Classical Association of Vancouver Island

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Thursday, March 6th, 2014
7:30 PM to 9:30 PM

Professor Marcus Milwright, Department of History in Art, University of Victoria will present a lecture entitled "The Crafts of Damascus at the Dawn of the Modern Age."

This talk will examine the diverse craft sector of Damascus in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Syrian capital has been famous since the Medieval period as a centre of craft excellence, particularly in media such as inlaid metalwork, glazed ceramics, enamelled glass, and decorative woodwork. These crafts survived into the nineteenth century, but many were adversely affected by competition with industrially manufactured goods coming from the factories of Europe. The talk will focus on the evidence from an Arabic dictionary of Damascene crafts assembled between about 1890 and 1908. This extraordinary work details over 400 separate crafts operating in, and around the city. Many of these crafts were dependent upon one another for their livelihoods. It is possible to reconstruct this complex network of activities through analysis of the dictionary, other broadly contemporary textual sources, early photographs, and museum objects.

The Classical Association of Vancouver Island is UVic�s organization for people interested in the Greek and Roman worlds. Monthly lectures by local and international scholars take place at UVic. Everyone is welcome. To join CAVI and be on our mailing list, please send your name, contact information (address/email), and membership dues (10$/year, cheques payable to CAVI):
CAVI � Department of Greek and Roman Studies
PO Box 3045 STN CSC
Victoria, BC V8W3P4
For more information, please contact: Dr. Brendan Burke, Chair, Department of Greek and Roman Studies ([email protected]).
Questions or corrections about our mailing list, contact Sonja Bermingham at 250 721 8514