New York University’s Center for Ancient Studies will host a two-day colloquium, “Legitimating Violence: Execution, Human Sacrifice, Assassination,” on Thursday, September 24 and Friday, September 25 at NYU’s Hemmerdinger Hall, Silver Center for Arts and Science, Room 102, 100 Washington Square East (at Washington Place).
New York University’s Center for Ancient Studies will host a two-day colloquium, “Legitimating Violence: Execution, Human Sacrifice, Assassination,” on Thursday, September 24 and Friday, September 25 at NYU’s Hemmerdinger Hall, Silver Center for Arts and Science, Room 102, 100 Washington Square East (at Washington Place). Enter at 32 Waverly Place or 31 Washington Place (wheelchair accessible). Subway Lines: 6 (Astor Place); A, B, C, D, E, F, V (West 4th Street); R, W (8th Street).
When it comes to the socially acceptable killing of a human being, what are the differences between assassination, sacrifice, and execution? What are the overlaps? When does legitimation come from the religious sphere, when from the political? In the Ancient World there were times when violence was considered socially acceptable, as in execution or sacrifice. This conference examines the difficult question of how violence against a human being was made legitimate in such cases.
The conference will begin on Thursday, September 24 at 5 p.m., with a keynote address by Henk Versnel, a professor of history at the University of Leiden, who will speak on “Violence and Cruelty in Ritual.” Conference sessions on Friday, September 25 include: “Cicero’s ‘Gentleman’s Guide to Lynching’ ” (Andrew Riggsby, University of Texas at Austin); “How Republican was the Roman Republic?” (Clifford Ando, University of Chicago); and “Blood is Seed: Martyrdom and the Fracture of Ancient Political Theology” (Adam Becker, NYU).
The event, the annual Ranieri Colloquium on Ancient Studies, is free and open to the public. For further information about the colloquium, please contact the NYU College Dean’s Office: 212.998.8100; email: ken.kidd@nyu.edu. For a complete schedule of sessions, go to: http://ancientstudies.fas.nyu.edu/page/events. Reporters interested in attending must RSVP to James Devitt, NYU’s Office of Public Affairs, at 212.998.6808 or james.devitt@nyu.edu
The colloquium, in honor of Larissa Bonfante, a professor emerita in New York University’s Department of Classics, is co-sponsored by NYU’s Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, the Institute of Fine Arts, and NYU’s departments of Classics, Anthropology, and Hebrew and Judaic Studies.