Register now for this year’s Summer Classics Institute, June 13-18, 2010, at the University of Wyoming! This year’s theme is Making Rome Great: How Roman Culture and Power Grew.
Institute Description
Over the course of seven centuries, Rome went from being a small town on the banks of the Tiber to having a remarkably effective and durable form of government, a thriving and developing artistic and cultural life–and political dominance over southern Europe and the Mediterranean. This year’s institute explores Rome in the Republican period: its politics and government, its culture and society, its art – and its long struggle against arch-rival Carthage, led by the formidable general Hannibal.
Registration Fee Schedule
* Wyoming educators: $160 single occupancy, $135 double occupancy
* Out of state educators: $235 single occupancy, $210 double occupancy
* General Public: $260, $235 double occupancy
* General Public or Teacher, no lodging: $95
Registration forms are available online and by mail upon request. Participants will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis, so early registration is encouraged. Registrations are preferred by no later than April 15, 2010.
The registration fee includes lodging at the University of Wyoming plus a welcome dinner, lunches and breakfasts. Participants may enroll for two hours of graduate enrichment credit at an additional cost. There will be a $10 advance fee for PTSB continuing education credit. Graduate enrichment credit must be requested at registration.The institute does have limited space so please be sure to sign up as soon as possible.
Institute Faculty
Laura DeLozier, University of Wyoming
Philip Holt, University of Wyoming
Eleanor W. Leach, Indiana University
Marilyn Skinner, University of Arizona
Public Lecture Series
Sunday, June 13
“Republic and Empire: Roman Conservatism and Roman Growth,” Phil Holt
Monday, June 14
“Women and Wealth in Republican Rome,” Marilyn Skinner
Tuesday, June 15
“Celebrating a Trojan Ancestry,” Laura De Lozier
Wednesday, June 16
“Hannibal’s Dreams: Cicero and Other Writers Remember the Wars,” Eleanor Leach
Thursday, June 17
Movie: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Or, Plautus goes Hollywood. Our final evening program will be a screening of this 1966 movie, adapted from the comedies of Plautus. Melvin Frank, director; songs by Stephen Sondheim. Cast includes Zero Mostel, Michael Crawford, Phil Silvers, and (in his last screen appearance) Buster Keaton. Discussion will follow the film
Seminar
Seminar readings will be drawn from Livy’s History of Rome from the Foundation of the City, books XX-XXX. The recommended translation is by Aubrey de Selincourt, published under the title The War with Hannibal, published by Penguin.
Mini Courses
First period, 8:30 10:00 am daily
A. The Religion of the Roman Republic, with Laura De Lozier
The Greek historian Polybius attributed the Romans’ rise to power to their system of governmentincluding their scrupulous attention to the sacred. The gods of the Romans were citizens of the community. They took an active interest in its affairs; they had intervened in them before, and they might do so again. Mortals and immortals communicated through ritualized exchange and through signs and omens. In this course, we will explore how individuals, households, and the elite of Rome conceived of and communicated with their gods. We will also examine some new developments in the third century BCE, including the politicization of public priesthoods, the introduction of the cult of the Great Mother from Asia Minor, and the claims of divine favor towards Scipio Africanus, the conqueror of Hannibal.
B. Mocking the Masters: Plautus’ Comedies in their Social Context, with Marilyn Skinner
Originally commissioned by Roman magistrates for presentation at festivals, Plautus’s comedies were regularly revived in later antiquity. They found new admirers (including Shakespeare) in the Renaissance, and (as attested by the stage play and film A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum) they continue to amuse audiences today. Some of the comic elementssuch as contrived plotting, gross and often bawdy slapstick, and glib reparteeare timeless. However, Plautine comedy also joked about serious contemporary social issues, especially tensions between fathers and sons, husbands and wives, and masters and slaves. Scenarios feature an authority figure, usually an elderly head of household, being conned by a clever slave. When an elite Roman male paterfamilias saw his stage counterpart bamboozled, why did he laugh? Through a close reading of four representative plays and discussion of their social milieu, we will attempt to find out.
Second period 1:00 -2:30 pm daily
C. Governing Rome: Institutions and Politics of the Roman Republic, with Philip Holt
When they expelled their last king in 409 B.C., the Romans devised a form of government which they called a republicliterally, the “public thing.” It proved to be remarkably durable: it guided Rome for four and a half centuries, and under it Rome grew from a small city-state to an imperial power that spanned the Mediterranean. It was also influential on later times. The Framers of the U.S. Constitution drew less on Athenian democracy, which they considered little better than mob rule, than on Rome for inspiration. To some observers, the republic was strong because it was a “mixed constitution,” combining qualities of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy. It succeeded by a combination of traditional stability, the flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances, and a political culture that ran on fierce competition, yet managed to foster new talent. This course will explore how it worked.
D. Roman and Italic Art: the second and third centuries B.C.E., with Eleanor W. Leach
In following Hannibal’s invasion from the Alpine crossing, we journey down two-thirds of the Italian peninsula, as the conflict engages not only armies in the field but also the allegiances of cities and populations. Can we look outside Livy to gain any imaginative sense of the inhabitants of this theater of war? Archaeology has given some assistance. With a focus on Central Italy we will look at portraits in bronze and terra cotta from Etruscan society, warriors, funerary games and journeys to the afterlife on tombs at Paestum and monuments commemorating Roman victories and dedications. Abundant illustrations will serve as the basis for discussion in each session.
Presented in partnership with the University of Wyoming Department of Modern and Classical Languages. For further information, please visit the Summer Classics Institute page or call the Wyoming Humanities Council at (307) 721-9243.
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