Added Palaima editorial:
“Aesop and the UT Budget”

PASP would like to announce two upcoming guest speakers:

Colloquium 1: Thursday November 12 4 PM WAG 116

Dimitri Nakassis (Ph.D. 2006 UT Austin)
Assistant Professor Department of Classics
University of Toronto

“Under the Sceptre of Agamemnon? Economy, Archaeology and Texts in Mycenaean Greece”

Professor Nakassis will also be giving a lecture in Prof. Palaima’s AHC 378 class on Friday November 13 at 2:00 PM WAG 112 on the topic: “Mycenaean society: in search of a middle class.”

Prof. Nakassis won the prize for best dissertation in humanities and fine arts (UT Austin 2007). His research interests include: Greek history, Greek archaeology, especially Late Bronze Age, social theory, ancient religion

His publications now include:

• “Named Individuals and the Mycenaean State at Pylos,” in Colloquium Romanum, Atti del XII colloquio internazionale di Micenologia, Roma, 20-25 febbraio 2006, ed. A. Sacconi, M. del Freo, L. Godart and M. Negri (Rome 2008) 549-561.
• “Siteless Survey and Intensive Data Collection in an Artifact-rich Environment: Case Studies from the Eastern Corinthia, Greece,” JMA 19.1 (2006) 7-43, co-authored with W. Caraher and D. Pettegrew.
• “The Eastern Korinthia Archaeological Survey: Integrated Methods for a Dynamic Landscape,” Hesperia 75.4 (2006) 453-523, co-authored with T.F. Tartaron et al.
• “Gemination at the Horizons: East and West in the Mythical Geography of Archaic Greek Epic,” TAPA 134.2 (2004) 215-233.
• “Linear A and Multidimensional Scaling.” In K.P. Foster and R. Laffineur eds., Metron: Measuring the Aegean Bronze Age, Aegaeum 24 (Liège and Austin 2003) 335-342, co-authored with Kevin Pluta.

His articles accepted and in progress are on the following topics: (1) the finances of Mycenaean Pylos, (2) state and society in the Aegean Bronze Age, (3) the concept of redistribution in Aegean archaeology, (4) feasting and the king in Mycenaean Pylos, (5) structuration and the Mycenaean state, and (6) the Dipolieia festival and the Kylonian conspiracy.

Colloquium 2:

Thursday December 3 4 PM WAG 116

Ruth Palmer (Ph.D. University of Cincinnati 1989)
Associate Professor of Classics and World Religions
Ohio University

“What the scribe saw: artistic representations of deer and the invention of the Mycenaean deer ideogram.”

Professor Palmer will discuss how deer are represented in Mycenaean art from the Shaft Graves at Mycenae (and before) to the end of the palatial period, with a special focus eventually on the ambience in which scribes created the ideogram they used in Linear B.

Professor Palmer will also be giving a lecture in Prof. Palaima’s AHC 378 class on Monday November 30 at 2:00 PM WAG 112 on the topic: “Between Pylos and Knossos: women workers in the Linear B texts.”

Here Prof. Palmer will present the kinds of evidence that we can extract from the Linear B tablets about the status and jobs done by the female work force, and the difference in social conditions that exists in the groups listed in the Knossos tablets vs. the Pylos tablets. She will also bring in comparisons with the Mesopotamian records of the female work forces.

Professor Palmer is one of the foremost authorities on foodstuffs in the ancient world and their role in society.

Her publications include her definitive monograph: Wine in the Mycenaean Palace Economy.

Review: J. T. Killen, in Minos 29-30 (1997) 371-373.
Review: Paul Halstead, in JHS 117 (1997) 242-244.

And many articles, including:

• “Trade in Wine, Perfumed Oil and Foodstuffs: the Linear B Evidence and Beyond.” Ploes… Sea Routes… Interconnections in the Mediterranean, 16th-6th c. BC. Proceedings of the International Symposium held at Rethymnon, Crete, September 29th-October 2nd 2002, Stampolidis, Nicholas Chr. and Vassos Karageorghis, eds. Athens, University of Crete and the A. G. Leventis Foundation, 960-7143-25-6. p. 125-140.
• “Bridging the Gap: The Continuity of Greek Agriculture from the Mycenaean to the Historical Period.” Tandy, David W., ed. Prehistory and History: Ethnicity, Class and Political Economy. Montréal, New York, and London: Black Rose Books. 1-55164-189-5 (hardcover)//1-55164-188-7 (paperback). p. 41-84.
• “Perishable Goods in Mycenaean Texts.” Deger-Jalkotzy, Sigfrid, Stefan Hiller, and Oswald Panagl. Eds. Floreant Studia Mycenaea. Akten des X. Internationalen Mykenologischen Colloquiums in Salzburg vom 1.-5. Mai 1995. Band I. Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. p. 463-485.
• “Models in Linear B Landholding: An Analysis of Methodology”. Bennet, John and Jan Driessen, eds. A-na-qo-ta. Studies Presented to J. T. Killen. Minos 33-34. p. 223-250 (Bibliographical Abbreviations, 371-375).
• “Linear A Commodities: A Comparison of Resources.” Laffineur, Robert and Wolf-Dietrich Niemeier, eds., Politeia: Society and State in the Aegean Bronze Age. Proceedings of the 5th International Aegean Conference / 5e Rencontre égéenne internationale, University of Heidelberg, Archäologisches Institut, 10-13 April 1994, Vol I., Aegaeum 12. Université de Liège, Histoire de l’art et archéologie de la Grèce antique; University of Texas at Austin, Program in Aegean Scripts and Prehistory. p. 133-155.
• “Wheat and Barley in Mycenaean Society.” Olivier, J.-P., ed. Mykenaïka. Actes du IXe Colloque international sur les textes mycéniens et égéens, Centre de l’Antiquité Grecque et Romaine de la Fondation Hellénique des Recherches Scientifiques et École française d’Athènes. BCH Suppl. 25. Diffusion de Boccard, Paris. p. 475-497.
• “Subsistence Rations at Pylos and Knossos.” Minos 24. p. 89-124.

Added Palaima article: “1984: It’s Coming,” in Times Higher Education 3 September 2009
PDF available here