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Alicia Stallings graduated in 1990 from the University of Georgia with an A.B in Classics. She then graduated from the University of Oxford with an MSt in Latin Literature in 1991. This Georgia native has taken up residence in Athens, Greece and has recently been named the University of Oxford’s 47th Professor of Poetry. She has published 5 books now, with the newest being released last December, titled This Afterlife: Selected Poems. Stallings has received numerous notable awards. A few being the Willis Barnstone Translation Prize, Guggenheim Fellowship, MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, as well as being a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 2019. An article was written about her in the Summer 2023 Georgia Magazine, the Magazine of the University of Georgia on page 48.
Application deadline April 1st
In the Second Summer Short Session Dr. Mark Abbe will teach “Approaches to Greek and Roman Visual Culture” (CLAS 4/6300). This course will offer a critical (re)introduction to the visual arts, particularly sculpture, painting, and architecture of the Greek and Roman worlds from the so-called “Homeric Age” (c. 1050 BC) to the beginnings of Late Antiquity (c. AD 330). A key intent is to improve the uses of images in Classics education. While images are central to the larger Classics project, how and when are they to be engaged most productively so as not merely to illustrate, but to expand, enrich, and complicate our understanding of ancient culture? In this course providing a solid chronological survey of the visual cultures of Classical antiquity, particular emphases will be paid to rethinking seemingly familiar, well-known if not iconic works of art and architecture, and the complex and often complementary relationships between images and textual sources (literary, epigraphic, etc.). The importance of context in the reception of ancient images, static and portable, will be explored. New archaeological discoveries and on-going debates will be highlighted. We will explore the experiential aspects of works of art through critical engagement with virtual computer-based reconstructions of Roman architecture and sculpture.
Image: An inspiration to Virgil or an illustration of the Aeneid (2.199-233)? The Trojan priest Laocoön and his sons attacked at the altar by a great serpent. Marble sculpture carved by three Rhodian sculptors, 1st c. BC/AD. From Rome, Oppian Hill. Vatican Museum.
In the first short session of the 2021 summer institute, Dr. O’Connell will be teaching Petronius’ Satyricon (LATN 8010), a tale of sex, food, and money set in first-century Campania. Often identified as a precursor of the picaresque novel, the Satyricon recounts the adventures of Encolpius and his disreputable friends. Much of the work is lost. In the longest surviving section, the wealthy former slave Trimalchio hosts a sensational dinner party where birds fly out of a cooked boar, guests tell stories of witches and werewolves, and Trimalchio acts out his own funeral. We will be reading the entire Cena Trimalchionis, as well as selections from the other fragments of the Satyricon. This plunge into the world of Petronius will improve your Latin, teach you about fiction and narrative technique, and give you a new perspective on Roman culture in the early empire. You will also learn ways to improve your own teaching. Petronius’s Latin features occasionally unusual vocabulary but relatively straightforward grammar, and intermediate Latin students often read adaptations of the Satyricon.
UGA senior Emeline McClellan of Good Hope will continue her studies in Classics this fall as one of 24 Americans selected as a Gates Cambridge Scholar. The scholarship fully funds postgraduate study and research in any subject at the University of Cambridge in England.
https://franklin.uga.edu/news/stories/2021/classics-student-named-gates-cambridge-scholar
The show will feature 56 objects dating from the 3rd to the 8th century CE and examine the cultural exchange that took place in late antique Egypt.
Parker Curator of Russian Art Asen Kirin organized the exhibition. Kirin said, “What is so fascinating about the art from late antique Egypt is that it details, in a very profound way, the mixture of the different cultural traditions in the Mediterranean region.” An example of this mixture of cultures can be seen in the stone relief of Leda and the swan. The relief depicts a pagan, Greco-Roman, mythological subject interpreted in a nonclassical style intended for the tomb of an Egyptian Christian woman.
Image: Lions and antelope, 6th or 7th century CE. Limestone relief fragment; architectural element, 12 × 29 1/4 × 2 1/8 inches. Possibly from El Minya. The Nadler Collection.
Athens, GA – If you think of Egyptian art as just pharaohs and pyramids, you’re missing a big part of the picture. The Georgia Museum of Art at the University of Georgia will present the exhibition “Modernism Foretold: The Nadler Collection of Late Antique Art from Egypt” from November 5, 2020, opening at 5 p.m., to September 26, 2021. The show will feature 56 objects dating from the 3rd to the 8th century CE and examine the cultural exchange that took place in late antique Egypt.
All works in the exhibition are from the collection of Emanuel and Anna Nadler and will be on display to the public for the first time in nearly 40 years. The Nadler family has long been one of the most important collectors of Coptic art. Emanuel’s father, Maurice Nadler, a prominent industrialist from Alexandria who made art acquisitions in Egypt and Germany, originally put this collection together between 1920 and 1941, fueled by the profits from his candy factory.
Defining Coptic art can be difficult. The Copts are ethnic Egyptians who spoke the native language and practiced Christianity, writing in the Greek alphabet. For a long period of history, native Egyptians were under the rule of others – Persians, Hellenistic Greeks, Romans, the Byzantine Empire and Islamic Arabs. Today, instead of using the term Coptic art, scholars prefer to say “late antique art from Egypt,” thus emphasizing the fact that this art was made by and for native Egyptians, Greeks and Romans who favored both classical pagan and Christian themes. This mixture of cultures defines late antique art from Egypt. Parker Curator of Russian Art Asen Kirin organized the exhibition. Kirin said, “What is so fascinating about the art from late antique Egypt is that it details, in a very profound way, the mixture of the different cultural traditions in the Mediterranean region.” An example of this mixture of cultures can be seen in the stone relief of Leda and the swan. The relief depicts a pagan, Greco-Roman, mythological subject interpreted in a nonclassical style intended for the tomb of an Egyptian Christian woman. The exhibition will include other funerary objects like sculptures as well as works from the realm of everyday life, like miniature bone and ivory carvings, textiles and small chests to store precious items. Tapestries and remnants of tapestries that would have adorned the walls of churches will also be on display. The extraordinary works of art being displayed are as expressive as they are innovative. They tell a story of what was yet to come. Kirin adds, “That’s why we say ‘Modernism Foretold’ because at the turn of the century, Coptic art was viewed as a historical precursor to modernism.” The museum is also publishing a fully illustrated catalogue of the exhibition, with entries by Katherine Marsengill that illuminate the importance and context of each object, and an essay by Kirin that discusses the history of the Nadler Collection. Upcoming events related to the exhibition include:
The Georgia Museum of Art is located in the Performing and Visual Arts Complex on the East Campus of the University of Georgia. The address is 90 Carlton Street, University of Georgia, Athens, Ga. 30602-1502. For more information, including hours, see georgiamuseum.org or call 706.542.4662.
Dr. Jordan Pickett spoke last week about the archaeology of epidemics -- past and present, including CoVid19 and the Justinianic Plague -- on the Infectious Historians podcast, produced by colleagues Lee Mordechai and Merle Eisenberg from the Princeton Climate Change and History Research Initiative. Give it a listen! Topics addressed include mass burials, paleogenetics, osteoarchaeology, and the material culture of cities as windows into epidemic events from the past.
Apple Podcast link ; Podcast weblink, with open-access bibliography
IMAGE: View from late antique fortifications at Sardis, Western Turkey. Photo credit: Jordan Pickett
UGA Classics Summer Institute classes met online this year. Among students enrolled is first-year MA student Cooper Hemphill.
"Math and Classics complement each other very well, and I fully believe that my teaching of each subject has been improved by my study of the other."
The following is a Q&A with Cooper:
Where is your home? School? What subjects and ages of students?
I grew up in western Massachusetts and I am currently a Latin teacher at Cardigan Mountain School in Canaan, New Hampshire, which is a school for students in grade 6 through 9. I teach all four grade levels in our first and second year Latin courses.
What drew you to your subject and to teaching? What books, events, artists, travel, teachers influenced you? Why did you choose Latin specifically?
Both of my parents are teachers, so I was drawn into the world of education from a young age, and after trying it for myself I knew right away that it was something I loved. I began taking Latin in sixth grade, thinking that I would take it for a year or two and then switch to a modern language; however, as the years went by I couldn't pull myself away. Something about the language spoke to me and I quickly became hooked. I have always liked learning Latin, but it was actually an English class, really an English teacher, who caused me to develop a passion for the ancient world. In high school I took an English class called 'Ancient Epic' where we read ancient stories from Gilgamesh to Homer and Vergil. Our teacher, Mr. Cooley, was so enthusiastic and passionate about what we were reading that he really brought to life the beauty and significance of these works. He told us that in order to pass his class we needed to both travel to Greece and send him a postcard once we got there. While this was clearly not an actual class requirement, it was just one of the ways that he showed us just how important to him it was that we engaged with the class and, more importantly, how happy he was to be teaching a subject that he loved so much. Mr. Cooley's enthusiasm combined with reading Homer and Virgil's poems made me certain that I wanted to continue in the field of Classics.
You have taught Pre-Algebra to middle school students and tutored students in Calculus at your alma mater, Bowdoin College. Have you found study of Latin, Classics, and the ancient world applicable to your studies in mathematics and in teaching math to students?
Math and Classics complement each other very well, and I fully believe that my teaching of each subject has been improved by my study of the other. When I first taught Pre-Algebra, I was amazed to see how similar it is to teaching introductory Latin; the logic used to translate English to Latin and word problems to algebraic equations is strikingly similar. In addition, in college I was able to do some projects that combined both subjects where I looked into mathematical proof in the ancient world, ancient numerical systems and Greek geometry. I have definitely found this research useful when teaching math; I love talking about ancient number systems and geometers. However, I have found my study of math more helpful to my study of Classics; I think that mathematical thought, and in particular how ancient Greeks and Romans applied mathematical proof to nature greatly influenced their perception of the world.
With regard to your experience as an athlete in high school and college in golf, soccer, hockey, working as a coach, and serving as a sports editor and writer for your college newspaper: how have your outside interests in sports and other areas influenced your life and work?
Sports have always been a big part of my life, and wanting to be a coach is a huge part of why I wanted to be a teacher. I love sports and coaching but coaching also provides an opportunity to work with students outside of the classroom. Through athletics, students are given a different environment to grow and work through problems away from the stress of academic work. It is also so important for students to see teachers outside of their usual roles and it has been an amazing experience to share my passion for soccer and hockey with my students.
Nikki Vellidis, UGA Classics 2019 alumna and former Eta Sigma Phi, Zeta Iota President, appears on the cover of the August issue of Advances in Archaeological Practice, journal of the Society for American Archaeology. The cover accompanies an article about current work at the UGA Laboratory of Archaeology: "Long-Term Legacies and Their Challenges in the Age of Modern Curation at the University of Georgia": https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/advances-in-archaeological-practice/article/longterm-legacies-and-their-challenges-in-the-age-of-modern-curation-at-the-university-of-georgia/CF81413B5A5583A38C6F5738D5FFE0F7
The Epic Journey in Greek and Roman Literature
(Cambridge University Press)
From cover: This volume explores journeys across time and space in Greek and Latin literature, taking as its starting point the paradigm of travel offered by the epic genre. The epic journey is central to the dynamics of classical literature, offering a powerful lens through which characters, authors, and readers experience their real and imaginary worlds. The journey informs questions of identity formation, narrative development, historical emplotment, and constructions of heroism - topics that move through and beyond the story itself. The act of moving to and from ‘home’ - both a fixed point of spatial orientation and a transportable set of cultural values - thus represents a physical journey and an intellectual process. In exploring its many manifestations, the chapters in this collection reconceive the centrality of the epic journey across a wide variety of genres and historical contexts, from Homer to the moon.
The Classics Department welcomed students for the first day of Fall semester classes last week. Pictured Dr. Harris's Medical Terminology class.
UGA Classics explores Greek and Roman culture (material; intellectual; religious) from Troy to Augustine; Classical languages and literatures (Greek, Latin, and in English translation); and the reception of Classical Antiquity with A.B. and M.A. Classics degrees with multiple areas of emphasis. Double Dawgs degrees focus on careers in Historic Preservation and World Language Education. Minor degrees in Classical Culture and Classics and Comparative Cultures complement degree programs across campus. New to Classics? Take a course with us on campus or in Europe and acquire future-ready skills.
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