“Astronomy, Space, and Time in Medieval Churches”

A Lecture by
Dr. Stephen C. McCluskey
R. S. Webster National Lectureship
Archaeological Institute of America

Monday, November 14, 2011
Nunemaker Auditorium
Monroe Hall, 3rd floor
8 pm
free admission and free parking on campus
Co-sponsored by the Office of the Provost, the Classical Studies program and the New Orleans Society of the Archaeological Institute of America

Dr. McKluskey is Professor Emeritus of History at West Virginia University.
He holds a PhD in the History of Science from the University of Wisconsin.  He is currently Co-editor for Archaeoastronomy: The Journal of Astronomy in Culture (Univ. of Texas Pr.) 1998-present and until recently has served as Chair for the Working Group on the Preservation of Astronomical Heritage of the American Astronomical Society.  He has published copiously on the topics of astromony and cosmology ranging from Native American cultures to monasteries and churches of the Medieval period.

For more information, contact Prof. Connie Rodriguez, rodrigue@loyno.edu.

“The Lost Eagle: The untold story of the legionary eagle on Rome's most famous statue”

A Lecture by
Dr. Bridget Buxton
The Peter H. von Blanckenhagen Memorial Lecture**
Archaeological Institute of America

Monday, February 6, 2012
Nunemaker Auditorium
Monroe Hall, 3rd floor
8 pm
free admission and free parking on campus
Co-sponsored by the Office of the Provost, the Classical Studies program and the New Orleans Society of the Archaeological Institute of America

 

The Prima Porta Augustus is the most famous and recognized marble statue from the Roman Empire, and a potent symbol of the triumph of the West over the East. The statue's message is articulated in detail through the central scene on the emperor's cuirass, where a bearded barbarian returns the lost eagle standard of a Roman legion to an armored figure. From the time of its discovery in the nineteenth century, the scholarly consensus was that the eagle depicted here represented one of the standards lost to Parthia by Crassus and Mark Antony, and recovered by Augustus in 20 BCE. Fooled by Augustus' own propaganda, moderns have seen only what we expected to see, when in fact close analysis of the cuirass proves that it does not reference the so-called Parthian standards at all. In this illustrated lecture we will explore the archaeological and historical evidence that proves the Prima Porta statue was commissioned to commemorate another entirely separate event that occurred on the northern frontier many years after the Parthian standards were returned. Overshadowed by disgraceful defeat and the treachery of one of Augustus' closest friends, this event was later artfully covered up and forgotten by our written sources. In fact, without recovering the 'body' of the Prima Porta Augustus, we might never have discovered the truth about the emperor's lost eagle - a story that will completely change the way we look at Rome's most famous statue.
            Dr. Bruxton is Assistant Professor in the Department of History at the University of Rhode Island.  She received her PhD. in Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology from the University of California at Berkeley.  She specializes in underwater archaeology and has worked at underwater sites off the coasts of Turkey and Greece as well as in the Libyan and Black Seas.

** The Archaeological Institute of America established a permanent annual lecture in memory of Peter H. von Blanckenhagen.

For more information, contact Prof. Connie Rodriguez, rodrigue@loyno.edu.

“Via Egnatia: a journey across the lower Balkans through time”

A Lecture by
Dr. Yannis Lolos

The Samuel H. Kress Lectureship in Ancient Art**

Archaeological Institute of America

Monday, April 16, 2011
Nunemaker Auditorium
Monroe Hall, 3rd floor
8 pm
free admission and free parking on campus

Co-sponsored by the Office of the Provost, the Classical Studies program and the New Orleans Society of the Archaeological Institute of America

The Via Egnatia, initiated by the proconsul of the Roman province of Macedonia Cn. Egnatius probably in the mid-140s BCE, was the first Roman highway built east of the Adriatic sea. It originally led from Apollonia and Dyrrachion in Illyria (modern Albania) to the Hebrus river in Thrace (modern boundary between Greece and Turkey), but later its line extended to Constantinople (Istanbul). With a length of almost 1100 km and a lifespan of many centuries (until the 5th century CE) the Via Egnatia crossed many nations and important cities in modern Albania, F.Y.R.O.M., Greece and Turkey. The largest part of this artery has been obliterated or covered over by modern roads or again destroyed by cultivations and land development in the course of the 20th century. Yet, some sections are still visible, especially near Pequin and Librazhd (Albania), and near Kavala and Alexandroupoli (Greece). The entire artery and many of the old cities along its course revived under the Ottoman rule (from the 15th century onwards). During the lecture we shall follow the Via Egnatia from west to east and track its history through the centuries.
Dr. Lolos is a member of the Department of History, Archaeology and Social Anthropology, at the University of Thessaly, Argonauton and Filellinon in Volos, Greece.  He received his B.A. in  History of Art and Archaeology) and M.A. (D.E.A.)in Classical Archaeology from the University of Paris-Sorbonne., and his Ph.D. in Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology at the University of California, Berkeley.  His specialties include Archaeology of the Hellenistic City, Greek and Roman Architecture and Topography . He has done field work throughout Greece in the territory of Sikyon, in Aetolia and the Pelopponesos.  He has numerous publications related to his work.

** Since 1984 the Samuel H. Kress Foundation in New York has given the AIA several grants to support the Samuel H. Kress Lectureship in Ancient Art.  The 1998/1999 program marks the first year of a three-year grant to continue the lectureship.

For more information, contact Prof. Connie Rodriguez, rodrigue@loyno.edu.