gmane.education.classics

For the Word on the Street, Courts Call Up an Online Witness

June Samaras — 2013-05-22T02:05:44

For the Word on the Street, Courts Call Up an Online Witness
By LESLIE KAUFMAN
Courts are looking to Urban Dictionary, a crowdsourced Web site,
as one way to define words on which a case may turn.

The wheels of justice move slowly sometimes, but not, apparently, as
slowly as Webster’s New World Dictionary.

Aaron Peckham started the online site Urban Dictionary in 1999 as a
college student. Users submit and vote on definitions.
Slang has always been a challenge for the courts in cases that involve
vulgar or insulting language. Conventional dictionaries lag the spoken
word by design. That has lawyers and judges turning to a more fluid
source of definitions: Urban Dictionary, a crowdsourced collection of
slang words on the Internet.

The online site, created by a college freshman in 1999, has found
itself in the thick of cases involving everything from sexual
harassment to armed robbery to requests for personalized license
plates, as courts look to discern meaning and intent in the modern
lexicon.

Last month, Urban Dictionary was cited in a financial restitution case
in Wisconsin, where an appeals court was reviewing the term “jack”
because a convicted robber and his companion had referred to
themselves as the “jack boys.”

The court noted, however, that according to Urban Dictionary, “jack”
means “to steal, or take from an unsuspecting person or store.” It
then rejected the convicted man’s claim that he should not have to
make restitution to the owner of a van he stole to use in a robbery.

Two weeks earlier, a court in Tennessee noted that a phrase used by a
manager at a supply chain logistics company — “to nut” — was defined
by Urban Dictionary as “to ejaculate.” After weighing that and other
evidence, it rejected a motion to dismiss a sexual harassment claim by
female employees.

It can take years for slang terms to be included in traditional
dictionaries, whose editors want to be certain that the words have
staying power. By contrast, some new words rush into Urban Dictionary
in less than a day. As a result, the site has cropped up in dozens of
court cases in recent years, according to a Lexis database of federal
and state cases, although the outcome rarely rests solely on a
definition.

This trend is likely to accelerate, according to Greg Lastowka, a
professor of law at Rutgers specializing in Internet and property law.
“If it is Urban Dictionary or hire some linguistic expert to do a
survey, it seems like a pretty cheap, pretty good alternative for the
court,” he said.

In the last year alone, the Web site was used by courts to define iron
(“handgun”); catfishing (“the phenomenon of Internet predators that
fabricate online identities”); dap (“the knocking of fists together as
a greeting, or form of respect”); and grenade (“the solitary ugly girl
always found with a group of hotties”).

Reference in legal cases to Urban Dictionary and Wikipedia, the online
encyclopedia, have become common enough that in its Spring 2010 issue,
the law review of St. John’s University in Queens published an article
that tried to create standardized rules for the most appropriate uses
of crowdsourced Web sites.

Scientific terms and other technical definitions should not be culled
from such sites, the article concluded, but it added, “The wisdom of
the crowd is an appropriate and valuable reference when consensus
itself is at issue, the information is generally known or the content
is easily verifiable.”

The idea that consensus rules has its skeptics. Tom Dalzell, senior
editor of The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional
English, is a fan of Urban Dictionary, but he argues that the site has
obvious limits.

“Using them in court is a terrible idea; they don’t claim to be an
authority or a reference,” he said. “Some of the stuff on their site
is very good, but there is more chaff than wheat. It is a lazy
person’s resource.”

Urban Dictionary’s move into the legal arena surprises no one more
than Aaron Peckham, its founder, who has continued to run it like a
homegrown business. Mr. Peckham, who is 32 and lives in San Francisco,
has never taken venture capital money and still runs the entire site
from his laptop. For revenue, he contracts with others to put
advertising on the site and to make merchandise — like T-shirts and
mugs printed with some of the site’s more interesting definitions. He
has no paid staff members, though he does contract for help with
things like advertising and design.

Still, he argues, the development of Urban Dictionary into a tool for
courts is “logical.”

For the Word on the Street, Courts Call Up an Online Witness
Published: May 20, 2013
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When he began the site in 1999 at California Polytechnic State
University, it was meant to be a parody. “Friends and I would sit
around and make up words,” he said. As the Internet grew in size,
however, contributors from around the globe began to join in and
enforce a kind of democratic evaluation of the words.

Urban Dictionary currently gets 110 million monthly page views and is
the 77th biggest Web site in the country, according to Quantcast, a
Web analytics company.

Roughly 2.3 million definitions posted on the site — some crude or
insensitive — and about 30,000 proposed new definitions are sent in
each month, Mr. Peckham said. For one to be added, at least five other
site members must vote for it — from roughly 7,000 users a month who
click “publish” or “don’t publish.” Despite the low threshold, some
two-thirds of proposals are rejected, Mr. Peckham estimates.

Many words are just ignored. Some become popular or disputed. Users
can contribute their own definitions to existing words. The word
“emo,” for instance, currently has more than 1,100 definitions —
including “Like a Goth, only much less dark and much more Harry
Potter,” (definition No. 3) and “sensitive music and the kids that cry
while listening to it” (No. 1,122).

The definitions are ranked by popularity, with the idea that democracy
will reveal some truth about how the word is really used. “Readers can
tell not to put too much faith in a definition that is really
unpopular,” Mr. Peckham said.

He added: “Dictionaries may be more heavily researched, but the real
authority on language and the meaning comes from people who speak the
language. The whole point of Urban Dictionary is we are defining our
own language as we speak it.”

Jesse Sheidlower, editor at large for the Oxford English Dictionary,
points out, however, that popular does not mean accurate. “People may
like a word because it was posted by their friend or because it was
funny,” he said. (Mr. Peckham said that private analyses the site has
conducted show that “funny” is the No. 1 reason people give for voting
for posts.)

Sometimes a common slang meaning has nothing to do with what a person
actually meant. In 2009, the Nevada Supreme Court said that the
Department of Motor Vehicles could not deny the personalized license
plate “HOE” because Urban Dictionary said it meant prostitute. “A
reasonable mind would not accept the Urban Dictionary entries alone as
adequate to support a conclusion that the word ‘HOE’ is offensive or
inappropriate,” the justices wrote.

In fact, William Junge said that he wanted the plate for his Chevrolet
Tahoe only because “TAHOE” was not available. Mr. Junge, who was 62 at
the time, said the idea that it could mean whores had not crossed his
mind.

As he told reporters at the time: “That was their interpretation.
Shame on them.”

-----------------------------
June Samaras
2020 Old Station Rd
Streetsville,Ontario
Canada L5M 2V1
Tel : 905-542-1877
E-mail : june.samaras< at >gmail.com

Reminder: deadline for proposals concerning Black Sea antiquity

Petr Brezina — 2013-05-21T06:30:58

Chers collègues,

Je vous rappelle qu'aujourd'hui, le mardi 21 mai, c'est la date limite
pour soumettre les propositions de communication pour notre colloque
consacré à l'antiquité de la mer Noire :
http://www.volny.cz/petr-brezina/pontus2014/index.html

Je vous souhaite de passer ce jour joyeusement. Bien à vous,

Petr Březina

* * *

Petrus Březina Ponti Euxini et antiquitatis studiosis salutem.

Commemoro hodie esse diem XXI mensis Maii, usque ad cuius exitum
summaria orationum in conventu, qui antiquitati Ponti Euxini dicatus
sit, habendarum exspectem :
http://www.volny.cz/petr-brezina/pontus2014/index.html

Hunc diem habete hilare et multum valete.

La materia di Roma

J. L. Speranza — 2013-05-19T14:26:33

The Wikipedia entry for "Matter of Rome" 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matter_of_Rome
 
points to some fascinating area of research. The bibliography seems rather  
meagre, and wonder if a more complete one (KEYWORD: "matter of Rome"?) has 
(or  can, easily) be compiled. Help appreciated.
 
I find it pretty it all pretty heroic: "The paucity of original text  did 
not prevent the 12th century Norman poet Benoît de Sainte-Maure from writing  
a lengthy adaptation, "Le Roman de Troie", running 40,000 lines."
 
It seems bibliographies tend to focus on "national" literatures, in which  
case I should state that my focus should be Italy (and I note there is a  
corresponding section in the Italian Wikipedia entry -- excerpted below  (b)).

With thanks for any leads,
 
Cheers,
 
Speranza
 
---


Excerpts from Wikipedia:
 
(a)
    
"According to the medieval poet J. Bodel, the "matter of Rome" was the  
literary cycle made up of Greek and Roman mythology, together with episodes 
from  the history of classical antiquity, focusing on military heroes like 
Alexander  the Great and Julius Caesar."
 
"Bodel divided all the literary "cycles" he knew best into the Matter of  
Britain, the Matter of France and the Matter of Rome."
 
"Note that NON-cyclical" romance also existed."

"The Matter of Rome included what is referred to as "The Matter of  Troy", 
consisting of romances and other texts based on the Trojan War and its  
aftereffects, including the adventures of Aeneas."
 
"Classical topics were the subjects of a good deal of [mediaeval]  
literature, which in the case of Trojan subject matter ultimately deriving from  
Homer was built on scant sources."
 
"Since the Iliad and the Odyssey were unknown, medieval Western poets had  
to make do with two short prose narratives based on Homer, ascribed to 
Dictys  Cretensis and Dares Phrygius."
 
"The paucity of original text did not prevent the 12th century Norman poet  
Benoît de Sainte-Maure from writing a lengthy adaptation, "Le Roman de 
Troie",  running 40,000 lines."
 
"The poems that were written on these topics were called the "romans  
d'antiquité".
 
This name, "roman d'antiquité". presages the anachronistic approach the  
medieval poets used in dealing with these subjects."
 
"For example, in the epic poems Roman d'Alixandre and the Roman de Troie,  
Alexander the Great, and Achilles and his fellow heroes of the Trojan War 
were  treated as knights of chivalry, not much different from the heroes of 
the  chansons de geste."
 
"Elements of courtly love were introduced into the poems."
 
"In the "Roman de Thèbes", a romantic relationship absent from the Greek  
sources is introduced into the tale of Parthenopæus and Antigone."
 
"Military episodes in these tales were also multiplied, and used to  
introduce scenes of knight-errantry and tournaments."
 
"Another example of French medieval poetry in this genre is the "Eneas", a  
treatment of the Æneid that comes across as being a sort of burlesque of  
Virgil's poem."
 
"Sentimental and fantasy elements in the source material were multiplied,  
and incidents from Ovid, the most popular Latin poet of the Middle Ages, 
were  mixed into the pastiche."
 
"The Philomela attributed to Chrétien de Troyes, a retelling of the story  
of Philomela and Procne, also takes its source from Ovid's Metamorphoses."
 
"Geoffrey Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde is an English example, with  
Chaucer adding many elements to emphasize its connection with the matter."
 
"Chaucer also brought the story into line with the precepts of courtly  
love."
 
"This anachronistic treatment of elements from Greek mythology is similar  
to that of the Middle English narrative poem "Sir Orfeo", where the Greek  
Orpheus becomes the knight Sir Orfeo who rescues his wife Heurodis (i.e.  
Eurydice) from the fairy king."
 
See also: Classical mythology
 
References:
Hibbard, Laura A (1963), Medieval Romance in England, New York: Burt  
Franklin.
Fowler, Robert (2004). The Cambridge Companion To Homer. Cambridge  UP. W. 
P. Ker, Epic And Romance: Essays on Medieval Literature.
Lewis, Clive  Staples (1969), Selected Literary Essays, Cambridge, ENG, UK: 
University  Press.

Categories: ... Works based on Greek and Roman works
 
(b)  
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letteratura_medievale_francese#I_romanzi_antichi
 
"I romanzi antichi, detti anche "materia di Roma", si ispirano dalle grandi 
 storie dell'Antichità e sono scritti da chierici che traducono in volgare, 
 commentano e adattano le opere greche e latine."
 
"Il Roman d'Alexandre (1150 circa) narra la storia di Alessandro  Magno."
 
"Il "Roman de Thèbes" (1150 circa) riprende i miti che ruotano attorno a  
Tebe.
 
"Il Roman d'Enéas (1160 circa) rielabora l'Eneide di Virgilio."
 
"il Roman de Troie (1165 circa di Benoît de Sainte-Maure) l'Iliade di  
Omero."

"Il Roman de Jules César (1250 circa) narra la storia di Giulio  Cesare."

A New Book: Glass

Ergun LAFLI — 2013-05-18T09:15:05

Dear Colleagues,

A new booklet of us has just appeared in Germany:

S. Funfschilling/E. Lafli, Hadrianopolis II: Glasfunde des 6. und 7. Jhs.
aus Hadrianupolis, Paphlagonien [Turkei], Internationale Archaeologie 123
(Rahden/Westf. 2012) (ISBN-13: 978-3-89646-498-9; ISBN-10: 3-89646-498-1).

Summary: The second volume of Hadrianopolis series, a Roman-Byzantine
site in southwestern Paphlagonia, has been dedicated to the glass finds of
6th-7th cent. A.D.: A very homogenous local material group with fairly
good dated contexts and limited repertory.
The booklet can be obtained from Verlag Marie Leidorf GmbH
(Rahden/Westf.): http://www.vml.de/e/detail.php?ISBN=978-3-89646-498-9

Best wishes from Izmir,

Prof. Dr. Ergün LAFLI

Mageiros

Szegedy-Maszak, Andrew — 2013-05-17T20:13:26

Hello, all.
I received the following query today from a non-Classicist: "I'd like to confirm that the term mageiros was used to refer to all of the following occupations: butcher, cook, and priest. Is this accurate?"

To which I replied, having consulted the big LSJ, 'I did a little research of my own, and "butcher" and "cook" are certainly right for _mageiros_; I found one, late reference to its meaning "presiding at a sacrifice" - presumably because the animal would be killed and would have to be butchered - but I'm not sure about its meaning "priest" except in this very specialized sense.'

I now turn to The List to ask about this. It occurred to me that perhaps my correspondent was blending _mageiros_ with _magos_. I / we would be grateful for comments.
Andy SzM


Andrew Szegedy-Maszak
Professor of Classical Studies
Jane A. Seney Professor of Greek
Wesleyan University
Middletown, CT  06459
ph: 860.685.2065
fax: 860.685.2089
________________________________________

Podcast now available! Mathematics: A Quest for Truth

June Samaras — 2013-05-17T16:23:46

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Onassis Cultural Center NY <news< at >onassisusa.org>
Date: 16 May 2013 17:52
Subject: OCC NY: Podcast now available! Mathematics: A Quest for Truth
To: "june.samaras< at >gmail.com" <june.samaras< at >gmail.com>

**

On Tuesday, May 7th, 2013, the Onassis Cultural Center NY
presented:*“Mathematics: A Quest for Truth”
*at the New York Public Library with *Christos Papadimitriou* (right)
and *Costis
Daskalakis* (center), and the moderator of the series, *Simon Critchley*.
This was part of the philosophical conversation series, *On Truth (and
Lies).*

Can mathematics be defined as the “…subject in which we never know what we
are talking about, nor whether what we are saying is true,” as Bertrand
Russell once wrote? *Click
here*<http://onassisfoundationusa.createsend1.com/t/j-l-jhuyidk-yhyudiihy-y/>to
listen to Papadimitriou and Daskalakis along with Critchley explore,
in
a lively discussion, the foundational quest for the logical basis of
mathematics, from the ancient Greeks to modern times, using as a platform *
Logicomix*, the graphic novel co-authored by Papadimitriou. “The will of
men,” answered Papadimitriou, quoting José Saramago, when asked what drives
this quest, at the conclusion of the evening.

To learn more about our upcoming events,* click
here<http://onassisfoundationusa.createsend1.com/t/j-l-jhuyidk-yhyudiihy-j/>
.*

Photo Credit: Costas Picadas
*Logicomix* image used with permission from: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

  <http://onassisfoundationusa.createsend1.com/t/j-l-jhuyidk-yhyudiihy-t/>
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Which beginners=?UTF-8?Q?=E2=80=99?= Ancient Greek textbook( s) do you use?

Gabriel Bodard — 2013-05-17T13:28:44

Dear colleagues,

Please could you take a moment to fill in this survey on the use of 
textbooks for the teaching of beginners’ Ancient Greek. Only the first 
three questions are obligatory, and the whole survey should only take a 
minute to complete. Please circulate this request to any colleagues or 
communities who may not have seen it here.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FBJ39QL

A couple of notes:

1. Please answer the questions with regard to your own teaching: only 
include classes taught by others if you are sure no one else will 
include them in their answers. (e.g. if you are in a small teaching unit 
and your colleagues have told you they have no intention of answering). 
This will never be a comprehensive or reliable survey, but I’d like to 
avoid any blatant inaccuracy as far as possible.

2. Because of the nature of the questions, this survey is only really 
appropriate for the anglophone world. I’d be very interested to see more 
international results, but someone else would need to design the survey.

(Please don't reply on-list re this survey, but contact me personally if 
there seems to be any problem.)

Many thanks

Minoan civilization was made in Europe [DNA]

June Samaras — 2013-05-16T17:38:26

http://www.nature.com/news/minoan-civilization-was-made-in-europe-1.12990?goback=%2Egde_690807_member_240895350

Minoan civilization was made in Europe
DNA casts doubt on Egyptian origin for ancient Cretans.

Ewen Callaway
14 May 2013

Minoan artefacts are different from those of nearby Bronze-Age Greece
— but DNA studies suggest the civilization might be home-grown after
all.

When the British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans discovered the
4,000-year-old Palace of Minos on Crete in 1900, he saw the vestiges
of a long-lost civilization whose artefacts set it apart from later
Bronze-Age Greeks. The Minoans, as Evans named them, were refugees
from Northern Egypt who had been expelled by invaders from the South
about 5,000 years ago, he claimed.

Modern archaeologists have questioned that version of events, and now
ancient DNA recovered from Cretan caves suggests that the Minoan
civilization emerged from the early farmers who settled the island
thousands of years earlier.

The Minoans flourished on Crete for as many as 12 centuries until
about 1,500 bc, when it is thought to have been devastated by a
catastrophic eruption of the Mediterranean island volcano Santorini,
and a subsequent tsunami. They are widely recognized as one of
Europe's first 'high cultures', renowned for their pottery, metal-work
and colourful frescoes. Their civilization fuelled Greek myths such as
the story of the Minotaur, the half-man, half-bull creature who lived
in a labyrinth.

Related stories
Ancient Swedish farmer came from the Mediterranean
Underwater archaeology: Hunt for the ancient mariner
Trading Bronze Age technology
More related stories
Evans was among the first to explore Crete after it gained
independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1898. His team discovered the
4,000-year-old Palace of Minos, and uncovered artefacts very different
from those of Bronze Age Greece, including thick-walled circular tombs
that bore a resemblance to those of ancient North Africans, and
still-undeciphered scripts dubbed Linear A and Cretan hieroglyphs.

Others have suggested that the Minoans originated in the Middle East,
modern-day Turkey or the Mediterranean. Genetic studies of modern
Cretans have come to little consensus.

George Stamatoyannopoulos, a geneticist at the University of
Washington in Seattle who has been working on the problem for more
than a decade, hoped that he could settle the debate by looking at the
DNA of the long-dead Minoans. “One of my motivations when I started
the whole thing was to see whether Sir Arthur Evans was right or not,”
he says.

Stamatoyannopoulos's team assembled bone and tooth samples from more
than 100 individuals who lived on Crete between 4,900 and 3,800 years
ago. Of these, 37 yielded mitochondrial DNA, which is passed down in
the maternal line. The team analysed the samples in two different
laboratories — a quality-control method common in ancient DNA work.

Cultural exchange
The Minoan samples possessed 21 different mitochondrial DNA markers,
including 6 unique to Minoans and 15 common in modern, Bronze Age and
Neolithic European populations. None of the Minoans possessed
mitochondrial markers similar to those of present-day African
populations. The results are published online today in Nature
Communications1.

It is likely, says Stamatoyannopoulos, that the Minoans descended from
Neolithic populations that migrated to Europe from the Middle East and
Turkey. Archaeological excavations suggest that early farmers were
living in Crete by around 9,000 years ago, so these could be the
ancestors of the Minoans. Similarities between Minoan and Egyptian
artefacts were probably the result of cultural exchanges across the
navigable Mediterranean Sea, rather than wholesale migrations, he
adds.

Wolfgang Haak, a molecular archaeologist at the University of Adelaide
in Australia, thinks that Crete’s early history is probably more
complicated, with multiple Neolithic populations arriving at different
times. “It's nevertheless good to see some data — if authentic — from
this region of Europe contributing to the big and complex puzzle,” he
says.

Stamatoyannopoulos notes that his team’s findings are limited, because
mitochondrial DNA represents only a single maternal lineage for each
individual — a mother’s mother, and so on. With Johannes Krause, a
palaeogeneticist at the University of Tubingen in Germany, the team
now plans to sequence the nuclear genomes of Minoans and other
ancients to learn more about their history.

“For the last 30, 40 years there’s been a growing sense that Minoan
Crete was created by people indigenous to the island,” says Cyprian
Broodbank, a Mediterranean archaeologist at University College London.
He welcomes the latest line of support for this hypothesis. “It’s good
to have some of the old assumptions that Minoans migrated from some
other high culture scotched,” he says.

Nature doi:10.1038/nature.2013.12990

--
June Samaras
KALAMOS BOOKS
(For Books about Greece)
2020 Old Station Rd
Streetsville,Ontario
Canada L5M 2V1
Tel : 905-542-1877
E-mail : kalamosbooks< at >gmail.com
www.kalamosbooks.com
http://kalamosb.alibrisstore.com/
http://www.antiqbook.com/books/bookseller.phtml/kal

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Ελληνικές σπουδές

June Samaras — 2013-05-13T16:20:27

From: Vassilios Lambropoulos <vlambrop< at >umich.edu>
Date: 13 May 2013 10:06

A timely and substantial reflection on Modern Greek Studies:

http://www.tovima.gr/opinions/article/?aid=512182
Ελληνικές σπουδές
ΔΗΜΟΣΙΕΥΣΗ:  12/05/2013 05:45

Το υπουργείο Παιδείας στο νομοσχέδιο που ετοιμάζει για την
ελληνόγλωσση εκπαίδευση των Ελλήνων του εξωτερικού σχεδιάζει να
αναθέσει στο Διεθνές Πανεπιστήμιο της Ελλάδας, με έδρα τη Θεσσαλονίκη,
την αξιολόγηση και την επιχορήγηση των ελληνικών σπουδών του
εξωτερικού. Δεν γνωρίζω με ποιες προϋποθέσεις ή με ποια πείρα το εν
λόγω Πανεπιστήμιο θα αναλάβει έναν τέτοιο ρόλο, δεδομένου ότι δεν
διαθέτει ειδικούς στις Νεοελληνικές Σπουδές και οι περισσότεροι
διδάσκοντές του προέρχονται από άλλα ιδρύματα. Το παράδοξο είναι ότι
ενώ το υπουργείο θέλει να στηρίξει τις ελληνικές σπουδές σε ξένα
πανεπιστήμια δεν συμβουλεύτηκε ποτέ τις αρμόδιες Εταιρείες
Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών της Ευρώπης, της Αμερικής και της Αυστραλίας,
ώστε να έχει μια έγκυρη πληροφόρηση για τις ιδιαιτερότητες των
ελληνικών σπουδών στις τρεις ηπείρους. Ετσι ούτε ουσιαστική στήριξη
υπάρχει, ενώ επαναλαμβάνονται λάθη του παρελθόντος, καθώς πολλοί στην
Ελλάδα συγχέουν τη μελέτη της αρχαιότητας με την προώθηση των
Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών.

Αν και θα είχε ενδιαφέρον να μάθουμε αν υπήρξαν στο παρελθόν κάποια
πανεπιστήμια του εξωτερικού που προικοδοτήθηκαν πλουσιοπάροχα από το
ελληνικό κράτος, και για ποιους λόγους ή με τι αποτελέσματα, οι
εκάστοτε επιχορηγήσεις που προσέφερε το υπουργείο ήταν γενικώς
πενιχρές για να στηρίξουν αποτελεσματικά τις Νεοελληνικές Σπουδές.
Είναι επίσης αξιοσημείωτο ότι το υπουργείο φαίνεται να υιοθετεί για
τις Νεοελληνικές Σπουδές του εξωτερικού κριτήρια (ετήσια διεθνής
κατάταξη του πανεπιστημίου) που δεν εφαρμόζει για τη χρηματοδότηση των
ημεδαπών ανώτατων ιδρυμάτων.

Δεδομένου ότι η Ελλάδα δεν έχει αυτή τη στιγμή τις οικονομικές
δυνατότητες για γενναίες χορηγίες εδρών, όπως κάνουν οι
Ελληνοαμερικανοί, οι επιχορηγήσεις δεν θα σώσουν τις Νεοελληνικές
Σπουδές, καθώς στην Ευρώπη συρρικνώνονται ραγδαία και όσοι συνάδελφοι
συνταξιοδοτούνται δεν αντικαθίστανται. Κάτι που θα μπορούσε να
επιδιωχθεί είναι η στήριξη με καλές (μετα)διδακτορικές υποτροφίες
ξένων επιστημόνων που θέλουν να επενδύσουν επιστημονικά στη μελέτη της
νεότερης Ελλάδας μήπως στο μέλλον βρουν κάποια ακαδημαϊκή θέση από την
οποία θα μπορούσαν να προωθήσουν και τη γνωριμία με την Ελλάδα.
Τέτοιες υποτροφίες ή καλά summer schools μπορεί να ενθαρρύνουν
κάποιους ξένους να στραφούν στη μελέτη της Ελλάδας, αν λάβουμε υπόψη
ότι οι συνθήκες έρευνας (βιβλιοθήκες, αρχεία, ερευνητικά κέντρα και
άλλες υποδομές) στη χώρα είναι αποθαρρυντικές. Διαφορετικά οι
Νεοελληνικές Σπουδές θα γίνουν αποκλειστική υπόθεση των Ελλήνων και θα
πάψουν να ενδιαφέρουν αλλοδαπούς, υποκύπτοντας έτσι ακόμη περισσότερο
στην κρίση που έπληξε βάναυσα την εικόνα και το γόητρο της χώρας.

Ενώ παλαιότερα είχαμε σημαντικούς ξένους νεοελληνιστές που καθόρισαν
τη μελέτη της ελληνικής γλώσσας και λογοτεχνίας, σήμερα αυτοί έχουν
μειωθεί δραματικά ή βρίσκονται στη δύση της καριέρας τους. Σε αυτό
συνέβαλε και η ελλαδοκεντρική πολιτική που προσπάθησε να εξαγάγει
νεοελληνική παιδεία μέσω αποσπασμένων εκπαιδευτικών αντί να
εμπιστευθεί και να στηρίξει όσους ξένους επέλεγαν να αφοσιωθούν στα
ελληνικά γράμματα. Για τούτο η στήριξη των Νεοελληνικών (και όχι
γενικώς των ελληνικών) Σπουδών απαιτεί γνώση, στρατηγική και προπαντός
εξωστρέφεια. Αλλωστε, οι νεοελληνιστές του εξωτερικού προσέφεραν πάντα
μια διαφορετική ματιά και αυτό κινδυνεύει να χαθεί.

Ο κ. Δημήτρης Τζιόβας είναι καθηγητής στο Πανεπιστήμιο του Birmingham
της Αγγλίας.

source of quote

Tamara Green — 2013-05-12T23:33:44

A colleague in the History department  asked me if I knew the source of the following phrase:

"Ut ibi arduum calsum (cursum?) angelorum perficiam."

does anyone recognize it? I haven't a clue.

thanks.

Tamara Green
Hunter

Greece Drafting Case on Antiquities Looted by Nazis

June Samaras — 2013-05-12T22:49:40

http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/82650-officials-greece-drafting-case-on-antiquities-looted-by-nazis

Officials: Greece Drafting Case on Antiquities Looted by Nazis
by Naharnet Newsdesk Yesterday

Greece is preparing a case for the return of antiquities looted by the
Nazis during World War II, officials said on Friday.

"The entirety of the archaeological service's archives is under
investigation" in a search for photographs and sketches of lost items,
the general secretariat for culture said in a statement.

"Final and scientifically documented conclusions on the issue of Greek
cultural treasures looted during the (Nazi) occupation will be drawn
in the coming months," the secretariat said.

The search will also cover Byzantine and post-Byzantine relics whose
destruction or seizure had not been properly examined until now.

The culture secretariat added that tens of thousands of Neolithic
shards illegally taken out of Greece during the 1941-1944 occupation
are to be repatriated from Germany. "The repatriation procedures are
being completed," it said.

The Nazi occupation period still weighs heavy on Greeks and continues
to color the perception of Germany.

Further tension is caused by Berlin's insistence on an austerity-heavy
economic program in Greece for the past three years in return for
EU-IMF rescue loans.

Greece has said in recent years that it reserves the right to claim
wartime reparations from Germany, saying it was forced to accept
unfavorable terms during negotiations in the 1950s.

In April, the Greek finance ministry completed a search of state
archives to determine the level of outstanding reparations for Nazi
war crimes.

But its report has been classified as secret and has been forwarded to
the foreign ministry and the Greek state's legal counsel for further
handling.

According to reports, Greece has estimated the outstanding sum at 162
billion euros ($210 billion).

Germany, which has fronted a large share of the eurozone rescue for
Greece, rejects the idea of paying any further reparations.

In September, the German government reiterated that it has already
paid "substantial sums" to Greece as part of bilateral agreements on
war reparations.

SourceAgence France Presse

OT: "Private colleges cut prices" (WSJ)

Ricky Torrey — 2013-05-12T20:00:38

Of possible interest to some list members...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324582004578461450531723268.html?KEYWORDS=college

Best regards,

RST

before Ventris there was Alice E. Kober

Rosivach, Vincent — 2013-05-12T03:00:31

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/12/sunday-review/alice-e-kober-43-lost-to-history-no-more.html?ref=opinion


Vince

banausic

J. L. Speranza — 2013-05-11T16:57:37

From today's "World Wide Words" (© Michael Quinion 2013 -- 
http://www.worldwidewords.org):
 
"The source is classical Greek "banausikos", relating to 
artisans (from "baunos", a forge), though in English its meaning 
has been influenced by classical Greek attitudes 
as much as its etymology. Something banausic 
is mundane or functional. ... Greeks of the ancient 
world lived in a stratified society, with a 
relatively small population of male citizens 
being supported by the labour of women, 
slaves and foreigners. For citizens, intellectual 
pursuits — including logic, rhetoric and 
philosophy — were key to an active part in 
public life as well as being satisfying in 
their own right. Activities that involved 
physical labour, such as making things 
to earn a living, were looked on as 
degrading banausic necessities. Even 
learning to play a musical instrument 
was thought by Aristotle to be
a banausic occupation."
 
"The ... word ["banausic"] was coined [in 1845] by George Smythe  in an 
article about the second Earl Grey ..., who had just died:

"After 1812, and when the worse 
portion of the Tories got enthroned 
in the supremacy, when the Banausic 
principle (we must coin a word 
from the most expressive of languages 
to express all its intense vulgarity) began 
to obtain."
 
Quinion comments:

"Mr Smythe’s snobbish comment on the 
banausic principle (basically non-intellectual 
pursuits such as manufacturing and earning 
money) would have delighted the 
citizenry of ancient Greece".

Angelos Delivorrias

Szegedy-Maszak, Andrew — 2013-05-11T18:56:19

Some list-members who care about the Benaki Museum will be interested in the following story about its director, Angelos Delivorrias, and the crisis he's struggling to manage:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/11/world/europe/benaki-museum-director-struggles-with-budget-cuts.html?pagewanted=all



Andrew Szegedy-Maszak
Professor of Classical Studies
Jane A. Seney Professor of Greek
Wesleyan University
Middletown, CT  06459
ph: 860.685.2065
fax: 860.685.2089
________________________________________

Opinion: Canada's museums could learn from Greece

June Samaras — 2013-05-09T20:54:41

Opinion: Canada's museums could learn from Greece

http://www.vancouversun.com/travel/Opinion+Canada+museums+could+learn+from+Greece/8348010/story.html

BY ANDREW COHEN, FOR THE OTTAWA CITIZEN MAY 7, 2013

When it comes to museums, beleaguered, beggared Greece shows the way
while Canada lags.

In early morning, when dishevelled revellers stumble home after
another all-night bacchanal, the Archeological Museum of Thessaloniki
is open.

It opens at 8 a.m., as it does every day between April and October
(except Mondays, when it opens at 1: 30 p.m.) Astonishingly, it
remains open each day until 8 p.m.

That means operating the museum 12 hours a day for six days a week, as
well as for six and a half hours on the seventh. That's a lot of time
for an institution to serve the public, particularly in a country that
is broke.

On a recent Sunday morning, there were more curators than visitors.
But the collection, which is overseen by the Ministry of Culture and
Tourism, is staggering. From prehistoric Macedonia to Alexander the
Great and beyond, it groans with antiquities.

The Greeks take pride in their past and present it here, in the
country's second-largest city, with style and care. Given the
financial crisis, you would have expected them to close this museum,
or cut its hours.

There are other fine museums in this historic port city (also known as
Solonica) of less than one million, which for centuries was a polyglot
of Jews, Muslims and Christians. They include the Museum of Byzantine
Culture, recalling Thessaloniki's stature as the major metropolis
after Constantinople; the Jewish Museum, chronicling the city's once
thriving community; and the War Museum of Thessaloniki, staffed by
young soldiers keen to explain its provocative exhibitions, including
a poignant one on the courageous Greek resistance in the Second World
War.

Some of these museums charge admission, some do not. What is important
is that they survive when it would seem easy to close them. The
country, beset by corruption, finds the money to keep them going.

And so it is with scores of museums in Greece, which opened the
spectacular Acropolis Museum in Athens, near the Parthenon, in 2009.
And so it is with museums across Europe, which endure - as well as
expand - in a harsh economic climate.

The reason is simple: in societies mindful of their past, culture is
seen as necessity, not a luxury. It is a responsibility. It is a
public good.

(In Argentina, the Minister of Culture allowed that his government had
actually increased spending on culture when the economy deteriorated
there, believing that was when people most needed the arts.)

There is no debate about it. Museums in self-conscious countries are
viewed in the same way as schools, parks, libraries, hospitals, even
trains. Like education, recreation and transportation, they are an
obligation of the state.

At their best, museums are an admirable expression of democracy. They
are about openness and knowledge. They are dominions of the mind, of
whimsy, serendipity and enchantment.

Once travelling Americans memorably scoffed: "Europe's a museum." It's
true. And Europe revels in it.

That's why Paris has the Louvre, Amsterdam has the Rijksmuseum and
Madrid has the Prado. It's why Berlin boasts Museumsinsel, an island
of five classical museums remade after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Then again, Berlin, with some 160 museums, is unique.

Museums today are about accessibility, clarity and topicality. First,
they should be free. In London, the national museums are free, a
policy introduced by Labour in the 1990s and maintained by the
Conservatives (despite the national debt). The museums of the
Smithsonian Institution in Washington are also free.

Second, museums must say something. They must have a narrative. The
best are those with a story to tell and things to show. They
understand presentation, interpretation and marketing, which flowered
with the King Tut travelling exhibition to the United States from 1976
to 1979 (recounted well in April's Vanity Fair).

Third, museums must be relevant and current. They must be more than
portraits, muskets, and fossils; like all good history, they must
speak to contemporary life. The British Museum, for example, asks
visitors to consider whether the Elgin Marbles - the sculptures from
the Parthenon - should be returned to Greece, from which they were
taken in the 19th century. The Greeks want them back.

In Canada, Montreal and Toronto are well served by newly renovated big
museums and galleries. But Vancouver struggles with an art gallery
that needs a new home in the country's third largest city without any
other major museum.

Ottawa? The National Gallery of Canada and the Canadian War Museum are
strong, but all our national museums charge too much for admission
(three national museums are also introducing paid parking.) We have no
national portrait gallery, no credible science museum and a nature
museum that feels like a children's playhouse, albeit in an elegantly
restored building.

The plans to re-imagine the Canadian Museum of History are
encouraging, as is the creation of the Canadian Museum for Human
Rights in Winnipeg and the expansion of the Canadian Museum of
Immigration at Pier 21 in Halifax.

Still, Canada lags. When it comes to museums, beleaguered, beggared
Greece shows the way.

Andrew Cohen is a professor of journalism and international affairs at
Carleton University. Email: andrewzcohen< at >yahoo.ca

value of old books

Sebesta, Judith — 2013-05-09T14:29:54

From past classicists I have inherited a number of old Latin  texts, histories of Latin literature, and the like that date from the 1800's, mostly the last half of that century.  While I know a book's value depends upon condition and other factors, has any one any idea of whether I should pursue seeing whether book dealers might be interested in them?

With thanks for any advice/ideas,

Judith Lynn Sebesta, Ph.D.
Distinguished Professor Emerita of Classics
Chair, Department of History
East Hall 204
414 East Clark Street
The University of South Dakota
Vermillion, SD 57069

605-677-5218


Companion to the Worlds of Roman Women: http://www.cnr.edu/home/companion.html

In a completely rational society, the best of us would be teachers and the rest of us would have to settle for something less, because passing civilization along from one generation to the next ought to be the highest honor and the highest responsibility anyone could have. -Lee Iacocca, automobile executive (b. 1924)

"I've been kidnapped by K-Mart": Discount Rates Soar at US Colleges

DANIEL P. TOMPKINS — 2013-05-07T09:17:12

We often talk about the cost of college.  Yes, it's high in many places
(though we often ignore the variations in
costs<http://hosted-p0.vresp.com/1109165/285f7bd1b5/ARCHIVE> among
even elite institutions).

But like airline fares, these costs can be discounted.  Here (below my
signature) are the opening grafs of a report today on new highs in
discounting.  Will we end up like Bette Midler in *Ruthless People*?
(subject line above).

The discounting *may *signal real vulnerability:  one of my concerns is
that the most vulnerable colleges serve populations that particularly need
the BA for upward mobility.

Best statement I've read today (it's 5 AM)  on economic survival of
colleges comes from Dick
Chait<http://harvardmagazine.com/2011/11/bullish-on-private-colleges>,
very smart and knowledgable guy at Harvard:

"Learn to drive like the natives."   Between the island of Macau and
mainland China, the Lotus Bridge achieves a miraculous conversion: through
a looping figure-eight, six lanes of traffic shift from driving on the
right in China to driving on the left in Macau. No Lotus Bridge connects
the provinces of colleges and corporations. Instead, we have to adjust and
abide by different rules of the road. Private colleges will evolve and
endure as long as they do not try to become what they are not: businesses.


I would bet some listmember has made this drive: would love to hear about
it.

Best,

Dan


Price of a Bad Economy
May 7, 2013 - 3:00am
By
Kevin Kiley <http://www.insidehighered.com/users/kevin-kiley>

The tuition price you see is getting further from the price you pay, at
least at private colleges and universities.

The average tuition discount rate – institutional grant dollars as a share
of gross tuition and fee revenue – for full-time freshmen enrolled at
private colleges and universities grew for the sixth consecutive year in
2012, reaching a new high of 45 percent, according to an annual
survey<http://www.nacubo.org/Products/Online_Research_Products/2012_Tuition_Discounting_Study.html>
of
private colleges and universities by the National Association of College
and University Officers.


Read more:
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/05/07/nacubo-survey-reports-sixth-consecutive-year-discount-rate-increases#ixzz2SazT8Wrb

Inside Higher Ed

Shifting Perceptions of Ancient Culture

sbudin — 2013-05-06T14:15:25

Also of interest (sorry if I missed it on the list already).
-Stephanie Budin

From <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/04/arts/04iht-melikian04.html>:
[See notice about exhibit that just closed, at
<http://www.britishmuseum.org/about_us/news_and_press/press_releases/2013/in_search_of_classical_greece.aspx>

May 3, 2013

The Shifting Perceptions of Ancient Culture
By SOUREN MELIKIAN

LONDON — The Western world is about to turn its back on a 600-year-old
tradition that molded the mind-set of its cultivated elites until the
last century.

How profound the attraction of ancient Greek culture was on the
European establishment is revealed in a brilliant book published in
conjunction with a British Museum show, “In Search of Classical
Greece,” that ended last week. John Camp, the renowned American
archaeologist, describes in the book the passionate recording campaign
in which an Englishman, Edward Dodwell, accompanied by the Italian
artist Simone Pomardi, drew all the ancient monuments they came across
from 1805 to 1806.

Dodwell’s approach to ancient Greece offers a startling contrast to
the way in which enlightened collectors of recent decades have been
responding to excavated artifacts from the Greek and Roman world, as
was made clear at the Bonhams auction of “Antiquities” held Wednesday.

The story of Dodwell reads like an English novel of the Romantic age.
Having obtained a bachelor of arts degree from Cambridge University in
1800 at age 22 or 23, he took a long trip to Greece a year later. Soon
after his return to England, he left the country again, this time
heading for Rome, which would be his home until his death in 1832. The
Englishman, who clearly belonged to the upper class, took up his
quarters at the Palazzo Doria. His marriage in 1816 to the daughter of
Count Giovanni Giraud, a famous beauty in Roman society, leaves no
doubt about his social status.

But Dodwell was no gadfly in the style of P.G. Wodehouse’s Bertie
Wooster. In his day, a top university education up to the bachelor’s
of arts level usually implied immersion in ancient Greek and Latin
literature. In his account of Greek sites, “A Classical and
Topographical Tour Through Greece,” published in 1819, the traveler
used 50 different ancient sources. Mr. Camp notes that in the diary of
his 1801 trip, young Dodwell quoted Tacitus in a manner that reveals
intimate familiarity with the Roman historian’s text.

Yet the Briton was anything but a bookworm. His education had included
mastering the rudiments of drawing. Helped by Pomardi, who was admired
for his views of Rome, and progressing as he went on, the Englishman
brought back impeccably documentary images. He evidently had hit it
off with the Italian painter, who was his elder by 20 years.

Kim Sloan, the British Museum curator of British drawings preceding
1880, analyzes the watercolors reproduced in Mr. Camp’s book. She
quotes the relevant passages in Dodwell’s 1819 publication and
describes in detail the condition of the sites and monuments then and
now.

Dodwell’s passion for ancient Greece comes across forcefully in his
notations. He vents his fury at witnessing the damage caused to the
Parthenon by Lord Elgin, who had just received an edict from the
Ottoman sultan. It left his lordship at liberty to rip off the marble
slabs carved in high relief, or “metopes,” that crowned the top of the
structure.

These “were fixed in between the triglyphs [rectangular stone blocks]
as in a groove, and in order to lift them up it was necessary to throw
to the ground the magnificent cornice by which they were covered,” the
traveler observed.

His denunciation is the more telling because Dodwell was an eager
collector. He came to own some 150 pieces of stone from monuments in
Greece picked up on the ground or dug up, plus 259 Egyptian pieces and
602 Greek, Etruscan and Roman objects essentially bought in Italy. The
bulk of his collection, acquired after his death by King Ludwig I of
Bavaria, can be seen in the Staatliche Antikensammlung in Munich —
barring objects destroyed by Allied bombing in World War II. These
tragically included the imposing archaic urn painted with a frieze of
lions bought by Dodwell at Mertese, near Corinth.

Dodwell’s watercolors, now at the Packard Humanities Institute in Los
Altos, California, bear witness to the Briton’s deep understanding of
Greek culture.

Interest in ancient Greece took a very different turn in the second
half of the 20th century. Today, it no longer goes along with
immersion in the Greek classics and strays far away from the classical
ideal.

Consider the sculpture collected by Anthony Quinn, who starred in
“Zorba the Greek” and “Lawrence of Arabia.”

The actor, who died in 2001 at 86, was deeply involved in art
throughout his life. At age 6, he started drawing under his mother’s
direction. Five years later, he won a California sculpture
competition. Attracted to architecture, Quinn seemed set to embark on
a promising career and studied under Frank Lloyd Wright, but his
speech impediment decided otherwise. Wright advised his young protégé
to take acting lessons as a way to cure it and the rest is
20th-century cinema history.

Quinn’s little-known, lifelong involvement with art included
wide-ranging collecting.

He succumbed to the mastery in near-abstract reduction of human form
achieved 4,500 years ago in the Cycladic islands, as in the three
small pieces sold in a single lot that fetched £10,000, or nearly
$16,000, this week. Europeans touring the Greek world apparently
ignored such works — none is seen in their collections.

Classicists of the 19th century would have been equally uninterested
in Quinn’s marble fragment of the first or second century showing Zeus
and Athena, which brought £11,875. They would have deemed it too badly
mutilated. Nor would they have been impressed by the Etruscan terra
cotta head of a woman molded and carved around the third or second
century B.C. Greek and Roman literature sheds no light on such a
piece, modestly sold for £1,125. The staring eyes lost in
contemplation of some awe-inspiring reality appeal to a generation
that grew up when André Malraux was writing “Les Voix du Silence” (The
Voices of Silence).

In a startling contrast between past and present collecting, bland
portraiture was not spurned in the days when studying ancient Roman
history was part and parcel of the living culture. A marble head of
Lucius Aelius Caesar, the adopted son of Emperor Hadrian who would
have succeeded him had he not prematurely died in A.D. 138, once
formed part of the collection of ancient Roman sculpture amassed by
the Earl of Pembroke, who died in 1732 at age 76. In the 20th century,
it still appealed to a Californian collector, Joseph Melchione. But on
Wednesday, it left bidders indifferent and was unsold at £22,000.

How important the link was between reading the classics and collecting
ancient art in traditional Europe until World War I is borne out by
the lack of interest in non-Roman sculpture from Europe manifested by
collectors until the 20th century.

One of the rarest pieces seen at Bonhams, a limestone mask described
as Celtic and assigned to the second or third century, would not have
found grace in their eyes. The head surfaced at auction in Cirencester
in the late 1970s or the early 1980s, and had previously been owned by
a stone mason who discovered it as he worked on a wall in the area.
Concisely styled, the grimly expressive face is alien to classical
aesthetics. It brought £5,000, helped by its appeal to the modern eye.

The other rarity in the sale, a glass phiale from Iran in the fifth
century B.C., would have had collectors cast in the mold of classical
education blinking uncomprehendingly at the stupendous price,
£481,250, that it fetched on Wednesday. The vessel dates from the time
Xerxes was fighting it out with the Greeks at Salamina.

The contrast could not be greater with the lack of enthusiasm
displayed these days toward some of the ancient sculpture eagerly
sought after in the past. Even three decades ago, the Roman portrait
from the Earl of Pembroke’s collection would have been rescued by
dealers instead of dropping unsold. In 1985, it passed through the
hands of Jerome Eisenberg, the dean of the New York antiquities trade.

This illustrates a wider cultural trend. In West European
architecture, Graeco-Roman ornament ceased to adorn Parisian facades
after World War I. Ancient Greek and Latin are no longer part of the
mandatory curriculum of humanities in the best European high schools.
Long gone is the time when Dodwell, needing to make himself understood
while traveling in Germany, could switch to Latin.

Why Plutarch matters

sbudin — 2013-05-06T14:08:00

    For any fans on the list.  -Stephanie


 From 
<http://www.portlanddailysun.me/index.php/opinion/columns/9254-why-plutarch-matters>:


Why Plutarch matters

Published Date Thursday, 02 May 2013 17:45Written by Telly Halkias
Fascination with the lives of our societal leaders began centuries
ago, scratching a voyeuristic itch in the reading public. Knowing a
good thing, publishing houses keep churning out fresh interpretations
of these profiles. While such biographies remain popular today, the
seeds of this frenzy were planted several millennia ago by Plutarch.

Already the premier essayist of his time, Plutarch (A.D. 46-120) was a
philosopher, teacher, and one of the high priests of the Delphic
Oracle. However, he left his mark on history with an account of 50
famous Greeks and Romans, "Parallel Lives." Breaking from the accepted
biographical template of the classical period, Plutarch added three
unique elements to his style which remain influential, as well as spur
controversy.

First, instead of listing chronologies and events, Plutarch added the
dimension of behavior and thought to his subjects. As far as scholars
know, he was the first biographer to attempt this maneuver.
For example, getting inside Antony's head to evaluate his love for
Cleopatra and the context in which it existed to satisfy her political
ambitions is one thing. Telling us he ruled the eastern Roman
provinces, and had a fling with the queen of Egypt is quite another.
While such an interpretation is problematical to modern historians
given the lack of Plutarch's primary sources, it remains visionary,
and added much needed spice to an otherwise bland recipe.

Next, Plutarch used comparative analysis. At the conclusion of his 50
short biographies, he formed 18 pairs, one Greek and one Roman in
each, chosen for similar time periods or official roles. He then
scrutinized their similarities, differences, and related effects.

 From there, he examined the psychology for why one subject chose a
particular course, while the second subject chose another. This was
another unheard of technique, which opened the gates to his final
motive.

Plutarch always drew ethical conclusions from the behavior of famous
leaders, which is consistent with his background as a priest and his
other writings, such as the widely read "Moral Essays."

While this served his era well, it has run Plutarch into trouble
today. In an increasingly relativistic world defined by ethical gray
areas and the constant vacillation of religion's relevance, many
postmodern scholars chided Plutarch's judgmental approach.

Nevertheless, the ancients were concerned with identifying right from
wrong, even if they didn't always practice it. Unlike Thucydides,
Plutarch didn't consider politics and warfare as bodies of work from
which to provide future governing models. "Parallel Lives" focused on
the struggle of living rather than the lives themselves. Plutarch
cared more for why statesmen and soldiers do what they do, so that his
readers could understand their rulers — a populist rationale.

And enduring. Embattled college classics departments survived the
postmodern scourge and in the last decade have experienced a
renaissance. The influence of "Parallel Lives" in the great works of
literature and government is legion, and provides a solid foundation
for human philosophy in both creative and pragmatic endeavors.
Ultimately, this is why Plutarch still matters today, and why
biographies of civic leaders remain top bestsellers.

Shakespeare is one such example of Plutarch's nuanced influence. His
dramatic works are rife with moralistic tales and psychological
character profiles. The Bard's table of contents is peppered with
names from the main index of "Parallel Lives." All faced ethical
choices in real life: Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, and Coriolanus, to
name a few. The plays reveal more names familiar to Plutarch, as well
as dramatization of his exact behavioral evaluations.

The Founding Fathers also sought inspiration from "Parallel Lives." In
"The Federalist," Hamilton, Madison and Jay invoke Plutarch's tone in
arguing for ratification of our Constitution, however imperfect a
document they knew it to be. They assessed the struggle to create a
system of rule by recounting the travails of such past upstarts as the
Spartan lawgiver Lycurgus, and the Athenian ruler Pericles.

The Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire, a Shakespeare devotee, once
noted: "Just as there is one geometry, there is one morality." In this
same vein, there is a reason why we flock to biographies, especially
those of politicians and generals.

"Parallel Lives," which has influenced all such accounts to this day,
remains not only an opus about how leaders live, but about why. Were
he alive now, and almost three centuries after first reading Plutarch,
Voltaire would still approve.

(Telly Halkias is an award-winning freelance journalist from
Portland's West End. You may contact him at tchalkias< at >aol.com or
follow him on Twitter at < at >TellyHalkias.)

AOL? A non-classics question

DANIEL P. TOMPKINS — 2013-05-06T11:49:38

Someone just told me that AOL online accounts don't transmit
links<http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0199>.
 This seems incredible.  I'd be interested in confirmation /
disconfirmation, probably best offlist to:

pericles< at >temple.edu

I apologize for bothering the list with this, but you're one of the larger
sample groups I could think of in the 3 seconds I allow for crucial
decisions like this.

Very best,

Dan Tompkins