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¶¡ÏãÔ°AV

The University of ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV

New Directions in Classics 2018-19

There’s never been a better time to fall in love with the Classics! The Department of Classics’s New Directions in Classics is an interesting and engaging 10-lecture series that’s open to the public and runs from September until March. The series, organized by Classics professor Dr. Peter J. Miller and Classics alumna Ruth Dickinson, covers an array of topics that showcase the Classics as relevant and fundamental to the study of arts, culture, and language in our contemporary world.

The 2018-19 series had a range of speakers from across the world who addressed a myriad of topics including ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV’s collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts, the modern revival of ancient beer recipes, the origins of the Faculty of Arts, Greek tragedy, and communication techniques in Latin poetry.

The series also included the Bonnycastle Lecture, Calling the Muses to Oklahoma: Native North American Writing on Graeco-Roman Antiquity, presented by Prof. Craig Williams, from the University of Illinois. His work, supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, is part of ground-breaking research on Indigenous North American responses to Classical Antiquity from America’s colonial period to the present day.


Promotional poster for Dr. Matt Gibbs's New Directions in Classics lecture, Sept 28, 2018 (text on web page)

De Re Cervisia et Mulso: Re-Creating Ancient Beer and "Mead"

Dr. Matt Gibbs

September 28, 2018 | 3:30-4:30pm | Room 3D01

What did the Romans drink and how did it taste? By re-creating two authentic recipes from the early Roman and later Roman empire (a recipe for "mead" and for beer) - in collaboration with ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV's Barn Hammer Brewing - Dr. Matt Gibbs answered this question and addressed Roman dining practices and the changing taste for beer.


Promotional poster for Prof. Andrea Rotstein's New Directions in Classics lecture, Oct 5, 2018 (text on web page)

The Poetics of Redundancy in Vergil's Aeneid

Professor Andrea Rotstein, Tel Aviv University

October 5, 2018 | 3:30-4:30pm | Room 3D01

How does poetry mean anything and how do poets make meaning? The Roman poet Vergil has the tendency to say similar things twice, and this practice - Theme and Variation - is a striking feature of Vergil's style. Taking a comparative approach, this talk explored the rhetorical functions of redundancy in Vergil's masterpiece, the Aeneid. Prof. Rotstein suggests possible gains from communicative and cognitive points of view.


Promotional poster for Dr. C. Michael Sampson's New Directions in Classics Lecture, Oct 26, 2018 (text on web page)

Myth and Misdirection in Prometheus Bound

Dr. C. Michael Sampson, University of Manitoba

October 26, 2018 | 3:30-4:30pm | Room 3D01

Prometheus Bound is a play about the rule of Zeus and the potential threat to his regime. By examining how Aeschylus uses different traditional versions of the story and allusions to other poets in his own writing, Dr. Sampson explored how character, plot, and misdirection come together to generate a compelling theatrical narrative.


Promotional Poster for Dr. Max Nelson's New Directions in Classics lecture, November 9, 2018 (text on web page)

The Tastes of Ancient Beers

Dr. Max Nelson, University of Windsor

November 9, 2018 | 3:30-4:30pm | Room 3D01

While no beers from antiquity survive for us to sample, Dr. Max Nelson illuminated the ways to access beer from the ancient world: by examining the written evidence, by studying the results of new methods of analyzing ancient containers, and also by observing various old brewing techniques still in use today. While beer may have still be recognizably beer in antiquity, Dr. Nelson suggests that tastes - and beer - have changed dramatically over millenia.


Promotional poster for Dr. Ben Akrigg's New Directions in Classics Lecture, November 26, 2018 (text on web page)

Wealth and Inequality in Ancient Economies

Dr. Ben Akrigg, University of Toronto

November 16, 2018 | 3:00-4:00pm | Room 3D01

How much inequality was there in classical Greece and Rome? How can we tell? Why should we care? Dr. Ben Akrigg has the answers!

This lecture was presented in cooperation with the Department of Economics Seminar Series.


Promotional poster for Dr. Funke and Simone Obendoerfer's New Directions in Classics lecture, January 25, 2019 (text on web page)

The Lux Project: Digitizing the Hetherington Collection

Dr. Melissa Funke and Simone Obendoerfer

January 25, 2019 | 3:30-4:30pm | Room 3D01

Did you know there were 2000 year-old artifacts from Egypt at ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV? This talk discussed The Lux Project: the Hetherington Online, a collaboration between the Classics department and the Anthropology Museum at the University of ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV. The lecture covered the process of creating a digital version of a diverse collection of Near Eastern antiquities and the research and outreach involved in this project.


Promo poster for Mr. Jason Brown's New Directions in Classics lecture, Feb 8, 2019 (text on web page)

The Faculty of Arts: From Ancient Greece to the Modern Classroom

Mr. Jason Brown

February 8, 2019 | 3:30-4:30pm | Room 3D01

Where did the Faculty of Arts come from? Education in the ‘liberal arts’ was invented in ancient Greece, adopted among the Romans, and inherited in medieval Europe. In the Middle Ages, the liberal arts curriculum became the basis of the Faculty of Arts, the starting point for university education, and the largest faculty – still at ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV – today. Dr. Brown discussed the origins of education in the Arts and what these origins suggest for the 21st century University.


Promo poster for Dr. Matt Maher's New Direction in Classics lecture, March 1, 2019 (text on web page)

Satellites and Signal Towers: New Considerations on the Defense Network of Mantineia

Dr. Matt Maher

March 1, 2019 | 3:30-4:30pm | Room 3D01

The ancient Greek city of Mantineia had an impressive  fortification wall and was further safeguarded by a  number of signal towers located along the periphery of its territory. By combining satellite reconnaissance and personal observation, Dr. Matt Maher presented a detailed architectural study of these signal towers. In the context of ancient Greece where warfare was nearly constant, these towers functioned as parts of a larger defensive system to protect Mantineia from every direction.


Promo poster for Prof. Rory Egan's New Directions in Classics lecture, March 15, 2019 (text on web page)

Name Games on a Goatherd's Birthday: Vergil's Third Eclogue

Professor Rory Egan, University of Manitoba

March 15, 2019 | 3:30-4:30pm | Room 3D01

Prof. Rory Egan discussed riddles and word-play between goatherds in the Roman poet Vergil’s Third Eclogue. He tracked “sound-painting” and words with multiple levels of meaning throughout the short poem. The moral of the story? Readers of ancient poetry should read – and listen – closely.


Promo poster for Prof. Craig Williams' New Directions in Classics lecture, March 29, 2019 (text on web page)

Calling the Muses to Oklahoma: Native North American Writing on Greco-Roman Antiquity

Professor Craig Williams, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

March 29, 2019 | 3:30-4:30pm | Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall

How did Indigenous North Americans understand, adapt, and interpret the ancient Greek and Roman world? Through poems and letters written in Greek and Latin by Indigenous authors from the 1600s to today, Prof. Craig Williams’ ground-breaking research enriches studies of Indigenous writing and the Classics.

This lecture was presented in cooperation with the Bonnycastle Lecture Series