Two conference announcements: UWO and McGill


From: Kelly Olson

JUSTICE ON THE MARGINS IN THE ANCIENT WORLD
The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, May 21st-22nd, 2011

This workshop brings together scholars from around North America to present papers on aspects of law or justice in Greek or Roman antiquity specifically concerning women, slaves, foreigners, and metics.

Speakers:
Ben Akrigg (Univ. of Toronto)
Bonnie MacLachlan (Univ. of Western Ontario)
Allison Glazebrook (Brock University)
Sara Forsdyke (Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor)
Adele Scafuro (Brown University) 
Keith Bradley (Univ. of Notre Dame)
Judith Evans-Grubbs (Emory University)
Gregory Rowe (Univ. of Victoria)
Hanne Sigismund Neilsen (Univ. of Calgary)
Olga Tellegen-Couperus (Tilburg University, Netherlands)

All welcome.

For registration information and programme, go to: http://www.uwo.ca/classics/events/JusticeConference/index.html.

The deadline to register is April 21.

Queries: Kelly Olson at kolson2@uwo.ca


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From: Hans Beck

International Conference on Money and Power in the Roman Republic — McGill University — May 19-21, 2011

The Department of History and Classical Studies at McGill University announces an International Conference on Money and Power in the Roman Republic May 19-21, 2011, McGill University, Thomson House, 3650 McTavish, Ball room Organizing Committee: Hans Beck (McGill) – John Serrati (McGill) – Martin Jehne (Dresden) Rome’s transformation from a regional force in Latium into a Mediterranean superpower (4th to 1st centuries BCE) was accompanied by an accelerated change of economic realities. The persistent influx of vast natural and monetary resources from abroad deeply altered the basis of Rome’s military. Also, as state income skyrocketed, the exercise of political influence at Rome became increasingly intertwined with issues of personal finance. Despite claims for frugality, the political power of senatorial families was always determined through the accumulation of wealth. By the 1st century BCE, the competition of these families for rank and recognition was dramatically wrapped up with access to monetary capital and economic resources. When the republic finally fell, this was also due to a financial crash that hit the very centre of Roman society.

The conference targets the intersection of political culture and economic realities at Rome. It embarks from a pragmatic definition of money as asset to conduct economic transactions. Wealth is considered as a significant accumulation of those assets. To disclose the interconnectedness of political power, social status and wealth, the conference explores four topical clusters that were formative to Rome’s money-power-matrix: (1) Agents and Interests; (2) Discourses on Money and Power; (3) Public Income and State Action; (4) Wealth and Status.

The line-up of speakers includes a blend of 21 historians and classicists from eight countries: David Hollander (Iowa); Sylvie Pittia (Reims); Kaj Sandberg (Turku); François Gauthier (McGill); Elio Lo Cascio (Naples); Hans Beck (McGill); Antonio Dupla (Vitoria); Brahm Kleinman (McGill); Francisco Pina Polo (Zaragoza); Cristina Rosillo Lopez (Sevilla); Ralph Covino (Tennessee); Bruno Bleckmann (Düsseldorf); John Serrati (McGill); Claude Eilers (Hamilton); Nathan Rosenstein (Ohio); Kathryn Welch (Sidney); Leopold Migeotte (Quebec City); Martin Jehne (Dresden); Jonathan Edmondson (York); Elisabeth Deniaux (Paris); Wolfgang Blösel (Cologne).

Advanced undergraduate and graduate students are invited to attend. Please register via email with one of the organizers.

The event is co-sponsored by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and the Thyssen Foundation, Germany.