The Penn/Leiden Colloquia on Ancient Values
The Penn-Leiden Colloquia on Ancient Values were established in 2000 as a biennial scholarly inquiry into Greek and Roman values. Each colloquium has focused on a single theme which it has explored from diverse perspectives and sub-disciplines.
History- Colloquia
I Leiden 2000 Andreia: Manliness and Courage in Classical Antiquity II Philadelphia 2002 Free Speech in Classical Antiquity III Leiden 2004 City, Countryside, and the Spatial Organization of Value in Classical Antiquity IV Philadelphia 2006 Kakos: Badness and Anti-Value in Classical Antiquity V Leiden 2008 Valuing Others in Classical Antiquity VI Philadelphia 2010 Aesthetic Value in Classical Antiquity
- Publications
Four essay collections drawn from these colloquia have been published so far by Brill Academic Publishers (Leiden). A fifth voume is in preparation.
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Andreia. Studies in Manliness and Courage in Classical Antiquity, 2003
Free Speech in Classical Antiquity, 2004
City, Countryside, and the Spatial Organization of Value in Classical Antiquity, 2006
Kakos: Badness and Anti-Value in Classical Antiquity, 2008
Valuing Others in Classical Antiquity, in preparation
Call for Papers for the sixth Penn-Leiden Colloquium:
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AESTHETIC VALUE IN CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY
University of Pennsylvania
June 25-27, 2010
Greek and Roman cultures were alive with the arts and deeply interested in questions of aesthetic value. Whether it was poetry, music, the plastic arts or architecture, functional or ornamental craftsmanship, public drama or private recitation, the arts were continually discussed and contested by people of all social classes and backgrounds. Our sources suggest that there were in fact many kinds of responses to the arts in classical antiquity, not all of them positive or consonant with one another. This colloquium concerns how Greeks and Romans ascribed or denied value to the arts, what criteria they invoked in distinguishing between "good" and "bad" art, whether we can accurately speak of an ancient concept of the "fine arts," and how aesthetic value varied as a function of social class or political ideology. We will consider the complex and fluctuating interaction between conceptions of beauty, pleasure and utility, especially from the perspective of general audiences and fans or devotees, not just theorists or philosophers. In particular, we will attempt to access the aesthetic discourse of non-specialists as they responded emotionally and intellectually to the arts.
For this sixth colloquium we invite abstracts for papers (30 minutes) on all aspects of our proposed topic, from the earliest periods of Greece through Imperial Rome. We welcome contributions from all research areas, including literary studies, philology, art history and archaeology, history, and philosophy.
Selected papers will be considered for publication by Brill Publishers. Those interested in presenting a paper are requested to submit an abstract of no more than 1 page, by email, before October 1st, 2009.
Contact (please copy both with email correspondence):
| Professor Ralph M. Rosen | Professor Ineke Sluiter |
| Department of Classical Studies | Classics Department |
| University of Pennsylvania | University of Leiden |