Several of the articles on Eidolon this month were narrowly preceded by articles on similar subjects in the New Yorker. I consider this synchronicity a sign that Eidolon is taking part in a very important and relevant set of discussions, but our writers are often worried that the New Yorker articles somehow invalidate their own work. This concern, I believe, stems from a fundamental difference between academic conversations in formal scholarship and in more informal settings — like the internet.

Eidolon published nine articles in July:
Jessica Seidman described how her experience of visiting the site of Ovid’s exile was more authentic than she expected it to be in An American in Tomis
I explored the interpretive uncertainty that of reading unfinished manuscripts such as the Aeneid and Harper Lee’s new novel in Burn This Book
James Romm reviewed Peter Green’s new translation of the Iliad in Sing Wrath, Goddess — Or Maybe Don’t
Matthew Cohn argued that Ridley Scott’s Prometheus doesn’t misuse the past, but is itself about misuse of the past in Was God an Astronaut?
Inger Kuin compared Lucian’s polytheistic humor with Mohammed cartoons to look at the impact of insider and outsider status on religious humor in Inside Jokes
Bárbara Álvarez Rodríguez looked at the phenomenon of the posting of photos of dead enemy combatants on social media in light of Achilles’ mutilation of Hector’s corpse in Displaying the Other
Johanna Hanink argued that the use of classical references to frame the Greek crisis is a part of a troubling history of contested ownership of the ancient Hellenic past in Ode on a Grecian Crisis
Stephen Distinti reminded us that the ISIS occupation of Palmyra is especially troubling in light of the city’s feminist hero Zenobia in Palmyra: Queen of the East
Joanna Kenty argued that, while it may be problematic to read the Liberian sex strike in light of Aristophanes’ Lysistrata, it can be helpful to read Aristophanes in light of Liberia in Lysistrata in Liberia

Academics are deeply worried by the idea that somebody will publish their ideas before them (also known as ‘getting scooped’). One of my professors in graduate school expressed this idea with a quotation attributed to Donatus: “Pereant qui ante nos nostra dixerunt!”

Internet writing is based on an entirely opposed set of concepts. Although linking is heavily encouraged, some news sites recycle each other’s content without adding much in the way of additional insight. There’s also an expectation that major online publications will weigh in on whatever issues happen to be circulating around the internet at that time, building on and critiquing each other’s viewpoints. In other words, internet publication focuses on the idea of adding to an existing conversation. If somebody has already written about your topic, positioning your article in that conversation becomes an easier task. Getting scooped isn’t as much of a concern.

When writing online, scholars shouldn’t fear that someone will beat them by getting to a topic more quickly than they do. They should fear writing about something so irrelevant that nobody else would want to add to the conversation.

On a different note, Eidolon publication will slow to the rate of one article per week in August while we participate in the Paideia Institute’s Living Greek in Greece program.

Please continue to send comments, questions, and article pitches to eidolon@paideia-institute.org. And, as always, thank you for reading!

Donna Zuckerberg received her PhD in Classics from Princeton in 2014. She is the founding editor of Eidolon and teaches Greek drama at Stanford Continuing Studies and online for the Paideia Institute. Read more of her work here.