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KLEOS Issue 7, 2024

The seventh Kleos issue is published! As always we are proud to present the work of starting scholars of (r)MA or PhD-level.

The papers included in the issue cover a wide range of subjects. Below, we present you the authors and their papers one by one. All the papers are accessible here as well through the links in the title of each paper. This will bring you to the Kleos Academia page.

You can also download the entire issue here: Kleos Issue 7

Previous Issues of Kleos can be found on our Previous Issues page.

Unveiling the symbolic significance of Mycenaean weaponry: exploring material culture and death in the Late Bronze Age Argolid

Meilin Lyu

This paper explores the burial customs of the Late Bronze Age Mycenaean civilisation. The paper focuses on the relationship between weaponry assemblages and evolving societal structures. It examines weaponry found in various grave types, analysing their roles as symbols of prestige and social identity. The study highlights how shifts in burial practices reflect broader changes in Mycenaean society and elite representation.

Meilin Lyu is a PhD candidate at the department of archaeology, National University of Athens. Her research interest is on climate change effects on the deterioration of marble archaeological sites in Greece. She holds BA in liberal arts and sciences (University of Freiburg), a first MA in eastern Mediterranean archaeology, a second MSc in science, technology, social studies (STS) (National University of Athens), with a joint pan‐European MA degree in STS (University of Maastricht).

Suspend your disbelief: spontaneous generation in Antigonus’s paradoxography

Ariella Goldberg

This article focuses on Antigonus and his work on spontaneous generation, showing how he engages with contemporary discourse and encourages inquiry through a recollection of wonderful events. Furthermore, the article introduces the history and critical reception of paradoxography, as well as its stylistic features.

Ariella Goldberg is an rMA candidate in Religious Studies at the University of Amsterdam with a BA in Classics and Mathematics from Amherst College. Her research focuses on how ancient Mediterranean science and technology influenced conceptions of nature, the body, automatism, and cosmology. Her cum laude thesis examined the religious and cultural significance of Hero of Alexandria’s (1st century CE) automatic and pneumatic designs.

Rome and its allies in Asia Minor: a study on political relationship between Rome, Rhodes, and Pergamon from the Peace of Apamea to the end of Third Macedonian War

Dapeng Chen

This paper analyses the evolving relationship between Rome and its allies in the East Mediterranean during the first half of the second century BCE. The author focuses on disputes and Roman hostility and suggests that Rome weakened its dissatisfied allies by granting autonomy to rebellious regions and encouraging further revolts.

Dapeng Chen obtained his Research Master in Historical Studies at Radboud University and is now doing his PhD programme at the University of Groningen. His research project is about interstate relations and civic life in Western Asia Minor of second century BCE.

Hadrian’s ecumenical vision of Empire: reconsidering the ideological function of personifying the Roman provinces on Hadrianic coinage

Grace MacLachlan

The topic is the personification of Roman provinces in a systematic way to reshape the traditional image of defeated provinces, projecting a more harmonious relationship between Rome and its territories. This paper examines Hadrian’s coinage as part of a broader imperial strategy to foster an idealized, ecumenical vision of the Roman Empire, while also challenging earlier scholarly interpretations influenced by early 20th‐century imperialist perspectives.

Grace MacLachlan is a P.h.D candidate at the Department of Ancient History at Radboud University. Her interests lie in Roman imperial history with a specific focus on the role of ideology. Her current project revolves around legitimation, representation, and imperial ideology in the late Third Century CE, with a particular emphasis on the
numismatic evidence. She achieved a bachelor’s degree in Ancient History and Philosophy from the University of Leeds (2021) and a Masters degree in Ancient History from the University of Leiden (2023)..

Carthago prosperanda est: representation of Carthaginians in video games

Corine Gerritsen

The paper examines how game designers address gaps in the historical record due to the lack of Carthaginian literary texts. It analyses two games exploring how ancient and historiographic sources influence digital depictions of Carthage. The study combines historical research and game studies to highlight the impact of Roman and Greek sources on these representations and how developers creatively fill in the historical lacunas.

Corine Gerritsen is currently doing a PhD at Leiden University within the project “Playful Time Machines”, in which she focuses on the mechanics of games set in the past and analyzing how they make these Time Machines tick. She completed a BA degree in history and a Research Master in Ancient Studies at Utrecht University. She finished a master apprenticeship focusing on Seleucid coinage, which resulted in a numismatic publication, and she did an internship at VALUE Foundation, studying the past in video games. She wrote her master thesis about antiquity in video games, specifically the representation of Rome’s enemies. She works as editor of the LUCAS graduate journal and the Interactive Pasts edited volume, and contributes to the efforts of the LUCAS PhD council.

Holocaust, Colonialism, Slavery: entangled histories of a Benin Bronze from a Jewish Collection

Leah Niederhausen

The article examines the history of a Benin Bronze which was looted by Nazis in 1934 and sold in 2018. It explores the broader debates surrounding the restitution of Benin Bronzes while situating the Benin Bronze within the contexts of the Holocaust, colonialism, and slavery, highlighting the complexities of restitution and transitional justice.

Leah Niederhausen is a researcher at the Expert Centre Restitution at the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies in Amsterdam. Her field of research is the loot and restitution of cultural property in both WWII and colonial contexts with a focus on cultural memory, transitional justice and material culture. Leah studied history and international relations in Münster, Utrecht and Amsterdam (cum laude). For her thesis “Restitution and Memory. The Past Made Present in Nazi and Colonial Restitution in Germany (1945‐2023)”, she received the KHMW Jan Brouwer Thesis Award 2024.

Emma M. Payne (2021). Casting the Parthenon Sculptures from the Eighteenth Century to the Digital Age. London: Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9781350120358

Lindsay Morehouse

This is a review of Casting the Parthenon Sculptures from the Eighteenth Century to the Digital Age by Emma Payne. The author situates Payne’s book as interesting new research on objects that are usually cast aside.

Lindsay Morehouse researches questions of authenticity, heritage, and reception. In February 2024, she received her PhD in Archaeology from the University of Amsterdam, which focused on questions of authenticity and provenance of a group of Late Antique Egyptian Funerary stelae. She holds previous degrees in Classics (BA, Macalester College) and Classical Archaeology (MPhil, University of Oxford). She currently lives in Sweden.