Claude Lorrain (1604-1682), Pastoral Landscape. Yale University Art Gallery. Virgil, Georgics 2.458-542 Translated by Sara Chopra Oh, farmers, all too lucky – if they could only know their own fortune! – For whom Earth herself, queen of righteousness, Pours out a simple living from the soil – so far from the clash of the […]
Sara Chopra
Barbarians: Ancient History, Reimagined
Laurence Rupp as Arminius in Netflix’s Barbarians. Credit: Netflix. Barbarians: Ancient History, Reimagined A Review of the New Netflix Series By Sara Chopra, Margaret Dunn, and Olivia Wells When we encounter reimaginations of ancient Rome on television or in theaters, we often find ourselves watching retellings centered around the exalted perspectives and stories of ancient […]
Two Approaches to Examining Slave Presence in the Plautine Audience
Perspective view of a Roman Amphitheatre Reviewing Brown and Richlin in Conjunction & Comparison By Sara J. Chopra I. Background To the people of ancient Rome, spectacle was an immense aspect of daily life. Whether it be chariot races, festivals, or city-wide processions, these events collectively contributed to Roman arts and performance culture. […]
BLM x CLST: A Series of Interviews with the Faculty of Penn Classics — Part 3: Professor Cynthia Damon
Future Directions and Resources By Elizabeth Vo-Phamhi, Sara Chopra, Cate Simons For the third installment of our Black Lives Matter & Classics series, we invited Professor Cynthia Damon to talk about the relevance of the Black Lives Matter movement and the current reassessment of past scholarship in the field. She also provides advice […]
BLM x CLST: A Series of Interviews with the Faculty of Penn Classics — Part 2: Professors Kimberly Bowes and Sheila Murnaghan
Looking Back, Thinking Forward: what Black Lives Matter means in our own department and discipline By Sara Chopra, Cate Simons, Elizabeth Vo-Phamhi In the first interview of the Black Lives Matter & Classics series, Professor Emily Wilson discussed the translation and reception of BIPOC voices in classical literature. In our second installment in this […]
BLM x CLST: A Series of Interviews with the Faculty of Penn Classics — Part 1: Professor Emily Wilson
A Translator’s Take on the Black Lives Matter Movement By Elizabeth Vo-Phamhi, Sara Chopra, Cate Simons Although several weeks have passed since the killings of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and Rayshard Brooks, amongst countless others, the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States continues to inspire many discussions […]
Damnatio Memoriae: On Facing, Not Forgetting, Our Past
By Mati Davis and Sara Chopra On a rainy July 1st day several weeks ago, a crowd gathered along Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia to cheer on construction crews as they lifted and lowered a statue of the Confederate general Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson from its pedestal. For many onlookers, the toppling of Jackson’s figure in […]
The King, the Soldier, the Slain
By Sara Chopra Iliad XXIV.477-512 τοὺς δ’ ἔλαθ’ εἰσελθὼν Πρίαμος μέγας, ἄγχι δ’ ἄρα στὰς χερσὶν Ἀχιλλῆος λάβε γούνατα καὶ κύσε χεῖρας δεινὰς ἀνδροφόνους, αἵ οἱ πολέας κτάνον υἷας. ὡς δ’ ὅτ’ ἂν ἄνδρ’ ἄτη πυκινὴ λάβῃ, ὅς τ’ ἐνὶ πάτρῃ φῶτα κατακτείνας ἄλλων ἐξίκετο δῆμον ἀνδρὸς ἐς ἀφνειοῦ, θάμβος δ’ ἔχει εἰσορόωντας, ὣς […]