Cover art of Circe. Credit: Madeline Miller. Circe: A Human Witch? Reviewing Madeline Miller’s “Epic” By Olivia Wells If you’ve read the Odyssey, you remember the enchantress Circe. While the legendary epic doesn’t tell us much about her background, we know she’s wily like Odysseus; she has magical powers and turns men to pigs, seemingly […]
Statues that Speak
Source: Phidias Showing the Frieze of the Parthenon to his Friends Statues that Speak 5th-Century Greek Sculpture as Symbolism for Classical Age Ethos by Millie Huang I. Introduction The Classical Age in Greece (510-323 BC) witnessed many monumental changes in Greek society, including the end of aristocratic culture and the spread of democracy in […]
Blinded by Love
Lesbia and her Sparrow, by Sir Edward John Poynter Catullus 83 by Lily Nesvold Lesbia mi praesente viro mala plurima dicit: haec illi fatuo maxima laetitia est. mule, nihil sentis? si nostri oblita taceret, sana esset: nunc quod gannit et obloquitur, non solum meminit, sed, quae multo acrior est res, irata est. hoc est, […]
Barbarians: Ancient History, Reimagined
Laurence Rupp as Arminius in Netflix’s Barbarians. Credit: Netflix. Barbarians: Ancient History, Reimagined A Review of the New Netflix Series By Sara Chopra, Margaret Dunn, and Olivia Wells When we encounter reimaginations of ancient Rome on television or in theaters, we often find ourselves watching retellings centered around the exalted perspectives and stories of ancient […]
The City in Peace
The Shield of Achilles Iliad 18.490-508 by Stephen Jagoe ἐν δὲ δύω ποίησε πόλεις μερόπων ἀνθρώπων καλάς. ἐν τῇ μέν ῥα γάμοι τ’ ἔσαν εἰλαπίναι τε, νύμφας δ’ ἐκ θαλάμων δαί̈δων ὕπο λαμπομενάων ἠγίνεον ἀνὰ ἄστυ, πολὺς δ’ ὑμέναιος ὀρώρει: κοῦροι δ’ ὀρχηστῆρες ἐδίνεον, ἐν δ’ ἄρα τοῖσιν αὐλοὶ φόρμιγγές τε βοὴν ἔχον: αἳ […]
A Conversation with Professor Kate Meng Brassel
By Elizabeth Vo-Phamhi This fall, Professor Kate Meng Brassel joined Penn’s Department of Classics as a visiting assistant professor of classical studies. I was excited to get to know her, so we arranged to meet over Zoom for a Friday morning chat. Professor Brassel received her B.A. from Columbia University, M.A. from Princeton University, […]
Discentes’ Spring 2021 Course Guide
Credit: Penn Admissions. Description: Class of 1893 Memorial Gate, University of Pennsylvania Campus. Discentes Course Reviews Our guide to Classical Studies and Ancient History course offerings this spring by Sara Chopra With advance registration for Spring 2021 already underway, the staff of Discentes is looking back on the courses that shaped our experiences as […]
Constantine as Liberator
Photo Sources: Smart History Constantine as Liberator An Evaluation of the Self Representations of the Emperor through Eusebius’ Life of Constantine and the Arch of Constantine By James Nycz I. The Conversion of the First Christian Emperor…? The Western Roman emperor is lying on his deathbed. The previous emperor, Diocletian, had famously split […]
Haunted by the Past: Pompeii’s “Curse” and the Supernatural
The ancient city streets of Pompeii 2 thousand years after the eruption of Mt.Vesuvius. Photo Credit: Christopher Ott. By Vikram Balasubramanian In 79 AD, ash rained on Pompeii, burying the city. Pliny the Younger describes the catastrophe as white ash billowing miles into the air, hoards of country people unsure whether to leave their […]
Turpis Fausta
Lesbia and her Sparrow, 1860, artist unknown Turpis Fausta by Lily Nesvold ōdī Faustam tantum, quae (ēn!) habet ōs, sane, turpe. Flaccus dīligit illud monstrum, nescio quārē. taedet mē vītae cum spectō fēminam et illum. omnēs noscunt esse scortum, prō pudor, illam. lector: nē stultē saevam, Iove, cēnsuerīs mē sōdēs. nōn ōdī Faustam vērō, […]
