Skip to main content
“Ways of Seeing, Ways of Reading, 2”
The Aesthetics and Anthropology of Arms and Armor
Columbia University, Schermerhorn Hall 612
1180 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10027
- PROGRAM -

Friday, October 19: morning (Columbia University, Schermerhorn Hall 612)

1. Weapons, Good to Think With (9:30-11 am)

- Christine Mauduit (ENS), “Around the Sword: Some Thoughts about Ajax’s Suicide”

- Deborah Steiner (Columbia), "Arms and the Symposion”

- Camille Rambourg (ENS), "Exploring the Question of Responsibility: The Javelin of Antiphon's Second Tetralogy"

- Peter van Alfen (ANS), "Arms and Armor in archaic coins"

Coffee Break (11-11:30 am)

2. Arms, Culture, Religion (11.30 am-1 pm)

- Ellen Morris (Barnard), "Daggers, Militarism, and the Evolving Culture of Death on the Nile in the Second Millennium BCE"

- Cléo Carastro (EHESS), "Greek Trophies: War and its Dead"

- Christophe Goddard (CNRS), "Arms in Religion, Religions in Arms in Late Antiquity"

- Pierre Terjanian (MMA), "Armor as Votive Gift: Devotion and Self-Representation in Late Medieval and Renaissance Europe”

Lunch Break (1-2:30 pm)

Friday, October 19: afternoon (Metropolitan Museum of Art)

3. Workshop Session (for speakers only)

Saturday, October 20: morning (Columbia University, Schermerhorn Hall 612)

4. Metaphors, Symbolism, Status (9:30-11 am)

- Andréas Stauder (EPHE), "Of Bowmen and Sickle-Swords: Weapons in Ancient Egyptian Literature and Royal Ideology"

- David Lurie (Columbia) "Creation from Destruction: Weapon as Symbol in Japanese Mythology."

- Severyn Fowles (Barnard), "The Shield's Sovereignty: Armament and Agency in the American West, A.D. 1400-1900"

- Faïza Drici (MMA), "Weaponry in Ancient Sudan: Warrior Equipment or Prestige Attribute?"

Coffee Break (11-11:30 am)

5. Armor and Body, Armor as Body (11:30 am-1 pm)

- Nancy Worman (Barnard), "Heroic Outerwear in Tragedy”

- François Queyrel (EPHE), “Arms and Nudity of Defeated Barbarians"

- Francesco de Angelis (Columbia), "The Hard and the Soft: Bodies and Cuirasses in Etruscan Art"

- Diane Bodart (Columbia), "Armor of Light for the Conquista”
Lunch Break (1-2:30 pm)

Saturday, October 20: afternoon (Columbia University, Schermerhorn Hall 612)

6. Meaningful Arms (2.30-3.30 pm)

- Filippo Ronconi (EHESS), "Coins as Weapons / Weapons as Coins: Epiphanius of Chyprus on the Obolos, between History and Archaeology "

- Lech Marek (MMA), "Life Stones and Stone Pommels: Medieval Sword Amulets, a Legacy of the Classical Age"

- Chassica Kirchoff (MMA) "Collection and Recollection: Armors as Objects of Memory in Early Modern Europe"

Coffee Break (3:30-4 pm)

7. Technology and Functions of Weapons (4-5 pm)

- Stéphane Verger (EPHE), “The Keltikè Machaira"

- Alain Thôte (EPHE), “Early Chinese Armors Made from Metal, Leather, or Stone Plates: Techniques and Functions"

- John Ma (Columbia), "The Geometry of Harm: Notes on the Ancient Greek Buttspike"

Closing remarks (5-6 pm)

Public Reception (6-7:30 pm)

---

(Photo: "Empty Boardroom" by Reynermedia, licensed under CC BY 2.0)