While women tended to play only marginal roles in ancient military and political matters, they not rarely figure as important characters in historical, legendary or mythical accounts of exploration, settlement, or early urban development. In these they often appear as largely artificial and symbolic characters, but this should not prevent us from digging deeper and asking ourselves about the effective historical roles that women played either at the time of foundation or much later when an origin was remembered – or rather construed – to explain, justify, or change interethnic relations. Examples discussed at this workshop will range from the Amazons over Medeia and Kirke to Dido and Lavinia, but they also include the Biblical Sheerah (1 Chronicles 7:20-29) and the romanticized Gallic ‘princess’ Gyptis/Petta, the daughter of the Segobrigian king Nannos. In certain ways, these ladies shaped the legends of early-modern Matoaka/Pocachontas and Malinche, and never ceased to invite new interpretation and instrumentalization, as an example from National Socialist Germany will illustrate.

9:30-9:45 Welcome & Introduction by Dr. Andrew Faulkner and Dr. Altay Coşkun

9:45-11:15 Panel I: Prehistoric Heroines, chaired by Dr. Eva Anagnostou-Laoutides

9:45-10:30 Dr. Jean Coert, Assistant Professor of Ancient History, TU Dresden

‘Amazons as Symbols of Urban Autonomy? Reactions to the Athenian Empire in Ionian Foundation Myths’

10:30-11:15 Rabbi Dr. Ben Scolnic, Adjunct Professor of Jewish Studies, Southern Connecticut State University, Hamden, CT (via Zoom)

‘Sheerah, Founder of Cities, and the Pattern of Assertive Biblical Women’

Tea/Coffee break

11:30-1:00 Panel II: Re-Thinking Female Founding Figures in the Archaic (& Classical) Periods, chaired by Dr. Altay Coşkun

11:30-12:15 Dr. Marta Oller Guzmán, Professor of Greek Philology, Autonomous University of Barcelona (via Zoom)

‘Women's Roles in Ancient Greek Stories of Colonisation: New Perspectives on an Ancient Topic’

12:15-1:00 Mr. Stone Chen, BA & MA Waterloo, PhD cand. of Classics, University of Toronto

‘Gendered Narratives of Foundation and Settlement Across Cultures’

Lunch break

2:30-4:45 Panel III: Re-Inventing Female Founding Figures through the Ages, chaired by Dr. Jean Coert

2:30-3:15 Dr. Altay Coşkun, Professor of Classical Studies, University of Waterloo

‘Gyptis, Petta / Aristoxene, and Aristarche of Massalia’

3:15-4:00 Dr. Naomi Neufeld Folkes, PhD in Classical Studies, University of Toronto, Lecturer, University of Waterloo & McMaster University

‘At the Consent of the Queen – The evocatio of Juno Regina and the “Unfounding” of Veii’

4:00-4:45 Ms. Leonie Weber, BA, MA cand. in History, TU Dresden

‘Aryans as Founders of Classical Empires? Ancient Foundation Myths in National Socialist Ideology’

Tea/Coffee break

5:30-6:30 KEYNOTE Lecture chaired by Dr. Altay Coşkun

Dr. Eva Anagnostou-Laoutides, Professor of Classical (and Near Eastern) Studies, Macquarie University, Sydney

‘Re-Founding Babylon under Seleukos: the Case of Syrian Stratonike’

6:30-7:45 Panel Discussion:

The Power of Story-Telling: Edutainment and Identity Construction through Narrative from Antiquity to the Present Day

Panelists:
Kenote speaker Dr. Eva Anagnostou-Laoutides, Professor of Classical (and Near Eastern) Studies ( Macquarie University, Sydney), Associate Director of the Australian Numismatic Society, Creator of the Prize-Winning course on Near Eastern, Classical, and Australian-Aboriginal Mythologies

Dr. Talena Atfield, Canada Research Chair in Tentewatenikonhra'khánion (“We Will Put Our Minds Together”), Assistant Professor in History, (University of Waterloo)

Dr. David Porreca, Professor of Classical Studies and History, Co-Director of Medieval Studies, President of the Faculty Association (University of Waterloo) and Associate Director of the DRAGEN Lab (St Jerome’s University, Waterloo)

Dr. Andrew Faulkner, Professor of Classical Studies, Senior Editor of the Journal Phoenix, Homerist and Hymnologist (University of Waterloo)

Mr. Kevin George, Associate Director of the University of Waterloo Library, with Indigenous Initiatives in his portfolio

Ms. Mary Harper BA Political Sciences, MA cand. in Global Governance, Senior Editor of the Journal Epic Threads (University of Waterloo)

Rabbi Dr. Ben Scolnic, Leader of the Shalom Temple in Hamden, CT, Adjunct Professor of Jewish Studies at Southern Connecticut State University, and the Voice behind the Unheard Voices of the Past

Dr. Jean Coert, Assistant Professor of Ancient History, TU Dresden

‘Amazons as Symbols of Urban Autonomy? Reactions to the Athenian Empire in Ionian Foundation Myths’ (9:45 am)

Many Greek cities in Ionia were once founded as colonies by settlers from the Peloponnese and Attica. For a long time, these poleis on the coast of Asia Minor proudly referred to this in their foundation myths, which emphasised, for example, their kinship with Attic heroes. In the 5th century, a change can be observed in this regard, as Hellenic men lost importance in these founding stories in favour of Amazons. In my presentation, I would like to show that the use of these female characters can be seen as a reaction to political developments in the Aegean. The efforts of several Ionian cities to break away from the Attic-Delian League seem to be reflected in their foundation narratives.

Rabbi Dr. Ben Scolnic, Adjunct Professor of Jewish Studies, Southern Connecticut State University, Hamden, CT

‘Sheerah, Founder of Cities, and the Pattern of Assertive Biblical Women’ (via Zoom, 10:30 am)

In one of the most anomalous passages in the Hebrew Bible (1 Chronicles 7:20-29), Sheerah, the daughter of a famous tribal chieftain, Ephraim son of Joseph, builds both Lower and Upper Beth-horon, and Uzzen-Sheerah. While she is the only female-builder of cities in any of the thirty-nine books, there are many other decisive and determined women. One is Achsah, daughter of the giant-killer Caleb, who insists on her right to a lucrative dowry when she is married off to a war hero (Josh 15:17-19; Judges 1:10-15). These minor figures take their place among more famous characters, from Eve, whom God intended to be Adam’s equal, to Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Leah, Miriam, Deborah, Jael, Hannah, Abigail, Huldah and so on, all of whom are well-drawn characters who fulfill God’s original purpose for their gender.

Dr. Marta Oller Guzmán, Professor of Greek Philology, Autonomous University of Barcelona

‘Women's Roles in Ancient Greek Stories of Colonisation: New Perspectives on an Ancient Topic’ (via Zoom, 11:30 am)

Greek stories of colonisation tend to focus on the deeds of the founding hero (oikistés) and the challenges he faces in establishing a new polis. Ancient sources, however, are less generous when it comes to mentioning women's involvement in a colonial process. Indeed, the presence of Greek women in colonial expeditions is not usually mentioned, which has fostered the idea that colonisation was a male endeavour. As a result, some examples such as the women of Phokaia and the women of Teos, who, according to ancient Greek authors, left the city with their husbands, have been considered exceptional. Nonetheless, from the Pythia to some priestesses like Aristarcha or Kleoboia, the significance of Greek women in religious aspects of the colonisation is widely accepted.  As for the indigenous populations, little emphasis has been placed on the role of women in colonial dynamics. Indeed, some stories of colonisation highlight not only their agency as founders – such as in the case of queen Elisa/Dido in Carthage – but also their contribution in settling a Greek colony by helping the colonists to overcome local resistance. Since love typically plays an important role in all of these stories, the emotional side of these women is emphasized creating a narrative pattern that tends to underline locals' weakness in the indigenous feminine component.  In this paper we will make a comparative study of the role of Greek and indigenous women in Greek foundation stories, attempting to find new perspectives of analysis. We will examine their words and deeds, as well as how ancient Greek authors saw them. We will also analyze to what extent their agency is decisive in the various stages of the colonisation, from the start of the colonial expedition to the very moment of foundation and subsequent consolidation in a colonial area.

Mr. Stone Chen, BA & MA Waterloo, PhD cand. at the University of Toronto

‘Gendered Narratives of Foundation and Settlement Across Cultures’ (12:15 pm)

Across cultures and periods, foundation legends of all sorts repeatedly tackle the problem of foreign presence by introducing a female mediator whose actions – marriage, warning, rescue, betrayal, or sacrifice – makes settlement appear authorized rather than imposed. This process may be reasonably termed a consent script, that is, a reusable story module that provides a somewhat rational explanation for the settlement through legitimizing stories of consent and authorization, often but not always involving local/indigenous participation. There are of course numerous ways in which a consent script can unfold: through public treaty and marriage (e.g. Gyptis/Petta, Soma, heqin tradition), through heroic acts or sacrifice (e.g. Lampsake, Wairaka, Pokou), or through linguistic brokerage (e.g. La Malinche). But the unifying feature of all is that within these scripts, women’s bodies, voices, and names typically function as narrative tools of legitimacy and instruments of sovereignty that often displace violence and convert an otherwise asymmetrical and inexplicable arrival into ‘invited’ or even ‘destined’ settlement. Using ktisis tales from Greco-Roman antiquity as starting points, this paper maps out some cognate phenomena around the world and aims to develop a typology for how ancient societies narrate female authorization at (colonial) first contact.

Dr. Altay Coşkun, Professor of Classical Studies, University of Waterloo

‘Gyptis, Petta / Aristoxene, and Aristarche of Massalia’ (2:30 pm)

Historical and archaeological evidence roughly date the Phocaean settlement of Massalia to around 600 BCE. It soon developed into the leading city of southern Gaul, mainly thanks to the introduction of viticulture. The much younger fragmentary narratives of Massalia’s foundation at least allude to the importance of wine as a marker of a refined civilization, but they have shifted the emphasis to genealogical descent. The two most complete versions known from Athenaeus (13.36 [576], quoting Aristotle F 549) and Justin (43.3-5, quoting Pompeius Trogus) centre around the wedding of the first Phocaean leader (Euxenos / Simos) with the daughter of the Segobrigian king Nannos, called Petta (renamed into Aristoxene) or Gyptis respectively. In Trogus’ account, the marriage symbolizes the legitimacy of the Greek settlement, whereas Aristotle’s version had gone much farther by naming the offspring of this mixed couple the Protiadai, as the Massaliote elite of (at least) in the early-5th century BCE was called. Both the renaming of Petta into Aristoxene (Aristotle) and her eclipse from the genealogical stemma (Trogus) reflect two alternative ways of coping with the unease that mixed descent caused to later Massaliotes. The picture of how the foundation story was gradually adapted to changing ideological and cultural realities can be nuanced further by a linguistic analysis of the ‘speaking’ personal names. Another approach is offered by the cult preferences reflected in Massaliote coinage and Strabo’s account (4.1.4). The latter involves yet another female protagonist, the priestess of Ephesian Artemis. That her name Aristarche echoes that of Aristoxene does not seem to be coincidental but rather reflects that the ‘best origin’ of the Massaliotes was at some point shifted from Phocaea or Gaul to Ephesus. The paper will try to reconstruct the various versions of the narrative in correlation with the political and demographic developments of Massalia.

Dr. Naomi Neufeld Folkes, PhD in Classical Studies, University of Toronto, Lecturer at the University of Waterloo & McMaster University

‘At the Consent of the Queen – The evocatio of Juno Regina and the “Unfounding” of Vei’ (3:15 pm)

The Camillus narrative in Book V is a set piece of Livy’s history that includes themes of foundation and colonization. Two successive sieges shape the narrative: the siege of Veii, and the Gallic sack of Rome. Camillus is established at the end as both a victorious general and a second founder of Rome. While it has been well-acknowledged that Livy draws upon the epic genre for the Camillus episode, and that there is interplay with the Augustan restoration and Vergil’s Aeneid, the resonances of traditional oikistes myths in this narrative deserve closer attention. In particular, Livy uses the divine consent of the gods, including Apollo (through the Pythian oracle in Book V) and the goddess, Juno Regina (during the evocatio ritual) to model Camillus as a divinely appointed oikistes. Juno Regina, the patron goddess of Veii, grants her blessing to Camillus’ endeavours during the evocatio ritual, and in so doing, effectively “unfounds” the autonomous city of Veii. By withdrawing her protection from Veii and moving her cult to the Aventine in Rome, she allows Veii to lose its civic status and to be incorporated into Roman territory. That her abandonment of Veii represents the undoing of the city is made evident by Camillus’ speech following the sack of Rome. He appeals to religion and ancestral cult to prevent the Romans from migrating to Veii, and makes it clear that deities and cults cannot be translocated while keeping the original foundation of the city intact. While appealing to the tribunes and people not to “un-found” the city of Rome, Camillus’ speech implicitly acknowledges the “un-founding” of Veii that happened earlier in Book V.

Ms. Leonie Weber, BA, MA cand. in History, TU Dresden

‘Aryans as Founders of Classical Empires? Ancient Foundation Myths in National Socialist Ideology’ (4:00 pm)

The ancient world was of great relevance to Nazi racial ideology. A major challenge for these constructed racial ideals was that, according to classical doctrine, the advanced Roman and Greek civilizations had no kinship with the so-called Aryan-Germanic people. Hans F. K. Günther, a professor of racial studies promoted by the NSDAP, offered an ideological solution to this problem. In my presentation, I would like to show that he used well-known female figures from antiquity to construct racial connections between the Germanic-Aryan and Greco-Roman worlds. Based on these, he tried to explain the rise and fall of the centers of Classical antiquity – Rome and Athens.

Dr. Eva Anagnostou-Laoutides, Professor of Classical (and Near Eastern) Studies, Macquarie University, Sydney

KEYNOTE: ‘Re-Founding Babylon under Seleukos: the Case of Syrian Stratonike’ (5:30 pm)

In recent decades Hellenistic studies have marked significant progress, enriching our understanding of the developments that promoted the continuity of classical traditions alongside the cultural hybridity that characterized the brave, new world of Alexander and his successors. Keen to establish their power after their leader’s untimely demise, his generals morphed from military commanders to savvy political leaders, sensitive to the cultural idiosyncrasies of their subjects and the histories of the regions they came to control. While the kings fought to establish their authority, boldly claiming divine favour, Hellenistic queens eagerly joined the race for legitimacy, often posing as avatars of popular goddesses. Of course, as often in history, tracing female agency can be tricky and typically buried under layers of misogynistic slander that insists on stunning yet sinister queens. My lecture today focuses on Stratonike I, daughter of Demetrios Poliorketes, fierce rival of both Ptolemy Soter and Seleukos. When the friendship between Ptolemy and Seleukos turned sour, young Stratonike became the second wife of Seleukos I, who was thrice her senior. Moreover, soon after giving birth to a daughter, Stratonike was given in marriage to Antiochos I, son and co-regent of her former husband Seleukos. Stratonike went on to have at least three children from Antiochos. While the Hellenistic world thrived in scandals, the love affair of Stratonike and Antiochos excited people’s imagination for centuries to come, especially as it was the old king who allegedly initiated the marriage of his son to Stratonike, upon discovering Antiochos’ secret passion!

In my lecture, I draw on an array of textual and material evidence to uncover Stratonike’s political ambition. I argue that Stratonike, very much the daughter of her father, was a passionate, strong-willed woman, who had intimate knowledge of local traditions and who eagerly sought to participate in the political chess game of the Seleukids against the Ptolemies. In this context, she antagonised Ptolemaic queens, especially Arsinoe II, who was worshipped as Isis-Aphrodite, by promoting instead the cult of Aphrodite-Stratonike, modelled on the cult of the Syrian goddess Atargatis. Furthermore, by emulating the actions of legendary Assyrian queens, like Semiramis and Naqia-Zakutu, Stratonike actively promoted the Seleukid attempts to re-found Babylon under their rule.