Dædalusexplores

projects and publications Dædalus Explores “What’s New about the Old” The collection explores new developments in the classics that are reshaping our understanding of the ancient world–and its relevance to today ascination with Greco-Roman culture continues to drive academic curricula and popular interest, in spite of recent Fdata signaling a decline in the study of the humanities. New developments in the study of the ancient world–integrat- ing methodological, philosophical, and technological advances–have, in some cases, revolutionized our understanding of the past, opening up a new realm of classical studies for the twenty-first century. This period of discovery is due in large part to a new generation of classicists who are reshaping our access to and understanding of Greco-Roman culture. Innova- tive, multidisciplinary approaches, often applying cut- ting-edge science and technology to the study of the ancient world, are yielding new questions and altering our engagement with the past. For example, not only have novel technologies enabled the discovery of new literary papyri, but methodological changes have altered which texts scholars might use to piece together ancient world- views. This “new science of antiquity”–including mul- tispectral imaging, 3D laser scanning, and bioarchaeol- ogy–is enabling researchers to reconstruct previously inaccessible data and documents, revealing, for example, mysteries about ancient ecosystems and decipher- ing papyri carbonized during the eruption of Vesuvius. In the Spring 2016 issue of Dædalus, guest editor Matthew S. Santirocco (New York University) has cu- rated a series of essays that explore the notion that “the past is still very much alive in the present.” In the introduction “Reassessing Greece & Rome,” Mat- thew S. Santirocco notes how recent developments in the study of the ancient world have dramatically altered our understanding of the past. His overture to the issue Jean-Joseph Taillasson (France, 1745–1809), Virgil Reading the Aeneid to introduces some of these methodological, philosophi- Augustus and Octavia (1787) cal, and technological advances, and argues that twenty-first-century classicists–being an increasingly multidisciplinary own the literature of a conquered empire, the Roman elite self-con- and interconnected group of scholars–are reshaping our interac- sciously sought to translate the Greek canon into a thoroughly Ro- tions with Greco-Roman culture. man form of expression, leaving behind the pleasurable, poetic, and In “Tragedy in the Crosshairs of the Present,” Brooke Holmes (Prince- sensual language of the Greeks. Could the Romans protect their ton University) explores how at the same time that Greek literary militaristic and masculine integrity in this transference, or did the studies have broken down boundaries of canon and genre, open- Greeks get their revenge, ultimately “conquering” Rome through ing up for analysis previously ignored families of texts, the rise of literary influence? reception studies has raised new questions about how our present Emily Greenwood (Yale University), in “Reception Studies: The cultural and historical position shapes our interpretations of an- Cultural Mobility of Classics,” considers how classicists have turned cient literature. She explores these developments through the case to reception studies to understand the unique encounters that vari- study of Greek tragedy. ous historical audiences have had with Greek and Roman literature. In “Roman Literature: Translation, Metaphor & Empire,” Shadi She explores the cultural mobility of the classics through a Malawi- Bartsch (University of Chicago) notes how having adopted as their an reception of Sophocles’s Antigone. Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, Spring 2016 7 projects and publications In “On Translating Homer’s Iliad,” Caroline Alexander (Author tem to the breaking point. The effects of climate change–including and Journalist), who published her celebrated English translation food crises in Egypt resulting from the Nile’s failure to flood, as well of the Iliad in 2015, reflects on the process (and challenges) of ren- as the devastating Antonine Plague and Plague of Cyprian–were, in dering a modern translation of Homer. She analyzes her work, and a sense, “the revenge of [Rome’s] giant imperial ecology.” that of previous translators, using the principles outlined by the In “What is Ancient History?” Ian Morris (Stanford University) and Victorian poet and critic Matthew Arnold. Walter Scheidel (Stanford University) offer two competing models Phillip Mitsis (New York University), in “Philosophy & Its Classi- of ancient history that have defined academic discourse for the last cal Past,” argues that although some recent philosophical schools three centuries: the classical model, which regards ancient Greece have rejected their classical past, attempting to set their arguments and Rome as the beginning of human history that “matters,” and on wholly new foundations, a renewed philosophical engagement the evolutionary model, which is global in outlook and goes back between the old and the new has elsewhere initiated major new de- to the origins of humanity. They propose that the new evidence and bates. Focusing on the philosophy of death, he shows how ancient methods available to scholars today may allow these two schools of philosophy both inspires new ideas and new modes of public dis- thought to engage with each other with renewed coherence, in turn course and criticism. offering comprehensive new models of ancient history. In “The Matter of Classical Art History,” Verity Platt (Cornell Uni- Peter T. Struck (University of Pennsylvania), in “Classics: Cur- versity) presents a new lens with which Greco-Roman art may be riculum & Profession,” probes what the classics offer prospec- studied. Though Greco-Roman visual art is often isolated within tive students who are increasingly pursuing vocational studies. the larger discipline of art history, which focuses increasingly on While the field’s experimentation and diversity of thought (liter- the modern and non-Western, Platt explores how recent scholar- ary, historical, philosophical, archaeological) remain its strengths, ship has built on archaeological and literary studies to situate Gre- by disseminating knowledge of the past through popular media and co-Roman visual art within the dynamic contexts that produced online courses, Struck argues, the classics can reach a broader pub- them. Using Pliny the Elder’s Natural History, she raises questions lic and make classical teaching a public good. about the artist’s relationship with his materials, models of percep- In “Greco-Roman Studies in a Digital Age,” Gregory Crane (Tufts tion, and “the slippage between medium and representation.” University) reflects on the responsibility classicists have to share Roger S. Bagnall (New York University), in “Materializing An- their research with the general public. He considers the role of clas- cient Documents,” discusses how texts written on stone and metal sics in modern society, and looks to the future by way of the trans- (including coins), ostraca (potsherds), wooden tablets, and papyri formative power of technology, the “extent to which the shift from have become critical documents for twenty-first-century historical print to a digital space changes how the classics can contribute to researchers of the ancient world. Two “materializing revolutions” society as a whole.” have signaled this shift in papyrology, moving from predominantly Additional contributions to this issue of Dædalus include: literary and philological approaches toward a broader cultural his- zzThe New “Brothers Poem” by Sappho by Rachel Hadas (Rutgers, tory of the ancient world built on collaboration with archaeologi- The State University of New Jersey–Newark) cal methodology. zzExplicating Catullus by Michael C. J. Putnam (Brown University) In “Memory, Commemoration & Identity in an Ancient City: The Case zzThe Scientific Study of Antiquity by Malcolm H. Wiener (Insti- of Aphrodisias,” Angelos Chaniotis (Institute for Advanced Study) tute for Aegean Prehistory) uses the case study of the ancient city of Aphrodisias in modern-day Turkey to explore how civic, religious, and social identities com- Members may access an electronic copy of this Dædalus issue by log- peted and overlapped in ancient Greece. By analyzing the content, ging into the Academy’s website. For more information about Dædalus, context, and changing uses of stone inscriptions in Aphrodisias, or to order additional print and Kindle copies of “What’s New About he constructs a centuries-long narrative of shifting identities, con- the Old,” please visit http://www.amacad.org/daedalus. n cluding in the mid-seventh century ce, when the “City of Aphro- dite” was rechristened as Stauropolis, the “City of the Cross.” In “The Environmental Fall of the Roman Empire,” Kyle Harper (University of Oklahoma) uses new scientific data and approaches to argue that a cascade of environmental disasters, more than any single event, pushed Rome’s resilient economy and agricultural sys- 8 Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, Spring 2016.

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