Ancient Studies is Focus in 2009-10 Lecture Series
Each year, the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW) at NYU invites a number of research scholars to take up residence at the institute and join in the intellectual life of the community. The ISAW Visiting Research Scholars program comprises individuals of scholarly distinction who also have a history of interdisciplinary academic exchange in the relevant fields of ancient studies.
While a visiting research scholar, each individual is asked to give a lecture on a topic specific to his or her area of research. All lectures are held at ISAW in the 2nd floor Lecture Hall, located at 15 East 84th Street (between 5th and Madison Avenues). The lectures are free and open to the public, but seating is limited. Interested individuals are requested to RSVP by calling 212-992-7818, or emailing isaw@nyu.edu
The remaining 2009/10 ISAW Visiting Research Scholars lectures are:
Dec. 15, 2009 - Darrel Rutkin (Ph.D., Indiana University)
Although Rutkin’s research focuses primarily on the history of astrology as a part of Western natural knowledge ca. 1250-1800, his research at ISAW will return to astrology’s roots in antiquity, focusing primarily on astrology’s configuration within the divinatory disciplines as articulated in Cicero’s De divinatione.
Jan. 19, 2010 - Damián Fernández (Ph.D., Princeton University)
Fernández’s research project involves the study of the Atlantic regions of Western Europe and North Africa between the late third century and the dissolution of imperial authority in the fifth century.
Feb. 2, 2010 - Xiaoli Ouyang (Ph.D., Harvard University)
Ouyang’s project targets the temple treasuries in Umma, and she investigates the source of and control over the Umma temple treasuries, which often feature luxury items such as gems and precious metals not indigenous to Mesopotamia. She will also compare Umma with other Ur III provinces in terms of gubernatorial influence over temple households in order to reveal the checks and balances between local powers and the central government during the Ur III period.
Feb. 16, 2010 - Wu Xin (Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania)
Xin is currently preparing a book that is derived from her dissertation Central Asian in the Context of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. She is also working on a project intending to elucidate the early cultural exchanges between Central Asia and China (ca. 5th to 2nd centuries BC).
March 2, 2010 - Nicola Aravecchia (Ph.D., University of Minnesota)
Aravecchia will develop an online gazetteer of Early Christian sites and monuments in Egypt, which will be integrated within the framework of Pleiades (a joint project of ISAW, the AWMC Ancient World Mapping Center, and the Stoa Consortium for Electronic Publication in the Humanities). He will also work toward the publication of the final report of the 2006-08 excavations at Ain el-Gedida.
March 16, 2010 - Oleksandr Symonenko (Ph.D., Institute of Archaeology of Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences, Kiev)
At ISAW, Symonenko will pursue his research on the Inner Asia antiquities and, in particular, explore the idea of the origination of ruling Sarmatian clan Alans from the people of Pazyryk culture who lived for a long period in the Hsiung-nu milieu close to China.
March 20, 2010 - Mantha Zarmakoupi (D.Phil., Oxford University)
This year, Zarmakoupi is starting work on a new project on the urban growth of late Hellenistic Delos. This project focuses on one of the new neighborhoods of late Hellenistic Delos, the Quartier du Stade, in order to examine the rapid urbanization resulting from the economic development of the island after 167 B.C.E.
March 30, 2010 - Christine Proust (Ph.D., University Paris Diderot)
A researcher in the history of mathematics, Proust will be working on a contextualized glossary of Sumerian terms, grammatical constructions, and structures used in mathematical texts. Her goal is to identify particular uses of technical writing inside specific erudite milieus, connected in different ways with northern or southern scribal schools.
May 4, 2010 - Muriel Debié (l’Université Paris IV-Sorbonne)
Debié is currently finishing a monograph on Syriac Historiography entitled Writing History in Syriac: Intercultural Transmissions and Identity Formation between Hellenism and Islam. At ISAW, she will be working collaboratively on a monograph on multilingualism and diglossia in the Late Antique Near East.
May 18, 2010 - Caroline Sauvage (Ph.D., Lyon 2 University, France)
Sauvage will investigate the status of boats in the eastern Mediterranean and aims to explore, through representations, textual evidence, and shipwrecks, the social significance of how boats were viewed by the Late Bronze Age peoples. She will also be concerned with the publication of the material excavated by C.F.A. Schaeffer at Minet el-Beida and Ugarit during the first years of work there. This material is preserved in the archaeological museum of Saint-Germain-en-Laye near Paris.
