Check here first for the latest news, whether it's changes to the website, current research projects, upcoming conferences, visits, or lectures, or anything else that might conceivably be newsworthy.
April 2, 2007:
Dimitri Nakassis has co-authored two articles this academic year, both of which present results and methods of the Eastern Korinthia Archaeological Survey (EKAS). One, entitled "Siteless Survey and Intensive Data Collection in an Artifact-Rich Environment: Case Studies from the Eastern Corinthia, Greece", was co-authored with Bill Caraher and David Pettegrew and was published in the Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 19.1 (2006), pages 7-43. The second is entitled "The Eastern Korinthia Archaeological Survey: Integrated Methods for a Dynamic Landscape," and was published in Hesperia 75.4 (December 2006), pages 453-523. Dimitri was one of 11 authors, of which Tom Tartaron is the principal author.
Dimitri has also given two papers this year. At the AIA meetings in San Diego in January, he gave a paper entitled "The Individual as an Analytical Category for the Integration of Archaeological and Textual Data" in a colloquium called "People in Prehistory: Agency, Identity, and the Individual in the Prehistoric Aegean," organized by Lynne Kvapil and fellow PASPian Alicia Carter. In late February, Dimitri was a participant in the Langford Conference at Florida State University on "Political Economies of the Aegean Bronze Age", organized by Daniel Pullen (http://www.fsu.edu/~classics/langford/langfordspring07.html). Dimitri's paper was entitled "Financing the State in the Aegean Bronze Age" and re-examined and quantified the textual evidence at Pylos for staple and wealth finance (the abstract is available at http://www.fsu.edu/~classics/langford/spring07/nakassis.html).
This summer, Dimitri will continue his work at the Ayia Sotira excavations of Mycenaean tombs in the Nemea Valley; he will also be involved in the survey of Kokkinokremos, a Late Bronze Age settlement in southern Cyprus, by the Pyla-Koutsopetria Archaeological Project (http://www.chss.iup.edu/pkap/).
Nicolle Hirschfeld is now president of the San Antonio chapter of the AIA http://home.satx.rr.com/swtas/
Her recent publications and presentations include: “Vases marked for exchange: The not-so-special case of pictorial pottery,” in E. Rystedt and B. Wells, eds., Pictorial pursuits: Figurative painting on Mycenaean and Geometric pottery, Papers from two seminars at the Swedish Institute at Athens in 1999 and 2001, Skrifter Utgivna av Svenska Institutet I Athen, 4o, LIII, Acta Instituti Atheniensis Regni Sueciae, Series in 4o, LIII. Stockholm, 2006: 83-96.
“Die Zyprische Keramik aus dem Schiffswrackvon Uluburun,” in Ü. Yalçin, C. Pulak and R. Slotta, eds., Das Schiff von Uluburun: Welthandel vor 3000 Jahren. Katalog der Ausstellung des Deutschen Bergbau-Museums Bochum vom 15. Juli bis 16. Juli 2006. Bochum, 2005: 103-108.
“The Potmarks of Hala Sultan Tekke (Cyprus),” Annual Meetings of the American Schools of Oriental Research, Washington DC, 16 Nov 2006.
PASP recently acquired the papers of Emmett L. Bennett, Jr., the bulk of which relate to the decipherment of Linear B and subsequent study of Aegean writing systems. The materials are currently being identified, arranged and described by Christy Costlow of the School of Information at UT Austin.
The Bennett collection is comprised of a wide range of materials, including research papers, scholarly publications, excavation reports and field guides, photographic materials, and a large amount of correspondence. In addition to the scholarly drafts, papers and notes authored by Bennett, the collection contains documents authored by other important researchers of Linear B, such as Alice Kober, John Chadwick, and Leonard Palmer.
Bennett was clearly a central figure among those who studied and researched early Aegean scripts. His correspondence, both personal and professional, includes communications with a large number of notable archaeologists, linguists, and scholars in the Classics. Individuals whose letters are represented in the collection include Carl Blegen, John Chadwick, Henry and Sara Immerwahr, Alice Kober, Konstantinos Ktistopoulos, Mabel Lang, Sir John Myres, Jean-Pierre Olivier, Leonard Palmer, Marion Rawson, and Alan and Helen Wace.
The correspondence of Alice Kober is also contained in the collection. Ms. Kober gave these materials to Bennett in the months preceding her death. They consist primarily of communications with Sir John Myres, Konstantinos Ktistopoulos, and organizations such as the Archaeological Institute of America.
The majority of the correspondence in the collection has been arranged, and these materials will be rehoused in archival quality conditions and accompanied with a descriptive finding aid. The rest of the collection will be processed in the same manner to ensure preservation and access for continued scholarly interest.
February 25, 2007:
Tom Palaima is spending six months on a Fulbright grant at the Universitat Autňnoma de Barcelona, where he is teaching a graduate seminar on Mycenaean culture and an undergraduate course on Mycenaean script and language, and also doing research and writing.
Mar Zamora, Irene Muńoz, Begońa Sanz, Tom Palaima, Ana Garcia, Maria Pereira.During the week of February 19-24 he is giving daily seminars on Mycenaean society from the viewpoint of the texts at the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid and a special evening lecture on "The Significance of the New Linear B tablets from Thebes."
On this last topic, Tom has been reading broadly and would like to recommend that all those who are interested in the sensational claims for religious elements in the tablets (Demeter, Kore, Zeus of the fall harvest, the cultic assembler of the people, the mystical proto-Eleusinian torch-bearers, the official of the sacred banquet, theriomorphic gods [snakes, geese, dogs]) read the two articles and two reviews provided here on the PASP web site, and also read the following articles in the papers of the special Mycenological seminar on the new Thebes tablets:
Günter Neumann, "...Gans und Hund und ihresgleichen..." in S. Deger-Jalkotzy and O. Panagl, Die Neuen Linear B-Texte aus Theben (Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 2006), 125-138. Neumann demonstrates clearly that the animals in the Thebes tablets are not in any way sacred or 'divine', but are animals that would be naturally part of everyday life for Mycenaean and later Greeks, and gathers the explicit historical evidence for this, including references to these animals being fed grains.
Michael Meier-Brügger, "Sprachliche Beobachtungen," in S. Deger-Jalkotzy and O. Panagl, Die Neuen Linear B-Texte aus Theben (Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 2006), 111-118. Meier-Brügger clearly demonstrates that de-qo-no = "banquetier" is linguistically impossible. It must be deipnon "repas principal" as in Homer; that di-wi-ja-me-ro cannot equal "la part de Diwija' but has to be 'two-day period' (as also argued earlier by Melena and in this volume by Killen); that si-to is not an otherwise unattested god Sito but plain siton 'Getreide'.
José Luis Garcia Ramón, "Zu en Personennamen der neuen Texte aus Theben," in S. Deger-Jalkotzy and O. Panagl, Die Neuen Linear B-Texte aus Theben (Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 2006), 37-69. Garcia Ramón demonstrates that again linguistically a-ko-ro-da-mo cannot = agorodamos 'mystic assembler of the people'. He proposes Akrodamos. He also sees that o-po-re-i is a personal name parallel to another in these Thebes texts me-to-re-i. They mean respectively "On the mountain" and "Transmontanus." So o-po-re-i does not man "Zeus of the Fall Harvest," which is even textually impossible.
John T. Killen, "Thoughts on the Functions of the New Thebes Tablets," in S. Deger-Jalkotzy and O. Panagl, Die Neuen Linear B-Texte aus Theben (Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 2006) , 79-110. Killen specifically concludes (p.103): "...the fact that ma-ka, o-po-re-i, and ko-wa never all occur together, and that it requires a special hypothesis to explain this fact, combined with what I believe are the continuing difficulties with explaining o-po-re-i as a theonym /Opo:rehi/, make me reluctant for the present to accept the ma-ka = Ma:i Ga:i equation."
I had raised almost all of the above points, and more, in my reviews and Vienna paper (linked here). These papers now are powerful independent corroboration that the sensational identification of "Mother Earth," "Zeus of the Fall Harvest," "Kore = Persephone," sacred cult officials, and sacred animals in the Thebes tablets is based on linguistically or contextually impossible reconstructions and failure to take into account the nature and purpose of these tablets within the Thebes archives. Killen also examines the main point of my Vienna paper, already brought up in a review, that the sign read as FAR by he editors of the Thebes tablets is in most cases (I now believe all cases) *65 = ju. Killen, with characteristic caution, shows that in his scholarly judgment in many cases this must be so.
Read also now: Yves Duhoux, "Dieux ou humains? Qui sont "ma-ka", "o-po-re-i" et "ko-wa" dans les tablettes linéaire B de Thčbes," Minos 37-38 (2002-2003 [2006]), 173-254; and Sarah A. James, "The Thebes Tablets and the Fq series: A Contextual Analysis," Minos 37-38 (2002-2003 [2006]), 397-418. Lastly, I would suggest that everyone read:
Louis Godart, "Message de LOUIS GODART en guise de conclusion," in S. Deger-Jalkotzy and O. Panagl, Die Neuen Linear B-Texte aus Theben (Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 2006), 171-172.
August 25, 2006:
PASP is pleased to be an active co-sponsor of the following event relating to Bob Dylan, America's Homer.
BOB DYLAN & THE POETRY OF THE BLUES
An Evening With Writer Michael Gray
MUSIC RECITAL HALL MRH 2.608 (175 people)
University of Texas at AustinSEPTEMBER 7th at 8PM Doors open at 7:30 Limited Seating
venue maps: http://www.utexas.edu/maps/main/buildings/mrh.html
and
http://www.utpac.org/venue/directions.php.
CO-SPONSORED BY: Center for American Music, Dickson Centennial Professorship, English Department, Harry Ransom Center
Call 512 471-7764 for more information.
This is more a one-man show than a talk. The author of "The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia" and "Song & Dance Man III: The Art Of Bob Dylan" - definitive studies of Dylan's 45-year body of work and more - uses a surprising selection of great records and rare video footage to show how hugely Dylan has been inspired by the blues and how much of its poetry has been smuggled inside his own, highly influential writing.
British Poet Laureate Andrew Motion named "Song & Dance Man III" as one of the best three books of 2000, it is the classic work in its field and has earned truly exceptional reviews.
Called 'magnificent' (Record Collector), 'overwhelming' (The Times), 'endlessly illuminating' (Rolling Stone) and 'essential' (Folk Roots), it gained 5-star reviews in Q and Uncut. Greil Marcus admired 'Gray's reach, tone and acuity' and called the book's research 'amazing', while Christopher Ricks called the book 'wonderfully comic and serious and sharp' and 'monumentally illuminating'.
Over 100 of its 900 pages made up a mind-blowing chapter on Dylan's extraordinary, resourceful use of blues lyric poetry, particularly from the 1920s and 1930s.
"The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia", published only in June 2006, has earned comparisons to David Thomson's classic "Biographical Dictionary of Cinema" (in Village Voice and the London Evening Standard), and called "amazingly well-researched and surprisingly readable" (Library Journal); Publishers Weekly said "Michael GrayŠ outdistances them all "; Time says the book gives "all you need to know and more"; the What's On In London verdict is "Utterly brilliant... Its breadth of scope is extraordinary... Strikingly intelligent, poetic, subtly humorous and buzzing with an awareness of the richness of life, [Gray is] the perfect match for his subject." The Dylan Daily website declares it "destined to be the most important Bob Dylan book, bar none."
His books may be immense but there's nothing dry about Michael's talks. Aside from being a key speaker at academic conferences in Liverpool, Frankfurt and Minneapolis, he has been a sell-out on American college campuses and in the UK & Ireland at festivals, arts theatres and arts centres. Michael Gray's events are always lively & spontaneous, witty and acute, using unpredictable slices of loud music to offer a thoroughly entertaining, fresh account of Dylan's achievement and a thrilling exposition of a form of poetry that remains much ignored and under-rated.
This will be Michael Gray's first performance in Texas.
What the British and Irish press says about his performances:
"Michael Gray is a witty, effusive, self-deprecating speaker. A wonderful eye-opener of an evening."
"Michael Gray, the world's foremost Bob Dylanologist, is telling people how it really is... Entertaining with wit and insight, Gray is clearly enjoying himself." "A tremendously enjoyable evening."
"Clever, funny and fresh."
"A stimulating insight into rock music's premier singer-songwriter."
"A wonderful evening packed with information, insight and humour. More of these please!"
"Michael Gray is a masterful speaker."August 7, 2006:
Tom Palaima will be one of six faculty members (five from UT Austin and one from Austin Community College) teaching in the Free Minds project of the UT Humanities Institute this fall.
http://humanitiesinstitute.utexas.edu/programs/minds/index.html
The Free Minds Project provides Travis County adults living on low to moderate incomes with a chance to fulfill their intellectual potential and to "jumpstart" their college education. In the Free Minds Project, students will explore new ways of thinking about themselves and about their world, by studying important works of literature, history, philosophy, and art.
June 30, 2006:
On June 29, 2006 Barry Powell delivered a fascinating lecture "Alphabetology" in the series associated with the exhibition "Technologies of Writing" at the Harry Ransom (Humanities Research) Center here at University of Texas at Austin. The packed auditorium included students in UT's intensive summer Greek program and in the annual Telluride Seminar, this year taught by Professors Kurt and Sue Heinzelman, of the English department.
The Heinzelmans' seminar is on the topic "The Cultures of Writing" (http://www.tellurideassociation.org/Austin.html) and explores writing as a cultural phenomenon. Kurt Heinzelman and Elizabeth Garver were the curators of the HRC exhibition. On Tuesday June 27 Tom Palaima talked with the seminar students about Greek writing, alphabetic and Linear B. Barry Powell spoke to the seminar on June 30.
June 26, 2006:
After his year as visiting scholar at PASP, Emmett L. Bennett, Jr. has now moved back to the familiar surroundings of Madison, Wisconsin, after a reception on Wednesday, June 21. He can be reached at:
608 256-9403
Meriter Terraces
Room 115
345 W. Main St.
Madison, WI 53703.
ELB imitates John Wayne crossing the Red River, only in reverse direction. ELB with his good Friend John. ELB and TGP after 33 years of working together. "Not one day in a man's life is like the other in what it brings," Solon to Croesus. June 17, 2006:
Stephie Nikoloudis is completing her dissertation on the role of the ra-wa-ke-ta and the multicultural composition of Mycenaean society. In February 2006, she presented aspects of her research at the 12th Mycenological Colloquium in Rome.
Last Fall (2005) John Friend designed and taught a course on Greek warfare from the Mycenaean period to the death of Alexander the Great. Last Spring (2006) he delivered a paper at CAMWS on the Synstremmatarches and the Synstremma in the Athenian Ephebeia of the Roman period. This summer he is continuing his research on his dissertation (the Lycurgan ephebeia) and teaching a classical civilization course on Ancient Greece.
Returning from his year (2004-2005) studying with Michael Meier-Brügger in Berlin, Will Bibee is currently working under Tom Palaima on his Senior Honors Thesis on Greek purification rituals and vocabulary, examining possible connections with Ancient Near Eastern sources. He will graduate witha B.A. in Plan 2, Linguistics, and Classics ).
Alicia Carter has been focused on finishing up her PhD exams and teaching during the 05'-'06 academic year. She taught beginning Latin 506 in the Fall and a large mythology lecture course in the Spring. The two courses were very different experiences, and she thoroughly enjoyed them both. This spring, with Lynne Kvapil, her friend and colleague from the American School in Athens, she organized a panel for the 2007 AIAs in San Diego and it was accepted. Here is a link to the session details: http://www.archaeological.org/webinfo.php?page=10300&action=display&sid=5A. Fellow PASPian, Dr. Dimitri Nakassis, will be giving a paper in the session, as will Dr. Kim Shelton, formerly of UT Classics. This summer she is again joining Dr. Shelton to work at her excavation of a Bronze Age site at Mycenae, Greece, as well as assist her in her new role as Director of Excavations at the nearby site of Nemea. She will be taking a one-year leave of absence during the '06-'07 academic year, during which time she will be living and working in Sheffield, England.
Joann Gulizio is currently working on as ceramics specialist on the Iklaina Archaeological Project (IKAP). This project is focusing on the remains of what is expected to be one of the second-order centers in the Pylian kingdom. After seven seasons of survey, the team has broken ground and started excavations this season. She is also working on her dissertation on Aegean Bronze Age religion.
Michael and Debbie Cosmopoulos with their two children and their grandmother at the blessing of the excavation. Prof. Cosmopoulos breaks ground. Joann Gulizio and Carolyn Palaima discuss the agiasmos ceremony and the laying out of the first trench. Kevin Pluta is continuing work on his dissertation on Mycenaean literacy and use of writing. He is taking this summer off from field work (previously working with IKAP in electronic data management), and focusing on writing and on electronic resource management in PASP. He is also responsible for this website, so please e-mail any questions or comments to him.
Nicolle Hirschfeld (Trinity University San Antonio) reports that she devoted the spring semester to developing and teaching a course on Cypriot archaeology. She also finished writing two surveys of seafaring in Herodotus and Xenophon's Hellenica, both of which will be published as appendices to forthcoming editions (ed. R. Strassler) of these authors. (Editor's note: his Landmark Thucydides, to which Nicolle also contributed an informative appendix on the Greek trireme, is superb. See comments in: http://www.utexas.edu/research/pasp/publications/articles/kaganpelop.html.) This summer Nicolle is completing a study of the potmarks found at Hala Sultan Tekke, a Late Bronze Age trading entrepot on the southeast coast of Cyprus.
We have more photos from the ceremony for Emmett Bennett's INSTAP Lifetime Achievement Award:
Sarah James has spent much of the past two semesters studying the Thebes tablets and her article entitled “The Fq tablets from Thebes: A Contextual Analysis” will be published in the next edition of Minos (Minos 2002-2003). This paper examines the position and allotment of each entry in the Fq tablets and draws analogies to other ration texts outside of Thebes to suggest that the Fq series records the distribution of HORD to various individuals according to their role in relation to the palace. This summer, she is working as the assistant field director of the American School of Classical Studies' excavations in the Panayia Field at Corinth and continuing her research on ancient olive oil production in the Corinthia.
Dimitri Nakassis in front of one of his chamber tombs in Nemea.Dimitri Nakassis received his Ph.D. in Classics in May of this year. His dissertation, entitled The Individual and the Mycenaean State: Agency and Prosopography in the Linear B Texts from Pylos, provides an updated prosopography of all named individuals at Pylos and analyzes the role of individuals in the functioning of the Pylian state. Dimitri also has an article forthcoming in Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 19.1 (summer 2006) co-authored with William Caraher and David Pettegrew entitled "Siteless Survey and Intensive Data Collection in an Artifact-Rich Environment: Case Studies from the Eastern Corinthia, Greece." This paper presents a defense of the utility of Mediterranean survey methods through the analysis of data from the Eastern Korinthia Archaeological Survey (EKAS). Dimitri's section of this paper is a critique of site-based survey based on an examination of Archaic and Classical artifact distributions in the area of a major settlement in the Isthmian basin. In January, Dimitri gave a paper on agency and the Mycenaean state at the annual meetings of the AIA in Montreal, Quebec. In February, he presented a paper on the chief results of his dissertation at the 12th International Colloquium of Mycenaean Studies in Rome, Italy.
This summer, Dimitri is a trench supervisor at Ayia Sotira, Nemea, Greece. This excavation, which under the direction of James Wright, Mary Dabney, Evangelia Pappi, Sevi Triantaphyllou and R. Angus Smith, will identify and excavate Mycenaean chamber tombs associated with the settlement at Tsoungiza.
Beginning in the Fall, Dimitri will be visiting assistant professor of Classical Studies at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.
Christina Skelton has been working towards her childhood dream of becoming the world's first paleographic phylogeneticist, or phylogenetic paleographer, or something like that. In biology there is a scientific method for reconstructing the evolutionary history of a group of organisms called "phylogenetic systematics." If you've heard of the Tree of Life project, this is it. Encouraged that phylogenetics seems to work for languages as well, she took the further step of applying it to a writing system, Linear B, and it seems to work. She is currently in the process of writing up her results. In August she will be heading off to the Netherlands to attend the Leiden Summer School in Indo-European Linguistics (http://www.indo-europeansummerschool.leidenuniv.nl/)
June 14, 2006: Tom Palaima helps Mr. Smarty Pants get his facts straight on the story of Atlantis!
Stanley Lombardo's Iliad and Odyssey readings on cd are now available from Parmenides with guiding commentary read by Susan Sarandon and Introduction by Tom Palaima. For information, see: http://www.parmenides.com/publications/lombardo.html
June 9, 2006:
As a Phi Beta Kappa Fellows Lecturer, On March 20, 2006 at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, and on April 13, 2006 at Jacksonville State University In Alabama, Tom Palaima presented a lecture entitled "Truth and Fiction in War Literature: Does It Matter Now? Does It Ever matter?"
Chuck Patterson, Leslie Martin, Tom Palaima
On April 10, 2006, Tom Palaima participated in the 6-week-long 5-part Spring Colloquium "Mission Failed? The US War in Iraq: What Now? at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. View the announcements here, here, and here.Leslie Martin, PTSD Services, West Los Angeles Veterans Hospital, and Charles Patterson, poet, The Petrified Heart, and Tom discussed "The Human Cost: part I"
On May 7, 2006 Tom Palaima gave the 9th Annual Daugherty Lecture at University of St. Thomas, Houston, Texas on the topic "Using Homer the Schliemann Way."
Tom Palaima taught a Smithsonian all-day seminar May 20, 2006 on "Universal Truths in the Ancient and Modern Experience of War"
On May 23, 2006, he gave a lecture on "Mycenaean Greek Religion and Feasting" to the Westchester Society of the Archaeological Institute of America.
April 9, 2006:
Bennett INSTAP Lifetime Service Plaque and picture of participants of first Mycenological conference at Gif-sur-Yvette in 1956. Bennett talks with his graduate assistant John Friend at the reception. Prof. Betancourt presents Prof. Bennett with the INSTAP Lifetime Service Plaque and check for $5,000. l-r Tom Palaima, Emmett L. Bennett, Jr., Phil Betancourt, Dimitri Nakassis, Jim Wright, Hal Haskell.
Cynthia Shelmerdine and friends honor and indulge Emmett Bennett's passion for classical music. Tom Palaima shows a photograph of participants at the first Mycenological conference at Gif-sur-Yvette in 1956 to those assembled to honor Emmett Bennett. l-to-r Christina Skelton, Sara Kimball, Carolyn Palaima, Hal Haskell. Prof. Betancourt explains the nature of the INSTAP award. Prof. Betancourt puts the INSTAP Medal on Prof. Bennett. Jim Wright, Carol Justus, Alex Mourelatos, Emmett L. Bennett, Jr., and Stephie Nikoloudis at the award ceremony. On Wednesday April 12 from 2:30-3:30 (after the Nakassis dissertation defense) in WAG 116, there will be a ceremony (with a live musical performance featuring our chairperson) honoring Emmett L. Bennett. Jr, for receiving the Institute of Aegean prehistory lifetime achievement award. This will precede the lecture of Professor Jim Wright of Bryn Mawr College on "The Mycenaeans in Crete," which will be given in Professor Bennett's honor.
For more on Professor Wright, see: http://www.brynmawr.edu/archaeology/jwright_bio.htm.
Presenting the award to Professor Bennett will be Professor Phil Betancourt, Laura H. Carnell Professor of Art History and Archaeology of Temple University, director of INSTAP, and himself recipient of the Archeological Institute of America's gold medal (2002) for lifetime achievement in archaeology.
For more on Prof. Betancourt's distinguished work in Aegean prehistory, see: http://www.arthistory.upenn.edu/aamw/faculty.html.
ABOUT THE HONOREE:
Prof. Emmett L. Bennett, Jr.'s pioneering work on what were then known as the Minoan scripts of Crete and the Greek mainland during the Greek Bronze Age was instrumental in the decipherment of the last such writing system, known as Linear B, in June 1952. His classic study on Minoan fractions gave the decipherer of Linear B, Michael Ventris, encouragement that positive results could be gained by analyzing these complex then unreadable documents.
Bennett is the father of Mycenaean palaeography and literally invented the study of Mycenaean and Minoan scribal and administrative systems. His work on the 'hands' of the Pylos tablets set the high standard followed for working with these difficult materials ever since. He also published the Pylos texts in standardized transcription and then in textual transcriptions, and helped with the publication of texts from Knossos and Mycenae.
Bennett received his Ph.D. from the University of Cincinnati (1947) where he studied with Carl Blegen, one of the great figures in Aegean prehistory and excavator of the 'Palace of Nestor' at Pylos in southwestern Greece. He went on to teach at Yale, University of Texas and then for most of his career at University of Wisconsin-Madison. He had visiting semesters at Bryn Mawr College, University of Cincinnati, University of Colorado, and University of Texas.
Since 1989 he has been a visiting scholar at the Program in Aegean Scripts and Prehistory at the University of Texas, Austin, where he now resides.
Professor Bennett has held two Fulbright awards and a Guggenheim fellowship. He is also an honorary member and honorary councilor of the Archaeological Society of Athens. Only a dozen foreign scholars have received this recognition. In 1991, he received the Gold Cross of the Order of Honor, the highest award that the Greek government can present to a foreigner. In 2004, he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Athens.
Jan. 30, 2006:
PASP is especially honored to announce that Tom Palaima has purchased from Nikos Samartzidis one of his Linear B works of art: Korinna, a beautiful triptych of three cd's inscribed Phaistos-Disk-like. Also on loan to PASP is Mr. Samartzidis' wonderful mixed media on plywood: Poiesis.
Close-ups of these beautiful creations can be seen in the Linear B Gallery on Mr. Samartzidis' link here on the PASP web site. OR go directly to: http://www.nikosam-art.de/FINAL_HOMEPAGE/HOME.HTM. He has recently had exhibitions in Herakleion and Ruesselheim.
His work will be discussed in the lecture by Tom Palaima: "Why Write When You Can Speak, Sing, and Remember?" on Thursday, February 9 at 7 p.m. at the Harry Ransom Center in connection with the exhibition "Technologies of Writing" (January 31-August 9, 2006).
Here are views of how his art work looks on display in PASP (all images link to a higher res version):
Poiesis on the wall in PASP. Tom Palaima foreground.
Poiesis in PASP with other art work.
From October 29 to November 12, PASP and the Department of Classics had Professor José Luís Garcia Ramón of the Universität zu Köln as a distinguished visiting professor. Prof. García Ramón offered five seminar sessions and a faculty colloquium on the topics of: Greek and Mycenaean onomastics, Greek and Mycenaean toponyms, Mycenaean theonyms and theophorics, toponyms and ethnics in the Thebes tablets, and the study and history of Greek dialects.
Tom Palaima, Dickson Centennial Professor of Classics and Director of the Program in Aegean Scripts and Prehistory (PASP), Nicolle Hirschfeld, assistant professor at Trinity University (Ph.D. UT Austin 1999), and PASP doctoral candidate Stephie Nikoloudis took Linear B and related clay writing documents of Crete, Greece , Cyprus, and Mesopotamia on the road to Boston, Massachusetts for the National Archaeology Fair, sponsored yearly by the Archaeological Institute of America in conjunction with the annual professional meeting of this organization. Their event was called: "You Can Be a Linear Bee. They Wrote on Clay and You Can, Too."
