Amphorae XII Trip | Wednesday
Another day, another adventure; this time an academic one! Today marked my first day at a Classics conference. I am fortunate to have heard so many wonderful presentations, yet I wish I could have split myself in two so I could be in both theatres at once! For many of the attendees, this was also their first conference, and for some, even their first time presenting, so I want to emphasise just how impressive the research and presentation were for each and every one!
I won’t go into detail about the topics - I believe that to be the privilege of the researcher - but it’s good to see so many promising studies being conducted around Australia and New Zealand. Keep an eye out for these up and coming Classicists, and if you know them, please direct them this way! I’d love to feature them for either Follow/Feature Friday or Scholar Spotlight Sunday.
First up, I attended the Gender and Classics panel:
Natalia Polikarpova, ‘Seneca the Younger’s Ad Marciam: Constructing an Example of Emphasized Femininity.’
Isabelle Duroe, ‘Monsters and Meaning in Statius’ Thebaid.’
Sinead Brennan-McMahon ‘Expurgating the tribas from Victorian editions and commentaries of Martial’s Epigrams.’
Next, I attended (and presented in) the Roman History panel:
Elisabeth Slingsby, ‘Back by Popular Demand: Electing Tyrants in Cornelius Nepos’ Lives of Miltiades and Timoleon.’
James Winestock, ‘Too Much Booty – The Effect of War Profits on Rome’s Second Century.’
Ryleigh Adams, ‘Pompey’s Eastern Settlements: Considerations and Consequences’ - that’s me!
While I was in my chosen panels, another lecture theatre ran simultaneously. In the morning, there was the Greek Literature panel:
Robert Drummond, ‘Interpreting the gods in Oedipus Tyrannus.’
Natalie Looyer, ‘Odysseus, Aristotle and heroic one-upmanship in Homer’s Iliad.’
Edward Armstrong, ‘Religion and Disaster in Thucydides' History.’
And in the afternoon, the AWAWS (Australasian Women in Ancient World Studies) panel:
Katie Logan, ‘“Sulpicia’s all dressed up for you”: The Construction of the Sulpician Persona in [Tibullus] 3.8.’
Beth Lord, ‘Saints and Soothsayers: Early Christian Perceptions of Women Using and Practicing Medicine in Gaul.’
Nova Petrechko, ‘‘Women and Priscillian’ or ‘Priscillian’s Women’?: Women’s Religious Experience in Fourth-Century Hispania and Southern Gaul.’
Finally, we all finished the day by attending a wonderful keynote address by Dr Maxine Lewis, ‘Critiquing the critics: intersectional readings of ancient world scholarship.’ This was a very eye-opening lecture, and it made me realise just how important intersectionality is in my own work relating to provincial management and imperialism.
I want to emphasise also just how supportive the atmosphere was today. Everyone who presented received excellent feedback and questions and conversations often spilt over into break times. I met some lovely people today, and look forward to getting to know them better over the rest of the conference.
Tomorrow is the second day of the conference. I’ll be live tweeting/instagraming when I can throughout the day and through the evening at the conference dinner. I hope you’ll tune in through Twitter, Instagram or my personal blog @sassy-cicero-says.
~ Admin @sassy-cicero-says
