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ROOM: Dart Auditorium
Presenters (in alphabetical order):
- FRIDAY NIGHT -
Chris J. Franklin
An examination and history of the Sacred Band of Thebes.
The so-called hieros lochos, or Sacred Band, a Greek force organized along the lines of Plato's "Symposium," is discussed. First created by Theban general Gorgidas in about 378 BCE, and generally accepted to have been comprised of 150 pairs of male lovers, the Sacred Band was the fiercest fighting force the world had ever known. Its success was to make Thebes for a generation the most powerful state in Greece, and its fate was in the end the fate of Greece itself.
The Sacred Band's single and final defeat came in 338 BCE, at the battle of Chaeronea, the decisive engagement in which the armies of Philip II of Macedon, and his son Alexander the Great, ended the independence of the Greek city-states.
A study of the culture, era, and army of the Sacred Band shows that male bonding, love, and military prowess went hand-in-hand in classical Greece, and it is hard to overestimate the importance of the Greek society's understanding of homosexuality at the time.
Linda McCollum
Rowland York and the Introduction of the Rapier into England
The
intriguing but undocumented notion that Rowland York introduced the
rapier into England has been perpetuated for centuries with no
explanation as to who he was, why he is credited with being the
first, or when this actually occurred. This paper investigates this
notion and dispels the myth while revealing new information and
connections.
William Camden, in his Annals of the Queen,
written in Latin and published in 1615, is the source for crediting
York with introducing the rapier into England twenty-seven years
after York's death. Numerous translations were made of Camden's
Annals up until 1707, each one varying slightly from the
original.
A close examination of York himself shows that he
was too young to have been the "first" to bring the rapier
into England. By going back and looking at Camden's original
statement in Latin along with examining the life and times of York,
one may discern other meanings to Camden's original comments on
Rowland York.
Ken Mondschein
Camillo Agrippa, though primarily known to history as an engineer, also revolutionized the teaching of fencing with his 1553 Trattato di Scientia d’Arme. To a subject whose pedagogy had much in common with the traditions of medieval guilds, Agrippa applied a spirit of rational inquiry, seeking an empirical, practical method of swordsmanship. This paper will discuss Agrippa’s ragionaménto of the art of the sword, his geometrical analysis of the human body, and his work’s larger place in the history of science.
- SUNDAY LUNCH -
James Klock
Organization and Vocabulary in von Auerswald
Fabian
von Auerswald's book, "The Art of Wrestling: 85 pieces,"
relies on a tightly limited vocabulary, a careful organization of
techniques (including throws, locks and "breaks") and
several mnemonic devices to deliver the essence of an art that the
author himself considered to be poorly understood by the aristocracy
of his time.
Back to the Schedule.