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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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CU Classics is delighted to announce that our own Diane Conlin (Associate Professor Emerita) has been awarded the 2021 Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award by the ! Please join us in celebrating our excellent colleague. We are grateful that all of her hard work has been recognized.

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McClanahan Lecture Series

In the Shadow of Argos:
Landscape Histories of the Western Argolid
Dr. Sarah James, University of Colorado �鶹ӰԺ

Thursday, November 5th 2020  |  7:00 p.m.  |  Virtual Webinar

Mountain ranges in the western Argolid; credit: D. Nakassis

Since 2014, a joint CU �鶹ӰԺ-Canadian archaeological team has studied the mountainous valleys along the Inachos River, west of the city of Argos in southern Greece, as part of the Western Argolid Regional Project (WARP). Inhabited for more than 6000 years, Argos was a major center of political and cultural power for millennia benefitting from both its position on the fertile Argive Plain and its ready access to the sea. While Argos and the rest of the Plain have garnered much attention from historians and archaeologists, the western Argolid has long been characterized as merely a corridor for inland traffic instead of a dynamic landscape at a crossroads in the region. Now, thanks to WARP’s efforts, it has its own story to tell that highlights how this seemingly liminal space responded to the tides of history. 

This lecture is free and will be hosted on Zoom.
  Register Today!
After you register, the link to the lecture will be sent to your email on November 4.

This 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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Erin Baxter presents
Archaeology and Demography at Local Cemeteries

Wed. Oct. 28, 2020 @ 7pm MT via Zoom

Columbia Cemetery, �鶹ӰԺ. Courtesy of the Carnegie Branch Library for Local History, �鶹ӰԺ Historical Society

Dr. Erin Baxter (CU �鶹ӰԺ/DMNS) will present the results of student research on local cemeteries undertaken as part of her popular course CLAS/ANTH 3119 Archaeology of Death as a co-sponsored lecture by Classics and the .

Abstract: Cemeteries and burial practices are a rich source of information about post-colonial societies in America, offering unique insights into early communities not easily gained through written records. This talk will explore the history, demographics and archaeology of Colorado cemeteries and share findings of CU-�鶹ӰԺ student-led research at the Colombia cemetery. In addition, the funerary art of the 19^th century as preserved on tombstones and mausoleums will be explored, as will the origins of post-colonial death practices themselves. 

To register for this free webinar follow this link:

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Diane Conlin Awarded Emeritus Status!

The Department of Classics is delighted to announce that our colleague Diane Conlin has been awarded the title of Associate Professor Emerita by the College of Arts and Sciences, effective August 23^rd, 2020! This honor is well-deserved for Diane’s many contributions of every kind to the Department over the years and for her ongoing research on Roman art in the age of the Flavian emperors. Congratulations, Diane!

/classics/diane-conlin

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 Announcement of the 2020 Mary E. V. McClanahan Graduate Essay Prize

Summary: Classics Graduate students are invited to submit essays to be judged by a committee of three faculty members. The writer of the essay judged to be the best will receive $1,500 and will present his or her essay as a lecture to the department, to be followed by a reception. Even very good seminar papers are likely to have a better chance if they have been revised and improved; hence the fall submission deadline.

Eligibility: Graduate students enrolled in the Department of Classics at the University of Colorado at �鶹ӰԺ in the Fall 2020 semester are eligible to submit essays in the field of Classics, broadly defined. These will usually have been written for seminars and courses here, but essays originally written for other courses or at other institutions are also eligible. Essays should be between four and six thousand words in length, although shorter submissions may be considered. If the essay includes a research apparatus (footnotes, bibliography, image captions), these should not be included in the word count. A student who has won the prize may not compete a second time.

Submission deadline: Electronic versions of the essays (.docx, .doc, or .pdf) should be submitted to Peter Hunt (peter.hunt@colorado.edu) by October 12th.  Please submit an anonymous version of the essay, so the committee may judge the essays blind to the extent possible.   The winner will be announced by October 26th.

Prize: In addition to the cash prize ($1500) the winner normally presents their essay to the department in a public lecture followed by a reception.  We anticipate that the lecture will need to be given via Zoom this year.

Judging: The selection committee consists of three faculty members in the Department of Classics. The committee may decide not to award the prize.  In exceptional circumstances, the committee may decide to acknowledge more than one paper in whatever way they deem appropriate, e.g. designating a paper as an honorable mention, splitting the prize money, or sponsoring two lectures.  The announcement date, due date, and amount of the prize may vary from year to year.

Judges for this year’s competition are Professors Dimitri Nakassis (Committee Chair), Isabel Köster, and Zach Herz.  Send submissions to Peter Hunt.

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COLORADO CLASSICS DAY 2020

CLASSICS IS COOL(ORADO)
OCTOBER 3, 2020

On Saturday October 3rd, the CU �鶹ӰԺ Department of Classics is proud to (virtually) host Colorado Classics Day, an educational outreach event connecting middle- and high-school students from across the state with faculty at �鶹ӰԺ and other colleges throughout Colorado. Students will learn fun facts about the ancient world, see how college Classicists teach their favorite subjects, and even get advice about majoring in Classics or pursuing it as a career!

PASSWORD (for all Zoom meetings): magnasaxa

All Talks Streaming At:

10 A.M.: Welcome Address

Dimitri Nakassis, CU �鶹ӰԺ
Zachary Herz, CU �鶹ӰԺ/Colorado Classics Association
Zoom link:

10:15 A.M.: Session 1

Class A: A Day at the Roman Circus Isabel Köster, CU �鶹ӰԺ
Zoom link:

In this session we will learn about Roman chariot racing, the most popular and widespread form of entertainment in the Roman world. We will look at the visual, archaeological, and textual evidence for at the Roman races and focus especially on how fans expressed their enthusiasm for the event and on what we know about Roman race horses (which could become celebrities in their own right).

Class B: (in)Famous: Actors and Acting in Ancient Rome Andrew Lund, Colorado College
Zoom link:

From advertisements to Hollywood blockbusters (and all the tabloid sites in between), we encounter actors nearly every day. Today, these talented men and women can acquire great fame, fortune, and notoriety. But what was it like for actors in ancient Rome, and what can we say about their craft? Join us as we learn about the men (and in some cases, women!) who performed on the dramatic stage, and attempt to reconstruct how an actor might have transformed into Agamemnon or Medea for a performance through things like gesture, movement, costume, voice modulation, and masks. Travel to the stages and theaters in which these actors performed, and learn what the Romans thought about actors and their profession!

Class C: Write like Achilles Elizabeth Bowman, CU �鶹ӰԺ
Zoom link:

Learn about the Mycenaeans (they're the Greeks who fought in the Trojan War) and about Linear B, the script that palace scribes employed to write Mycenaean Greek. Participants will be introduced to the Linear B syllabary (syllabic alphabet) and will have the opportunity to write their names and a few key Mycenaean words in this ancient script.

OPTIONAL MATERIALS: If participants would like to create their own lasting clay tablet, they should purchase bakeable polymer clay and styli (many inexpensive options are available on Amazon or similar) in advance. Otherwise, full participation in the workshop requires only paper and writing utensils (fun colored pencils or markers are recommended).

Class D: The Art of Speaking Out: From Rome to Colorado Brittney Szempruch, United States Air Force Academy
Zoom link:

Calling all Ciceros! Students will be well on their way to speaking like senators after this brief introduction to Roman rhetoric. After an overview of the role of rhetoric in Rome, try your hand at one of the exercises that would have helped young Romans enter the world of public discourse.

11:15 A.M.: Session 2

Class E: Riddles of the Sphinx Travis Rupp, CU �鶹ӰԺ
Zoom link:

The Sphinx, located in front of Khafre’s pyramid in Egypt, is the largest and one of the most recognizable monolithic statues in the world, but what do we really know about it? This presentation will explore the many theories on who carved it and why. Though popularly known, there are many unanswered riddles for this magnificent piece of art.

Class F: Classics...in Space!!!!! Clayton Schroer, Colorado College
Zoom link:

Gods and other mythical creatures fly over your head every year, and you likely don’t even recognize them! Every month, pegasus, centaurs, a minotaur, and— one day soon—even Artemis herself loft American satellites and astronauts into the heavens. In this presentation, you’ll learn more about the peculiar but fascinating reception of the Greco-Roman antiquities in the realm of American rockets and space programs. You’ll learn about Hermes lifting Mercury into space, about Apollo’s missions to the lunar realm of his sister Diana, and why for a long time Latin was the only language astronauts could use in very particular but important circumstances.

Class G: It’s Not Easy Conquering the World: The Roman Legions and the Second Punic War Ian Oliver, Regis University
Zoom link:

The Roman military was one of the greatest fighting forces in history. We're lucky too that an ancient historian, Polybius, has recorded a pretty full description of what it looked like early on. But it wasn't all unicorns and rainbows. I'll talk about the challenges that Rome faced when the great Carthaginian general Hannibal crossed the Alps, and how the legions (eventually) succeeded in meeting the threat.

1:00 P.M.: Panel Discussion

Majoring in Classics... It’s Pretty Major
Zoom link:

Professors from all over Colorado will discuss how students can turn their passion for the ancient world into a college degree. We’ll be on hand to explain the different kinds of Classics majors our schools offer (No Latin? No problem!), as well as clubs, study abroad, and even archaeological digs.

2:00 P.M.: Closing Remarks

Zoom link:

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We are thrilled to announce that Professor Beth Dusinberre will be named a CU Professor of Distinction, an honorific title awarded by CU’s College of Arts and Sciences that is “reserved for scholars and artists of national and international distinction who are also recognized by their college peers as teachers and colleagues of exceptional talent.” This is an enormously important and well-deserved recognition of the many outstanding contributions that Beth has made in research, teaching, and service, at local, national and international levels. Please join us in offering Beth many congratulations!

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