Category: Articles

Food for Thought: Women’s Domestic Roles through the Culinary Iconography of Archaic Greek Terracotta Figurines
Nov 3

Food for Thought: Women’s Domestic Roles through the Culinary Iconography of Archaic Greek Terracotta Figurines

Photo: The collection of Archaic Greek terracotta figurines at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), image courtesy of author. Food for Thought: Women’s Domestic Roles through the Culinary Iconography of Archaic Greek Terracotta Figurines By Camille Blanco   Among the corpus of ancient Greek artifacts found in the eastern Mediterranean, ceramics and pottery remain…

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The Mēchanē in Prometheus Bound: Recognizing the Role of Technology on Stage
Sep 15

The Mēchanē in Prometheus Bound: Recognizing the Role of Technology on Stage

The Mēchanē in Prometheus Bound: Recognizing the Role of Technology on Stage
By William Gerhardinger

Prometheus Bound, henceforth PB, poses an insoluble scholarly puzzle. In addition to its authorship and date—and, in fact, intertwined with them—matters of its stagecraft have given rise to a heated scholarly debate. Most prominent among these is the question of how Oceanus’ seemingly aerial mode of transportation (284-87, 394-96) was achieved. Alan Sommerstein suggests the effect was achieved by using a flying-machine—namely the mēchanē, a sort of crane which lifted actors…

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Kubrick’s Spartacus: A Legacy of Mediocrity
Sep 1

Kubrick’s Spartacus: A Legacy of Mediocrity

Kubrick’s Spartacus: A Legacy of Mediocrity
By Taína Monegro

The concept of mystery has played a paradoxical role in the lives of humans: we are reverently fearful of it and enticed by it. This makes the study of classics deeply magical. It remains a mystery that continually eludes historians, offering mere morsels of itself at a time. Moreover, the greater reality remains ever-present: while worshiping at the increasingly stingy altar of this fickle mistress we call classical studies, time clamors on, pulling us further away from the ancient past we seek to decode. This may be why cinematic portrayals of the classical world are so often woefully short. For those of us who cling to these morsels of the past, what makes most classical stories so magical cannot coexist with the magic of cinema; mystery clashes with reality. In the case of Stanley Kubrick’s 1960 blockbuster Spartacus, I argue that it was a conglomeration of the two – the latter filling in the cracks of the former – that led to the film’s attempt at doing the legend of Spartacus justice…

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The Troubled Lover at a Convenient Time: A First-Generation WOC’s Odyssey of Classical Studies
Jun 2

The Troubled Lover at a Convenient Time: A First-Generation WOC’s Odyssey of Classical Studies

The Troubled Lover at a Convenient Time: A First-Generation WOC’s Odyssey of Classical Studies
By Zinuo Shi

             On my second day of Greek class, I was still recovering from my very first college all-nighter and catching up on weeks of missed material. As I made my way over Severance Hill, I stopped by the lake, a ritual common among Wellesley students questioning their life choices. At this pause, I realized I was finally on the trajectory I had envisioned for myself at seventeen. I thought I had prepared myself, as a first-generation woman of color, to navigate a field dominated by white men for centuries. Yet I could not shake off the feeling of being distanced, different and detached…

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The Egyptian Revival Jewelry Movement
May 5

The Egyptian Revival Jewelry Movement

The Egyptian Revival Jewelry Movement: Exploring the Ethics of Cultural Influence
By Angela Nguyen

Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the allure of ancient Egypt swept across the globe. Its grand architecture, enigmatic gods, and powerful civilization sparked a worldwide fascination, which reached new heights with the 1828 release of “Description de l’Égypte,” chronicling Napoleon’s expedition into Egypt, the historic completion of the Suez Canal in 1869, and culminating in the groundbreaking unearthing of King Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922. These moments brought ancient Egyptian wonders to the forefront, which became mainstream culture via fashion, art, and architecture in a wave known as “Egyptomania.”

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A Review of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians Television Series
Mar 24

A Review of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians Television Series

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Review of the Television Series
By Erin Schott

Students typically become classics majors by one of two routes: either their parents force them to take Latin in high school (my situation), or they read Percy Jackson. Rick Riordan’s popular book series provides an easy, fun entry point into the world of Greek mythology for young readers. Recognizing the series’ potential to draw in new majors, the Penn Classical Studies department offers a freshman course centered around Percy Jackson, and on March 20…

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Nature's Prominence
Feb 25

Nature’s Prominence

Nature’s Prominence
By Imaan Ansari and Caroline Pantzer

We prepared a poem centered around the myth of Daedalus and Icarus in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. We focused on the phrase, “nātūram novat,” meaning “he altered nature,” and explored how Daedalus’ desire to alter nature affected both characters throughout the story. Daedalus yearns to be a master craftsman, overstepping his status as a mortal to create wings for his son Icarus, who ultimately “flies too close to the sun” and dies. In our poem, we retell the story of Daedalus and Icarus, displaying how “nātūram novat” becomes incorporated into their journey.

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Bulls, Borders, and Banknotes: Europa and the Shaping of a Modern European Identity
Feb 4

Bulls, Borders, and Banknotes: Europa and the Shaping of a Modern European Identity

Bulls, Borders, and Banknotes: Europa and the Shaping of a Modern European Identity
By Jason Huang

Recent scholarship on the geography and geopolitics of the European Union (EU) has found the entity to be much more territorially complicated than its name suggests. A quick glance at a map of the EU today reveals that, quite paradoxically, not all European regions are a part of the EU and that not all EU territories are within continental Europe…

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Kindred
Jan 21

Kindred

Kindred
By Citlali Meritxell Diaz

Niobe and Medea were both mothers who, through their actions, brought about their own children’s end. Mocking Leto for only having two children, Niobe attracted the goddess’ wrath, resulting in the death of her fourteen children at the hands of Apollo and Artemis, Leto’s progeny. Similarly, Medea’s own wrath against her unfaithful husband struck down her children. She killed their children and his new wife, leaving him effaced in his bloodline…

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As a Budding Classics Student, Only Frederick Douglass Can Save My Education
Nov 19

As a Budding Classics Student, Only Frederick Douglass Can Save My Education

As a Budding Classics Student, Only Frederick Douglass Can Save My Education
By Hunter Ryerson

Just before my ninth birthday, my father drove me to a Confederate graveyard deep in the American South. A statue of a gray-coated officer loomed in the afternoon light. At the time, I barely understood the profound implication behind those rows of crumbling gravestones set in the red clay ground: that these men and boys had died for a cause of oppression…

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