Married to the Military. Soldiers’ Families in the Ancient World and Beyond -11-12/11/2016, London (
In societies where the threat of armed conflict was an ever-present element of the political and social experience, the impact of war was acutely felt by the immediate families of those whose role it was to train for and engage in combat. This conference aims to explore the roles and experiences of military families (defined here as the nuclear family of soldier, partner and children) in the ancient world and to situate these within the wider context of the history of such families. We therefore welcome offers of papers on any aspect of military families in the ancient world as well as comparative studies which consider more recent historical contexts. The conference aims to commemorate Remembrance Day with a detailed discussion of a subject that is rarely broached in historical and cultural studies. It is true that there has been some headway made in understanding the role of women and children in Roman military forts, especially on the north-west frontier, but there has been very little joined-up thinking on the military family as a general phenomenon in antiquity and how it sits within the history of military families as a whole. The Greek model of standing armies who spent long periods of time away from home in combat – leaving behind wives and children – contrasts, for example, with the Roman practice of establishing permanent garrisons with ‘camp followers’ attached to military bases. The experiences of partners whose husbands were fighting a defensive war at home might differ considerably from those left behind or even joining their partners as they fought in territory far from home.
FECHA/DATE/DATA: 11-12/11/2016
LUGAR/LOCATION/LUOGO: The Open University in London (London, England)
ORGANIZADOR/ORGANIZER/ORGANIZZATORE: Department of Classical Studies at The Open University
INFO: web
INSCRIPCIÓN/REGISTRATION/REGISTRAZIONE: Deadline: 01/11/2016
un día / one day / un giorno: £20
dos días / two days / due giorni: £30
Debe enviarse un correo a /please contact/ si prega di conttatare e.e.bridges@open.ac.uk
PROGRAMA/PROGRAM/PROGRAMMA:
FRIDAY 11TH NOVEMBER 10.00 Coffee and registration 10.30 Welcome 10.40 - 12.40 Session 1: Challenges Faced by Military Families Chair: Emma Bridges Adrienne White (Australian National University): Families at war: glimpses of military families in the Athenian law courts Sophie Raudnitz (OU): The singing of 'old songs': trauma and testimony in Euripides' Trojan Women and Begley's Wartime Lies Owen Rees (MMU): Challenging a seamless transition: ideological incongruence between the classical Greek oikos and the military Emma Long (Lancaster): How has the changing perception of the 'military family' affected the support available to partners, wives and husbands of military personnel? 12.40 - 13.30 Lunch 13.30 - 15.00 Session 2: Daily Lives of Military Families Chair: Ursula Rothe Jennifer Martinez Morales (Liverpool): A coward's oikos: female relatives of wartime 'tremblers' in ancient Sparta Annie Truetzel (Princeton): A different 'Scipionic circle': a case study of a family in the Second Punic War Sofie Waebens (Leuven): Soldiers and their families in Roman Egypt: legal issues and daily life 15.00 - 15.30 Tea 15.30 - 17.30 Session 3: The Role of Soldiers' Wives Chair: Edith Hall Alexander Hardwick (Cambridge): Women in battle? Reassessing the military wives of Troy Helen Tank (Birmingham): Women's perspective on war: a view from Herodotus Carol Atack (Oxford): Xenophon's military wives & the embodiment of virtue Emma Bridges (OU): The Homeric Penelope: a model 'military wife'? 18.30 Drinks reception sponsored by the Hellenic Centre Hellenic Centre 19.15 Keynote Lecture (public event): Edith Hall (KCL): Warriors' wives in the Chicago 'hood: Rapping with Lysistrata in Spike Lee's Chi-Raq Hellenic Centre 20.30 Conference Dinner: Opso Restaurant, Marylebone 10 Paddington St, W1U 5QL SATURDAY 12TH NOVEMBER 9.00 - 10.00 Keynote Lecture: Penelope Allison (Leicester): Changing Attitudes to Women and Families inside Roman Military Bases 10.00 - 10.20 Coffee 10.20 - 12.20 Session 4: Socio-familial Networks Chair: Penelope Allison George Cupcea, Rada Varga (Babes-Bolyai University): An inquiry on the typology and structure of the military families in Roman Dacia Elizabeth Greene (University of Western Ontario): What's in a name? Tribal memory and acculturation on display in the Roman military diplomas Claire Millington (KCL): Testing the stones: inscriptions as a source for the households of Roman auxiliary commanders under the Principate Ornella Salati (Naples): The soldiers' partners in Latin papyri and tablets from Egypt: a survey 12.20 - 13.20 Lunch 13.20 - 14.20 Session 5: Families a Long Way from Home Chair: Myles Lavan Niels Bargfeldt (Aarhus): Tagging along and blending in? The families of Roman marines stationed in Rome Ursula Rothe (OU): Military families in Pannonia 14.20 - 14.50 Tea 14.50 - 16.50 Session 6: Military Children and Orphanhood Chair: Carol Atack Helen Roche (Cambridge): Spartan pedagogy, German style? Prussian military education and the Spartan paradigm Fayah Haussker (Tel Aviv/OU Israel): Between innocence and precocity: battle heritage and orphanhood in Sophocles' Ajax Myles Lavan (St. Andrews): Roman auxiliaries' missing children Jeroen Wijnendaele (Ghent): 'Won't somebody please think of the children?' Marriage alliances in the western Roman military aristocracy (c. 400-470 CE) 16.50 - 17.00 Closing comments