Proceedings of the 8th Biennial International Conference of Greek Studies, 2009
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The Eighth Biennial International Conference of Greek Studies, held at Flinders University, South Australia, in June, 2009, represented an important global gathering. The Conference hosted representatives and presenters from four continents and nine countries and engaged audiences with an impressive collection of papers. The Conference helped celebrate a unique milestone for Greek Studies, marking as it did a celebration of 22 golden years of Modern Greek studies at Flinders University.
A very distinctive feature of proceedings publication of this important conference is the light it has shed on specific Hellenic debates and discourses, both current and historical. The authors have provided erudite discussions on a broad range of topics, inviting new ways of thinking activated through reflection on change. The reader is ever invited to reinterpret new meanings stemming from a deep respect for preserving links with the past.
All papers published in the present volume were assessed by our reviewers as significant academic contributions to the sociology of historical and cultural knowledge. The reviewers themselves are esteemed scholars of international renown.
The papers in this collection address a number of significant themes in Greek Studies: Ancient Greek Philosophy across Time; The Recent History of Greece and Cyprus: key issues as they pertain to Greek and Cypriot discourse and debate; Greeks and Cypriots in Australia and Beyond: personal and cultural histories dealing with concepts underpinning change over time and elaborated on in relation to personal memoirs and socio-cultural discourse; Modern Greek literature, Language, Education and the Arts: Discourses related to literature, language, education and the arts as they influence intercultural dynamics; myths and tradition; visual and performing arts; linguistics and learning.
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ItemSelf-Portraits by Nineteenth-Century Greek Painters(Flinders University Department of Languages - Modern Greek, 2011)The subject of this paper is the self-portrait, and, in particular, the ways in which Greek painters of the 19th century supported and expanded the genre. A series of self-portraits of painters who lived beyond the borders of the newly established Greek state are analysed in this paper. From an iconographic aspect, their works follow the constitutional visual conventions and they are created within the frame of a specific artistic trend, reflecting theoretical discussions and conflicts of their times. By the end of the 19th century the self-portrait had, for several reasons, lost their distinctive elements and was usually not conceived as different from the portrait. From the 1860’s, many Greek painters created portraits of themselves in order to express their personal success, and also, to present the case for the improvement of the social position of the Greek artists, in general. A leading example of such a focus of intention can be seen in the self-portraits of Nikeforos Lytras.
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ItemParmenides, Hegel and Special Relativity(Flinders University Department of Languages - Modern Greek, 2011)This paper explores two different responses to the metaphysics of Parmenides. It highlights the importance of Parmenides in the development of the Hegelian Dialectic. And it examines some of the parallels between Parmenides ideas and certain interpretations of special relativity theory.
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ItemMedicine in Ancient Cyprus(Flinders University Department of Languages - Modern Greek, 2011)In ancient times, Cyprus played an important role in the science of Medicine. This was largely due to its rich mineral deposits and its varied vegetation, both of which were primary sources for the preparation of medicaments. These attracted a number of wellknown physicians who studied and, in the case of Galen in the second century AD, visited the island. The paper will present the results of a recently concluded, two-year research project that assembled all available information on the eponymous doctors of ancient Cyprus and the medicaments associated with the island. It also deals with all other evidence related to medicine and cure, such as ancient surgical instruments, the occurrence of healing deities, the use of ex-votos, the use of sympathetic/prophylactic magic, and other.
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ItemThe Dying and Deathless Musician in Modern Greek Culture: Nikos Xylouris and Manos Loizos(Flinders University Department of Languages - Modern Greek, 2011)The aim of this paper is to explore the way that the image of popular musicians in Greece is informed, modified and transformed by death. The image of the dying musician has become established in Greek tradition and is a common motif in both oral and literary sources where the death of the musician is invariably presented as both a personal and national loss. Indeed, it can be argued, that it is at the point of death that the musician truly “belongs” to “the people”. In the case of Nikos Xylouris and Manos Loizos, both musicians were loved and esteemed by friends, colleagues and the general populace alike. Their respective deaths were documented in great detail. Despite the abundance of information, however, the posthumous images which evolved drew on generic, mythic images of the dying and deathless musician already in existence in the culture. My focus is on exploring this process.
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ItemMythology in the Scholia on Apollonius Rhodius(Flinders University Department of Languages - Modern Greek, 2011)Scholia represent a significant heritage of the ancient critics’ philological activity. Their main aim was to contribute to correct understanding of the text while taking into account not only the linguistic and literary perspectives but also the regional and social context. Hence scholia to works dealing with mythology also contain interesting information on various versions of individual myths and their traditions; apart from that, they show the ways of how ancient critics viewed particular myths. On the scholia to the epic work by Apollonius Rhodius, whose epic is the only preserved representative from the Helllenistic period, it will be shown what paradigms of thoughts can be found in the approaches towards the ancient myth. Consequently, these paradigms will be subject to comparison with traditional ancient interpretation methods of myth.
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ItemThe Australian Contribution to the United Nations Force in Cyprus(Flinders University Department of Languages - Modern Greek, 2011)This paper, based on Australian sources, aims to examine the logic behind Australia’s decision to contribute a police unit in the United Nations Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) in 1964. It offers answers to questions such as: What was the first reaction in Canberra to the UN request for troops contribution in the UNFICYP? What were Australia’s major reservations? What were the decisive factors that led to the re-examination of Canberra’s first reaction and its final decision?