Throughout its history, New York has received several archaeological objects as gifts, including a mid-fourth-century BCE Greek funerary stele. Dr John Huston Finley, the third president of City College, saw a stele when he was in Greece and asked the Greek Government to gift the stele to the college. The stele, dubbed the ‘Marathon Stone’ by Finley, was dedicated and proudly displayed at City College, now of the City University of New York. This article explores the gift’s context by drawing on contemporary newspaper reports, Finley’s tenuous association of the stele with the battle of Marathon, and the gifting of an archaeological object as a means for promoting ties between City College and Greece. The article then examines the context for the stele’s display, the Neo-Antique Lewisohn Stadium, and argues that the display of the stele and erection of Lewisohn Stadium both embodied Finley’s aspirations for City College to rival Columbia and New York Universities. The demise of the stadium in 1973 and the removal of the stele to a basement signaled a major shift in the significance of the classics, classical art, and Neo-Antique architecture at City College, as well as the changing priorities of the institution.
{"title":"Respice, Adspice, Prospice: The ‘Marathon Stone’, Lewisohn Stadium, and the changing reception of the classics at City College in the twentieth century","authors":"E. Macaulay-Lewis, M. Reilly","doi":"10.1093/CRJ/CLAA031","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/CRJ/CLAA031","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Throughout its history, New York has received several archaeological objects as gifts, including a mid-fourth-century BCE Greek funerary stele. Dr John Huston Finley, the third president of City College, saw a stele when he was in Greece and asked the Greek Government to gift the stele to the college. The stele, dubbed the ‘Marathon Stone’ by Finley, was dedicated and proudly displayed at City College, now of the City University of New York. This article explores the gift’s context by drawing on contemporary newspaper reports, Finley’s tenuous association of the stele with the battle of Marathon, and the gifting of an archaeological object as a means for promoting ties between City College and Greece. The article then examines the context for the stele’s display, the Neo-Antique Lewisohn Stadium, and argues that the display of the stele and erection of Lewisohn Stadium both embodied Finley’s aspirations for City College to rival Columbia and New York Universities. The demise of the stadium in 1973 and the removal of the stele to a basement signaled a major shift in the significance of the classics, classical art, and Neo-Antique architecture at City College, as well as the changing priorities of the institution.","PeriodicalId":42730,"journal":{"name":"Classical Receptions Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-01-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/CRJ/CLAA031","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42308602","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article examines the tropological use of the Latin language to evoke the diabolical in supernatural horror cinema. When Latin is intoned in a suitably Gothic context, horror-savvy audiences have every reason to foresee the Devil and his minions arriving in short order, and are rarely disappointed. This article examines the genealogy of this trope, modelling the prolegomena to an intellectual history of cinematic Satanic Latin. The first part of the analysis traces the development of the trope through literature via the European and American Gothic traditions, the writings of the Decadents, and supernatural horror literature. The analysis then broadens to encompass Occultism, the occult, and ‘occulture’ more generally as important aspects of the discourse-community within which Satanic Latin functions. Finally, the scholarly concept of ‘re-enchantment’ from the history of religions is brought to bear on the semiotic role of Satanic Latin in its performative cinematic context.
{"title":"Do Not Read the Latin: Latin as Satanic Signifier in Supernatural Horror Cinema","authors":"Nicholas Banner","doi":"10.1093/CRJ/CLAA033","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/CRJ/CLAA033","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This article examines the tropological use of the Latin language to evoke the diabolical in supernatural horror cinema. When Latin is intoned in a suitably Gothic context, horror-savvy audiences have every reason to foresee the Devil and his minions arriving in short order, and are rarely disappointed. This article examines the genealogy of this trope, modelling the prolegomena to an intellectual history of cinematic Satanic Latin. The first part of the analysis traces the development of the trope through literature via the European and American Gothic traditions, the writings of the Decadents, and supernatural horror literature. The analysis then broadens to encompass Occultism, the occult, and ‘occulture’ more generally as important aspects of the discourse-community within which Satanic Latin functions. Finally, the scholarly concept of ‘re-enchantment’ from the history of religions is brought to bear on the semiotic role of Satanic Latin in its performative cinematic context.","PeriodicalId":42730,"journal":{"name":"Classical Receptions Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-01-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/CRJ/CLAA033","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43946707","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In this article I argue that a gaze-oriented analysis of the representations of the protagonists Caesar and Pompey in Lucan’s epic The Civil War (written 62–65 ce) and in the recent television series Rome (broadcast by HBO, BBC Two and Rai 2 between 2005 and 2007) opens new opportunities both for interpreting Lucan’s text and for comprehending its reception in the television series. Lucan deliberately employs intensive vocabulary and narrative of vision and visuality when his protagonists appear. In Lucan, Caesar and Pompey are represented, zoomed in upon, and put into action in a cinematic way. The manner in which they see and are seen is crucial for their distinctiveness and determine their function in epic. In the television series, these patterns are taken over and reused within the new technical medium.
{"title":"Cinematizing the Epic Gaze: Julius Caesar and Pompey in Lucan and in the HBO/BBC Television Series Rome1","authors":"A. Novokhatko","doi":"10.1093/CRJ/CLAA035","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/CRJ/CLAA035","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 In this article I argue that a gaze-oriented analysis of the representations of the protagonists Caesar and Pompey in Lucan’s epic The Civil War (written 62–65 ce) and in the recent television series Rome (broadcast by HBO, BBC Two and Rai 2 between 2005 and 2007) opens new opportunities both for interpreting Lucan’s text and for comprehending its reception in the television series. Lucan deliberately employs intensive vocabulary and narrative of vision and visuality when his protagonists appear. In Lucan, Caesar and Pompey are represented, zoomed in upon, and put into action in a cinematic way. The manner in which they see and are seen is crucial for their distinctiveness and determine their function in epic. In the television series, these patterns are taken over and reused within the new technical medium.","PeriodicalId":42730,"journal":{"name":"Classical Receptions Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-01-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/CRJ/CLAA035","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42965375","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Among the works of Rudyard Kipling, there are several short stories set in the Roman World that feature characters who are members of the cult of Mithras. These stories also involve Christian characters, but while the Mithraic initiates are loyal servants of the Roman Empire, the Christians create and attract disorder. The aim of this article is to explore why Kipling chose to make the heroic characters of these stories Mithraic initiates, and present the Christians in a less positive light. It will be argued that Kipling was attacking Christian evangelicals, who he disliked due to his experiences at the hands of one as a child, and also because of the difficult relationship between Christian missionaries and British imperial administrators, especially in the aftermath of the 1857 Indian Mutiny. In contrast, Kipling’s Mithras cult acknowledges that there are ‘many ways to the light’, and, moreover, by inferring that there are many similarities between the cult of Mithras and Christianity, Kipling hoped to urge evangelical Christians to moderate their behaviour and use his depiction of the Mithras cult as an example of how to better approach religious diversity within the Empire.
{"title":"Evangelicalism and Empire: Rudyard Kipling on the Roman Cult of Mithras and Christianization","authors":"D. Walsh","doi":"10.1093/crj/claa032","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/crj/claa032","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Among the works of Rudyard Kipling, there are several short stories set in the Roman World that feature characters who are members of the cult of Mithras. These stories also involve Christian characters, but while the Mithraic initiates are loyal servants of the Roman Empire, the Christians create and attract disorder. The aim of this article is to explore why Kipling chose to make the heroic characters of these stories Mithraic initiates, and present the Christians in a less positive light. It will be argued that Kipling was attacking Christian evangelicals, who he disliked due to his experiences at the hands of one as a child, and also because of the difficult relationship between Christian missionaries and British imperial administrators, especially in the aftermath of the 1857 Indian Mutiny. In contrast, Kipling’s Mithras cult acknowledges that there are ‘many ways to the light’, and, moreover, by inferring that there are many similarities between the cult of Mithras and Christianity, Kipling hoped to urge evangelical Christians to moderate their behaviour and use his depiction of the Mithras cult as an example of how to better approach religious diversity within the Empire.","PeriodicalId":42730,"journal":{"name":"Classical Receptions Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2020-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/crj/claa032","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45313788","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Tom Paulin’s Greek tragedies present extremes of bodily abjection in order to service of a politics of resistance that is tied, in each case, to the political context of the drama’s production. The Riot Act (1984), Seize the Fire (1989), and Medea (2010), share a focus on the degradation of oppressed political groups and feature characters who destabilize the status quo. Yet the impact of disruptive political actions is not ultimately made clear. We are left wondering at the conclusion of each tragedy if the momentous acts of defiance we have witnessed have any power to create systemic change within politically rigged systems. The two 1980s plays are discussed together and form a sequence, with The Riot Act overtly addressing the Northern Irish conflict and Seize the Fire encompassing a broader sweep of oppressive regimes. The politics of discrimination in Medea are illuminated by comparison with similar themes in Paulin’s Love’s Bonfire (2010). Unlike other Northern Irish adaptations of Greek tragedy, Paulin’s dramas, arrested in their political moments, present little hope for the immediate future. Yet in asking us to consider if individual sacrifice is enough to achieve radical change they maintain an open channel for political discourse.
{"title":"Bodily Abjection and the Politics of Resistance in Tom Paulin’s Greek Tragedies","authors":"I. Torrance","doi":"10.1093/crj/claa030","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/crj/claa030","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Tom Paulin’s Greek tragedies present extremes of bodily abjection in order to service of a politics of resistance that is tied, in each case, to the political context of the drama’s production. The Riot Act (1984), Seize the Fire (1989), and Medea (2010), share a focus on the degradation of oppressed political groups and feature characters who destabilize the status quo. Yet the impact of disruptive political actions is not ultimately made clear. We are left wondering at the conclusion of each tragedy if the momentous acts of defiance we have witnessed have any power to create systemic change within politically rigged systems. The two 1980s plays are discussed together and form a sequence, with The Riot Act overtly addressing the Northern Irish conflict and Seize the Fire encompassing a broader sweep of oppressive regimes. The politics of discrimination in Medea are illuminated by comparison with similar themes in Paulin’s Love’s Bonfire (2010). Unlike other Northern Irish adaptations of Greek tragedy, Paulin’s dramas, arrested in their political moments, present little hope for the immediate future. Yet in asking us to consider if individual sacrifice is enough to achieve radical change they maintain an open channel for political discourse.","PeriodicalId":42730,"journal":{"name":"Classical Receptions Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2020-12-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43756559","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}