- KU Leuven, Department of Archaeology, Art history and Musicology, Department Memberadd
- Cultural History, Classics, Neo-latin literature, Byzantine Studies, History of Scholarship, Reception Studies, and 11 moreItalian fascism, Cultural Theory, Cultural Memory, History of Nationalism, European intellectual history, Intellectual and cultural history, Intellectual History, Reception of Antiquity, The Classical Tradition, Art History, and Historiography (in Art History)edit
- Han Lamers is Professor of Classics at the Department of Philosophy, Classics, and the History of Art and Ideas of th... moreHan Lamers is Professor of Classics at the Department of Philosophy, Classics, and the History of Art and Ideas of the University of Oslo. His research interests cover the classical traditions of Greece and Rome in Early Modern and Modern Europe and include questions of cultural ownership, self-representation, and intellectual history. For more information about publications, papers, and teaching, please see www.hf.uio.no/ifikk/english/people/aca/classics/tenured/hanla.edit
This essay deals with the early history of the notion of an ‘afterlife of antiquity’ as a metaphor for thinking about antiquity’s continued presence in later periods. Nachleben der Antike is often associated with Aby Warburg and... more
This essay deals with the early history of the notion of an ‘afterlife of antiquity’ as a metaphor for thinking about antiquity’s continued presence in later periods. Nachleben der Antike is often associated with Aby Warburg and Renaissance art but was first applied to the classical tradition of the Middle Ages by the Czech-German historian Anton Heinrich Springer (1825–1891). His provocative essay on the subject, first published in 1862, is a very early attempt to emancipate the classical tradition from strait-laced classicism and to see it as a historical problem. Springer’s approach anticipated some important later trends in understanding antiquity’s continued presence and significance. Afterlife of Antiquity returns something of the original resonance to Springer’s idea and sheds light on its significance in the history of scholarship. Recognizing some of the theoretical tensions inherent in Springer’s discussion, the current work examines how the notion of an afterlife of antiquity was embedded in the author’s wider interest in artistic tradition and how he used it as a polemical concept targeting both anti-classicizing Romanticist and traditional humanist views of medieval culture. This issue of Studies in Iconology also includes the first English translation of Springer’s Das Nachleben der Antike im Mittelalter, a largely forgotten classic of humanities scholarship, read and admired by Aby Warburg and Erwin Panofsky.
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This book discusses the transformation of Byzantine Hellenism as the cultural elite of Byzantium, displaced to Italy, constructed it. It explores why and how Byzantine migrants such as Cardinal Bessarion, Ianus Lascaris, and Giovanni... more
This book discusses the transformation of Byzantine Hellenism as the cultural elite of Byzantium, displaced to Italy, constructed it. It explores why and how Byzantine migrants such as Cardinal Bessarion, Ianus Lascaris, and Giovanni Gemisto adopted Greek personas to replace traditional Byzantine claims to the heirship of ancient Rome. In 'Greece Reinvented', Han Lamers shows that being Greek in the diaspora was both blessing and burden, and explores how these migrants’ newfound ‘Greekness’ enabled them to create distinctive positions for themselves while promoting group cohesion. These Greek personas reflected Latin understandings of who the Greeks ‘really’ were but sometimes also undermined Western paradigms. 'Greece Reinvented' reveals some of the cultural tensions that bubble under the surface of the much-studied transmission of Greek learning from Byzantium to Italy.
This is the first Dutch translation (with notes) of Manuel Chrysoloras' "Comparison between Old and New Rome" (with an epilogue on Chrysoloras' life, work, and significance).
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This book pays homage to Vibeke Roggen, Associate Professor of Latin at the University of Oslo, who has been a driving force and guiding spirit of classical culture in Norway. On the occasion of her retirement in 2022, national and... more
This book pays homage to Vibeke Roggen, Associate Professor of Latin at the University of Oslo, who has been a driving force and guiding spirit of classical culture in Norway. On the occasion of her retirement in 2022, national and international colleagues as well as former students have joined forces to acknowledge her commitment to Classics by contributing to this Festschrift. It is dedicated to Vibeke Roggen in gratitude and admiration for the inexhaustible energy, enthusiasm and generosity with which she has promoted the study of Latin and classical culture over the last few decades.
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This book deals with the use of Latin as a literary and epigraphic language under Italian Fascism (1922–1943). The myth of Rome lay at the heart of Italian Fascist ideology, and the ancient language of Rome, too, played an important role... more
This book deals with the use of Latin as a literary and epigraphic language under Italian Fascism (1922–1943). The myth of Rome lay at the heart of Italian Fascist ideology, and the ancient language of Rome, too, played an important role in the regime’s cultural politics. This collection deepens our understanding of ‘Fascist Latinity’, presents a range of previously little-known material, and opens up a number of new avenues of research. The chapters explore the pivotal role of Latin in constructing a link between ancient Rome and Fascist Italy; the different social and cultural contexts in which Latin texts functioned in the ventennio fascista; and the way in which ‘Fascist Latinity’ relied on, and manipulated, the ‘myth of Rome’ of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Italy.
Contributors: William Barton (Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Neo-Latin Studies), Xavier van Binnebeke (KU Leuven), Paolo Fedeli (Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro), Han Lamers (University of Oslo), Johanna Luggin (Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Neo-Latin Studies), Antonino Nastasi (Rome), Bettina Reitz-Joosse (University of Groningen), Dirk Sacré (KU Leuven), Valerio Sanzotta (Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Neo-Latin Studies), Wolfgang Strobl (Toblach).
Contributors: William Barton (Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Neo-Latin Studies), Xavier van Binnebeke (KU Leuven), Paolo Fedeli (Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro), Han Lamers (University of Oslo), Johanna Luggin (Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Neo-Latin Studies), Antonino Nastasi (Rome), Bettina Reitz-Joosse (University of Groningen), Dirk Sacré (KU Leuven), Valerio Sanzotta (Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Neo-Latin Studies), Wolfgang Strobl (Toblach).
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This volume, edited by Natasha Constantinidou and Han Lamers, investigates modes of receiving and responding to Greeks, Greece, and Greek in early modern Europe (15th-17th centuries). The book's seventeen detailed studies illuminate the... more
This volume, edited by Natasha Constantinidou and Han Lamers, investigates modes of receiving and responding to Greeks, Greece, and Greek in early modern Europe (15th-17th centuries). The book's seventeen detailed studies illuminate the reception of Greek culture (the classical, Byzantine, and even post-Byzantine traditions), the Greek language (ancient, vernacular, and 'humanist'), as well as the people claiming, or being assigned, Greek identities during this period in different geographical and cultural contexts.
Discussing subjects as diverse as, for example, Greek studies and the Reformation, artistic interchange between Greek East and Latin West, networks of communication in the Greek diaspora, and the ramifications of Greek antiquarianism, the book aims at encouraging a more concerted debate about the role of Hellenism in early modern Europe that goes beyond disciplinary boundaries, and opening ways towards a more over-arching understanding of this multifaceted cultural phenomenon.
Contributors: Aslıhan Akışık-Karakullukçu, Michele Bacci, Malika Bastin-Hammou, Peter Bell, Michail Chatzidakis, Federica Ciccolella, Calliope Dourou, Anthony Ellis, Niccolò Fattori, Maria Luisa Napolitano, Janika Päll, Luigi-Alberto Sanchi, Niketas Siniossoglou, William Stenhouse, Paola Tomè, Raf Van Rooy, and Stefan Weise.
Discussing subjects as diverse as, for example, Greek studies and the Reformation, artistic interchange between Greek East and Latin West, networks of communication in the Greek diaspora, and the ramifications of Greek antiquarianism, the book aims at encouraging a more concerted debate about the role of Hellenism in early modern Europe that goes beyond disciplinary boundaries, and opening ways towards a more over-arching understanding of this multifaceted cultural phenomenon.
Contributors: Aslıhan Akışık-Karakullukçu, Michele Bacci, Malika Bastin-Hammou, Peter Bell, Michail Chatzidakis, Federica Ciccolella, Calliope Dourou, Anthony Ellis, Niccolò Fattori, Maria Luisa Napolitano, Janika Päll, Luigi-Alberto Sanchi, Niketas Siniossoglou, William Stenhouse, Paola Tomè, Raf Van Rooy, and Stefan Weise.
Research Interests: European History, Intellectual History, Cultural History, Art History, Early Modern History, and 9 moreRenaissance Humanism, The Classical Tradition, History of Scholarship, History of Classical Scholarship, Classical Reception Studies, Hellenism, Renaissance antiquarianism, Modern Greek Studies, and Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies
The five papers collected in this special issue of the International Journal of the Classical Tradition show some of the ways in which scholars in early modern Europe shaped, used and gave meaning to Greek learning. Table of contents:... more
The five papers collected in this special issue of the International Journal of the Classical Tradition show some of the ways in which scholars in early modern Europe shaped, used and gave meaning to Greek learning.
Table of contents: Han Lamers, "Constructing Hellenism: Studies on the History of Greek Learning in Early Modern Europe" (Introduction); Filippomaria Pontani, "Hellenic Verse and Christian Humanism: From Nonnus to Musurus"; Gerald Sandy, "Guillaume Budé and the Uses of Greek"; Natasha Constantinidou, "Constructions of Hellenism Through Printing and Editorial Choices: The Case of Adrien de Turnèbe, Royal Lecturer and Printer in Greek (1512–1565)"; Bernd Roling, "Joshua Apollo: Edmund Dickinson’s Delphi phoenizantes and the Biblical Origins of Greece in Seventeenth-Century England"; Asaph Ben-Tov, "Hellenism in the Context of Oriental Studies: The Case of Johann Gottfried Lakemacher (1695–1736)".
Table of contents: Han Lamers, "Constructing Hellenism: Studies on the History of Greek Learning in Early Modern Europe" (Introduction); Filippomaria Pontani, "Hellenic Verse and Christian Humanism: From Nonnus to Musurus"; Gerald Sandy, "Guillaume Budé and the Uses of Greek"; Natasha Constantinidou, "Constructions of Hellenism Through Printing and Editorial Choices: The Case of Adrien de Turnèbe, Royal Lecturer and Printer in Greek (1512–1565)"; Bernd Roling, "Joshua Apollo: Edmund Dickinson’s Delphi phoenizantes and the Biblical Origins of Greece in Seventeenth-Century England"; Asaph Ben-Tov, "Hellenism in the Context of Oriental Studies: The Case of Johann Gottfried Lakemacher (1695–1736)".
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Table of contents: J. Hylkema & H. Lamers, "Between Emblem and Labyrinth: The Many Images of Europe in Art, Literature, and Scholarship, 1500–1800" (p. 789); J. L. Smith, "Europe's Confused Transmutation: The Realignment of Moral... more
Table of contents: J. Hylkema & H. Lamers, "Between Emblem and Labyrinth: The Many Images of Europe in Art, Literature, and Scholarship, 1500–1800" (p. 789); J. L. Smith, "Europe's Confused Transmutation: The Realignment of Moral Cartography in Juan de la Cosa's 'Mappa Mundi' (1500)" (p. 799); E. Smith, "De-personifying Collaert's Four Continents: European Descriptions of Continental Diversity, 1585–1625" (p. 817); B. Cornea, "Princely Longing for Europe: Constantine II Brâncoveanu's Mogoşoaia Palace (1702) and the Creation of a European Identity" (p. 837); R. Chung-yam Po, "Maritime Countries in the Far West: Western Europe in Xie Qinggao's 'Records of the Sea' (c.1783–93)" (p. 857); D. Eggel, "A Civilisation at Peril: Goethe's Representation of Europe During the 'Sattelzeit'" (p. 871); T. Van Hal, "One Continent, One Language? 'Europa Celtica' and Its Language in Philippus Cluverius' 'Germania antiqua' (1616) and Beyond" (p. 889).
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Lamers, Han. ‘Ascanio Persio and the Greekness of Italian’. In Languages and Cross-Cultural Exchanges in Renaissance Italy, edited by Alessandra Petrocchi, and Joshua Brown, 359–87. Late Medieval and Early Modern Studies 30. Turnhout:... more
Lamers, Han. ‘Ascanio Persio and the Greekness of Italian’. In Languages and Cross-Cultural Exchanges in Renaissance Italy, edited by Alessandra Petrocchi, and Joshua Brown, 359–87. Late Medieval and Early Modern Studies 30. Turnhout: Brepols, 2023.
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This article explores the role and functions of Latin in the political rhetoric of Benito Mussolini. Through an analysis of his published writings and speeches, it investigates how Mussolini’s understanding, perceptions, and uses of Latin... more
This article explores the role and functions of Latin in the political rhetoric of Benito Mussolini. Through an analysis of his published writings and speeches, it investigates how Mussolini’s understanding, perceptions, and uses of Latin evolved over time, from his early days as a Socialist leader to his years as head of Italian Fascism. Despite his limited knowledge of the language, Mussolini accorded Latin special symbolic significance and actively sought to cultivate an image of himself as proficient in it. The article demonstrates how Mussolini's initial association of Latin with the Roman Catholic Church and bourgeois culture gave way to a recognition of its political potential in the context of the Fascist cult of Rome. It is shown how Mussolini employed Latin words and phrases for various purposes throughout his political career. Particular emphasis is placed on the ways in which he used Latin to communicate Fascist ideas and to construct his public persona as the ‘Roman-style’ leader of Fascism.
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This contribution serves to start a more thoroughgoing discussion about the phenomenon of scholarly forgetting within the humanities beyond disciplinary boundaries. How can one explain the fact that knowledge, at some point circulating in... more
This contribution serves to start a more thoroughgoing discussion about the phenomenon of scholarly forgetting within the humanities beyond disciplinary boundaries. How can one explain the fact that knowledge, at some point circulating in the scholarship , eventually sinks into oblivion and, in some cases, even escapes the attention of the historian of scholarship? The essay argues that each instance of scholarly forgetting should be understood against the backdrop of a complex interplay between the "Vergessenspotential" of the object under consideration and the working context of the forgetting community. It examines how processes of forgetting have co-shaped both the humanities and how scholars think about its history. In conjunction with this, it discusses how we, as historians of scholarship, may deal with scholarly forgetting more self-consciously than has been attempted before.
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This article analyses Francesco Giammaria’s Capitolium Novum, a Latin poem describing a tour of the historic center of Rome in 1933, in its historical, architectural, and intellectual contexts. It offers a detailed analysis of three key... more
This article analyses Francesco Giammaria’s Capitolium Novum, a Latin poem describing a tour of the historic center of Rome in 1933, in its historical, architectural, and intellectual contexts. It offers a detailed analysis of three key sections of the poem, which deal with the Colosseum, the Arch of Constantine, and the Ara dei caduti fascisti respectively. The authors show how Giammaria’s poem responds to urbanistic interventions in the city center during the ventennio, and specifically to the Fascist ‘recoding’ of the city as the ‘Third Rome’, with a narrative emphasizing the historically layered nature of Rome. Giammaria offers his own interpretation of the respective importance and interrelation of the city’s historic layers: the rhetoric of his poem is aimed at superimposing Catholic Rome over pagan Rome, and at framing all historical layers of the city, including the Fascist one, as part of its Christian mission and destiny. Thus, Capitolium novum resonates with efforts of intellectuals gathered around Carlo Galassi Paluzzi’s Istituto di Studi Romani, who aimed to promote a cultural reconciliation between Fascism and Catholicism.
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This paper reconsiders Janus Lascaris’ Florentine Oration (1493) by analyzing its central argument that the Latin language is Greek (Latina lingua Graeca est). It situates Lascaris’ thesis in the context of ancient ideas about the... more
This paper reconsiders Janus Lascaris’ Florentine Oration (1493) by analyzing its central argument that the Latin language is Greek (Latina lingua Graeca est). It situates Lascaris’ thesis in the context of ancient ideas about the relationship between Latin and Greek (chiefly Aeolism) and their reception in later periods. Specifically, it discusses his use of etymology, indebted not only to Latin but also to Byzantine sources. Outlining a ‘reconstructive’ method based on etymology to trace Latin words to their alleged Greek roots, Lascaris’ Florentine Oration not only marks an important moment in the reception history of Aeolism, but also complicates the ways in which the story of its reception has usually been told.
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Imagined Greekness: Identifications with the Ancient Greeks in Early Modern Europe This article examines the ways in which early modern scholars sometimes identified themselves and their communities with the ancient Greeks in their quest... more
Imagined Greekness: Identifications with the Ancient Greeks in Early Modern Europe
This article examines the ways in which early modern scholars sometimes identified themselves and their communities with the ancient Greeks in their quest for distinctive cultural identities. This ‘imagined Greekness’ has mostly been discussed in the context of French humanism, where it is generally referred to as "celt’-hellénisme", suggesting that it was a consistent ideology. This paper shows that, in sixteenth-century French humanism, ‘Greekness’ was not an entirely coherent set of ideas but entailed a range of different perspectives on the connections between French and Greek culture. Moreover, it shows that identifications with the ancient Greeks were not confined to France but occurred in various cultural and political contexts throughout Europe, from Southern Italy to Finland, roughly from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century. Whereas a full history of the phenomenon is still lacking, this article offers a first overview of the subject and indicates some avenues for further research.
This article examines the ways in which early modern scholars sometimes identified themselves and their communities with the ancient Greeks in their quest for distinctive cultural identities. This ‘imagined Greekness’ has mostly been discussed in the context of French humanism, where it is generally referred to as "celt’-hellénisme", suggesting that it was a consistent ideology. This paper shows that, in sixteenth-century French humanism, ‘Greekness’ was not an entirely coherent set of ideas but entailed a range of different perspectives on the connections between French and Greek culture. Moreover, it shows that identifications with the ancient Greeks were not confined to France but occurred in various cultural and political contexts throughout Europe, from Southern Italy to Finland, roughly from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century. Whereas a full history of the phenomenon is still lacking, this article offers a first overview of the subject and indicates some avenues for further research.
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Italian Fascism anchored its revolutionary ideology in the Roman past, embedding and legitimising changes in every sphere of life through an appeal to a supposedly shared Roman heritage. In this article, we scrutinise these Fascist... more
Italian Fascism anchored its revolutionary ideology in the Roman past, embedding and legitimising changes in every sphere of life through an appeal to a supposedly shared Roman heritage. In this article, we scrutinise these Fascist dynamics of anchoring through an analysis of the Mussolini obelisk in Rome and the Latin text hidden below it: Aurelio Amatucci’s Codex Fori Mussolini. We focus especially on the Fascist manipulation of the obelisk tradition, the significance of Amatucci’s choice of language, and his use of ancient authors within the Codex. We argue that the ‘ground’ in which monument and text are anchored is fundamentally unstable: the Roman past itself is a dynamic and adaptable construction. Obelisk and Codex selectively evoke and (re-)combine a multiplicity of elements – from antiquity to the twentieth century, from the Renaissance to the Risorgimento. In doing so, obelisk and text shape the very tradition in which they anchor.
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Taking Nicola Festa’s Latin version of Mussolini’s ‘proclamation of empire’ (1936/7) as a case study, this article examines the role of translations from Italian into Latin in Fascist Italy. It places translations such as Festa’s in the... more
Taking Nicola Festa’s Latin version of Mussolini’s ‘proclamation of empire’ (1936/7) as a case study, this article examines the role of translations from Italian into Latin in Fascist Italy. It places translations such as Festa’s in the context of the special cultural and ideological value attached to Latin as well as the problematic perception of translation under Fascism. Unlike many other forms of translation, translating into Latin was not regarded as deplorable ‘move away’ from the original’s authenticity but rather as an enhancement to the original’s expressive and communicative force. By examining Festa’s version of Mussolini’s ‘proclamazione’ in more detail, this article also shows how this theoretical tenet was put into practice, and how Festa transformed the symbolic value of the original text by subtly changing its content in various ways. Apart from answering the questions why and for whom the famous Classicist translated Mussolini’s historic speech into Latin, this article shows how this particular translation resonates with wider cultural concerns of Fascism in the 1930s, most notably the Fascist appropriation of ancient Rome (the use of Latin being a crucial but often overlooked aspect of it), the regime’s growing anxiety over cultural autarky, and its desire to promote Italian Fascism abroad.
Research Interests: Translation Studies, Italian Studies, Neo-latin literature, The Classical Tradition, Fascism and Classical Antiquity, and 7 moreHistory of Classical Scholarship, Classical Reception Studies, Reception of Antiquity, Classical Tradition in Art and Literature, Italian fascism, Benito Mussolini, and Classical reception
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During the ventennio fascista (1922-43), Italy saw a large and diverse production of original Latin literature with explicitly Fascist themes. The number of texts published in this period and the regime’s direct and indirect support for... more
During the ventennio fascista (1922-43), Italy saw a large and diverse production of original Latin literature with explicitly Fascist themes. The number of texts published in this period and the regime’s direct and indirect support for their production make it clear that we are dealing with an important aspect of Fascist cultural politics, which has never yet been studied in detail. In this article, we explore what it meant to write in Latin in Fascist Italy. After introducing the authors and readers of Fascist Latin texts as well as their cultural and institutional contexts, we map the ideological functions that were attributed to Latin during the ventennio. We analyse a selection of largely forgotten Fascist Latin texts, including Luigi Illuminati’s ‘Dux’, Giovanni Mazza’s ‘Italia renata’, Benito Mussolini’s ‘Romae laudes’, and Vittorio Genovesi’s ‘Mare nostrum’. On the basis of these texts, we discuss Latin as the language of romanità, as a modern and a specifically Fascist language, as a national and an international language, and as the language of Italian imperialism.
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This article offers a first survey of the life and works of Manilio Cabacio Rallo (or Rhallus) of Sparta as well as a first edition of a selection of his Latin poems.
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This article (in Dutch) offers a short introduction to key concepts in linguistic pragmatics and shows what these may contribute to our understanding of word order and the use of aspect forms in ancient Greek.
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The purpose of this article is to provide a reading of Lysias 12.419 in the light of Sicking's pragmatic theory of aspect. Lamers and Rademaker demonstrate that an analysis of the use of aspect forms clarifies Lysias' indirect persuasive... more
The purpose of this article is to provide a reading of Lysias 12.419 in the light of Sicking's pragmatic theory of aspect. Lamers and Rademaker demonstrate that an analysis of the use of aspect forms clarifies Lysias' indirect persuasive approach in this narration.
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Extended deadline: Friday 5 June 2020. For the Eighteenth Congress of the International Association for Neo-Latin Studies (Leuven, 1-6 August 2021), we would like to propose one or more special sessions on the uses of Latin under... more
Extended deadline: Friday 5 June 2020.
For the Eighteenth Congress of the International Association for Neo-Latin Studies (Leuven, 1-6 August 2021), we would like to propose one or more special sessions on the uses of Latin under Italian Fascism (1922-1943).
For the Eighteenth Congress of the International Association for Neo-Latin Studies (Leuven, 1-6 August 2021), we would like to propose one or more special sessions on the uses of Latin under Italian Fascism (1922-1943).
Research Interests: Cultural History, Comparative Literature, Latin Literature, History and Classical tradition studies, Fascism, and 10 moreItalian Literature, Neo-latin literature, Latin Epigraphy, History of Classical Scholarship, Literary History, Classical Reception Studies, Classical Tradition in Art and Literature, Italian fascism, Fascist propaganda, and Classical reception
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Over the past 30 years it has become evident to scholars that humanism, through the re-appreciation of classical antiquity, created a bridge to the modern era, which also includes the Middle Ages. The criticism of the humanists against... more
Over the past 30 years it has become evident to scholars that humanism, through the re-appreciation of classical antiquity, created a bridge to the modern era, which also includes the Middle Ages. The criticism of the humanists against Medieval authors did not prevent them from using some tools that the Middle Ages had developed or synthesized: glossaries, epitomes, dictionaries, encyclopaedias, translations, commentaries. At present one thing that is missing, however, is a systematic investigation of the tools used for the study of Greek between the fifteenth and sixteenth century; this is truly important, because, in the following centuries, Greek culture provided the basis of European thought in all the most important fields of knowledge.
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status: publishe
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Research Interests: Sociology, Humanities, Sociology of Knowledge, History and Memory, History Of Information, and 10 moreMemory Studies, Cultural Memory, History of Scholarship, History of Library and Information Science, History of knowledge, Forgetting, Organizational forgetting, History of Humanities, Memory and Oblivion, and History of the Humanities
The collection of essays in this themed issue examine processes of forgetting in the history of the humanities. The theme includes contributions from fields as diverse as art history, musicology, linguistics, logic, classics, archaeology,... more
The collection of essays in this themed issue examine processes of forgetting in the history of the humanities. The theme includes contributions from fields as diverse as art history, musicology, linguistics, logic, classics, archaeology, papyrology, theology, and history. By exploring how names, books, ideas, methods, connections, and approaches have fallen into oblivion, and by asking why this happened, the essays raise some wider questions about writing histories of humanities.
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Summary Italian Fascism anchored its revolutionary ideology in the Roman past, embedding and legitimising changes in every sphere of life through an appeal to a supposedly shared Roman heritage. In this article, we scrutinise these... more
Summary Italian Fascism anchored its revolutionary ideology in the Roman past, embedding and legitimising changes in every sphere of life through an appeal to a supposedly shared Roman heritage. In this article, we scrutinise these Fascist dynamics of anchoring through an analysis of the Mussolini obelisk in Rome and the Latin text hidden below it: Aurelio Amatucci’s Codex Fori Mussolini. We focus especially on the Fascist manipulation of the obelisk tradition, the significance of Amatucci’s choice of language, and his use of ancient authors within the Codex. We argue that the ‘ground’ in which monument and text are anchored is fundamentally unstable: the Roman past itself is a dynamic and adaptable construction. Obelisk and Codex selectively evoke and (re-)combine a multiplicity of elements – from antiquity to the twentieth century, from the Renaissance to the Risorgimento. In doing so, obelisk and text shape the very tradition in which they anchor.
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This article analyses Francesco Giammaria’s Capitolium Novum, a Latin poem describing a tour of the historic center of Rome in 1933, in its historical, architectural, and intellectual contexts. It offers a detailed analysis of three key... more
This article analyses Francesco Giammaria’s Capitolium Novum, a Latin poem describing a tour of the historic center of Rome in 1933, in its historical, architectural, and intellectual contexts. It offers a detailed analysis of three key sections of the poem, which deal with the Colosseum, the Arch of Constantine, and the Ara dei caduti fascisti respectively. The authors show how Giammaria’s poem responds to urbanistic interventions in the city center during the ventennio, and specifically to the Fascist ‘recoding’ of the city as the ‘Third Rome’, with a narrative emphasizing the historically layered nature of Rome. Giammaria offers his own interpretation of the respective importance and interrelation of the city’s historic layers: the rhetoric of his poem is aimed at superimposing Catholic Rome over pagan Rome, and at framing all historical layers of the city, including the Fascist one, as part of its Christian mission and destiny. Thus, Capitolium novum resonates with efforts of in...
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The Right Moment. Essays Offered to Barbara Baert, Laureate of the 2016 Francqui Prize in Human Sciences, on the Occasion of the Celebratory Symposium at the Francqui Foundation, Brussels, 18-19 October 2018, in consultation with Han... more
The Right Moment. Essays Offered to Barbara Baert, Laureate of the 2016 Francqui Prize in Human Sciences, on the Occasion of the Celebratory Symposium at the Francqui Foundation, Brussels, 18-19 October 2018, in consultation with Han LAMERS. Editorial assistance: Stephanie HEREMANS & Laura TACK, (Studies in Iconology, 20), Leuven – Paris – Bristol, CT: Peeters, 2021.
The essays collected in this volume explore how and by what means, from antiquity to the present day, the notion of ‘the right moment’ has been defined, visualized, and experienced. The authors approach the subject from a range of disciplines and often work at the intersection of several of them, including the history of art and architecture, philosophy and art theory, classics and comparative literature, the history of religion and theology, and anthropology. In addition to scholarly exposés, the book contains a number of personal musings and artistic reflections on ‘the right moment’ in various forms and kinds of imagination – visual, literary, and philosophical.
The Right Moment originates in a festive symposium held at the Francqui Foundation in Brussels on 18 and 19 October 2018 in honour of Barbara Baert, Laureate of the 2016 Francqui Prize in Human Sciences. “The statue of καιρός lives,” Barbara Baert wrote, “and it lets its powers gently glow to the surface for those who recognize him. But for those who miss him, a sharp and bitter trail remains.”
The essays collected in this volume explore how and by what means, from antiquity to the present day, the notion of ‘the right moment’ has been defined, visualized, and experienced. The authors approach the subject from a range of disciplines and often work at the intersection of several of them, including the history of art and architecture, philosophy and art theory, classics and comparative literature, the history of religion and theology, and anthropology. In addition to scholarly exposés, the book contains a number of personal musings and artistic reflections on ‘the right moment’ in various forms and kinds of imagination – visual, literary, and philosophical.
The Right Moment originates in a festive symposium held at the Francqui Foundation in Brussels on 18 and 19 October 2018 in honour of Barbara Baert, Laureate of the 2016 Francqui Prize in Human Sciences. “The statue of καιρός lives,” Barbara Baert wrote, “and it lets its powers gently glow to the surface for those who recognize him. But for those who miss him, a sharp and bitter trail remains.”