For Medea, Love is Fear, and Love is Fire

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For Medea, Love is Fear, and Love is Fire
By Rebecca Onken

Medea is, for many (classicists and armchair consumers alike), the quintessential classical witch. Her powers dazzle. Her escapades are many and run the gamut of moral acceptability: she ensures Jason’s success in attaining the golden fleece by means of wondrous “medicines,” returns the blush of youth to an ailing old man, orchestrates the murder of a different old man, kills roughly three family members, and spirits away from her crimes on a chariot drawn by dragons…

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Pericles’s Funeral Oration

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Pericles’s Funeral Oration: A Partial Translation of The History of the Peloponnesian War 2.37-41
By Noah Apter

Pericles’s funeral oration comes down the centuries as one of the most difficult pieces of ancient Greek literature to properly translate. As classicists, it seems that Thucydides wishes to help us sharpen our teeth on his grammar. Why? It is in the nature of speeches to differ from narrative texts, the former tending to be “live” while narratives…

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Change and the Logos of Heraclitus

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“… Different and Again Different Waters Flow”
Change and the Logos of Heraclitus
By Syed Riza Qadri

Heraclitus’s fragments on change and the impermanence of nature read like reminders of one’s own passing existence. “It is not possible to step twice into the same river” seems to say (DK 22B91), “Yesterday is gone, and today shall be gone tomorrow.” But as one reads through these extant writings of the philosopher, the thought that some day one shall be gone as well doesn’t feel morose…

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Han Dynasty Tomb Brick

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Han Dynasty Tomb Brick
By Lily Nesvold

Tomb bricks, as the name implies, were used to construct tomb chambers. Families would commission the bricks to be manufactured and decorated, and then the finished products would be transported to the burial location. The tomb interior would hold a wooden coffin and gifts, such as ceramic jars, clay tomb figurines, and other pottery wares — everything the occupant needed for the afterlife…

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The Sounds of Sappho

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The Sounds of Sappho
By Catherine Sorrentino

When the Library of Alexandria went up in flames, so did the nine volumes of Sappho’s collected works, leaving only pieces and fragments for scholars to sift through in search of her remarkable voice. And yet, against all odds, from only a handful of lines and verses, Sappho rose from the ashes to become a cornerstone of women’s poetry and right to expression…

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Classical Mythology Playlist

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Classical Mythology Playlist
By Margaret Dunn

From Hozier to Eminem, modern musicians often pull from classical stories in their work, whether with a passing allusion or the complete grounding of a song in a particular figure. Below is an assemblage of favorites to get you through your Murnaghan essay, Ancient Roman history study session, or Greek translation homework. Turn up the volume, and don’t question my taste in music.

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A Review of the Penn Museum’s New Eastern Mediterranean Gallery

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A Review of the Penn Museum’s New Eastern Mediterranean Gallery
By Evan Dash

The Penn Museum celebrated its grand opening of the Eastern Mediterranean Gallery on November 19. In the months leading up to the exhibit’s opening, I visited the museum weekly for my Mediterranean archaeology class, and there was clearly excitement in the air for the new installation. After taking two separate tours of the Eastern Mediterranean Gallery, I have concluded that the buzz surrounding the exhibit’s debut was more than justified. The Eastern Mediterranean Gallery is unlike any other exhibit at the Penn Museum.

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Heinrich Schliemann: Maker of History

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Heinrich Schliemann: Maker of History
By Danny Stein

Heinrich Schliemann was a self-made businessman and archaeologist whose excavations at Troy and Mycenae made him a founder of modern archaeology. He lived a colorful and unconventional life, starting as a worker in a grocery shop and becoming a wealthy merchant who retired and made a fortune twice over. Schliemann also traveled the globe, taught himself…

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The Trippiest Places for a Classicist to Go in Italy

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The Trippiest Places for a Classicist to Go in Italy
By Rebecca Onken

Many classicists, when they begin their careers in a Latin 100 or Greek Civilization course, have never visited the sites of their interest. American classicists even have a whole ocean separating us from the locations, monuments, and historical artifacts that we study. When we finally do visit these locations, we are both…

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A Brief History of Common Latin and Greek Sayings

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A Brief History of Common Latin and Greek Sayings
By Adrian Altieri

As a language rich in vocabulary, English is often able to encapsulate many complex ideas on its own. A large proportion of English vocabulary is derived from Latin via French, and many other terms are descended from Ancient Greek. However, in certain cases, it is best to leave phrases in their original languages, allowing for a faithful transmission of…

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