Timeless Parallels: Classical Literature and Veteran Experiences

FAIN: ES-281190-21

Valencia Community College (Orlando, FL 32811-2302)
Julie Montione (Project Director: March 2021 to July 2023)

A three-week, hybrid institute on veterans’ issues and experiences in classical literature for 25 high school teachers, aimed those teaching Latin, JROTC, and English.

Reading texts in translation that are thousands of years old is challenging. Students are not always able to bridge the gaps of space and time and appreciate the value of Classical works. However, with appropriate context and tools, today’s students can experience these texts for what they are: timeless works that are just as relevant today as when they were composed. This institute is designed to provide the necessary context to consider veteran issues and experiences that have remained the same for centuries. We have developed a Level I project for teachers of grades 9-12, for 25 participants for three weeks, two weeks of residential study with two days of virtual orientation before meeting, and a virtual conclusion. This program will run in July 2022 at the Hill School in Pennsylvania. The target audience is Latin teachers, JROTC faculty, and English teachers. This program is grounded around veteran issues, many of which remained essentially the same for thousands of years.

Associated Products

Practical Applications of Ancient War Literature: Reflections on Parallels between War Veterans, Ancient and Modern (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Practical Applications of Ancient War Literature: Reflections on Parallels between War Veterans, Ancient and Modern
Author: Patrick Lake (organizer)
Author: Sean Lake
Author: Julie Montione
Author: Jason Harris
Abstract: Students have been reading classical literature for thousands of years, however, this does not mean they are always able to bridge the gaps of space and time in order to find their value. However, with appropriate context and tools, today’s students can and should appreciate these texts for what they are - classic stories that are just as relevant today as when they were composed in the ancient world. Our panel will center around veteran issues, many of which have remained essentially the same for thousands of years. For the previous six years, we have been working on three National Endowment for the Humanities grants that address veteran issues. Our approach is based on showing the continuity of veteran experience as depicted in ancient texts. In particular, we focus on ancient tragedy, following the work of psychiatrist Jonathan Shay who has argued that Athenian tragedy was a form of communal therapy for, of, and by veterans. In two Dialogues on the Experience of War grants, and one K-12 Summer Institute grant, we have led students, our college faculty colleagues, and teachers through sources, methods, and the academic rationale for our approach. We have sought to facilitate dialogue between veterans, but also have found great benefit by reaching out to veteran dependents, and to bringing civilians into dialogue with veterans. In addition to showing the continuity of experiences of war, we have had success in creating awareness of veteran issues. All of our work has emphasized the practical application of the Classics and the humanities and arts in general to effect positive personal change and wider community understanding of highly relevant issues that have remained constant throughout history. This panel will include papers from some of our partners in our grant work, an overview of our approach, and some new ideas in the classics we have applied to our work.
Date: 10/08/2022
Primary URL: http://chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://caas-cw.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/CAAS-Program.09.29.22.pdf
Conference Name: Classical Association of Atlantic States

Wine as a Medicine for Grief: Performance, Psychedelics, Trauma, and Tragedy (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Wine as a Medicine for Grief: Performance, Psychedelics, Trauma, and Tragedy
Author: Sean Lake
Abstract: This paper addresses the details, sources, and some original ideas that we have developed in the course of our grant work. We expand upon the theories of Aristotle and Shay, incorporating the work of other scholars, and adding new observations and arguments. In short, we consider the important similarities between tragic festivals and the Eleusinian Mysteries, Hippocratic medicine, and the Ascelipius cult. There is overlapping or shared vocabulary in some instances (Jouanna and van der. Eijk), similar practices, and other remarkable parallels that reveal a great deal about Greek thought and practices regarding the healing of the psyche, as well as their beliefs about the connection between the mind and body. For example, we discuss Karlisa Hartigan’s claim that there was a dramatic pageant performed for patients as part of the ritual enacted at the ancient Asclepieia that assists in the healing process "to prepare the patients to receive the dreams sent by the god" (29). Hartigan’s idea, coupled with the fact that Ascelpian sanctuaries are located adjacent to theaters across the Greek world, suggests that the Greeks thought of both theaters and these sanctuaries as places of healing, and that performance was a crucial aspect shared by both. We also address the use of wine as a “medicine” (Jouanna and van der. Eijk), performance at Eleusis, and the strong possibility of the use of psychedelics among the Greeks (Wasson et al.; Muraresku); we argue, in light of recent medical research, that the use of psychedelics was serving as a treatment for mental health issues. Most importantly, we describe how many Greek medical and ritual practices are very well supported by modern psychological and medical research on the treatment of trauma.
Date: 10/08/2022
Primary URL: http://chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://caas-cw.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/CAAS-Program.09.29.22.pdf
Conference Name: The Classical Association of the Atlantic States

“The Problems and Profits of Reconstructing the Mercenary Experience in the Ancient Greek World” (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: “The Problems and Profits of Reconstructing the Mercenary Experience in the Ancient Greek World”
Author: Jason Harris
Abstract: Recently, we have seen the effects of conflict in the war between Ukraine and Russia, as millions have fled the country or have been internally displaced. Simultaneously, thousands of soldiers from foreign countries have streamed into Ukraine, some of whom are expressly termed by the media as ‘mercenaries.’ In the late Classical and Hellenistic Periods, thousands of these misthophoroi traversed the Mediterranean to fight for tyrants, kings, and empires (Garland 2014). This presentation will analyze how the experiences of these soldiers, especially their socio-political integration after warfare, is constructed in two chronological/geographical periods/locations, namely 4th-century Sicily and Athens (Chaniotis 2005). This (possible) acceptance into new communities will be evaluated briefly through various source materials. In literature, historiographical accounts often provide important details, while New Comedy also shows the integration of soldiers into the polis (although the comic nature of the text requires careful consideration of their portrayal). Especially in Athens, inscriptions detail administrative efforts to accept or to reject garrisons and individual soldiers, who occasionally are honored for their service to the community (Oliver 2000). In Sicily, archaeological evidence, in changes to urban layouts and material finds left behind by mercenaries, demonstrates how large-scale migrations of soldiers radically transformed the landscape (Harris 2020). Finally, coinage from both locations shows the economic effect of this martial mobility on both soldier and city. By discussing several specific artifacts and passages, this presentation will offer ways in which to reconstruct the experience of soldiers, while also identifying inherent biases and lacunae (Meineck and Konstan 2014). The goal will be to shed light on this important group of migrants who often fall through the cracks of history by showing them not as mindless hordes but as individuals with thei
Date: 10/08/2022
Primary URL: http://chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://caas-cw.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/CAAS-Program.09.29.22.pdf
Conference Name: The Classical Association of Atlantic States

The Rhetoric of Soldierly Motivation in Caesar’s Gallic Wars (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: The Rhetoric of Soldierly Motivation in Caesar’s Gallic Wars
Author: Patrick Lake
Abstract: In the famous Pullo and Vorenus episode from Caesar’s Gallic Wars 5.44, we gain insight into the motivation of the individual soldier in Caesar’s army—at least insofar as Caesar himself hopes to depict it. On the one hand, Pullo and Vorenus are interested in honor and standing among their fellow soldiers; on the other hand, they certainly have an interest in the many tangible and material awards that the primus pilus may accrue. This paper will focus on the latter as a starting point to understand how Caesar was able to motivate his army throughout the Gallic Wars and beyond, considering, too, the critical role that Caesar’s veterans played in the Roman Revolution. Thus, while Caesar’s account of military virtus is grounded in ancient Roman values and the warrior ethos, as this paper will argue (cf. esp. Goldsworthy), the reality was far different. As J. E. Landon has argued, “the real events [of war] are filtered through the literary, intellectual, and cultural assumptions of the author” (273). The Pullo and Vorenus episode, then, suits Caesar’s rhetorical aims perfectly: the individual Roman soldier is intrinsically motivated to perform bravely on the battlefield and his rivalry only extends so far, as both men ultimately help one another escape the enemy. This narrative framework gives Caesar the moral high ground he desires, as individual ambition and military excellence is motivated by honor first and is ultimately channeled towards non-self-interested ends. But the episode may be read in a far richer context, considering the plunder, land, donatives, and public glory that would accrue for a soldier sharing in Caesar’s individual glory. This paper, then, will consider Pullo and Vorenus’ actions in that fuller context, as a means of understanding their motivations more fully, and in a manner that reaches beyond the narrow rhetorical aims of Caesar’s own narrative.
Date: 10/08/2022
Primary URL: http://chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://caas-cw.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/CAAS-Program.09.29.22.pdf
Conference Name: The Classical Association of Atlantic States

"Peace is Patriotic: A Veteran's Voice through Fire" (Exhibition)
Title: "Peace is Patriotic: A Veteran's Voice through Fire"
Curator: Julie Montione
Abstract: Peace is Patriotic There is nothing like the smell of burning flesh. The smell enters your nose, but it lives on in your mouth as a gritty, acrid taste. I brushed my teeth a lot while I served in Iraq during Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm. I was there for only six months and one day, but there were times when I felt as if I was there for a lifetime. I lived and died there, but not like the burning bodies. They would never go home, or, maybe they already were home. About the same time every year, I begin to have nightmares. By the time I wake up, I am aware that I have been dreaming. I hear the echo of my own screams. I cannot do anything to stop myself by then. I must live the day after my nightmares with the memory, or maybe residue, of my desert life. That charred residue came home with me, burned in my memory, and in 2007 I curated a show with fellow veterans who served from Korea to Somalia to Afghanistan. In the show, we wanted to tell our war stories, and I came to use gunpowder as a means to express the power of the residue. While an undergraduate student at the Maryland Institute College of Art, I lived with a Pekin duck. I made art about him constantly because he was such a character. It became easy for me to tell my stories of warfare and childhood war games, which in my dreams become commingled and at times inseparable. At some point, I found an old toy abandoned in an alley and used it in a composition, and now I usually use toys and ducks as visual elements representing aspects of me, those things that I do not share about my wartime experiences. My pieces are lyrical abstractions, representations of what I experienced from the time I was a child until I woke up and worked on the final piece.
Year: 2022

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