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McClanahan Essay Prize Lecture

Athanasius Strikes Back: The Life of Antony as a Rebuttal of the Vita Apollonii
Jacob Horton, �鶹ӰԺ

Thursday, January 26, 2023  |  5:00 p.m.  |  Eaton Humanities 135

By the 5th century CE, Christian hagiography had become a preeminent form of literature in the Roman world. What began with harrowing stories about martyrs tortured and executed during the imperial persecutions transitioned into idealized accounts of ascetic holy men and women who became figurative martyrs, relinquishing not their lives but worldly pleasures. Christian hagiography did not emerge out of nowhere, however, finding comparanda in the biographies of earlier pagan holy men. In this talk, I analyze Athanasius’ Life of Antony and Philostratus’ Life of Apollonius in light of the concept of the θεῖος ἁνήρ (holy man). Analyzing the narratological and thematic elements, as well as the political and religious climate of the late fourth century, I argue that Athanasius’ work can fruitfully be read as a rebuttal of the Life of Apollonius and by extension of the Neo-Pythagorean movement. More broadly, I propose the reading of early Christian hagiography as a calculated response to the burgeoning pagan revival of the third and fourth centuries.

A reception will follow after the lecture in Eaton Humanities 350.

This essay prize and lecture is sponsored by Mary E.V. McClanahan. The Department is grateful for her generous support.

  View the PDF poster here

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McClanahan Essay Prize Lecture

Dance of Dumuzi: the Choreography of Mesopotamian Space and Ritual
Hannah Slough, �鶹ӰԺ

Thursday, January 20, 2022  |  7:00 p.m.  |  Virtual webinar

Modified Mesopotamian cylinder seal

In this study I examine the way ancient dancers in Mesopotamian region between the Tigris and the Euphrates used the movement of their bodies to create spaces of healing and protection and to connect with their gods. I argue that dance was a means to alter or access the religious potency in spaces that lay outside their usual discernible landscape–what I call “transpatial value.” Indeed, evidence from the proto-literate period through the Old Babylonian period (ca. 3400-1600 B.C.) provide us with three artistic motifs that suggest these dances were performed in ritual contexts: chain dances, the bow-legged dance, and the foot-clutching dance. I present a new interpretation of the “foot-clutching dance” as a staging of the Sumerian myth “The Death of Dumuzi” (ca. 1900-1600 B.C.). This dance, likely performed at public events, was a means for Mesopotamians to understand and ritually contend with unseen forces of good and ill.

This lecture is free and will be hosted on Zoom.

This essay prize and lecture is sponsored by Mary E.V. McClanahan.  CU Classics is grateful for her generous support.

  View the PDF poster here

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McClanahan Essay Prize Lecture

Maternal Dreams and Influence in Aeschylus' Persians and Libation Bearers
Florencia Foxley, University of Colorado �鶹ӰԺ

Thursday, February 4th, 2021  |  5:00 p.m.  |  Virtual Webinar

The power of maternity loomed large in the ancient Greek cultural imagination. Mothers and motherhood were essential to any city-state, yet deeply mistrusted by this misogynistic culture. Greek literature reflects both reverence and fear of maternity—awe at the intense attachment between mother and child and efforts to contain and channel that attachment in service to patriarchal structures. Gaia, Medea, Demeter, Alcestis, and Andromache; there are countless examples of mothers feared for the threat they pose or celebrated for their devotion to husband and home. My paper explores two Aeschylean examples of powerful and complex maternal bonds: Atossa and Xerxes and Clytemnestra and Orestes. In Persians and Libation Bearers, Aeschylus uses a mother’s ominous dream of her son in order to draw attention to the close, and likely harmful, maternal bond. Both Atossa and Clytemnestra attempt to exert their influence over their sons through the gestures of nurture and clothing. Although Atossa is a positive example of motherhood, and Clytemnestra more threatening, nevertheless, I argue that the similarities between the two plays draw attention to the inherent damage that an overly influential mother poses to her growing son. Regardless of maternal intent, both sons must reject maternal influence at all costs in order to become autonomous adults.

This lecture is free and will be hosted on Zoom.
  Register Today!

This essay prize and lecture is sponsored by Mary E.V. McClanahan.  CU Classics is grateful for her generous support.

  View the PDF poster here

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Please join us in congratulating doctoral student David Chu, who has won a Graduate Part Time Instructor Appreciation Award from the Graduate School in recognition of how he has "risen to the challenges presented by teaching during the pandemic.” It is an honor richly deserved.

David has been an outstanding teacher for the department for several years. He has taught in a wide variety of courses: he started as a section leader and then led his own Latin classes with extraordinary success and last year taught lecture classes such as Greek and Roman Epic. Now he is teaching our department’s writing intensive course. David responded with energy, wisdom, and balance to the challenges of teaching remotely due to the Covid-19 pandemic. When we pivoted to remote instruction last March, he quickly overhauled and redesigned his Greek and Roman epic class to maintain academic rigor and deliver the planned course content while, at the same time, taking student needs and difficulties into account. Although it was extremely time-consuming, he not only set up asynchronous lectures, but continued to hold synchronous class session to go over material and answer questions on the lectures. He extended his virtual office hours, to make sure that all of his students regardless of new constraints on their time—or even different times zones—continue to have access to him. He has been outstanding as the department’s lead TA for the Center for Teaching and Learning. Every semester, he repeatedly encourages TA’s to do the video consultations with the Center for Teaching and Learning. Most impressive, he organized an introductory teaching seminar for our entering class of graduate students, particularly welcome given the uncertainty surrounding teaching remote, hybrid, or in person this fall.

David has long and richly deserved special recognition for his exemplary teaching and his efforts to maintain this very high standard in present circumstances is even more admirable and impressive. He is a most deserving candidate for this award.

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The Department of Classics congratulates the following award-winners:

(Jump to: Graduate Award Winners)

UNDERGRADUATE AWARD WINNERS

The Matthew Dwyer Prize for the Translation of Latin and Greek

The 2020 Dwyer prize for Latin translation has been jointly won by Cameron Hunter and James Tranchetti for their translations of Pliny’s letter on boar hunting and the importance of keeping in touch! They will each receive a copy of the Lewis and Short Latin dictionary.

The 2020 Dwyer prize for Greek translation has been awarded to Caden Hanrahan for the translation of the moving start of Xenophon’s Apology of Socrates, in which the philosopher defends his character after his indictment. Caden will receive the Liddell and Scott Greek dictionary. 

Congratulations to all three Dwyer prize winners, and warmest thanks to Matthew Dwyer for making these awards possible!

Ann Nichols Grants

Caden Hanrahan and James Tranchetti have won Ann Nichols Fellowships. The award provides $3,500 for continued full-time study at �鶹ӰԺ.

Olivia Bulik has won an Ann Nichols Romulus Grant for an archaeological field school. She has been accepted into the  this summer, a five week field school for undergraduates and graduates where they are trained in excavate and identify remains in the largest ancient children’s cemetery in the world. Unfortunately, the university has at this time , domestic and international, for students, as well as for staff and faculty, in order to limit the spread of COVID-19 as much as possible; and it is unclear whether the Astypalaia Bioarchaeology Program will run this summer. However, Olivia is to be hugely congratulated on her academic record and her success with this grant. We will work with Olivia as the situation evolves to see how we can best support her.

Haley Herrmann has won an Ann Nichols Herodotus Grant, which will allow her to all for a study abroad semester next academic year at the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Rome. We hope that it will be possible for Haley to accept this grant once the current COVID-19 crisis has passed.

Congratulations to all our Ann Nichols Grant recipients, and warmest thanks to Ann Nichols for making these awards possible!

GRADUATE AWARD WINNERS

David Chu has won a coveted Graduate School Summer Fellowship. David has a BA in Classical Studies from the College of Wooster (2013) and an MA in Latin and Classical Humanities from UMass Boston (2016). Currently, he is in his fourth year in our doctoral program, and the summer fellowship he has now won will be critical in moving him towards successful completion of his degree at this time next year. He will spend the fellowship time focusing on his dissertation, which examines the language and depiction of male lament in Greek tragedy. Many congratulations, David!

Kate Johnson is this year’s winner of the 2020 Joy King and Barbara Hill Award, which is given annually to an MA student specializing in the Teaching of Latin and on the MA-Teaching track. Kate is in her first year in our MA program. She has a BA in Classics from UMass Amherst, where she wrote an undergraduate thesis entitled “Art imitates art: how Augustus uses the Ara Pacis and the Res Gestae to characterize himself”. Here at �鶹ӰԺ, she is thriving in her classes and will shortly be beginning her special teaching project on the poet Lucan under the direction of Professor Isabel Köster. Please join me in sending Kate heartfelt congratulations, and warmest thanks to Joy King and Barbara Hill for making this award possible!

Lukas Nicholson and Tom Francis have won . Lukas will put the grant to work this summer by studying for MA comps, including the Latin translation exam. Lukas’ chosen area of specialization is the teaching of Latin. For the special teaching project degree requirement, Lukas will be focusing on Suetonius. Tom will put the grant to work this summer by studying for PhD comps, as well as pursuing research interests focused on Nonnos. Tom's chosen area of specialization is Greek language and literature.

Caroline Everts and Kelly Grogan have each won the Dilts Swartz Award, an award established in honor of CU alumna Dorothy Dilts Swartz. Both students are working toward an MA in Classics with a concentration in Classical Art and Archaeology and they plan to use their awards this summer to study for their comprehensive exams.

Elizabeth Bowman and Tom Francis have each won the Hunter Rawlings Award. They have each just finished their first year in the MA program, Elizabeth Bowman with a concentration in Latin and Tom Francis with a concentration in Greek, and they will use these awards to support their studies this summer.

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McClanahan Graduate Essay Prize Lecture

Virgin Sacrifice? Menoikeus in Euripides' Phoenician Women

presented by Jake Sawyer, �鶹ӰԺ

Monday, December 2nd I 5 pm I HUMN 1B90

Free and open to the public

Parking available just north of the Eaton Humanities building

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Mary E. V. McClanahan Graduate Essay Prize

Monday, December 3rd at 5:30 pm | HUMN 250

Virgil’s Chaonian Doves
Reading Hesiod in Eclogues 5 and 9
Classics PhD candidate, Samuel Hahn

On one level, Virgil’s Eclogues consider the tension between Latin poetry and the Roman state. With the image of doves assailed by an eagle Virgil frames this discussion in Hesiodic terms. Ultimately, by engaging with Hesiod’s Works and Days throughout his collection of pastoral poems, Virgil affirms the didactic role of the poet.

This event is free and open to the public.

Sponsored by Mary E. V. McClanahan and the Department of Classics

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Elegizing the Roman Theater:
Ars Amatoria 1.89-134

Winner of the 2017 Mary E.V McClanahan Essay Graduate Prize, Samuel L. Kindick, will present his paper, "Elegizing the Roman Theater: Ars Amatoria 1.89-134", on Monday, December 4 at 5:00 PM in HUMN 250.

Although Ovid’s Ars Armatoria (2 BCE) has often been viewed as a mere handbook, it revolutionized the form and content of Roman elegiac poetry.  This paper explores how Ovid uses the Roman theater to bring epic and historiographic content into the world of elegy.

Samuel L. Kindick is a PhD candidate in the department of Classics at the �鶹ӰԺ.

This event is sponsored by Mary E.V. McClanahan and the CU Classics Department.  The event is free and open to the public.

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