By Eden Riebling
Gregory Nagy has lost count of how many times he has visited the Museum at Olympia. But during each visit he stares in awe at the broken sculptures that once graced the Temple of Zeus. In the second century CE, the traveler Pausanias saw those same statues in all their intact beauty, and his descriptions anchor Nagy’s intriguing and intricately argued new book.
Category: Articles
Returning to the Aeneid at Cumae: Aeneas’ Visit to the Underworld
Over fall break, I had a top-ten life experience. My visit to Parco Archeologico di Cuma (Cuma Archaeological Park), located in the ancient city outside of Naples, Italy, transported me back to the eight years I spent studying Latin. With newfound knowledge from Dr. Tartaron’s Introduction to Mediterranean Archaeology course, I explored the secluded yet rich remains of the first Greek colony and its ties to Rome’s founding.
By Janet Pearce
England’s Ancient Roman Public Bath Remains: A Glimpse of Early Roman Ingenuity
Ruins of an Ancient Hypocaust “This isn’t the hypocaust at the Stabian Baths, but it is a good example of what they look like. You can see the pillars which supported the floor, and the remains of the floor. The arch at the rear of the room was where the furnace was, and where the […]
A Tunnel That Appears in the Moribund Hour
Despite hailing from different backgrounds, Antigone and Socrates ultimately meet their ends in similar manners, claiming their places in classical history as some of its earliest depictions of civil disobedience. As it were, their motives and the actions that led to those moments are explored in the dialogue created below, as well as the similarities and differences in their approaches to religion, rebellion, duty, and death; thus, the purpose of this preface is not to re-discuss these notions in redundancy.
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 […]
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…
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…
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…
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.”
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…