February 2015 been famous since antiquity for his character portrayal; this lecture will examine the nature of character in Sophocles, and the techniques which he uses to represent it. Special attention will be given to Oedipus the King. Dr Eoghan Moloney (NUIM) lectured on Ancient History at the University of Adelaide before coming back to Ireland. His research and publications focus on the history and culture of the Classical period, with special emphasis on the fourth century BC and ancient Macedon. His lecture is entitled ‘Courts, kings, and all theatrical things’. In it he will look beyond theatre’s stage to examine the place of drama in the larger political and social world of the ancient Greeks. He will begin with a consideration of theatre’s crucial importance in Classical Athens, before tracing the dissemination of drama outside of that democratic city. In particular, this presentation will highlight the unlikely part antiquity’s ‘greatest’ kings played in transforming Greek drama into an international phenomenon. Dr Hugh Denard lectures on digital humanities in TCD. He is presently on leave from King’s College London where he is lecturer in Digital Humanities. As a theatre historian his classical research interests span ancient drama, the theatricality of life and art in Greece and Rome, and modern performances and adaptations of ancient drama. He is also currently investigating the ‘lost’ theatres of early twentieth-century Dublin. His theme for the Summer School is ‘Lost and forgotten playing spaces of Greece and Rome’ in which he will explain how the archaeological remains of theatres in the Roman empire give us invaluable information about ancient theatrical practice. But they are only part of the story. Today, digital technologies are bringing to light hidden spaces and lost traditions of theatrical performance which textbooks often overlook. In this session, Dr Denard will present the results of several years of detailed, multidisciplinary research, and reflect on the ways in which digital visualisation tools are adjusting our understanding and narratives of ancient theatre. The Saturday session will end with a conference dinner in the Glenroyal Hotel in Maynooth and on Sunday there will be an outing to visit Belvedere House, which was built in the eighteenth century as a hunting lodge and is set in 160 acres of garden and parkland on the shores of Lough Ennal.
CLASSICAL ASSOCIATION OF IRELAND Further details of the 2015 Summer School programme and registration forms can be obtained on the Classical Association website www.classicalassociation.ie or from Liam Bairéad: 3 Garrán Pháirc na Gráinsí Ráth Eanaigh Baile Átha Cliath 5
3 Grange Park Grove Raheny Dublin 5
Prof. Andrew Smith
CAI-TEACHERS The CAI-T Annual Conference 2014 was held in the Glenroyal Hotel, Maynooth, in October. The conference opened with an address to the members from the Chairman, highlighting the need for a full review of the Leaving Certificate Syllabus for Classical Studies. The most obvious problem with the current syllabus is that the prescribed texts for four out of the ten topics are now out of print. On Saturday, in addition to the business of the AGM, there were three speakers. Dr Jo Day (UCD, pictured below with Ian Maguire) spoke about food and cooking in the Roman world, with a focus on exotic foods, where they were sourced, and the lucrative trade routes used. Dr Hugh Denard (TCD) gave a highly visual presentation on aspects of both Greek and Roman theatre performance, including his work on the digital reconstruction of theatre buildings. The final speaker was Greg Daly, author of Cannae: The Experience of Battle in the Second Punic War. He delivered a very interesting talk on the battle and its significance in the wider context of the Second Punic War. All present agreed that the three speakers were excellent and that this year’s conference was a great event. Ian Maguire was elected the new Chairman of the Association and he promised to pursue reform of the Leaving Certificate syllabus as his number one priority. Ian Maguire (CAI-T Chairman) 9