A major international
conference on Manilius’ Astronomica,
the first of its kind in the Anglophone
world, will take place at Columbia
University on 24-25 October 2008.
The Astronomica
of Manilius is a five-book Stoic didactic
poem on astrology which is usually believed
to have been composed between c. A.D. 9-16,
under Augustus and Tiberius. The poem offers
great opportunity for diverse scholarly
study, in terms of its genre and
intertextuality, its philosophical,
intellectual and socio-political background;
and yet, but for a few notable exceptions,
the poem has been largely ignored,
especially by Anglophone scholars, whose
silence would suggest compliance with the
old-fashioned view that the Astronomica
is too difficult to read and digest and/ or
full of contradictions and astrological
errors and omissions.
The planned conference
aims to put this neglected poet firmly back
on the scholarly map, and will bring
together an international panel of
Latinists, historians of science, and
reception specialists to approach the author
and his work from a variety of different
angles.
The
conference will take place in
The
Kellogg Center, 1501 International Affairs
Building, 420 W. 118th St.
It will be free and open to the
public.
With the
exception of the speakers, delegates will
need to make their own arrangements for
accommodation.
The
conference is being supported by a generous
gift from Marvin Deckoff.
If you have
any questions regarding the conference,
please email one of the organisers (emails
below):
Katharina Volk
(kv2018@columbia.edu)
Steve
Green
(s.j.green@leeds.ac.uk)
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Confirmed Speakers and Provisional Paper
Titles/ Abstracts
Josèphe-Henriette Abry
(Lyon)
Cosmos and Imperium:
The Digressions of the Astronomica
(1.758-804, 3.443-482 and 4. 585-805)
[Abstract]
Elaine Fantham (Princeton/Toronto)
More Sentiment than Science: Roman
Stargazing from Cicero to Seneca and Lucan
Monica Gale (Trinity College Dublin)
Digressions, Intertextuality and Ideology
in Didactic Poetry: The Case of Manilius
[Abstract]
Patrick Glauthier (Columbia)
Census and
commercium: Two Economic Metaphors in
Manilius
Steven Green (Leeds)
The Poetics and Politics of Horoscopic
Failure in Manilius’ Astronomica [Abstract]
Thomas Habinek (University of
Southern California)
The Logic of Astrology [Abstract]
Stephan Heilen (University of
Illinois)
Lorenzo Bonincontri´s
Reception of Manilius´ Chapter on Comets
(1.809-926)
[Abstract]
John Henderson (Cambridge)
Manilian Space: The Shape of Things To Come
(Round Book 1)
Wolfgang Hübner (Münster)
Tropes and Figures: Manilian Style
reflecting Astrological Lore [Abstract]
Duncan Kennedy (Bristol)
Manilius’ Metaphors
Daryn Lehoux (Manchester)
Myth, Math, and Manilius [Abstract]
Wolfgang Mann (Columbia)
Some Stoic Paradoxes in Manilius
Caroline Stark (Yale)
The Renaissance Reception of Manilius'
Anthropology
James Uden (Columbia)
A Song from the Universal Chorus: The
Perseus and Andromeda Episode in Manilius'
Astronomica
Katharina Volk (Columbia)
In Heaven as it is on Earth?: Manilian
Self-contradictions [Abstract]
Programme (Provisional)
Click here for
provisional
programme of papers over the two
days.
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