reminder that reception of classical material itself predates the scholarly field devoted to it.
Playing Cleopatra: Hollywood and Anglophone Television Castings
On October 11 2020, American screenwriter and producer of Greek descent Laeta Kalogridis posted this tweet:
Dear colleague,
You probably don’t remember the muffins.
Over the last decade, we’ve tried all kinds of messages to encourage you to support the SCS Annual Fund. We’ve used inspirational quotes from Homer, Ovid, Plutarch, and Cavafy; we’ve included testimonials from grateful recipients of fellowships; we’ve offered matching gifts; we’ve set our text as limericks; and yes, we’ve even tried muffins as metaphors.
The Classics Everywhere initiative, launched by the SCS in 2019, supports projects that seek to engage communities worldwide with the study of Greek and Roman antiquity in new and meaningful ways. As part of this initiative the SCS has been funding a variety of projects ranging from reading groups comparing ancient to modern leadership practices to collaborations with artists in theater, music, and dance. Most of the projects funded take place in the US and Canada, though the initiative is growing and has funded projects in the UK, Italy, Greece, Belgium, Ghana, and Puerto Rico. This post discusses a project for school-age children in rural Italy that draws attention to the ancient past through the contemporary world.
FELLOWSHIPS FOR RESEARCH AND STUDY AT THE GENNADIUS LIBRARY 2021-2022
The American School of Classical Studies at Athens is pleased to announce the academic programs and fellowships for the 2021-2022 academic year at the Gennadius Library. Opened in 1926 with 26,000 volumes from diplomat and bibliophile Joannes Gennadius, the Gennadius Library now holds a richly diverse collection of over 146,000 books and rare bindings, archives, manuscripts, and works of art illuminating the Hellenic tradition and neighboring cultures. The Library has become an internationally renowned center for the study of Greek history, literature, and art, especially from the Byzantine period to modern times.
COTSEN TRAVELING FELLOWSHIP FOR RESEARCH IN GREECE: Short-term travel award of $2,000 for senior scholars and graduate students, for work at the Gennadius Library. Open to all nationalities. At least one month of residency required. School fees are waived for a maximum of two months.
DEADLINE: JANUARY 15, 2021.
THE GEORGE PAPAIOANNOU FELLOWSHIP: Ph.D. candidates or recent PhDs writing on Greece in the 1940’s and the post-war period, civil wars and the history of the Second World War. Fellows are required to make use of the George Papaioannou Papers housed at the Archives of the ASCSA. Open to all nationalities. School fees are waived for a maximum of two months. Stipend of €2,000.
August 2020 saw the release of A Total War Saga: Troy, a strategy video game where the player takes on the role of one of various heroes on either side of the Trojan War and leads their armies to victory. If you’ve ever wanted to play Penthesilea defeating Achilles, here’s your chance.
Call for Papers, “Contact, Colonialism, and Comparison” Conference
Different methods of ‘comparing antiquities’ do or do not presuppose the existence of contact between the civilizations they compare, or else weigh differently the importance of contact to the work of comparison. Underlying these differences are methodological questions like: to what extent, and in what ways, the history of contact between different civilizations plays a role in the work of comparison? To what extent the fact of contact between two civilizations legitimates their comparison? How the aims and methods of comparison differ in cases where contact has or has not taken place? More subtly, how should the intellectual history of contact in later periods of a region’s history affect how we do comparative work on earlier periods of that history?
REVISED, 10/20/2020
The deadline for applications for the position of Editor of TAPA has been extended to November 20, 2020. Furthermore, in recognition of the increased demands currently being made on faculty time, we will now entertain, in addition to applications to be sole Editor, proposals from any self-formed team of two co-editors who wish to share the duties. A two-person application should include a statement of how the two co-editors will complement each other, how they will divide tasks, how often they will consult each other, and how they will reach consensus in difficult cases.
Call for Applications for Editor of TAPA (2022-2025)
Please see the following deadlines, some of which have recently been extended:
October Deadlines
Nominations for the Forum Prize: October 23 (extended deadline)
Classics Everywhere microgrant applications: October 26 (extended deadline)
November Deadlines
Nominations for the Precollegiate Teaching Award: November 2 (extended deadline)
Pearson Fellowship applications: November 6
TLL Fellowship applications: November 6
December Deadline
Frank M. Snowden Jr. Undergraduate Scholarships (formerly the Minority Scholarships): December 11
