Hellenic-American Cultural Association of Colorado's Symposium on Ptolemaic Egypt and Cleopatra
AGENDA (University of Denver, Sturm Hall, Room 254) October 29, 2011
1:00-1:20 pm: Refreshments Served
1:20-1:30 pm: Welcome & Introduction by Alex Krikos (President, Hellenic American Cultural Association of Colorado)
1:30-2:30 pm: Lecture #1: Professor Peter Hunt
2:30-3:30 pm: Lecture #2: Professor Noel Lenski
3:30-4:00 pm: Intermission and Refreshments
4:00-5:00 pm: Lecture #3: Professor Roger Bagnall
5:00-5:30 pm: General Discussion
6:00 pm Dinner at Piatti Restaurant
190 St. Paul Street, Denver, CO 80206
RSVP to Alex Krikos, Alex_Krikos@comcast.net or 970-443-5370 (each individual is responsible for payment)
Professor Noel Lenski, University of Colorado at Boulder, “The Uses of Cleopatra"
This lecture explores how little we know of Cleopatra from her own perspective or even from a favorable perspective. It will then turn to ways that she has been used by others, from Antiquity up to the present, to suit their own agendas. It will bring in textual, numismatic and artistic representations from antiquity as well as images from written, painted, sculpted and filmed Cleopatras from the modern era. In the end it will show how Cleopatra is a construct, constantly reformulated to provide an icon of the exotic other that can be used to critique contemporary society and culture.
Noel Lenski is an Associate Professor in Classics at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Professor Lenski received a BA in Classics from The Colorado College along with an MA and Ph.D. in Classics and Program in the Ancient World from Princeton University. Professor Lenski has authored numerous books and publications, including Failure of Empire: Valens and the Roman State In the Fourth Century AD. Professor Lenski has held numerous academic appointments at the University of Colorado, The Colorado College, and Princeton University.
Professor Roger Bagnall, Institute for the Study of the Ancient World of New York University, "Ptolemaic Egypt: Politics, Society, and Economy"
Ptolemaic Egypt was in some respects the continuation of the country as it was ruled by the last Egyptian pharaohs and the Persian kings. But on the foundations provided by Egypt’s agriculture, administration, and temples, Alexander the Great and the Ptolemies introduced important new elements to construct a Greek kingdom: the capital of Alexandria; a Greek city in Upper Egypt; a Macedonian army; a Greek administration; Greek foods and crops; and Greek habits in economic, social, religious, and cultural life, ranging from types of accounting to institutions like the gymnasium. Although the Ptolemies recognized a legal distinction between Greeks and Egyptians, which (for example) created different tax rates, the boundaries between the groups were in fact porous, as Greeks married Egyptians and Egyptians learned Greek and entered the Ptolemaic army and bureaucracy. Religiously, the Greek settlers were strongly attracted to Egyptian cults and practices. The resulting society is ethnically and culturally one of great complexity.
Before joining the NYU faculty in 2007, Roger Bagnall was Jay Professor of Greek and Latin and Professor of History at Columbia University, where he had taught for 33 years. During that time he served as Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and Chair of the Department of Classics. Educated at Yale University and the University of Toronto, he specializes in the social and economic history of Hellenistic, Roman and Late Antique Egypt. He has held many leadership positions in the fields of classics and papyrology; he is co-founder of a multi-university consortium creating the Advanced Papyrological Information System. Among his best-known works are Egypt in Late Antiquity (1993), The Demography of Roman Egypt (1994; with Bruce Frier), and Reading Papyri, Writing Ancient History (1995). He has also edited many volumes of papyri and other ancient texts. He directs NYU-Columbia's joint excavation project at Amheida in the Dakhla Oasis in Egypt. He is a member of the American Philosophical Society and the Académie Royale de Belgique, as well as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the British Academy.
Ptolemaic Egypt began when Ptolemy I Soter proclaimed himself Pharaoh of Egypt in 305 BC and ended with the death of queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt and the Roman conquest in 30 BC. The Ptolemaic Kingdom was a powerful Hellenistic state. It extended from southern Syria in the east, to Cyrene to the west, and south to Nubia. Alexandria became the capital city and a center of Greek culture and trade.
This symposium will be held on Saturday, October 29, 2010 at the University of Denver, Sturm Hall, Room 287, from 1pm to 5:30pm. All are welcome. Dinner will follow at Piatti Restaurant in Cherry Creek at 6pm. Each individual is responsible for payment at the restaurant. For questions, details, and dinner RSVPs please contact Alex Krikos at 970-443-5370 or at Alex_Krikos@comcast.net.
Hellenic-American Cultural Association of Colorado
The Hellenic-American Cultural Association of Colorado exists to contribute in the dissemination and preservation of Hellenic heritage and culture, past and present, to interested persons, especially the youth, and to instill an understanding of the contributions of the past, its influence on the present, and its contemporary manifestations.
The board of directors of the Hellenic-American Cultural Association of Colorado (HACAC) serve as volunteers. The board members strive to construct and prepare programs which are educational and informative. The costs of presenting a program such as the one described in this newsletter involve honoraria to lecturers, postage, office supplies, and a small amount for refreshments. We encourage you to join HACAC and make a contribution as described on the membership form.
posted by Classics Department
