The Amphora Issue was a regular issue of the Melbourne Historical Journal established in 2012 to provide a publication platform for postgraduate and early career researchers in Ancient World Studies. In 2017 The Amphora Issue became an independent journal and is affiliated with the Melbourne University Graduate Student Association. The Amphora Issue is a peer-reviewed journal which is open to new approaches and aims to present original research to a wide readership. The journal includes feature articles, refereed articles, book reviews and feature artworks. We welcome contributions from researchers working in a diverse range of fields, including Classical Studies, Ancient History, Reception Studies, Digital Humanities, Egyptology and Archaeology (including pre-historical and historical periods), with a focus on the ancient Mediterranean and the Near East.

The Amphora Issue is a journal that specialises in new research in ancient world studies. As of 2017, the Amphora Issue is proud to announce that it is fully open access.

The Amphora Issue 44.2

Melbourne Historical Journal

44.2 2016 (The Amphora Issue)

This fifth edition of The Amphora Issue marks a period of growth and change for the journal. Most notably, after five years, this edition marks the final issue under the imprimatur of the Melbourne Historical Journal (MHJ). MHJ have been fantastic in helping the Amphora Issue to grow from its beginnings in 2012, and the Editors would like to thank the MHJ Editorial Team, both past and present, for the work they have done and the accommodations they have made over these past years.

The Amphora Issue has also broken with tradition in this issue by presenting an edition not organised around a particular theme. While previous issues have centred around a specific theme or idea, the 2016 issue was intended as a general showcase of young scholarship on the Ancient World in Australasia. These diverse works demonstrate the variability in today’s engagement with the Ancient World. There are, however, several links which connect these diverse works. In particular, each piece addresses issues of reality and unreality,  whether through analysis of the place of representation and copying in museum displays, an examination of alterity and reality in ancient authors, or an exploration of what it is for a modern author or reader to actually engage with ‘the Classics’.
The Amphora Issue is also proud to announce that with this edition, the issue is now open access. Linked PDF files for each article are available below. Hard copies of this edition are also available upon request. Please see our Subscriptions page for more information.

Front Matter [PDF]
Letter From the Editors [PDF]
Feature Articles
Tom Geue (University of St. Andrews): Elena Ferrante as the Classics. [PDF]
Gijs Tol (University of Melbourne) and Tymon de Haas (University of Cologne): The role of minor centres in regional economies: New insights from recent archaeological fieldwork in the Lower Pontine Plain. [PDF]
Articles
Elizabeth Eltze (University of Auckland): Herodotus’ Histories, Book 2, Section 86: The ‘Other’ and the other ‘Other’. [PDF]
Annelies Van de Ven (University of Melbourne): Museum replicas: Second-rate copies or valuable resource? [PDF]
Reviews
Katherine Prouting (Autralian National University): Escape from Pompeii. [PDF]
Nellie Seale (University of Melbourne): Syria: Ancient History—Modern Conflict. [PDF]
Annelies Van de Ven (University of Melbourne): The Art of Adornment: Another Jewel in the Crown of the Hellenic Museum. [PDF]

Cover Photograph by Annelies Van de Ven