Classics Commons^™

The Delphic Plague : A Study In Athenian Oracular Rejection As Evident In The Oedipus Tyrannus., Devin A Stephens

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

The purpose of this work is to determine the effects of the Plague of Athens on the socio-cultural and religious climate of Athens as revealed through Sophocles’ magnum opus the Oedipus Tyrannus. The focus is the problem of oracular decay as viewed by Sophocles due to the political discrepancies between Athens and Delphi of which the plague was the final catalyst. Sophocles in this work is then explored as a writer with sentiments of Delphic Apologism in the wake of the plague which acted as a catalyst for a near complete dissolution of religious customs and furthermore a negation of …

The “Happy Slave” Narrative And Classics Pedagogy: A Verbal And Visual Analysis Of Beginning Greek And Latin Textbooks, Kelly P. Dugan

New England Classical Journal

In Greek and Latin textbooks, verbal and visual discourses function together to construe Greco-Roman systems of enslavement. This article is a survey of the words and images of enslavement in five popular Greek and Latin textbooks and includes sample lessons for educators to apply in their own classroom. Based on the theories and methodologies of multicultural education and systemic functional linguistics, the findings illustrate how the linguistic resources of appraisal (feelings and character) and transitivity (agency and action) function to sanitize and normalize enslavement. The accompanying comparative analysis to 19th-century American discourses on enslavement to demonstrate how the use of …

Myrrha Now: Reimagining Classic Myth And Mary Zimmerman's Metamorphoses In The #Metoo Era, Claire A. Pukszta

Scripps Senior Theses

This paper represents the final culmination of a theater senior project. The project consisted of an analytical research paper, performance in a mainstage department production, and supporting process documentation. I portrayed Myrrha, Hunger, Zeus, and others in a production of the play Metamorphoses.

Through research on Mary Zimmerman’s 1998 play Metamorphoses, adapted from the works of Roman poet Ovid, this thesis grapples with the historical meaning of the myth of Myrrha. A polarizing figure, Myrrha was cursed to fall in lust with her father. By exploring of portrayals sexual assault onstage, I tackle themes of audience relationships to …

Wonder Woman: Classical Hero, Modern Superheroine, And Feminist Figure, Victoria A. Karnes

Celebration of Learning

Wonder Woman, an Amazonian princess and superheroine who has been inspiring women since her comic debut in 1941. From her origins to the villains she faces, Wonder Woman’s stories and character are wrapped up in allusions to famous myths and figures of Greek and Roman literature. In my Senior Inquiry, I investigate Wonder Woman’s Classical connections and compare the ancient portrayal of Amazonian women to their portrayal in the comics and the recent films Wonder Woman (2017) and Justice League (2017). Also, in my Senior Inquiry, I analyze Dr. William Marston’s complicated and problematic feminist views which inspired his creation …

Classics Department Newsletter 2017-18, Classics Department, Gailann Rickert, Carolyn S. Snively

Classics Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Οἴμοι Τάλας: A Modern[Ist] Translation Of Aristophanes’ Acharnians, Jake Sawyer

Classical Mediterranean and Middle East Honors Projects

Adapting ancient works of art for a modern audience provides a challenge that authors often approach with a methodology of familiarization and normalization. Meanwhile, the public consciousness idealizes ancient Athens as a golden age of rationality and classic perfection. This translation of Aristophanes’ Acharnians seeks to challenge both of these notions by combining distinctly foreignizing language and Modernist theater practices that challenge the audience to interact with the action of the drama more directly. Aristophanes’ comedy is especially suited to this venture in the ways it criticizes Athenian society and deploys metatheatrical devices also prominent in many twentieth-century plays and …

Translation And Evolution: Byzantine Monastic Studies Since Ca. 1990, Hannah Ewing

Faculty Publications

While monks were integral parts of the long‐lasting Byzantine world, Byzantine monasticism and its study can be relatively obscure to nonspecialists, given the diversity of monastic forms practiced in the empire. This piece presents a brief primer on Byzantine monastic studies and evaluates key scholarship in this increasingly vigorous field. In particular, it assesses the major impact of critical editions and primary‐source translation projects since the 1990s and 2000s, including both archival materials and hagiography. Furthermore, it evaluates the current state of the field and outlines several opportunities and directions for further research.

Footnotes To Footnotes: Whitehead's Plato, Nathan Oglesby

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines the presence of Plato in the philosophical expressions of Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947). It was Whitehead who issued the well-known remark that “the safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists in a series of footnotes to Plato" -- the purpose of this project is to examine the manner in which Whitehead positioned himself as one such footnote, with respect to his thought itself, and its origins, presentation and reception.

This examination involves: first, an explication of Whitehead’s cosmology and metaphysics and their ostensibly Platonic elements (consisting chiefly in the Timaeus); second, investigation …

Navigating Tricky Topics: The Benefits Of Performance Pedagogy, Christopher Bungard

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

No abstract provided.

Voices Of Ancient Women: Stories And Essays On Persephone And Medusa, Isabelle George Rosett

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis combines art historical analysis and creative writing in a collection of essays and short stories centered on the myths of Persephone and Medusa. Ancient art, text, and context is considered in the essays, while the stories approach these subjects on a more contemporary and personal level.

Regio I - Latium Et Campania: Fascicolo Iii - Pompeii Et Herculaneum: Graffiti, Rebecca R. Benefiel, Holly Sypniewski, Kyle Helms, Erika Zimmerman Damer

Classical Studies Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Western Classics In Modern Japan (German), Frank Jacob

Publications and Research

A presentation paper (invited guest lecture) delivered at the Institute of Ancient History at Marburg University, Germany, July 12, 2016.

Classics And Rockefeller Center: John D. Rockefeller Jr. And The Use Of Classicism In Public Space, Jared A. Simard

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation situates the mythologically-inspired artwork of Rockefeller Center in the classical education of its sole proprietor, John D. Rockefeller Jr. I argue that his extensive classical education at the Browning School and Brown University led to an adult interest in the Classics. Through extensive, original archival research at the Rockefeller Archive Center and the Rockefeller Center Archive Center, I demonstrate that this interest was expressed through his philanthropy of prestigious institutions such as the American Academy in Rome, the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, and the excavations of the Athenian Agora. Colonial Williamsburg and Versailles are also …

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.

The Papers Of Procope Costas, Brooklyn College

Finding Aids

The Papers of Procope S. Costas consists primarily of Dr. Costas’s writings, mainly the dictionary that he had prepared (although never fully finished) entitled English Words Derived from the Greek. In addition to the six boxes that contain bound and unbound drafts of the dictionary Dr. Costas was working on, this collection is comprised of correspondence, personal information, miscellaneous items such as invoices and brochures, several citations, photographs of family and friends, as well as oversized materials including two LP’s (with manuals that Dr. Costas wrote).

Iambic Metapoetics In Horace, Epodes 8 And 12, Erika Zimmerman Damer

Classical Studies Faculty Publications

When in Book 1 of his Epistles Horace reflects back upon the beginning of his career in lyric poetry, he celebrates his adaptation of Archilochean iambos to the Latin language. He further states that while he followed the meter and spirit of Archilochus, his own iambi did not follow the matter and attacking words that drove the daughters of Lycambes to commit suicide (Epist. 1.19.23–5, 31).¹ The paired erotic invectives, Epodes 8 and 12, however, thematize the poet’s sexual impotence and his disgust during encounters with a repulsive sexual partner. The tone of these Epodes is unmistakably that of …

The Sanskrit Source Of The Tocharian 4x25-Syllable Meter, Dieter C. Gunkel

Classical Studies Faculty Publications

Were Tocharian meters influenced by Indic meters, and if so, to what extent? Since the outset of Tocharian studies, the prevalent opinion has been that the Tocharian metrical tradition, which is shared by both Tocharian languages, is independent of the Indian tradition. In Sieg and Siegling's original formulation, "Die tocharische Metrik scheint selbständig dazustehen und nicht der indischen entlehnt zu sein" (1921:x).¹ The supposed independence of the metrical form of Tocharian poetry may seem surprising given that the poetic texts are translations and adaptations of Buddhist Sanskrit originals. Furthermore, the Tocharian Buddhists did adopt the form of narration known …

Review Of Agnieszka Kotlińska-Toma, Hellenistic Tragedy, Paul Ojennus

Library Faculty Scholarship

Review of Agnieszka Kotlińska-Toma, Hellenistic Tragedy: Texts, Translations and a Critical Survey. Bloomsbury Classical Studies Monographs. London; New Delhi; New York; Sydney: Bloomsbury, 2015. Pp. xvi, 322. ISBN 9781472524218. $120.00. Kotlińska-Toma collects and translates the fragments of Greek tragedy of the Hellenistic period (323-31 BC); the study delivers a careful collection of the relevant texts, a descriptive overview of the nature of Hellenistic tragedy, and a summary of the stage conventions of the Hellenistic period, especially their differences from the Classical period.

Augustan Allusion And Poetic Immortality In The Pseudo-Virgilian Dirae, Vergil G. Parson

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Payment Order For Cavalry Fodder: Sb Xiv 12116, James G. Keenan

Classical Studies: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This Catholic University of America papyrus (Hyvernat inv. 372 = ICOR 75.73) was first edited by Leslie S. B. MacCoull as “An Account of Fodder for Pack-Horses”, ZPE 25 (1977) 155–158 with Tafel IV. It was subsequently reprinted as SB XIV 12116. At the end of the ed.pr., one of the ZPE editors, D(ieter) H(agedorn), proposed a different reading for the former lines 16–17 (now 17–18; see below, line 1 note). This has been accepted as correct and incorporated in the Duke Databank version of the text. Nevertheless, re-examination of the original publication has suggested that other improvements can be …

Ancient Medicine: The Classical Roots Of The Medical Humanities, Michael Goyette, Emily Fairey, Brooklyn College Library And Academic It

Open Educational Resources

This site is for those interested in ancient medicine and the medical humanities, both at Brooklyn College and around the world.

The medical humanities is a multidisciplinary field that embraces the study of medicine through the lenses of literature, history, philosophy, the social sciences, and the arts in the context of applied medicine and medical ethics. It draws upon these diverse disciplines in pursuit of medical educational goals, and in its continued valuation of liberal education supports classical ideals of critical analysis and the importance of cultural awareness in the sickness and health of society and the individual.

The guide …

The Colometry Of Tocharian 4x15-Syllable Verse, Christoph Bross, Dieter C. Gunkel, Kevin M. Ryan

Classical Studies Faculty Publications

We identify the basic colometry of Tocharian 4x15-syllable verse as 4+3+3+5 (traditionally 7+8), but we find no support for the putative alternative colometries of 4x15 often cited in the literature (viz. 6+4+5 and 8+7). In rare cases in which the medial caesura is violated, a word boundary after syllable 6 or 8 is highly probable by chance alone, as we confirm through corpus statistics. If the colometry is indeed invariable, one major argument for the influence of Indic on Tocharian meter is undermined. We further reinforce that the medial caesura after syllable 7 is no stronger than the final one …

Engaging With Digital Humanities: Becoming Productive Scholars Of The Humanities In A Digital Age, Daniel J. Crosby

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

No abstract provided.

The Neglected Heavens: Gender And The Cults Of Helios, Selene, And Eos In Bronze Age And Historical Greece, Katherine A. Rea

Classics: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

Why is it that the sun and moon held such a small place in cults of the Greeks, and is it that the sun is male and the moon is female in Greek myth? Aristophanes in Peace 406-413 claims that “we sacrifice to you [the Olympians], the barbarians sacrifice to them [the sun and moon]”. But if we look at nearby or related civilizations, the situation is quite different. In Ugaritic, Minoan, and Hittite religion (as well as among other Indo-European speaking people), the sun and other celestial deities have much more prominence. However, while the Greeks acknowledged the divinity …

Grief In The Iliad, Patrick R. Stickley

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper addresses the causes and effects of grief within Homer's Iliad. In addition, this paper argues that error, both committed and suffered, is the primary cause of grief, and that grief is particularly transformative in regard to Achilles, both in his motivations and his physicality.

Politicizing Apollo: Ovid's Commentary On Augustan Marriage Legislation In The Ars Amatoria And The Metamorphoses, Tara N. Godzich

Scripps Senior Theses

Augustan propaganda surrounding Apollo provided the perfect literary device through which Augustan poets could express their sentiments about the new regime. Augustus transformed Apollo from a relatively insignificant god in the Roman pantheon to his own multi-faceted god whose various attributes were meant to legitimize his new position within the Roman Empire. In this thesis I discuss how Ovid uses Augustus’ political affiliation with Apollo to comment on Augustan marriage legislation in two of his texts. In Ovid’s manual on seduction, the Ars Amatoria, he denies poetic inspiration from Apollo at the beginning of his work, preferring instead to …

Gender Reversals And Intertextuality In Tibullus, Erika Zimmerman Damer

Classical Studies Faculty Publications

This paper argues that Tibullus’ practice of altering the gender of his intertextual references destabilizes gender as a biological, social, and even grammatical category in his elegies. In 1.8, Tibullus draws on images of women’s adornment from Callimachus, Philitas, and Propertius to create the opening image of the puer Marathus. In 2.6, Tibullus draws from Catullus’ lament for his brother in carmen 101 as he describes Nemesis’ dead young sister and demonstrates his technical skill in manipulating the flexibility of grammatical gender in Latin.

Recent Work On Tibullus, Erika Zimmerman Damer

Classical Studies Faculty Publications

This introduction provides an overview of Tibullus’ life, his poetry, and his style, and offers a bibliographical survey of emerging critical trends in interpreting this relatively neglected Roman elegist.

Ancient Greek Music: The Aulos And The Kithara, Carina Carbone

Honors Projects

The aulos was one of the foremost woodwind instruments in ancient Greece; likewise, the kithara was one of the foremost string instruments. They varied in both form and function throughout time and by region. Given the popularity of both instruments, there are many surviving art pieces which illustrate them and their uses. There are also surviving samples of the instruments themselves.

Literature, The Humanities, And Humanity, Theodore L. Steinberg

Milne Open Textbooks

Literature, the Humanities, and Humanity attempts to make the study of literature more than simply another school subject that students have to take. At a time when all subjects seem to be valued only for their testability, this book tries to show the value of reading and studying literature, even earlier literature. It shows students, some of whom will themselves become teachers, that literature actually has something to say to them. Furthermore, it shows that literature is meant to be enjoyed, that, as the Roman poet Horace (and his Renaissance disciple Sir Philip Sidney) said, the functions of literature are …