BOOKLET OF ABSTRACTSklasszika.hu/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/booklet... · Tacitus shows his...

BOOKLET OF ABSTRACTS

Partners

Association of Hungarian

PhD and DLA Students

http://www.dosz.hu/

Bánffi & Bánffi Kft.

6725 Szeged,

Földmíves u. 7.

http://www.banffiszoda.hu/

University of Szeged

Faculty of Arts

Szeged, Egyetem u. 2

www.arts.u-szeged.hu

University of Szeged

Faculty of Arts

Students' union

Szeged, Egyetem u. 2

http://www.btkhok.hu

Unibread Kft.

http://www.banffiszoda.hu/

http://www.btkhok.hu/

Abstracts

Tereza ANTOŠOVSKÁ

Masaryk University, Brno (Czech Republic)

Session 1 (Roman History)

Wednesday, 2017.08.30, 15:40

Meeting the death in childhood

In the ancient societies mortality was at a far higher level than it is today. Especially

childhood was a very dangerous phase of life and children were facing death much

more often – as potential victims as well as witnesses of the death of the others in the

family or in their neighbourhood. Death was rather familiar, not some distant abstract.

The Romans considered the childhood (among else) as a tender age to form and

protect. Can we trace any forms of “protection from death” – ritual, physical or

psychological? How did the Romans deal with the loss of their children? And more

important – can we (using an interdisciplinary approach) learn more about the

children as witnesses of the death in Roman society and about the child’s experience of

death?

PORFÍRIO BARRETO DA COSTA

University of Porto (Portugal)

Session 4 (Renaissance and Beyond)

Thursday, 2017. 08. 31, 12:00

Critical edition of Horace’s Ars poetica by Achilles Statius:

Devices and techniques in the pursuit for authenticity

Achilles Statius Lusitanus, Latin name by which the Portuguese humanist Aquiles

Estaço was known, published in 1553 the work In Q. Horatii Flacci poeticam

Commentarii. Ad Iωannem Quartum Lusitaniae Principem Augustissimum. His treatise, the

first Iberian commentary on the works of Horace, not only follows the Renaissance’s

practice of commenting on the Ars poetica, but also shows the signs of a renewed

interpretation of the Horace’s work at the light of the rhetoric theory. This

commentarius is nevertheless an heir of the late medieval commentary tradition, adding

to it the humanists’ interest in inspecting the question of authenticity and authorship.

In his commentarius Statius not only tries to prove the debt Horace owes to rhetoric

studies and other Latin or Greek writers, but also inspects the current state of the text,

studying different manuscripts, their marginalia, and commenting on possible

interpolations and variations. The philological work of Statius is not unique, for it’s

produced in a time when these questions were being frequently made. His work,

however, goes to greater lengths, inspecting possible errors of copying or transmission,

as well as forgeries, analyzing, on the one hand, previous interpretations of Pseudo-

Greek etymology or a Hellenic origin (as preeminent factors in interpolations), and on

the other hand the reception and transmission of the text itself, in what concerns word-

choosing, authorship, spuria, and authorial terminology.

The commentarius is itself part of an extensive corpora including other editions of

classical authors among which special attention must be given to his commentarius on

Catullus. This last work received an unprecedented diffusion, granting an even greater

fame to Statius, an already preeminent humanist in Rome, working for cardinals and

popes.

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the devices and techniques employed by

Statius in his crusade for a definite critical edition of the Ars poetica stablishing

correlations between this particular work and other two: Petrus Veguius’ “genuine”

edition (Horatius Flaccus Venusinus de Arte Poetica vera, et genuina, et non supposita, et

adulterina pout ante hac habebatu […] (1578)) and Thomas Correas’ own commentary (In

librum de Arte Poetica Horatii explanationes (1587)).

KATALIN BÁN

University of Szeged (Hungary)

Session 7 (Greek Tragedy)

Friday, 2017. 09. 01, 11:00

Medea, the infanticide in the light of the ancient Greek concept of the soul

The archaic writers, poets were aware of the strong, but extreme emotional and

psychological aspects of love. In general, πάθη is depicted in negative aspect in terms

of tragedies. The authors draw our attention to the dangers of the dark side of human

personality in their works, using the negative, emotionally driven actions of heroes and

heroines of mythological stories. Ἔρως and πάθος appear as an obstruction of the

rationalist, right decisions in philosophical aspects.

The ancient Greek scholars and philosophers relished using the deeds of the

Greek mythology characters as examples to demonstrate their theses, to analyze their

motives and psychic processes in the soul. The Medea-myth, its psychology, the

destructive emotion processes and their background factors in the woman's soul have

been interpreted by several scholars during the antiquity in particular through the key

lines of Euripides’s drama (1078–80) to demonstrate their own philosophical theses. In

the general Greek philosophical thinking, Medea remains the prototype of a cruel,

dangerous, barbarian, occasionally regretful woman who embodies the paradigmatic

exemplar of the disoriented psyche.

TIMOTHY BRADY

Royal Holloway University of London (United Kingdom)

Session 9 (Historiography)

Friday, 2017. 09. 01, 16:20

Republicanism on the Danube:

Interpreting Tacitus account of the Pannonian Mutiny

In AD 14 the chief threat to Tiberius’ ascension to power came not from Rome itself but

from the mutinous legions stationed on the Danube frontier. Tacitus’ devotes a

substantial part of the first book of his Annals to the account of the mutiny and its

suppression. However, the initial reactions of both the Imperial authorities and the

historian himself are problematic and prompt consideration:

Tacitus states that the men desired loot and civil war. This statement is

undermined by Tacitus’ own narrative. Both the words and deeds of the mutineers

challenge that interpretation. The mutineers themselves claim that they act from purely

practical objections over pay, length of service and unsatisfactory equipment.

When the men mutiny their commander claims that Roman soldiers never used

mutiny to present their grievances either under Augustus or during the Republic. A

cursory knowledge of the history of the Roman army proves his claim to be patently

false. Mutiny was a regular occurrence under the Republic and during the reign of

Augustus.

This paper will argue two things. First, that the AD 14 mutiny was part of a long

tradition of mutiny in the Roman army as a response to unacceptable conditions. Such

mutinies usually ended with concessions from the government and the troops on the

Danube were simply exercising the same options of their Republican forebears.

Second, that the discrepancies between the historian’s, government’s and mutineers’

framing of the events is due to the changed political context of the Principate. What

Tacitus shows his readers, and what the Imperial authorities brutally show the men, is

that while mutiny over conditions was an option under the Republic, under the

Empire it posed too serious a threat to the new political order and could not and

would not be tolerated.

CHLOE BRAY

University of St Andrews (United Kingdom)

Session 7 (Greek tragedy)

Friday, 2017. 09. 01, 10:20

The Seascape of the Battle of Salamis as an Abject Space in Aeschylus’ Persae

This paper will take a Kristevan approach to the symbolic use of the sea in Aeschylus’

Persae. Kristeva’s theory of abjection (in The Powers of Horror), a state in which the

drawing together of the self with a conceptually separate “other” results in the

dissolution of boundaries between subject and object, can provide significant insights

into the controversial issue of the ancient audience’s reaction to the Persae. Analysis of

passages in which the sea and shoreline are described in detail reveal a space, both

physical and conceptual, in which the Persian invasion has caused the blending of

elements which would be kept safely separate in peacetime. The vivid description of

Persian corpses filling the sea and littering the shores around Salamis (272–3, 419–21),

for example, blends a sea characterized as specifically Greek with Persian bodies, the

living with the dead, and the human with the environment. A Kristevan reading of this

highly symbolic dissolution of boundaries explains the complex interplay between the

apparently converse possible reactions to the tragedy of the Persae, where pity is

elicited from the Persian perspective but the memory of Greek victory causes

excitement and joy. These reactions are the two interlocked sides of abjection, where

the “other” is at once terrifying and compelling. An exploration of the sea as a literary

device which embodies the abject goes beyond the structural recognition of liminal

space, and examines the unspoken cultural concepts which allowed its symbolic

potency in the context of the play. Understanding such concepts will contribute to the

ongoing discussion of the Greek perception of the barbarian, the Greek relationship

with space and the sea, and will demonstrate the particular capacity of tragedy to

communicate the shared cultural anxieties of the ancient Athenian audience.

GUY BRINDLEY

Jesus College, University of Oxford (United Kingdom)

Session 7 (Greek tragedy)

Friday, 2017. 09. 01, 10:40

Fatherhood and fatherland on the tragic stage: Oedipus’ curses upon his sons

The Scholarship on Greek tragedy has long acknowledged the notion of conflict within

the genre between the interests of family and of state, between oikos and polis. The

situation is, however, much more complex; these two institutions are not clearly

separated and contrasted, but rather interact and intertwine in a variety of ways. The

tragic accounts of Oedipus’ curse upon his sons make this clear. In Aeschylus’ Seven

Against Thebes and Euripides’ Phoenician Women, the curse is born of essentially private

motivations – a father’s anger at his sons – but its wording bears within it the seeds of

much broader political disharmony, and in both plays the devastating public

consequences of this originally private quarrel, in the form of invasion, war and death,

are emphasised. In Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus, the situation is even more complex.

The curse emerges against an existing backdrop of political strife between Polyneices

and Eteocles, and Oedipus’ intense anger is directed not only against his sons, but also

the city of Thebes as a whole, which he in part blames for his crimes within the family.

The complex interplay of familial and political rhetoric brought to bear in the appeals

of Creon and Polyneices to Oedipus is matched by the explicit blending of public and

private suffering Oedipus forebodes in the language of his curse. We thus see, in these

tragic depictions of the curse, both the convoluted and multifarious nature of the

relationship between the family and the state, and the devastating consequences this

complex relationship can have for both parties.

NATÁLIA GACHALLOVÁ


Session 6 (Roman Literature)

Thursday, 2017. 08. 31, 17:00

Aulus Gellius’ Noctes Atticae:

Charlatan Strategies And How To Reveal Them

Self-presentation and building of public image was a sine qua non of every intellectual

who wanted to succeed in the highly competitive community of the 2nd century CE

pepaideumenoi. An inextricable part of these intellectual preoccupations was to attack

one's opponents and detractors with the use of highly ingenious and sophisticated

means. The Second Sophistic movement brought with it an age of brilliant rhetorical

invectives and even more brilliant defence strategies and counter-attacks – let us just

recall the intellectual contests of such figures as Aelius Aristides, Polemo, Herodes

Atticus, or Favorinus. To a large extent, the public image of the elite philosophers,

sophists, and men of letters was something fixed and predictable; thus, these

professions were naturally inclined to become cliché concepts open to all sorts of

imitation, parody, or even ridicule. Though the qualities of a large amount of men did

not match their ambitions, their inadequacy could easily be concealed under the veil of

a self-confident appearance and performance. In my paper, I focus on the strategies

that Aulus Gellius exerts in his Noctes Atticae to reveal and expose these pseudo-

intellectuals. The question of credibility of such accounts cannot be avoided either, as

Gellius himself certainly had to face similar criticisms from his opponents. Therefore,

emphasis will be put especially on Gellius' use of parody, self-mockery and irony,

through which he coped with the tricksters as well as defended himself against the

invectives aimed at his own persona.

ISHA GAMLATH

University of Kelaniya (Sri Lanka)


Thursday, 2017. 08. 31, 16:00

The aesthetics of stripping: Application of an aesthetically apt metaphor for

discarding sensory passions in the testimony of Porphyry’s De Abstinentia

The aesthetic value of a historically significant personality – the stripped Greek athlete

who enters the stadium – is transformed into an apt metaphor for the exploration of

discarding sensory passions within the textual confines of Porphyry’s De Abstinentia.

The metaphor is sufficiently pertinent to define the ascetic philosopher’s departure

from material bonds and eventual freedom from corporeal stagnation. The image of

the stripped athlete reflects a strong aesthetic significance far removed from the

physical frame in which it is usually set. Stripping is defined by Porphyry not

physically but conceptually. The conceptual value of stripping stimulates a vibrant

aesthetic that can only be comprehended intellectually. Porphyry elaborates on the

standard motif of the Greek athlete with an emphasis on stripping as something

conspicuous for the creation of the ascetic philosopher. Stripping, Porphyry considers,

is a symbolic expression of self-control. It ensures metaphorically the soul’s freedom

from material bonds.

The paper will argue that Porphyry perceives that the athlete’s removal of attire

as a symbolic expression of the ascetic philosopher’s renunciation from material

pleasures by maintaining simplicity in diet, celibacy and bloodless sacrifice. It will also

argue that the removal of attire is further emphasized by Porphyry for establishing a

conceptual frame of abstinence which embodies different taboos such as blood sacrifice

and meat consumption. Porphyry uses the idea of the stripped athlete to defend a way

of living founded on renunciation from material pleasures. This present paper notes

this renunciation as specifically aesthetic.

JURGEN R. GATT

University College London, University of Malta


Friday, 2017. 09. 01, 15:40

Logic and Inquiry in Psammetichus’ Experiment (Hdt. 2.2)

The apocryphal experiment allegedly conducted by Psammetichus inaugurates the

scientific tour de force which opens Herodotus’ Egyptian logos. Apart from its intrinsic

interest, the experiment is also an ‘embedded inquiry’ (Demont, 2009, p. 179; cf. Christ,

1994) which can be used to determine Herodotus’ appreciation of the logical structure

of experiments and their role in addressing scientific and historical issues.

The fundamental structure of Psammetichus’ experiment revolves around two

questions. The first question, which the experiment is designed to answer, addresses

the relative antiquity of human cultures. Psammetichus wants to know the identity of

the first human nation (Hdt.2.2.1). Unable to discover the means to answer it by the

resources available to him, Psammetichus, by a series of implicit logical steps, alters

the question in such a way as to make it answerable. Thus, the question directly

addressed by the experiment relates to the first language with which the experimental

subjects speak (Hdt.2.2.3). Implicit in the experiment is the expectation that answering

the latter question, Psammetichus has contrived (ἐπιτεχνᾶται) a way of answering,

inferentially (σταθμᾶσθαι), the former. The assumptions which ‘Psammetichus’ must

make, and the methodology he employs, are primarily related to this bi-directional

movement between the two questions and their respective answers.

The key distinction between the two questions relates to the relative success of

πυνθάνεσθαι in addressing either question. Thus, the initial frustration of

Psammetichus’ inquiry, πυνθανόμενος πόρον οὐδένα… ἀνευρεῖν (Hdt.2.2.2), is

contrasted with his eventual success, πυνθανόμενος… εὕρισκε (Hdt.2.2.4). The

contrast between the two instances of πυνθάνεσθαι marks a fundamental difference

between two types of questions. In short, some questions appear to lie beyond the

reach of ‘normal’ autoptic and testimonial evidence and require alternative investigative

methods to be answered. Herodotus’ largely positive assessment of Psammetichus’

research implies that he viewed experimentation as one such appropriate method.

GERGŐ GELLÉRFI

University of Szeged, MTA-SZTE Antiquity and Renaissance

Session 2 (MTA-SZTE Antiquity and Renaissance)

Wednesday, 2017. 08. 30, 17:40

Epic meals: Who should read epic in Rome?

If someone is asked about the most typical themes and motifs of the Roman verse

satire, besides immorality and sexuality, the answer will probably contain the

representation of food and dinner parties in one of the first places – mainly to illustrate

luxury and gluttony. It is no surprise that the same can be said about the Satires of

Juvenal, in which we can discover a special feature of certain food-representations. In

my presentation, I discuss three different Juvenalian poems connecting food or

banquets with epic poetry in one way or another. In Satire 4, the mock-epic’s plot

concentrates on a giant turbot that is described with an epic-style description, while its

central character, Domitian is characterized by immoderate gluttony. Satires 5 and 11

both focusing on dinner parties show us that we have to make a distinction between

the Juvenalian evaluation of topics described using epic-style elements and the epic

poetry itself. While in the closing poem of Book One, describing the dinner of

gluttonous Virro, there are several epic connotations, in Satire 11, the hearing of epic

poetry is praised compared to the almost pornographic dance performance of women

during a luxurious dinner.

ANASTASIOS KANTARAS

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece)

Session 3 (Symmeikta)

Thursday, 2017. 08. 31, 10:20

Byzantine epigrams related to the Crucifixion. The case of Georgios Pisidis

This talk will be dealing with issues of the Cross alongside the epigrams related to the

Crucifixion written by the Byzantine scholar Georgios Pisidis from the 7th century,

focusing our attention and scope on particular aspects of those epigrams such as the

possible influences and impact from literary texts previously and later written and

most noticeable motifs.

PÉTER KAPI

University of Szeged (Hungary)


Friday, 2017. 09. 01, 16:40

Druids in the Light of Written Sources

My presentation examines the current interpretation of the Gallic druids and the Gallic

druidism. During my earlier researches on Pomponius Mela, I realised, that the

viewpoint of the literature may be wrong at certain parts or at least requires more

accurate wording. In the first place, I examined to which extent it is plausible, that the

druids performed human sacrifices and the murders of the victims could be actually

linked to them, as the literature says. I was looking for the answer in the works of

Strabo, Diodorus Siculus, Julius Caesar and Pliny the Elder. Finally, I came to the

conclusion that the Greek authors clearly connected the murder of the victims to

soothsayers, but in the case of Roman authors, it was not unambiguous whether these

murders can be linked to druids. In addition, I emphasized the full review of the

passages of Pomponius Mela about the druids. While doing so, I rejected the current

interpretation of the literature and suggested that Mela’s work perhaps can be related

to an earlier senatus consultum or Tiberius’s laws against the druids.

TEREZA KVASNIČKOVÁ



Thursday, 2017. 08. 31, 10:00

The analysis and the verification of Porphyry's original interpretation of

Mithraic tauroctony in his De antro nympharum (The Cave of the Nymphs)

The aim of this paper is to present a new interpretation of Mithraic mystery cult and

famous bull-slaying scene, called tauroctony. Worshippers had not permitted to reveal

the cult rituals or doctrine to outsiders. We can only see scenes from the life of Mithras

or rarely ceremonies. In the centre there was a tauroctony as the most important part of

Mithras life. A tauroctony is, therefore, a main interest of scholars. In fact, any

historical text doesn’t explain the tauroctony. The first scholar of Mithraism Franz

Cumont believed that Mithraism has a Persian origin. He came from the Persian text

Bundahishn, but this text was written in the 10th century A.D! He said Mithras killed a

bull as a sacrifice to restore a life on the earth destroyed by the evil god Ahriman.

Mithras has Persian and Indian origins, but his mysteries are Hellenistic matters. Roger

Beck introduced a new interpretation of tauroctony. He saw in the tauroctony a certain

constellation in the sky.

I would like to supply Beck's interpretation of my own. I found the text of

Neoplatonic philosopher Porphyry named On the Cave of the Nymphs. Porphyry read a

text written by insiders and wrote about it. Porphyry himself gave his own

interpretation of the meaning of Mithras and the tauroctony in the Neoplatonic sense.

So far, scholars haven't studied this text of Porphyry too much. According to me his

interpretation is correct because he lived in the time of Mithraism. According to

Porphyry bull is a symbol of fertility and Mithras kills fertility. I would like to verify

his interpretation of Mithraism and correct some his inaccuracies I have found.

BENEDIKT LAVRINČÍK


Session 8 (Varia)

Friday, 2017. 09. 01, 14:00

Pontifical revolution:

Kurt Latte vs. Georges Dumézil and other interpretations

The subject of this paper deals with so-called pontifical revolution. This revolution was

formulated by Kurt Latte in his work Römische Religionsgeschichte from the year 1960. In

the short, it deals with the usurpation process of religious power by pontifex maximus

and relationships between pontifixes maximus, rex and flamines. But this theory was

questioned by Georges Dumézil in his book La Religion romaine archai ̈que, avec un

appendice sur la religion des Étrusques from the year 1967. G. Dumézil pointed out to

some uncertainties which are related to relationships not only between pontifex

maximus and flamines but he added to his comparison rex sacrorum and the rex (king

from the time before the Roman Republic). Research after them deals with this

problem because the institutionalization of pontifex maximus is a very important issue

of early Roman religion.

This paper presents Latte´s theory and Dumézil´s remarks. Then it deals with

remarks of other scholars on that. The paper goes back to our ancient sources because

other scholars deal with only interpretations of ancient sources and by that, some

features can be not noticed which can change the whole theory. The subject of this

paper is to refer to some relations between this priesthood which was forgotten by

Latte, Dumézil or other scholars with whom the paper deals with.

ANDREI MARKELOV

Samara University (Russian Federation)


Wednesday, 2017. 08. 30, 15:00

Augustus as Princeps Senatus

In the studies of the Principate of Augustus and of the Roman Senate under Early

Empire a lot of scholars only briefly point to the fact that from the beginning of his

reign Octavian was the princeps senatus and make no further conclusions from this

information. Moreover, some of the historians do not even mention that he held the

position. Only a small part of classicists point out the functional purpose of the first

place in the album senatorium for Augustus and they do not provide any serious

arguments in support of their view. Some scholars сonsider the acceptance of the

position of the princeps senatus within the framework of the Frist settlement. The

French classicist M. Bonnefond-Coudry expressed and soundly grounded this point of

view for the first time in 1990’s. According to her, Augustus occupied the position of

the princeps senatus to underline the break with the times of civil wars, triumvirate and

the return to peace, to Republic. After the First settlement, the position lost its

significance for the Emperor. This point of view has got the encouragement from K.

Galinsky during a recent discussion with G. Rowe about Augustan auctoritas.

The present paper proposes somewhat different viewpoint of Augustus as the

princeps of the Senate. The author argues that Augustus attached importance to his

position of the princeps senatus not only in the context of the First settlement but during

his whole long reign. Moreover, he defined his place in the Senate by this position and

it had functional significance for him during sessions of the consilium publicum.

SIMONA MARTORANA

Durham University (United Kingdom)

Session 5 (Philosophy and Medicine)

Thursday, 2017. 08. 31, 14:50

Myth and Philosophy:

The Great Sinners’ topos in Ovid, Lucretius and Seneca

The Great Sinners – Sisyphus, Tantalus, Tityos, and in most sources Ixion and the

Danaides – have been traditional inhabitants of the Underworld since Homer’s nekyia

on (Od. 11, 578–600): there they undergo terrible tortures for having committed acts

against men or gods during their lives. In fact, these sinners appear in many artistic

and literary sources and are acknowledged to be a Leitmotiv in descriptions of the

Hades [Mantovanelli 1993].

In writings on philosophy, descriptions of the inferorum metus, among which the

Great Sinners’ terrible punishments can be counted, are often employed to minimize

the fear of death; the Great Sinners thus become a demonstration of the inconsistency

and absurdity of infernal tortures, which exist only in the fictional world of mythology

(Plat. Gorg. 525d).

My contribution explores the presence of the ‘Great Sinners motif’ in the texts of

three Latin writers, Lucretius, Ovid and Seneca. Beginning with Ovid’s Metamorphoses

(4, 455-71), I first explain how these figures are depicted within a purely mythological

universe: indeed, Ovid’s account essentially relies on classical literary descriptions of

the Underworld [Bömer 1976, Anderson 1997, Barchiesi/Rosati 2007].

The Great Sinners also occur in Lucr. 3, 978–1010 and Sen. Ep. 24, 18–25: I will

thus proceed with an analysis of certain parts of the passages before examining how

these mythological figures are adapted to a philosophical context [Bailey 1947; Laudizi

2003]. From Ovid’s account, there is a clear shift in their meaning and function, from

the mythological to the (broadly speaking) philosophical approaches of Lucretius and

Seneca’s works. Furthermore, it is worth noting the similarities and differences

between an Epicurean (Lucretius) and a Stoic (Seneca) concerning the manner in which

the Great Sinners are translated into philosophical concepts.

My final aim is to demonstrate that this mythological frame is successfully employed

to explore philosophical questions of death and immortality of the soul.

ÁGNES MÁTÉ

ILS RSH HAS, University of Szeged, MTA-SZTE Antiquity and Renaissance


Wednesday, 2017. 08. 30, 17:00

Successful Variants and Early Translations of Eneas Silvius Piccolomini's

Historia de duobus amantibus in 15–16th Century Europe

The textual tradition of Eneas Silvius Piccolomini's Historia de duobus amantibus (1444)

overwhelms an editor with an abundant number of variants. More than 90 manuscripts

and 54 early printed versions of this love story are recorded, therefore no researcher

has yet undertaken the task of preparing a critical edition of this highly popular early

modern text.

Since 2007 I have been dealing with exploring this textual tradition, focusing on

the 16 early translations of Historia, written in 8 languages (German, Italian, French,

Spanish, English, Hungarian, Polish and Danish) between cc. 1458 and 1596. In this

presentation I would like to share the most important results of my forthcoming

monograph, in order to shed light on the successful Latin variants of Historia,

becoming sources for different translations across Europe.

From the viewpoint of cultural transmission variants of such a popular early

modern literary work like Eneas Silvius Piccolomini's Historia de duobus amantibus are

admittedly obstacles in producing a modern critical edition, but they tell a fascinating

story about its early modern readers and users.

ANNAMÁRIA MOLNÁR

University of Szeged, MTA-SZTE Antiquity and Renaissance


Wednesday, 2017. 08. 30, 17:20

Giovanni Boccaccio, author of De mulieribus claris, the first collection of

women's biographies

Composing De mulieribus claris (On Famous Women) was a unique literary initiative of

Boccaccio, since he collected for the first time the biographies of mostly pagan women,

their memorable, either positive or negative acts. The structures of the descriptions are

relatively similar, but Boccaccio filled them with various contents.

In my presentation I would like to demonstrate Boccaccio’s extraordinarily

varied method of working; to illustrate through emphasized examples how he used

different antique and medieval sources (from their quoting to their complete

concealment), when and why Boccaccio preferred one source to an other, what kind of

working method he followed, if he did not have enough information on a certain

woman (moralizing conclusions, inventions based on a word taken from a source,

monologues, etc.); how and why he inserted new figures or new data to the various

phases of the redaction, so generally, how this genre-creating book was completed.

MANOLIS E. PAGKALOS

University of Leicester (United Kingdom)


Friday, 2017. 09. 01, 16:00

Historical Reality and Cultural Memory in Early Hellenistic Athens:

Politics and the Use of the Past

On the aftermath of the Lamian War (323–322 BC), the Athenians were not only

defeated but they had to dissolve their government and abide by an oligarchic polity, a

direct blow to their political tradition. Under the auspices of Cassander, Demetrius of

Phaleron ruled Athens for ten consecutive years. In 307 BC, Antigonus I and his son

Demetrius Poliorcetes liberated Athens from Cassandrer. For this deed and the

restoration of democracy, they were honoured by the Athenians with divine honours.

Two new tribes – Antigonis and Demetrias – were named after them (Plut. Demetr.

10.3–4; Diod. 20.46) and added to the first lines of the Athenian tribes’ list. Moreover,

two statues – among other representations of the Antigonids – were added to the

monument of Eponymous Heroes on the Athenian Agora. Diodorus’ account is

already politically charged for Demetrius ‘restored the freedom to the people’ and

established again the ancestral constitution (pátrios politeia). How much can we abide

by this account? Although partly a historical reality and surely a political necessity, the

evidence raise many questions, especially from the perspective of the turbulent

relation between Athens and Macedonia. This paper aims to evaluate the rationale

behind such acts and to explore how the past can be used as a constructive ambiguity

between the polis’ past, present and future aspirations. The political dispute between

the Athenians and the Antigonids, which started with vivid colours, culminated with

the Chremonidean War (c. 268–262/1 BC). Thus, the celebrations of the restoration of

democracy turned to a fight against those ‘who attempt(ed) to overthrow the laws and

ancestral constitutions’ (Syll.3 434/5). By approaching the political history of Early

Hellenistic Athens, the power of the use of the past and its active role in the political

discourse will be highlighted once more and its versatility in altering the historical

present will be verified.

ANDREA SALAYOVÁ



Thursday, 2017. 08. 31, 10:40

How long does the spell take?

Considering time in rituals of Greek Magical Papyri

The aim of this paper is to answer the question: How long does the ritual take? From

its preparation and the performance to its effects. Greek magical papyri offer the great

collection of spells and rituals to be researched and can help us understand the

practical side of the ancient magic. The paper will also consider all other mentions of

time present in Greek Magical Papyri, such as time of the day suitable for the

performance of the task.

SÁRA SÁNTA

Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest (Hungary)

Session 8 (Varia)

Friday, 2017. 09. 01, 14:40

De Ruderibus Laconici Caldariique Romani: The chronicle of the first planned

excavation in Hungary

In 1778, in the modern Flórián square in Óbuda, while excavating a calcareous pit, the

owner of the place found some old-looking walls. István Schönvisner, the antiquarian

teacher at the University of Pest also heard about the ruins. Within a few weeks an

excavation started, and Schönvisner quickly identified the walls as part of a bath.

Maria Theresa also learned about the works, and made provisions for the protection

and preservation of the ruins. Over the remains, a protective building was erected: this

can be considered as the first manifestation of the Hungarian monument protection

pursuits.

Based on the documentation of the excavation, the De Ruderibus Laconici

Caldariique Romani et Nonnullis Aliis Monumentis ... was created in the same year, which,

like Schönvisner's other work, was an epochal writing, and there was not even a

similar one for decades. Schönvisner's work still plays a major role among the

publications presenting the spa baths of the Roman Empire. In the first half of my

lecture I would like to identify the location of De ruderibus among similar works in

Western Europe, and at the same time I shall look at the importance of it in the history

of science. After that, I will describe its structure, the topics discussed within it, and the

results on which István Schönvinser founded scientific archaeology in Hungary.

CARMEL SERRACINO

University of Malta


Thursday, 2017. 08. 31, 12:20

Latin and the Language Question in Colonial Malta

When the British took hold of the island of Malta in 1800, they found there a peculiar

cultural reality that was to prove highly resistant to Anglicisation.

The age-old political connection with Italy had made the educated classes of

Malta highly Italianate in their cultural makeup. Although the Maltese spoke their own

deep-rooted, Semitic-based language among themselves, Italian was the language they

predominately used for all forms of writing. Italian was also the language of education,

the formal language of the ecclesiastic authorities, and the language used at the courts

of law. Very few Maltese could claim a knowledge of English even at a basic level.

Finally, a Royal Commission in 1878 advocated the deliberate replacement of Italian by

English as the language of civil establishment and education. This sparked the

Language Question, a crisis that escalated in the years preceding WWII into a severe

political struggle between two national fronts and parties, the pro-British and the pro-

Italian.

Latin was the language of high culture, of public inscriptions, and of the liturgy

at church. Many Maltese distinguished themselves as Neo-Latin poets. The study of

Latin, together with Italian, formed the basis of secondary education and was

obligatory in the courses at the University leading to the professional careers. To the

educated Maltese, Latin was the ancestral origin of Italian, and the culture of Ancient

Rome the precursor to Italianità and the Church of Rome. To the unlettered Maltese,

Latin was still the language they heard daily at church, indistinguishable from Italian.

Hence, the idea of Latinità was the common factor that traditionally cemented Italy and

religion. In the political arena, this connection was exploited by the Italophiles and

countered by the Anglophiles.

The situation provides a unique and interesting study in classical reception and

the rise of modern nationalism in a small island-people with an old history.

PAVEL ŠEVČÍK



Thursday, 2017. 08. 31, 11:40

„Quis es tu?“ Adressing the opponent in Dialogus volatilis

The paper deals with Dialogus volatilis, a conversation between a goose and a sparrow

written in the Middle Ages. Both birds represent two Czech scholars, the church

reformer John Hus and his opponent, the monk Stephen from Dolany. The first one

was a big critic of the moral conditions in contemporary Christian Church, even

though he himself was a priest. The latter belonged to the Carthusian Order. I focus on

the introductions of their speeches within the dialogue and analyse the way they

address each other. Does Stephen of Dolany show any tendency to dishonour the

criticized opponent by the vocabulary he puts to Hus‘ mouth? Does he want to provide

the reader with a better account of himself? Or does he try to be objective? These

questions should be answered with help of some examples from the G 12 Cerr II 209

manuscript, which seems to be Stephen’s autograph.

TEREZA ŠEVČÍKOVÁ



Thursday, 2017. 08. 31, 16:20

Transferring instruction in Cicero’s and Germanicus’ Translations of Aratus’

Phaenomena

Aratus’ didactic epos Phaenomena was very popular among Romans. Thus, it was

translated into Latin by several Roman authors, among others by Marcus Tullius

Cicero and Germanicus Iulius Caesar. Since the aim of a didactic poem is not only to

delight the readers but also to teach them, the authors choose various structures while

directing them.

The paper focuses on instructive patterns used by Aratus and their

implementation in Latin translations. Its aim is to find out whether Cicero and

Germanicus used the same instructive patterns like Aratus when translating

Phaenomena, or whether they changed the forms of instructions and perhaps adjusted

them to the Roman audience.

PÉTER SOMFAI

Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest (Hungary)


Thursday, 2017. 08. 31, 16:40

Commune Sepulcrum – The ’Catullan’ Memory of Troy in Vergil’s Aeneid

In Latin literature Troy appears as a locus memoriae on several occasions. As a locus

memoriae is an image of a location’s past state, it inevitably recalls that past state’s

absence in the present. Troy as a literary locus memoriae recalls its own present absence

and that it is only a ruin, or even less than a ruin as Lucan writes in his Bellum civile. In

this context a literary phenomenon can be noticed that the topic of Troy is usually

mentioned in association with absence and grief in Latin poetry. Catullus, expressing

his pain about his brother’s death at Troy, calls the city the common grave (commune

sepulcrum) of Asia and Europe in his carmen 68. Regarding Troy, several complex

allusions can be noticed in Vergil’s Aeneid recalling both Catullus 68 and 101, two

poems that are in both thematic and intertextual connection with each other. The

purpose of this presentation is to examine the kind of special locus memoriae Troy

becomes in the Aeneid by analyzing the above-mentioned intertexts. This will be of

essential importance regarding the way Troy appears later in Lucan’s Bellum civile.

LAURA MENTA SZILÁGYI

Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Budapest (Hungary)

Session 5 (Philosophy and Medicine)

Thursday, 2017. 08. 31, 15:10

The works of Nicander of Colophon in the tradition of didactic poetry

The genre of didactic poetry is interesting in itself, as we look at the various reception

of this ambiguous phenomenon throughout the history of literature. Due to the (real or

supposed) contrast between form and content, the modern notes on didactic poetry

often show miscomprehension regarding the genre.

It has been frequently pointed out that in classic literary theory, one cannot find

a term for such category as ’didactic poetry’ since every form of poetry was seen as

didactic. A kind of tradition of didactic poetry, however, can be traced back, as certain

patterns and cross-references seem to appear in ancient works that are considered to be

didactic poems. Since we lack a classic definition, scholars’ opinions differ regarding

the criteria of the genre, therefore, regarding a canon of didactic poetry, as well.

The medical works of Nicander of Colophon (2nd century BC), the Theriaca and

Alexipharmaca are often-debated and eccentric examples of didactic poetry. Their topic

– the symptoms and suggested therapies of several toxications – is already peculiar

and falls on the margins of (ancient) medical literature. Moreover, the obscure

phrasing, the typical Hellenistic features of knowledge-display, the lack of accuracy

and, according to some interpretations, the insensitive style led the majority of modern

readers to the conclusion that the author of these works had not much didactic

intention.

In my presentation, I would like to demonstrate some of the modern definitions

and criteria of the genre of didactic poetry – touching upon also the ancient views on

the topic. By enquiring whether these criteria for didactic poetry are available to the

works of Nicander or not, my aim is to find out if Nicander fits in the assumable

ancient tradition of didactic poetry.

Marco TIBALDINI

University of Bergamo, Italy


Wednesday, 2017.08.30, 16:00

Ludus Latrunculorum: political thought among the gaming

Generally, scholars don't take ancient board games in serious consideration as a topic

that can lead to a deeper knowledge of ancient social and cultural context. This may be

a heritage of Latin literature where in some cases board games are depicted as a mere

pastime with a negative moral connotation.

In facts, board games were spread in every corner of the ancient world and

some of them has been used for centuries, crossing political, cultural and social

borders. Certain occupied also a special place in their context of origin and were

charged by mystical and religious values, or used for divination.

Even if the ludus latrunculorum was free from mystical or religious implications,

has a complex and interesting historical background: it has been probably originated in

Greece, spreading then into the Hellenistic world and later to Rome. At every stage of

this process, maybe thanks to its popularity, it became a term for comparison and a

topic for metaphors. It appears also on the background of dramas, philosophical

treatises and pieces of trivia, generally in relation to other aspects of everyday life.

This presence of the game in literary sources allow us to identify the cultural

implications that bring the game to a such long and international success during

ancient times, explaining the reasons why it has been adopted or discarded, and also

the reasons of its decline during the late empire. In particular, the speech will focus on

the quotations in which the game is connected in explicit or implicit way to political

thought in Greece and Rome.

KRISTOF VERMOTE

Ghent University (Belgium)


Wednesday, 2017.08.30, 15:20

Freedmen, libertination and trust networks in Cicero’s correspondence

“To the Romans nobody was considered trustworthier than a freedman”. Henrik

Mouritsen (2011, 98) thus succinctly captures the pivotal position of ex-slaves in the

networks of their patrons. The association between liberti and trust became so

ingrained in the Roman mind that playwrights would even use freedmen as stock

figures representing “fides and taciturnitas” (Damon, 1997, 48). This contribution

focusses on the many freedmen that feature in Cicero’s correspondence and shows that

very similar discursive strategies occur throughout epistolary discourse. The main

argument is that, far from being a mere literary topos, the association between

freedmen and trustworthiness was firmly embedded in daily life and highly

performative in the important social practice of networking. I argue that libertination –

the explicit reference to an agent’s status by the term libertus – was not a neutral or

random way of describing freedmen, but rather a discursive tool that derived its

effectiveness precisely from the ingrained association between liberti and fides, thus

creating a horizon of expectation that facilitated efforts at networking. Whereas

deliberate calculation or choices on the one hand and unconscious habit or routine on

the other are often difficult to discern, very specific and highly significant patterns

emerge that preclude dismissing these different ways of referencing freedmen as

merely coincidental. In short, this paper analyses the recurrent discursive construction

of a typical triad of elements that linked together libertination, trustworthiness, and the

connection to a patron, thereby fundamentally questioning the pervasive modern

assumption that this was a deliberate stratifying strategy to stress social inferiority.

Instead, a close integration in the networks of their patrons served a purpose very

similar to the accentuation of upward ties in patronage relations between freeborn

individuals. Social capital was an asset coveted by social groups, regardless of their

(legal) background.

AGNIESZKA WĄSIK

University of Warsaw (Poland)

Session 8 (Varia)

Friday, 2017. 09. 01, 14:20

Who needs Pliny the Elder in XXI century?

Analyzing the 37th book of "Natural History" of Pliny the Elder which describes

ancient precious stones I'm trying to recognize as many gems as I can living 2000 years

after the author and speaking a different language. Pliny was quoted by many

specialists since antiquity. The last book about mineralogy I've found from 2015 still

treat the ancient encyclopaedist as an authority. The question is: why? Who needs this

kind of knowledge today? Mineralogists? Philologists? Nobody? If it's useless why

people want to include it in their books? I will try to find an answer.

Conference program

Sapiens ubique civis V – Szeged, 2017

Wednesday, 2017. 08. 30.

11:00-14:00 Registration

14:00-14:15 Opening Speeches Prof. Dr. Zoltán Gyenge (Dean of University of Szeged, Faculty of Arts) and

Kata Asztalos (Vice-president of the Association of Hungarian PhD and DLA Candidates)

14:15-14:45 Plenary Lecture by Ferenc Krisztián SZABÓ (Szilády Áron Protestant High School, Kiskunhalas)

The Structure of Nepos’ Book on Foreign Generals

15:00-16:40 Session 1 (Roman History)

Chair: Dr. Ferenc Krisztián SZABÓ, Szilády Áron Protestant High School, Kiskunhalas

15:00-15:20 Andrei MARKELOV (Samara University) Augustus as Princeps Senatus

15:20-15:40 Kristof VERMOTE (Ghent University) Freedmen, libertination and trust networks in

Cicero’s correspondence

15:40-16:00 Tereza ANTOŠOVSKÁ (Masaryk University, Brno) Meeting the death in childhood

16:00-16:20 Marco TIBALDINI (University of Bergamo) Ludus Latrunculorum: political thought among

the gaming pieces

16:20-16:40 Discussion

16:40-17:00 Coffee Break

17:00-18:15 Session 2 (MTA-SZTE Antiquity and Renaissance)

Chair: Prof. Dr. Éva VÍGH, University of Szeged, Department of Italian Studies

17:00-17:20 Ágnes MÁTÉ (ILS RSH HAS; University of Szeged, MTA-SZTE Antiquity and

Renaissance) Successful Variants and Early Translations of Eneas Silvius Piccolomini's

Historia de duobus amantibus in 15-16th Century Europe

17:20-17:40 Annamária MOLNÁR (University of Szeged, MTA-SZTE Antiquity and Renaissance)

Giovanni Boccaccio, author of De mulieribus claris, the first collection of women's

biographies

17:40-18:00 Gergő GELLÉRFI (University of Szeged, MTA-SZTE Antiquity and Renaissance) Epic

meals: Who should read epic in Rome?


19:00-22:00 Welcome Reception

Thursday, 2017. 08. 31.

10:00-11:15 Session 3 (Symmeikta)

Chair: Dr. Endre HAMVAS, Gál Ferenc Catholic Theological College, Departmental Expert Group of Christian Cultural

History

10:00-10:20 Tereza KVASNIČKOVÁ (Masaryk University, Brno) The analysis and the verification of

Porphyry's original interpretation of Mithraic tauroctony in his De antro nympharum

(The Cave of the Nymphs)

10:20-10:40 Anastasios KANTARAS (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) Byzantine epigrams related

to the Crucifixion. The case of Georgios Pisidis.

10:40-11:00 Andrea SALAYOVÁ (Masaryk University, Brno) How long does the spell take?

Considering time in rituals of Greek Magical Papyri



11:40-12:55 Session 4 (Renaissance and Beyond)

Chair: Dr. Farkas Gábor KISS, MTA-ELTE Humanism in East Central Europe 'Lendület' Research Group

11:40-12:00 Pavel ŠEVČÍK (Masaryk University, Brno) „Quis es tu?“ Adressing the opponent in

Dialogus volatilis

12:00-12:20 Porfírio BARRETO DA COSTA (University of Porto) Critical edition of Horace’s Ars poetica

by Achilles Statius: Devices and techniques in the pursuit for authenticity.

12:20-12:40 Carmel SERRACINO (University of Malta) Latin and the Language Question in Colonial

Malta


12:55-14:20 Lunch Break

14:20-14:50 Plenary Lecture by Dr. Farkas Gábor KISS (MTA-ELTE Humanism in East Central Europe

'Lendület' Research Group) The book that speaks: conversing with manuscripts and early

prints from the Antiquity to the late 15th century

14:50-15:40 Session 5 (Philosophy and Medicine)

Chair: Dr. József SIMON, University of Szeged, Department of Philosophy

14:50-15:10 Simona MARTORANA (Durham University) Myth and Philosophy: The Great Sinners’

topos in Ovid, Lucretius and Seneca

15:10-15:30 Laura Menta SZILÁGYI (Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Budapest) The works of

Nicander of Colophon in the tradition of didactic poetry



16:00-17:40 Session 6 (Roman Literature)

Chair: Prof. Dr. Ibolya TAR, University of Szeged, Department of Classical Philology and Neo-Latin Studies

16:00-16:20 Isha GAMLATH (University of Kelaniya) The aesthetics of stripping: Application of an

aesthetically apt metaphor for discarding sensory passions in the testimony of

Porphyry’s De Abstinentia

16:20-16:40 Tereza ŠEVČÍKOVÁ (Masaryk University, Brno) Transferring instruction in Cicero’s and

Germanicus’ Translations of Aratus’ Phaenomena

16:40-17:00 Péter SOMFAI (Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest) Commune Sepulcrum – The

’Catullan’ Memory of Troy in Vergil’s Aeneid

17:00-17:20 Natália GACHALLOVÁ (Masaryk University, Brno) Aulus Gellius’ Noctes Atticae:

Charlatan Strategies And How To Reveal Them


18:00-19:00 Visit to Szeged Synagogue

Friday, 2017. 09. 01.

10:20-11:35 Session 7 (Greek Tragedy)

Chair: Dr. Péter MAYER, University of Szeged, Department of Classical Philology and Neo-Latin Studies

10:20-10:40 Chloe BRAY (University of St Andrews) The Seascape of the Battle of Salamis as an Abject

Space in Aeschylus’ Persae

10:40-11:00 Guy BRINDLEY (Jesus College, University of Oxford) Fatherhood and fatherland on the

tragic stage: Oedipus' curse upon his sons

11:00-11:20 Katalin BÁN (University of Szeged) Medea, the infanticide in the light of the ancient

Greek concept of the soul


11:50-12:20 Plenary Lecture by Oliver SCHWAZER (University College London) Encolpius or Encolpia?

Crossing the gender lines in Petronius’ Satyrica

12:20-14:00 Lunch Break

14:00-15:15 Session 8 (Varia)

Chair: Dr. Péter KASZA, University of Szeged, Department of Classical Philology and Neo-Latin Studies

14:00-14:20 Benedikt Lavrinčík (Masaryk University, Brno) Pontifical revolution: Kurt Latte vs.

Georges Dumézil and other interpretations

14:20-14:40 Agnieszka WĄSIK (University of Warsaw) Who needs Pliny the Elder in XXI century?

14:40-15:00 Sára SÁNTA (Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest) De Ruderibus Laconici Caldariique

Romani: The chronicle of the first planned excavation in Hungary



15:40-17:20 Session 9 (Historiography)

Chair: Dr. Imre Áron ILLÉS, University of Szeged, Department of Ancient History

15:40-16:00 Jurgen R. GATT (University College London, University of Malta) Logic and Inquiry in

Psammetichus’ Experiment (Hdt. 2.2)

16:00-16:20 Manolis E. PAGKALOS (University of Leicester) Historical Reality and Cultural Memory in

Early Hellenistic Athens: Politics and the Use of the Past

16:20-16:40 Timothy BRADY (Royal Holloway University of London) Republicanism on the Danube:

Interpreting Tacitus account of the Pannonian Mutiny

16:40-17:00 Péter KAPI (University of Szeged) Druids in the Light of Written Sources


17:30-18:00 Plenary Lecture by Imre Áron ILLÉS (University of Szeged, Department of Ancient History)

Nominatio of the Local Magistrates in the Roman Empire

18:00-20:00 Guided tour in Szeged

20:00- Closing event

List of Participants

Antošovská, Tereza [email protected]

Barreto da Costa, Porfírio, [email protected]

Bán Katalin [email protected]

Brady, Timothy [email protected]

Bray, Chloe [email protected]

Brindley, Guy [email protected]

Gachallová, Natália [email protected]

Gamlath, Isha [email protected]

Gatt, Jurgen R. [email protected]

Gellérfi Gergő [email protected]

Illés Imre Áron [email protected]

Kantaras, Anastasios [email protected]

Kapi Péter [email protected]

Kiss Farkas Gábor [email protected]

Kvasničková, Tereza [email protected]

Lavrinčík, Benedikt [email protected]

Markelov, Yurievich Andrei [email protected]

Martorana, Simona [email protected]

Máté Ágnes [email protected]

Molnár Annamária [email protected]

Pagkalos, Manolis E. [email protected]

Salayová, Andrea [email protected]

Sánta Sára [email protected]

Schwazer, Oliver [email protected]

Serracino, Carmel [email protected]

Ševčík, Pavel [email protected]

Ševčíková, Tereza [email protected]

Somfai Péter [email protected]

Szabó Ferenc Krisztián [email protected]

Szilágyi Laura Menta [email protected]

Tibaldini, Marco [email protected]

Vermote, Kristof [email protected]

Wąsik, Agnieszka [email protected]

BOOKLET OF ABSTRACTSklasszika.hu/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/booklet... · Tacitus shows his...

Documents

Transcript of BOOKLET OF ABSTRACTSklasszika.hu/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/booklet... · Tacitus shows his...