Nunspeet Seminar - History of the Discipline
| Vanaf: | vr 01-11-2024 10:00 |
| Tot en met: | za 02-11-2024 14:00 |
| Waar: | Nunspeet, Hotel Villa Vennendal |
PROGRAM
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1
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10:00-10.20
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Arrival
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10:20-10:30
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Opening of Seminar by Gerry Wakker, director of OIKOS
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10.30-12:00
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Marije Martijn, VU
Forthcoming
Developments within the discipline of Ancient Philosophy (concentration on Plato and Aristotle, Neoplatonism (incl. its theory of knowledge, nature, mathematics), broadening to global philosophy)
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12:00-13.15
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Lunch
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13:15–14:45
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Lieve van Hoof, UGent
Lobbying in Late Antiquity: Letters and Letter Collections between Politics and Literature
A significant number of letter collections from Late Antiquity have been preserved, and many of the letters in these collections attempt to influence official decisions. This paper bridges the gap between research on ancient epistolography and the study of the functioning of the Late Roman Empire to explore what letters can teach us about lobbying in Late Antiquity. |
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14:45 – 15:15
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Coffee/Tea break
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15:15 – 18.15
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Two sessions about Writing the history of ‘Global antiquity’ followed by plenary discussion (Miko Flohr and Rolf Strootman) Traditional approaches to ‘Ancient History’ in Europe and North America have been dominated by the histories of Greece and Rome, even if it has long been known that the world of antiquity extended far beyond the Mediterranean and Europe, and even if ancient historians have been engaging with this broader world since the nineteenth century; in recent years, ancient historians have increasingly felt tempted to question its Eurocentric roots – but how do these recent developments relate to the deeper history of ‘global antiquity’ among ancient historians? Flohr will focus on the Roman imperial period (CE), and Strootman primarily on the Hellenistic world (BCE), though that boundary is not always and everywhere clear to draw. Flohr’s emphasis will be more in the socio-economic corner, combining textual and material sources and Strootman on court culture, religion and/or warfare |
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15.15 – 16.25
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Miko Flohr, UL
Roman Studies and the ancient world
European scholars of the Roman Empire have been engaging with South, East and South-East Asia since the nineteenth century, though until the last two decades, their efforts remained modest, isolated, and contributed only marginally to the leading narratives of ancient history, despite the strongly (and sometimes explicitly) universalist agenda underlying the study of Mediterranean antiquity. Since the 2000s, however, there appears to be a decisive change in attitude, and this is reflected in a sharp increase in published scholarship – but it is not immediately straightforward to what extent and in which ways has this actually changed our understanding of antiquity in the Mediterranean, and in general. In this paper we explore where the field is standing now, take stock of how it got here, and discuss what that means for us, as (European) scholars of the ancient world. |
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16:25 - 16:30
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Short break |
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16:30- 17:40
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Rolf Strootman, UU
The Hellenistic World: From (post)colonial paradigm to Global Antiquity
The term “Hellenistic” denotes a cultural concept, originally defined as a hybrid of Greek and non-Greek civilizations that allegedly came into existence in the empires of Alexander the Great and his successors. In the early twentieth century, “Hellenism” was seen as the spread of Western civilization in the “Orient”, but in the 1970s a process of ‘decolonization’ began, leading to an increased interest in indigenous cultures in regions such as East Africa, Mesopotamia and the Iranian Plateau. Today, the Hellenistic World is more often defined as a “globalized” world of connectivity stretching from India to Spain. We also are more aware that the foundations of this premodern globalization were laid by the Achaemenid Empire during the preceding Persian Period (550-330 BCE). This new perspective should enable us to position Ancient History more firmly in the broader discipline of World History with its focus on the cultural, political and economic importance of the central regions of Eurasia. |
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17:40 - 17:45
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Short break (if needed) |
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17.45– 18.15
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Plenary discussion
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18:15 - 19:00
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Break/Drinks
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19: 00 - ...
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Dinner (followed by free time, drinks etc.)
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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2
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Before 9.00
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Breakfast
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9.00-10.30
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Luuk Huitink, UvA
What do we want from ancient historiography
A discussion of a number of ways in which ancient historiographers have been read in the course of modern reception history, e.g. history as magistra vitae (as in the Renaissance), history as entertainment and source for identification with historical figures (as in the Scottish Enlightenment), works of history as 'tactical manuals' (as in the Prussian nineteenth century), etc.
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10.30-11.00
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Coffee/Tea break |
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11.00-12.30
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Caroline Waerzeggers, UL The decipherment of cuneiform writing as colonial history The history of the decipherment of the cuneiform script (culminating in 1857) is usually told as a story of the great scholars who cracked the code, one brilliant step after the other. Today, we look at the wider political and social patterns behind these individual achievements
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12.30-12.45
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Concluding remarks and evaluation
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12.45-14.00
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Lunch
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From 14.00
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Departure
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REGISTRATION
If you want to register, please send an email to the OIKOS office (oikos@rug.nl) stating your name, your status (PhD or ReMA student) and university, and any dietary wishes (vegetarianism, allergies) or other requirements. The deadline for registration is WednesdayOctober 16th, 2024.