Conference Programme

Educating the future generation: teaching, learning and antiquity

 

13-14 September 2012

 

UCL – Greek and Latin Department, Gordon House 106.

Supported by the Faculty Institute of Graduate Studies and the Institute of Classical Studies.

 

 Day 1

9.30- 10.30: Registration and welcome.

10.30-12.00 panel 1: Grammarians

Julie Damaggio (Lyon 2): Beginnings of teaching grammar in Ancient Rome

Jason O’Rorke (NUIG): Coming to terms with Priscian: the instruction of advanced grammatical terminology in the Institutiones Grammaticae.

 

Anna Zago (SNS): Quasi coram discipulis: Pompeius comments Donatus

12.00-1.30 panel 2: Commentaries

Antony Makrinos (UCL): Paraphrases and Homeric education in Byzantium: in search of Demosthenes Thrax.

Giulieta Cardigni (Buenos Aires): Didactic Features and Roman Identity in Macrobius’ Commentarii in Somnium Scipionis”

Frances Foster (KCL): Educating the Elite in Late Antiquity

 

1.30-2.30 Lunch

2.30-4.00 panel 3: Papyri and the reconstruction of teaching practices

Valentina Millozzi (Urbino): A teacher’s hand-book from the Hellenistic Egypt (P.Cairo JE 62422): pedagogy and teaching practise.

Maria Chiara Scappaticcio (Liége): Fragmentary artes grammaticae – Latin grammatical texts on papyrus and the teaching of the language: towards a corpus

Mark Winfield (KCL):  A business education in Ptolemaic Egypt or there is no Harvard on the Nile

4.00-4.30 Break

4.30-6.00 keynote lecture: prof. Eleanor Dickey – Naked from the knees up: what the colloquia of the Hermeneumata Pseudodositheana tell us (and do not tell us) about language learning in antiquity

 

 Day 2

9.30-11.00 4 panel: Reception of classical education

Erica Baricci (Siena): Reshit haLeqach or “the Hebrew Donatus”: Jewish reception of the Latin grammar manual

Sabrina Colabella (Roma Tre): Homo sum – About teaching Latin and Ancient Greek in upper school

Marco Ricucci (Udine): Dum docet discunt: Ørberg’s methodology at limelight of  Stephen Krashen’s Theories

11.00-11.30 Break

11.30-1.00 5 panel: Philosophy

Maria Giannaki (Paris): The model of Aristotelian philosophy for education, comparison with the platonic philosophy

Emanuele Pezzani (KCL): Aristotle on music

Barbara del Giovane (Firenze): Haec nobis praecipere Attalum memini. Seneca’s Masters, between diatribe morality and rhetoric

1.00-2.00 Lunch

2.00-3.30 6 panel: Education in Literature

Gillian Granville Bentley (KCL): Sex Education and Longus’ Daphnis and Chloe

 

Beth Hartley (Exeter): Ptolemy Chennus’ Novel Research for Scholarship

Anna Lefteratou (Göttingen): Nonnius’ on India: between pagan and Christian education

 

3.30-5.00 panel 7: Literary Canons between theory and practice

Theodora Hadjmichael (UCL): Greek Literary Canons and Education: the case of the nine lyric poets

Beatrice da Vela (UCL): Terence school-reception: a case study for Latin Literary Canon.

 

Gabriela Ryser (Göttingen):  Pieriis pollet studiis: Claudian’s Education between Literary Culture and Religion

5.00-5.45: Conclusions and final discussion.

Pieriis pollet studiis…

Carolina Ryser, Pieriis pollet studiis: Claudian’s Education between Literary Culture and Religion

The study of literary texts had always been the backbone of education in antiquity. The educational practice, based on the learning by heart of a literary canon institutionalized by the end of the 1st century AD made sure that with amazing continuity students no matter when or where learnt and, hence, perpetuated the same literary language and topoi in their own writings. Even when with the establishment of Christianity as a major influence during the 4th century AD this literary canon was questioned by Christian circles, the educational system did not change. Thus, the Greek-speaking poet Claudian, born around 370 AD in Alexandria, who acquired knowledge of the Latin language and literature at school, was imparted the same ‘classical’ Roman literary tradition.

This tradition he employed so skilfully in his own Latin oeuvre that Claudian made his way to Rome and became the court poet of the western emperor Honorius in 395 AD. Although his explicitly Christian audience has often been expected to be at odds with pagan literature by the fathers of the church and modern day scholars, it apparently appreciated Claudian’s mythological poetry permeated with intertextual allusions to his literary predecessors. This paper will suggest that Claudian’s success as well as the constancy of the educational system, therefore, needs to be viewed in the light of literary education as an important means of self- reference and self-assurance of the Roman elite, independently of their religious affiliation. Upholding the canon of Latin authors Claudian reinforces what was to be perceived as the literature every true Roman must know. Analysing Claudian’s poetry will, therefore, offer a deeper insight not only into the education of the late 4th century, but also into late antique literary culture and its interplay with religiosity.

Greek Literary Canons and Education…

Theodora Hadjimichael, Greek Literary Canons and Education: the case of the nine lyric poets

The rhetorical use of texts and the perception of canons of poetic as well as prose texts by rhetoricians were established in antiquity as early as Quintilian. It is, therefore, tempting to perceive the function of the Hellenistic canons solely as models in rhetorical education. Though some of our best information comes from the rhetorical tradition, it is perhaps reductive to insist solely on rhetoric and, indeed, on citation alone. Thus, one should not distinguish between the canonical status of a selected author and his exemplary use by readers and scholars in antiquity.

This paper will attempt to argue that the established selections in what today we call “canons” could have been made as a guide for contemporary and future intellectuals concerning the authors they should prioritise, read, and employ as models in each poetic genre. It will focus in particular on the Lyric canon of the nine Greek lyric poets. The nature of the exegesis of lyric texts offered by the scholia, which in turn reflects the interests of the Hellenistic commentators, suggests a larger role for the texts and a larger role for serious study, including the potential use of texts in schools. The main quest will be to detect whether literary canons were employed solely by an educated general readership or perhaps even poetic or prose imitators as opposed to a basic school education model, or whether they formed part of rhetorical education.

 

Nonnius’ on India…

Anna Leftaratou, Nonnius’ on India: between pagan and Christian education

 

This paper examines the reception of India in the fifth century C.E. in Nonnus’ Dionysiaca and argues that the poet, in his description of the Indians has been influenced not only by classical education, who saw in India a land of wisdom, but also by the Christian association of blackness with the devil.

 

India, from Alexander’s conquest, has been constantly portrayed as an exotic place, often hostile, but also renown because of the sublime wisdom of the Gymnosophistae. Nevertheless, whereas Alexander meets and discusses with the Wise Men, Dionysus in Nonnus’ Dionysiaca encounters only black lustful warriors.

 

Nonnus’ India then seems to lie beyond the context of Graeco-Roman education and to be inspired by Christian sources in which India is represented as a place at the borders of the world, sometimes Heaven, sometimes Hell, just as in the Passion of Bartholomew.  Another Christian tradition mentions the very early Christianisation of India by St. Thomas. Meanwhile as early as the story about Perpetua and Felicitas and, later, in Heliodorus’ novel, Morgan 2005, ‘black colour’ seems to have been associated with the Evil, and in particular with Devil.  From these views the leap to the ‘Christianised’ version of Byzantine India of Cosmas Indikopleustes seems to be a big one.

In my paper I survey the passages in which the Indians are characterised as black, lustful, and savage, and I propose a reading of Nonnus’ India through both pagan and Christian education.

Ptolemy Chennus’ Novel Research for Scholarship

Beth Hartley,  Ptolemy Chennus’ Novel Research for Scholarship

 

Ptolemy Chennus’ Novel Research for Scholarship was a compendia work written at the end of the first-century CE. The work does not survive, but Photius in the ninth-century epitomized the work in his Bibliotheca. It is from Photius’ epitome that we have an idea of what the work contained, and like many other compendia texts of the period, it contained paradoxographic, and mythographic information, as well as literary problemata. The information that Ptolemy compiled in his work suggests that the Novel Research for Scholarship was another compendia text, which was designed to be read, in order to improve readers’ erudition. However closer examination of the contents of the work, reveals that much of Ptolemy’s information is spurious, and absurd, while many of his source citations are dubious.

            This paper aims to explore how Ptolemy’s Novel Research for Scholarship exploits the Imperial period’s obsession with, and pursuit of paideia. Recent scholarship has explored the cultural and social context for the pursuit of paideia in the Imperial period. Reader anxiety was a major impetus for this culture, the desire to learn more, and acquire further education, drove the need for more books and for more scholarship. Compendia texts plugged into this cultural phenomenon, and were designed to appeal to the educated reader who continually strived to advance their knowledge. This paper will examine how the rise of pseudo-scholarship, for which Ptolemy and his work are a prime example, tapped into readers’ fears of inferiority in regards to education, or lack of it. The text is a direct consequence of the rampant pursuit of education, and the commodification of knowledge in the Imperial period.

 

 

Ptolemy Chennus’ Novel Research for Scholarship was a compendia work written at the end of the first-century CE. The work does not survive, but Photius in the ninth-century epitomized the work in his Bibliotheca. It is from Photius’ epitome that we have an idea of what the work contained, and like many other compendia texts of the period, it contained paradoxographic, and mythographic information, as well as literary problemata. The information that Ptolemy compiled in his work suggests that the Novel Research for Scholarship was another compendia text, which was designed to be read, in order to improve readers’ erudition. However closer examination of the contents of the work, reveals that much of Ptolemy’s information is spurious, and absurd, while many of his source citations are dubious.

            This paper aims to explore how Ptolemy’s Novel Research for Scholarship exploits the Imperial period’s obsession with, and pursuit of paideia. Recent scholarship has explored the cultural and social context for the pursuit of paideia in the Imperial period. Reader anxiety was a major impetus for this culture, the desire to learn more, and acquire further education, drove the need for more books and for more scholarship. Compendia texts plugged into this cultural phenomenon, and were designed to appeal to the educated reader who continually strived to advance their knowledge. This paper will examine how the rise of pseudo-scholarship, for which Ptolemy and his work are a prime example, tapped into readers’ fears of inferiority in regards to education, or lack of it. The text is a direct consequence of the rampant pursuit of education, and the commodification of knowledge in the Imperial period.

 

Sex Education and Longus’ “Daphnis and Chloe”

Gillian Granville-Bentley, Sex Education and Longus’ “Daphnis and Chloe”

            In the prologue to the novel Daphnis and Chloe, the narrator claims to have produced his book ‘as an offering to Love, the Nymphs, and Pan, and something for mankind to possess and enjoy. It will cure the sick, comfort the distressed, stir the memory of those who have loved, and educate those who haven’t.’ I will focus on the last of these promises– the promise to educate the ignorant reader about love. This promise is fulfilled through the novel’s depiction of the progress of the relationship between two young people, the goatherd Daphnis and the shepherdess Chloe.

Their eventual union– sexual as much as matrimonial– is practically a foregone conclusion from their introduction to the reader. What, then, makes a reader read on? Their innocence– and ignorance– are two of the key features that give the novel its seductive charm. Daphnis and Chloe must learn about love– who ‘Love’ is, what love is, and how to make love– before their erotic education can be completed. The reader knows that they will learn, but not ‘how’ they will learn. Longus presents multiple occasions for the two to learn, which vary in method and effectiveness. In this paper, I will review these educational moments in Longus and ask whether Longus promotes one form of learning over another– particularly gaining knowledge by trial and error versus knowledge gained through an instructor.

 

Haec nobis praecipere Attalum memini…

Barbara Del Giovane, Haec nobis praecipere Attalum memini. Seneca’s Masters, between diatribe morality and rhetoric

In his Epistulae, Seneca gives us an interesting representation of those who had been his masters since his first philosophical formation: the Stoic Attalus, the Rhetorician Papirius Fabianus, Sotion from Sestii School, Cynical Demetrius, who is outlined in the traits of a real “moral master”, even though he had never been one of Seneca’s official teacher. It’s interesting to notice the ways these characters are represented, according to common traits and characteristics that let issue a “teaching theory”, corresponding to fixed standards. The 108 letter, where Attalus’ memory joins Sotion’s one, is an important example of the theorization of this teaching. In the first place we’ve to point out the description of these masters’ eloquence, adherent to the verum, and responding to the fundamental parenetic exigencies of clearness, of the greater importance of the res compared with the verba, of a psychagogic strength, able to grip over the pupil’s animus, giving up to cavillationes and rhetoric subtleties. In the second place, it’s a common characteristic also the employment of extremely practical praecepta, and a preaching of a radical and austere morality, in which the aspect of the a[skhsi”, of the spiritual exercise takes a first rate role, especially proved by the practice of frugality. In the depiction and from the quotations of the figures formulated by Seneca, a very strong influence of the diatribe morality stands out; as far as themes and stylistic elements are concerned, we believe that also the rhetoric of the schools has inevitably exercised a very strong influence on the diatribe morality. Praise of the paupertas, together with the theme of the contemptus divitiarum, a challenge attitude to Fortune are the fundamental themes associated to the quotations and to the descriptive sketches of the philosopher-teachers. Chosen loci explain therefore how these masters have held for Seneca an essential role for the approach to a philosophical model that, if not naturally cynical, was based however on the preaching of a morality “austere” in a programmatic way.

Aristotle on music

Emanuele Pezzani, Aristotle on music

 

I intend to discuss some of the issues raised by Aristotle in Politics 8, which is a short treatise about music and education. Here the philosopher wonders which is the main purpose of music: is it a mere opportunity for recreation, or a “creative distraction”, or a truly intellectual activity? Despite this preliminary question, he accepts as right the third assumption, with virtually no discussion of any kind, and in what follows he often restates that music is useful in the moral training of youth. This insistence is a little suspect: in fact, Aristotle apparently holds the general idea that music is indispensable to education. On the other hand, in those years some thinkers were increasingly sharing the idea that music was just a matter of pleasure, and whose importance in education was overestimated. This was certainly a minority idea in Greek culture but few years later it was to be developed by Epicurus, as we can see in Philodemus. Some technical aspects of Greek music will be recalled, to remind the audience of the exact relationship the Greeks saw between music and education and also to introduce Aristotle’s discussion and analysis of the best devices (instruments, harmoniai…) that a lawgiver should provide in order to establish a good educational pattern. Aristotle supports, quite naturally, Plato’s theories about the paideutic force of music, but he also defends, although less strictly than his master, some restrictions to apply to music in order to preserve the boys’ souls. The most important difference between the two philosophers, however, is that Aristotle implicitly seems to think that music could be not just a valuable aid for education but also an instrument of pleasure and relax.

The model of aristotelian philosophy for education…

Maria Giannaki, The model of aristotelian philosophy for education, comparison with the platonic philosophy

 

The Aristotelian texts, for the first time in ancient philosophy, are referring to legislated public education (Πολιτικά θ 1337 α 33), because Aristotle believed that through this uniform procedure man becomes a citizen, that is he gains the power to “participate by judgment and principal”, with final outcome for “all the citizens” to participate in the society. The contribution of education according to Aristotle is to help the man-citizen become “good, great and wise. The characteristics of the “great” man are:

“each to judge rightly” and distinguish “the truth in everything” and

to conquer virtue.

The “great” citizen achieves “happiness and bliss”. The fundamental factors of education are “nature, character and reason”. The “great” and “happy citizens” are the foundation of a happy city since “the care of each individual aims for the care of the whole”. More specifically, Aristotle offers a complete view of cognition and learning. This view, which expands in much of his work, is not limited only in stating the rules of deductive and inductive method for seeking out the truth, but also identifies the purpose and content of learning, education and training.

For Plato, education is in the very peak of a broader effort for reform. It contributes in the harmonic development of all the powers and abilities of man – beauty, perfection, good health of body and soul, cultivation of sentiments and bonds between the individual and society as a whole, make him aware of his rights and obligations, discipline,- as well as in creating a society that is distinguished for its proper function, the obedience of its citizens to the law and the rulers of the city, its rationalism and discipline in the commandments of thought, its keeping and cultivation of moral principles, the hard work, the ideal of benevolence, the love for eternal ideas and the contemplation of Good. Every citizen knows that every false evaluation of freedom can act as a hindrance to education and can bring myriads of evil.

Dum docet discunt…

Marco Ricucci, Dum docet discunt: Ørberg’s Methodology at limelight of  Stephen Krashen’s Theories

 

Hans Ørberg (1920 – 2010) worked  in the Naturmetodens Sproginstitut, where the languages are taught according to the “natural method”. He applied this methodology to a textbook, Lingua Latina per se illustrata, published in 1955 and revised in 1990. ORBERG’S book is based on the method of  “contextual induction”:  the student, who needs no previous knowledge of Latin,  reads simple sentences. The book tells the story of a Roman family in the 2D C. C.E. Words are always introduced in a context that reveals their meanings, while grammar is gradually made more complex, until the student can read unadapted Latin texts.  The entire book is written in Latin but there is no need of a dictionary.  By means of pictures and notes, texts can be understood through context and by reference to words already learned. At the end of each chapter, exercises require that  the student apply grammatical rules and manipulate the grammar of Latin sentences rather than translate them. Ørberg was inspired by W.H.D. Rouse (1863-1950), founder of London-based Association for the “Reform of Latin Teaching.” However, he has never clarified the theoretical principles of his methodology. Moreover, he has been widely criticized by philologists and teachers who consider the  grammar-translation method more suitable for developing mental discipline. I argue that Ørberg’s methodology intuitively intercepts and intersperses Stephen D. Krashen’s (born 1941) theories of Second Language Acquisition, an interdisciplinary  subdiscipline of Applied Linguistic aimed at explaining how human mind is able to acquire a second or A foreign language. Krashen’s six main hypotheses ( Acquisition-Learning; Monitor; Natural Order; Comprehensible Input; Affective Filter; Understanding Reading) can explain why Ørberg’s coursebook “works” succesfully as a balance between focus on meaning and focus on forms.