Classics and Semitics @ GWU

Catherine Keesling (Associate Professor and Chair at Georgetown University) will talk on “Greek Portrait Statues: Who, When, and Why” on Thursday, November 1 (see below for more information):

The study of ancient Greek portraiture has been treated as a question of origins since the Roman author Pliny the Elder, who was concerned to show that the characteristics of portraiture most familiar to his contemporary Roman audience in fact had an ancient and distinguished Greek pedigree.  Modern scholarship, hampered by the lack of preserved Greek originals and relying heavily upon Roman marble “copies” of lost Greek portraits, has often taken a similar tack. The result is that most modern studies of Greek portraiture concentrate on the fifth century B.C., a period in which portraits were seldom identified as such by their accompanying inscriptions.

Herodotus, writing in the 420s B.C., mentions more than 60 sanctuary dedications in his Histories, but only a handful of portraits; only a few of the public monuments commemorating the Greek victories in the Persian Wars of 490 and 480-479 B.C. included portrait statues.  The epigraphical evidence of inscribed statue bases strongly suggests that a real explosion in the practice of portraiture in both the public and private spheres in the Greek world took place in the fourth century B.C.  The epigraphical evidence also sheds new and surprising light upon the complex histories of Greek portrait statues.  In addition to being copied by Roman sculptors, Greek portraits were also literally recycled as portraits of Roman subjects.  Retrospective honorific portraits of the fourth century and later—that is, posthumous portraits of subjects long deceased—have also obscured the history of Greek portraiture, making it more difficult to see that Greek “portrait culture” is largely a phenomenon of the fourth century and later.

Bill Caraher (Assistant Professor of History @ University of North Dakota), with whom I went to graduate school, is now the co-director of the Pyla-Koutsopetria Archaeological Project in Cyprus and participates in the continued archaeological research associated with the Eastern Korinthia Archaeological Survey and the Ohio State Excavations at Isthmia. He has a blog where he posts up photos and discussions of his work. He also has guest appearances by another former grad school pal, David Pettigrew (Assistant Professor of History @ Messiah College), who is associated with The Ohio State University Excavations at Isthmia, the Eastern Korinthia Archaeological Survey, and the Pyla-Koutsopetria Archaeological Project and who has also participated in the American School Excavations at Corinth and the Australian-Paliochora Kythera Survey.

For those of you interested in Mediterranean archaeology, their blog should be of great interest: Bill Caraher’s Archaeology of the Mediterranean

Tomorrow the Greek Embassy cultural center will be hosting a lecture on the new Parthenon Museum in Athens!

The lecture will be held in the lower level of the Embassy at 2217 Massachusetts Avenue (at Sheridan Circle). The lecture begins at 7 pm and should last until about 9 pm. No reservations are required.

Dumbarton Oaks
Pre-Columbian Studies

Public Lecture

Jean-Pierre Protzen, University of California, Berkeley

Inca Architecture: Building a World


Machu Picchu

Thursday, October 25^th 2007
5:30 P.M. in the Music Room of Dumbarton Oaks
1703 32^nd Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20007

Illustrated

The lecture is open to the public without charge.
For additional information: pre-columbian@doaks.org or 202-339-6440.

Abstract
In the expansion of their power base, the Incas launched a massive construction program consisting mostly of works of infrastructure: roads, bridges, agricultural terraces, reservoirs, irrigation canals, and storage facilities. In parallel, the Incas also built new administrative centers, temples, and settlements. In all their construction work, the Incas demonstrated a deep appreciation of their environment. Their works reveal a thorough understanding of questions of hydrology, geomorphology, and microclimate as well as an appreciation of the aesthetic values of the landscape. This lecture will explore the design and planning practices of the Incas.

About the Speaker
Jean-Pierre Protzen is Professor of the Graduate School (Architecture) at the University of California, Berkeley. Professor Protzen is author of Inca Architecture and Construction at Ollantaytambo and several other publications on design theory and methods, Inca architecture, and construction techniques. Honors include research fellowships from the Swiss National Science Foundation and the University of California, and an International Architecture Book Award from the American Institute of Architects. Professor Protzen teaches courses on design theories and methods, logics of design, and research methods. Current research interests include design, planning, and construction principles of ancient civilizations, particularly Pre-Columbian South America. Recent field projects have concerned the architecture and construction of Tiwanaku in Bolivia and Tambo Colorado in Peru.

Directions to the Music Room at Dumbarton Oaks
Dumbarton Oaks is located at 1703 32^nd Street, NW in Washington, D.C. Please enter through the front entrance of the Main Building, and proceed down the hall where you will be guided into the Music Room. For further information or to receive an electronic map of the grounds, please contact Emily Gulick (gulicke@doaks.org; (202)339-6440). We look forward to seeing you there!

Our esteemed leader, Prof. Cline has made yet another valiant attempt to rouse the Biblical Archaeology profession to stand up for itself and to reclaim its field from the growing legions of ideologues who annually set out to find Noah’s Ark, the Ark of the Covenant of other such Biblical mysteries. On September 30, 2007, his piece “Raiders of the Faux Ark” was printed in the Boston Globe’s “Ideas” section.  A highlight:

“We are living in a time of exciting discoveries in biblical archeology. We are also living in a time of widespread biblical fraud, dubious science, and crackpot theorizing. Some of the highest-profile discoveries of the past several years are shadowed by accusations of forgery, such as the James Ossuary, which may or may not be the burial box of Jesus’ brother, as well as other supposed Bible-era findings such as the Jehoash Tablet and a small ivory pomegranate said to be from the time of Solomon. Every year “scientific” expeditions embark to look for Noah’s Ark, raising untold amounts of money from gullible believers who eagerly listen to tales spun by sincere amateurs or rapacious con men; it is not always easy to tell the two apart.”

Read the whole (4 pages, very long) article here.