Join us for a one-day conference marking the twenty-fifth anniversary of the University of Michigan’s Interdepartmental Program in Ancient History.
The conference will bring together invited speakers from the University of Michigan alumni community and institutions across North America and Europe to reflect on major transformations in the study of ancient history over the past several decades. Speakers will consider the evolution of their own scholarship and the broader disciplinary shifts that have shaped graduate training, research methods, and the expanding horizons of the field.
MORNING SESSION
Redefining Ancient History: Boundaries, Connections, and Scales
9:00-9:30 AM: Brendan Haug
“Introductory Remarks: Is there a Science of Ancient History?”
9:30-10:15 AM: Nathanael Andrade
“From ‘Greek and Roman’ to ‘Ancient’: Implications of the Shift”
The transformation of the Interdepartmental Program for Greek and Roman History (IPGRH) into the Interdepartmental Program for Ancient History (IPAH) reflects broader changes in how ancient historians conceptualize both their subjects and their discipline. Drawing on my own research, this paper explores the shifts in approaches to ancient peoples as subjects of empires, members of confessional communities, and participants in a connected Afro-Eurasian world, while considering questions of who has the authority to study and claim their pasts.
10:15-11:00 AM: Denise Demetriou
“A Connected Ancient Mediterranean World: The Challenges and Rewards of Bridging Disciplinary Divides”
Adopting a Mediterranean perspective and bridging the traditional disciplinary divide between Classics and Ancient Near Eastern studies can illuminate neglected dimensions of ancient history, including patterns of population and cultural interaction. This paper reflects on the challenges and rewards of such interdisciplinary approaches and considers their implications for the future direction of the field.
11:00-11:45 AM: Jenn Finn
“All (Royal) Roads Start in Ann Arbor: The Grammar of Imperial Legitimacy between Classics and Cuneiform Studies”
Across four millennia, rulers from the ancient Near East to Rome appropriated the cultural heritage and monumental landscapes of the past to construct imagined boundaries of imperial authority. Drawing on research that bridges Classics and Assyriology, this paper examines such practices as a form of soft power fundamental to imperial strategy and legitimacy.
11:45 AM-12:30 PM: Peter Bang
“Matching the Global with the Local: Ancient History between Macro and Micro”
AFTERNOON SESSION
Writing Ancient Histories: Narratives, Experiences, and Contemporary Relevance
2:00-2:45 PM: Cam Grey
“Social Historians Telling Stories”
How do social historians reconcile the particularity of individual anecdotes with the ambitions of grand historical narratives? This paper reflects on the tensions and occasional convergences between these modes of storytelling and considers the kinds of histories we can, could, and should construct from disparate forms of evidence.
2:45-3:30 PM: Emily Lamond
“The Ancient Body in Question”
Recent scholarship has increasingly approached disability in antiquity not simply as a medical condition but as a culturally constructed category shaped by social expectations and individual circumstances. Moving beyond familiar representations of Roman society as uniformly hostile to disabled bodies, this paper explores how disability could shape different dimensions of everyday experience and invites historians to reconstruct ancient individuals' relationships with their bodies in richer, more contextually sensitive ways.
3:30-4:15 PM: Adriaan Lanni
“Interdisciplinary Approaches to Ancient Law at UM and Beyond: Juries as a Check on Politicized Prosecutions in Athens and Today”
Building on Michigan’s longstanding tradition of interdisciplinary legal history, this paper explores how comparisons between ancient and modern legal systems can illuminate both Athenian law and contemporary legal problems. Focusing on politically motivated prosecutions in classical Athens, it argues that Athenian juries exercised a form of prosecutorial discretion rather than simply engaging in jury nullification, and considers what this comparison might teach us about the potential of modern juries to check politically motivated prosecutions.
4:15-5:00 PM: Katherine Blouin
“The Moral of the Story: On Doing Ancient History in Times of Collapse”
5:00-5:30 PM: Wrap-up celebration
The conference will bring together invited speakers from the University of Michigan alumni community and institutions across North America and Europe to reflect on major transformations in the study of ancient history over the past several decades. Speakers will consider the evolution of their own scholarship and the broader disciplinary shifts that have shaped graduate training, research methods, and the expanding horizons of the field.
MORNING SESSION
Redefining Ancient History: Boundaries, Connections, and Scales
9:00-9:30 AM: Brendan Haug
“Introductory Remarks: Is there a Science of Ancient History?”
9:30-10:15 AM: Nathanael Andrade
“From ‘Greek and Roman’ to ‘Ancient’: Implications of the Shift”
The transformation of the Interdepartmental Program for Greek and Roman History (IPGRH) into the Interdepartmental Program for Ancient History (IPAH) reflects broader changes in how ancient historians conceptualize both their subjects and their discipline. Drawing on my own research, this paper explores the shifts in approaches to ancient peoples as subjects of empires, members of confessional communities, and participants in a connected Afro-Eurasian world, while considering questions of who has the authority to study and claim their pasts.
10:15-11:00 AM: Denise Demetriou
“A Connected Ancient Mediterranean World: The Challenges and Rewards of Bridging Disciplinary Divides”
Adopting a Mediterranean perspective and bridging the traditional disciplinary divide between Classics and Ancient Near Eastern studies can illuminate neglected dimensions of ancient history, including patterns of population and cultural interaction. This paper reflects on the challenges and rewards of such interdisciplinary approaches and considers their implications for the future direction of the field.
11:00-11:45 AM: Jenn Finn
“All (Royal) Roads Start in Ann Arbor: The Grammar of Imperial Legitimacy between Classics and Cuneiform Studies”
Across four millennia, rulers from the ancient Near East to Rome appropriated the cultural heritage and monumental landscapes of the past to construct imagined boundaries of imperial authority. Drawing on research that bridges Classics and Assyriology, this paper examines such practices as a form of soft power fundamental to imperial strategy and legitimacy.
11:45 AM-12:30 PM: Peter Bang
“Matching the Global with the Local: Ancient History between Macro and Micro”
AFTERNOON SESSION
Writing Ancient Histories: Narratives, Experiences, and Contemporary Relevance
2:00-2:45 PM: Cam Grey
“Social Historians Telling Stories”
How do social historians reconcile the particularity of individual anecdotes with the ambitions of grand historical narratives? This paper reflects on the tensions and occasional convergences between these modes of storytelling and considers the kinds of histories we can, could, and should construct from disparate forms of evidence.
2:45-3:30 PM: Emily Lamond
“The Ancient Body in Question”
Recent scholarship has increasingly approached disability in antiquity not simply as a medical condition but as a culturally constructed category shaped by social expectations and individual circumstances. Moving beyond familiar representations of Roman society as uniformly hostile to disabled bodies, this paper explores how disability could shape different dimensions of everyday experience and invites historians to reconstruct ancient individuals' relationships with their bodies in richer, more contextually sensitive ways.
3:30-4:15 PM: Adriaan Lanni
“Interdisciplinary Approaches to Ancient Law at UM and Beyond: Juries as a Check on Politicized Prosecutions in Athens and Today”
Building on Michigan’s longstanding tradition of interdisciplinary legal history, this paper explores how comparisons between ancient and modern legal systems can illuminate both Athenian law and contemporary legal problems. Focusing on politically motivated prosecutions in classical Athens, it argues that Athenian juries exercised a form of prosecutorial discretion rather than simply engaging in jury nullification, and considers what this comparison might teach us about the potential of modern juries to check politically motivated prosecutions.
4:15-5:00 PM: Katherine Blouin
“The Moral of the Story: On Doing Ancient History in Times of Collapse”
5:00-5:30 PM: Wrap-up celebration
| Building: | Tisch Hall |
|---|---|
| Event Type: | Conference / Symposium |
| Tags: | Ancient Rome, Archaeology, Classical Studies, History |
| Source: | Happening @ Michigan from Classical Studies, Department of History |
