Networks

The Institute of Classical Studies hosts and is actively involved with a diverse range of national and international networks and collaborations aimed at promoting and facilitating research. For further information please contact the Deputy Director. Highlighted in this section are:

ΔΥΝΑΜΙΣ / DYNAMIS : POWER AND PRESTIGE IN THE AEGEAN BRONZE AGE

Seal impression from KnossosThis international network, established in 2011, explores mechanisms of power and prestige in the Aegean Bronze Age through a broad spectrum of archaeological, iconographic and textual evidence. The aim is to disseminate research output through periodic lectures, workshops or symposia, and publications in digital or print format, inter alia. Participation is by invitation with special emphasis on contributions from early-career researchers. The network is co-ordinated by Dr O. H. Krzyszkowska, Deputy Director of the Institute.

The Department of Classics in the University of California at Berkeley is a founding partner institution.

The first project undertaken under the aegis of the DYNAMIS network was a study of the Mycenaean tholos tomb at Dranista in Thessaly by Dr Yannis Galanakis (Ashmolean Museum). Preliminary results were presented to a seminar held at the Institute in November 2011.

POTTERY IN CONTEXT

Pottery Network logoThis international network aims to foster new research relating to Greek vase painting, focusing particularly on the uses of vases and their final contexts or findspots. The network reflects a diversity of theoretical and methodological approaches, as well as various regions of production and consumption, including Greece and Italy. Every two years members of the network meet at the Institute for an informal colloquium; periodic international conferences aimed at a wider scholarly audience are also planned.

Co-ordinators of the network are two former holders of the Institute’s prestigious Webster Fellowship: Elizabeth Langridge-Noti (Athens) and Mark Stansbury O’Donnell (St Thomas).

PANTANELLO PROJECT

Bust of Hadrian from PantanelloThe British Museum in association with the Institute of Classical Studies, British School at Rome, and Sopintendenza per i Beni Archeologici di Lazio, Rome

The Pantanello Project combines archival research and fieldwork — initially, a geophysical and topographical survey of the Pantanello area near Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli — aiming to create a better understanding of the site, its excavation history, and compiling more detailed catalogue of finds, with emphasis on their excavators, restorers, dealers and collectors. The project, directed by Dr Thorsten Opper from the British Museum Department of Greece and Rome, has been actively supported by the Institute of Classical Studies since 2009. For further details visit the project website.

NAUKRATIS PROJECT

Seventh century BC vase made on Chios and found at Naukratis (British Museum)The Greek trading post of Naukratis, located in the Nile Delta, was founded in the 7th century BC. Although rediscovered in the late 19th century and excavated by Flinders Petrie, pioneer of Egyptian archaeology, the site is still poorly understood. Some 15,000 objects are dispersed in over 60 museums and collections world-wide: about half are held in the British Museum. 

The Naukratis Project aims to realise the potential of this 19th century archaeological assemblage through a thorough interdisciplinary re-investigation of the site and on-line publication of the finds. This approach will provide major insights into how Greeks, Egyptians and others lived together, traded and interacted in this city, and the lasting impact of these cultural exchanges.

The Institute of Classical Studies is delighted to be a collaborating institution in this ambitious international project. Dr Alan Johnston, a long-standing Senior Research Fellow, is an active member of the team working in the British Museum.  
 

FESTUS LEXICON PROJECT

The Lexicon of Pompeius Festus is a precious source of information on many aspects of the language and life of Rome in the republican period. The Festus Project, based in UCL and supported by the Institute, aims to produce a new text, translation and commentary using all the available evidence.  The original Lexicon was composed by the Augustan antiquarian Verrius Flaccus; only tiny quotations from his work survive. In the 15th century, a single damaged manuscript (F), now in Naples, was found, which contains part of a summary of Verrius’s work, composed in the second century AD by one Pompeius Festus. We also have an epitome of this epitome, under the name of Paul the Deacon, who produced it for the benefit of Charlemagne’s Library. Some humanists also copied parts of F, which have since been lost. The Project’s task is to combine all these difficult sources to reconstruct the best possible version, which will be available as a database, but also hopefully in printed form.

CLASSICAL STUDIES RECEPTION NETWORK (CRNS)

The Institute of Classical Studies is an institutional partner in the Classical Reception Studies Network (CRSN), established in 2004 to promote rigorous debate on all aspects of classical reception, including art, film and literature. The Institute regularly runs research training events on Reception Studies for postgraduates as well as periodic conferences and colloquia. The next will take place on 29 May 2012 Masks, Echoes, Shadows: Locating Classical Receptions in the Cinema. 

OTHER NETWORKS AND COLLABORATIONS

The Institute also provides institutional support for networks at home and abroad, including: