“I Contain Multitudes”: Apuleius’ Apologia 24
By Maggie Yuan
The North-African author Apuleius is a fascinating figure for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is his supposed practice of black magic.
The Paradox of Carthage in Virgil’s Aeneid: Reflections of Augustan Rome’s Anxieties and Identity
By Sophia Lee
Virgil’s Aeneid is not merely a national epic recounting Rome’s legendary origins; it is a profound exploration of Roman identity during a pivotal era. At the time of its composition, around 30 to 19 BCE, Octavian rose to power and re‑fashioned the Republic of Rome into a principate that combined outwardly traditional institutions with unprecedented personal authority.
Pliny’s Laurentine Villa: A Close Reading
By Henry Maravilla
In Book 2 of his letters, Pliny the Younger writes a laudatio dedicated to his Laurentine villa in Latium. Although Pliny addresses these letters to friends, he arguably seeks to convey something profound — to show off his lifestyle as one that should be emulated by other Roman elites.
Pseudo-Alphabetic Characters and Questions of Literacy: the Story of a Sole-Shaped Stamp
By Jane Lilly
At a glance, the Harvard Art Museum’s (HAM) Stamp in the Form of a Foot seems unremarkable, particularly in conversation with the five other Roman stamps also stored at HAM. Each of these six stamps was cast in a lost-wax process with an inscription on the front and a loop on the back. However, upon further inspection, the oddities of this stamp become apparent.
Op-Ed: Let’s Start Speaking Dead Languages
By Selima Aousheva “And first place in Advanced Latin Oratory goes to…Selima Aousheva.” That was the last thing I expected. Yes, I had poured hours into memorizing an excerpt from Cicero’s Against Verres and perfecting the style of Roman oration that it demanded, but this was my first time trying my hand at reciting […]
England’s Ancient Roman Military Sites: A Glimpse into Roman Conquests
By Matthew Breier Glimpses into Ancient Roman history come in many forms. Sometimes we are awed by the Romans’ ingenuity and other times by their military prowess, albeit at the expense of the defeated. One can dive into the history of Roman conquests with a walk through contemporary eastern and northern England in Colchester […]
The Spelunking History: Tartt’s The Secret History and Plato’s Allegory of the Cave
By Maggie Yuan Pur. Ever the dramatist, Richard, the narrator of Donna Tartt’s novel The Secret History, points to this Greek word for fire as a concept that is threaded through the ancient Greeks, a “strange harsh light which pervades Homer’s landscapes and illumines the dialogues of Plato.”1 Although The Secret History is set […]
A Comparison of Frederick Douglass and Socrates
By Griffin Pitt In July of 1852, Frederick Douglass posed a profound question to a congregation at Corinthian Hall: “What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?” His speech laid bare the hypocrisy of a nation that celebrated freedom while continuing to uphold slavery. Similarly, millennia earlier in ancient Athens, Socrates stood […]
The Caesar-Catullus Mashup No One Asked For
By Selima Aousheva Gaius Julius Caesar (100–44 BCE) and Gaius Valerius Catullus (84–54 BCE). A Roman statesman and a prolific poet. A dictator for life and a scandalizer for life. Two men who, despite living in a common time and place, were otherwise polar opposites. What if the two men were combined in one? […]
The Vagueness in Musical Works from a Platonist Perspective
By Tianhao Luo 1. Introduction When I hear the noise of grass mowers outside my room, I know it is a noise. When I hear a Mozart symphony in a concert hall, I know it is a performance, or instantiation, of a musical work. However, what if a grass mower is rumbling while the […]