Archaeology Magazine - June 1952 - 58

Photos: WïlberBoone
Lily Ross Taylor Retires
On May 3, 1952,Bryn Mawr College
honored the retiring Dean of the Graduate Schooland Professorof Latin, Dr.
Lily Ross Taylor, who will spend the
comingyear in Rome as Director of the
ClassicalSchoolof the AmericanAcademy and Fellow of the Guggenheim
Foundation. (In the first photograph
Dr. Taylor is conversing with Prof.
Nock; the second shows a scene from
the Latin play presented at the celebration.) To Dr. Dorothy Burr Thompson we owe the following eyewitness
account of the celebration held at the
college:
. . . On a sparkling day, guests
fromall partsof the countrygathered
in the Deaneryfor a deliciousluncheon, followedby a meetingat which
PresidentMcBride spoketouchingly
of the vital rôle that Dean Taylor
had played in the developmentand
vigor of the graduateschooland in
the studyof Latinat the college.ProfessorA. D. Nock of Harvardthen
spokemostpungentlyon ancientattitudes toward Natural Law. He diverted,enlightenedand stimulatedhis
audiencebyhis wit and whimsy.After
the lecture,the audiencemovedto the
libraryto look at two exhibits:a fine
collectionof Republicansilver coins
arrangedfor the occasionby Aline
Abaecherli Boyce, and an exhibit
of earlyand first editionsof classical
authorsfrom the collectionof Phyllis Goodhart Gordon.
Then,as a finalrefreshment,a play
in mediaevalLatinby an Anglo-Saxon
nun, Hroswitha, was presented in
the library cloisters. Against the
gray stoneand the metallicgleamof
the young leaves of copper beech,
122

Latin studentsenacteda tale of the
daughter of the Emperor,Constantine, who preferred the vows of a
nun to marriage with a victorious
general,and of the conversionof two
Roman officers.The costumeswere
; Constantine
charmingly conceived
and Helen, in imperialrobes, carrying the orb; maidensof the court in
straightgarmentsof that dry pink beloved of the Greeks, and Scythian
archersin purplewith crookedbows,
rhythmicallyyieldingto the press of
Byzantinesoldiers.In a slow tempo,
like that of a chant, the actors performedthe ritual beforethe altar, the
battles and the conversionsall in a
formalizedstyle exquisitelyreminiscent of the miniaturesin a Byzantine
manuscript.Their Latinwas so clear
that it couldeasilybe followedby the
audience.
Then we had to return from the
very remoteworld of Constantinople
and sayfarewellto our old friend,sad
to loseher, but gladthat shewasmoving to Rome,to head the Classical
Schoolof the AmericanAcademyand
to continueher own research.
Gisela Richter, D. Litt.
At a ceremonyheld on Wednesday,
June 25, honorary degrees were conferred by Oxford Universityupon seven
individuals distinguished in various
fields.Of particular interest to us is the
awarding of the Doctorateof Letters to
Dr. Gisela M. A. Richter, for many
years Curator, and now Honorary Curator of the Department of Greek and
Roman Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and author
of outstandingworks in many branches
of Classical archaeology. Her accom-

plishmentsare mentionedin the following introduction with which the Public
Orator presented Miss Richter to the
Chancellor who conferred the degree:
Est in urbe Novo Eboracomagna
famaecelebritateMuseum,lectissimis
artificumoperibusrefertum,cuiusloci
unam partem,Graecorumet Romanorum monumentisdedicatam,hospita
haecnostraper annosvigintitrescuratrix ordinavit,nequeadhucdestititin
maius usque provehere. Museum
visentibus,sive hos cognitionisamor
impulit sive ipsa rerum pulchritudo,
pari sempersedulitateprovidit,neque
quisquamest in omni genereartificiorumscientior.quid dicamAtticorum,
quid Tuscorumfictilia?figlinafacit
ipsa,figulorumtotamartemlibrissuis
comprehendit.
quidmemorem
triclinia,
abacos,monopodia,ceteraantiquorum
? quid sculptasanimalsupellectilem
ium formas?quid gemmarumscalptores? quid picturae apud Graecos
antistites,pictoresveRomanosvultibushominumsimulandisperitos? haec
una has omnesres, hos omnesartifices
pari diligentiaac felicitatetractavit.
ingeneratamhabet, sicut frater et
soror,singuláremquandamartiumintelligentiam,quam Cantabrigiaeprimm, deindeAthenisarchaeologorum
in ScholaBritannicaexcoluitet expolivit. elucet fortasseid ingenium,
ea doctrina, in tribus potissimum
libris: unum dico in quo sculpturam
sculptoresqueGraecorumab ultima
vetustateprofectapercurrit; alterum
in quo nuda Kovpuvsimulacracum
adiutore suo persequitur,ne nesciamus quomodorigor ille antiquorum
simplexquedignitas 'multipliedposteriorum'veritati' concesserit;in tertio vetustissimacipporumAtticorum
fragmentaectypaesculpturamiracula,
suo quodque cippo (quoad licet)
ARCHAEOLOGY

Archaeology Magazine - June 1952

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - June 1952