Bluegrass Ancient Studies Seminar

What is BASS?

BASS is an annual gathering of scholars from Central Kentucky who work on ancient material (from East and/or West) that meets at area colleges and universities on a rotating basis.  Founded in 2004-05 by Rubén Dupertuis (Centre College) and Jeff Richey (Berea College), BASS brings together classicists, historians, philosophers, religionists, and others whose research and teaching focuses on China, Greece, Rome, and other civilizations of Old World antiquity.

Next Meeting

The next meeting of BASS is scheduled to take place on September 13, 2008, at  Georgetown College in Georgetown, KY.  The texts for this year’s discussion will be Plotinus' Enneads (trans. O'Brien) and the Upanishads (trans. Olivelle).

For schedule and location information and specific reading recommendations, please click here.

For more information, please contact the meeting hosts:

    Homer White   Homer_White@georgetowncollege.edu  |  David Bradshaw   dbradsh@uky.edu

Previous Meetings

The inaugural meeting of BASS was organized by Rubén Dupertuis and Tom McCollough and took place on April 30, 2005, at Centre College in Danville, KY. The program featured two sessions: (1) a discussion of the work of G.E.R. Lloyd's  Ambitions of Curiosity: Understanding the World in Ancient Greece and China (Cambridge University Press, 2002), followed by (2) a presentation by Rubén Dupertuis (Centre College) on the implications of educational practices in the late Hellenistic and Roman periods for the study of early Christian and Jewish narratives. Photos from this meeting are available for viewing by clicking here.

The 2006 meeting of BASS took place on April 29, 2006, at Berea College in Berea, KY.  Our guest speaker was Professor Steven Shankman of the University of Oregon, whose book (co-edited with Stephen W. Durrant), Early China/Ancient Greece: Thinking Through Comparisons (SUNY Press, 2002), formed the basis for our discussions. 

The 2007 meeting of BASS took place on April 21, 2007, at Transylvania University in Lexington, KY.  The texts for this year’s discussion were Lucretius' On the Nature of Things and the Zhuangzi.

The first 2008 meeting of BASS took place on April 12, 2008, at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, KY.  The texts for this discussion were Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics and the Mencius.

Suggested Links

ABZU: Guide to Information on the Study of the Ancient Near East
Archive of Indological Resources Online

Diotima: Materials for the Study of Women and Gender in the Ancient World
Early China Roundtable
Exploring Ancient World Cultures
Internet Ancient History Sourcebook
Internet Classics Archive
Internet East Asian History Sourcebook

Internet Indian History Sourcebook
Silk Road Seattle
Sino-Platonic Papers
Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy
Society for Intercultural Comparative Studies
Society for the Study of Early China
Southeastern Early China Roundtable
Stanford Ancient Chinese and Mediterranean Empires Comparative History Project   

Warring States Project


Site Information

This site was originally developed by Rubén Dupertuis (Centre College).  It has been maintained by Jeff Richey (Berea College) since January 25, 2006.