Aphrodisias
A Case Study in Costing Late Antique Circuits
By Christopher Williams
I. Introduction
Throughout Late Antiquity, spoliated material became a more common feature in many building projects across the Roman Empire. While it is often assumed that this increase in spolia is linked with economic degradation, this may not be the case…
Minute-Long Myths – CLST 100 Crash Course
By Alicia Lopez
Your time in Classical Mythology may be coming to a close, but preparing for the final exam doesn’t have to feel like a Herculean labor. Welcome to your CLST 100 crash course, featuring memorable minute-long renditions of each myth on the syllabus…
“Canto Audentium” (I Sing of the Daring)
By Lily Nesvold
After reading Dante’s Inferno in high school, I was inspired to write a descriptive piece that mimics his style of writing but presents a modern twist and incorporates the Latin language. Set forty years in the future, my rendition of the classic depicts a sin—hubris—tacked onto the end of “Incontinence,” the initial subsections of Hell, but occurring before the walls of the city of Dis…
Classics Must Be Anti-Racist: The Classics Studies Department’s Anti-Racism Working Group at Penn
By Cecelia Heintzelman
Classics is at breaking point, one where it must decide to be actively anti-racist.
Our seemingly small field exploded into public controversy after the recent publishing of the New York Times’s article about Princeton professor Dan-el Padilla Peralta. The NYT article, “He Wants To Save Classics From Whiteness. Can the Field Survive?” begged the question: if we attempt to make Classics an anti-racist field, will it remain Classics as we know it…
Catullus 101
By Sara Albert
Catullus wrote this elegy while mourning the untimely death of his brother. Despite the fact that he wrote it so long ago, the raw emotion he expresses throughout the piece is timeless and universal. Any reader who has lost someone special to them knows how Catullus felt in the moments he describes…
The Discobolus of Qin 秦
By Millie Huang
The Discobolus of Qin is a multimedia piece by Chinese-Canadian Millie Huang. It is an encapsulation of the scholarly dialogue speculating that Greek and Hellenistic artwork inspired the creation of China’s terracotta army. Consisting of over 8000 soldiers, the army was sculpted in the late 3rd century BCE under the rule of the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang…
Athens: Cruel Imperial Power or Falsely Maligned?
An Analysis of Greek Perceptions of Athenian Hegemonic Behavior
By Andrew Liu
I. Introduction
The Greek victory over the Persians at the Battle of Plataea is read by many as a clear repudiation of tyranny and empire—the victory of free peoples against a foreign behemoth intent on the subjugation of all as vassals of the Great King in Persia. The Athenians played a leading role in this defeat of the Persians, and the unpopularity of the Spartan leader Pausanias helped position Athens as the leading city-state taking the war to Persia (Rhodes 24)…
Sophocles’ Creon and the illusion of polis
By Julia Ongchoco
One of the most salient binaries in Sophocles’ Antigone is the distinction between polis (or state) and oikos (or family). In this tragedy, Antigone, the main character, goes against Creon, the king and her uncle, out of the desire to properly bury her brother. Her persistence in the name of family cascades into all sorts of problems for Creon, who continued until the end to resist her plea…
Aeneid 4.173-188
By Ryan Cooper
Few would dispute that misinformation and the media are in a spotlight of attention right now, and I’ve often thought about Virgil’s depiction of Fama in Book IV of Aeneid, and just how closely related his image is to that of the rumors and misinformation of the current world…
Acting Onstage and Off
An Analysis of the Role Theatrical Performances Played in Nero’s Popularity
By Lily Nesvold
I. Introduction
Tyrant, murderer, debauchee, monster, rapist—just a small selection of the dreadful words that have been used for thousands of years to characterize Nero and his controversial reign. There is no doubt that Nero committed some truly horrific acts, of which perhaps the most unconscionable was the assassination of his mother, Agrippina. But has Nero been unfairly deemed a bad emperor, detested by all in his time…
