Classics Spring/SummerSpring/Summer 20112010 News Annus Mirabilis A message from the Chairman

ductivity and imagination as a scholar, and In this issue... her intellectual influence in the Depart- ment while holding two successive tem- porary appointments made her success in Chairman’s Message the search a happy event for us all. Hers was the only tenure track appointment Classics welcomes (back): made in the Faculty of Arts and Social Emily Varto Sciences this year, a sign of how valued the Department is within the University. Department News Another of our graduates, Michael Sampson (BA 2001, MA 2003), took Student Profile: one of the few other tenure track posts Bruce Russell in Classics in this year. Michael will be teaching Greek Literature at the Student Profile: where he will join Ellen Shaffner James Chlup (MA 1998) who teaches Ancient History, Roman culture and Graduate Studies Latin. Programme Hearty congratulations go to another Our last Newsletter was capped with graduate, Michael Fournier (BA 1999, Simon & Riva Spatz Chair the splendid accomplishments of our MA 2001), who has gained tenure with in Jewish Studies graduates recognised at both Dalhousie’s promotion to the rank of Associate Convocation and the King’s Encaenia. Professor. Michael returned to Dalhousie- Pythian Games 2011 The following year has been filled with King’s in 2005 from doctoral studies so many good things that I can only title at Boston , first with a Teaching Classical Association of it Annus Mirabilis. You will discover many Fellowship in the Foundation Year Pro- of its joys celebrated in other parts of this Canada Congress gramme and then to take Robert Crouse’s letter; here I give an incomplete list start- chair in Philosophy, Religion, and Culture ing with new beginnings. Alumni Q&A: in late Antiquity and the Early Middle Hans Feichtinger Ages. Michael’s contributions to teaching Our Population Explosion. and administration in the Department and Classics and Religious Studies are young to scholarship in his field in less than five Alumni Profile: and full of new life evinced first in years gained him universal support. Mi- Emily Parker three births: Abraham to Keiva and Eli chael has a seemingly endless capacity for Diamond, Anna to Ksenia and Sasha work which matches the most generous Alumni Profile: Treiger, and Caius to Luba and Jack of good wills in taking it on. He is simply Tim Riggs Mitchell. Our graduate students have the best imaginable colleague and we all announced two engagements and two rejoice in his success. married couples among them are expect- Alumnotes ing new Classicists. Our future is assured. Eli Diamond (BA 1999, MA 2001), who came back to us after gaining a PhD from Appointments. Northwestern University and teaching Another assurance of our future came philosophy at the Grenfell Campus of the in the appointment of Dr Emily Varto Memorial University of to the chair in Greek History. Emily first and at St Thomas University in Frederic- came to us as a graduate student with an ton, has been reappointed to Dr Dennis outstanding BA from Queens and went House’s chair in Ancient Philosophy. on, after taking an MA here (2004), to

complete a PhD in record time at UBC. Her attractive excellence as a teacher, pro- Religious Studies. Alexander Treiger, who came to us with Annus Mirabilis A message from the Chairman continued... an MA from the Hebrew University of course is set and considerable progress of James Doull. Contributions to the cost Jerusalem and a PhD from Yale Univer- has been made. of the portrait and to a memorial fund sity to give such a successful start to our supporting Robert’s work in Ancient, new Programme in Religious Studies, was Three Passings. Patristic, and Mediaeval philosophy, also reappointed. His first book,Inspired One of our outstanding students do- religion, and literature in the Department Knowledge in Islamic Thought: Al-Ghazali’s ing Joint Honours in Religious Studies will be welcomed. They may be sent to Theory of Mystical Cognition and Its Avicen- and Classics, Gerjan Altenburg, from Ben McIsaac, External Relations, Dalhou- nian Foundation, will be published by Rout- rural Nova Scotia, was honoured with an sie University, Halifax, NS, B3H 4R2 and ledge in August. I heard one of its central award donated by the Dalhousie Faculty should be marked for the Robert Crouse theses, when the two of us and six other Association. The Tom Faulkner Memo- Memorial. You will be sent details of present or former members of the De- rial commemorated Tom’s twenty-five the Celebration nearer its date. One of partment gave papers at the “Philosophy year service to Dalhousie and its students the speakers will be Dr Neil Robertson and the Abrahamic Religions: ‘Scriptural especially as Chairman of the former (MA 1987), Professor at King’s College. Authority and Theories of Knowledge’,” Department of Comparative Religion and His participation brings me to another Conference in Istanbul during December as President of the Faculty Association. passing. 2010, a Research Workshop organized by Tom passed away suddenly last summer Marmara University and McGill Univer- while on the Faculty of the University of Ronald Neil Robertson, Q.C., Neil’s sity. The Istanbul conference was presided Winnipeg, where he moved after head- father, over the last decades has been the over by our own Dr Torrance Kirby (BA ing seminaries in Alberta and Saskatch- most generous contributor to the Annual 1977, MA 1977), Professor of Ecclesiasti- ewan. I first worked with Tom when we Fund for the benefit of the Depart- cal History at McGill. Dr Treiger’s book were both in student government at the ment. He departed this life at the same challenges popular assumptions about one . He had a Canada- time as Robert. Neil has told me that his of the greatest Muslim theologians of wide academic career, but Tom will always birthday celebration would have been all time and will make a major scholarly be remembered for helping establish the on October 14th when he will be help- impact. study of religion at Dalhousie. ing us to remember Professor Crouse. A great hearted giant of a man, Ronald The other core member of our new Pro- You will be aware of the great loss to the Robertson’s generosity was owed to his gramme in Religious Studies, Dr Chris- Department, international scholarship, appreciation of the education we helped topher Austin, was one of only eight re- the church, music, and Nova Scotia with provide for his children. We are grateful cipients in the Faculty of Arts and Social the passing of the Reverend Professor for his encouragement of the humanities Sciences of a major grant from national Robert Crouse. He came to the Depart- and teaching in general, and of his special Social Sciences and Humanities Research ment as a student in 1947, the year James interest in our work over many years. May Council of Canada this year. His project Doull began teaching in it, joined the his goodness continue to shine in Glory. title is “Vasudeva Krishna’s Family in Ear- faculty in 1963 and, although he became ly Sanskrit Traditions: Divine Incarnation an Emeritus Professor in 1996, he contin- Gold. and Human Descent in the Mahabharata ued to serve us as one of the Editors of For the second time in less than a decade, and Harivamsha Period.” With the new Dionysius almost until his death. Obituar- a student of our Department has taken emphasis on attracting research funding ies have been published by Dalhousie the Governor-General’s Gold Medal for as a criterion of academic success, this is University, the University of King’s Col- awarded to the best an important accomplishment. lege, the Living Church, and, most recently, MA. Timothy Riggs, from Pictou Coun- Dionysius, whose last issue was dedicated ty, captured the Gold in 2010 with his to him. I shall not repeat them here but 2009 thesis on “Eros as Cosmic and Hier- instead invite you all to an Academic archical Principle: Christ and the Socratic Celebration of his life on Friday October Hierarch in the Thought of Dionysius the 14th and Saturday October 15th which we Areopagite,” which I had the pleasure of plan to hold both in the Chapel of King’s supervising; Dr Hans Feichtinger had College and in the Department. Details taken it in 2003 for “Mediatorem ergo Quae- of the programme are not yet complete runt: A Comparative Study of Iamblichus but will certainly include papers on his and Augustine on the Human Need for academic work by Dr Gary Thorne (MA Mediation,” which I also supervised. Dr 1983, supervised by Professor Crouse), by Anitra Laycock, received the Dalhousie one of our graduate students, Benjamin Doctoral Thesis Award in the Humanities While I am talking about Religious Stud- Lee, and by me, an appreciation of his and Social Sciences in 2005 for a disserta- ies, I must let you know that Dalhousie character as a teacher by Roberta Barker tion, “The Essential Polis: Bridging the is now committed to fundraising for our (First Class Honours and the University Tragic Divide”, supervised by Dr Dennis three convivencia chairs—Jewish Studies, Medal in Classics, 1996), Chair of Theatre House. A new MA student, Emma Islamic Studies, and Eastern Christian at Dalhousie, and the unveiling of a Whitney, from British Columbia, who Studies.. There is much to be done to portrait by an alumna, Andra Striowski at last year’s King’s Encaenia took First make this great project a success, but our (MA 2008), matching the one she painted Class Honours and the University Medal Annus Mirabilis A message from the Chairman continued... in Classics and the University of King’s some years our Department submits as Two Queens and Two Awards. College Medal for the highest graduate many proposals for new classes as the rest Ellen Shaffner, who came to us from in Arts and Science, has this year been of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Wolfville and graduated with Honours in awarded Dalhousie’s A.S. Mowatt prize, put together. Rodica Firanescu’s “Cul- Classics at the King’s Encaenia in May, which goes to an outstanding first-year tural Introduction to the Arab World” is exercised such a measure of leader- Master’s student in any discipline. She a very successful way of attracting and in- ship among us that she inspired a new returned from giving an invited paper at troducing students. As a new programme, award. The Department created the a scholarly conference in California in Religious Studies, which is full of new Pius Aeneas Award for a student giving time to deliver a fine presentation to the faculty and new classes. Selection is hard outstanding service. Ellen’s contribution CAC Congress. Her MA with us is be- to make but I cannot fail to mention and took so many forms, including head of ing funded by the Killam Trust and by a praise Sasha Treiger’s “Christianity in Res publica, our student organization, that Canada Graduate Scholarship, a distinc- the Land of Islam”, and his seminars on the citation also named her “alma mater”. tion she shares with Ben Manson, who Al-Ghazali and John of Damascus, and You will find a profile of Ellen of page 6 also graduated last year with First Class Chris Austin’s classes on Buddhism and this Newsletter. Honours in Classics. Hinduism which fill up almost on the first week they are announced. Like his Donna Edwards, our indefatigable Ad- Guests. colleague in Religious Studies, Dr Austin ministrative Secretary, was honoured on Eight invited guests delivered seminars is an outstanding teacher and it gave June 7, 2011 with Dalhousie’s Rosemary or public lectures to the Department, its me great pleasure to offer with them a Gill Award. Established as a memorial to students, or, on its behalf to the CAC new seminar for those doing majors or Dr. Rosemary Gill, long Director of Uni- Congress: Stephen Gersh from the honours in Religion. We had fine students, versity Health Services, it is awarded an- University of Notre Dame; America’s intense discussions, and many excellent nually to a member of the faculty or staff, leading Neoplatonic scholar, Robert Wis- examination papers. Leona MacLeod who has novsky, who has just served as head of has invented very popular classes on provided the Islamic Institute at McGill; Christian myth and film which draw students to out- Wildberg of the Classics Department of her work on Greek literature. Next year, standing Princeton University, who directs its pro- Jack Mitchell will offer “Roman Legions service, gramme in Ancient Philosophy; our own and the Barbarians” which aims to attract other Vernon Provençal of Acadia’s Classics military historians. Michael Fournier’s than Department; Jeffrey Henderson, William classes on Catholicism and “Magic, teach- Goldwin Aurelio Professor of Greek at Religion and Philosophy” bring a new ing, to Boston University, General Editor, Loeb group of students to the study of late students. Classical Library and President-Elect Antiquity. My own “Philosophy and God” It is a of American Philological Association; gives large numbers of a whole new kind measure Patricia J. Johnson, Associate Dean of student an introduction to the origins of how of Humanities at Boston University; of philosophy in mythopoetic Hellas. much we Anne Carson, Giller Prize Winner and Eli Diamond will lead them on with his depend Distinguished Poet in Resident at New “Plato and the Case of Socrates: Philoso- on Donna Edwards visits Jantar Man- , and Robert Currie, “the phy on Trial” and “Gods, Beasts, and the Donna tar. Jaipur, India, Spring 2011. Randomizer”. They were impressed, and Political Animal: Plato, Aristotle and their that her sometimes simply astonished, by the size Legacy.” Drs Peter O’Brien, Eli Dia- surprise at getting the award was only and demands of our language classes, the mond, Michael Fournier, Alexander matched by her astonishment that we high level and numbers of graduate and Treiger, and I offered a class designed for could organise our nomination without undergraduate students, their capacity for students in the College of Sustainability: her finding out! sustained intellectual work in the age of “Nature, the Human, Community and the sound bite and the three minute at- the Divine in the Pre-Modern West”; the Donna’s service to the University is tention span, the quality of the discussion number enrolled for next year’s version long and distinguished, beginning in their presentations provoked, the variety indicate a successful launch. Most of our the Department of Sociology & Social of our student’s work, and their intense classes for undergraduates are adver- Anthropology before passing by way commitment to what they are doing com- tised in splendid multicoloured leaflets of the Dean’s Office to us. As result of bined with liveliness and sheer enjoyment. designed by Professors Jack Mitchell and this experience, Donna has excellent The Pythian Games have increased this Chris Austin. These leaflets were paid for connections everywhere and is a mis- fun and you can read about their extraor- by contributions to the Annual Fund for tress of diplomacy. Consequently, she is dinary success elsewhere in this letter. Classics. We thank you. If you drop by the everyone’s best guide to getting things Department, please take one for yourself done. She knows where to go, whom to New Classes. and several more to help spread interest in ask, and how to ask them. She is really None of this is achieved without our Classics and Religious Studies. a co-administrator of every post in the constant efforts to find new ways to pres- Department. Its officers constantly seek ent and publicise our work. I am told that and take her advice. What makes Donna Chairman’s Message Classics welcomes (back): continued... Dr. Emily Varto especially suited to the Rosemary Gill rian,” she explains, “drawing on all aspects Award is her care for and mentoring of the culture: textual, material, artistic of students. – everything.” She is currently working on ancient genealogy and historiography, The operation of our Depart- descent and kinship networks in early ment depends on student assistants Greece, and the influence of classical assuming critical and frequently scholarship and theories of ancient kin- confidential responsibilities. We have ship on 19th-century ethnography. been served exceptionally well by these students and, indeed, none has Returning as a faculty member to a de- failed us. Besides the quality of our partment where one has studied can be a students, there is one and only one curious and sometimes disquieting experi- reason for this, Donna’s mentor- ence, but not in this case. “It was oddly ing. Those who work with her leave easy to slide back in here!” she says. “The Dalhousie and our Department with transition to teaching here was quite easy: skills of a kind they will learn in there were some familiar faces [on faculty] none of our classrooms, some of This year the Classics department has and some new ones.” Dr Varto brings them will be more useful than those been delighted to welcome Dr. Emily to the Department not only a passionate our curriculum promises to convey. Varto in her new capacity as Assistant commitment to good teaching but also They have an increased confidence Professor in Ancient Greek History (with considerable experience for a relatively in their abilities, a sense of having special emphasis on politics, society, and newly-minted doctor; she has taught at been trusted with and being able to culture.) Although this is certainly not her Dalhousie for the past two years and pre- take responsibility. They will have first connection with the department, the viously taught classes at UBC and Corpus earned some of their way here and department is delighted to introduce her Christi College in Vancouver during her have an especially deep gratitude to here. PhD studies. Her students at Dalhousie the University. Donna is the salt of can testify to the range of engaging and the earth. Her deep experience and Dr Varto was born in Thunder Bay, enriching activities that crop up during generous character give savour to our Ontario, and grew up in Bracebridge, later her classes: decoding fragments of Linear Department, our Faculty, and our moving to Kingston to study at Queen’s B in the “Palace to Polis” class, following University. University. She began as a student in the Xenophon’s march in second year Greek, Bachelor of Music programme (perfor- exploring through ancient comedies a Outstanding Graduate mance and composition) but, upon be- surprisingly modern dissatisfaction with Students. coming interested in specifically historical some of the workings of democracies, Professor Eli Diamond has written aspects of music, she switched into the hunting for classically-influenced art and elsewhere in this letter about the out- Music History programme. These studies architecture in Halifax, thinking through standing class of graduate students awakened her ongoing interest in the historical ideas not only from ancient who entered the Department last cultural aspects of history, especially the sources but also from modern science September. Our 2011 class is now relationship of art to its time and the time fiction (Arthur C. Clarke’s “A History taking final shape and I am pleased to the art – a fundamental question which Lesson”), and even preparing a choral ode to tell you that once again it is domi- runs through much of her subsequent for live performance in this year’s Pythian nated by students coming to us with research. She eventually became more games. The latter delighted not only the external awards testifying to the rec- interested in classical history than musi- students who participated but all who had ognition of their merit. All three of cal history, graduating with an honours the privilege of attending, and Dr Varto’s the students coming to the Depart- BA with a major in Classical Studies and Greek class garnered top honours at the ment or back to it for graduate study a minor concentration in Music His- Games. “The real credit,” she says, “has will have Canada Graduate Scholar- tory. From there she travelled to Halifax to go out to the students – for the music, ships; they will join two returning to take an MA in Classics, which she the costumes, the acting. They took my MA students and one returning PhD completed in 2004 with a thesis on the little idea, ran with it, and made it into candidate with Killam Scholarships, funeral legislation of Solon. This achieve- the awesome spectacle it was!” She looks the highest Dalhousie offers. ment was swiftly followed with a PhD forward to introducing her Greek stu- earned in the Department of Classical, dents to further texts by Thucydides and Near Eastern, and Religious Studies at the Herodotus, and anticipates having the sort Wayne Hankey University of British Columbia, where of engaged, attentive students who have made her experience of teaching thus far May 29, 2011. her research dealt mainly with early Greek ideas of kinship and the cultural expres- so enjoyable. sions thereof - subjects which continue to motivate and inform her current work We are most fortunate to have Dr. Varto examining relationships between state here in Halifax. Like her, we anticipate and family in their political, social, and very good things to come from her teach- economic contexts. “I’m a cultural histo- ing and research. Welcome, Emily! STUDENT PROFILE: Bruce Russell

Bruce Russell had his interest in antiquity Dalhousie cross-country team in his first piqued relatively early in his education. year (while still a student at King’s.) After Few junior high school students are improving greatly in his second year, encouraged to read Suetonius and Marcus Bruce transferred officially to Dalhousie Aurelius; one can only hope that if they in order to be able to compete on the are, they would find these authors as varsity team. engaging as Bruce did. Classics undergraduate Although running Bruce Russell is a man of and studying are many talents. At left, he obviously quite dif- hurls the thunderbolt as ferent pursuits, there is some common Zeus at this year’s Pythian ground between Games (see p. 9!) Below, the two. “Because he competes for Dalhousie of the individual on the varsity cross-country nature of the sport, team. performance is directly linked to ef- fort and work ethic,” Bruce notes, adding that the cross- country and track & field teams often Photo Credit: Bruce Bottomley

Bruce credits his teachers at Halifax’s boast an unusually high Armbrae Academy with inspiring his number of academic All- curiosity through courses in ancient his- Canadians among their tory and archaeology. Given the careful members. fostering that his interests received under the tutelage of Mr. John Stone (MA Another continuing inter- Classics, 1967), Dr. Jonathan Fowler and est is student government: Ms. Meghan, it was a natural next step Bruce served as treasurer for him to enroll in the Foundation Year of Res publica, the under- Programme at the University of King’s graduate Classics society, College. He says the the ancient and during the past year. In medieval sections of that course were politics as in running, particularly attractive to him and he was races may be lost by the especially intrigued by the philosophi- narrowest of margins, cal texts that they read during that year. as Bruce recalled while His experience in the Foundation Year recounting how he lost Programme prompted him to take classes the election for DASSS in the Departments of Philosophy and treasurer by a single vote. Classics, and eventually decide to major in Res publica, however, Classics. will welcome him back as treasurer in 2011-12, He recalls Dr. Eli Diamond’s introduc- which will be the final tion to ancient philosophy with particular year of his BA. Although fondness. “I was sad at the prospect of his plans thereafter are working during the summer,” he remem- not yet certain, Bruce is bers. “I would rather have read Aristotle!” considering the possibility of an MA, perhaps focus- The study of ancient texts is not the ing on the ethical ideas of only interest which followed Bruce from Aristotle. Armbrae Academy to Dalhousie: he is an accomplished cross-country runner and Watch and see…if you track & field athlete. After playing on can catch up! various sports teams throughout his high school years, he trained with the Photo Credit: Nick Pearce STUDENT PROFILE: Ellen Shaffner

Ellen Shaffner grew up in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. After graduating from Horton High School in 2007, she came to Halifax to take the Foundation Year Programme at the University of King’s College. Al- though she had initially planned to pursue a degree in journalism, she found herself fascinated by the ancient section of the Foundation Year, particularly by the works of Plato and Homer. “They were new and interesting; I had had no prior exposure to them and I wanted to learn more,” she remembers. The myth of Er in Plato’s Republic caught her imagination, as did the striking encounter of Achilles and Priam (whose son Hector has been killed in battle by Achilles) in Book Twenty-four of Homer’s Iliad. These texts, which she describes as “challenging and beautiful” and “profoundly moving”, moved her to learn Greek and transfer into an arts programme.

Some of her most memorable moments in Classics have arisen in the study of the literature of Greek and Rome, such as 5th-century Greek drama, Plato’s Sympo- sium, and Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Classical languages haven’t been her only linguistic interests: she has become increasingly fascinated with Russian. Over the last two years, she has studied the language first in English translation and then in the original Russian. Ellen’s foray into Russian was partly motivated by the connections between Russian literature and the Classi- cal world, such as the Homeric allusions found throughout the poetry of Osip and Social Sciences Society (the associa- never to secure a particular job. “Having Mandelstam, one of her favourite Russian tion of all students in the entire faculty), the knowledge, and the experience of authors. and this year won the FASS Peer Mentor acquiring it, has been wonderful. Remem- of the Year award from Dalhousie’s Peer bering that there is a past helps keep one Ellen, however, is no retiring reader. She Partnership Programme. Res publica has sane; humanity keeps going.” And so does has found time during the past two years been most fortunate to have her able and Ellen. Upon completing her degree this to be deeply involved in Res publica, the enthusiastic leadership, which was recog- term, she will plunge into an intense Rus- Classics undergraduate society, of which nized by the faculty of the Department at sian immersion programme at Middlebury she has been President during the past the year-end social with the presentation College in Vermont, follwed by a year in year. Organizing such varied functions as of a newly-minted prize, the “Pius Ae- the workplace. She is considering possibil- the Pythian Games, visits by guest lectur- neas” award for leadership by a Classics ities for further study thereafter: perhaps ers, programme fairs for undergraduates, student. an MA in Russian literature, focusing on and social functions have given her ample neglected classical references in Man- opportunity to serve her fellow students Through all of this, she somehow delstam’s poetry, or perhaps in business. and to become well acquainted with still manages to find time to return to Whatever she does, those around her students and faculty alike. She has also Wolfville to enjoy horseback riding. will be sure to benefit from her cheerful been involved with wider initiatives on Although her horse Streak (pictured with enthusiasm, hard-working dedication, and campus: last year she served as the Clas- her above) is unwilling to be ridden, he is extraordinary leadership abilities. sics representative on the Dalhousie Arts nevertheless good equine company. For Ellen the goal in studying Classics was UPDATE: Graduate Studies Programme

The graduate programme in the Cochran. Our students continue efforts, for which he was honoured Classics Department is as thriving to produce theses of the highest by a wonderful surprise party and vibrant as it has ever been. Our quality on all aspects of ancient and organized by the current graduate current crop of graduate students medieval philosophy, literature and students. is remarkable both for its size (14 history. Just last year, Timothy Riggs students) and quality. The quality (MA 2009) received the Governor - Eli Diamond has been recognized by the fact that General’s Gold Medal for his thesis exactly half of these students have “Eros as Cosmic and Hierarchical received the prestigious Canada Principle: Christ and the Socratic Hi- Graduate Scholarship from SSHRC, erarch in the Thought of Dionysius and three of these students (Benja- the Areopagite” supervised by Dr. min Manson, Emma Whitney and Wayne Hankey. Tim’s is the third Benjamin Lee) are Killam Scholars, Classics graduate thesis to receive the highest distinction for a graduate such a distinction in the past decade. student at Dalhousie. We have every reason to believe that our next decade of graduate Upon returning from Utah where students will continue to produce she presented a paper on Lucretius this kind of first-rate, cutting-edge entitled “The Philosophy of Poet- research. ics in the De Rerum Natura” to the Ancient Philosophy Society, Emma After ten years of distinguished Whitney received news that she service in the position, Dr. Peter has been awarded the A.S. Mowat O’Brien stepped down in January as Prize in recognition of outstanding Graduate Coordinator for Dalhou- achievement by a student in the first sie Classics. In recognition of this year of a Master’s programme in any service, he received the 2009-2010 Above: PhD student, Benjamin Lee discipline at Dalhousie University. Outstanding Graduate Advisor Besides these individual distinctions, award at Dalhousie. The health of Below: A student’s colourfully marked every single one of the distinguished the graduate programme is due in no page of translations scholars who participated in our Vis- small part to Dr. O’Brien’s tireless iting Speaker seminars this year ex- pressed amazement at the intellectual rigour and energy of our graduate students. It is this intellectual energy that makes graduate teaching in the Department such a joy.

Our graduate students have been busy over the past year present- ing their research at regional and national conferences, including many students who presented at the Clas- sical Association of Canada Annual Meeting hosted by Dalhousie this year (see Classical Association of Canada Congress and Updates on Alumni and Friends). Many of our graduate students have published in the Department’s student journal Pseudo-Dionysius, co-edited by MA students Emma Whitney and William

Giving goes a long way. Our alumni are among our most generous supporters. This year, thanks to dollars generated through our annual fund, Classics was able to provide travel awards for graduate students to present research papers at various academic conferences. Such evidence of academic engagement helps our graduates become more competitive in their applications for further study, funding and employment. Thank you. UPDATE: Simon & Riva Spatz Chair in Jewish Studies The Simon and Riva Spatz Chair in Jewish expand the frontier of knowledge about happening on the world front. We have Studies will create new opportunities for Judaism, with particular emphasis on approached many people, locally, nation- student learning, expand current knowl- ancient and medieval times, and how this ally and internationally, to support the edge on ancient culture and continue history still plays out in contemporary program. The response has been excel- Dalhousie’s long standing commitment to society. This research will complement lent” diversity. the work currently being pursued in the Faculty. To make a donation or to learn more, Fundraising for this endowed Chair was contact Ben McIsaac at ben.mcisaac@dal. announced in March 2010, propelled by Outreach activities will be an important a $1-million donation from Dalhousie component of the Chair’s role, says Board of Governors Chair Jim Spatz. It Summerby-Murray, who participated at The movie Defiance recounts a will be the first of its kind east of Mon- the unveiling of the project to the Atlan- little-known story of courage and treal. tic Jewish Council in Fall 2010. persistence in the face of the Holocaust. Starring Daniel Craig Sharing knowledge and research find- of James Bond fame, the movie The gift is dedicated to Spatz’s parents, ings with local, national and international tells the story of Jewish people Riva and Simon, who were both holocaust Jewish communities will be the primary who survived WWII by retreating survivors. The Chair be housed in the purpose of these activities. Students and to the woods, where food was Department of Religious Studies. (see the local community, Jewish and non- scarce and the cold was bitter. box) Jewish, will benefit from participating in conferences, seminars, workshops and But Jim Spatz was well aware of Since Spatz’s donation, movement on this various programs the Chair will identify the story—it was lived by both project has been rapid and exciting, says and develop. his parents. His mother, Riva, Dr Rob Summerby-Murray, who began belonged to a partisan group in as Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Dalhousie has a long tradition of accep- the Jewish resistance movement (FASS) Dean in July 2010. Summerby- tance. The school’s founders wanted an and lived out the war in the woods Murray’s excitement for the initiative is institution that was open to all and since of Poland. His father, Simon, also contagious, as he and FASS Development its inception, Dalhousie has repeatedly Polish, was interned at a labour Officer Ben McIsaac trade information proven its commitment to upholding the camp and fled with his younger and progress on the Chair before the principles of equality and inclusiveness. brother to the forest just a day outset of this interview. It is clear much The Chair will continue this work. before the camp was “liquidated” has happened since their last meeting, not and all the occupants murdered. even two weeks before. It is part of a larger project of the Fac- Spatz honors the courage and ulty: one of convivencia. By bringing resilience of his parents in help- Named Chairs are a Dean’s priority, says together three major Western religions ing to create an endowed chair Summerby-Murray, whose strategic direc- – Judaism, Islam and Eastern Christianity in Jewish studies. Dr. Spatz tion for the Faculty also includes fostering – Dalhousie will create a place of cultural is forever inspired by what his interdisciplinary research and forging in- sharing, creative interchange and scholarly parents went through to give him ternational collaborations. A geographical discourse among Jews, Christians and and his sister opportunities in life. historian, Summerby-Murray is personally Muslims – a place that breeds religious “It makes you more tolerant. The interested in how the classical tradition tolerance and where different cultures freedom and opportunity repre- of Judaism influenced – and continues flourish. Dalhousie is the only university sented by Canada makes you to influence – culture, religion and world in Canada that is currently looking at this want to give back,” he says. events. package, a prospect Summerby-Murray finds extremely exciting. After the war, Riva and Simon Spatz’s donation came at a fortuitous met and married in Munich and time, says Summerby-Murray. The Chair “In creating a space for dialogue with immigrated to Canada where they has been named a FASS fundraising scholars of Islamic and Eastern Christian built a successful business in priority for the university’s campaign, Bold traditions, the Chair in Jewish Studies will property management. In Halifax, they joined a small, close-knit Ambitions. play a leading role in advancing scholarly Jewish community. and cultural understanding. I am pleased Once fully funded, the Chair will have to be involved and look forward to the Spatz says he’s proud to be a three focuses: teaching, research and day when we can put the Chair and its graduate of Dalhousie University, outreach. He or she will help re-shape important programming in place.” which was founded on the prin- the curriculum to reflect the connections cipal of inclusiveness, “its doors between ancient traditions and the mod- Ben McIsaac is optimistic that the fund open to all.” Unlike other universi- ern world. New classes related to Jewish will hit its target in the next five years. ties, Dalhousie never had a quota Studies will be created and existing ones on the number of Jewish students will be modified to provide the greatest “Jim’s gift took the Chair from the it would accept. Today, Dalhousie depth of content. visionary to the reality stage. Potential has approximately 800 Jewish donors strongly recommended making students which is five per cent of The Chair’s research goal will be to the program relevant to today and what’s the student body. Source for box: DalNews Pythian Games 2011 When a man, even a junior professor in foolish. But not his first year at Dalhousie, finds himself at Dalhousie, tucked into a heavy full-sized Roman toga where a belief in and pouring forth Homer’s own “Hymn the importance to Apollo” over the corpse of papier- of literature cuts mâché snake in front of a packed room across disciplines of zealous undergrads, he owes the world and departments some explanation. So here is the true his- and faculties. tory of the Pythian Games, a competition No sooner had I in the recital, declamation, and perfor- posted a notice mance of texts (ancient and modern) that and put up a took place in the Classics Department on website than the March 18, 2011. enthusiastic email started pouring Two legendary figures are responsible in. By the eve- for our revival of the Pythian Games. ning of March The first is Emperor Theodosius the 18th, no fewer Great, who ruled from 379 to 395 AD than nineteen from Euripides’ Ion, complete with cho- and who shut down the original Pythian separate performances had entered the reography, music, and costumes; and the Games in 394. These original Pythian lists, bringing to life works from around Alumni Prize went to Mr. Luke DeWeese Games had been one of four quadrennial the world in no fewer than nine different for his moving and original performance festivals (along with the Nemean Games, languages (Ancient Greek, Latin, Middle of Catullus’ “Hymn to Diana” (in Latin), the Isthmian Games, and of course English, Old Norse, German, Russian, of a passage from Chaucer (in Middle the Olympic Games) of pagan Greece, Welsh, Quenya and Modern English) English), and of a satirical poem by a held at Delphi in honour of Apollo the by authors from Homer to Virgil to T. friend. So many other performances Snake-Killer. Their pagan character did S. Eliot. For two hours in the Classics deserve mention, as the talent was all so not please Theodosius, so it took another Library, to a standing-room-only crowd fresh and enthusiastic, but that would take 1617 years before Dr. Wayne Hankey, a that refused more than once to take a small volume in itself. second legendary figure, vowed to revive a break, students held their peers and them. Knowing my enthusiasm for poetic profs spellbound. Judging was difficult, Overall, one was left wondering not why performance, my research into public but in the end Ms. Greta Landis won the a grown man would wear a grown man’s poetry in the Roman Empire, and my sin- Dalhousie Res publica Prize for her brilliant toga but why the Emperor Theodosius cere belief that today’s students are just as performance of Woody Allen’s “The would ever have cancelled such a marvel- keen on literature as they’ve ever been (if Whore of Mensa”; the Chair’s Prize was ous literary event. If he had been there only they’re given the chance to show it), split by Ms. Katie Middleton (for a terrific in Dalhousie Classics on March 18th and Dr. Hankey commanded me to revive the performance in Latin from Aulus Gellius’ seen the warm glow on faces young and Pythian Games on a grand scale, ideally Attic Nights) and Mr. Dominic Lacasse old, he would surely have rescinded his making up for 1617 years of neglect. (who built his own Homeric lyre and sang unhappy edict. Meanwhile we all look Homer’s Greek like Phemius himself); forward keenly to the Pythian Games of Here I must admit, in all frankness, that the Howard Murray Prize went to the Dr. 2012. at any other university Dr. Hankey and Emily Varto’s Intermediate Greek Class, I might have wound up looking pretty which performed a full chorus in Greek - Jack Mitchell

Photo Credit: Bruce Bottomley

Dominic Lacasse with lyre in the chorus Dr. Emily Varto (in the mask), Kristan Marie-Clare Klassen and Erik TarBush, of Euripides’ Ion. Mr. Lacasse was later Newell and Jacob Glover perform a imprinted with Surtitles during the per- awarded a Chair’s Prize of $100 for his chorus from Euripides’ tragedy of the Ion formance of a chorus from the Ion (in performance from the Iliad (in Greek). (in Greek). Greek). Classical Association of Canada Congress May 9 - 12, 2011

Between May 9 and May 12, owing to Thinking,” organized by professors Plato” included papers by MA student the initiative and Herculean labours of Wayne Hankey and Michael Fournier, Chris Gibson and alumnus Colin Professor Peter O’Brien, our Depart- and drawing on a host of current and Webster (now a doctoral student at ment hosted the Annual Meeting of former faculty and students, as well as Columbia) and was chaired by Dal- the Classical Association of Canada distinguished visitors. housie PhD Vernon Provencal, head (cac-scechalifax2011.classics.dal.ca/ of ’s programme in index.php/CAC2011/CACHFX). In addition to those participating in Classics and Ancient History. Dalhou- Primarily a venue for academic papers, our host-sponsored panels, the confer- sie’s newest faculty member, Dr. Emily this year’s event, split between the ence programme boasted a score of Varto, presented a paper in a panel on Dalhousie and King’s campuses, intro- familiar Dalhousie Classics names “Individual and Community in Greek duced several innovations. Among the from our present roll of students and History” along with MA alumnus Nic most obvious was its sheer size: with faculty as well as from those of alumni Thorne, who is pursuing his doctor- between 230 and 240 registrants from in various stages of their careers at ate at the University of Pittsburg. Dal Canada, the US, Europe and Australia, other universities. Dr. Eli Diamond BA(Hons) alumna and Rhodes Scholar and with some 190 papers, it was the organized and presented in a special Florence Yoon returned to present a largest such meeting of the organi- panel on “Politics and Metaphysics in paper on Aeschylus in a panel chaired zation to date. Dalhousie’s special Ancient Greek Philosophy,” which also by former Killam Postdoctoral Fellow contribution to the programme was its featured MA students Will Cochran David Mirhady, who teaches now at “host-sponsored” colloquium panels and Ben Manson. Alumna Dr. Carol . Florence will on “The Self ” and “Praying and King (now teaching at the Grenfell begin teaching at UBC this fall, where campus of MUN) participated she will join fellow alumnus and faculty in a special panel on the novels member David Creese, who came of Mary Renault, and Emeri- to Halifax to speak on Lucian and tus Professor Rainer Fried- Homer. Recent MA graduate Carolyn rich in a special panel on the MacDonald, now working towards a authorship of the Iliad and the PhD at Stanford University, presented Odyssey. Graduate Alumni An- in a Greek Poetics panel chaired by dra Striowski and Matt Wood, another MA graduate, Michael Samp- both now pursuing doctorates son, who has just been appointed in Ancient Philosophy at the to a tenure- track position in Greek , ap- Literature at the University of Mani- peared along with MA student toba. In Winnipeg, Michael will have as Luke Togni in a panel on his colleague fellow alumnus Dr James Aristotle and his successors. Chlup, who also chaired a panel at this This panel was chaired by our year’s conference, as did Dr. Catherine most recent PhD, Dr. Seamus Feeley Tracy, Assistant Professor of O’Neill, who holds a tenure- Classics at Bishops University. Finally, track position in philosophy in separate panels on Latin Literature, at MUN. A companion panel Elizabeth Baxter (now in doctoral on “Socrates, the Sophists, and studies at Boston University) presented a paper on Sappho and Catullus, and Emma Whitney (current MA student) on Ovid.

The Congress assumed More than 230 classicists from more the character of an North America, Europe and intellectual event than a Australia convened on Dalhou- professional event at the sie campus in May for the 2011 Fournier-Hankey panels CAC Congress. which ran continuously for two and a half days Above: a detail of The School in the Library of the of Athens fresco by Raphael. Classics Department. Right: Iliad, Book VIII, lines One colloquium focused 245–53 on “the Self,” discuss-

Photos: Wikipedia Classical Association of Canada Congress May 9 - 12, 2011

ing the status and transformations of the interpretative possibilities encoun- subjectivity and the self in Antiquity, tered in the endeavour. Dr. William Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages up Barker, President of the University to the threshold of European Moder- of King’s College, hosted a reception nity. Considerations of interactions after the event. between the Greco-Roman world and Eastern, Hebrew and Arabic worlds The whole conference could not have were welcomed and duly appeared. been accomplished without the finan- The colloquium on “Praying and cial support of numerous Offices at Thinking” discussed the relations King’s and Dalhousie, including those between religion and philosophy in the of the Presidents, the Vice-Presidents same period and in terms of the same Academic and Research, the Deans interactions. Scholars from Greece, of the Faculties of Arts and Social the USA, Quebec, and Alberta took Sciences and Graduate Studies, as well part, but the papers and discussion as the Departments of History, Phi- came mostly from past and present losophy, Spanish and Latin American members of the Department: profes- Studies, and German. We were espe- sors Hankey, Fournier, and Diamond, cially grateful too to the Department alumni Gregory MacIsaac, Simon of Modern Languages and Classics, Fortier, Martin Sastri, Jennifer Otto, the Dean of Arts, and the President Torrance Kirby, Emily Parker, Timothy of Saint Mary’s University, who put on Canadian poet and classicist Anne Riggs, Matthew Robinson, and Seamus a marvellous reception for delegates, Carson gave this year’s CAC key- O’Neill, and present graduate students which included Greek dancing and the note address. Martin Curran, Benjamin Lee, Marc endowment of a special scholarship Vollebekk, Brian Lam, Evan King and named for Dalhousie PhD alumna Dr. Peter Bullerwell. The alumni rejoiced Geraldine Thomas, a long-time faculty to see that the intellectual activities and member at Saint Mary’s. standards of the Department had not altered (unless for the better,) and the The conference came to a jovial present students had the opportunity end with a lobster dinner in the to draw on the depth and breadth of Small Craft Gallery of the Maritime the knowledge of former members. Museum of the Atlantic, with music All participants expressed enthusiasm provided by violinist David Green- for the experience and hoped that berg. As with any departmental event, other occasions of such interchange the organisation was made infinitely would be forthcoming. smoother by the minute attentions of Donna Edwards, Departmental A highlight of the Conference was the Administrator. Assisting Dr. Peter keynote event delivered by renowned O’Brien, Conference Organizer, were NOW IT’S YOUR TURN Canadian poet and classicist Anne colleagues and students at both the Do you have an interesting story to Carson, currently Distinguished Poet graduate and undergraduate level. We share? Know of a former class- in Residence at NYU. Along with are grateful to them all. Leading roles mate who is doing something her collaborator Robert Currie, she were played by Manager of the King’s exciting and newsworthy? presented two pieces. The first, a Co-op Bookstore, Carolyn Gillis and lecture on translation called “Cas- Christopher Grundke, who set up the sandra Float Can” was accompanied book display, Brian Lam, who set up WE WANT TO HEAR by moving-placard pictures carried and manned the Dionysius and Pseudo- FROM YOU! by faculty and students. The second, Dionysius display, Eli Diamond, who “Bracco” (an amalgam of “Sappho,” did the French translations, Michael on whose fragments the presentation Fournier, who compiled the book of Please send all comments, sug- is based, and “Bracket,” an inevitable abstracts, Luke Togni, who managed gestions, ideas or inquiries to typographical feature of published the website, and Will Cochran, who [email protected] fragments) conveyed, audibly and with with Donna ran interference for it all. back-projected images, the process of reading an incomplete antique text and An Enormous Success. ALUMNI Q&A Msgr Dr. Hans Feichtinger, MA ‘03 1. Where were you born, and where be said about Thomas did you grow up? What was your and Bonaventure. I background before coming to study even “met” the Arabic Classics at Dalhousie? What previous philosophers whom studies had you undertaken? before I had generally only known by name. I was born in the Bavarian town of Pas- These interests have sau on the Danube. There I attended the not left me ever since. “Humanistisches Gymnasium Leopoldi- Even for my doctoral num,” a classical grammar school which thesis on an author like taught me Latin and Greek from early Leo the Great, much of on. After school I decided to study for this proved immensely the priesthood and I received degrees in useful and added to the theology from the University of Passau fundamental education (2005) and in patristics from the Augus- I had received at the tinianum in Rome (Licentiate 2007.) Augustinianum. For my work now at the Holy 2. How did your theological interests See, this academic work and expertise lead into the philosophi- in particular and the cal research that you undertook at more general Canadian Dalhousie? experience are a real advantage, as they give After some years of parish work, I me the opportunity to returned to the Augustinianum in 2001 speak from firsthand for the doctoral programme. Only then knowledge about topics did I find out about its connection with connected to Canada the Dalhousie Classics Department, or to the topics I was mainly the work of Professors Crouse able to learn something and Hankey on your side of the Atlantic about while I was there, and of Professors Robert Dodaro and including the language. Salvatore Lilla on ours. Through the latter Also, friends and what I do. two, I developed an interest in the topics contacts that I gained during my time at and methods dear to the Classics Depart- Dalhousie have remained very much alive Outside my work at the Holy Office, ment. Both sides were extremely helpful and have been helpful in many occasions. I kept or developed further an interest in getting me accepted at Dalhousie and in philosophy, not least in the work of organizing my one year at the Department 4. What have you done since complet- H.G. Gadamer, himself not unknown at in such a way as to make it most produc- ing the MA? Are there connections Dalhousie. In him and in many other au- tive, both academically and personally. In between your studies and your subse- thors I discover time and again, how they this regard, I am also still grateful to the quent work? Have there been interest- follow (or, which is generally bad, violate,) Archdiocese of Halifax (then Archbishop ing surprises along the way? be it unconsciously, the teachings of our Terrence Prendergast) and to St Theresa’s “school.” For this being a “school” with Parish (then pastor Thomas White) on I completed the MA in 2003 and in 2004 its own tradition and “Gestalt”, includ- North Street where I was allowed to live I started to work for the Congregation ing its inevitable limits, in my view makes and help in pastoral work. of the Doctrine of the Faith, one of the the Dalhousie Classics Department what central offices of the Catholic Church it is and distinguishes it positively from the all to often amorphous Classics of 3. Of what use has the MA been to at the Vatican. In 2005, I defended my Philosophy Departments out there. I take you, in terms of intellectual interest or doctoral thesis on “Christ’s presence in it as a good sign, that many colleagues your subsequent career? the Church according to St Leo,” which was published in 2006. I was also able from Haligonian times have found their Before coming to Canada I had only to publish part of my Master’s thesis for way and the time for a Roman visit over known and experienced European and Dalhousie and a translated and elaborated these last years. And the sense of belong- ecclesiastical universities. So from a version of another paper I had written ing that most of them - we - share is not simply institutional point of view, coming for a class given by Professor O’Brien. At only the usual nostalgia for the good old to Dalhousie for me meant a real change, the Congregation, much of what we do is college years, but based on an intellectual challenge and broadening of mind. What working with texts of varied natures and communion which I find quite unique and and how things were done there was new purposes. Many of these texts have to do for which I am perennially grateful to me and made me aware of things and with questions that are not so far removed interrelations of which I had up to then from those examined at the Classics been ignorant. I read more Plato, Aristo- Department. The method(s) of reading and interpreting which I learnt there are tle, Neoplatonists than before, and I read - Interview by Chris Grundke them differently; something similar could valid and can often be applied fruitfully in

ALUMNI PROFILE: ALUMNOTES Emily Parker, BA ‘07 Emily Parker, until recently a lifelong MA research. During Dr. Hankey’s course Elizabeth Helen Baxter (BA 2005, resident of Halifax, found her way into on medieval interpreters of Aristotle, the MA 2007) returned home from Bos- the study of Classics via two classes at readings from Philo of Alexandria in- ton University to deliver a paper on the University of King’s College. The trigued her, despite Philo’s reputation for Horace and Sappho at the Classics Medieval section of Foundation Year being difficult and obscure. “Philo isn’t Association of Canada Congress Programme, which she found challenging the illogical, incoherent mess that he is hosted by the Department this May. and particularly interesting, and second sometimes made out to be,” she says. Her Michael Bennett (BA, with First was an introductory course in the History presentation on Philo in a Neoplatonism Class Honours in Classics and Con- of Science and Technology (HOST), class led to the subject of her MA thesis, temporary Studies, 2007) is studying which prompted her to consider taking namely Philo’s doctrine of mediation in for a PhD in the Philosophy Depart- a BA degree with Combined Honours in De Vita Mosis. While pursuing her own ment at McMaster University under Classics and HOST. She eventually settled research and coursework, she also worked the direction of Dr. Barry Allen. on Classics alone after taking a second- very capably as a teaching assistant in year class in medieval philosophy and the Classics Department in classes on Stephen Blackwood (BA 1997, MA becoming fascinated by the writings of philosophy, Greek history, mythology 1999) has successfully completed Dionysius and Bonaventure. and religions of the Eastern and Western PhD studies at Emory University. He has joined his sister Naomi Black- worlds. Of all of these learning experi- wood (MA 2009) and bother-in-law Acquiring knowledge of the relevant ences, she found Philo provided particu- Patrick Graham (MA 1993), in ancient languages was not easy (“They ab- larly fertile ground for reflection, for he Toronto where his wife has a post- sorb lots of time”), especially when these was steeped in his own Jewish traditions doctoral fellowship. Stephen served classes occurred close to the waitressing as well as in the philosophical tradi- as Chapel Theologian for 2010-11 job by which Parker made ends meet. tion of the Platonists; his influence on at the University of King’s College. However, she found the disciplined study subsequent thinkers, especially early and His brother, Jesse Blackwood (BA most rewarded not only for reading Greek medieval Christian writers, was deep and 2004), is back in Halifax heading and Latin, but also for enriching her un- lingering. Parker’s activities during her MA Youthnet St George’s Round Church derstanding of English. Parker completed were by no means exclusively academic; in James Bryson (BA 2005, MA 2007), the BA with Honours in Classics in 2007. her own words, “Philo and yoga are prob- finishing a PhD in Divinity at Cam- ably my two main interests.” She both bridge University under the supervi- Another of the philosophers whom practices and teaches yoga, which she sion of Douglas Hedley and pursuing Parker encountered during her under- finds a happy complement to philosophi- research in Munich, delivered a graduate days became the focus of her cal inquiry, because she understands yoga paper on Renaissance Platonism as a practical and physical ex- to the Collaborative Research pression of disciplined thought. Workshop organized by Marmara University and McGill University, pre- Parker is currently having sided over by Dr Torrance Kirby in adventures at Trinity College in Istanbul in December 2010. There, he joined seven other present or the University of Dublin, Ire- former members of the Department land, where she is an interdisci- giving papers, including Professors plinary PhD student in Jewish Hankey, Tom Curran and Alexander Studies at the School of Reli- Treiger. The eight papers presented gions, Theology and Ecumenics by our alumni and faculty made up and at the Centre for the Study almost a third of those delivered. of the Platonic Tradition. Her The Istanbul conference was one research is being supervised by of four recently dominated by the Dr. Zuleika Rodgers and Emer- Department; others have been held itus Regius Professor of Greek in Quebec, Steubenville, and Halifax. We get around. at Trinity College, John Dillon, who visited the Department in Congratulations to David Butorac 2008. Alongside the research (BA 1999, MA 2001), who success- work, she is working part-time fully defended his thesis last autumn in the Weingreen Museum of at the University of Leuven, earning Biblical Antiquities and gaining a doctoral degree in Ancient Philoso- further teaching experience. phy. He has accepted a position as She is pleased that there is still Assistant Professor in Philosophy at a little time left for yoga and Fatih University in Istanbul, Turkey, where he will teach ancient and me- some travelling, too! dieval philosophy and ancient Greek.

Dr. Barry Craig (MA 1985) became Vice-President Academic of St. Thomas University in Fredericton,

Photograph courtesy of Ashtanga Yoga Shala Yoga Ashtanga Photograph courtesy of NB, in February of 2010. We con- gratulate him on this success! ALUMNI PROFILE: Tim Riggs, BEng ‘02, BA ‘07, MA ‘09 There must be something in the water in with First Class Honours in 2007, Tim opment (especially with Dionysius the Nova Scotia’s Pictou County. In addi- undertook an MA in the Department, Areopagite), and the Arab philosophers,( tion to being the home of philosophical writing his thesis on aspects of Proclus especially al-Fārābī ,) Tim is now a leader great, the late Professor James Doull, it and Dionysius. His labours earned him in international scholarship. His work is also the home to alumnus Tim Riggs, a not only a degree: he was also the 2009 combines philological and linguistic mas- man who’s blazing a trail of classical and recipient of the Governor-General’s tery, exceptional historical precision, and philosophical scholarship Gold Medal for best MA thesis. intellectual grasp to a very rare degree.

It was engineering, however, that brought Well before the MA thesis had even been Quite apart from the intellectual adven- Tim to Halifax in 1996 in order to begin completed, plans for the next stages of tures of the PhD research, Finland itself studies at Saint Mary’s University. After Tim’s academic work were already well- is proving to be an enjoyable place for completing two years of introductory formed. He accepted a doctoral position Tim: a beautiful country full of friendly study, he switched to Dalhousie Univer- with the SSALT (Subjectivity and Self- people, even if the ceaseless midsummer sity, graduating with Bachelor of Engi- hood in the Arabic and Latin traditions) sun can be somewhat exhausting! He and neering in 2002. Upon leaving Dalhousie, project, led by Dr. Taneli Kukkonen at his family are flourishing there in mind he worked with the Canadian air force as the University of Jyväskylä in Jyväskylä, and size, respectively. For his most recent an airfield engineer, but found it necessary Finland. This project, funded by the work, see Alumnotes at right. to leave the forces for medical reasons. European Research Council, studies the When he learned that he had the op- development of conceptions of selfhood tion of leaving the military and return to and consciousness throughout the medi- university, he made up his mind decisively eval period, considering both the Arabic and rather suddenly: “I woke up in the and Latin streams together as a single morning and decided to do it.” ‘Western’ tradition, and emphasizing the effect Tim had been reading in the Classics of these for years and wanted to gain a better conceptions understanding of the literature. He set of self- to work on the languages immediately, hood and starting with Greek and Latin, in which conscious- he excelled. He didn’t stop there: he took ness on the classes in French, German, Italian, and moral and Arabic during the next few years. “I was political always interested in the languages, in theories reading and decoding texts. Some of my of the era. happiest moments occurred when I could Tim’s con- understand a Greek text!” tribution to the project Tim turned his newfound understand- focuses on ing of the languages to good intellectual the influ- use right away. One of his reasons for ence upon studying Classics was to learn more about the Arabic ancient philosophy, and was delighted philosophi- by his first forays into Neoplatonism. cal tradition “Something turned on in my head, and of the con- I thought, ‘You can’t stop now.’ There’s ceptions of a hard kernel of truth in there, good not selfhood in only for understanding ancient thought the political but for informing our lives today.” He philosophy eagerly continued through the rest of the of al-Fārābī. Classics course, noting that there are few other places in Canada where one can Working study Neoplatonism as one can at Dal- simultane- housie. He speaks particularly apprecia- ously on tively of Dr. Hankey’s “Meetings” class: Hellenic “It was a great introduction to the subject, Neopla- taught by an engaging and dynamic tonism scholar. I discovered Dionysius, Proclus, (especially and al-Fārābī there. Almost everything Proclus), that I have done since in some way began its Chris- in that class!” After completing the BA tian devel- Tim Riggs and baby outside of Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral ALUMNOTES

Dr. David Creese (MA 1997), recently Professors Fournier and Hankey at the Jersey. He has just been appointed to a promoted to Associate Professor of CAC Congress. tenure track position in Greek Literature Greek and Latin Literature at the Uni- at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg versity of British Columbia, has just Dr. Andrew Porter (MA 2000) has be- where he will join Dr James Chlup (MA published a book, The Monochord in come Assistant Professor of Classics at 1998.) Both men participated in the CAC Ancient Greek Harmonic Science, part of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Conference hosted by the Department, the Cambridge Classical Studies series. with a paper on Euripides. He returned home to participate in the Seamus O’Neill (PhD 2009) now As- CAC Conference hosted by the Depart- sistant Professor of Philosophy at the Andra Striowski (BA 2005, MA 2008), ment in May, delivering a paper on a St John Campus of Newfoundland’s now finishing a PhD in Philosophy at the musical reference in Lucian. Memorial University delivered a paper University of Ottawa, delivered a paper on Demonic Agency in Augustine for the on Aristotle at the CAC. She painted the Simon Fortier (BA 2007, MA 2009) has Self Panel at the Halifax Congress much admired portrait of James Doull received funding for his doctoral degree of the CAC. which hangs in the Department; she will from the Social Sciences and Humanities return to the Department in October for Research Council of Canada; he is writ- Emily Parker (BA 2007, MA 2010) con- the unveiling of her much anticipated ing a thesis on Proclus which will lead tinues her PhD studies at Trinity College portrait of Robert Crouse. to a PhD from the University of Laval. Dublin. She delivered papers on Philo He returned home to deliver a paper on of Alexandria both at the “Philosophy Nicholas Thorne (BA 1999, MA 2001), Proclus for, and join in the discussions and the Abrahamic Religions: ‘Scriptural now finishing a PhD in Classics at the of, the Praying and Thinking Colloquium Authority and Theories of Knowledge’,” University of Pittsburgh, delivered a in the CAC Conference hosted by the Conference in Istanbul and in the Pray- paper on the battle of Plataea at the Department in May. ing and Thinking Colloquium organized CAC Congress. There he joined Profes- by Professors Fournier and Hankey at sors Diamond and Fournier and Matthew Carol J. King (MA 1995) came home the CAC Congress. Here, she joined Robinson, who were students together in from the Grenfell Campus of the Memo- Jennifer Otto and new MA student Brian the Department. rial University of Newfoundland to deliver Lam in a session devoted to Philo. a paper on Mary Renault at the CAC Geraldine Thomas (PhD 1981) was Conference. She was one of five of our Vernon Provençal (BA 1981, MA 1994, honoured by the establishment of a alumni representing their heads at the PhD 1992), now Professor in the depart- scholarship in Classics at Saint Mary’s council of Chairs of Canadian Classics ment of History and Classics at Acadia University where for three decades she departments. University, delivered a paper on the kept the Classics flame alight. riddle of the Sphinx at the CAC Con- Carolyn MacDonald (BA 2007, MA gress. In the Winter Term, he served as Colin Webster (BA 2005, MA 2007), 2009) returned from her PhD studies in a guest speaker for Res publica now finishing a PhD in Classics at Co- Classics at Stanford to deliver a paper lumbia University, delivered a paper on on Philostratus’ Imagines at the CAC Timothy Riggs (BA 2007, MA 2009) “Guts and Gutters,” at the CAC Con- Congress. continues his PhD studies and research gress. at Finland’s University of Jyväskylä. He Gregory MacIsaac (BA 1992), now is currently a doctoral member of the Daniel Wilband (MA 2007) has com- Associate Professor in the College of Subjectivity and Selfhood in the Arabic pleted two years as a Teaching Fellow in the Humanities at Carleton Univer- and Latin Traditions (SSALT) project the Foundation Year Programme (FYP) sity, returned home to give a paper on funded by the European Research at King’s and will move on to the highly self-knowledge in Proclus for the Self Council. With Dr Hankey, Tim delivered a selective course in International Law at Colloquium organized by Professors paper at the Annual Meeting of the Soci- McGill University. After three years as a Fournier and Hankey at the CAC Con- ety for Ancient Greek Philosophy with the FYP Teaching Fellow, Michelle Wil- gress. In the panels, Greg joined two of Society for the Study of Islamic Philoso- band (MA 2008) will move with Daniel to his former students, Martin Sastri (MA phy and Science at Fordham University Montréal. 2006) and Marc Vollebekk. Marc is now in October, 2010. He returned home to successfully finishing the first year of participate in the Colloquium on the Self Matthew Wood (BA 2003, MA 2005), Master’s study in the Department. Greg at the CAC Congress organised by Drs now beginning his second year of a PhD also delivered a paper on Dante to the Fournier and Hankey, with a paper en- in Philosophy at the University of Ottawa, Collaborative Research Workshop orga- titled “Elements of Selfhood in al-Fārābī: returned home to deliver a paper on Ar- nized by Marmara University and McGill Between Alexander and Proclus.” istotle and Plotinus at the CAC Congress University presided over by Dr Torrance to a panel organized by Dr Eli Diamond. Kirby in Istanbul during December 2010. Matthew Robinson (BA 2000, MA 2002) now completing a PhD in Philosophy at Florence Yoon (BA, with First Class Jennifer Otto (BA with First Class Boston College, delivered a paper on Honours; University Medal in Clas- Honours in Early Modern Studies and Bonaventure in the Self Colloquium at sics; King’s Medal, 2002) returned Classics, 2006) is pursuing a PhD in the CAC Congress in May. from lectureships at Trinity College and Church History at McGill University, Worchester College with a DPhil from where she holds a prestigious Vanier After completing his PhD at the Univer- Oxford University, funded by the Rhodes Fellowship. She delivered papers on sity of Michigan, C. Michael Sampson Trust, to deliver a paper on the Pro- Philo of Alexandria both at the “Phi- (BA 2001, MA 2003) has enjoyed short- metheus Bound at the CAC Congress. losophy and the Abrahamic Religions” term positions at St. Olaf College, Min- She will be taking up an appointment Workshop in Istanbul and at the Praying nesota, and a research fellowship held in the Department of Classical, Near

and Thinking Colloquium organized by at Rutgers, the State University of New Eastern and Religious Studies at the University of British Columbia.F “Ave atque pro tempore vale”

STAY CONNECTED

Classics News is published periodically by the Depart- Department of Classics ment of Classics at Dalhousie University in cooperation Dalhousie University with FASS Alumni Relations, Marion McCain Arts and Social Sciences Building Dalhousie University. 6135 University Ave. Editors: Room 1172 Dr. Wayne Hankey, Dr. Chris Grundke, Krista Armstrong Halifax, NS B3H 4R2

Contributors: (902) 494-3468 Dr. Chris Grundke, Dr. Wayne [email protected] Hankey, Dr. Eli Diamond, Dr. Jack Mitchell, Dr. Peter www.dal.ca/classics O’Brien, Krista Armstrong Alumni Relations Design: Krista Armstrong FASS Alumni Relations: Visit www.alumniandfriends.dal.ca to update your contact information and stay con- Krista Armstrong 902.494.6288 nected with Dalhousie University. [email protected]

FASS Development Officer: For information on events within the Faculty or to plan a reunion, Ben McIsaac 902.494.1790 visit www.dal.ca/fass or email [email protected] [email protected]