The Ninth Annual Classics Graduate Student Colloquium at The University of Virginia

Perspectives on the Past: The Politics of (Re)Making History

February 26, 2005

Keynote Address: Professor Mary Lefkowitz, Archeology and the Politics of Origins: The Search for Pyramids in Greece.

The Classics Graduate Student Association of the University of Virginia invites papers for its ninth Graduate Student Colloquium, "Perspectives on the Past: The Politics of (Re)Making History", to be held in Charlottesville on Saturday, February 26, 2005.

The keynote speaker will be Professor Mary Lefkowitz of Wellesley College. Professor Lefkowitz has published extensively on the gods in myth, women in antiquity, on the "Black Athena" controversy, Pindar, and ancient biography.

As classicists we are well aware of the importance of interpreting the past, but this colloquium will investigate ways in which antiquity has been presented in modern times and how the ancients viewed and represented their own history. For example, how have political movements used classical literature and archaeological expeditions to further their agendas? How did Augustus present his own past accomplishments in the Res Gestae as propaganda for his principate? In what ways do historians like Livy, Herodotus, and Thucydides present a picture of the past which advances a program of action for their own present? How do different peoples' myths of origins, like eponymous heroes and the self-professed autochthony of the Athenians, provide a foundation for their identities and actions? In what ways does the mythological account of Vergil's Aeneid support the contemporary imperial ideals? To what extent do modern Greeks and Italians construct their identities in dialogue with their "glorious past"? How are modern socio-political ideologies reinforced by reinterpretations or appropriations of classical antiquity?

We welcome submissions from all fields of Classical studies, including philology, art history, history, philosophy, etc. Abstracts should be one page in length and submitted anonymously to:

Salvador Bartera
University of Virginia
Department of Classics
P.O. Box 400788
Charlottesville, VA 22904-4788
434-924-3008 Fax: 434-924-3062
E-mail: sb6et@virginia.edu

Submissions by e-mail are encouraged. These should take the form of an anonymous attachment: the body of the e-mail should include your name, address, and the title of your paper. Abstracts should be submitted by December 20, 2004 and all applicants will be informed of their status by February 1, 2005. Questions may be directed to Athanassios Vergados. This announcement and updates may be found at the colloquium website.