AMPHORAE IX

We are pleased to announce that AMPHORAE IX will be held at Victoria University of Wellington from the 1st to the 3rd of July 2015!

 

AMPHORAE is Australasia's foremost postgraduate conference encompassing all aspects of research in the ancient world. The conference is open to postgraduate students at Honours, Masters and PhD level who research antiquity, be it literature, archaeology, history, historiography, art or reception studies in the prehistoric, Egyptian, Near Eastern, Hellenic or Roman worlds.

This year our theme is ‘Wisdom begins in Wonder’ a famous paraphrase from Socrates. We think this theme encapsulates the inquisitive spirit of AMPHORAE and hope it will encourage a wide variety of research papers on the ancient world.

 

As a postgraduate conference, AMPHORAE offers a unique opportunity for postgraduate students to present their research to their peers, in a supportive and encouraging environment. AMPHORAE is a great introduction for students to the world of conferences, and encourages them to participate and interact with speakers on an academic level. At most conferences, postgraduate students are not given the same opportunity to present their own research, so AMPHORAE is a key outlet for this research, as well as a learning exercise for all who attend.

 

We are delighted to announce that our key-note speaker will be Dr. Jon Hall from Otago University. 

The key-note lecture will be on the subject: 
 

 "Cicero's Use of Showmanship in the Roman Law Courts"

 

The texts of Cicero's judicial speeches that we read today preserve only one part of the live oratorical performances that he presented in court. Cicero regularly complemented his words with various forms of practical showmanship designed to heighten their persuasive impact. In this lecture, I examine several types of showmanship in detail, including the exploitation of a defendant's family members for emotional effect; the role of costume in Roman trials; and Cicero's use of tears and supplication. As I shall show, although several of these devices were longstanding, familiar parts of pleading in the courts, they stood quite apart from Graeco-Roman rhetorical theories of speech-making. They seem rather to have drawn upon the showmanship that prevailed in other aspects of Roman public life, in particular the strategies of political theatre regularly employed by ambitious aristocrats.

The topic of the Masterclass is: 

The close study of Graeco-Roman rhetoric rarely finds a place in undergraduate curricula across Australasia - and yet many Classical writers of history and poetry were deeply influenced by the many years of rhetorical education they received as teenagers. This masterclass provides an introduction to ancient rhetoric and the ways in which it could shape Greek and Roman literary works (including historiography). In particular, it examines: the exercises typically employed in the schools of rhetoric; the influence of rhetoric on historical accounts of Cicero's death and Caesar's funeral; and its influence on the style and form of Lucan's epic poem Bellum Civile.

 

We will update the website with new information periodically, but for now, peruse the site to learn about registration and local information including tips for accommodation, food and travel around Wellington and Victoria University. Keep udated with us on facebook. 

We hope to see you here with us in July!

Julia Simons, Jaimee Murdoch & Joel Gordon

Convenors AMPHORAE IX 

 

 

 

 

 

AMPHORAE IX Wellington is being supported by:

 

The Australasian Society for Classical Studies 

Australasian Women in Ancient World Studies
The Wellington Classical Association