CLASSICAL ASSOCIATION OF IRELAND
November 2016
CAI annual Summer School LIMERICK: 19-21 August 2016
The 2016 Summer Conference was held in Mary Immaculate College of Education (MICE), in Limerick, August 19-21. The conference, which was entitled ‘The Cecil D’Arcy Memorial Conference’, in honour of a distinguished pastChairman of the Limerick Branch, was officially opened by Mr Willie O’Dea T.D. He congratulated the Association, and especially the Limerick Branch, for their work in the field of Classics. It was important, he said, that the MidWest should have a share in all kinds of cultural activities and the Association’s contribution was of great assistance in this respect. The Mayor of Limerick City and Council, Councillor Kieran O’Hanlon, who also graced the occasion, thanked the Association for bringing the conference to Limerick and spoke of strenuous efforts currently being made to project the city as a City of Culture. An attendance of 40, which included Dr Raoul McLaughlin (CANI), enjoyed a varied lecture programme, the overall theme of the conference being ‘Ancient History’. On the Friday evening, Professor Tim Whitmarsh, A.G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture, University of Cambridge, delivered the keynote lecture, ‘Historians against Rome: Imperial Rome as seen by her enemies’. He was followed on Saturday morning by Dr Shane Wallace (TCD), who spoke on ‘Alexander “the Great”: on the Origins of an Epithet’, and by Dr Matthew Potter (UL), whose subject was ‘Ancient Superpowers: Rome and China’. The Friday afternoon sessions featured two postgraduate papers: the first, illustrated, given by Ms Clodagh Lynch (NUIG), on ‘Roman silver ingots in the Balline Hoard from Co. Limerick’; the other was presented by Mr Charles Kerrigan (TCD), on ‘Reading Virgil in Britain, 1870-1930’. This part of the conference concluded with a lecture by Dr Martine Cuypers (TCD), ‘Local History in the Black Sea: negotiating Identity and Influence’. The Association Dinner was well attended and courteously served by the staff of the Clarion Hotel. A short after-dinner address was delivered by Patrick Ryan, who thanked members for their 4
Above: The CAI’s Damhlaic mag Shamhráin and Isabella Bolger with Councillor Kieran O’Hanlon and Mr Willie O’Dea, T.D. (Photos: Selga Medenieks)
attendance, and especially those who had travelled from other branches, not least for their forbearance with the exigencies of accommodation – with, apparently, not a vacant room in the whole area all weekend! The Sunday outing to Killaloe presented something of a Gene Kelly ‘Singing in the Rain’ challenge to our sizeable group. Nevertheless, in the midst of the downpours, we trudged raincoated after Tony and Mary O’Sullivan, who organised a walking tour along the Shannon, as well as a boat-trip as far as Mountshannon and a climb to the top of the tower of St Flannan’s
Some of the participants and speakers at the conclusion of the weekend conference