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Graduate Archaeology at Oxford and the School of Archaeology at the University of Oxford invite the submission of proposals for papers and posters to an interdisciplinary conference titled "Death, Disasters, Downturn. The Archaeology of Crises." Oxford, 24-25 April 2010.

"From plagues to economic collapses, natural disasters to the deaths of loved ones, crisis, in its social, economic, psychological, biological, and ecological manifestations has indelibly shaped human existence. Since it is often in the breakdown of societies that the structures which composed them become clearest, crises provide an especially good window onto how groups have functioned historically. It can affect entire communities or single individuals; it can be confined to a singular time and space or it can reoccur episodically. As some of the most fascinating moments in human history, isolated cases or forms of crisis have been much-discussed among scholars within single fields. Rarely, however, have such debates crossed the boundaries of specific disciplines to be studied in a wider, over-arching context."

The goal of this conference is to start a discussion about the archaeological study of crises from across disciplines: sciences, archaeology, anthropology, ancient history. The questions we will raise are manifold: what constitutes a crisis? Which groups in the past have been most affected by crises? How can the archaeological record shed light on crises of various magnitudes? Most importantly, how can the archaeology of crisis be used to shed light on societies past and present?

Abstracts should not exceed 500 words in length and should be sent as attachments (in PDF format) to: gao AT arch.ox.ac.uk
Deadline for abstract submission: Sunday, 6 December 2009.
Selected papers will be published in a volume, as part of the GAO monograph series.

For further information visit: the GAO website (http://www.arch.ox.ac.uk/conferences/articles/gao-annual-conference.html)

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3rdTrends in Classics Conference on Greek Drama

Crisis on Stage:

Tragedy and Comedy in Late Fifth-Century Athens

Thessaloniki, December 3-6, 2009 (Auditorium of the Archaeological Museum)

December 3, 2009

17.30-18.30: Reception – Registration

18.30-19.00: Opening Ceremony

Opening Keynote Address

19.00-19.30: Bernhard Zimmermann (University of Freiburg)

19.30-20.00: Ruth Scodel (University of Michigan), Philoctetes and Political Nostalgia

20.00-20.30: Guido Avezzu (University of Verona), The Crisis of Political Representation: Sophocles’ Philoctetes

20.30-21.00: Poulcheria Kyriakou (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), Kairos and Kratos: The Chorus of Philoctetes and Present Opportunity

December 4, 2009

10.00-10.30: Suzanne Said (Columbia University), Athens and Athenian Space in Oedipus at Colonus

10.30-11.00: Andrea Rodighiero (University of Verona), The Sense of Place: Oedipus at Colonus, ‘Political’ Geography and the Defense of a Way of Life

11.00-11.30: Richard Hunter (University of Cambridge), Euripides’ Ion: Nothing to Do with Nietzsche?

11.30-12.00: Claude Calame (Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris), Myth and Performance on the Attic Stage: Praxithea, Erechtheus, their Daughters and the Aetiology of Athenian Authochthony

12.30-13.00: Marco Fantuzzi (University of Macerata), The Dream of the Charioteer (728-803) in the Rhesus Ascribed to Euripides

13.00-13.30: Konstantina Gakopoulou (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), Euripides’ Bakchen: Ende einer Epoche oder Beginn einer neuen?

13.30-14.00: Horst-Dieter Blume (University of Munster), Euripides’ Iphigenia at Aulis

14.00-14.30: Andreas Markantonatos (University of Peloponnese), Leadership in Action: Wise Policy and Firm Resolve in Euripides’ Iphigenia at Aulis

December 5, 2009

10.30-11.00: Alan Sommerstein (University of Nottingham), Problem Kids: Young Males and Society from Electra to Bacchae

11.00-11.30: Georgia Xanthakis-Karamanos (University of Peloponnese), The ‘Dionysiac’ Plays of Aeschylus and Euripides’ Bacchae: Re-Affirming Traditional Religion and Cult in Late Fifth-Century BC

11.30-12.00: Daniel Iakov (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), Fragmenting the Self: Society and Psychology in Euripides’ Electra and Ion

12.30-13.00: Francis Dunn (University of California, Santa Barbara), Transcending Crisis: Metadrama and Metaphysics in Bacchant Women and Oedipus at Colonus

13.00-13.30: Anna Lamari (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), The Return of the Father:Euripides’ Antiope, Hypsipyle and Phoenissae

15.30-16.00: Patrick Finglass (University of Nottingham), Sophocles’ Theseus

16.00-16.30: Sophie Mills (University of North Carolina at Asheville), Genos, Gennaios and Athens in the Later Tragedies of Sophocles

16.30-17.00: Ioanna Karamanou (University of Peloponnese), Euripides’ ‘Family Reunion Plays’ and their Possible Socio-Political Affiliations

17.30-18.00: Roberto Nicolai (University of Rome, La Sapienza), Paradigmi Mitici in Euripide: La Crisi del Mito

18.00-18.30: Thalia Papadopoulou (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), Altruism, Sovereignty, and the Degeneration of Imperial Hegemony in Greek Tragedy and Thucydides

December 6, 2009

10.30-11.00: Anton Bierl (University of Basel), Women on the Acropolis: Comic Body-Politics, Ritual and Metaphor in Aristophanes’ Lysistrata

11.00-11.30: Antonis Tsakmakis (University of Cyprus), Persians, Oligarchs and Festivals: The Date of Lysistrata and Thesmophoriazusae

11.30-12.00: Ian Storey (Trent University), Comedy and Crises

Closing Keynote Speech

12.30-13.00: David Rosenbloom (Victoria University of Wellington), The Subversive Stage: Democracy and its Discontents in Late Fifth-Century Drama