CLASSICAL ASSOCIATION OF IRELAND
CANI Classical Association in Northern Ireland On March 19, CANI members Dr Martijn Icks and Dr John Curran led a group of QUB History and Archaeology postgraduates in a joint trip with Radboud University Nijmegen to Ravenna, the site of some of the most famous Christian churches of late antiquity.
Byzantine mosaics in the Basilica di San Vitale, Ravenna.
CANI’s first event of 2016 came on March 30 with ‘Re-voicing Classics: An Evening of Poetry,’ which saw a panel of some of Northern Ireland’s leading poets convened by Dr Erin Halliday. Ross Thompson, Manuela Moser, Stephen Sexton and Dr Halliday herself presented selections of classically-inspired works of their own and others. Through them, the likes of Ovid, Sappho and the Classical tradition were brought to the halls of QUB once more. CANI were also proud to collaborate with the Open University for a dual event on April 1516, where two prominent scholars of Greek Tragedy and Epic, Dr Laura Swift and Dr William Allan, presented papers on ‘Sophocles, Heaney and the Manipulation of Myth’ and ‘The Homeric Hero’ respectively. Demonstrating the commitment of both the OU and CANI to promoting the Classics amongst schools and the public as a whole, these talks were presented as consecutive days first on April 15 to a gathering of pupils of from various Belfast schools at QUB and then the following day to a public gathering at Stranmillis College. CLICK TO WATCH clips from Dr Laura Swift and Dr William Allan’s QUB papers: https://classicalassociationni.wordpress.com/ category/gallery/ 10
July 2016 A slight change of pace was introduced for CANI’s Film Night on May 18 with a presentation of Ridley Scott’s Gladiator in the Black Box, Belfast. It may not be the most historically accurate representation of second century Rome but, as Dr Martijn Icks asked in his short introduction, does that really matter? It is meant as entertainment and went a long way to rejuvenating the historical epic as a mainstream genre in film and bolstering interest in the Classics. The final event of CANI’s 2015/16 programme came on June 9, where in the Old Staff Common Room of QUB Dr John Curran stepped forward to read from a prepared statement on ‘Was Judaea Rome’s Northern Ireland?’ Choosing the language of familiarity rather than similarity, Dr Curran demonstrated how these two ‘provinces’ and their political and social circumstances caused ‘Troubles’ for the Romans and the British. Also in the last couple of months, the CANI website has played host to a blog, which has so far presented pieces on the accidental suicide of a Byzantine emperor, the QUB/Radboud trip to Ravenna, a poem from Ross Thompson on the divine personification of the moon called Selene, and a subsection on the classical allusions/inspirations of various aspects of HBO’s smash hit Game of Thrones. We are also willing to listen to ideas for future contributions from our readers, so get in touch! https://classicalassociationni.wordpress.com/ category/blog/ Peter Crawford
Above: secondary school students gather for the Greek Tragedy and Epic for Schools event at QUB. Below: students consult Dr Laura Swift.