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Megan Nutzman

@megannutzman.bsky.social

2.9K followers 1.8K following 240 posts

Ohio State Classics faculty, formerly in ODU History dept; PhD in Classics from UChicago; MTS + ThM from HCHC; history + material culture of ancient religion; chanter, knitter, weaver; author of Contested Cures (Edinburgh University Press) bit.ly/3sMTELi

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Megan Nutzman @megannutzman.bsky.social · 13h

It's publication day for "Asclepius, Jesus, and Healing by Touch: A Reevaluation"!
www.mohrsiebeck.com/en/journal/e...

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Megan Nutzman @megannutzman.bsky.social · 14d

Congratulations!!

Megan Nutzman @megannutzman.bsky.social · Aug 20

Ha! Definitely something to be careful about!

Megan Nutzman @megannutzman.bsky.social · Aug 20

Thanks! I had several pieces of swag from my time at the Frankel that I used to keep in my office at ODU. When I unpacked my office stuff on campus here, I very quickly put those items in a bag to come home with me so as not to attract any unwanted attention!

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Megan Nutzman @megannutzman.bsky.social · Aug 20

Apparently Brutus’s identity is a big secret. I definitely felt short!

Megan Nutzman @megannutzman.bsky.social · Aug 20

I won free tickets to an Ohio State football game at faculty orientation today. I should probably buy something red!

Picture of me standing next to Brutus Buckeye, the Ohio State mascot.

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Megan Nutzman @megannutzman.bsky.social · Aug 19

This is devastating. I am so sorry. You are awesome. I’m furious on behalf of you and your colleagues.

Megan Nutzman @megannutzman.bsky.social · Aug 5

Page proof day for "Asclepius, Jesus, and Healing by Touch: A Reevaluation," forthcoming in Early Christianity. Do the famous reliefs from the Piraeus Asklepieion and the Oropos Amphiareion (and others) show Greek healers conveying a cure with a simple touch? I argue that they don't.

Abstract for my forthcoming article: This article seeks to overturn more than one hundred years of scholarship that has suggested that Asclepius, the preeminent Greek god of healing, was reputed to heal
by touch. Previous scholars have interpreted a small number of Attic votive reliefs as depicting touch-miracles analogous to those attributed to Jesus in the New Testament. In light of epigraphic and literary depictions of Asclepius as a divine physician, I argue that some of these reliefs show Asclepius administering medical or surgical
cures, while others represent Asclepius employing the physician’s compassionate hand (παιωνία χείρ). In contrast, Jesus is portrayed as a source of divine power, which he is able to transfer to a sick or injured person by means of a simple touch without any need for a physician’s techniques. Similar touch-miracles in the Septuagint and
the Genesis Apocryphon indicate that antecedents for touch-miracles attributed to Jesus can be found not in Greek healing cults but rather in Jewish traditions.
Keywords: Asclepius, Amphiaraus, Jesus, healing, miracle, touch, votive

A relief found at the Asklepieion in Piraeus, which shows depicts a reclining woman in the center; a bearded Asclepius stands at the head of her bed and reaches down to touch her right shoulder with both hands. Behind Asclepius stands Hygieia, and at the foot of the bed are positioned a group of smaller figures including a bearded man, two women, and a child

A votive relief dedicated by Archinos. The left part of the image contains two figures; the smaller individual, Archinos, extends his
right arm to the larger figure, Amphiaraos, who holds the arm from below with his left hand while touching his upper arm or shoulder with his right hand. The scene on the right side of the image shows Archinos reclining on a bed with an attendant standing near his head. Coming up from behind the bed is a snake, whose mouth is open on Archinos’s shoulder.

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Megan Nutzman @megannutzman.bsky.social · Aug 4

My run-up-to school stress-dream rotation also includes classroom management/students won’t stop talking to each other. The irony is that at my last institution, this would have been a dream come true and I would have just let them talk!

Megan Nutzman @megannutzman.bsky.social · Jul 29

Wow, that’s a major move! Yes, I’ll definitely be in Boston and would love to catch up.

Megan Nutzman @megannutzman.bsky.social · Jul 29

Congrats on the retirement! I hope that you're enjoying it. Will you still attend conferences occasionally? I'm super excited to have landed here -- definitely not what I expected when I went on the market a year ago!

Megan Nutzman @megannutzman.bsky.social · Jul 29

Oof — that is really rough. I didn’t realize that you had left!

Megan Nutzman @megannutzman.bsky.social · Jul 29

Exactly. This is a good move, and we're excited about it, but I feel bad leaving colleagues with more work to do on what feels like a sinking ship. Good luck!

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Megan Nutzman @megannutzman.bsky.social · Jul 29

My former department lost 3 people in the last year alone: 2 tenured (including me) and 1 TT. There will be no TT or FT lecturer searches this year and no promise of any in future years. This is in addition to the 4 lines lost over the previous decade. I feel guilty about adding to these numbers.

Just some guy @rocinante.bsky.social · Jul 29

My former dept lost 3 TT people (including me) over the past 3 years. Not one line will be renewed. Dean won’t allow a FT lecturer either. Provost’s solution (for the university) is to increase the teaching load by a class per semester.

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Megan Nutzman @megannutzman.bsky.social · Jul 7

Thanks -- this is a great tip. If I decide to subscribe in the future, I'll go this route.

Megan Nutzman @megannutzman.bsky.social · Jul 7

I've never subscribed to the listserv, since it seems like I only ever hear about it when it becomes really problematic. For those of you who subscribe, do the benefits outweigh the drama?

Dr. Chance Bonar @chancebonar.bsky.social · Jul 7

Seconded — it’s embarrassing to get classics listserv emails like this from a tenured professor that claim classics isn’t (or shouldn’t be) political, cut the Levant & biblical studies off from classics, and ignore the use of Aramaic and Greek in Hellenistic & Roman Palestine

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Megan Nutzman @megannutzman.bsky.social · Jun 25

Thanks so much for that reminder! I have it bookmarked, but had forgotten about it.

Megan Nutzman @megannutzman.bsky.social · Jun 25

Thanks so much for checking! I was able to find a version of the volume that I need on Internet Archive, so I was able to figure it out even without getting into the LCL database.

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Megan Nutzman @megannutzman.bsky.social · Jun 25

Link for easy access: www.loebclassics.com

Home | Loeb Classical Library

The digital Loeb Classical Library is an interconnected, fully searchable, perpetually growing, virtual library of all that is important in Greek and Latin literature.

www.loebclassics.com

Megan Nutzman @megannutzman.bsky.social · Jun 25

Is anyone having a hard time logging into the online LCL today via institutional access? I've tried it on a number of browsers, but each time the log-in seems to go through, only to have the content that I need still show as unavailable without logging in. I just need to double check a citation!

Megan Nutzman @megannutzman.bsky.social · Jun 24

Apparently they don’t need to cut anything.

Megan Nutzman @megannutzman.bsky.social · Jun 24

Assuming that I’m catching your reference! That scene gets me every time!

Megan Nutzman @megannutzman.bsky.social · Jun 24

My father gave this to me and his father gave it to him and now I am giving it to you.

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Megan Nutzman @megannutzman.bsky.social · Jun 17

Applications are due in two weeks for a visiting scholar at Ohio State's Center for the Study of Religion. Open only to scholars who are not in tenured or tenure-track positions. I look forward to being involved in the CSR in my new position at OSU and to welcoming this visiting scholar!

CSR Visiting Scholar Program – Call for Applications

Visiting Scholar – Call for ApplicationsThe Center for the Study of Religion at The Ohio State University is pleased to announce the continuation of our short-term visiting scholar program.

religion.osu.edu

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Megan Nutzman @megannutzman.bsky.social · Jun 14

I don’t have anything brilliant to say, but once again I am a long way from home — hitting refresh, holding my loved ones in my heart, and praying it doesn’t get worse.

Picture of the Minnesota state capitol in St. Paul.