edited by Rachele Pierini and Tom Palaima
A PDF download of the 2021 Spring Seminar’s summaries and presentations is linked here.
MASt@CHS – Spring Seminar 2021 (Friday, April 16): Summaries of Presentations and Discussion
§1. The presenters for the Spring 2021 meeting were Sarah Morris and Morris Silver (Silver continuing from the winter meeting https://classical-inquiries.chs.harvard.edu/mastchs-winter-2021-seminar/ ).
Sarah Morris shared with us some thoughts based on results of her field project at the site of Methone in northern Greece in the region of Pieria lying roughly between the coast of the Thermaic Gulf and Mount Olympus. She outlined the possible relationship between this site and the Mycenaean texts. She discussed diverse evidence, extending from Homer to ancient Greek geographic literature, also including the archeological evidence at Thermaic Methone and Mycenae in the Argolid to specific entries on the Linear B tablets from Mycenae and Pylos.
Morris Silver presented provocative points treated in the second part of his upcoming monograph, The Purpled World: Marketing Haute Couture in the Aegean Bronze Age. In the last meeting, he focused on the economic and ideological implications of the use of purple in the Mycenaean textile industry for the aesthetics and artistic production of the palaces. In this seminar, Silver presented his interpretation of Mycenaean religious festivals as events to promote the textile industry. Accordingly, he put forward alternative proposals about the circumstances and practices of particular ceremonies.
Following Sarah Morris’s presentation (§§4–11.2), we discussed parallels for Mount Pieria from Greek literature (§12); the critical apparatus of MY Fo 101 (§§13.1–13.5); the dotted sign on MY Fo 101.5 and its palaeographic features in light of a comparison with si, di, and ni as well as implications of its reading for the interpretation of MY Fo 101 (§§14.1–14.7); the connection between geographical areas and professions (§§15.1–15.5); the chronology of the Mycenae tablets (§16.1) and its implications for iconographic motives (§§16.2–16.3) and economic perspectives (§17).
§3.2. The discussion following Morris Silver’s presentation (§§19–37) focused on representations of the horns of consecration (§§38–40) and the Syrian fenestrated axe (§§41–47), with emphasis on the constitutive features of each motif and the comparison between these elements and Silver’s interpretation of particular examples.
§3.3. Specifically, contributions to the seminar were made by
Elena Dzukeska (see below at §§15.1, 15.3–15.4)
Michele Mitrovich (§§38.1–38.3)
Sarah Morris (§40),
Gregory Nagy (§§12)
Tom Palaima (§§13.1–13.5, 14.7, 15.2, 15.5, 39, 42.1–42.3, 45.2, 45.4, 45.7)
Vassilis Petrakis (§43)
Rachele Pierini (§§14.1–14.6)
Kim Shelton (§§16.1, 16.3)
Morris Silver (§§ 17, 45.1, 45.3, 45.5–45.6)
Trevor Van Damme (§§16.2, 46)