Pericles’s Funeral Oration

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…

Classical Mythology Playlist

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.

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

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.

Heinrich Schliemann: Maker of History

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…

The Trippiest Places for a Classicist to Go in Italy

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…

A Brief History of Common Latin and Greek Sayings

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…

Why Classics: Antiquity Lives on in Modern Society

Why Classics: Antiquity Lives on in Modern Society
By Ryan Burns

Latin was a compulsory class in sixth grade, and no one was excited. “Isn’t it a dead language? What’s the point of learning Latin if we can never speak it,” my fellow students would say. I was one of these people. When we got to class, we started learning an endless list of vocabulary on body parts and animals, and…