Bulletin

Issue: March 2004

News

CLASSICAL STUDIES JOURNAL THRIVES AT BENDIGO

La Trobe University Bendigo has for many years been home to a prestigious international peer-reviewed journal in classical studies.

Ramus: Critical Studies in Greek and Roman Literature, now in its 34th year of publication, attracts sub-scribers from classics scholars worldwide.

Its low local profile stems as much from the modesty of its associate editor and production manager, John Penwill, Head of the Department of Arts and Planning at La Trobe Bendigo, as from its esoteric content.

Foundation editor and continuing editor-in-chief is Tony Boyle, Professor in Classics at the University of Southern California. John first met Tony when they were students together at Cambridge in the late 1960s.

The journal started publication at Monash University in 1972, when John and Tony were both members of staff in the Department of Classical Studies, but transferred production to Bendigo when John was appointed there in 1987.

While Tony commissions some editorial items and together they select editorial contributions, John also prepares the layout, organises the printing and supervises the dis-semination to classics scholars in 18 countries. Ramus is printed by McPherson's Printing Group, Mary-borough.

'When we started Ramus it was the only journal in the world that specialised in articles of a critical nature on works of classical Greek and Roman literature,' John said. 'Now several journals in the USA and Europe have followed our lead.'

Nearly 300 university libraries worldwide subscribe to Ramus, and contributors come from all parts of the English-speaking world. John explains that Ramus is the Latin word for 'bough', and the reference is to a famous passage in The Aeneid -an epic poem by the Roman writer Virgil-describing the golden bough which the Trojan hero Aeneas needs in order to enter the underworld and return alive.

More information about Ramus may be found at the journal's website: www.bendigo.latrobe.edu.au/ publicat/ramus/index.html

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