Demosthenes



Associate Professor and Undergraduate Chair
Staatsexamen (Erlangen-Nuremberg), MA (Michigan), PhD (Michigan)
Lawson Hall, Room 3210 | (519) 661-2111 Ext. 80142
bsteinbo@uwo.ca

Bernd Steinbock
 
      
 
  Research Interests:
   
  Social Memory, Trauma Studies,  Archaic & Classical Greek History, Greek & Roman Historiography, Classical Rhetoric and Oratory, Late Antiquity  
     
  Research:
     
  Books:  
 

Social Memory in Athenian Public Discourse: Uses and Meanings of the Past. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2012 (paperback edition 2020)

 
  Reviews:  
  Lucia Cecchet, Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2013.11.57  
  Paul Christesen, Classical Philology 109.2 (2014) 170-174  
  Carolyn Higbie, The American Historical Review 119.2 (2014) 574-575  
  Katharina Kostopoulos, H-Soz-u-Kult 18.11.2013  
  Janek Kucharski, Phoenix 68 (2014) 170-172  
  Polly Low, American Journal of Philology 135.1 (2014): 152-155  
  Pavel Nývlt, Eirene 50.1-2 (2014) 345-348  
  Maria Osmers, sehepunkte 13 (2013), Nr. 9  
  Frances Pownall, The Classical Journal – Online 2013.12.04  
  Julia Shear, The Classical Review 64 (2014) 506-508  
  Katharina Wojciech, Gnomon 86.3 (2014) 236-242  
  David Yates, Histos 8 (2014)  
     
  Articles:  
     
  “Contesting the Lessons from the Past. Aeschines’ Use of Social Memory,” Transactions of the American Philological Association 143 (2013) 65-103  
     
  “A Lesson in Patriotism. Lycurgus’ Against Leocrates, the Ideology of the Ephebeia and Athenian Social Memory,” Classical Antiquity 30 (2011) 279-317  
     
  Book Chapters:  




'Sufferings too Great for Tears': The Destruction of the Athenian Expeditionary Corps in Sicily, in Melanie Jonasch (ed). The Fight for Greek Sicily: Society, Politics, and Landscape. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2020, 73-98




The Narrative Richness of the Argus Scene (Od. 17.290-327), in Louise Pratt and C. Michael Sampson (eds). Engaging Classical Texts in the Contemporary World: From Narratology to Reception. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2018, 9-28





The Contested Memory of Nicias after the Sicilian Expedition, in Elena Franchi and Giorgia Proietti (eds). Conflict in Communities. Forward-looking Memories in Classical Athens. Trento 2017, 109-170
     
  “The Multipolarity of Athenian Social Memory: Polis, Tribes and Demes as Interdependent Memory Communities,” in Kerstin Hofmann, Reinhard Bernbeck and Ulrike Sommer (eds.), Between Memory Sites and Memory Networks: New Archaeological and Historical Perspectives. Berlin Studies of the Ancient World 45. Berlin, 2017, 97-125  
     
  “Coin Types and Latin Panegyrics as Means of Imperial Communication,” in N. T. Elkins and S. Krmnicek (eds.), ‘Art in the Round’: New Approaches to Ancient Coin Iconography. Tübinger Archäologische Forschungen 16. Rahden/Westfalen, 2014, 51-67  
     

Encyclopedia Entries:




"Eurymachus son of Leontiades"; "Hysiae"; "Marathon"; "Medize"; "Orchomenus in Boeotia"; "Panhellensim"; "Plataea"; "Tanagra"; in Christopher Baron (ed.) The Herodotus Encyclopedia. 3 Vol. (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2021)



  Book Reviews:  
     
  Review of Peter Meineck, David Konstan (ed.), Combat Trauma and the Ancient Greeks. The New Antiquity (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014) in BMCR 2015.08.15  
     
  Review of John Marincola, Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, Calum Alasdair Maciver (ed.), Greek Notions of the Past in the Archaic and Classical Eras: History without Historians. Edinburgh Leventis Studies 6 (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2012) in BMCR 2013.10.53  
     
  Review of Simon Goldhill and Robin Osborne (eds) Rethinking Revolutions through Ancient Greece (Cambridge 2006) in Phoenix 63 (2009) 169-71  
     
  Review of Wolfgang Blösel, Themistokles bei Herodot: Spiegel Athens im fünften Jahrhundert. Studien zur Geschichte und historiographischen Konstruktion des griechischen Freiheitskampfes 480 v. Chr. (Stuttgart 2004) in BMCR 2006.08.11  
     
  Presentations:  




“Working through Trauma: Thucydides’ Empathic Account of the Athenians’ Departure from Syracuse”

•Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany, April 2022

•University of Trento, Italy, March 2022





“The Sicilian Expedition as Social Trauma for the Athenians”

University of Trento, Italy, March 2022





Working through Trauma: Thucydides and the Empathic Unsettlement of the Reader


Virtual CAC, University of Montreal, May 2021




“Working through Trauma: Enargeia and Pathos in Thucydides’ Account of Harrowing Events” 


Research Seminar Series, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, March 2021





“The Epitaphios Logos of Pericles: Thucydides’ Ambivalence towards the Funeral Oration” 


The Funeral Oration and Nicole Loraux, University of Lyon, France, Feb 2020




“Working through Trauma: Thucydides’ Account of the Athenians’ Departure from Syracuse”

Internationales Netzwerk historiai, University of Trento, Italy, Nov 2019




“Pericles’ epitaphios: Thucydides’ Ambivalent Attitude toward the Athenian Funeral Orations”

Greek History and Theory Group, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, Nov 2019




“Working through Trauma: Thucydides’ Account of the Sicilian Expedition”

Research Seminar Series, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON, March 2019




“Combat Trauma in Ancient Greece: The Case of the Athenians’ Sicilian Expedition”

Combat Stress and the Pre-Modern World, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK, Dec 2018




“‘Sufferings Too Great for Tears’ – The Destruction of the Athenian Expeditionary Corps in Sicily"

Warfare and Society in Colonial Sicily, University of British Columbia, BC, April 2018




“Social Trauma: A Useful Concept for the Study of Greek History?”

•Research Seminar Series, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Nov 2017

Greek History and Political Theory Group, Columbus, OH, Oct 2017
   
 

"The Limits of Athenian Memory Politics: The Trauma of the Sicilian Expedition"

CAC, St. John's, NF, May 2017



  “Finding Solace in the Face of Disaster: Thucydides’ Tragic Account of the Sicilian Expedition"  
  Thucydides Symposium, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, March 2016  
     
  “From Hot to Cold Memory: Literary Treatments of the Sicilian Expedition"  
  Greek History and Theory Group, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON, Oct 2015  
     
  “Coping with Defeat: Athenian Responses to the Sicilian Expedition,”  
  •CAC, Toronto, ON, May 2015  
  •ISPCS, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Be’er Sheva, Israel, May 2014  
     
  “Persistent Memories: The Trauma of the Sicilian Expedition"  
  Greek History and Theory Group, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, Nov 2014  
     
  “Langlebige Erinnerungen: Das Trauma der Sizilischen Expedition,”  
  Internationales Netzwerk historiai, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany, July 2014  
     
  “Nikias im Urteil seiner Zeitgenossen nach der Sizilischen Expedition,”  
  THOUKYDIDEIA, Free University of Berlin, Germany, June 2014  
     
  “‘Um den Leontinern Hilfe zu bringen:’ Athenische Sinnstiftungsversuche nach der Sizilischen Expedition,”  
  •University of Bamberg, Germany, June 2014  
  •Heidelberg University, Germany, June 2014  
  •University of Würzburg, Germany, May 2014  
     
  “Die Sizilische Expedition im kollektiven Gedächtnis der Athener,”  
  •Martin-Luther-University of Halle-Wittenberg, Germany, May 2014  
  •Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany, May 2014  
  •University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany, Feb 2014  
     
  “The Sicilian Expedition in Athenian Memory and Public Discourse,”  
  University of Trento, Italy, Feb 2014  
     
  “‘Vergangenheitsbewältigung’ im klassischen Athen. Die Sizilische Expedition als Fallbeispiel,”  
  Geschichtszirkel, University of Freiburg, Germany, Jan 2014  
     
  “Coping with Defeat: Athens after the Sicilian Expedition”  
  AAH, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, May 2013  
     
  "Coin Imagery and Latin Panegyrics as Means of Imperial Communication"  
  ‘Art in the Round’: New Approaches to Ancient Coin Iconography, International Workshop, University of Tübingen, Germany, Nov 2012  
     
  “Remembering the Sicilian Expedition"  
  Greek History and Theory Group, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Nov 2012  
     
  Ambitus in Polybius’ Greek Political Theory”  
  APA, Philadelphia, PA, Jan 2012  
     
  “Debating the Peace of Philocrates: Social Memory as Political Factor?”  
  Research Seminar Series, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Oct 2011  
     
  “Contesting the Lessons from the Past – Aeschines' Arguments for the Peace of Philocrates"  
  Greek History and Theory Group, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, April 2011  
     
  “A Mythical Precedent – Athens’ Intervention for the Fallen Argives"  
  Greek History and Theory Group, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, May 2010  
     
  “A Lesson in Patriotism. King Codrus as Eponymous Hero"  
  Research Seminar Series, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Mar 2009  
     
  “King Codrus as Historical Paradigm in Lycurgus’ Leocratea  
  APA, Chicago, IL, Jan 2008  
     
  “Contesting the Lessons from the Past – Aeschines’ Recourse to Family History”  
  CAMWS, Cincinnati, OH, Apr 2007  
     
  “Razing Athens to the Ground – Social Memory of a Radical Proposal"  
  McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Oct 2006  
     
  “Once a Traitor, Always a Traitor? Demosthenes on Theban Medizing”  
  CAC, Toronto, ON, May 2006  
     
  “Athenian Memory of Thebes’ Help for the Democratic Exiles”  
  APA, Montreal, PQ, Jan 2006  
     
  “Forgetting the Plataeans”  
  CAC, Toronto, ON, May 2006  
     
  Ambitus in Practice and Theory. Polybius on the Roman Politeia”  
  Graduate Conference, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, Feb 2005  
     
  “Contesting the Lessons of the Persian War”  
  Graduate Student Colloquium, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, Feb 2005  
     
  “Imagining the Unimaginable: The Proposed Eradication of Athens”  
  University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Jan 2005  
     
  “City-Destruction in Athenian and Theban Social Memory”  
  APA, Boston, MA, Jan 2005  
     
  Outreach Lectures:  
     

"Coping with Defeat: The Trauma of the Sicilian Expedition in Athenian Social Memory"

Symposium, Internationales Begegnungszentrum der Wissenschaft, Berlin, Germany



  “Die Bedeutung von Gedenktagen für unser kollektives Gedächtnis,”  
  2000 Jahre Kaiser Augustus – 1200 Jahre Kaiser Karl der Große, Herder-Gymnasium Forchheim, Germany, April 2014  
     
  “The Battle of Marathon: History and Mystique,”  
  Centre for Continuing Education, Guelph, ON, Sept 2011  
     
  “Democracy in Ancient Greece: Familiar and Yet So Strange,”  
  Centre for Continuing Education, Guelph, ON, Sept 2009  
     
     
  Classics at Western