Pasts Imperfect (9.16.21)
Ancient Beauty Contests, Reality TV, and More
This week, Stephanie Wong discusses the gamification of romance from antiquity to reality TV, curators trace an Aztec Mirror to the Qing court, colleagues remember a titan in the field of Late Antiquity, Mai Sanadhya presents a South Asian perspective in the move to decolonize Classics, and a rare manuscript returns to Ethiopia.
What’s new from Pasts Imperfect?
In our opinion, the best break from real-life reality is TV reality. And if you need to justify your addiction to The Bachelor franchise (definitely not referring to some of the Pasts Imperfect writers, here…): look no further than Stephanie Wong’s epic essay in the Los Angeles Review of Books: “Bachelor Nation and the Ancient History of Gamifying Romance.” Give it a read and a share!
Museums, Reception, and Questions for Later
Over at the National Palace Museum of Taiwan, curators discovered that an obsidian mirror previously thought to be made in China was actually an Aztec mirror made in the Americas. How did this object make its way from Mesoamerica to the Qing court, and then eventually Taipei? Researchers suggest that it might have been a gift from foreign missionaries, perhaps Jesuits.
This week is the last week to see Tai Xiangzhou’s exhibition “Cosmoscapes” at the Art Institute of Chicago. Tai, a Chinese scholar and artist, combines his interests in Song Dynasty realist landscapes with Chinese cosmology. The ink paintings, rendered on silk and paper screens and scrolls, are breathtaking even when viewed online (below is Autumn Waters Merge with the Heavens, 2017). If you are in Chicago, go see them in person, and if you feel inspired, a certain editor at Public Books’ “Antiquities” would love to see a pitch about them…
Seen on the Internet and Twitterverse
Manuscript repatriation is an important part of restorative justice. And over at the Los Angeles Review of Books, Philip Kurian discusses “Howard University’s 2016 repatriation of Tweed MS150 — a rare manuscript containing a 15th-century Acts of Paul and Acts of Sarabamon codex — to its place of origin in the highlands of Ethiopia.” And for Ethiopian New Year on September 11, the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library database shared another important Ethiopic MS tale as well, this one connected to the Ethiopian Manuscript Microfilm Library (EMML) project and famed Ge’ez philologist Getatchew Haile.
Grief and loss has seemed an all-too-regularized part the pandemic. The inability to grieve together in-person has often made it worse. Within the field of Late Antiquity and far beyond it, the digital celebrations surrounding the life of Elizabeth Clark have been incredibly moving even in a virtual space. Whether online or on campus at Duke, the outpouring is a testament to her impact, import, and her kindness. Prof. Clark passed on September 7, 2021.
In case you missed it, Richard Stoneman has a new translation of Megasthenes' Indica.
This book provides a new translation of all the surviving portions of the description of India written by Megasthenes in about 310 BCE, the fullest account of Indian geography, history and customs available to the classical world. The Indica was a pioneering work of ethnography that exemplified a new direction in Hellenistic writing; India was little-known to the Greeks before the expedition of Alexander the Great in 326–325 BCE, and Megasthenes, who resided as an ambassador in the Maurya capital Pataliputra for some time, provided the classical world with most of what it knew about India.
If you have an idea for translation that is not quite manuscript length, we’d also suggest submitting to the new journal Ancient Exchanges.
Over at Sportula Europe, Mai Sanadhya, Media & Communications Officer of @London_CoC, discusses decolonizing Classics—from a South Asian perspective:
Sometimes, I feel like giving up and switching to studying law. However, I am fueled and motivated by my personal vision of a decolonised Classics: an expansive field in which I can make my Sanskritic and Grecian parallels in peace, without having to justify my presence or interests. By studying all ancient cultures as equals, and by valuing the contribution of scholars with a range of backgrounds, experiences and perspectives, I believe that we will discover valuable insight into our history as people.
A new edited volume out in two weeks from Serena Autiero and Matthew Adam Cobb explores Globalization and Transculturality from Antiquity to the Pre-Modern World. Those interested in how the theory and method of globalization can help us better understand the past will surely be interested.
Conferences and Lectures we’d definitely Zoom into:
Note that Amy Pistone tracks many of these lectures on the “Online Classics Social Calendar” via Google Calendar.
New Journal Issues Online through September 9th through 15th curated by @YaleClassicsLib
Anuari de Filologia. Antiqua et Mediaeualia Vol. 11, No. 2 (2021) #openaccess ARDVA QVAE PVLCHRA: Contribucions d'estudis clàssics presentades al VII Congrés Nacional Ganímede
Cahiers « Mondes Anciens » Vol. 14 (2021) #openaccess Thalassotopies: La mer vue de la terre, la terre vue de la mer dans l'antiquité égéenne
American Journal of Archaeology Vol. 125, No. 4 (October 2021)
Polis Vol. 38, No. 3 (2021) Legislation and Lawgiving: Philosophical Perspectives on Antiquity
Umanistica Digitale No. 10 (2021) #openaccess
NB: "Knowing is participating: digital public history, wiki and citizen humanities” by Deborah Paci
Variants Vols. 15-16 (2021) #openaccess Textual Scholarship in the Twenty-First Century
Espacio Tiempo y Forma. Serie II, Historia Antigua No. 34 (2021) #openaccess
ACOR Jordan Newsletter Vol. 33, No. 1 (September 2021) #openaccess
Aramaic Studies Vol. 19, No. 2 (2021)
History and Theory Vol. 60, No. 3 (September 2021)
NB: François Hartog's History and Theory Lecture “Chronos, Kairos, Krisis: The Genesis of Western Time” & responses
Classica - Revista Brasileira de Estudos Clássicos Vol. 34, No. 2 (2021) #openaccess
The Classical Review Vol.71, No. 2 (October 2021)
Greece & Rome Vol.68, No. 2 (October 2021)
NB: “Fiddling why Rome Burns: the Aetiology of a Familiar English Expression” by Anthony Barrett
Pitches:
The Public Books section "Antiquities" is currently taking pitches — as is our “Pasts Imperfect” column at the LA Review of Books, using this form.
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