Laetae segetes VIII

International Ph.D. Student Conference
November 14‒16, 2022

Conference programme

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Posters Download in pdf

Monday

14th November

  • 8:00–9:00

    Registration

    Main Conference venue, room A21, Faculty of Arts (Arna Nováka 1)

    Show on a map

  • 9:00–9:10

    Welcome talk

I. Ancient Greek History

Chair: Jarmila Bednaříková and Michal Habaj (Brno)

  • 9:10–9:50

    Lukáš Pecha (Brno) – keynote speaker

    Naram-Sin of Agade: Bad Guy or Good Guy? Portrait ofMesopotamian King in the Literary Tradition

    Abstract and Bio

    This paper analyzes the ways in which rulers of ancient Mesopotamia were portrayed in various types of texts. The kings are mentioned in their own inscriptions in which they boast of their successful military campaigns, (re)construction projects, and other laudable achievements. Besides some of them are also mentioned in later legends and other kinds of literary texts. The authors of those texts often take a critical attitude toward them. One of the best examples of this difference between contemporary and later texts is Naram-Sin (2254–2218 BC) of Agade, who is portrayed as a bad ruler in most literary compositions. It can be assumed that this negative attitude towards Naram-Sin was influenced by the fact that this king was the first Mesopotamian ruler who was deified, and it is possible that this act was regarded as a sin by a part of the population, especially by the priests.

    Lukáš Pecha (b. 1969) is Assyriologist. In his scientific research, he studies languages of ancient Mesopotamia (Akkadian, Sumerian) as well as Mesopotamian history, especially the development of economy, society, and state ideology. Currently, he is teaching at Masaryk University in Brno.

  • 9:50–10:15

    Paolo Di Benedetto (Potenza)

    Constructing and Reconstructing History in Asia Minor: the Case of Aeolis

    Abstract and Bio

    This paper focuses on the foundation accounts of the Aeolian cities in Asia Minor, whose origins are linked to the Aeolian Migration (11th century BCE), as it is said by Herodotus (1.149-151) and Strabo (13.1,3). Among these traditions, it is possible to identify two types of accounts, the one based on the Amazons (who represent the otherness) and the one based on the Greek conquest, which takes place on a land previously populated by autochthonous people (Carians, Leleges, Pelasgians). The identity of the Aeolians in Asia Minor is founded on these accounts, and they are interpreted by scholars as a “perceived history”: in fact, the archaiologiai of the Aeolian cities would be a literary creation, composed of the memories and perceptions of the Aeolian ethnos, who needed to represent its origins at a certain moment (maybe around the 5th century BCE). This paper will examine the literary sources about the cities’ foundation myths, according to the current historiographical methodology, based on the “Intentionale Geschichte” made by a population group and the concept of Greek identity and ethnicity. It will investigate the myth-making process of the Aeolian accounts in the construction of the history of the Aeolian identity.

    Paolo Di Benedetto obtained his PhD in Ancient Greek History at Università degli Studi della Basilicata, with a thesis entitled 'Racconti di fondazione di città eoliche d'Asia'. He is an expert in Ancient Greek History, Greek Epigraphy, and Classical Philology, and deals with foundation accounts of the Ionian and Aeolian area in Asia Minor, problems related to the Archaic History, fragmentary Historiography, Aeolian and Ionian Migration, and also problems linked to the traditions about the Amazons, Pelasgians, and Carians. He is currently working on the reconstruction of the history of Cumae and the hypothesis on the existence of an Aeolian League.

  • 10:15–10:40

    Iuliana Lebedeva (Brno)

    The Idea of the Circular Movement of Time in the Thought of the Greeks of the 8th Century BC

    Abstract and Bio

    The aim of this paper is to reveal the specifics of the perception of calendar time among the Greeks of the 8th century BC. Through an analysis of the iconographic sources and the original texts, we have made an attempt to determine the peculiarities in their perception of the flow of time, the change of seasons, and the annual circulation of time. By studying the imagery as it is shown in the pottery decoration of the Proto-geometric and Geometric periods, we have come to the conclusion that the symbols depicted in it were reflected in the representations about calendar time as connected to the natural environment and alteration in the surrounding space in accordance with the annual changes in nature.

    Iuliana Lebedeva is a fourth-year doctoral student at Masaryk University. The field of her interest is the history of Ancient Greece and Classical languages. Her dissertation is devoted to consideration of the specifics of the mentality of the Greeks of the 8th century BC in terms of their perception of space and time. She spent several months in Greece examining the iconographic sources to reveal the interconnection of the symbols of Geometric art with the ideas about calendar time.

  • 10:40–11:10

    Coffee break
  • 11:10–11:35

    Flavia Usai (Milano)

    Chi eranoporistai? Considerazioni sulle funzioni di una magistratura finanziaria ateniese fra V e IV sec. a.C.

    Abstract and Bio

    Con questo contributo si intende esaminare il ruolo dei poristai, una magistratura natura finanziaria, attestata ad Atene tra il V e il IV sec. a.C., a cui la critica ha dedicato un’attenzione limitata. La rilevanza della riflessione ateniese sui poroi (entrate) contraddistinse la politica, tanto interna quanto estera, già dal V secolo; la gestione dell’economia ateniese subì una serie di cambiamenti sostanziali a partire dalla fine della Guerra del Peloponneso e un ruolo di rilievo sembra sia stato riservato alle cariche finanziarie, giacché l’amministrazione dello Stato richiedeva competenze sempre più specifiche anche nella gestione delle finanze. Il contesto economico emergenziale all’indomani della disfatta siciliana del 413 aveva reso necessaria la creazione di una carica peculiare: un collegio di magistrati, i poristai, assunsero un incarico straordinario, che con buona probabilità riguardava la gestione dei fondi pubblici e delle entrate dello Stato. Attraverso i riferimenti al collegio nelle fonti antiche e all’uso, spesso “tecnico”, del verbo porizo, si proverà a far luce sulle funzioni e sull’ identità di alcuni di questi magistrati, nonché sulla possibilità che tale carica, inizialmente di natura straordinaria, abbia raggiunto una certa e graduale stabilità all’interno della macchina finanziaria ateniese nel corso del IV secolo.

    Flavia Usai is a second-year Ph.D. candidate in Greek History at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, with a joint degree with KU Leuven. Her research project aims at reconstructing the political biography of Agyrrhius of Collytus, an Athenian politician between the end of the 5th and the 4th century BC. Her MA thesis concerned the use of memory and topicality in Aristophanes' last works, with particular attention to the emblematic case of the Ecclesiazusae and the criticism of the demagogues. Especially during her last six months in Leuven, her thesis work led her to focus on economic issues, such as particular financial positions during the 4th century BC.

  • 11:35–12:00

    Libor Pruša (Brno)

    Assyrian History of Herodotus: The Missing Logos

    Abstract and Bio

    Herodotus promised to deliver the so-called Assyrian logos in his Histories, but ultimately failed to do so. Twice we can find a remark on his future project that (possibly) never materialized in the end. Even though we do not have a long, detailed description of Assyria, there are still several mentions of Assyrian kings, history, and customs, although quite often very brief. Even if he wrote a logos on Assyria, it did not become too influential. On the other hand, we have many fragments dealing with Assyrian history by the later authors, notably Ctesias or Berossus, who expanded the stories of this kingdom to the Greek audience. Could they refer to Herodotus at some points? In this presentation, I will focus on the short remarks of Herodotus on Assyria and the potential existence of the promised logos. In the main part, I will compare his account with the tales from the later sources, what are the most significant changes in the narrative, and who became the authority on the history of Assyria in his place.

    Libor Pruša is a student of Ancient history at the local university and focuses on the life and the work of Ctesias of Cnidus. His goal is to make the first translation of his fragments into the Czech language with an introduction and commentary. Most notably, he is dealing with Ctesias’ reception among later authors and how he influenced the Greek traditional view on Eastern history. Next to Ctesias, his main fields of interest are ancient geography and ethnography.

  • 12:00–12:25

    Ondřej Kvapil (Brno)

    Sacred and Divine Ruler in Western Han and Seleucid empires

    Abstract and Bio

    The paper intends to give a brief overview and comparison of the role of sacral and divine rulership in ancient China during the Western Han dynasty and in the ancient Seleucid Empire. It will present an overview of the evolution of ideas about the sacral and divine rulership in both of these ancient states (while at least briefly touching on the period-specific perception of godhood itself), of the process and ideology of deifying a ruler, and of the formal characteristics of the ruler cults. The main intention of the paper is to explain what role (if any) did ruler’s godhood have as their tool of political power, to investigate the importance of sacrality for the legitimacy of the ruler, and to highlight the differences and similarities of both ancient states with respect to the above mentioned and make a comparison of them.

    Ondřej Kvapil is currently going through his doctoral degree programme at the Faculty of Arts of Masaryk University with Ancient history as his field of study and the research topic for his doctoral thesis is the comparison of government mainstays in China and Hellenistic kingdoms. His research interests include the history of the Seleucid empire and of the history of ancient China from Bronze Age to Han Dynasty; he is also interested in the histories of Mycenaean Greece, Roman Republic, and ancient Greece, more specifically in their societies and political systems (among others).

  • 12:25–14:00

    Lunch break

    Where to eat

II. Ancient Greek Literature

Chair: Juraj Franek (Brno)

  • 14:00–14:25

    Antonio Mura (Bologna)

    κακὸς κακῶς: Eupoli, Aristofane e un trascurato assioma poetologico

    Abstract and Bio

    Scholarship on ancient Greek literature showed that ancient literary criticism is based on the assumption that an author and his works display the same features. Such a mechanism is particularly widespread in the Archaia. Despite such a communis opinio, an occurrence of this principle has been neglected. It is the expression κακὸς κακῶς (Clouds, 554): when accusing Eupolis of plagiarism, Aristophanes depicts his rival through the overlap of Eupolis’ features and the result of his poetry. The paper presents a new interpretation of the expression on the basis of the ancient literary criticism principle by taking into account other similar lines from Aristophanes (Acharnians, Thesmophoriazusae), which compel us to think that this interpretation is more plausible than the exegesis of the expression as a mere deminutio of Eupolis’ mastership of poetry, as it has been previously suggested.

    Antonio Mura is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Bologna. His main research field is Aristophanes: his Ph.D. project is about poetical reflection in Aristophanes' fragments. He frequently deals with genre-crossing in ancient Greek literature starting from comedy (his papers are about interactions between epics and comedy or comedy and philosophy). He has also been (October 2020-June 2021) DAAD fellow at the Albert-Ludwigs Universität (Freiburg i. B.), his tutor was Professor Bernhard Zimmermann, who welcomed him within the seminar of KomFrag, the biggest project of Greek comic fragments edition. Other research fields are Epicureanism and papyrology.

  • 14:25–14:50

    Sara Agliardi (Heidelberg)

    Aren’t you ashamed, Socrates?” Insult and confutation in Plato’s Euthydemus

    Abstract and Bio

    Konflikt und Gewalt scheinen ein Leitmotiv von Platons Dialog Euthydemos zu sein: Die Charakterisierung der Protagonisten, die Bildsprache sowie die Diskussionen selbst vermitteln eine aggressive Atmosphäre, die die Aufmerksamkeit des Lesers fesselt. Trotz der lebendigen Diskussion kann man im Euthydemos aber leicht die Orientierung verlieren: Dieser Dialog, der hauptsächlich aus einem Gespräch zwischen Sokrates und zwei Eristikern besteht, enthält, obwohl er vergleichsweise kurz ist, nicht weniger als einundzwanzig teils hochkomplexe Sophismen.

    Sara Agliardi is a Ph.D. student in Greek Philology at Heidelberg University, where, supervised by Prof. Jonas Grethlein, she develops her project on the function of violent behavior and language in the Platonic dialogues. Her interests include Greek literature, especially Plato and the sophists, as well as Greek linguistics, on which she worked in the past – during her bachelor’s at FU Berlin and her stay at the University of Cambridge, funded by a summer research grant she received for a project on Greek defixiones. Her current project brings together her interests in literature, linguistics and the cultural history of violence.

  • 14:50–15:15

    Misha Hyttinen (Oulu)

    Misanthropy and Illiberality in the Rhetorical Literature of 4th Century BCE Athens

    Abstract and Bio

    In my presentation, I examine the interconnectedness of the concepts of misanthropy and illiberality in a politico-legal context in the rhetorical literature of Classical Athens, focusing on the works of Isocrates and Demosthenes. My approach offers new insight into Athenian societal values, especially regarding the concept of freedom. The topic of this presentation is related to my doctoral thesis on the phenomenon of misanthropy in antiquity. Classical misanthropy or misanthrōpia is usually understood as the universal hatred of humanity, and it is in this sense that the concept is typically used in the ancient Graeco-Roman literature. I claim however that the rhetorical literature of Classical Athens represents a unique context in which misanthrōpia is given as the quality of a person who is contemptuous of common people and who has failed to properly fulfill his obligations for society and exercise his freedom as a citizen. In this context, misanthrōpia is closely associated with illiberality or aneleutheria. I argue that this specific rhetorical use of misanthrōpia was unique to the historical context of Classical Athens and its democratic political system and social values and that this explains its disappearance from ancient Greek literature at the end of the Classical period.

    Misha Hyttinen graduated as BA in 2013 and MA in 2017 at the Department of History at Oulu University, Finland. In his Bachelor's and Master's theses he studied the representations of prostitution in the legal rhetoric of Classical Athens and the epigrammatic works of Martial respectively. He started working as a doctoral researcher at the Department of History of Sciences and Ideas at Oulu University in 2020. His doctoral research deals with the phenomenon of misanthropy in ancient Greek and Roman cultures. His thesis is the first comprehensive study of misanthropy in antiquity. By approaching the subject from historical, sociocultural, and psychological perspectives, his aim is to bring to light the historical significance of the phenomenon in the ancient world.

  • 15:15–15:40

    Tito Storti (Salerno)

    The Polemarchic Oration of Himerius (or. 6 Colonna): an Extended προγύμνασμα

    Abstract and Bio

    Unlike Libanius and Themistius, Himerius never received close attention among modern scholars, even though he was the primary source of knowledge about the teaching of rhetoric at Athens in the 4th century AD. Among his imaginary orations, the Polemarchic Oration (or. 6 Colonna) is the only one preserved in full, and the only rhetorical exercise that survived from antiquity imitating the Athenian funeral speeches. Most of the traditional themes of praise are to be also found in the Polemarchic Oration. However, it lacks the features too tied to classical Athens, such as the exhortation to the living, the consolation of the parents, and the praise of the Athenian democracy. This speech must be regarded, indeed, as 1) a full-blown development of two preliminary exercises (προγυμνάσματα) typical of Greek education in the Imperial age, namely narration (διήγημα) and praise (ἐγκώμιον), and 2) a display of Himerius’ devotion to Athenian heritage. The passages from the Polemarchic Oration analyzed in this paper shows how and why the Athenian funeral eloquence became, many centuries later, a subject suited for the needs of a rhetoric teacher.

    Tito Storti's Ph.D. project deals with a critical edition of three speeches written by the 4th century AD rhetor Himerius (or. 6, 7, 8 Colonna). The commentary focuses on textual problems and provides further information about the tradition of funeral speeches in Athens, and the development of the genre in the Imperial age. The project is aimed at updating and improving the knowledge of the author, his manuscript tradition, and teaching methods. His fields of study are Greek Rhetoric, Greek Funeral Eloquence, Late Antique Schools, Rhetorical Handbooks of the Imperial Age. His research interests are Textual Criticism, Palaeography, Codicology, Greek Literature; Thucydides, Plato, Himerius.

  • 15:40–16:05

    Despoina Christou (Manchester)

    Keeping One’s Identity, Changing One’s Role: Shifting Speech and Power Dynamics in Divine Epic Councils (Od.1.1ff.,5,1ff. Il.4.1ff. Arg.3.1ff.)

    Abstract and Bio

    Conversational environments reveal the shifting nature of power relations between speaking characters. Especially in the epic tradition, which includes a high proportion of speech and hence speech exchanges, the variable characteristics of a character’s speeches across similar scenes allow for a different evaluation of the speeches’ powerful or less powerful effect on the interlocutor. This paper focuses on the presentation of Athena’s (and consequently her interlocutors') role in divine councils in epic (Iliad, Odyssey, and Argonautica) by examining her speeches both in terms of the speech mode used and their particular style as well as the various types of power incorporated within her speeches. Her repeated presence in councils shows her acquirement of discriminate speech elements in her various speeches through which she either foregrounds or challenges the type of power she possesses in her power relations with others. These speech and power-related elements affect her characterization and reveal her dynamic textual role across epics. Intertextual and intratextual links within epic tradition disclose more clearly the variability of relational speech and power patterns across the same character’s speeches and their consequences on the shaping of the speaking character’s role in a given scene and across similar scenes within the epic genre.

    Despoina Christou recently graduated from the University of Manchester, where she obtained her Ph.D. degree. Previously she completed her BA and MA degrees at the University of Ioannina. Her field of study is Classical Literature with an emphasis on Latin Literature and particularly ancient Greek and Latin epic, Augustan poetry, and Ovidian poetry. Her research interests focus primarily on gender studies. She has recently presented a paper at the Classical Association Annual Conference in Swansea as well as she has given papers at the University of Ioannina and the University of Patras. She has also given shorter presentations of her Ph.D. research at the University of Manchester.

  • 16:05–16:30

    Coffee break

III. Byzantine Studies

Chair: Petra Melichar (Praha)

  • 16:30–16:55

    Sofia Belioti (Berlin, Cyprus)

    Palladas of Alexandria: A Poet between Paganism and Christianity

    Abstract and Bio

    Palladas of Alexandria is a well-known poet and grammarian of Late Antiquity whose work is preserved in Greek Anthology. Most of his epigrams occur in Books 9, 10, and 11, being epideictic, protreptic, sympotic, and scoptic. Even though no epigrammatist is better represented in both major sources for the Anthology, scarcely a trace of his existence survives outside of his corpus of poems. Taking into consideration specific references in his poems, on the one hand, and external historical testimonies, on the other, Wilkinson (2009, 36) supported that Palladas grew up during the reign of Constantine, lived Julian’s zeal against Christians, as well as Theodosius’ savageries against pagans, and thus experienced the religious intolerance and instability of a momentous period.

    The subject of this paper is the attitude towards Christianity and paganism in the epigrams of Palladas who had probably seen the destruction of the Serapaeum in the city by Christian monks. The main purpose of the paper is to indicate that Palladas can be seen as a representative of neither the new Christian faith nor the fervent adherents of the Olympian gods, even though he seems to be culturally conservative in some of his works. To sum up, after close examination of some of his poems, he is identified as an exemplary, although socially marginal, figure of eclectic common-sense traditionalism.

    Sofia Belioti is a DPhil Candidate at the Humboldt University of Berlin. The provisional title of her thesis is "Die etymologischen Wortspiele in der Griechischen Anthologie". She got her MA in Classical Philology at the University of Athens with a thesis entitled "The erotic story of Acontius and Cydippe in Greek and Latin literature" on the 15th of July 2013, and her BA in Ancient and Modern Greek Philology on the 18th of October 2010. At the moment she is working on the epigrams of Gregory of Nazianzus as a member of a multicultural team in the frame of a research programme co-funded by A.G. Leventis and Cyprus Research and Innovation Foundation (RIF) at the University of Cyprus.

  • 16:55–17:20

    Michael Youssef Rezk Abdelsayed (Brno)

    Nominal Compounds in Medieval Greek: Constantine Manasses’s Synopsis Chronike as a Case Study

    Abstract and Bio

    Compounding is a very productive word-formation process in the Greek language. A number of studies and overviews have dealt with this linguistic phenomenon in Ancient and Modern Greek. Little, however, has been written about compounding in Medieval Greek. Therefore, the present paper will provide a grammatical analysis of the nominal compounds attested in Constantine Manasses’s Synopsis Chronike (12th century). The classification of the nominal compounds will also be attempted. For the description of the compounds, morphosyntactic issues as A) the patterns of compounds on the basis of the lexical category of the immediate constituents; B) the morphological status of the immediate constituents of the compound, namely whether they constitute free or bound elements; C) the morphological structure of the compound which identifies the order of the determinant/modifier and determinantum/head elements inside the compound, will be discussed.

    Michael Youssef Rezk Abdelsayed is a holder of BA degree with honors from the Department of Greek and Latin Studies, Cairo University, and MA degree in Historical Theology from the University of Athens. Currently, he is a Ph.D. student at Masaryk University, Department of Hellenic Studies, working on “Compounding in Medieval Greek”. His research interests include Greek and Coptic philology and language contact between Greek and Coptic as well.

  • 17:20–17:50

    Husamettin Simsir (University of Notre Dame)

    The Mechanisms of the Establishment of the Turahanoğulları Frontier Family in Thessaly

    Abstract and Bio

    In this study, focusing on several cadastral records surviving from the early fifteenth century, I will investigate how the Muslim conquerors sought to establish their rule in tandem with the pre-existing Byzantine administrative and socio-cultural structures. These documents show that a good portion of the indigenous landlords in the area managed to retain their hereditary rights in their ancestral lands. Without being exposed to any kind of religious oppression, they did not feel the necessity to convert to Islam in order to keep the custodianship of their cultivated areas or charitable endowments. These landlords also feed the ranks of the Ottoman provincial army with Christian militias under their service, something that indicates the multi-ethnic and multi-religious nature of the early Ottoman military structure. Moreover, in addition to pursuing accommodationist policies regarding the incorporation of the landed estates into its nascent administration, the regional Ottoman administration also aimed to pacify local militias and armed groups called “armatoloi” in Thessaly, granting them economic and administrative privileges such as tax exemptions. In this regard, scrutinizing fifteenth-century Ottoman cadastral records, this study will argue that an important portion of the local Byzantine military, administrative and economic structures had been placatingly and successfully incorporated into the newly established frontier administration of the Turahan Gazi in Thessaly.

    Husamettin Simsir focuses on the late Byzantine and early Ottoman political histories. His research field includes Political histories of the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires, 1000-1500, History of the Medieval Balkans, Frontier and cross-cultural relationship in the Medieval Eastern Mediterranean, The development of the Ghazi ideology, Mechanisms of Greek-Turkish coexistence in the late Middle Ages, Representation of Muslims and Christians in Ottoman and Byzantine works of literature, History of military conflicts and the development of the art of war in the late Middle Ages.

  • 17:50–18:15

    Franciszek Jóźwicki (Warsaw)

    Methods of Communication between Emperor and SubjectsRevision of Ways of Engaging in Dialogue during the Nika Riots

    Abstract and Bio

    Circus factions were a special product of Byzantine culture. In different periods of its existence, they played a more or less significant role in the fate of the entire state. The political situation of the Eastern Roman Empire from the 5th to the beginning of the 7th century was marked by a huge influence on the ideological and social life of circus factions. One of the most turbulent periods in the history of circus performances against the center of power in Constantinople falls during the period of Justinian I the Great reign. It was then that the Nika riots, which were triggered by a series of neglect generating social and economic issues in the stratum bourgeois discontent in Constantinople. The main subject of my paper will be an attempt to make a revision comparing dialogs between emperor Justinian I and representatives of circus factions in the time of Nika Uprising. I'll try to bring closer the profiles of protesters and the frequency of the occurrence of dialogue in individual sources. Also, I'll pay attention to the gaze of chroniclers and the question of their presence in public life. One of the most essential parts of mine of the presentation will be an analysis of the cause-and-effect relationship of individual events of rebellion against the emperor Justinian I in Constantinople and its influence on the exacerbation of the reaction of the population.

    Franciszek Jóźwicki is a Ph.D. candidate in history at the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw. Research interests: Circus factions, Early Byzantine Empire, Macedonian dynasty period in Byzantium, writings of Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, history of polish student movements and organizations between 1918-1939. Author of six publications published on site Magyazyn about Polish-Hungarian topics financed by the Wacław Felczak Polish-Hungarian Cooperation Institute and Polish Ministry of Culture. Two-time scholar in Wacław Felczak Polish-Hungarian Cooperation Institute 2019/2021. Lecturer in panels of Summer University of Wacław Felczak Polish-Hungarian Cooperation Institute from 2018 to 2021.

  • 18:45–20:30

    Welcome drink

Tuesday

15th November

IV. Roman Literature

Chair: Katarina Petrovićová (Brno)

  • 9:00–9:40

    Krešimir Vuković (München) – keynote speaker

    Saving the Environment: Reading Ovid from an Ecocritical Perspective

    Abstract and Bio

    Many scholars have discussed the fluid boundaries between nature and culture in the Metamorphoses, Ovid's epic of change. Recently, Martelli (2021) has argued that Ovid blends human and non-human elements in a process that may be denoted using the composite term ‘natureculture’. Several examples show that this ecocritical reading of Ovid provides interesting ways to explore environmental problems in both ancient and modern times: Erysichthon's violent deforestation of a sacred grove contrasts with the pious behavior of Philemon and Baucis, whom Ovid likens to trees even before their transformation. Moreover, the animal aspect of humanity is Ovid's focus in the first few books, from the story of Lycaon to Cadmus' Thebes. Ovid's Fasti also feature many episodes which transcend the boundaries of nature and culture. The Tiber presents a particularly interesting case study in ecocritical reflection: he is ascribed to active agency as a god in Ovid’s calendrical work and also appears as a character that drives the narrative action. The river of Rome features in every single book of the poem but always in a different guise. The Roman foundation myth is set in the context of a flood, and the father, Tiber, complements the maternal qualities of the she-wolf. The river is also the setting of the festival of Anna Perenna, who connects the ever-flowing river with ever-flowing time.

    Krešmir Vuković is an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation fellow at LMU Munich. He was previously a postdoctoral fellow at the British School at Rome and a Lecturer at the University of Oxford, where he did his doctorate in Classics. He has worked on cultural memory in the Roman Republic, Roman mythology and religion, and ecocriticism.

  • 9:40–10:05

    Samuel Azzopardi (Malta)

    An Epicurean Triumph: the Image of Epicurus as a Victorious Roman General in LucretiusDe rerum natura Book 1

    Abstract and Bio

    Epicureanism is well-known to be a philosophy that centres around the avoidance of pain and the pursuit of true and lasting bliss. Consequently, Lucretius’ representation of Epicurus as a triumphant Roman general in the opening book of his long work is jarring. The purpose of this paper will be to first understand the cultural significance that this analogy would have held by tracing the political and religious implications of the triumph in late Republican Roman culture. Secondly, this paper will briefly look at the immediate divergences between Epicureanism as a philosophy and mainstream Roman ideals of the citizen’s life within his society, and thus understand the reasons why Lucretius might wish to employ this very un-Epicurean image in his work. Lastly, this paper will provide further examples from the same work that illustrate the way in which Lucretius martials other elements of Roman culture that are divergent from the teaching or expectations of an Epicurean philosophy and lifestyle and re-deploys them to make an argument for the uptake of Epicureanism by his contemporary Romans, despite the suspicion and derision with which Epicureanism had been so often met by Rome’s cultural and political elites.

    Samuel Azzopardi graduated with a BA (Hons) Classics from the University of Malta in 2018, and an MA in Late Antique, Byzantine, and Early Islamic Studies from the University of Edinburgh in 2020. He is currently planning on pursuing further studies for at Ph.D. He currently tutors the Latin for Historians unit at the University of Malta, while working at the National Archives of Malta as a palaeographer. Samuel is also the Chief Editor of the Malta Classics Association’s academic journal Melita Classica.

  • 10:05–10:30

    Barna Dobos (Budapest)

    Putting Aetiological Stories on Stage: Poetic Complexity and Mixingof Genres in the Stories of Anna Perenna (Ov. Fasti 3.523–696)

    Abstract and Bio

    In the third book of the Fasti, some potential explanations of the origin of the goddess Anna Perenna are given, among which there is the miserable fleeing of Dido’s sister from Carthage, then a short story about a helpful older woman, and another on the fruitless love affair of Mars. The purpose of the presentation is to examine, on the one hand, the poetic complexity of these lines and, on the other hand, the generic border crossings due to the effect and influence of the stage and the theatre. Firstly, a brief and twisted version of the Aeneid grabs our attention since Ovid reframes and rewrites the first part of the epos, putting a female protagonist in the middle of the masculine epical narrative. In the last episode, Ovid plays another genre, namely the mime, into play: Mars, as a ridiculous lover, is cheated by Anna, who plays the classical role of a bawd (lena), making the god of war a complete fool. The presentation will give a comparative analysis of this complex web of stories and genres, focusing on the particular effect of using mime as a poetic pattern at the end of the Anna Perenna narrative.

    Barna Dobos is a doctoral student in the Ancient Studies Doctoral Programme at the Doctoral School of Linguistics of Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest. His doctoral supervisor is József Krupp, Ph.D. He is interested in Roman literature, to be more specific, in Ovid's poetry. The Fasti's poetics and the potential Horatian influences, particularly the Satires, are examined during the doctoral period based on recent outcomes of literary theory.

  • 10:30–11:00

    Coffee break

V. Roman History

Chair: Markéta Melounová (Brno)

  • 11:00–11:25

    Antonio Romano (Le Mans)

    A proposito della historia Iuventii Martialis

    Abstract and Bio

    In una lettera del 477 all’amico Burgundio (epist. 9.14), che si apprestava a scrivere una laus Caesaris, Sidonio Apollinare redige un breve elenco delle opere scritte in passato su Cesare con le quali Burgundio doveva necessariamente confrontarsi: scripta Patavinis, opera Svetonii, ephemeris Balbi e infine una historia Iuventii Martialis. Se la menzione di Livio, di Svetonio e di Balbo non sorprende, il nome di Iuventius Martialis (ovvero Vivencius nel Parisinus Latinus 9551) pone grandi problemi: innanzi tutto, l’identificazione e, di conseguenza, la natura della sua opera su Cesare. Facendo seguito all’ipotesi di identificazione con Q. Gargilio Marziale proposta da A. Loyen nel suo commento alle lettere di Sidonio (Sidoine Apollinaire. Correspondance, 1970), l’articolo mira a discutere questa suggestione inserendo questa historia su Cesare nel contesto politico e culturale della fine dell’età severiana, in particolare durante il regno di Severo Alessandro.

    Antonio Romano graduated with honours in Filologia, letterature e storia del mondo antico at Sapienza Università di Roma in September 2021 with a thesis in Roman history and Latin epigraphy about the principate of Domitian (supervisors prof. Gregori and prof. Maiuro). Now he is a Ph.D. student at Le Mans Université with a project about Caesar’s memory during the Severan period (supervisor prof. Bertrand). Within his research interests, he is particularly committed to the analysis of the political and cultural history of the Flavian and the Severan dynasties and, in addition, to the study and the publication of Latin inscriptions from Rome.

  • 11:25–11:50

    Kristína Rašlová (Brno)

    Catinum nigrum: Etruscan Bucchero Pottery in Ancient Texts

    Abstract and Bio

    Bucchero is the term for a specific type of black Etruscan pottery mass-produced in modern-day Tuscany, Lazio, Umbria, Campania, and the Emilia-Romagna region between the 7th and 5th centuries BC (in the 4th century BC, bucchero grigio). Bucchero is occasionally referred to as "national" Etruscan pottery or incorrectly as their only independent invention. The distribution of bucchero pottery provides evidence for the historical growth of the Etruscan culture. This type of ceramic is characterized by its black or dark grey color and smooth, glossy surface as a result of an oxygen-reduced firing process. Bucchero ceramic data is the primary indicator of consumer use in the privileged Etruscan groups and permits following the historical spread of the Etruscan culture. Archaeological pottery finds, particularly those from Etruscan necropoleis, provide most of the knowledge on bucchero ceramics. However, this information can be enriched by the Etruscan wall paintings, epigraphic sources, and, last but not least, written sources. Since there are several allusions to Etruscan and primitive Roman pottery in ancient texts (Hor. Epist.; Juv.; Mart; Pers.; etc.), the main objective of the contribution is to search and analyze those references in Latin that could refer to Etruscan black bucchero pottery and their interpretation in the context of archaeological discoveries.

    Kristína Rašlová is a Ph.D. student at the Department of Archeology and Museology in Brno, where she researches and teaches Etruscan culture, economy, and society. Among the main subjects of her research is the bucchero pottery interactions of Northern Etruria with Etruria Padana and Umbria. She is interested in the demand for imitating bucchero pottery in border areas, analytical pottery techniques (i.e., XRF), the expression of pottery, and Etruscan culture in ancient written sources. She is also an employee of the Institute of Archeology at the Academy of Sciences in Brno, where she participates in the AMCR within the AIS CR project.

  • 11:50–12:15

    Tanja Bruckmüller (Wien)

    Work-Life-Balance der Lohnarbeiter: innen im Imperium Romanum

    Abstract and Bio

    Nichts prägt uns so sehr wie unser Beruf. Ständig liegt die Aufmerksamkeit auf Fragen der richtigen Berufswahl, der Absicherung durch die Erwerbstätigkeit, der Zukunftsplanung und des Erhalt des Arbeitsplatzes. Dieser Zustand trifft nicht nur auf die heutige Gesellschaft zu, sondern kann gleichermaßen auch auf antike Kulturen umgelegt werden. Der Alltag des Großteils der Bevölkerung im Imperium Romanum wurde durch die Lohnarbeit bestimmt. Die Hinweise zu ihrem harten und oftmals unsicheren Leben sind umfangreich. Gerade in den Bereichen der Landwirtschaft und der Textilarbeit als zentrale Stützen des antiken Wirtschaftssystems lassen sich Spuren zur Lebens- und Arbeitswelt von Lohnarbeiter:innen finden. Durch Untersuchungen der schriftlichen Quellen, die sich aus Inschriften, Papyri, Graffiti und literarischen Zeugnissen zusammensetzen, lassen sich Rückschlüsse auf den Alltag der Betroffenen und deren wirtschaftliche Lage ziehen. Durch Textanalyse verbunden mit der Interpretation der archäologischen Quellen kann erschlossen werden, welche soziale Stellung die Lohnarbeiter:innen innerhalb der Gesellschaft hatten und wie ihre Aufstiegschancen aussahen. Das Leben der Lohnarbeiter:innen verlief dabei teils sehr unterschiedlich, wofür verschiedene Faktoren ausschlaggebend waren. Wobei vor allem das Geschlecht sowie das Alter eine entscheidende Rolle spielten. So lassen sich die noch heute topaktuellen Themen wie Kinderarbeit und Geschlechterrollen am Arbeitsplatz durch die erhaltenen schriftlichen und archäologischen Quellen rekonstruieren.

    Tanja Bruckmüller beende nach einem Bachelor- u. Masterabschluss in „Klassischer Archäologie“ gerade ihr Masterstudium „Alte Geschichte und Altertumswissenschaften“ an der Universität Wien mit einer Arbeit zur Lohnarbeit im Imperium Romanum. Im Zug dieses Masterstudiums hatte sie die Möglichkeit ein Erasmusjahr an der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in München zu absolvieren und weitere Methoden und Forschungsansätze kennenzulernen. Sie bevorzuge eine interdisziplinäre Vorgehensweise, bei der alle zur Verfügung stehenden Quellen, vorrangig materielle Hinterlassenschaften und schriftliche Zeugnisse, kombiniert und mit geeigneten Methoden untersucht werden. Ihr Forschungsschwerpunkt liegt dabei auf sozial- und wirtschaftsgeschichtlichen Fragestellungen zur griechisch-römischen Antike. Ein besonderes Interesse besteht dabei hinsichtlich der Geschlechtergeschichte und antiker Agrargeschichte.

  • 12:15–12:40

    Jakub Knobloch (Brno)

    Fire-brigades: Analysis of Inscriptions of Professional Associations: Collegium centonariorum, dendrophorum, fabrum and fabrum tignuariorum

    Abstract and Bio

    Society at the time of the Roman Empire was highly hierarchical, which was also applied to the strata of the urban population. Therefore, members of the urban lower classes joined professional associations with the vision of getting a better social status. These associations – collegia represented „miniature cities“ in which people sought satisfaction of their needs and desires. It not only provided them with life security but also helped develop the social identity of its members. Some selected guilds were involved in keeping cities safe; as such, they were used for the purpose of extinguishing fires, which were quite common in ancient times. Among these collegia were included centonarii, dendrophorii, fabric, and fabri tignuarii. The presented paper analysis the preserved inscriptions of the mentioned associations and tries to answer the questions regarding, what was the frequency of occurrence of individual associations and whether the presence of some associations prevailed over others. Did the collegia occur together? What types of cities were they located in? Was the situation in the western and eastern parts of the empire comparable, or was it substantially different, as the reply of Trainus to Pliny the Younger suggests?

    Jakub Knobloch graduated with a master’s degree in ancient history at the Masaryk University of Brno. He now continues his Ph.D. program in ancient history at the Department of Classical Studies of Masaryk University. His research focuses on the internal security forces of the Roman Empire, which includes police and fire brigades, customs, the prison and intelligence services, relations between individual forces, as well as their cooperation in the performance of their tasks.

  • 12:40–14:30

    Lunch break

VI. Ancient History

Chair: Jarmila Bednaříková (Brno)

  • 14:30–14:55

    Marek Todorov (Brno)

    Representation of the Senatorial Social Class in the Late Roman Textual Sources

    Abstract and Bio

    In the social structure of the Late Roman Empire, there were several groups of elites. The authors of the ancient texts can be considered as one of such groups. Not only because they usually belonged to the educated higher social classes, but their texts also influenced the narrative of current historians in various research areas. Considering that the ancient authors were often biased in some way and their texts generally did not portray objective truth, it is important to analyze not only the text themselves but also the motivation of the persons writing them. The presented paper analyzes how the senatorial class of the Late Roman Empire was presented in the chosen textual sources of the Late Antiquity while taking into account the personal agenda of their authors. The main focus of the paper lies on the works of the selected Late Roman authors, especially on the works of historian Ammianus Marcellinus and the typical representative of the senatorial order, Q. Aurelius Symmachus.

    Marek Todorov is currently a student in the Ph.D. course of Ancient History at the Department of Classical Studies at Masaryk University. The main focus of his research lies on the issues related to various groups of elites in the Late Roman Empire, especially people of the senatorial social class. The research is centered on their social, economical, and political standing as well as on their relationship with the Late Roman government.

  • 14:55–15:20

    Martin Vladislav Laciak (Brno)

    The Importance of Barbarian Retinues for the Transitional Period between Antiquity and the Middle Ages

    Abstract and Bio

    In my presentation, I will be mainly talking about the importance of barbarian retinues during the transitional period between antiquity and the Middle Ages. I will start with a brief description of barbarian retinues and the period in which they achieved the greatest importance and power. Then I will continue with the introduction of the most influential aspects of barbarian retinues for this period and for the subsequent development of the medieval world. For example, how the state-forming function of barbarian retinues, which was closely tied to their chieftain, (princess, dux, iudex, φύλαρχος etc.) helped with the transformation of the tribal societies of Germanic tribes into the first “barbarian” Germanic states, or how the necessity of warfare in order to maintain the power of the chieftain conditioned the increased occurrence of raiding expeditions, which subsequently triggered waves of migrations across Europe.

    Martin Vladislav Laciak is a Ph.D. student of Ancient History at Masaryk University. The focus of his research is the importance of barbarian retinues for the transitional period between antiquity and the Middle Ages, such as their influence on migrations, or their significance for the transformation from the tribal societies of Germanic tribes into the first “barbarian” Germanic states. His thesis is also focused on this subject and furthermore, he is leading a seminar (Transitional period between antiquity and the Middle Ages) that is focused on this particular era in general.

  • 15:20–15:45

    Samuel Červeňanský (Ružomberok)

    Historical Interpretations of the Roman Period, Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages in the Context of Formation of National Identity in Slovak Pre-Renaissance Historiography

    Abstract and Bio

    In this paper, the author examines the most important interpretative lines based on sources from the medieval, humanist, and baroque periods. The study also seeks to provide a comprehensive summary of the most significant interpretations of the events of late antiquity and the early Middle Ages in Slovak historiography. The thesis analyses the interpretations of historians and academics from the so-called pre-Renaissance stage. The article also briefly characterizes the currents of thought of each period, for a better understanding of the background against which contemporary thought developed. Based on the analysis of the sources, the study concludes that the historians' aim was to find historical arguments that would support the autochthony of the Slavs within Hungary. These interpretations often succumbed to bias as well as to a looser handling of the facts of literary sources. In the medieval period, the Bible was considered an important source on the basis of which medieval chroniclers developed theories about the origin and the triple arrival of the Hungarians in the Carpathian Basin. In the humanistic period, two new theories developed in addition to the criticism of the sources: the Illyrian and the Sarmatian. In the Baroque period, several views came close to the contemporary historical reality. The foundations of the hospitality theory were formulated. Also, Slavic tribes were identified with the tribes of the Quadi, the Marcomanni, the Vandals, and the Ostrogoths. Several academics understood the context of the arrival of the Huns, Avars, and Magyars as a continuous historical event that built on each other, even though it was three different landmarks. Other historians, on the other hand, dated the arrival of the Slavs in the central Danube region before or shortly after the birth of Christ.

    Samuel Červeňanský, Catholic university in Ružomberok, Faculty of Arts and Letters, Department of History

  • 15:45–16:15

    Coffee break

VII. Ancient Mythology, Religions, and Magic

Chair: Daniela Urbanová (Brno)

  • 16:15–16:40

    Pasquale Ferrara (Potsdam)

    Sulle baccanti ebbre e ninfomani

    Abstract and Bio

    Nell’immaginario moderno la baccante è connessa all’eccesso inteso come desiderio sessuale ed ebrezza del vino. Già nel XVIII secolo termini quali baccante o menade designano una donna in preda all’ebbrezza, all’eccitazione incontenibile. Questa idea viene ulteriormente recepita anche in diversi contesti moderni: nella cultura pop la baccante è una donna che istiga a comportamenti lascivi e pericolosi; è questo, per esempio, il caso della menade nella serie televisiva True Blood. Eppure, tale accezione non appartiene propriamente al mondo greco antico: nella tradizione iconografica greca, le baccanti respingono le avance sessuali dei satiri e, quando accostate al vino, svolgono un rituale ben preciso e organizzato. Ciò è confermato anche dalle fonti letterarie greche classiche ed ellenistiche, dove il menos, le menadi e il menadismo escludono tanto l’attività sessuale, quanto la pratica di bere vino. Da dove viene, pertanto, questa “leggenda nera” della baccante “ebbra e ninfomane”? Obiettivo di questo paper è ricostruire il file rouge che ha portato a una concezione moderna deformata della baccante e del menadismo. A tal fine proverò a selezionare le tappe di un percorso che vanno dall’affaire dei Baccanali a Messalina e ad alcuni casi di condanne cristiane.

    Pasquale Ferrara (1983) studied Classical Philology and Archaeology at the Universities of Naples and Rome, and 2012 received his Ph.D. in Classical Archaeology in Rome. He has focused on Paestan Vases (author of "Il cratere di Europa di Assteas") and on Greek and Roman Sculpture (author of "Mainàs. Studio sulle menadi nella statuaria greca e romana"). His current scientific interests are Ancient History, Maenadism, and Religion and Gender in Antiquity. He is in the first year of his Ph.D. in Ancient History at the University of Potsdam.

  • 16:40–17:05

    Matteo Gallo (Roma)

    Pilumnus, il pilum e il pilleus, interpretazioni e nuove fonti

    Abstract and Bio

    Nell’esegesi dei frammenti del Carmen Saliare, trova ampio spazio la discussione sul frammento tradito da Festo riguardante il sintagma Pilumnoe Poploe. Il problema oltre che dal punto di vista interpretativo risulta essere ancora ampiamente aperto anche dal punto di vista linguistico e conseguentemente storico. Il sacerdozio saliare è infatti parte integrante non solo della religio romana sin da epoca arcaica, ma anche della vita dello stato in senso militare. Questo intervento si propone di far entrare in contatto la ricerca linguistica, storica e religiosa con lo sviluppo della realtà armata di Roma, evento, almeno nel caso dell’Urbe, necessario per la formazione dell’identità cittadina. Una nuova lettura del passo con l’aiuto di fonti letterarie, epigrafiche ed iconografiche finora non utilizzate potrebbe riuscire ad apportare una nuova interpretazione al frammento ma soprattutto alla natura e alle caratteristiche di questo importante collegio che non segue l’evoluzione della tipologia dell’esercito di Roma.

    Matteo Gallo studied at the University of Rome - Tor Vergata, first obtaining a bachelor's degree and then a master's degree. He is a Ph.D. student at the same university since the academic year 2020/2021 with a research project that focuses on the study of the main institutions of archaic Rome, focusing research on their origin and their developments. Among the topics there is a thorough research on the priesthood of the Salii starting from the attestation of the term poploe in their carmen.

  • 17:05–18:00

    Coffee break
  • 18:00–18:45

    Theatre performance

    Item Fasciculus florum

    Few people know that the most famous Czech poetry collection, Erben's Bouquet, also exists in Latin translation. It was made in the 1980s by Jan Šprincl, a Brno classical philologist and promoter of living Latin. The theatre group Titivillus from the Department of Classical Studies invites you to its second dramatic adaptation of selected ballads from this work. In the spirit of the ancient tradition, you can look forward to a trilogy with satirical drama.

Wednesday

16th November

VIII. Medieval and Neo-Latin

Chair: Petra Mutlová and Dana Stehlíková (Brno)

  • 9:00–9:40

    Florian Schaffenrath (Innsbruck) – keynote speaker

    Simon Lemnius – A New Virgil for Switzerland

    Abstract and Bio

    Around 1550, the Swiss humanist Simon Lemnius wrote his epic poem Raeteis, in which he celebrates the war of the Grisons against Maximilian I and especially the battle at the Calven in 1499. This was the decisive founding moment for the canton of the Grisons (Graubünden), and Lemnius attempted to write the founding epic with his poem. The lecture will show how, in addition to Virgil, Silius Italicus served as Lemnius’ main model.

    Florian Schaffenrath studied classics at the universities of Heidelberg, Innsbruck, and Siena. He is an associate professor for Classics at the University of Innsbruck and director of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Neo-Latin Studies. His main research interest is Neo-Latin epic poetry.

  • 9:40–10:05

    Cédrik Michel (Durham)

    The Implication of the Early Circulation of Augustine’s City of God on OrosiusAgainst the Pagans

    Abstract and Bio

    This paper will highlight the importance of considering the chronology of the circulation of the City of God’s books in understanding Against the Pagans as one of the earliest instances of reception of the City of God. Despite Orosius being tasked by Augustine to compile the troubles caused by disasters and wars which had occurred before Christian times, scholarship has considered the content of Orosius’ Against the Pagans to be antithetical to that of the Augustine’s City of God. A factor that modern scholarship has largely failed to consider is that in the most optimistic of scenarios, Orosius would only have been able to consult the first ten books of the City of God, which was completed by the time Orosius wrote Against the Pagans. More likely, Orosius would only have had access to the first three books, which we know were in circulation in 413-414, a few years before Orosius would begin his magnum opus. Although books four and five were completed in early 415 and books six to ten, between 415 and 417, no evidence mentions their circulation. The comparison of passages found in the first three books of the City of God with Against the Pagans demonstrates a less antagonistic relationship between both works than what scholars have claimed.

    Cédrik Michel is a Ph.D. student at Durham University, UK. After a brief stint exploring the Carolingian Empire during his MPhil at the University of Cambridge, his research examines the Mediterranean in Late Antiquity. His doctoral research focuses on the rhetorical uses of the concept of the ‘barbarian’ in late antique sources, ranging from panegyrics to ecclesiastical histories and letters, and how this concept can be molded to promote various ideological goals.

  • 10:05–10:30

    Viktor Wintner (Brno)

    Sálig birut ir árme or the Beautitudes in the Biblical Epic. Evangelienbuch by Otfrid von Weissenburg

    Abstract and Bio

    In the 9th century, Otfrid, a monk at the abbey of Weissenburg, wrote a gospel harmony called Evangelienbuch, today known as the first German epic written in rhyme. This work, however, is not just a mere versification of the Gospel original. Composed by a man fully acquainted with contemporary theology, it has a theological value of its own. Therefore, the purpose of our presentation will be to identify author’s non-biblical sources, observe their interaction with the Gospel original and ascertain what is the result of their transformation into the language of poetry.

    Viktor Wintner is a Ph.D. student of Historical languages of Medieval Bohemia focusing on the study and translation of biblical epics written in Latin and Old German.

  • 10:30–11:00

    Coffee break
  • 11:00–11:25

    Fatima El Matouni (Verona, Paris)

    Teaching Latin outside and after Rome: Purposes and Reception of Diomedes’ Ars grammatica

    Abstract and Bio

    Diomedes’ Ars grammatica belongs to the so-called eastern Artes, a group of late antique manuals aimed at teaching Latin to Greek-speaking students and composed by Greek-speaking teachers. Written in this social and cultural context, probably around 370-380 A.D., Diomedes’ grammar knows an important level of diffusion a few centuries later, in a very different context, when it is used in some important western early medieval courts and schools for the education of the new not Latin-speaking ruling classes. In the first part of the research work proposed, we will try to outline some specific aspects of Diomedes’Ars – especially with regard to the first book, dedicated to the partes orationis – that can be connected to some typical characteristics of eastern Artes, such as the inclusion of wide vocabulary lists or the attention devoted to some irregular forms used by the auctores. In the second part of the work, we will try to reconstruct some moments that seem to be particularly significant in the history of Diomedes’s work reception. In particular, we will examine the extracts contained in some important miscellaneous manuscripts dated to IX-X centuries and a series of early medieval remakes of some sections of Diomedes’ work devoted to morphology.

    Fatima El Matouni is a Ph.D. student in Latin Philology at the University of Verona and Sorbonne Université-Paris. Her research interests mainly concern the philology of Latin grammatical texts. She has published contributions about a chapter of Charisius’ Ars grammatica devoted to the schemata dianoeas. Her doctoral thesis is aimed at a new study of the manuscript tradition of Diomedes’ work and the preparation of an edition essay, followed by an Italian translation and commentary. In Verona, she collaborates in the preparation of a database for the cataloging and description of grammatical manuscripts copied up to the XI century.

  • 11:25–11:50

    Miluše Moučková (Brno)

    Manuscript tradition of herbarium Galganum and Melleus Liquor

    Abstract and Bio

    In this paper, I will focus on the herbarium Galganum as part of the medical compendium Melleus Liquor, written probably by Alexander Hispanus. Herbarium Galganum became the best-seller of its genre In Central Europe in the 15th century. I will briefly introduce the medical file Melleus Liquor and the herbarium itself and focus on their preservation in European libraries.

    Miluše Moučková is a Ph.D. student at Masaryk University in Brno. Her field of study is Auxiliary Historical Sciences, and in her thesis, she is working on the critical edition of the treatise Antihus by Prior Stephen of Dolany.

  • 11:50–12:15

    Karel Dobiáš (Brno, Erlangen)

    What is Hidden in the Prefaces? Late Medieval and Early Modern Latin Fight Books

    Abstract and Bio

    Book prefaces generally provide valuable information about the author and his work. This is no different for fight books, at least those for which prefaces have survived. This paper will therefore focus specifically on the contents of the prefaces of several Latin fight books, using them to attempt to explain the reason for the emergence of this literary genre and its functions. Specifically, it will focus on the work Florius de arte luctandi by the Italian fencing master Fiore de'i Liberi (ca. 1350–1409), the book Exercitiorum Atque Artis Militaris Collectanea by the Spanish soldier and scholar Pietro del Monte (1457–1509), as well as a comprehensive, two-volume manual of fencing with the characteristic title Opus amplissimum de arte athletica by the Augsburg official and collector of old weapons and military literature Paulus Hector Mair (1517–1579), and, finally, the book Sciomachia et hoplomachia sive De veris principiis artis dimicatorie by the young Saxon nobleman Heinrich von Gunterrodt (1557–1618).

    Karel Dobiáš is a Ph.D. student in the cotutelle program, focusing primarily on late medieval and early modern fight books written in Latin. A developing interest includes the topic of medical astrology at the University of Prague at the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries. He came to this topic in the framework of the project "Philosophy at the University of Prague around 1409: Matej Knin's Quodlibet as a Crossroads of European Medieval Knowledge" at the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences.

  • 12:15–12:40

    Alexandra Ballová (Brno)

    The Role and Importance of Medieval Pilgrim Badges on the Example of Badges of the Holy Blood of Wilsnack

    Abstract and Bio

    The town of Wilsnack has become a major pilgrimage site when three supposedly intact hosts were discovered after a fire in the local church, each with a drop of blood in the middle. Word soon spread that the blood is the blood of Christ and the hosts have healing powers. Pilgrims began arriving in the town. The hosts were subsequently consecrated by the local bishop to avoid idolatry, and pilgrimages were approved by the Pope. On-site, many pilgrims, bought so-called pilgrim badges. Such badges were common in medieval society. They had ecclesiastical as well as secular origins and had a significant informative value towards the surroundings of their wearer. Wilsnack badges have been found in various places within Germany and outside its borders. They are also depicted in many paintings and statues of saints in Germany. The purpose of this paper would be to look more closely at the role of Wilsnack badges in medieval society, the non-verbal message they carried, and, if possible, to compare written records from similar pilgrimage sites where such badges were found.

    Alexandra Ballová's research interests lay in the intellectual, religious, and social history of Europe in the medieval and early modern era. As a Ph.D. student, she focuses primarily on the Tractatus De sanguine Christi, written by Jan Hus, and the history of the so-called Holy blood of Wilsnack, which is also the main aim of her dissertation project. Besides her studies, she works part-time as a researcher at a museum, where she focuses on the history of book and book printing in Europe in the early modern era. She is also a curator of the so-called Faust book collection.

  • 12:40–13:00

    Closing remarks

Follow-up Workshop

The Asia Minor Disaster (1922): The End of a Dream

  • 14:00–14:40

    Kostas Tsivos (Praha, Brno)

    Maloasijská katastrofa: zkáza, nebo příležitost k modernizaci Řecka?

  • 14:40–15:20

    Nicole Votavová Sumelidisová (Brno)

    Rok 1922: Paměť a trauma pohledem maloasijské školy

  • 15:20–15:50

    Coffee break
  • 15:50–16:15

    Eleni Kyramargiou (Athens)

    Cities of Multiple Arrivals and Departures; Rethinking the Refugee Experience, 1922−2022

  • 16:15–16:40

    Dimitris Kargiotis (Ioanina)

    1922 and its Literatures

  • 16:40–17:05

    Petros Marazopoulos (Brno)

    The Asia Minor Disaster in the Greek Press: Refugees' Integration, Clash of Identities and Social Conflicts

Poster section

  • Dafni Dimitriou (Praha)

    The Greek National Revolution and its Perception in Czech Periodicals of that time with a focus on Čechoslaw; The National magazine for Bohemia and Moravia

    Abstract and Bio

    This bachelor's thesis aims to mediate the response to the Greek Revolution of 1821 in the Czech periodicals of that time. The thesis deals with the Czech revival elite's social and political perception of the revolution in its first years. The focus lies in the magazine Čechoslaw, which during the first two years of the uprising, reveals the uncensored journalists' contributions to the political situation in Greece. It testifies about the sympathies of Czech revivalists towards Greek “fellow believers,” their support for a Greek independent constitutional state, and revivalists' outstanding orientation in European politics, influenced by the absolutist restoration established by the Congress of Vienna. The upcoming years in Čechoslaw present a subsiding response to the revolution affected by strict censorship. A treatise complements a more comprehensive view of the response to the Greek Revolution on the nature of news in two other periodicals: Dopisowatel pro Čechy a Morawany and Wlastenský Zwěstovatel. The introductory part presents the historical context of the Greek Revolution and the first Greek periodicals published in the Greek diaspora in Vienna. In this context, the above-mentioned Czech periodicals and the press censorship in the Austrian Empire during the rule of Metternich are also discussed. The main part consists of the articles' analysis, supplemented by information about the contributors.

    Dafni Dimitrou completed bachelor's studies at the Institute of Greek and Latin Studies at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University in two fields: Modern Greek Studies and History of Classical Antiquity. During the master's degree (from October 2022) she will be studying at the Newest History Seminar at the Institute of World History (Faculty of Arts, CU). She would like to focus on Greek history in the 19th century and its international relations within Europe and the Ottoman Empire. My bachelor thesis deals with the response to the Greek Revolution of 1821 in the then Czech periodicals and society.

  • Johanna Mylonaki (Praha)

    Greeks in the Czech Republic After 1992 in Connection with the Phenomenon of Brain Drain

    Abstract and Bio

    In my presentation, in which I will present my master thesis, I will focus on the topic of the Greek minority in the Czech Republic, mainly in connection with the "brain drain" phenomenon. Therefore, I focus primarily on newly arrived Greeks and examine what made them leave their homeland, whether (and possibly how) their presence changed the Greek minority in the Czech Republic, and whether they plan to stay in the Czech Republic in the future. A questionnaire designed specifically for newly arrived Greeks (that is, for Greeks who were born in Greece and moved to the Czech Republic during their lives) helps me answer these questions, the results of which I would like to present and comment on at the conference.

    Johanna Mylonaki is currently studying Modern-Greek philology and political sciences at Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Arts. In her work, she tries to connect these two fields: she is mostly interested in Greek politics, modern Greek history, and Greek-Czech relations. Her bachelor's thesis was focusing on the influence of the Orthodox church on Greek politics and currently, she is writing her master's thesis on the topic of Greek immigrants in the Czech Republic after 1992.

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Posters Download in pdf

You are running an old browser version. We recommend updating your browser to its latest version.

More info