International Journal of the Classical Tradition, 2016
This paper addresses the myth of the Strand Lane cold bath's Roman origins: it explains how this ... more This paper addresses the myth of the Strand Lane cold bath's Roman origins: it explains how this dream of Rome first emerged in the 1830s and became consolidated in the 1840s, and documents the means by which it was propagated, and the extent to which it was debated, between then and the 1890s. It is suggested that the origins of the idea were heavily indebted to popular awareness of the baths of Pompeii, spread both by archaeological publication and by Bulwer-Lytton's Last Days and its offshoots; that the consolidation was the work of Charles Knight and Charles Dickens; and that the vigorous survival of the mirage for the remainder of the century was down in part to the absence of any other large-scale standing Roman structure in the capital, and in part to the lack of any plausible alternative story of the bath's real origins. The auxiliary myth of the 'Essex' bath is also discussed, and the whole argument illuminates not only the history of the monument itself, but also Victorian engagement with the Roman past and the historical fabric of London more generally.
Greek and Latin texts of Later Antiquity (1st-4th centuries AD) have for a long time been oversha... more Greek and Latin texts of Later Antiquity (1st-4th centuries AD) have for a long time been overshadowed by those dating back to so-called 'classical' times. The first four centuries of our era have, however, produced a cornucopia of works in Greek and Latin dealing with questions of philosophy, ethics, and religion that continue to be relevant even today. The series SAPERE (Scripta Antiquitatis Posterioris ad Ethicam REligionemque pertinentia, 'Writings of Later Antiquity with Ethical and Religious Themes'), now funded by the German Union of Academies, undertakes the task of making these texts accessible through an innovative combination of edition, translation, and commentary in the form of interpretative essays. The acronym 'SAPERE' deliberately evokes the various connotations of sapere, the Latin verb. In addition to the intellectual dimension-which Kant made the motto of the Enlightenment by translating 'sapere aude' with 'dare to use thy reason'-the notion of 'tasting' should come into play as well. On the one hand, SAPERE makes important source texts available for discussion within various disciplines such as theology and religious studies, philology, philosophy, history, archaeology, and so on; on the other, it also seeks to whet the readers' appetite to 'taste' these texts. Consequently, a thorough scholarly analysis of the texts, which are investigated from the vantage points of different disciplines, complements the presentation of the sources both in the original and in translation. In this way, the importance of these ancient authors for the history of ideas and their relevance to modern debates come clearly into focus, thereby fostering an active engagement with the classical past. 16 ST 4.14. 17 ST 2.2. 18 ST 4.14-29. 19 ST 4.16-18. 20 As suggested by Jones 2013. The case for placing Or. 24 here is that it refers to the earthquake of ca. 140 AD as a past event (24.3) and that at the time of writing, Aristides himself is too ill to travel (24.1). Or. 32 refers back to the visit to Rome as a past event (32.39) and also makes reference to Aristides's own physical weakness (32.41). But these are clearly not decisive indications; Behr 1968, 76 places Or. 32 in ca. 150 AD. 21 According to its subscription, Or. 30, the Birthday Speech to Apellas, was "read" during the kathedra, in 146 ("when he was twenty-nine"); it is an open question whether this means that Aristides performed the speech in person, or simply sent it for someone else to read at the festivities. 22 ST 5.26-46. 27 Compare the analysis of sequence of Aristides's orations offered by M. Korenjak, "Conversing with posterity: Hermogenes, Aristides and Sophistic φιλοτιµία", in: Roskam / De Pourcq / Van Der Stockt 2012, [253-266] 262-265. 28 See Or. 1.25, 26 and 30, which contrast Athenian autochthony with the status of the Romans as migrants from abroad, and invite speculation on what this says about the value of Roman citizenship.
The London Journal 39.2 (July 2014), 142-67, Jul 2014
Among its several identities, the Strand Lane ‘Roman Bath’ is the last Central London survivor of... more Among its several identities, the Strand Lane ‘Roman Bath’ is the last Central London survivor of the city’s Georgian and Regency cold plunge baths. Using a combination of documentary and archaeological evidence, this paper traces the story of its conversion to this function in the last quarter of the eighteenth century, identifies the probable author of the conversion, reconstructs its eighteenth-century form and layout, and discusses the context in which the conversion took place.
This paper addresses the myth of the Strand Lane cold bath’s Roman origins: it explains how this ... more This paper addresses the myth of the Strand Lane cold bath’s Roman origins: it explains how this dream of Rome first emerged in the 1830s and became consolidated in the 1840s, and documents the means by which it was propagated, and the extent to which it was debated, between then and the 1890s. It is suggested that the origins of the idea were heavily indebted to popular awareness of the baths of Pompeii, spread both by archaeological publication and by Bulwer Lytton’s Last Days and its offshoots; that the consolidation was the work of Charles Knight and Charles Dickens; and that the vigorous survival of the mirage for the remainder of the century was down in part to the absence of any other large-scale standing Roman structure in the capital, and in part to the lack of any plausible alternative story of the bath’s real origins. The auxiliary myth of the ‘Essex’ bath is also discussed, and the whole argument illuminates not only the history of the monument itself, but also Victorian engagement with the Roman past and the historical fabric of London more generally.
The full illustrated version of this paper will appear next year (2017) in the International Journal of the Classical Tradition
Three Centuries of Greek Culture under the Roman Empire, ed. F. Mestre and P. Gomez
This chapter argues that comparison of Greek and Roman perceptions of philosophy in the early cen... more This chapter argues that comparison of Greek and Roman perceptions of philosophy in the early centuries AD reveals both divergences and similarities. Philosophia in this period remained on several levels a primarily Greek phenomenon, perceived as such by Greeks and Romans alike, and was thus naturally implicated in negotiations of identity and difference; it could be used both (by Greeks) as a touchstone of true civilization and (by Romans) as a marker of pointless over-refinement. But this apparently straightforward Greek-Roman split may in fact mask a deeper similarity; seen from another angle, Roman manoeuvrings over philosophy do not contest Greek approaches, but simply repeat them with local variations.
The Lucianic corpus is well stocked with encomia and encomiastic elements. 1 Besides the explicit... more The Lucianic corpus is well stocked with encomia and encomiastic elements. 1 Besides the explicitly titled Praise of Home and Praise of the Fly, a first count would add at least the Demonax, the Nigrinus, On the Lecture Hall, the Parasite, On Dance, the Images and its companion piece, Images Defended. These works include not only first-order encomia but also (in some cases) second-order reflection on the business and proprieties of praising as well. On this latter criterion we can also add the essay How to Write History, which makes a point of the importance of being clear about the difference between encomium and history. On top of that, in his personae as satirist and critic, Lucian has much to say about how praise can be, and often is, wrongly bestowed, and what such mistakes reveal about both the subjects and the objects of the praise, and its audience: think of his anti-encomia of contemporary icons in The Fake Prophet and The Death of Peregrinus, and less directly in the Professor of Oratory.
What you have in front of you, as the first item on the handout, on pages 1 and 2, is the first s... more What you have in front of you, as the first item on the handout, on pages 1 and 2, is the first seven and the last four chapters of Lucian's dialogue the Nigrinus, along with the dedicatory epistle that stand at the very start of the work as a kind of prologue: the epistle and chs 1-7 on p. 1, chs 35-38 overleaf on p. 2. Fascinating as it is, and attracted as I always am to letters, I am going to leave the dedicatory epistle to one side this evening, and concentrate on an aspect of the dialogue proper. The action of this dialogue is set somewhere in the Greek-speaking world. It presents us with a returning traveller, who -with a little encouragement -regales his stay-athome friend with an account of what has happened on a trip he has just made to Rome, where he has met the charismatic Platonic philosopher Nigrinus. The large central portion of the dialogue, which I haven't given you, occupying chapters 12 to 34, is a report of the content of what Nigrinus said when thus visited. But what I want to concentrate on are the parts of the dialogue -the beginning and end -in which we are told not what was in this bit of preaching, but what the effects of hearing Nigrinus's discourse have been, both on our returning traveller, and on the friend to whom we overhear him telling the story. I am focusing, then, on Lucian's representation of a particular kind of persuasive communication -the communication of a philosophos -with special attention to the question of how this communication is envisaged as going down with its audience (or target)
Fabrique de la déclamation antique, ed. C. Schneider and R. Poignault, 2016
Cette étude examine la géographie déclamatoire selon deux plans, celui du lieu et de l'espace de ... more Cette étude examine la géographie déclamatoire selon deux plans, celui du lieu et de l'espace de la performance donnée, et celui des lieu(x) et HOME CATALOGUE OF 11906 BOOKS PUBLISHERS AUTHORS OPENEDITION mythologiques. Ces lieu(x) et espace(s) sont examinés sous deux angles complémentaires : celui du chroniqueur (ou de l'observateur ponctuel passif), et celui de l'interprète actif. La première perspective est explorée au travers des Vies de sophistes de Philostrate et des Discours sacrés d'AElius Aristide. La seconde au travers d'un ensemble de travaux centrés sur le cas particulier de la ville de Troie, incluant le Discours troyen de Dion Chrysostome et les déclamations troyennes d'Aristide, de Libanius et de Choricius. This paper examines declamatory place and space on two levels, that of place and space of performance, and that of the place(s) and space(s) evoked in the subject-matter of historical and mythological declamations. These are examined from two complementary angles: that of the chronicler (or temporarily inactive observer), and that of the active performer. The first perspective is explored through Philostratus' Lives of the Sophists and the Sacred Tales of Aelius Aristides, the latter through a set of works focusing on the particular case of the city of Troy, including the Trojan Oration of Dio Chrysostom and the Trojan declamations of Aristides, Libanius and Choricius.
International Journal of the Classical Tradition, 2016
This paper addresses the myth of the Strand Lane cold bath's Roman origins: it explains how this ... more This paper addresses the myth of the Strand Lane cold bath's Roman origins: it explains how this dream of Rome first emerged in the 1830s and became consolidated in the 1840s, and documents the means by which it was propagated, and the extent to which it was debated, between then and the 1890s. It is suggested that the origins of the idea were heavily indebted to popular awareness of the baths of Pompeii, spread both by archaeological publication and by Bulwer-Lytton's Last Days and its offshoots; that the consolidation was the work of Charles Knight and Charles Dickens; and that the vigorous survival of the mirage for the remainder of the century was down in part to the absence of any other large-scale standing Roman structure in the capital, and in part to the lack of any plausible alternative story of the bath's real origins. The auxiliary myth of the 'Essex' bath is also discussed, and the whole argument illuminates not only the history of the monument itself, but also Victorian engagement with the Roman past and the historical fabric of London more generally.
Greek and Latin texts of Later Antiquity (1st-4th centuries AD) have for a long time been oversha... more Greek and Latin texts of Later Antiquity (1st-4th centuries AD) have for a long time been overshadowed by those dating back to so-called 'classical' times. The first four centuries of our era have, however, produced a cornucopia of works in Greek and Latin dealing with questions of philosophy, ethics, and religion that continue to be relevant even today. The series SAPERE (Scripta Antiquitatis Posterioris ad Ethicam REligionemque pertinentia, 'Writings of Later Antiquity with Ethical and Religious Themes'), now funded by the German Union of Academies, undertakes the task of making these texts accessible through an innovative combination of edition, translation, and commentary in the form of interpretative essays. The acronym 'SAPERE' deliberately evokes the various connotations of sapere, the Latin verb. In addition to the intellectual dimension-which Kant made the motto of the Enlightenment by translating 'sapere aude' with 'dare to use thy reason'-the notion of 'tasting' should come into play as well. On the one hand, SAPERE makes important source texts available for discussion within various disciplines such as theology and religious studies, philology, philosophy, history, archaeology, and so on; on the other, it also seeks to whet the readers' appetite to 'taste' these texts. Consequently, a thorough scholarly analysis of the texts, which are investigated from the vantage points of different disciplines, complements the presentation of the sources both in the original and in translation. In this way, the importance of these ancient authors for the history of ideas and their relevance to modern debates come clearly into focus, thereby fostering an active engagement with the classical past. 16 ST 4.14. 17 ST 2.2. 18 ST 4.14-29. 19 ST 4.16-18. 20 As suggested by Jones 2013. The case for placing Or. 24 here is that it refers to the earthquake of ca. 140 AD as a past event (24.3) and that at the time of writing, Aristides himself is too ill to travel (24.1). Or. 32 refers back to the visit to Rome as a past event (32.39) and also makes reference to Aristides's own physical weakness (32.41). But these are clearly not decisive indications; Behr 1968, 76 places Or. 32 in ca. 150 AD. 21 According to its subscription, Or. 30, the Birthday Speech to Apellas, was "read" during the kathedra, in 146 ("when he was twenty-nine"); it is an open question whether this means that Aristides performed the speech in person, or simply sent it for someone else to read at the festivities. 22 ST 5.26-46. 27 Compare the analysis of sequence of Aristides's orations offered by M. Korenjak, "Conversing with posterity: Hermogenes, Aristides and Sophistic φιλοτιµία", in: Roskam / De Pourcq / Van Der Stockt 2012, [253-266] 262-265. 28 See Or. 1.25, 26 and 30, which contrast Athenian autochthony with the status of the Romans as migrants from abroad, and invite speculation on what this says about the value of Roman citizenship.
The London Journal 39.2 (July 2014), 142-67, Jul 2014
Among its several identities, the Strand Lane ‘Roman Bath’ is the last Central London survivor of... more Among its several identities, the Strand Lane ‘Roman Bath’ is the last Central London survivor of the city’s Georgian and Regency cold plunge baths. Using a combination of documentary and archaeological evidence, this paper traces the story of its conversion to this function in the last quarter of the eighteenth century, identifies the probable author of the conversion, reconstructs its eighteenth-century form and layout, and discusses the context in which the conversion took place.
This paper addresses the myth of the Strand Lane cold bath’s Roman origins: it explains how this ... more This paper addresses the myth of the Strand Lane cold bath’s Roman origins: it explains how this dream of Rome first emerged in the 1830s and became consolidated in the 1840s, and documents the means by which it was propagated, and the extent to which it was debated, between then and the 1890s. It is suggested that the origins of the idea were heavily indebted to popular awareness of the baths of Pompeii, spread both by archaeological publication and by Bulwer Lytton’s Last Days and its offshoots; that the consolidation was the work of Charles Knight and Charles Dickens; and that the vigorous survival of the mirage for the remainder of the century was down in part to the absence of any other large-scale standing Roman structure in the capital, and in part to the lack of any plausible alternative story of the bath’s real origins. The auxiliary myth of the ‘Essex’ bath is also discussed, and the whole argument illuminates not only the history of the monument itself, but also Victorian engagement with the Roman past and the historical fabric of London more generally.
The full illustrated version of this paper will appear next year (2017) in the International Journal of the Classical Tradition
Three Centuries of Greek Culture under the Roman Empire, ed. F. Mestre and P. Gomez
This chapter argues that comparison of Greek and Roman perceptions of philosophy in the early cen... more This chapter argues that comparison of Greek and Roman perceptions of philosophy in the early centuries AD reveals both divergences and similarities. Philosophia in this period remained on several levels a primarily Greek phenomenon, perceived as such by Greeks and Romans alike, and was thus naturally implicated in negotiations of identity and difference; it could be used both (by Greeks) as a touchstone of true civilization and (by Romans) as a marker of pointless over-refinement. But this apparently straightforward Greek-Roman split may in fact mask a deeper similarity; seen from another angle, Roman manoeuvrings over philosophy do not contest Greek approaches, but simply repeat them with local variations.
The Lucianic corpus is well stocked with encomia and encomiastic elements. 1 Besides the explicit... more The Lucianic corpus is well stocked with encomia and encomiastic elements. 1 Besides the explicitly titled Praise of Home and Praise of the Fly, a first count would add at least the Demonax, the Nigrinus, On the Lecture Hall, the Parasite, On Dance, the Images and its companion piece, Images Defended. These works include not only first-order encomia but also (in some cases) second-order reflection on the business and proprieties of praising as well. On this latter criterion we can also add the essay How to Write History, which makes a point of the importance of being clear about the difference between encomium and history. On top of that, in his personae as satirist and critic, Lucian has much to say about how praise can be, and often is, wrongly bestowed, and what such mistakes reveal about both the subjects and the objects of the praise, and its audience: think of his anti-encomia of contemporary icons in The Fake Prophet and The Death of Peregrinus, and less directly in the Professor of Oratory.
What you have in front of you, as the first item on the handout, on pages 1 and 2, is the first s... more What you have in front of you, as the first item on the handout, on pages 1 and 2, is the first seven and the last four chapters of Lucian's dialogue the Nigrinus, along with the dedicatory epistle that stand at the very start of the work as a kind of prologue: the epistle and chs 1-7 on p. 1, chs 35-38 overleaf on p. 2. Fascinating as it is, and attracted as I always am to letters, I am going to leave the dedicatory epistle to one side this evening, and concentrate on an aspect of the dialogue proper. The action of this dialogue is set somewhere in the Greek-speaking world. It presents us with a returning traveller, who -with a little encouragement -regales his stay-athome friend with an account of what has happened on a trip he has just made to Rome, where he has met the charismatic Platonic philosopher Nigrinus. The large central portion of the dialogue, which I haven't given you, occupying chapters 12 to 34, is a report of the content of what Nigrinus said when thus visited. But what I want to concentrate on are the parts of the dialogue -the beginning and end -in which we are told not what was in this bit of preaching, but what the effects of hearing Nigrinus's discourse have been, both on our returning traveller, and on the friend to whom we overhear him telling the story. I am focusing, then, on Lucian's representation of a particular kind of persuasive communication -the communication of a philosophos -with special attention to the question of how this communication is envisaged as going down with its audience (or target)
Fabrique de la déclamation antique, ed. C. Schneider and R. Poignault, 2016
Cette étude examine la géographie déclamatoire selon deux plans, celui du lieu et de l'espace de ... more Cette étude examine la géographie déclamatoire selon deux plans, celui du lieu et de l'espace de la performance donnée, et celui des lieu(x) et HOME CATALOGUE OF 11906 BOOKS PUBLISHERS AUTHORS OPENEDITION mythologiques. Ces lieu(x) et espace(s) sont examinés sous deux angles complémentaires : celui du chroniqueur (ou de l'observateur ponctuel passif), et celui de l'interprète actif. La première perspective est explorée au travers des Vies de sophistes de Philostrate et des Discours sacrés d'AElius Aristide. La seconde au travers d'un ensemble de travaux centrés sur le cas particulier de la ville de Troie, incluant le Discours troyen de Dion Chrysostome et les déclamations troyennes d'Aristide, de Libanius et de Choricius. This paper examines declamatory place and space on two levels, that of place and space of performance, and that of the place(s) and space(s) evoked in the subject-matter of historical and mythological declamations. These are examined from two complementary angles: that of the chronicler (or temporarily inactive observer), and that of the active performer. The first perspective is explored through Philostratus' Lives of the Sophists and the Sacred Tales of Aelius Aristides, the latter through a set of works focusing on the particular case of the city of Troy, including the Trojan Oration of Dio Chrysostom and the Trojan declamations of Aristides, Libanius and Choricius.
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The full illustrated version of this paper will appear next year (2017) in the International Journal of the Classical Tradition
The full illustrated version of this paper will appear next year (2017) in the International Journal of the Classical Tradition