09.03.2018

International Graduate Workshop “Ambiguity in Antiquity” at Tübingen University

From March 2-3, 2018 the International Graduate and Early Career Workshop “Ambiguity in Antiquity” was held in Tübingen, brilliantly organized by the RTG’s three Classicists Sonja Borchers, Elisabeth Schedel and Anna Schwetz. The two-day workshop focussed on exploring the role of ambiguity in antiquity, as the discussion wanted to contribute to the advancement of the research field, since former research on the topic has not yet established a precise typology of the phenomenon of ambiguity in ancient texts.

In antiquity, the phenomenon of ambiguity (ἀμφιβολία, ambiguitas) is traditionally linked to a lack of clarity (ἀσαφήνεια, obscuritas). Although Cicero observes that ambiguity can be effectively and intentionally used in rhetorical disputes, rhetoricians and grammarians classify and define the phenomenon of multiple meaning as a stylistic defect or as a source of legal dispute, caused by a lack of clarity.

Nevertheless, the contributions of this workshop present a large number of examples which demonstrate that ancient Greek and Latin authors of various epochs and genres make use of the phenomenon of ambiguity in their works.

To ensure that a systematic approach to the phenomenon of ambiguity is developed, the following questions serveed as a general guide in the discussion:

• Which features (e.g. on the textual and/or conceptual level) constitute ambiguity in ancient texts?
• What role does the context and the communicative situation play in both creating and resolving ambiguity?
• How can we distinguish between ambiguities that are caused by the distance of the modern reader to the ancient context and those that are stylistically functional and inherent to the workings of the text?
• How do ambiguity and cognate phenomena (vagueness, indeterminacy, etc.) relate?

Dr. Lucy Nicholas (King’s College London) could be won to speak about “Ovid’s Calculated Ambiguity” as a keynote speaker, as her experience on the field of ambiguities in Ovid is renown. Other papers delivered were:

• Simona Martorana (Durham): “The Ambiguity of the «Authorial Voice»in Phaedra’s SelfRepresentation (Ov. Her. 4)"
• Elisabeth Schedel (Tübingen): “Ambiguous Combat. Narrative Structures at the End of Silius’ Battle of Ticinus”
• William Michael Short (Exeter): “Spatial Metaphors of Ambiguity in Latin”
• Aniek van den Eersten (Amsterdam): „Brave or Brutal? Ambiguous Lion Imagery in Herodotus’ Characterisation of Pericles“
• Nikolai Kohler (Tübingen): “Ambiguous Death. On the Relationship between Ambiguity and Strategy in Paul’s Letter to the Romans”
• Thanassis Gkatzaras (Athen): “The Ambiguity of a Claim «X is F» and theDistinction between Reality and Appearance in Plato’s Republic”
• Anna Schwetz (Tübingen): “Cicero’s Ambiguous Depiction of the Sceptical Turn in the Academy”
• Eva Noller (Heidelberg): “On (not) Being Cato. Cicero’s De Senectute between Clearness, Ambiguity, and Indeterminacy”
• Janja Soldo (München): “Seneca ambiguus“
• Sonja Borchers (Tübingen): „Polysemy, Ambiguity and Vagueness in the De rerum natura – Lucretius’ Use of the Term sensus“
• Bram van der Velden (Leiden): „The Ancient Reception of Ciceronian Ambiguity“
• Claudia Bruenllo (Venedig): “Should We Doubt the Athenian Glory? Ambiguity and Rhetorical Devices in Isocrates’ Panathenaicus

Professor Robert Kirstein (Tübingen) and Professor Christian Tornau opened and closed the workshop and provided feedback to the participants in all matters.