Athena's Owl

In this post, we feature a report about one of our current senior thesis research projects.   The researcher is Joshua McManaway, and he is working under the supervision of Dr. Frank Romer.

Mr. McManaway writes:

My thesis deals with Christian funerary practices in the Late Antique.  Specifically, I am researching the use of cemeteries as sacred spaces, the martyr (and particularly the martyr’s grave and relics), and the rites and rituals that surrounded Christian funerary practice. The catacombs in Rome are my main point of research when it comes to sacred spaces. I’m looking into the use and rejection of pagan burial imagery (traditional figures such as Hercules or Tellus), as well as epigraphy on funerary monuments and how inscriptions give us clues to Christian views on death compared to those of their pagan contemporaries.  I am also researching how Christian funerary rituals (specifically those during and immediately after death) were informed both from Biblical texts as well as traditional Roman institutions.

The second meeting of the Ancient Greek Reading Group will be held on Wednesday, February 3 at 5:00 p.m.   We’ll be continuing with Pausanias (I.XXI.2), then moving on to Iliad III later in the semester.  Readings are available on the desk in the entry of the Foreign Languages offices (Bate 3324, to the left of the 3rd floor elevators).   There will also be copies available at the meeting.

If you would like to practice sight-reading and meet with other Classicists, you are most welcome to join us.  Also, if you know of anyone who might be interested in joining, please pass this message along.

Ancient Greek Reading Group

Wednesday, February 3rd, 5:00 P.M.

Marathon Restaurant

706 S. Evans St.

Auditions for the ECU Classics Program’s production of Lysistrata were held the week of January 18.  Thanks to all who tried out.  I am thrilled to announce our cast!

Lysistrata:  Danielle Bryan
Kalonike:  Jennifer Latham
Myrrhine:  Amber Moore
Lampito / Nikodike:  Leigh Wagner
Commissioner: John Darrow
Cinesias:  Darrell Purcell
Athenian Ambassador:  Collin Jones
Spartan Ambassador:  Tony Lewis
Spartan Herald:  Michael Gambino
Women’s Chorus: Alexandria White (Leader), Brandy Whorley, Courtney Wells, Sara Davis
Men’s Chorus: Kelly Hunnings (Leader), Mercedes-Lynn Powers, Colleen Kilcoyne, Kirsis Concepcion

We have already had our first two rehearsals.  We cannot stop laughing at this wonderful play, in its excellent translation by Peter Green.  We know our audiences will love it.

Performances will be March 26, 27 and 28, all at 8:00 p.m., in the Great Rooms of the Mendenhall Student Center, on the campus of East Carolina University.  The play is free and open to the public.  Co-sponsored by Mendenhall / University Unions.  Anyone interested in volunteering for various roles in supporting the production, please contact the director, John Given.

Auditions for the March production of “Lysistrata” will take place on Wednesday, January 20, 2010, from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. in the Great Rooms on the second floor of Mendenhall Student Center.  Anyone not able to attend the scheduled auditions should contact the director, Dr. Given, as soon as possible to make alternate arrangements, either by email (givenj@ecu.edu) or by phone (252-328-6538).

For complete information about the production, about our expectations for auditions, about the available roles, and about other opportunities for helping to produce this uproarious comedy, please see the play’s webpage: http://www.ecu.edu/classics/Lysistrata.cfm.

The play will feature the world premiere of a translation by renowned translator and visiting ECU faculty member Dr. Peter Green.  It is sponsored by the ECU Program in Classical Studies together with Mendenhall / University Unions.

The new semester begins on Friday, and there are still a few seats available in Classical Studies courses.  Sign up now before they’re gone!

CLAS 1300: Greek and Latin for Vocabulary Building — 9 seats remaining.
CLAS 2220:  Great Works of Ancient Literature: Greece — 6 seats remaining.
CLAS 2500: Greek Tragedy in Translation — 12 seats remaining.
CLAS 2600: The Power of Images in Ancient Greece and Rome — 2 seats remaining.
CLAS 3460: Classical Mythology — 6 seats remaining.
CLAS 3600: Greek and Roman Religions — 28 seats remaining.
CLAS 3700: Herodotus and the Persian Wars — 23 seats remaining.

All courses except 3700 fulfill the ECU Humanities requirement.  CLAS 3700 is a special course being offered by our distinguished visiting professor Dr. Peter Green.  Don’t miss your chance to learn from one of the world’s most eminent classical scholars.

I am pleased to announce that ECU’s Mendenhall / University Unions has signed on as a co-sponsor of the upcoming production of Aristophanes’ Lysistrata.  Their contributions to our project will enable us to create costumes and props, and to advertise the play effectively.  We thank them most sincerely.

As always, you can find information about the play on our webpage:  http://www.ecu.edu/cs-cas/classics/Lysistrata.cfm.

We now have a webpage for information on our spring production of Lysistrata.  The webpage includes news about upcoming auditions, including a list of characters actors can try out for.  Please check back to the webpage for updates about the play.  You can find it at:  www.ecu.edu/classics/lysistrata.cfm.

Note that the dates of the performances have shifted slightly.  Due to a scheduling conflict, we have had to move our Thursday performance to Sunday.  So the dates are now March 26, 27 and 28, 2010.  All performances will be at 8:00 p.m. in the Great Rooms of Mendenhall Student Center at ECU.  There will be no charge for admission!

On Veterans’ Day, yesterday, the New York Times featured an article entitled “The Anguish of War for Today’s Soldiers, Explored by Sophocles.”  It describes how a group of professional actors are touring the country performing staged readings of Sophocles’ Ajax and Philoctetes on military bases.  These plays deal with the traumas of war and can be read as precursors to modern diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder.  The reactions of the soldiers, as described in the article, testify to the ongoing power of these classical plays.  As we remember the brave men and women who have fought for our country, it is thrilling to see how the Classics can help our modern mythological heroes to understand themselves and their experiences.

You can read the article here.

Please plan to attend this upcoming lecture by Dr. Megan Perry of ECU’s Anthropology Department and Classical Studies Program.  Regular readers of Athena’s Owl will remember Dr. Perry’s summer research report from Jordan.  Come and hear the results of her work.

East Carolina University Department of Anthropology

presents:

Beyond the Façades:

An Archaeological Perspective of Petra, Jordan

a lecture by:

Megan A. Perry

Associate Professor of Anthropology, East Carolina University

Director of the Petra North Ridge Project

November 11, Wednesday

7PM

Flanagan 265

We were saddened to learn yesterday of the passing of Roger Hornsby, Professor emeritus of Classics at the University of Iowa.  Prof. Hornsby was a very good friend of the ECU Classics Program.  He was the first classicist to hold the Whichard Chair, our College’s annual distinguished visiting professorship, in 1997-98.  During that year, he gave the well remembered lecture “The Liberal Arts, The Humanities and Other Good Things.”  He visited Greenville numerous times in the succeeding years.  His presence was always a welcome respite from the routine of the academic year.  He had a deep, loving and infectious understanding of ancient literature.  He possessed the sharpest wit I have ever known, outpaced only by the sharpness of his sagacious mind.

Prof. Hornsby spent his career at the University of Iowa.  His early books on Latin literature and especially his book on similes in Vergil’s Aeneid are models of Classical scholarship.  Yet he will not be remembered primarily for his scholarship.  He was never the most prolific publisher.  Rather, his life demonstrated that the scholar’s influence need not be between the woven covers of a tome.  He leaves behind a veritable legion of students whose lives he touched deeply.  I myself was never fortunate enough to study with him.  I have, however, met several who did, and have repeatedly found that they will regale you with improbable Hornsby tales and, more importantly, will express without provocation how Roger shaped their lives in the classroom and beyond it.

nunc tamen interea haec, prisco quae more parentum
tradita sunt tristi munere ad inferias,
accipe fraterno multum manantia fletu,
atque in perpetuum, frater, ave atque vale.