December 2015: Workshop ‘Re-Anchoring After the Crisis: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on War and Memory’
Outline: In this workshop the focus was on interdisciplinary perspectives on the theme of crises and their aftermaths. Besides papers on classical themes, there were papers on Cultural Trauma, Strategies of Remembrance, Transitional Justice, and Art after WWII.
Speakers: Luis Lobo-Guerrero, Inger Kuin, Jacqueline Klooster, Raf Praet, Alexandra Eckert, Benjamin Herborth, David van der Linden, Claartje Wesselink. A number of the papers held at that occasion are available online on this website.
April 2016: Work in Progress Day ‘After the Crisis’, OIKOS Impact of Empire
Outline: The regularly scheduled Work in Progress Day of the OIKOS Research Group Impact of Empire focused on crises, leadership, and ancient social history. Papers spanned Latin oratory, Greek epigraphy, and Roman archeology.
Speakers: Barbara Borg (keynote), Lydia Spielberg, Olivier Hekster, Miko Flohr, Jan Willem Drijvers, Evelien Roels.
October 2016: Conference ‘Strategies of Remembrance in Greece under Rome’, Dutch Institute at Athens, October 2016, with T. Dijkstra, M. Moser, D. Weidgenannt
Outline: In ancient and modern narratives alike, Roman Greece is often described as a shadow of its glorious past, and as a place of powerlessness and passivity. Indeed, the cities of Greece underwent radical transformations in the centuries following the Classical era: Macedonian rule and Roman hegemony both had important implications for the political power and autonomy of the Greek cities and its citizens. These significant political changes were marked by outbursts of violence, humanitarian crises, as well as increased contacts with Rome and the wider Mediterranean world. Both communities and individuals were forced to navigate these circumstances, and ultimately carve a new position in the Roman world. In this context, the invaluable resource of the past, be it real or imagined, constituted a powerful tool for self-definition and the construction of (private or communal) public images. As a result, strategies of remembrance played a key role in this process of adaptation.
Speakers: Athanasios Rizakis and Dimitra Andrianou, Johannes Fouquet, Muriel Moser, David Weidgenannt, Benedikt Eckhardt, Zahra Newby, Eleni Fassa, Paul Scotton and Catherine De Grazia-Vanderpool, Tamara Dijkstra, Lavinia Del Basso, Inger Kuin, Francesco Camia, Valentina Di Napoli, Vasilis Evangelidis, Dimitris Grigoropoulos, Dylan Rogers, Stavros Vlizos, Christopher Dickenson, Panagiotis Doukellis
Additionally there was a poster session with the following presenters: Aura Piccioni, Caterina Prague, Caroline van Toor, Olivia Denk, Sam Heijnen, Sarah Rous, Erika Jeck.
A conference report written by Sjoukje Kamphorst and Caroline van Toor was published on the website H-Soz-Kult. Many of the presented papers have now been published (Dijkstra et al. 2017) in an open access edited volume with Sidestone Press, available here.
December 2016: Conference & Student Seminar ‘After the Crisis: Remembrance, Re-anchoring, and Recovery in the Ancient World’
Outline: Crises resulting from war or natural disasters turn the life of individuals upside down, and they can leave marks on a community for many years after the event. The After the Crisis conference aimed to explore how such crises were remembered in the ancient world, and how communities reconstituted themselves after a crisis. Can crises serve as catalysts for innovation or change, and how does this work? What do crises reveal about the accepted state of order against which they are defined and framed?
Speakers: Key note speaker was prof. Tim Whitmarsh (Cambridge). Closing address was delivered by prof. Steve Mason (RUG). Other speakers were: Inger Kuin & Jacqueline Klooster; Alexandra Eckert, Alexander Thein, Panagiotis Iossif, Bettina Reitz-Joosse, Mathieu de Bakker, Michele Lowrie, Luca Grillo, Carsten Hjort Lange, Annemarie Ambühl, Elena Giusti, Peter Meineck, Lisa Hau, Andrew Gallia, Josiah Osgood.
Student Seminar: Josiah Osgood (Georgetown) and Michele Lowrie (Chicago) spoke to a selection of Groningen and outside Classics and Ancient history students on the topics of (respectively) ‘The fate of the Lepidani’ and ‘Securitas: the development of a metaphor’
A selection of the papers from this conference is now being prepared for publication with Bloomsbury Academic. We will apply to for funding for an open access publication. We are aiming for publication in 2019.
November 2016: Conference Inventing Origins: The Function Of Aetiology In Antiquity, with A. Wessels
Outline: This conference focused on the ancient phenomenon of aetiology, that is to say the drive to find and devise stories of origin to explain contemporary situations or to promote innovative practices, be they religious, political, literary or other.
Speakers: Antje Wessels, Jacqueline Klooster, Inger Kuin, Susan Stephens, Alexander Kirichenko, Michiel Meeusen, Marco Formisano, Greta Hawes, Nicolas Wiater, Anke Walter, Susanna de Beer, Philipp Baas, Martje de Vries, Raphael Hunsucker, Irene Polinskaya, Darja Strebenc Erker, Hugo Koning, Jared Hudson, Monica Park.
A selection of the papers will be published by Routledge. The book proposal has been accepted.
February 2018: Ancient History Day ‘Memory and Tradition’
Outline: The regularly scheduled Ancient History Day focused on the dual theme of ‘Memory and Tradition’, with papers on Roman Greece, Ptolemaic Egypt, and early Roman cults. A book presentation of the SRGR volume (Dijkstra et al.) also took place as part of the program.
Speakers: Zahra Newby (keynote), Branko van Oppen, Rianne Hermans, Eelco Glas, Dennis Jussen, Inger Kuin, Tamara Dijkstra, David Weidgenannt, Winfred van de Put.