University of Minnesota
Classical and Near Eastern Studies
cnes@umn.edu
612-625-5353


Classical and Near Eastern Studies.

Classical and Near Eastern Studies

The mission of the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Studies is to produce and disseminate knowledge about the civilizations of the ancient Mediterranean and Near East from the Neolithic period through late antiquity. The Department faculty conducts research and teaches courses in the languages and literatures of Greece, Rome, and the Near East (including Modern Hebrew); and the archaeology, art, history, and religious traditions of these civilizations, including the development of early Judaism and Christianity. The Department offers majors in Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology, and Ancient Mediterranean Studies. CNES is also the administrative home of the programs in Religious Studies and Classical Civilization. 

The CNES faculty includes a number of scholars who have won awards for both teaching and research.

Department News

  • "The Word Made Flesh" Celebrates the 400th Anniversary of the King James Bible at Wilson Library

    The University of Minnesota Libraries are celebrating the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Bible with the following exhibit:

    The Word Made Flesh

    word_made_flesh.jpg

    When: Monday, November 28, 2011 - Friday, February 24, 2012; Monday - Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

    Where: T.R. Anderson Gallery, Wilson Library

    Free and open to the public

    This exhibit will feature examples of biblical texts, including medieval manuscripts and facsimiles. Highlights will include two leaves from the 42-line Gutenberg Bible; the original New Testament portion of the King James Bible; other early printings such as the Geneva Bible and the "Breeches" Bible; and related works stemming out of the Reformation such as publications, broadsides, and pamphlets from Martin Luther, Philip Melanchthon, and others.

    Word-Made-Flesh-Poster600.png



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  • CNES Grads Shine at CAMWS

    From our Director of Graduate Studies, Professor Nita Krevans:
    Just back from Grand Rapids, Michigan, where our graduate students gavea range of wonderful papers. (I also heard presentations from severalformer Minnesota students, including Eric Fanning and Tom Kohn, andfrom Chris Nappa.) For those who were not at the meeting and could notmake the practice session, I've appended a list of the student papersand links to the abstracts below. Congratulations to all thepresenters; I hope you enjoyed giving your papers as much as I enjoyedhearing them in their official, public versions.

    Cicero Reading Polybius: The Role of Polybius in the De Re Publica.Aaron L. Beek (University of Minnesota)
    http://www.camws.org/meeting/2011/program/abstracts/01E1.BeekAaron.doc

    Death, Friendship, and the Republic: The Dour Settings of Cicero's DeAmicitia. Andrew Willey (University of Minnesota)
    http://www.camws.org/meeting/2011/program/abstracts/01E3.Willey.doc

    Poetic Failure/Poetic Flight: The Myth of Daedalus in Horace's Odes.Cynthia A. Hornbeck (University of Minnesota)
    http://www.camws.org/meeting/2011/program/abstracts/03C5.Hornbeck.doc

    Sex, Lies, and Visual Aids: Longus and the Art of Deception. Don M.Burrows (University of Minnesota)
    http://www.camws.org/meeting/2011/program/abstracts/05C4.Burrows.doc

    The Cougar in Maiden's Clothing: Callirhoe as Phaedra. Anna E. Beek(University of Minnesota)
    http://www.camws.org/meeting/2011/program/abstracts/05C6.BeekAnna.doc

    Reflections on an Encounter: Hermaphroditus and Salmacis in Ovid'sMetamorphoses Book IV. Elizabeth A. Warner (University of Minnesota)
    http://www.camws.org/meeting/2011/program/abstracts/06D3.Warner.doc

    Purest Springs of Fire: Giants and Callimachean Poetics in Pythian 1and 8. Christine E. Lechelt (University of Minnesota)
    http://www.camws.org/meeting/2011/program/abstracts/12C1.Lechelt.doc     Read More

  • Text, Authority, and Interpretation in the worlds of Hellenism and early Judaism

    A panel discussion in Classical and Near Eastern Studies

    Friday, April 29th, 2:00-5:00pm, 140 Nolte

    Literate societies, ancient and modern, produce texts of many kinds. Most texts exercise little cultural authority and are read only for brief periods of time, by small groups of individuals, and for limited purposes. But some texts achieve - or are accorded - broad significance and enduring authority. They cease to be merely writings and are transformed into scripture, which is read, studied, and attributed profound meaning of various sorts.

    CNES brings together three influential scholars to discuss the phenomenon in early Judaism and the Hellenistic world during the centuries surrounding the turn of the era. Robert Lamberton (Washington University) studies how texts of Homer's poems were established, used, and interpreted in the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Benjamin Wright (Lehigh University) examines the production, authorization, and reception of the Septuagint, the Greek Translation of the Hebrew Bible. Molly Zahn (University of Kansas) investigates the rewriting or reworking of biblical books as evidenced in the Dead Sea Scrolls. All three processes transpired more or less simultaneously in different parts of the ancient Mediterranean world. Each instantiates a phenomenon of establishing, authorizing, receiving, and interpreting texts that eventually attained the status of scripture.

    Conventional disciplinary boundaries have tended to keep the study of ancient Greek and Hebrew literature separate. But these texts were all generated within the intersecting cultural frameworks of the ancient Mediterranean world, suggesting that new knowledge may be gained by examining them together. We expect that the panelists' areas of inquiry will not only prove mutually illuminating, but yield insights applicable to other literatures and other moments in history.

    Panelists:

    Robert Lamberton, Department of Classics, Washington University in St. Louis

    Benjamin G. Wright III, Department of Religion Studies, Lehigh University

    Molly M. Zahn, Department of Religious Studies, University of Kansas

    Respondents:

    Andrew Gallia, Department of History, University of Minnesota

    Alex Jassen, Department of Classical and Near Eastern Studies, University of Minnesota

    The three panelists will each make a brief presentation based on their published work, selections of which are posted below. Participants and attendees are encouraged to read some of these selections in preparation for the panel discussion. For each panelist, one article or book chapter is highlighted as most important for apprehending his or her subject of inquiry.

    Robert Lamberton
    Lamberton, Homer in Antiquity.pdf
    Lamberton Homer Encyclopedia entries.pdf

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