Ask the ancient historian/graduate student

[Helen's Eidolon]

Why the heck not? I doubt there's going to be a ton of interest, but I'm feeling self-indulgent today. DaphneBlack's also been posting on the boards, and she's pretty much my cooler twin, so she can field questions as well.

Hit me!

[the Lady]

What area are you doing your graduate work on?
Is it the same as your "favorite" era/time?

[Khampelf]

How did Helen of Troy launch a thousand ships with her face and stay beautiful?

[Uthrecht]

Well, my real question is, in what period of history are you studying?

My aside question is, did you know that Playmobil has a line of Roman figures? I decided to get a few toys for when coworkers' kids came by, and ran across them. Picked up a set of 3 soldiers in lorica segmentata, a standard bearer (with a little stylized pelt to wear) and centurion. It's surreal, and in an amusing way.

[Helen's Eidolon]

I've done classes on pretty much all of Greek and Roman history, from the beginning of writing in ancient Greece to Late Antiquity (my undergrad thesis was on 5th and 6th century CE Alexandria). My main research, however, is on Late Republican Roman religion and politics. And it is pretty much my favourite period, although there are bits and pieces of other topics which are also my favourites and I've had chance to do some work on (like Helen, for example, as you might have guessed).

Helen didn't launch 1000 ships with her face - the Catalogue of Ships in the Iliad tells us it was actually 1186-1200 ships. It's those last ones that kept her pretty.

And I did not know about the Playmobil figures. Romans are oddly popular.

[LordVor]

What do you plan to do after you graduate?

[dactylic hexameter]

I assume you know both Ancient Greek and Latin (if not, please disregard). Which language do you prefer?

[Uthrecht]

Corollary: in which languages are you fluent, if any other than Greek and Latin?

[Helen's Eidolon]

Ideally, I'd like to get a job as a professor at a university, where I can do pretty much what I'm doing now - teaching and research.

I do read both Latin and ancient Greek. Greek is harder to learn at the beginning, but makes far more sense in the long run. Latin never stops being complicated and ridiculous. It does have a certain charm though - an ability to produce great witticisms and snappy phrases. So I guess I'd have to say that I like Latin better, but I also hate it more.

I truthfully wouldn't say I'm fluent in any languages but English. But I can read Latin and ancient Greek, as discussed above. I speak and understand French pretty well, and can read it with no problems - slower than English, but fine. I can read Italian, but it's pretty slow. I'm working on German.

[Uthrecht]

Are you working in the modern versions of French, Italian and German, or medieval/other periods? Just curious if you're doing it in relation to your career (although if I recall, there are good texts on the Romans/Latin in German).

Also, you mention that you work broadly across ancient Greek history, and in the Roman Republic. Do you similarly work in further in more ancient Italy, i.e., Etruscan and other tribes? And here's a fun one (and finally getting back on topic and away from personal): what's your take on the evolution of Latin poetry and the influences of Greek on it? I'm trying to remember the name of the older form, but can't. I believe it was Etruscan in influence?

[Helen's Eidolon]

No, I just read modern French and Italian (and hopefully eventually German). The reason is that I need to be able to read modern scholarship on my topics - and it doesn't all happen in English-speaking countries.

I actually do do stuff on ancient Italy! I actually just gave a paper (and am working on turning it into an article) based on an Umbrian text. I took a class on Italic languages last year, which really has to be one of the most obscure things I've ever done. We read mostly Oscan and Umbrian, but spent some time studying - if not reading - most of the languages that we have evidence of from ancient Italy, including Etruscan.

The evolution of Latin poetry, hm. Well, to start, I assume you're referring to Saturnian metre - that's the 'native' Latin metre. The best I can say is that I'm not a linguist or literature person AT ALL. So despite the fact that I have taken seminars in Archaic Latin, I've never been able to fully understand what the heck it even is. I don't think it's well understood at all.

The truth is that the earliest Latin poetry we have is deeply influenced by the Greeks. Ap. Claudius Caecus (cos. 307 and 296) is said to have written a Pythagorean poem; Livius Andronicus translated the Odyssey into Saturnian verse in the second half of the 3rd c BCE; after that Ennius and Naevius wrote their epics - Naevius in Saturnian and Ennius in dactylic hexameter, a Greek metre. The other big thing in early Latin literature are the plays, which are also all based (or at least, assumed to have been based) on Greek originals.

[Uthrecht]

Yup, Saturnian. Thanks. I couldn't quite think of the right word, but I thought it had to do with Saturn. If I recall, the full structure of it isn't completely known (there are only a few examples, right?), but I only took the one course on Latin poetry, so I'd be interested to know more.

Also, have you worked on anything like Minoan/the Linear alphabets? Or is that too much of a niche (not that Umbrian isn't, but you can only do so many obscure things)?

[Helen's Eidolon]

Nope, thank goodness. I can barely manage the alphabetic languages. Some of my friends do the Near Eastern languages - Hittite, Sumerian, Middle Egyptian, etc. At least that's one pain I'm spared!

[KidVermicious]

I don't have any questions right now that haven't been covered, so I just wanted to say thanks for the thread.

[by-tor]

I have noticed that some history books are painfully boring while others are amazingly entertaining. What are some of the best history books still in print, that a layman could enjoy?

[Capybara]

Who is more of a complete fucking lunatic, Caligula or Commodus, or is there a winner I don't even know about?
And what are the main proper nouns in your thesis/diss topic (I won't ask for a title)

[Helen's Eidolon]

by-tor: I actually read so few fun, laymen's books lately that I need to spend some time thinking about that. I'll get back to you.

Capybara: Commodus wasn't crazy, just arrogant and unique. Caligula is way kookier. People like to diagnose him with all sorts of psychiatric and physical illnesses, but I think he was just mad... WITH POWER. I think he wins the prize for emperors.

My dissertation key words are popularis identity - it's on political stuff in the Late Republic.

[JaneSaintClair]

I think this is pretty interesting.... thanks for starting this thread.

If you could travel any where in the world to conduct historical research, where would you travel to and why?

[Helen's Eidolon]

Well, there's really only one place that my research focuses on - Italy, and more particularly, Rome. I got the opportunity to go for a few weeks last year. It was fantastic, and I'd love to spend more time there. I definitely didn't get to see even half of what I wanted to. I think/hope more time in Italy is in my future.

Aside from just what my own research concerns and going purely on the coolness factor, I'd say Turkey. I stopped there on a cruise once and went to Ephesus. It was one of my favourite places ever. A bunch of my friends have worked on a survey there, too, and the stories and the pictures are amazing. It's great because it's really layered - Hittite, Greek, Roman and Byzantine stuff is all there.

[Khampelf]

What are the roots of the idea that the Merovingian line were descendants of Christ?

[Uthrecht]

Originally Posted by Helen's Eidolon

Aside from just what my own research concerns and going purely on the coolness factor, I'd say Turkey. I stopped there on a cruise once and went to Ephesus. It was one of my favourite places ever. A bunch of my friends have worked on a survey there, too, and the stories and the pictures are amazing. It's great because it's really layered - Hittite, Greek, Roman and Byzantine stuff is all there.

Oh yes. I missed this earlier, and I will wholeheartedly agree. For our honeymoon, my wife and I did a cruise of several Greek islands, with a stopover in Ephesus and Istanbul. All marvelous stuff. The library facade is tremendous, along with the amphitheater and road down to the (now nonexistant) harbor. I believe I still have a picture of my wife paying for toilet paper outside the bathroom at Ephesus, but that's another story.

Santorini is another great site.

[Dr. Drake]

Why did you choose Classics rather than History or Political Science? I ask because I chose an interdisciplinary field for graduate school, and although I think it made me a better scholar, it's made it a thousand times harder to look for academic jobs. Will you be restricted to Classics departments?

[Muskrat Love]

Originally Posted by Helen's Eidolon

And I did not know about the Playmobil figures. Romans are oddly popular.

Kids love Roman soldiers, I think it's the fancy uniforms. My nephew, after seeing a movie about Jesus when he was 3 or 4, wanted to be "one of the guys who nailed Jesus to the cross" for Halloween.

[Helen's Eidolon]

Originally Posted by Khampelf

What are the roots of the idea that the Merovingian line were descendants of Christ?

I've got absolutely nothing on that, sorry. I've avoided Christianity as much as possible in my research.

Originally Posted by Dr. Drake

Why did you choose Classics rather than History or Political Science? I ask because I chose an interdisciplinary field for graduate school, and although I think it made me a better scholar, it's made it a thousand times harder to look for academic jobs. Will you be restricted to Classics departments?

Funny you should ask it that way. Ancient history is a really difficult subject to find a good place for, in my opinion. I'm a historian, not a classicist (who usually focus more on language and literature), but most history departments don't have the focus on languages that even ancient historians need. On the other hand, Classics departments do cover pretty much all the ground historians do.

So my PhD will actually be in History AND Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies, though I am in a History department. Maybe I could never get hired at a good Classics department, I don't know. But there are a lot of positions out there that are 3/4 History 1/4 Classics, for example (1 language class per year) and I'd be really qualified to do that. I'm also going to make sure I teach both history and language classes before I leave my current institution.

I'm not anywhere near the market yet, so it may well bite me in the ass. I hope not!

[Hi, Neighbor!]

Is it true that cannibals don't eat clowns because they taste funny?

[Helen's Eidolon]

I can't speak for cannibals, but it's certainly true for me.

[Tamerlane]

Originally Posted by Khampelf

What are the roots of the idea that the Merovingian line were descendants of Christ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Plantard

Short story, it's a 20th century invention.

However the historical Merovingians did claim descent from a sea-monster - actually a river monster called a quinotaur. Curiously enough ( to me ) the Merovingians may have originated as a Thuringian dynasty, rather than a Frankish one.

[Uthrecht]

Originally Posted by Helen's Eidolon

I can't speak for cannibals, but it's certainly true for me.

It's an acquired taste, to be sure, but you're missing out.

[tomb]

Originally Posted by Helen's Eidolon

I can't speak for cannibals, but it's certainly true for me.

How do you know they taste funny?

[The Superhero]

Those Playmobil figures are too cool. The Playmobil people always show such great attention to detail.

I await your recommendations to by-tor with bated breath, too. Anything you know of that's not too terribly dense that gives a decent picture of day-to-day Roman life. I'm not super interested in another recap of the major historical events, much moreso in a slice-of-life kind of thing.