PROGRAM 8:30-9:00 Coffee and Registration in the Mosaic Gallery 9:00 – 10:45 Session One Robert Ousterhout Director, Center for Ancient Studies, Penn Opening Remarks John C. Shields Department of English, Illinois State University “Competing American Mythologies: Adam and Aeneas” Eric Cheyfitz Department of English, Cornell University “The Way to the Fifth World: Navajo Epistemologies of Origin and Identity” 10:45-11:00 Coffee in the Mosaic Gallery 11:00-12:45 Session Two Phiroze Vasunia Department of Classics, University of Reading, U.K. “Alexander the Great and Colonial India” Valentina Follo Art and Archaeology of the Mediterranean World, Penn “The Past Made Present: Mussolini's Pursuit of an Empire” 12:45-2:15 Lunch 2:15-4:00 Session Three Mario Ruiz Department of History, Hofstra University “Remembering Cosmopolitan Alexandria” Brian Spooner Department of Anthropology, Penn “Iranian Ideals, Persian Regrets” 4:00-4:15 Coffee in the Mosaic Gallery 4:15-6:00 Session Four Dmitry Shvidkovsky Russian Academy of Art and Moscow Institute of Architecture “The Historic Identity of Russian Architecture and its Modern Meaning” Jo-Ann Gross Department of History, The College of New Jersey “Oral History, Sacred Space, and Isma’ili Identity in Tajik Badakhshan” Renata Holod Department of the History of Art, Penn Closing Remarks 6:00-7:00 Reception

The Dark Ages Enlightened: A Workshop Friday 1 February 2008 Rainey Auditorium, University of Pennsylvania Museum Sponsored by the Center for Ancient Studies and the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology In order to properly welcome Dr. Richard Hodges to the University of Pennsylvania’s intellectual community, scholars at Penn and in the Philadelphia area will gather for a day of informal presentations and discussion of their research on the early Middle Ages. All presentations are free and open to the public. Students are encouraged to attend. 10:30-11:00 Coffee 11:00 – 12:45 Session One (Chair: Robert Ousterhout) Richard Hodges (Director, University of Pennsylvania Museum) Dark Age Economics in 2008 John Haldon (History, Princeton University) How Dark Were the Dark Ages? Ann Matter (Religious Studies, Penn) The Soul of the Dog-Man: Ratramnus of Corbie and the Dilemma of Humanity Robert Maxwell (History of Art, Penn) Medieval Urbanism and the Problem of Romanesque Art 12:45-2:00 Lunch 2:00-4:00 Session Two Annette Yoshiko Reed (Religious Studies, Penn) The First Christian Novel: The Pseudo-Clementines and their Early Reception Cameron Grey (Classics, Penn) The Origins of the Medieval Serfdom? (Re)reconsidering the Roman Colonate. Celia Chazelle (History, The College of New Jersey) Ritual, Art, and Evocations of the Holy Land in the Early Medieval British Isles Jessica Goldberg (History, Penn) Peering Backward: The Cairo Geniza and the Mediterranean 4:00-4:15 Coffee 4:15-6:15 Session Three Elizabeth Bolman (History of Art, Temple University) New Research at the Red Monastery (near Sohag, Egypt) Dale Kinney (History of Art, Bryn Mawr College) Recycling/Metamorphosis: Ancient Gems in Dark Age Treasuries Cynthia Hahn (History of Art, Graduate Center, CUNY) Portable Altars: Messages and Meanings Larry Nees (History of Art, Delaware) The Dome of the Chain and the Beginnings of Islamic Architecture in Jerusalem

Organized to complement the Penn Humanities Forum annual theme of “Origins,” the Center for Ancient Studies spring symposium takes the theme “Ancient Origins, Modern Identities,” examining the ways in which pre-modern history and civilizations have been invoked in the construction of modern group identities (national, religious, or ethnic). The all-day symposium will take place on Friday 21 March in the Rainey Auditorium at the Penn Museum. Speakers will include John C. Shields (English, Illinois State), Phiroze Vasunia (Classics, Univ. of Reading), Valentina Follo (AAMW, Penn), Eric Cheyfitz (English, Cornell), Simon Kaner (Sainsbury Institute, East Anglia), Jo-Ann Gross (History, College of New Jersey), Eve Troutt Powell (History, Penn), Brian Spooner (Anthropology, Penn), Dmitry Schvidkowsky (Russian Academy of Art/Moscow Institute of Architecture). Mark your calendars!