Upcoming Archaeological Events

The New York Society of the Archaeological Institute of America is glad to announce its first three lecture for this coming Fall 2008. We would like to invite you and any member of your Institutions to partecipate. Could you kindly post on your walls and local web site the following information? Thank you.
Sincerily Yours,

Michelle Hobart & Rachel Kouser
Co-chairs of the Lecture Program

September 25: Richard Hodges, U. Of Penn., on excavations at Butrint. Co-sponsored by the Archaeology Committee of the National Arts Club, at the Club, 15 Gramercy Park South. Reception 6:30 P.M., lecture at 7.

‘Butrint’ – at the Cross Road of the Mediterranean

The UNESCO World Heritage Site of Butrint – ancient Buthrotum – lies in south-west Albania on the Straits of Corfu. The lecture describes 15 years of excavations encompassing the Bronze Age, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Venetian and Ottoman periods and how today a successful archaeological park has been created here. The lecture, illustrated with many slides, aims to show how modern excavation methods offers many new interpretations of familiar histories from the=2 0Greek, Roman and Byzantine periods.


October 16: John Pollini, Professor of Classical Art & Archaeology Department of Art History, University of Southern California, Co-sponsored by the New York University Center for Ancient Studies, at Jurow Hall, NYU Washington Square. Lecture at 6:30 P.M., reception to follow.

Christian Destruction and Desecration of Images of Classical Antiquity

In popular culture Christianity is remembered for the art, architecture, customs, rituals, and myths that it preserved from the classical past. It is rarely acknowledged, however, that Christianity also destroyed a great deal in its conversion of the Roman Empire. The material evidence for Christian destruction has often been overlooked or gone unrecognized even by archaeologists. Professor Pollini’s talk examines various forms of Christian destruction and desecration of images of classical antiquity during the fourth to seventh centuries, as well as some of the attendant problems in detecting and making sense of this phenomenon. This talk is based on Professor Pollini’s present book project, “Christian Destruction and Desecration of Images of Classical Antiquity: A Study in Religious Intolerance and Violence in the Ancient World,” for which he received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the American Council of Learned Societies.


November 13: Brendan Foley, Research Associate, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; Lecturer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Co-sponsored by the Onassis Center, 645 Fifth Avenue, entrance on 52 Street, 6:30PM.

Shipwrecks in the Deep Mediterranean

Sea borne trade fueled human development since the Bronze Age, but some constant fraction of sea voyages ended in shipwreck. Working with colleagues in Greece, Italy, Egypt, and Algeria, Dr. Brendan Foley leads an interdisciplinary research team to study ancient civilizations through deep water Mediterranean shipwrecks. New robotic technologies rapidly document wrecks regardless of water depth, as highlighted by investigations of a Classical Greek wreck in the Aegean Sea. The teams' method of extracting ancient DNA from ceramic objects allows unprecedented views of agriculture and early economies. Combined, these advanced techniques provide new understanding of critical moments in human history.

NYU English Department Medieval Forum, Fall 2008 Events

We are pleased to announce the list of events for the NYU English Department Medieval Forum. The Medieval Forum meets fortnightly on Thursday evenings at 6:30pm. All events will be held in 19 University Place, room 224, unless otherwise noted (visitors from outside NYU should bring photo ID to sign into the building). All are welcome!

If you have questions, contact Liza Blake, elizabeth[dot]blake[at]nyu[dot]edu.


NYU English Medieval Forum
Fall 2008 Events

September 11
"'Variety': a study in pre-modern aesthetic values"
Mary Carruthers
(NYU and All Souls College, Oxford)

September 25
"Exempla and Authority in Fifteenth-Century England"
Amanda Leff
(NYU)

October 9
"A Taxonomy of Creatures in the Second-Family Bestiary"
Susan Crane
(Columbia)

October 23
"Informing Poetics: Soul, Body and Gender in Chaucer's Rhyme Royal Tales"
Elizabeth Robertson
(University of Colorado, Boulder)

November 6
"Embodied texts, entexted bodies: performance and performative poetics in and of Beowulf"
Mark Amodio
(Vassar College)
Co-sponsored with the Anglo-Saxon Studies Colloquium (ASSC)

November 20
"Translating the diversity of the Middle Ages"
Simon Gaunt
(King's College, London)
Co-sponsored with CELCE and the Medieval and Renaissance Center (MARC)

December 4
"Convert Identity in the Late Middle Ages"
Steven Kruger
(Queens College, CUNY)

Schedule of Events 2008-9

Friday, October 17, 2008, 7:30 PM
The Long Drive of Courtly Love: Amor de Longh and the Object of Desire
Erin Felicia Labbie
Bowling Green State University
The Nineteenth Annual Rossell Hope Robbins Lecture


Friday, November 14, 2008, 7:30 PM
Uncovering the Story of Francis and the Sultan
Paul Moses
Brooklyn College, CUNY


Friday, December 5, 2008, 7:30 PM
Waiting for the Middle Ages
Cary Howie
Cornell University


Friday, February 6, 2009, 6:30 PM
at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Choirs of Angels: Painting in Italian Choir Books, 1300–1500
Barbara Boehm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art


Friday, March 6, 2009, 7:30 PM
The Antipodes: Maps and Travel Literature about Another World
Matthew Goldie
Rider University


Friday, April 3, 2009, 7:30 PM
Vernacular Verse Encyclopedism in Medieval France: System and System-Failure
Sarah Kay
Princeton University


Friday, May 1, 2009, 7:30 PM
Information by the Way: Townspeople and Cultural Networks in Later Medieval England
David Gary Shaw
Wesleyan University


Unless otherwise noted, all lectures meet at the CUNY Graduate Center (365 Fifth Ave. @ 34th St.), Room 4406. Reception, with wine and cheese, follows.

First NYU English Medieval Forum Event: Mary Carruthers

"'Variety': a study in pre-modern aesthetic values."

Mary Carruthers
Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford; Erich Maria Remarque Professor of Literature, NYU; Professor of English, NYU


Thursday, Sept. 11, 6:30 pm
Room 224 of 19 University Place
(non-NYU visitors, bring a photo ID to sign into the building)

Professor Carruthers will deliver the inaugural talk in the NYU English Department's Medieval Forum. The Medieval Forum will meet fortnightly on Thursday evenings, and all are welcome (a full schedule of speakers and events will follow).

If you have questions, please contact Liza Blake, eab429[at]nyu[dot]edu.

Medieval Club Sponsored Sessions at Kalamazoo

The Medieval Club is sponsoring three sessions at Kalamazoo next year:

Glosynge is a Glorious Thyng: Medieval Studies and the Future of Commentary
(organized by Nicola Masciandaro, not to be confused with CUNY conference with similar theme)

Animals and Ethics
(organized by Karl Steel)

Visibility, Presence, Voice: Theorizing Gender and Authority in Late Medieval Writing
(organized by Katharine Jager)