An Athenian Diary

24

My Year as a Whitehead Professor, 3.

What I've Gotten Done

Probably no one really wants to read anything about my scholarly work, but, for the record, and as a way of reminding myself what I got done when the year is over, I catalogue here the trials and tribulations of my research and writing. I'll update the page regularly as new work is finished and proofs become printed articles. Note: I include work accomplished across the whole period of my sabbatical, that is May 2003-September 2004, whether finished in Athens or Hartford.

Research Activities

    "The Manufacture and Distribution of Perfume"

This article was written originally as a contribution to a conference called "Hellenistic Economies 2" organized by J. K. Davies and his colleagues at the University of Liverpool. I had been working on the revisions of this paper for a while, but the final version was completed here at the American School and dispatched to Zosia Archibald, one of the editors. The book is still seeking a publisher.  The paper reviews the evidence for perfume production and distribution, finding evidence both for local production for local use and production of luxury products for the long distance trade. The most fun part was reading ancient perfume recipes and fantasizing about reproducing them (alas, I never did).

    "Sympoliteiai in Hellenistic Asia Minor," Yale Classical Studies 31 (2004) 144-180

Many years ago now I was asked to contribute a paper to a special issue of Yale Classical Studies, devoted to new research in Hellenistic Asia Minor. It's been a long time coming, but the proofs "arrived" -- that is to say, were posted by Cambridge University Press on a special web site -- about a month into my stint here. Some changes were required (I pity the poor editor, Stephen Colvin, who had to fight it out with the Press), but finally I returned them. They say the volume is supposed to be ready in December for an early 2004 publication date. This paper looks at the ways that towns in Asia Minor gobbled up their neighbors, whether at the instigation of ruling kings or on their own, and the ways that the smaller cities resisted being finally digested. It argues also that a model for a way to balance the interests of bigger towns and smaller was found in the mechanisms by which the three cities of the island of Rhodes joined to make a single state without destroying the self-identity of the three constituent cities. The volume can be ordered through the Cambridge University Press.

    "The Epigraphic Evidence from the Elmali Basin. A Catalogue and Discussion of New and Previously Published Material, 1992-2002."

For some years now I've been the "house epigrapher" of an excavation and survey conducted at the site of Hacimusalar in Northern Lykia (Turkey). The directors are now producing a preliminary report, in which this paper will appear as Chapter V. No big shakes, mostly just a catalogue with brief commentary, the texts and detailed discussion of the inscriptions being reserved for the final publication, I have however included a preliminary publication of a statue base with an intriguingly incomplete inscription that  celebrated a benefactor of the city of Choma in the second century CE, but whose name now, alas, is lost to posterity.

    "A New Inventory from Mylasa in Karia"

After many years of delay, I am finally getting back to the Mylasa book, publication of all the material that Jeanne Robert gave me many years ago. For a small conference of work-in-progress, "New Research in Greek Epigraphy," organized for November 29, 2003 in Athens by Jim Sickinger, I read a draft paper on an inventory of sacred objects found by Louis Robert in 1932 (and never published). I'll be reading this paper (no doubt improved after comments in Athens) also on January 24, 2004, at a conference on "Archives and Inventories in Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean" in Brussels and Leuven, Belgium. (In fact this paper was read in absentia by Dorothy Thompson because personal reasons prevented my attending the conference.) The paper will appear ultimately in the proceedings of the conference; the inscription will be reprinted also in my book on Mylasa.

    "The Aegean Islands"

My contribution to the An Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis, eds. Mogens Herman Hansen and Thomas Hiene Nielsen (Oxford 2004) consists of a chapter of about 60 pages on most (but not all!) the islands of the Aegean sea. During my time in Athens I made some final corrections and changes, and corrected proof. The book is expected out this fall.

    "Trade and Travelers in the Black Sea and the Aegean"

A paper read at the conference "The Black Sea in Antiquity: Regional and Interregional Economic Exchanges" (May 27-29, 2004) which was held at Sandjberg Estate, the Aarhus University Conference Centre outside Copenhagen, Denmark. The paper will appear eventually in conference proceedings.

Editorial Activities

More years ago than I care to recall, Hugh Elton -- then a visiting assistant professor at Trinity, now Director of the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara, Turkey -- hosted a conference at Trinity. The papers from that volume have now finally been edited, accepted by the University of Michigan Press, and dispatched to the Press for publication. Hugh and I are grateful to our many contributors for their patience over the years!

Teaching-related Activities

At the American School I taught a seminar called "Greek Agriculture." The topics were selected by the participating students from a list I developed; we worked together to assemble readings. The syllabus can be found at Greek Agriculture.

I developed two new courses: History 211, "History of the Desert," which reflects developing interests both in Greco-Roman history and in broader historical contexts, and College Course 245, "The Sonoran Desert," a one-half credit follow-up which treats one of the major American deserts and includes a spring-break field trip. Both these courses will be taught in the 2004-2005 academic year. In addition, I thoroughly revised History 358, "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," a course which has not been taught for almost a decade; it will be offered in the Spring 2005 semester. As always, I have also made substantial changes in my basic course History 111, "Foundations of Greek and Roman History."

August 10, 2004

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