Acknowledgments
On April 28–29, 2006, the University of Cincinnati convened a Semple
Symposium under the rubric ‘‘Constructing ‘Literacy’ among the Greeks
and Romans.’’ That conference was the origin of the volume in your
hands, and first thanks must therefore go to the Louise Taft Semple
Fund, whose financial generosity made the conference possible, and to
Louise Taft Semple herself, to whose memory we dedicate this book. We
hope to have succeeded in forwarding her wish ‘‘to make vital and
constructive in the civilization of our country the spiritual, intellectual,
and aesthetic inheritance we have received from Greece and Rome’’
(establishment document, Louise Taft Semple Fund). We also thank the
many colleagues and students and friends who formed such a lively and
invested audience during the two days of the conference. But this is no
simple volume of proceedings, and we must also express our gratitude to
the contributors, who not only gave splendid lecture presentations, but
took seriously the charge to refashion their talks into chapters for this
book and also graciously received and responded to editorial demands for
further revision. Finally, it is a pleasure to record the contributions of our
graduate assistants: Jamie Reuben, who adroitly managed the myriad
details of organizing the Semple Symposium, Austin Chapman, who
has done a masterly job in proofreading and other aspects of the produc-
tion of the book, and Dana Clark, our helpmeet in the final stages of
production.
William A. Johnson
Holt N. Parker