… seen on the Classicists list:

The Author-Translator in the European Literary Tradition
Swansea University, 28 June – 1 July 2010

Confirmed keynote speakers include:
Susan Bassnett, David Constantine, Lawrence Venuti

The recent `creative turn´ in translation studies has challenged
notions of translation as a derivative and uncreative activity which is
inferior to `original´ writing. Commentators have drawn attention to
the creative processes involved in the translation of texts, and
suggested a rethinking of translation as a form of creative writing.
Hence there is growing critical and theoretical interest in
translations undertaken by literary authors.

This conference focuses on acts of translation by creative writers.
Literary scholarship has tended to overlook this aspect of an author´s
output, yet since the time of Cicero, authors across Europe have been
engaged not only in composing their own works but in rendering texts
from one language into another. Indeed, many of Europe´s greatest
writers have devoted time to translation – from Chaucer to Heaney, from
Diderot and Goethe to Seferis and Pasternak – and have produced some
remarkable texts. Others (Beckett, Joyce, Nabokov) have translated
their own work from one language into another. As attentive readers
and skilful wordsmiths, writers may be particularly well equipped to
meet the creative demands of literary translation; many translations of
poetry are, after all, undertaken by poets themselves. Moreover,
translation can have a major impact on an author´s own writing and on
the development of native literary traditions.

The conference seeks to reassess the importance of translation for
European writers – both well-known and less familiar – from antiquity
to the present day. It will explore why authors translate, what they
translate, and how they translate, as well as the links between an
author´s translation work and his or her own writing. It will bring
together scholars in English studies and modern languages, classics and
medieval studies, comparative literature and translation studies.
Possible topics include:

– individual author-translators: motivations, career trajectories,
comparative thematics and stylistics
– the author-translator in context: literary societies, movements,
national traditions
– the problematic creativity of the author-translator
– self-reflective pronouncements and manifestos
– the author-translator as critic of others´ translations
– self-translation: strengths and weaknesses
– authors, adaptations, re-translation and relay translation
– the reception and influence of the work of author-translators
– theoretical interfaces

Proposals are invited for individual papers (max. 20 minutes) or panels
(of 3 speakers). The conference language is English. It is
anticipated that selected papers from the conference will be published.
Please send a 250-word abstract by 30 September 2009 to the
organisers, Hilary Brown and Duncan Large:

Author-Translator Conference
Department of Modern Languages
Swansea University
GB-Swansea SA2 8PP

E-mail: author-translator AT swan.ac.uk
Fax: +44 (0)1792 295710
Web: http://www.author-translator.net

… seen on various lists:

SCHEDULE OF THE 1st HELLENISTIC STUDIES WORKSHOP

In Alexandria, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, 12th -18th July 2009

First Day: 12th July 2009 (Sunday)

Evening: 7 pm

– Welcoming by Dr. Ismail Sarageldin (Director of Bibliotheca
Alexandrian) and Dr. Sahar Hamouda, (Director of ACHS)

– Description of the workshop (Kyriakos Savvopoulos)

– Inauguration lecture by Dr. Robert Steven Bianchi: Alexander
the Great in Egypt

Second day: 13th July 2009 (Monday)

Morning: 10.30 am

Visit to the National Museum of Alexandria

Lunch Break (1-5 pm)

Afternoon: 5 – 7.30 pm.

* Drs. Nikos Roumpekas (Aberdeen-Thessaloniki): From
the Indian Ocean to Alexandria: Euhemerus of Messene and
the Origin of the Gods
* Drs. Thanasis Koutoupas (Thessaloniki): Religion and
Ptolemaic ideology
* Drs. Mario Paganini (Oxford): The hybrid nature of
Gymnasia in Ptolemaic Egypt

Third Day: 14th July 2009 (Tuesday)

Morning: 11 am

Visit to Necropolis of Mustapha Kamel

Lunch Break (1-5 pm)

Afternoon: 5 – 8 pm

* Dr. Robert Steven Bianchi: The cult and temple of Isis in
Ras el-Soda
* Dr. el-Nureldin: The interaction between the Greek and
Egyptian traditions in Hellenistic Alexandria
* Dr. Abd-el Ghani: Sea and Land trade routes between
Arabia and Greco-Roman Egypt

Fourth Day: 15th July 2009 (Wednesday)

Morning: 11 am

Visit to Anfushi Necropolis

Lunch Break (1-5 pm)

Afternoon: 5 – 7.30 p.m.

* Dr. Mona Haggag (Alexandria university): The Educative
Museum of the Faculty of Arts: Alexandria University
* Dr. Mervat seif el Din (Director of the Greco-Roman
museum): Alexandria Graeco-Roman Museum: Past, Present
and Future
* Dr. Kyriakos Savvopoulos: The Hellenistic Alexandria
Virtual Museum Online project

Fifth Day: 16th July 2009 (Thursday)

Morning: 10 am

Visit to Kom el Shoqafa catacombs and Sarapeion sanctuary

Lunch Break (1-5 pm)

Afternoon: 5 to 8 pm

* Dr. Kyriakos Savvopoulos (HIAMAS): The Underwater
archaeological surveys of the Greek Mission in Alexandria:
1998-2009, 19 surveys in 12 years
* Dr. Emad Khalil: The Lake Mareotis Project of Southampton
University and SCA
* Dr. Robert Steven Bianchi: Cleopatra, the woman behind
the myth

Sixth Day: 17th July 2009 (Friday)

Morning: 11 am – 2 am

* Conclusions and discussion

* Projection of documentaries:

* Cleopatra the Great

* The lost tomb of Alexander the Great

Lunch Break (2-4 pm)

Afternoon: 4-7 pm

Visit to the Collections and museums of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina

Seventh Day: 18th July 2009 (Saturday)

Morning: 11 am

Visit to Kom el Dikka

Good-bye lunch

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Final Call for Papers: deadline 30th July 2009

International Conference

Mediterranean Identities: Formation and Transformation

University of Leicester, Friday 26 – Sunday 28th March 2010

Recent studies of the Mediterranean have been dominated by the construction, reinforcement, representation and renegotiation of identities. As a departure point, this conference will address theoretical approaches to the formation and transformation of these identities throughout time and space. In particular, the use of comparative methods in the history of communal identities in the Mediterranean will highlight not only the course of their development but also will explain the extraordinary longevity of influential identities such as Greek and Jewish.

Questions to be addressed will include, but are certainly not limited to: 1) How are identities formed? 2) How are they represented? 3) How do communities and societies organize and express themselves spatially? How does their identity relate to that of surrounding spaces and surrounding communities? How permeable are the boundaries? 4) How is power distilled from heterogeneity? 5) To what extent is the formation of identities governed by economic considerations? 6) How do wars, revolutions and migrations affect collective identities? 7) How do identities develop and evolve over time? 8) To what extent can we identify a ‘Mediterranean identity’? 9) Can we recognize patterns of identity that cut across different Mediterranean communities and cultures? 10) How far did the elite centres of Greece and Rome inform the ways peripheral communities and later societies deployed and understood their populations, geography and environment? 11) How should we approach the archaeology of identity?

This conference is part of a larger project that aims to assess the value of ‘identity’ as a tool of intellectual enquiry in the disciplines of archaeology, classics, history, literature and art history. It sets out to explore identities in the full range of spheres – social, political, cultural, religious and economic – and their value as a tool of historiographical enquiry into ancient and modern societies in the Mediterranean world. Furthermore, it seeks to depart from the ‘traditional’ social constructionist interpretations, which focus only on the impact of culture. The challenge that remains is to develop a more sophisticated understanding of the relationship between society, religion, culture, economics and ethnicity in the formation of identities in the Mediterranean.

Diverse methodologies are encouraged, although proposals should indicate strong theoretical content and considerations that will appeal to a wide range of disciplines. Papers should be of twenty minutes’ length. Abstracts of approximately 200 words should be submitted by 30 July, 2009. Successful contributions may be considered for publication in a peer-reviewed conference volume.

Speakers already confirmed:

Clifford Ando (Chicago)

Hartwin Brandt (Bamberg)

Bill Cavanagh (Nottingham)

John K. Davies (Liverpool)

Lin Foxhall (Leicester)

Hans Joachim Gehrke (German Archaeological School)

Jonathan M. Hall (Chicago)

Anthea Harris (Birmingham)

Kerstin Hoffman (Researcher, TOPOI)

Anthony Kaldellis (Ohio State University)

Constantina Katsari (Leicester)

Naoise Mac Sweeney (Cambridge)

David Mattingly (Leicester)

Robin Osborne (Cambridge)

Nicholas Purcell (Oxford)

Jim Roy (Nottingham)

Katerina Zacharia (Loyola Marymount University)

Organisers

Leicester: Dr Constantina Katsari ck82 ATle.ac.uk

Nottingham: Dr Mark Bradley Mark.Bradley AT nottingham.ac.uk

TOPOI Dr. Kerstin Hofmann kh AT dainst.de

Official Email: MICHA AT nottingham.ac.uk

… seen on various lists

THE GENIUS OF ARCHIMEDES
23 Centuries of Influence on
Mathematics, Science, and Engineering
Syracuse (Sicily) Italy
8-10 June 2010

(From official website, 23/06/09)

This World Conference will celebrate the extraordinary achievements and enduring influence of Archimedes, and it will take place in the ancient City of Syracuse where Archimedes lived and worked 2300 years ago.

The Conference will bring together researchers and academicians from the broad ranges of Mathematics, Engineering, and Science. Historians of Science are also invited to participate.

The three-day meeting will take place in the ancient city of Syracuse (Ortygia) on the island of Sicily. A richly appealing social program will surround the Conference, including the opportunity to view an ancient Greek play in the city’s 2500-year-old Greek Theatre—where Archimedes himself enjoyed dramatic performances in the third century BC!

Seed funding for the Conference has been obtained from a division of the European Union. Additional funding is anticipated from international cultural and professional organizations.

The Conference is Organized by
# The City of Syracuse (Italy)
# The Western Greece Region (Greece)
# The Institute of Culture and Quality of Life (Greece)
# The University of Cassino (Italy)
# The University of Patras (Greece)
# The Hellenic Open University (Greece)
# The e-RDA Innovation Center (Greece)

And is under the patronage of
# IFToMM, The International Federation for the Promotion of Mechanism and Machine Science
# The Hellenic Mathematical Society (Greece)
# European Society for the History of Science

For further information:
http://www.archimedes2010.org/apps/en/spag/index.html
(official website)

Or

http://www.historyofscience.it

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The Olympian Gods: Local Representations, Universal Principles

Department of Classics & Ancient History, Durham University
5th – 7th July 2009

This interdisciplinary workshop investigates how the local characteristics with which the Greeks invested their gods related to the view that they operated as universal principles within the cosmic economy. Everyone is welcome, and there is no registration fee. Places are available at dinner in Hatfield College on Monday, 6th July (please e-mail barbara.graziosi AT dur.ac.uk).

+ + + +

*6th July*

ROBIN OSBORNE, The style of the Gods

FRITZ GRAF, Divine Epithets

BARBARA GRAZIOSI, Divine Travel

MARIANNE SCHIEBE, ‘Air is Ether’s sister and consort.’ Primeval metaphor & the anthropomorphic image of the divine.

SHAUL TOR, Parmenides and the Love of Double Headed

IVANA PETROVIC, Divine powers in the Homeric Hymn to Apollo: an allegorical interpretation

LIZ IRWIN, Anthropomorphic gods and deified emotions in Euripides’ /Hippolytus/

*7th July*

SARAH ILES JOHNSTON, Demeter in Hermione: Local Variations on a Panhellenic Theme

ANDREJ PETROVIC, Chaining Ares: Panhellenic narratives, local cults

JULIA KINDT, The Local and the Panhellenic Reconsidered: Representations of Zeus at Olympia

+ + + +

All sessions will take place at 38, North Bailey, Durham DH1 3EU (opposite Hatfield College). For further details please contact: barbara.graziosi AT dur.ac.uk or g.r.boys-stones AT dur.ac.uk.