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Trendall Lecture 2012
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WILLIAM RITCHIE VISITING SCHOLARS - Prof Hans Goette and Prof Zach Biles
Professor Hans Rupprecht Goette of the Deutsches Archaologisches Institut in Berlin, a previous AAIA visitor to CCANESA in 2010, was invited again for a three week stay as William Ritchie Visiting Fellow, from July 18 to August 5, 2011. While here, Prof Goette studied the Nicholson Museum's collection of marble Roman portraits. There are about ten of these, seven of which have never previously been published. Prof Goette will publish these seven for the first time and offer a new interpretation for the remaining three.
Prof. Goette also gave two lectures and attended a conference at CCANESA entitled 'Death of Drama or Birth of an Industry? the Greek Theatre in the Fourth Century BC', 19-21 July, 2011. One was a public lecture held at the Nichoslon Museum on July 24th and entitled 'Attic Marble for the Ancient World'; the second was a seminar of the Dept of Classics and Ancient History, held at CCANESA on August 4th, and entitled 'Re-evaluating Kopienkritik and the Interpretation of Roman Protraits? The Case of Caligula'.
The Classical archaeologists and historians in Sydney were already personally acquainted with Prof. Goette and his visit permitted us to renew old ties and learn about his current research. The visit also facilitated the forging of new ties with the DAI. Prof. Goette has collaborated with Profs Peter Wilson and Eric Csapo in previous publications and will be a leading contributor to the publication of the 'Theatre in the Fourth Century' conference.
Prof. Goette wrote: 'This is to thank you very much for your invitation, for getting the grant for my stay here, the wonderful and most interesting conference, and all your organisational work connected to my visit. ... I enjoyed my time here very much, felt almost as a member of the Center having the office and the library at hand - it was wonderful.' The visit of Prof. Goette was also assisted by a generous grant from the Ian Potter Foundation.
Assistant Professor Zachary Biles of Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, visited Sydney for the first time as William Ritchie Visiting Fellow, from July 1 to August 16, 2011. Prof. Biles is working on a new edition and commentary of Aristophanes' 'Wasps'. While at CCANESA he attended the CCANESA Ancient Theatre Seminars, to which he contributed a paper on 'Exchanging Metaphors in Cratinus and Aristophanes' as well as generously sharing his expertise in many informal discussions with the ancient theatre researchers at CCANESA. Prof. Biles attended the CCANESA conference 'Death of Drama or Birth of an Industry? the Greek Theatre in the Fourth Century BC', 19-21 July, 2011, where he presented, jointly with Dr Jed Thorn, also of Franklin and Marshall College, a new interpretation of the Pronomos vase, in a paper entitled 'Rethinking Choregic Iconography in Apulia'. Prof. Biles will be an important collaborator in the publication of the 'Theatre in the Fourth Century' conference.
Dr David Pritchard on his Visit to CCANESA, January 2011
As a Visiting Scholar at CCANESA, Dr David Pritchard worked intensively on the finalising of his sole-authored book, 'Sport, Democracy and War in Classical Athens', which is under contract to Cambridge University Press. This book explores the intriguing question of the relationship between sport and war in ancient democratic Athens and why it was that ordinary Athenians supported elite sportsmen as lavishly as they did. It draws attention to the clear parallels between the sporting culture of ancient Greece and that of modern Australia.
CCANESA proved to be the perfect place for this intensive writing. Ancient sources and important reference works were ready at
hand in the Centre's library, while its resident fellows, along with
staff of The University of Sydney who regularly work there, generously discussed the book wiith him. While at Sydney, Dr Pritchard participated in the seminar of the ARC-funded ancient theatre group, who invited him to present one of his book's chapters as a seminar. Dr Pritchard found CCANESA enormously value for its facilities and especially for the scholarly interaction which it encourages. He will definitely be returning and encourages ancient historians in the region to avail themselves of this welcoming centre.
Dr Pritchard is Senior Lecturer in Greek History at the University of Queensland.
Visiting Scholar - Dr Penelope Allison
During my three weeks as a visiting fellow at CCANESA in January 2011 I had a profitable time working on three small but important projects.
The first was the preparation for a paper to be delivered at the 'Houses and Habitat in the Mediterranean World' conference at the end of June to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Monash Prato Centre, Tuscany. I will be presenting a paper on 'Eating and drinking in Roman domestic contexts'. The second was reading and writing a review of a recent publication by E. Dwyer, 'Pompeii's Living Sculptures' (Univ. of Michigan Press 2010) for a review for 'The Classical Review'. The third has been writing of a fellowship application to the Arts and Humanities Research Council, part of which involves collaborating with the University of Sydney Library and the Department of Archaeology to produce on the on-line archiving and dissemination of my Australian project on Household Archaeology.
Dr Penelope Allison
School of Archaeology and Ancient History
University of Leicester
Kytherian Lecture at CCANESA
On Wednesday 24 November Professor Timothy Gregory and Dr Lita Tzortzopoulou-Gregory gave a fantastic lecture about their archaeological work on the Ionian island of Kythera at an event co-hosted by the Sydney Friends of the Australian Archaeological Institute at Athens and the Kytherian Association of Australia. Members of the Kytherian community, who have always been deeply supportive of research initiatives concerning their home island, turned up in force - giving the lecturers a full-house. Professor Gregory and Dr Tzortzopoulou-Gregory have been long-term collaborators with the AAIA through the Australian Paliochora Kythera Archaeological Survey (APKAS) and have recently co-authored book on the history of the island and plan to return to undertake more archaeological field-work in the future. The lecture was held in the CCANESA Board Room which has now been fitted out to accommodate almost a hundred guests. The venue has proven popular for smaller public lectures – and the Centre’s foyer has proven to be a wonderful and flexible reception space.
Audience at the Kythera Lecture in the CCANESA Boardroom
Visiting Scholar - Dr Jaimie Lovell
Jaimie Lovell (Director, Kenyon Institute, Jerusalem – formerly the British School of Archaeology, Jerusalem) was a recent visitor working at CCANESA for two months in July and August, 2010. Dr Lovell worked on the publication of her excavations at el Khawarij, in the Ajlun District, Jordan. These excavations focused on the elucidation of early olive production in the Chalcolithic period (ca. 4800-3800 BC) in the southern Levant. Also while at CCANESA she put the finishing touches to the manuscript of an edited volume, now in press, on transitions in prehistory: Culture, Chronology and the Chalcolithic.
CCANESA Launch and Woodhouse Photographs
CCANESA was formally accorded the status of a University Centre by the Provost on 13 May 2009. It was launched by the Chancellor Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir AC, CVO on 2 December 2009, with addresses by Mr David Malouf, AC and the Inaugural Director, for the period 2009-2010, Prof. Peter Wilson, the William Ritchie Professor of Classics. The speakers emphasized the collaborative nature of this venture and the wonderful facilities now at the disposal of those who study the ancient Classical and Near Eastern worlds. The official launch saw CCANESA full of keen partners and supporters, including the Greek Consul General Mr Vassileos Tolios, the Dean-elect Prof. Duncan Ivison and Provost-elect Prof. Stephen Garton.
The Centre was kindly given permission by the University’s Nicholson Museum to reproduce three of its collection of over a thousand black and white photographs taken by William John Woodhouse that mostly record his travel in Greece during 1896, 1908, 1921 and 1935. He travelled widely across the country including trips from Aetolia to Corinth, Cyprus to Athens and Boeotia to Corfu. As a photographer, he not only portrayed ancient sites and architecture but also chose to record the everyday life and culture of the people of Greece in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
“I carry in my mind what perhaps no one else in Australia has, a series of pictures of Greece in her different stages of growth covering half a century of her existence.” - W. J. Woodhouse
The pictures have been printed on large canvasses; two of large fallen column drums hang in the entrance/reception area and one of a sweeping view Athens from the Acropolis hangs in the boardroom. These impressive pictures include: On the Acropolis in the 1890s and View of the Acropolis from the Temple of Olympian Zeus. The picture in our Board Room is a panorama of Athens with Mount Lykavettos in the background.
Woodhouse witnessed the transformation of Greece into an industrialised society, something he very much regretted.
“All that was the true spice of travel in Greece is now but a memory. The old mode of travel by pony or mule, on the native samari, or great wooden pack saddle, with its accompanying Agoghiat, whose muttered calculations of what he plotted to make out of you would sometimes be overheard, has quite fallen into disuse; so that when I inquired for mule and man I was greeted with mockery.” - W.J. Woodhouse
This remarkable collection was donated to the Nicholson Museum in 1984 by his daughter, Miss Liska Woodhouse.
30th Anniversary of the University of Sydney’s Excavations at Pella in Jordan. A Commemorative Display of Pottery.
Pella is a vast multi-period site which lies in the foot hills of the eastern side of the north Jordan Valley, along the main trade route north-south from Egypt through the Levant to Syria and Anatolia in the north, and eastward along the Tigris and Euphrates into Mesopotamia. Pella is situated at the south-east end of the Jezreel Valley which runs north-west from the Jordan valley to the plain of Akko/Acre on the Mediterranean coast. Thus Pella is placed at the cross-roads of the major north-south and east-west routes of the region, in a position that was central to the movement of goods between different and far-reaching lands.
Pella has been excavated for 30 years, initially by a joint College of Wooster, Ohio, and University of Sydney team, from 1979 to 1985, and thereafter solely by the University of Sydney, led initially by Emeritus Prof. Basil Hennessy and Dr Tony McNicoll, and now by Dr Stephen Bourke, with various co-Directors.
The 30th anniversary commemorative display of pottery at CCANESA includes examples dated from c. 1500 BCE or the Bronze Age, down to c. 550 CE, or the Byzantine period. The Late Bronze Age is represented by three vessels (an amphora and two bowls) from Tomb 62 and Tomb 18. The amphora and one of the platters (from Tomb 62) are particularly fine examples of the beautiful Levantine ceramic, Chocolate-on-White ware.
There are more than 100 tombs at Pella. Tell Husn is a largely natural hill to the south across the Wadi Jirm from the main tell. Tomb 62 (Area XI), on its north-eastern side, is a very rich tomb, excavated in 1984, and dates to the MBA to LBA (1600–1500 BCE). Tomb 62 was by far the largest and best equipped of the 20 MB/LB period tombs excavated at Pella over the years, and one of the largest tombs excavated in the southern Levant. More than 2000 objects were recovered from the tomb, including an assemblage of domestic ceramics of typical Jordanian and Palestinian types, as well as a number of imported Cypriot and Syrian pieces. In addition to pottery, small finds included scarab and cylinder seals, gold jewellery, arrow heads, bone inlay and spindle whorls, calcite flasks, and glass beads.
Representing the Iron Age is a chalice, c. 1050 BCE, one of in excess of 200 objects in total from Tomb 89. Tomb 89 in Area II, was excavated in 1987. It is a single chamber tomb dating to the IA IB/IIA (c.1050–850 BCE) and is situated to the north-east of the main tell, in a modest IA cemetery on the lower north-western slopes of Jebel Abu el-Khas. This area comes into use at the end of the LBA when burials appear to cease on the northern slopes of Tell Husn.
After the end of the 9th C BCE there was a gap in major occupation of the site until the middle Hellenistic period, c.200 BCE. During the later Hellenistic period the main mound was densely populated before the city was destroyed (86 BCE) by the Jewish king, Alexander Jannaeus. The 1st century CE (Early Roman period) once again saw a progressive increase in Pella’s population which continued into the Late Roman era (132–324 CE) from which are displayed a jug and a bowl, c. 300 CE. From the following Byzantine era, 324–640 CE, we have selected a ‘Jerash’ bowl and a casserole dish, c. 550 CE. The display is completed by an early Islamic (Umayyad) pilgrim flask dating just before Pella’s destruction by a massive earthquake in 747/8 CE.
In all,a small sample of the wide ranging influences, styles and chronology of the material from Pella.
Drawing the Past: Illustrations of Ancient Architectural Elements from the AAIA Folios & Rare Books Collection
In the field of archaeology, visual presentation has always been of paramount importance to both scholarly interpretation and public appreciation of finds from excavations. From the folio engravings of the dilettanti, such as James Stuart and Nicholas Revett’s “Antiquities of Athens” in 1762, to the artistic renderings of Knossos, Mycenae and the Athenian Agora by Piet De Jong during his long association from the 1920s with the British and American Schools in Athens, the blurring of the distinction between scientific documentation and art has a long history. This tendency in its turn exerted a strong influence on the European architectural movements of their time. We have selected a range of representative drawings and photographs of architectural elements to illustrate this interplay and these are displayed in our board room in a changing exhibition that will showcase a variety of these images from our collection.
New Project in the History of the Greek Theatre Wins Australian Research Council Support
A team of five academics from the Department of Classics & Ancient History and the Department of Archaeology have secured a large Australian Research Council Discovery Project Grant to study ‘The Theatrical Revolution: The Expansion of Theatre Outside Athens’. Over the course of the next five years, Professor Peter Wilson, Professor Eric Csapo, Emeritus Professor Dick Green, Dr Ted Robinson and Dr Sebastiana Nervegna will investigate the social and economic consequences of the growth of theatre in the first two centuries of its existence (500-300 BC). A combination of factors – a historical focus upon Athens as the hegemonic power in Greece, rigid discipline-boundaries (that place theatre squarely in the domain of literary studies), and the dominance of unidirectional models of cultural transfer – have caused past generations of scholars to take little interest in non-Athenian theatre. They have tended to ignore, or downplay any evidence they could not deny. Theatre appeared an entirely Athenian phenomenon until, late in the fourth century, the ‘integrity’ of the Greek cities was broken by the conquests of Alexander the Great.
A very different conception of Greece is now emerging. The current climate of free trade, the internet, and high levels of personal mobility have made scholarship much more ready to look for and accept evidence for a multicultural, interconnected and networked Mediterranean, where former generations noticed only cultural and economical isolation.
However, recent discoveries and recent studies make it certain that theatre was already widespread beyond Athens in the fifth century BC. By the end of the Classical period (479-323 BC) it had emerged as one of antiquity’s largest industries. Well before the Hellenistic period (323-86 BC) it played a cardinal role in the social and political development of Classical Greece: theatre provided a medium for the dissemination of a panhellenic language (koine Greek) and a unified mythology that formed the basis of Greek national identity. This project will address the clear need to identify, collect, assess and analyse the evidence for theatre’s impact on Greek and Mediterranean society and culture.
This project will be based in the William Ritchie Theatre Office within CCANESA. News of conferences and other events related to the project will be posted here in due course.