Emily Wilson’s The Iliad Book Launch  

Emily Wilson’s The Iliad Book Launch  
By Riley Glickman

Following the success of her translation of The Odyssey, Penn’s favorite translator and resident celebrity classicist is back! Tuesday, September 26 marked the launch of Emily Wilson’s new book, a translation of The Iliad. The Free Library of Philadelphia in Center City hosted the book launch with a discussion, followed by a book signing for those who attended. The moderator of the talk was Penn’s very own Professor Murgnahan. Through Professor Murgnahan’s carefully guided questions, the packed auditorium spent an hour listening intently…

Upcoming Events at the Penn Museum

Upcoming Events at the Penn Museum
By Erin Schott

For any Philadelphian interested in history, the Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology offers a plethora of artifacts and exhibits. Among other treasures, it houses the largest Sphinx in the Western hemisphere and the headdress of Queen Puabi from the royal tombs of Ur. The Museum hosts events that allow people of all ages to learn about the collections while enjoying themselves. Here are a handful of in-person and virtual events that the Museum is offering in the coming months. We encourage kids and adults alike to attend these events to learn more about both ancient history and current events…

Meet the Penn Classical Studies Class of 2023!

On this day, May 15, 2023, another class of Classical Studies majors has passed through the doors of Claudia Cohen Hall for the last time as students. While the hardships of global disruptions marred large swathes of their undergraduate experience, the class has nevertheless paved a unique path through this aged institution. Every year—to mark the momentous occasion that is their undergraduate graduation—Discentes publishes a profile on each of these remarkable students…

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.

Wolf Humanities Center Visiting Fellow Profile: Dr. Christopher Parmenter

Wolf Humanities Center Visiting Fellow Profile: Dr. Christopher Parmenter
By Luke Snyder

Based in Williams Hall, Penn’s Wolf Humanities Center selects a small group of fellows each year to participate in annual research projects. Bringing together a group of scholars from diverse backgrounds, the Wolf Humanities Center seeks to encourage interdisciplinary studies centered around a different theme each year. This year’s theme focuses on migration, an especially interesting topic for Dr. Christopher Parmenter, one of this year’s visiting fellows. 

Meet the Penn Classical Studies Class of 2021!

Meet the Penn Classical Studies Class of 2021!
By Elizabeth Vo-Phamhi

Every year, we here at Discentes have sadly bid another graduating class farewell while happily celebrating their achievements by featuring some of our newest Classical Studies and Ancient History alumni. The recently-graduated Class of 2021 is unique—they completed their entire senior year remotely, yet they excelled.

Classics Must Be Anti-Racist

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…

A Conversation with Professor Kate Meng Brassel

A Conversation with Professor Kate Meng Brassel
By Elizabeth Vo-Phamhi

This fall, Professor Kate Meng Brassel joined Penn’s Department of Classics as a visiting assistant professor of classical studies. I was excited to get to know her, so we arranged to meet over Zoom for a Friday morning chat.

Professor Brassel received her B.A. from Columbia University, M.A. from Princeton University, M.Phil from the University of Cambridge, and her Ph.D. in Classics from Columbia University in 2018…