A Re-Examination of the Forêt d’Halatte Ex-Votos : Power, Community and Entanglement
By Christiane-Marie Cantwell, University of Cambridge
This paper will re-examine the figurative votive assemblage of the Forêt d'Hallate sanctuary (Oise, France), arguing that the form and iconography of these statuettes reveal an entanglement of Roman and indigenous norms unique to this site. Its conclusions suggest a new reading of the sanctuary focused not on healing, as commonly assumed due to the presence of figurative votives, but on community and power negotiation.
Re-Centering Augustan Diana in Grattius’ Cynegetica
By Alicia Matz, Boston University
Although Grattius begins his Cynegetica with an invocation to Diana as the goddess of the hunt, scholars have noted that he sets himself up as the expert in hunting rather than as a conduit of the goddess (Anderson 1985; Fanti 2018; Tsakhaki 2018). And yet, as Henderson has pointed out, Diana “echoes through the programme,” even if it seems like a “carapace of pious puffery” (Henderson 2001, 9). In this paper, I will argue that Grattius’ choice of Diana as muse reflects her particular importance to Augustus.
Prodigies and Expiations in Roman Sicily
By Susan Satterfield, Rhodes College
Roman state prodigies and expiations were all about Rome. Prodigies portended dangers for Rome which expiations were intended to avert. It is no surprise, then, that the vast majority of prodigies were reported from the city of Rome or elsewhere in the Italian peninsula, and most expiations were performed in the Roman capital (on Roman prodigies: MacBain, Rasmussen, Santangelo). But not all. A number of prodigies came from Sicily and the Aeolian islands, with reports in nine separate years.