Call for Papers: Technology in Antiquity

Submit an abstract for the Paideia Institute's 2024 Living Latin in NYC Conference

TECHNOLOGY IN ANTIQUITY

The Paideia Institute is pleased to announce that the eleventh iteration of the Living Latin and Ancient Greek in New York City conference will take place in February 2024. The conference will host a number of invited speakers and will also welcome abstract submissions. This conference, which features papers delivered in Latin, Ancient Greek, or English as well as small breakout sessions where participants practice speaking Ancient Greek and Latin under the guidance of expert instructors, will be held at Fordham University in New York City on February 17th and 18th, 2024.

The theme of this year’s conference is “Technology in Antiquity.” Our own time, marked by the rise of artificial intelligence, is witnessing an astonishing growth of interest in, and questions about, technology. What kinds of technologies were available in antiquity? What qualified as technology for poets and philosophers? What were the greatest technological innovations in the Greek and Roman world? How did the ancients conceptualize the development of technology and its impact on society? What can we learn about the classical world from the surviving evidence on technology in antiquity and ancient authors’ view of it?

We invite proposals for short talks in Latin, Ancient Greek, or English on this theme with examples from Ancient Greek and Latin literature or material culture. Outstanding submissions on other topics will also be considered, particularly (but not only) if they focus on classical language pedagogy.

Please use the link below to send in an abstract of no more than 500 words. The deadline for submissions is September 15, 2023. Travel bursaries are available and can be requested through that same form. We encourage accepted speakers to apply for external funding as well since the number of travel bursaries is limited. All talks will be recorded, subtitled, and (with each speaker’s permission) published on Paideia's YouTube channel and in our online magazine, In Medias Res.

Submit an Abstract

DE TECHNICA DISCIPLINA ARTIBUSQUE MECHANICIS APUD ANTIQUOS

Magnopere iuvat Institutum Paideiam pronuntiare, undecimum conventum Latinitatis ac Graecitatis Vivae Novi Eboraci mense Februario anni 2024 celebratum iri: ad quem non modo invitabuntur complures, qui acroases faciant, verum etiam ratio habebitur eorum, qui summaria tradiderint consideranda. Hic autem conventus, cuius participes tum acroases sermone Latino vel Graeco vel Anglico ab hominibus disertis prolatas audient, tum aliis in sessiunculis, magistris doctis eruditisque freti, operam exercitationibus vel Graece vel Latine colloquendi dabunt, Novi Eboraci in gymnasio Regis inde ab a.d. XIV Kal. Mar. ad a.d. XIII Kal. Mar. usque anno 2024 celebrabitur.

Huius conventus propositum ad technicam disciplinam apud priscos homines et ad artes mechanicas eorum attinet. Nostra autem aetate, qua artificiosa, quae dicitur, intellegentia ingentibus augescit incrementis, plures mirandum in modum studio disciplinae technicae tenentur, deque ea maior in dies fit controversia.

Quales artes mechanicae apud veterrimos promptae et in expedito ponebantur? Quid in artium mechanicarum numero a poetis philosophisque habebatur? Quaenam res maximi momenti, ratione quadam disciplinaque technica factae, a Romanis Graecisque repertae atque usurpatae sunt? De disciplinae technicae evolutione, deque vi, quam artes mechanicae in vitam communem exhibebant, quid prisci homines mente concipiebant? Quidnam, quod ad antiquitatis notitiam pertinet, ex rerum technicarum reliquiis, quae inde antiquitus supersunt, exque sententiis, quas auctores veterrimi de doctrina technica habebant, discere possumus?

Si cui acroasiunculam ad hoc thema pertinentem, exemplis ex litteris Graecis Latinisve aut ex rebus archaeologicis sumptis bene instructam, sermone Latino vel Graeco vel Anglico habere libet, nos ei praecipimus, ut summarium nobis tradat. Ratio etiam eorum habebitur, qui de aliis rebus disserere volunt, praesertim (sed non tantummodo) si propositum est rationem utriusque linguae docendae tractare.

Rogamus ut nexu, quem infra reperies, adhibito summarium vocabulorum non plus quam quingentorum tradas: quod ante diem praestitutam,quae a.d. XVII Kal. Oct. anno 2023 est, elapsam tradendum erit. Stipendia itineraria praesto erunt, quae per eandem formulam petere licebit. Suademus eis, qui ad conventum invitabuntur, ut stipendia etiam ab aliis locis petant, propterea quod stipendia itineraria omnibus non suppetent. Acroasiunculae omnes digitaliter impressae et transcriptae (si per eum, qui acroasiunculam habebit, licuerit) in pagina Instituti Tutubularia et in ephemeridibus digitalibus, quibus index In Medias Res, publici iuris fient.

Propositum Mitte

ΤΕΧΝΑΙ ΚΑΙ ΤΕΧΝΙΚΑ ΜΗΧΑΝΗΜΑΤΑ ΕΠΙ ΤΩΝ ΠΑΛΑΙ

Ἡ ἑταιρεία τῆς Παιδείας πολλῇ χαρᾷ ἀγγέλλει ὅτι μηνὸς Φεβρουαρίου τῷ ἔτει 2024 γενήσεται ἡ ἑνδεκάτη σύνοδος ἡ καλουμένη Ῥωμαϊκή τε καὶ Ἑλληνικὴ ζῶσαι ἐν Νέῳ Ἐβοράκῳ. Εἰς δὲ τὴν σύνοδον ῥήτορας τινὰς προσκαλέσομεν καὶ δὴ καὶ κεφάλαια ἀποδεξόμεθα ἀφ' ὧντινων βούλοιντο ἂν τῆς συνόδου μετέχειν. Οἱ δὲ τῆς συνόδου μεθέξοντες οἷοι τ' ἔσονται ἀκρόασιν ποιεῖσθαι ῥητόρων ῥωμαϊστὶ ἑλληνιστί τε καὶ βρεττανιστὶ λεγόντων καὶ μετὰ διδασκάλων διατρίβειν περί τόν τε ῥωμαϊσμὸν καὶ τὸν ἑλληνισμόν. Ἡ δὲ σύνοδος γενήσεται ἐν τῷ διδασκαλείῳ Regis τῇ τε ἑπτακαιδεκάτῃ καὶ ὀκτωκαιδεκάτῃ Φεβρουαρίου μεσοῦντος.

Τὴν μὲν οὖν κυρίαν ὑπόθεσιν ὑποτίθεμεν τήνδε· Τέχναι καὶ τεχνικὰ μηχανήματα ἐπὶ τῶν πάλαι. Οἱ νῦν ἄνθρωποι, οἳ αὐτόπται ἐκγιγνομένην εἶδον τὴν καλουμένην χειροποίητον σύνεσιν, ἀεὶ μᾶλλον θαυμάζουσιν ἑαυτοὺς ἐρωτῶντες τίνος ὅρον ἔχουσιν αἱ τέχναι καὶ τὰ τεχνικὰ μηχανήματα. Ποῖα τεχνικὰ μηχανήματα πρόχειρα ἔχουσιν οἱ πάλαι; Ποῖα ἐνόμιζον τεχνικὰ εἶναι μηχανήματα οἱ ποιηταὶ καὶ οἱ φιλόσοφοι; τίνα τὰ κυριώτατα τεχνικὰ ἐξευρήματα ἃ ηὗρον οἵ τε Ῥωμαῖοι καὶ οἱ Ἕλληνες; Τί δὲ ἐνόουν οἱ πάλαι περί τε τῶν τεχνῶν καὶ τῶν τεχνικῶν μηχανημάτων; Τίνα μοῖραν βλάβης τε καὶ ὠφελείας οἱ πάλαι ἔκρινον ἔχειν τῇ πόλει καὶ τοῖς πολίταις τὰ μηχανήματα ταῦτα; Τί ἡμᾶς διδάσκει τὰ λελειμμένα δείγματα τῶν παλαιῶν τεχνικῶν μηχανημάτων καὶ τί δύναμεθα μαθεῖν ἀφ' ὅσων γεγράφασιν καὶ ἐννενοήκασι περὶ αὐτῶν οἱ πάλαι;

Λόγους βραχεῖς περὶ τῆς κυρίας ὑποθέσεως ἀποδεχόμεθα ῥωμαϊστὶ, ἑλληνιστί ἢ βρεττανιστὶ γεγραμμένους καὶ παραδείγματα ποιουμένους τὰ γράμματα ἢ τὰ ἀρχαιολογικὰ τῶν πάλαι. Ἀποδεχοίμεθα δ'ἂν καὶ κρατίστους λόγους περὶ ἄλλων ὑποθέσεων γεγραμένους, οὐκ ἥκιστα περὶ τῆς διδασκαλίας τῶν παλαιῶν γλωττῶν.

Τοὺς δὲ βουλομένους μετέχειν τῆσδε συνόδου δεῖ ἡμῖν πέμψαι κεφάλαιον τοῦ λόγου (μὴ ὑπερβάλλον πεντακόσια ῥήματα) διὰ τοῦ κάτω δεσμοῦ ἐντὸς τῆς πεντεκαιδεκάτης τοῦ Σεπτεμβρίου τοῦ προϊόντος ἔτους. Οἱ ἂν βούλωνται δύνανται αἰτῆσαι πορευτικὰς χορηγίας διὰ τοῦ αὐτοῦ δεσμοῦ. Ὀλίγαι μόνον ὑπάρχουσιν, διὸ παραινοῦμεν τοῖς ἀποδεχθεῖσιν ῥήτορσιν καὶ ἄλλας ζητῆσαι χορηγίας. Πάντες οἱ λόγοι ἀπεικονισθέντες τε καὶ ὑπαπογραφέντες εἶτα ἐκδοθήσονται ἐν τῷ YouTube, ἑκόντος γε τοῦ ῥήτορος, καὶ ἐν τῇ ἠλεκτρονικῇ ἐφημέριδι In Medias Res.

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