Conference Information
About
AMPHORA - the Annual Meeting of Postgraduates in Hellenic or Roman Antiquities - was established in 2007 as a major annual conference and gathering for postgraduate students in classical antiquity in Australasia. Through seven previous events, two countries, several states and provinces, hundreds of papers and the usurpation of a letter (E for Egyptology, resulting in the current iteration of the acronym: AMPHORAE), the conference has become an institution for Australian and New Zealand postgraduate researchers, whose focus is the ancient world.
Location
AMPHORAE VIII will take place at the Parkville Campus of the University of Melbourne.
Please note the Blue pin: the Old Arts building which is the venue for registration, as well as most of the sessions.
Please note the Blue pin: the Old Arts building which is the venue for registration, as well as most of the sessions.
Keynote Address and Masterclass
Professor Hans Beck of McGill University will be delivering the Keynote Address at AMPHORAE this year entitled: The Parochial Polis: Localism and the Ancient Greek City-State. He has thoughtfully provided the following taster.
'Greek history is one of shifting frontiers. From the Archaic Great Colonization through the Classical Period to the Age of Alexander, the Greeks experienced the sensation of encountering ever-new horizons. Expanding networks of exchange facilitated new modes of connectivity. Every generation saw people, goods, and ideas travel further, and faster. New arteries of traffic once again increased communication, making everything closer. In a nutshell, as the world of Aegean Greece grew larger, in a different sense it paradoxically became a “small world” where communities near and far were closely interconnected.
The most impactful resource that brought order and meaning to the challenge of embracing new horizons came from within society. In their assessment of the world around them, Greek city-states relied on readings that were innately local, or parochial, with little regard for the glamour of globalization. Phokylides of Miletus captured this attitude in the 6th century BCE, declaring that “a small and orderly polis on a rock is better than foolish Nineveh”. This opinion is often interpreted as a commitment to political autonomy and freedom. But the workings of localism cut much deeper than that. Localism is a societal disposition that draws on the full breadth of the human experience. The acclamation of local cuisines and diets, local preferences of cultural tradition and style, beliefs in primordial descent and attachment to the land: all these convictions were as much at the heart of a polis community as was the conduct of politics. When added together, these various commitments created a robust force that steered city-states towards the paramount of the local.
The keynote lecture explores the forces of localism in ancient Greece. Breaking into the communicative realm of city-states beyond Athens, it surveys the expression of localism in material culture and textual traditions. Staged before the backdrop of emerging new horizons, the lecture also touches on the universal tension between globalization and the responses it provokes at the local level.'
Professor Beck will also be running a Masterclass for delegates during his stay entitled: Tempting Tyche: Political Lottery in Classical Athens.
'Greek history is one of shifting frontiers. From the Archaic Great Colonization through the Classical Period to the Age of Alexander, the Greeks experienced the sensation of encountering ever-new horizons. Expanding networks of exchange facilitated new modes of connectivity. Every generation saw people, goods, and ideas travel further, and faster. New arteries of traffic once again increased communication, making everything closer. In a nutshell, as the world of Aegean Greece grew larger, in a different sense it paradoxically became a “small world” where communities near and far were closely interconnected.
The most impactful resource that brought order and meaning to the challenge of embracing new horizons came from within society. In their assessment of the world around them, Greek city-states relied on readings that were innately local, or parochial, with little regard for the glamour of globalization. Phokylides of Miletus captured this attitude in the 6th century BCE, declaring that “a small and orderly polis on a rock is better than foolish Nineveh”. This opinion is often interpreted as a commitment to political autonomy and freedom. But the workings of localism cut much deeper than that. Localism is a societal disposition that draws on the full breadth of the human experience. The acclamation of local cuisines and diets, local preferences of cultural tradition and style, beliefs in primordial descent and attachment to the land: all these convictions were as much at the heart of a polis community as was the conduct of politics. When added together, these various commitments created a robust force that steered city-states towards the paramount of the local.
The keynote lecture explores the forces of localism in ancient Greece. Breaking into the communicative realm of city-states beyond Athens, it surveys the expression of localism in material culture and textual traditions. Staged before the backdrop of emerging new horizons, the lecture also touches on the universal tension between globalization and the responses it provokes at the local level.'
Professor Beck will also be running a Masterclass for delegates during his stay entitled: Tempting Tyche: Political Lottery in Classical Athens.
