Focusing on the diverse range of groups and gatherings in which Spartiates spent their daily lives, I will challenge the standard view that the activities of adult Spartiates were closely controlled. I will argue that Spartiate life included large amounts of time to conduct one’s private affairs; that the multiplicity of groups led to a diffusion of official control; and that the self-regulating character of many groups provided citizens, especially wealthy ones, with considerable scope to shape the precise character of their everyday lives. Presented by Em. Prof. Stephen Hodkinson (Nottingham).
On the morning of 6 April 1966, in the suburb of Westall in Melbourne’s inner east, hundreds of school students witnessed a strange object hovering above their school, before landing in a nearby nature reserve. The Westall incident should have caused a sensation. But the film taken by news crews was never aired; the newspaper articles never published. Was there a conspiracy?
This talk is about the loss of making skills, their connection to thinking, learning and doing and why we need to re-imagine them in order to adapt (or become androids). Presented by Eleni Kalantidou (Griffith University).
It is remarkable that until recently, with the notable exception of painted pottery, there has been little discussion about the patronage of Greek art and architecture in Magna Graecia and Sicily. My presentation starts with some general theoretical and methodological reflections about patronage as a line of inquiry in the field of art history, followed by historiographic consideration of the study of Greek art and architecture in Magna Graecia and Sicily. Presented by AAIA Visiting Professor Clemente Marconi.
In this paper, I will examine the quotations of and allusions to the writings of the Apostle Paul in the second century apologetic text “A Plea for the Christians” (Presbeia Peri Christianōn) by the Athenian apologist Athenagoras. The apologist’s references to the Athenian narrative of Acts 17 will also be considered as a source of Pauline tradition. It will be seen that Athenagoras, independent of his contemporaries, was significantly influenced by Pauline thought. Presented by Dr David Evan.
The narration of the flight of the infant Jesus to Egypt—found only in Matthew’s gospel (Matthew 2:13-23)—clearly resembles Old Testament narratives of Moses and of the exodus in both content and design. Misinterpretations of the placement of Hosea 11:1, however, have prevented a clear understanding of Matthew’s purpose for this story. A social-identity hermeneutic will add insight into both the placement of the fulfillment citation and the function of the account. Presented by Dr Linda Stargel.
It was precisely the artist’s closeness to ancient art that allowed him to drastically subvert tradition and transform sculpture, changing the course of this medium in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
This lecture revisits stories about the arrival of Dionysus into communities and the chaos that ensues. It also examines why stories about the travels of Dionysus should prove so popular in antiquity.
In this talk, Professor Crossley will use the Peasants’ Revolt and its reception to look at which biblical texts have been used, remembered, forgotten, and rethought in the English radical tradition. All are welcome to attend.
School Seminar Series: Disrupting Narratives about Islam: Medieval and Contemporary Perspectives
This year's seminars inlcude:
Muslims, Miracles and Superstition in Latin Christian Narratives of the First Crusade
Islam and the end of multiculturalism? Reconsidering its promise
Prof. Deborah Brown, Discussant
Islam is credited with bringing about the end of multiculturalism, coinciding with the rise of far right-wing populism in Europe. In this talk I explore this purported end within the peculiarity of British Multiculturalism and do so from a unique vantage point: the intimate surrounds of a probation office and the relationships between probation staff and Muslim ex-offenders based on fieldwork in East London. From this vantage point, multiculturalism is far from being either alive or dead, but is instead negotiated and characterized by tensions intrinsic to the ‘cruel dynamic of inclusion and exclusion’ that has long characterized the Western tradition of citizenship.
This paper investigates the potential of dark layering in calcium carbonate deposits formed in past water systems as a well-dated and high-resolution proxy for rainfall distributions, through a case study on ancient Rome’s Anio Novus aqueduct.
This film explores themes about the objectification of bodies, particularly “exotic” bodies, and the effects that this has on those who are turned into tourist commodities.
The story of how souls stood in ranks in front of Lachesis, Clotho and Atropos just before choosing the form of their next reincarnations is a place to which Plato’s readers kept going back throughout the centuries.
The Historia Augusta is a notoriously problematic text. It consists of a series of thirty biographies of emperors, Caesars and usurpers that cover the years from 117 to 285 AD.
