This paper re-examines the question of the presence of distinct sociolects in Classical Athenian tragedy (Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides). While the general idea is that all characters in tragedy spoke a similar language, without much distinction between sociolects that could have marked their socio-political status, some recent research has…[Read more]

In this article, I examine how the apocryphal Acts of John depicts wealthy Christian
converts as part of the “Christianization” of Ephesus. I note how the Acts of John
uses its portrayal of leading citizens not only to critique, but to preserve and
adapt prevailing expectations surrounding Greco-Roman cultic patronage. My
analysis com…[Read more]

In this article, I examine how the apocryphal Acts of John depicts wealthy Christian
converts as part of the “Christianization” of Ephesus. I note how the Acts of John
uses its portrayal of leading citizens not only to critique, but to preserve and
adapt prevailing expectations surrounding Greco-Roman cultic patronage. My
analysis com…[Read more]

The Persian King Darius I (reigned 522-486 BCE) constructed a canal connecting the Nile to the Red Sea – an ancient precursor to the Suez Canal that made it possible to sail from Egypt to Persia, and to places in between.

Chapter on the interactions between Roman theatrical tradition and late dramatic production in Greek language.

Introductory chapter to the collective volume ‘Theatre and Metatheare: Definitions, Problems, Limits’

The aim of this book is to explore the definition(s) of ‘theatre’ and ‘metatheatre’ that scholars use when studying the ancient Greek world. Although in modern languages their meaning is mostly straightforward, both concepts become problematical when applied to ancient reality. In fact, ‘theatre’ as well as ‘metatheatre’ are used in many differe…[Read more]

This course provides a survey of sculptural forms in the Hellenistic and Roman worlds from the
time of Alexander the Great to Late Antiquity. Key sculptural media will be considered from
chronological and thematic perspectives. Attention will be given to contextual analysis, social
history, form, technique, commemoration, regionalism, the…[Read more]

This course is an introductory survey of the urban centers of the ancient Near Eastern, Egyptian,
and Mediterranean worlds. In this course students will explore the development of urbanism in
these areas by studying the archaeological remains from the cities of ancient Mesopotamia,
Egypt, Greece, and Rome, from the Neolithic period until the…[Read more]

This course provides a detailed examination of the life and administration of the Roman
emperor Augustus (reigned 31 B.C. to A.D.
14), a time of pivotal social and economic
change that forever altered the trajectory of
Roman history. Augustus and his
administration will be examined from a variety
of viewpoints, drawing on a rich dataset…[Read more]

Becker, J. A. (2021). Defining space, making the city: urbanism in Archaic Rome. In Gleba, Margarita. [Book Chapter]. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.76140

This article provides a short history of the methods and tools developed by the Pelagios initiative: a series of seven projects dedicated to linking digital historical resources based on the geographic places to which they relate and refer. The first section of the article situates the work within the wider field of semantic and geospatial…[Read more]

In this paper, I explore the literary aesthetics of Attalid Pergamon, one of the Ptolemies’ fiercest cultural rivals in the Hellenistic period. Traditionally, scholars have reconstructed Pergamene poetry from the city’s grand and monumental sculptural programme, hypothesizing an underlying aesthetic dichotomy between the two kingdoms: Ale…[Read more]

This article reconsiders a number of the metapoetic oppositions which Harder has identified between Callimachus and Apollonius (in the lead article of this volume of Aevum Antiquum, ‘Aspects of the Interaction between Apollonius Rhodius and Callimachus’) and subjects them to closer scrutiny. First, I explore two metapoetic motifs (talking birds…[Read more]

The film The Small Back Room was written and directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, and released in 1949. It is the wartime tale of an injured and embittered back-room scientist, who is recruited to help combat a new kind of explosive device. Based on Nigel Balchin’s 1943 novel, the film significantly alters the story’s climactic seq…[Read more]

The structure of fifth-century Athenian society remains largely unknown, as is the distribution of its citizens into different socio-political categories. Ancient literary sources mostly describe a society divided into élite and poor. However, the model of a society alternately dominated by
the élite and the ‘lower-class’ is to be recon…[Read more]

The structure of fifth-century Athenian society remains largely unknown, as is the distribution of its citizens into different socio-political categories. Ancient literary sources mostly describe a society divided into élite and poor. However, the model of a society alternately dominated by
the élite and the ‘lower-class’ is to be recon…[Read more]

This paper publishes a ceramic bowl in the Metropolitan Museum of Art depicting a Parthian shot. Although it lacks archaeological provenance, the bowl can be dated to the 4th to 2nd centuries BCE, and probably comes from northwestern Iran. It is, therefore, one of the few possible instances of a Parthian shot from the Arsacid Empire.

This paper publishes a ceramic bowl in the Metropolitan Museum of Art depicting a Parthian shot. Although it lacks archaeological provenance, the bowl can be dated to the 4th to 2nd centuries BCE, and probably comes from northwestern Iran. It is, therefore, one of the few possible instances of a Parthian shot from the Arsacid Empire.

This chapter examines the rhetorical skills displayed by secondary (low–status)
characters in the extant tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. “Rhetorical
skills” are here broadly understood as the abilities required to have one’s voice heard and
one’s opinion taken into account. These speaking abilities contribute to the socio–pol…[Read more]