BIOGRAPHY OF CLEMENT KUEHN - NEW HAVEN, CT
Kuehn’s dissertation and the monograph that arose from it explore the sixth-century Greek papyri discovered in Aphrodito. The Beginnings of Christian Mystical Poetry and Dioscorus of Aphrodito (New
York 1995) closely examines and reinterprets a group of Greek poems
written by Dioscorus, an Egyptian lawyer and poet. They are the oldest
surviving poems by a known poet that are written and corrected by the
author’s own hand. These verses were previously compared to the
Hellenistic pagan poems of Egypt and put in the context of the political
situation. Kuehn’s book argues that these literary works, many of
which were wedding poems (epithalamia), were influenced by the Neoplatonic and Christian cultures of Byzantine Egypt,
especially the allegorical poetry, art, and commentaries. In these
allegories, Christ, Mary, the saints, and angels are often portrayed as
court nobility and military officials, and the spiritual union between
Christ and his believers is presented as a wedding. Kuehn’s research on
these papyri involved examinations of high-resolution photographs,
trips to Cairo where he studied and photographed the originals, and an
exploratory trip through Egypt, beginning in Thebes and including
Panopolis, the White Monastery, Antinoopolis, Aphrodito, Oxyrhynchus,
the Fayyum, and Alexandria.
During his graduate work,
Kuehn focused on the marriage documents and the poetry in the archives
of Dioscorus and published two important articles. "Dioskoros of
Aphrodito and Romanos the Melodist" (BASP 27: 103-107) explores a correspondence between the two poets, and "A New Papyrus of a Dioscorian Poem and Marriage Contract" (ZPE 97: 103-115; pdf download) discusses the donatio propter nuptias,
a gift that the bridegroom added to the bride’s dowry. After receiving
his Ph.D. in Classical Studies, Kuehn was invited by Dr. Ludwig Koenen
(University of Michigan) to assist him in deciphering the
sixth-century Greek papyri recently discovered in Petra, Jordan. The
papyrus rolls had been transferred and stored at the American Center
for Oriental Research (ACOR) in Amman, Jordan, and when Kuehn and
Koenen arrived, they were in their initial stages of conservation under
the care of Dr. Jaakko Frösén (University of Helsinki). At first Kuehn
worked with Dr. Koenen alone, but then as a Senior Research Fellow of
the United States Information Agency (USIA) he assisted the teams
visiting from both the University of Michigan and the University of
Helsinki, which had divided the job of editing the papyri. After the
preliminary assessment was finished, Kuehn and Dr. Marjo Lehtinen
(University of Helsinki) remained at ACOR to conserve, decipher,
categorize, translate, and interpret the documents with the assistance
of Petra historian Dr. Zbig Fiema. These documents were difficult
because they had been carbonized and crushed and then became fragmented during conservation. As Kuehn reported then (ASOR Newsletter
vol. 46/1, Spring 1996): the 152 rolls contained economic documents
dealing with possessions, dispositions, and acquisitions of real estate
and other types of property; they were sworn and unsworn contracts,
agreements, and settlements of disputes concerning loans, sales,
divisions of property, cessions, registrations, marriages, and
inheritance. Continuing his research on marriage documents, Kuehn
presented a paper on two Petra agreements in Berlin at the Association
Internationale de Papyrologues in August 1995 (“Two Dowry Documents of
the Petra Papyri”). And his work with Dr. Antti Arjava on the first
papyrus roll (P. Petra 1), a marital property agreement, was published
in the volume Petra Papyri I
(ACOR 2002). Kuehn’s work with Dr. Traianos Gagos on a marriage
contract and a dowry agreement, P. Petra 42 and 43, are scheduled for
publication in the volume Petra Papyri IV.
After his initial work on the Petra papyri had been completed, Kuehn left the Middle East and returned to the United States, where he began teaching at Fordham University, NY, as Assistant Professor of Classical Studies. At Fordham, his attention turned to another project: preparing the editio princeps of the Hexaemeron. Written in Greek by Anastasius of Sinai around 700 C.E., the Hexaemeron is a commentary in thirteen books on the beginning of Genesis. Anastasius focuses on the narrative of Adam and Eve, and inspired by the letters of St. Paul, finds here a type of the spiritual marriage between Christ and the Church. Kuehn’s edition, written in collaboration with Rev. Dr. John Baggarly, S.J., involved a collation of three fifteenth-century manuscripts in Rome, Munich, and Oxford. The text and translation were published by the Pontifical Oriental Institute in 2007 as part of its venerable Orientalia Christiana Analecta series (OCA 278). The Greek text is also available now online in the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae corpus.
Kuehn’s study of Anastasius then brought him back to papyrology and the history of Byzantine Egypt. In his Hexaemeron
Anastasius compares the Greek translations of Genesis that were
available in Egypt during the Byzantine Period: including the
Septuagint, its recension by Origen, and the translations by Aquila,
Symmachus, and Theodotion. Kuehn’s examination of these diverse and
popular translations led to a study of the oldest surviving biblical
manuscripts and papyri. The resulting article “Anastasius of Sinai: Biblical Scholar” was published in Byzantinische Zeitschrift 103/1 (2010): 55-81. Kuehn’s review article about the history of Byzantine Egypt (“Egypt at Empire’s End”) was published in Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists 46 (2009): 175-189.
At Fordham University from 1996 to 1999, Kuehn designed and taught a wide variety of multimedia Classics courses, including Greek and Latin language courses, Cicero, Lucretius, Augustine, Ancient History, and Classical literature in translation (Greek Tragedy and Ancient Comedy). He also helped pilot Fordham's distance-learning program, in which he taught a Greek literature course simultaneously at two campuses using the Intel TeamStation System, a room-sized telepresence system.
In 1999, Kuehn was invited to the Ross School in East Hampton, NY, to write a technologically integrated Latin curriculum. The Ross School was founded by the late Steven Ross, CEO of Time Warner, and is currently directed by his wife Courtney Ross. Famous educators and Nobel Prize winners from around the world made frequent visits to the Ross School to assist in creating and implementing its advanced educational philosophy, including Howard Gardner, Kurt Fischer, Antonio Battro, Ralf Abraham, William Irwin Thompson, Georges Charpak, Leon Ledermann, and Marcelo Suárez-Orozco. (For more details, please download the pdf file.) Media celebrities came regularly to enjoy stimulating conversations with the faculty and students about music, movies, television, multimedia publications, and computer technologies, including Steven Spielberg, Billy Joel, Martha Stewart, Henry Winkler, and Paul McCartney. The Ross School received initial support from the Intel Corporation, and curriculum development was guided by the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
At the Ross School from 1999 to 2004, Kuehn employed a wide range of cutting-edge educational technologies in teaching the Latin language and Roman cultural history. He was assisted in these new technologies by a Fellowship at the Annenberg Center, University of Southern California. In USC’s innovative Multimedia Literacy Program, Humanities teachers learned to develop the computer skills of their students by requiring digital multimedia projects. Kuehn became a role model for other teachers in his use of advanced technologies in the classroom. He taught colleagues how to use Flash and Shockwave software in creating animated and interactive digital programs. His students created interactive DVDs of their Latin-language musicals, built a website for their champion cycling team, and with the aid of Photoshop-generated images, turned their cafeteria into a life-size Pompeii villa, with their own portraits embedded into the mythological wall frescoes. His Vergil students created a multimedia music video of their reading of the Aeneid.
After he had completed his work for the Ross School, Kuehn taught Latin full-time at Hopkins School, a traditional independent school with a vibrant Latin program in New Haven, CT. In 2010 Hopkins School celebrated its 350th anniversary and was listed by Forbes Magazine as among the top 20 prep schools in the country. From 2004 to 2010 Kuehn's students excelled in the AP Vergil Exam, in the National Latin Exam, and in Latin oral recitation at the state competition (COLT); and for three consecutive years his graduating seniors received Hopkins School’s highest Latin honor, the Claire McNamee Prize. With the assistance of a Summer Fellowship at Oxford University, Kuehn organized an international program for the study of medieval manuscripts, Summer Latin at Oxford University, which he led in the summer of 2006 (pdf download, page 7).
Dr. Clement Kuehn now lives in Connecticut with his wife and two daughters. When he is not researching ancient papyri and medieval manuscripts, he teaches Latin and Greek - and he occasionally helps the composer Paul O'Neill and Trans-Siberian Orchestra with their Latin words.
At Fordham University from 1996 to 1999, Kuehn designed and taught a wide variety of multimedia Classics courses, including Greek and Latin language courses, Cicero, Lucretius, Augustine, Ancient History, and Classical literature in translation (Greek Tragedy and Ancient Comedy). He also helped pilot Fordham's distance-learning program, in which he taught a Greek literature course simultaneously at two campuses using the Intel TeamStation System, a room-sized telepresence system.
In 1999, Kuehn was invited to the Ross School in East Hampton, NY, to write a technologically integrated Latin curriculum. The Ross School was founded by the late Steven Ross, CEO of Time Warner, and is currently directed by his wife Courtney Ross. Famous educators and Nobel Prize winners from around the world made frequent visits to the Ross School to assist in creating and implementing its advanced educational philosophy, including Howard Gardner, Kurt Fischer, Antonio Battro, Ralf Abraham, William Irwin Thompson, Georges Charpak, Leon Ledermann, and Marcelo Suárez-Orozco. (For more details, please download the pdf file.) Media celebrities came regularly to enjoy stimulating conversations with the faculty and students about music, movies, television, multimedia publications, and computer technologies, including Steven Spielberg, Billy Joel, Martha Stewart, Henry Winkler, and Paul McCartney. The Ross School received initial support from the Intel Corporation, and curriculum development was guided by the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
At the Ross School from 1999 to 2004, Kuehn employed a wide range of cutting-edge educational technologies in teaching the Latin language and Roman cultural history. He was assisted in these new technologies by a Fellowship at the Annenberg Center, University of Southern California. In USC’s innovative Multimedia Literacy Program, Humanities teachers learned to develop the computer skills of their students by requiring digital multimedia projects. Kuehn became a role model for other teachers in his use of advanced technologies in the classroom. He taught colleagues how to use Flash and Shockwave software in creating animated and interactive digital programs. His students created interactive DVDs of their Latin-language musicals, built a website for their champion cycling team, and with the aid of Photoshop-generated images, turned their cafeteria into a life-size Pompeii villa, with their own portraits embedded into the mythological wall frescoes. His Vergil students created a multimedia music video of their reading of the Aeneid.
After he had completed his work for the Ross School, Kuehn taught Latin full-time at Hopkins School, a traditional independent school with a vibrant Latin program in New Haven, CT. In 2010 Hopkins School celebrated its 350th anniversary and was listed by Forbes Magazine as among the top 20 prep schools in the country. From 2004 to 2010 Kuehn's students excelled in the AP Vergil Exam, in the National Latin Exam, and in Latin oral recitation at the state competition (COLT); and for three consecutive years his graduating seniors received Hopkins School’s highest Latin honor, the Claire McNamee Prize. With the assistance of a Summer Fellowship at Oxford University, Kuehn organized an international program for the study of medieval manuscripts, Summer Latin at Oxford University, which he led in the summer of 2006 (pdf download, page 7).
Dr. Clement Kuehn now lives in Connecticut with his wife and two daughters. When he is not researching ancient papyri and medieval manuscripts, he teaches Latin and Greek - and he occasionally helps the composer Paul O'Neill and Trans-Siberian Orchestra with their Latin words.
Select Bibliography for Dr. Clement Kuehn
Books:
Anastasius of Sinai. Hexaëmeron. Edited and translated by Clement Kuehn and John Baggarly, S.J. Rome: Orientalia Christiana Analecta, 2007. Foreword by J. Munitiz, S.J.
Channels of Imperishable Fire. The Beginnings of Christian Mystical Poetry and Dioscorus of Aphrodito. Lang Classical Studies 7. New York: Peter Lang, 1995. Foreword by J. Liebeschuetz.
Articles and reviews:
“Marriage Contract.” Edited by Clement Kuehn and Traianos Gagos. The Petra Papyri IV: in press.
“Agreement on Marital Property.” Edited by Clement Kuehn and Traianos Gagos. The Petra Papyri IV: in press.
“Anastasius of Sinai: Biblical Scholar.” Byzantinische Zeitschrift 103/1 (2010): 55-81.
“Egypt at Empire’s End.” Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists 46 (2009): 175-189.
Review of Angelo Di Berardino (ed.), Patrology. In Byzantinische Zeitschrift 101/2 (2009): 811-816.
“Agreement Concerning Family Property.” Edited by Clement Kuehn and Antti Arjava. The Petra Papyri I (2002): 23-33, plates I-IX.
Review of Basil Mandilaras (ed.), P.Sta.Xyla. The Byzantine Papyri of the Greek Papyrological Society. Volume 1. In The Classical Bulletin 72 (1996): 74-76.
“A New Papyrus of a Dioscorian Poem and Marriage Contract, P.Berol.Inv.No. 21334.” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 97 (1993): 103-115, plates 2-3.
Review of Kurt Treu and Johannes Diethart (ed.), Griechische literarische Papyri christlichen Inhaltes II. In Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists 30 (1993): 155-164.
“Dioskoros of Aphrodito and Romanos the Melodist.” Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists 27 (1990): 103-107.
Web sites:
“Dioscorus of Aphrodito,” created 2011: wikipedia.org/wiki/Dioscorus_of_Aphrodito. Brief biography of Dioscorus of Aphrodito (c. 520-585).
“Cicada,” created 2011: www.ByzantineEgypt.com. The poetry of Dioscorus of Aphrodito: the Critical Edition.
“Man and Circumstance,” created 2011: www.ByzantineEgypt.org. Biography of Dioscorus of Aphrodito: poet, lawyer, and village administrator.
“Anastasios of Sinai,” created 2010: www.AnastasiosofSinai.org. The works and world of Anastasius of Sinai (ob. c. 700).
“The Creation,” created 2010: www.NewMoses.org. Anastasius of Sinai and his commentary on the Biblical creation account.
“Anastasius Sinaita,” created 2009: wikipedia.org/wiki/Anastasius_Sinaita. Brief biography of Anastasius of Sinai.
“Nearly News,” created 2009: www.NearlyNews.org. Password required. The official newsletter of the faculty and staff at Hopkins School.
Key papers:
“Deciphering the Petra Papyri: A Pond in the Woods.” ACOR Seminar Series, Amman, Jordan, Mar 1996.
“Two Dowry Documents of the Petra Papyri.” Association Internationale de Papyrologues, Berlin, Germany, Aug 1995.
“The Cicada: Poet, Philosopher, Mystic. Cicada Imagery from Homer to Dioscorus.” American Philological Association, Atlanta, GA, Dec 1994.
“The Comic Tradition of Exaggerated Compound Words.” American Philological Association, Washington, D.C., Dec 1993.
“A New Papyrus of a Dioscorian Poem and Marriage Contract.” Byzantine Studies Conference, Urbana, IL, Oct 1992.
“Human Victims in the Iliad’s Similes.” Classical Association of the Middle West and South, Hamilton, Ontario, Apr 1991.
Assistance:
Goldstone, Nancy. The Lady Queen. The Notorious Reign of Joanna I, Queen of Naples, Jerusalem, and Sicily. New York, Walker and Co., 2009.
Sweeney, Leo. Divine Infinity in Greek and Medieval Thought. New York: P. Lang, 1992.
Karavites, P., and T. E. Wren. Promise-Giving and Treaty-Making: Homer and the Near East. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1992.
