Classics Commons^™

Slavery: The Main Ingredient To An Ancient Greek Polis' Military Dominance, Steven T. Tran

Young Historians Conference

Spartan and Athens' victories against the Persians and their eventual military dominance cannot be attributed to military strategy or government alone. The social acceptance of slavery provided the foundation for Greek poleis' social and economic spheres, leading to the development of slave deployment during the Persian Wars and Peloponnesian War. An in-depth analysis of Classical Greece slavery shows that its prevalence is much greater than what previous historians have thought, and more notably, that it was one of the most massive slave usage in history, allowing for the development of a dominating western world.

Plato's Ethics: An Interdisciplinary Approach, Emmanuelle M. Mckinney

Young Historians Conference

Plato is undeniably one of the most influential men in the history of Western philosophy, and he deeply examined a remarkable number of diverse fields. However, in the attempt to understand his various writings, scholars too often over-categorize Plato’s work without recognizing that there are no partitioning lines between subjects: they are all blended together to form a complex body of thought. This paper summarizes Plato’s philosophy of ethics, with a focus on its inclusion of many contrasting disciplines.

Finding The Truth: An Examination Into The Use Of Rhetoric In Thucydides, Eryn Pritchett

Scholars Week

For centuries, scholars have looked to Thucydides as truth--a factual and accurate account of the Peloponnesian War--due to his thorough use of critical analysis and logical deduction. Unlike his predecessor, Herodotus, Thucydides dodged the critical and literary analysis that has plagued Herodotus for years. However, in the past few decades historians have began to realize that Thucydides is far more than facts on paper. This research project will show that Thucydides use of Athenian rhetoric transforms his work from that of historical accuracy into a "possession for all time," redefining the way other historians would construct their own narrative. (Thucydides, …

Constitutional Utopianism, Susan N. Herman

UTOPIA500

The sixth and final UTOPIA500 presentation was April 21, 2016. Professor Susan Herman, Centennial Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School and President of the American Civil Liberties Union, received the official "Me and Tommy More" polo shirt from Dr. Michael P. Malloy, organizer of the UTOPIA500 project. Professor Herman delivered a presentation on Constitutional Utopianism. She explored the literary devices that More employed as narrative strategies in Utopia, and argued that his intention may have been to give focus to discussion about important issues of governance and societal structures, rather than to provide definitive answers. Professor Herman also compared …

2nd Place: "Tattered Fiction", Murphy Studebaker

John and Margaret Class Student Book Collection Contest

This is Murphy Studebaker's submission essay, annotated bibliography, and annotated wishlist for the 206 John and Margaret Class Student Book Collection Contest, which won second place.

Murphy is a freshman at Chapman University, majoring in Film Production.

Monuments And Monumental Sculpture From Aphrodisias, Maryl B. Gensheimer, University Of Mississippi. Department Of Classics, Archaeological Institute Of America

Lecture Series

No abstract provided.

1st Place: "The Art Of Storytelling" Literature Collection, Lauren Cruz

John and Margaret Class Student Book Collection Contest

This is Lauren Cruz's submission essay, annotated bibliography, and annotated wishlist for the 2016 John and Margaret Class Student Book Collection Contest, which won first place.

Lauren is a graduate student at Chapman University in the War and Society program.

Feral And Isolated Children From Herodotus To Akbar To Hesse: Heroes, Thinkers, And Friends Of Wolves, Karl Steel

Publications and Research

"In 1304, a small child of Hesse was taken by wolves, and lived with them for a while, eating well, learning to run on all fours, perhaps joining them in their raids on sheep and humans, until he was taken by hunters and forced to live, unhappily, in human society, compelled to learn to walk upright, and exhibited as a spectacle. This account, almost certainly legendary, belongs to a small set of similar stories of feral children from roughly the same time, which, unlike so many modern accounts of wild children, are not about isolation, deprivation, or a catastrophic separation …

St. Thomas More And His Utopia In Antebellum American Lawyer's Thought, Michael H. Hoeflich

UTOPIA500

The fifth UTOPIA500 presentation was April 7, 2016 about St. Thomas More and his Utopia in Antebellum American Lawyers' Thought. A former dean at Kansas Law and a renowned historian of colonial and pre-Civil War America, Professor Michael H. Hoeflich is also a fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He explored the publication history of More's UTOPIA, and the extent to which editions of the book were available in antebellum America. Professor Hoeflich noted that the novel, as a work of "politics," was well known by the likes of Jefferson, Madison, and John Adams, but its influence thereafter ebbed and …

A Reflection On God And Sex: What The Bible Really Says, Howard Wagner

Best Integrated Writing

Wagner uses humor and honest self-appraisal to discuss the contrast between his burgeoning academic knowledge of the Bible and what he had been previously taught, and he determines that faith is an ongoing process.

In Search Of God’S Path, Ann Brake

Best Integrated Writing

Brake weaves personal response and critical analysis into a discussion of Sikhism from the perspective of a western observer.

Shiva As Nataraja Vs. Mahamaya And Buddha Dakini: A Comparision Study, Angelina Mclaughlin

Best Integrated Writing

McLaughlin uses a course textbook, personal observation, and scholarly sources to compare a Tibeto-Chinese gilt bronze statue made during the Quing dynasty in the 18^th century with a bronze figure of the Hindu god, Shiva created in the 11^th or 12 century.

Medical Journal Of Leontius, Slave Of Vitus Aelianus: A First-Person Historical Fiction Written From The Perspective Of A Roman ‘Doctor’, Amanda Bucher

Best Integrated Writing

Bucher conveys the attitudes towards gender and sexuality in the Roman world through the use of first person historical fiction.

A Gray Area, Lindsay Smith

Best Integrated Writing

Smith conducts a close reading of Homer’s Odyssey and presents the gender dynamics that subvert, through the depiction of a powerful Circe, prevailing attitudes of male superiority.

Best Integrated Writing 2016 - Complete Edition

Best Integrated Writing

Best Integrated Writing includes excellent student writing from Integrated Writing courses taught at Wright State University. The journal is published annually by the Wright State University Department of English Language and Literatures.

Taking On The Man: Female Rebellion Against Gender Roles In Classical Greek Drama, Gabrielle Killough

Senior Honors Theses

The portrayal of women in Ancient Greek drama seems at times opposed to the societal gender roles within Classical Athens. In the plays, women are strong and dynamic figures who enact change and upheaval in their world. Ancient dramas, like Agamemnon, Medea, Antigone, and Lysistrata, portrayed women with strong autonomy and minds which matched their male counterparts; whereas the women in Classical Athens found themselves in more limited circumstances. In analyzing the nature of these disparities, it seems that the constant factor is that the plays concern the violation of the household. The female characters respond in one of …

Shakespeare's Romans: Rediscovering And Reinventing Julius Caesar, Brad L. Cook

Lecture Series

An illustrated public lecture.

Penelope’S Daughters, Barbara Dell`Abate-Çelebi

Zea E-Books Collection

A feminist perspective of the myth of Penelope in Annie Leclerc’s Toi, Pénélope, Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad and Silvana La Spina’s Penelope.

At the origin of Western literature stands Queen Penelope—faithfully waiting for her husband to come home: keeping house, holding on to the throne, keeping the suitors at arm’s length, preserving Odysseus’ place and memory, deserted for the pursuit of war and adventures, and bringing up a son alone, but always keeping the marriage intact. Yet recently the character of Penelope, long the archetype of abandoned, faithful, submissive, passive wife, has been reinterpreted by feminist criticism and re-envisioned by …

Did The Shrew Tame You: An Exploration Of Sexual Politics In Shakespeare's The Taming Of The Shrew, Marisa Stickel

SEWSA 2016 Intersectionality in the New Millennium: An Assessment of Culture, Power, and Society

This paper explores the sexual politics present in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, examining the gender roles that influence the relationship between Katherine and Petruccio. By analyzing Petruccio’s attempts at taming Katherine, in comparison to the ending of the play where she is supposedly tamed, I will emphasize Katherine's abilities to manipulate a patriarchal society’s rule over women. While she seems to demonstrate acquiescing full sovereignty to her husband, my argument will pose that Katherine assumes the role of a proper wife to trick Petruccio, allowing her access to marital dominance. By examining the patriarchal society of the time …

Life At The Meridian: The Subjectivity Of Ethics In The Works Of Albert Camus And Friedrich Nietzsche, Clancy E. Robledo

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

This paper endeavors to respond to the questions: can ethics can be unbound from its traditional rootedness in religious systems? If so, what contributions did Nietzsche make to liberate value from the shackles of Western morality? To what degree is Camus one of the “new philosophers” Nietzsche calls for in On the Genealogy of Morals?

In an attempt to demonstrate that ethics can and do exist vividly in the realm of the non-religious, this paper will begin by illustrating the metaphysical door Nietzsche opens through his use of aphorisms in Thus Spoke Zarathustra and his investigation of the history …