Classics News and Events
A word's worth: the electrum stater of Phanes
Nick Brown explores what exactly gives money value in December's coin of the month.
Dr Michael Scott made Honorary Citizen of Delphi
Dr Michael Scott is to be awarded Honorary Citizenship of Delphi, Greece - ΔΕΛΦΟΙ ΔΕΛΦΩΝ ΕΠΟΙΗΣΑΝ - in a ceremony in Athens on Wednesday 25th November. The ceremony will be part of a larger event to kick-start Delphi's campaign to be named the 2021 European Capital City of Culture.
Dr Scott's award is in recognition for his research and publications on Delphi as the omphalos 'the centre of the ancient world, as well as his writing and presenting of a BBC documentary about the history of the site. He will be working with the 2021 team on their campaign in the coming months.
Histories of Freedom of Speech
Students and visiting academics took part in a debate on Histories of Freedom of Speech, Ancient and Modern.
Dr Suzanne Frey-Kupper introduced the event, part of the Humanities Research Centre's Warwick 50 celebration, by highlighting two anniversaries, the 50th anniversary of the University of Warwick and the 75th anniversary of the war-time Coventry Blitz.
Aristophanes' female characters Mika (Maheen Rizvi) and Lysistrata (Sasha Desai), as performed by Warwick undergraduates, demonstrated the problems of free speech within Athenian democracy, our first taste of the complications of ancient free speech. Thomas Matthews-Boehmer and Emma Johnson, directors of our undergraduate Classics plays, spoke about the complications of transferring Aristophanes' comedies, with their ancient ideas and humour, to the modern stage.
Our guests Prof Paul Cartledge, Dr Katie Fleming and Prof Robert Fine each spoke briefly about the history of free speech, from Athens to the present day, Socrates to Charlie Hebdo, demonstrating that it has always been a problematic and contested idea; Dr Dan Orrells then chaired a lively discussion between the panellists and students in the audience.
Highlights and more pictures from the event via Storify
Otho's Victory: Wishful thinking, or genuine historical record?
Kevin explores whether the celebration of a victory for the emperor Otho was genuine or something else entirely in November's Coin of the Month.
New publications on Aristotle and on Sicilian history
Just published: Carol Atack (2015), ‘Aristotle’s pambasileia and the metaphysics of monarchy’, Polis, 32: 297-320.
Carol Atack (2015), 'The Greeks in Sicily', in Sicily and the Sea, eds. D. Burgersdijk, et al., (Zwolle: W Books) 38-45.
The latter is a contribution to the illustrated catalogue for the exhibition Sicily and the Sea/Sicilie en de Zee, currently at the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam, and coming to the Ashmolean in Oxford later in 2016.