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Lectures and Events

Lectures/Events Fall 2012

From Myth to History

Plenary Session, Ideas that Have Shaped the World FYS
Prof. Loren J. Sammons, NEH Distinguished Teaching Prof. and Prof. & Chair of Classical Studies, Boston University
Prof. Sammons will speak on Homer and Thucydides and their important roles in shaping societal, political, and cultural thinking across time.
Weiss Center for the Arts, room 235, Friday August 31, 11:30-12:45 

The Long Reach of Antiquity: Rome, China, and Modernity

15th Annual Roberts Lecture
Prof. Walter Scheidel, Prof. of History and Dickason Professor in the Humanities, Stanford University
Stern Center, The Great Room, Friday, September 21, 4:30
Sponsored by the Department of Classical Studies

Redrawing the Map of the Roman World

15th Annual Roberts Lecture
Prof. Walter Scheidel, Prof. of History and Dickason Professor in the Humanities, Stanford University
Respondent: Prof. Richard Talbert, William Rand Kenan Jr. Professor of Ancient History and Classics, University of North Carolina

Ancient societies were shaped by logistical constraints that are almost unimaginable to modern observers.  "ORBIS: The Stanford Geospatial Network Model of the Roman World" (http://orbis.stanford.edu) for the first time allows us to understand the true cost of distance in building and maintaining a huge empire with pre-modern technology.  This talk explores various ways in which this novel Digital Humanities tool changes and enriches our understanding of ancient history.

Stern Center, The Great Room, Saturday, September 22, 2:00

The Divine in the World

Plenary Session, Ideas that Have Shaped the World FYS
Prof. Dennis Looney, Prof. of Italian and Classics, recipient of President's Distinguished Teaching Award, University of Pittsburgh
Prof. Looney will speak about Dante's "Divine Comedy" as a central text in the tension between the individual and the community, freedom of thought, and political power.

Weiss Center for the Arts, room 235, Friday September 28, 11:30-12:45 

What is Going On in Jacques-Louis David's "Sappho and Phaon?"

Jane L. and Robert H. Weiner Lecture in the Fine Arts, sponsored by the Department of Art & Art History
Prof. Michael Fried, J.R. Herbert Boone Chair in the Humanities and Professor of Art History at The Johns Hopkins University, will speak on one of the most enigmatic late paintings produced by French painter, Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825).
Weiss Center for the Arts, Rubendall Recital Hall, Tuesday, November 6, 7:00 PM
For further information, see: https://www.dickinson.edu/arts/#November