Classical Studies News
2007 - 2008
Senior Classical Studies major, Thomas Schmolke, participated in an on-line Latin course (Fall 2007) with students from eight other Classics programs around the country. The course, Literature from Late Antiquity and the Medieval Period, featured on-line lectures given by numerous guest lecturers, synchronous chat, on-line discussion board, and tutorials on campus.
From Hermes to Pandora to Echo and Narcissus, Classical Mythology students in October learned to create websites analyzing eight different mythological characters, tracing their metamorphoses from antiquity to the present. Check out their websites.
In September, students in GRE 334, Ancient Greek Politics, Society, and Culture, visited the Rare Book Collection at the University of Iowa to see early printed editions of Pausanias and early modern travel writers.
2006 - 2007
We send our best wishes to Nick Dobson as he takes a new job at Monmouth College. He can be reached at ndobson@monm.edu.
In May, thirty-five Greek Archaeology students traveled to Greece, visiting the Acropolis, Crete, Mycenae, Corinth, Olympia, Delphi, and many other sites. The group explored temples, theaters, agoras, fortresses, ancient towns, and museums. The course was co-taught by John Gruber-Miller (Classics) and Emily Walsh (Geology). Highlights of the trip included an overnight voyage to Crete, great weather, fantastic food, friendly hosts, and a rainy, gusty visit from the god Zeus on Mount Juktas in Crete. Click here for more info about the trip.
In April, senior Alyssa Naley read excerpts from her novella, Chrysalis, re-telling the tale of Psyche and Cupid from Psyche's point of view, at the annual Student Symposium.
In April, students in Greek 205, Introduction to Greek Literature, created their own anthology of readings to be used as the class text. Selections from 2007 included passages from Euripides' Cyclops, Xenophon's account of the Battle of Leuktra, Paul's letter to Timothy, and Sappho's Hymn to Aphrodite.
In December, award-winning poet Rosanna Warren gave a reading of her poems and spoke about how classical poetry and modern Greece inspire her poetry. She was was Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar to Cornell College.
Potter and writer Toby Schreiber, '46, presented an illustrated lecture on "Athenian Vase Construction" during Cornell homecoming. Her research into the construction of ancient Greek vases has taken her to a number of museums both in the Americas and in Europe and eventually led to her book, “Athenian Vase Construction.” Her wheel-thrown, stoneware pieces use a fine-grained clay coated with an oxide, the designs made by graffito and excision.
In September, students in CLA 364, Comedy: Greece and Rome to Hollywood, created websites comparing Greek and Roman comedies to Hollywood films. Each team looked at one aspect of comedy, whether it was character or plot, gender or class, or spectacle and the relationship between actors and audience. To view class projects, visit the Aspects of Comedy website.
2005 - 2006
In April, seniors Jennifer Hebel and Ashley Flanagan presented their research on Homer's Odyssey at the annual Student Symposium. Jennifer's paper, "The Unwanted Guest: Violations of Hospitality in the Homer’s Odyssey," explores how Odysseus, even though he violates the laws of hospitality in the cave of Polyphemus, does not suffer the same consequences as Polyhemus or the suitors. Ashley's paper, "Clytemnestra and Penelope’s Agency in the Odyssey," argues that both Clytemnestra and Penelope achieve much more agency as individuals as the Odyssey progresses.
In April 2006, LAT 205 students staged Plautus' comedy, Poenulus, or the Little Latin Loverboy. In the play, Agorastocles is wild for his neighbor, Adelphasium. The only problem is her pimp, a possessive and lusty man named Lycus. Looney and lovesick, Agorastocles puts himself at the mercy of his devious slave, Milphio, who decides the best way to please his master and possibly win his freedom is to destroy the pimp. Milphio cunningly uses all the lures of money, lust and a woman in drag in his attempt to achieve his goal. However, two characters arrive who may change his plans: an interesting eunuch with a story to tell that may eliminate Lycus as a threat, and a puny and mysterious foreigner whose search for his daughters reveals shocking information about the relationship between Agorastocles and his beloved, Adelphasium. Click here to see photos of the bi-lingual production.
In February, Cornell College Latin II students visited ancient Rome virtually through the VRoma MOO. The VRoma Project is an educational website that is a re-creation of second-century Rome that combines a series of chat rooms with webpages to create a virtual city where students and teachers can explore ancient Rome and interact with one another. Cornell students will first take part in an introductory session focused on the Baths of Trajan to learn how to move around in the MOO. The next two assignments will ask the students to use Latin as the means of communication. The first is a scavenger hunt to help students learn more about important monuments in the Roman Forum and other regions of the city. The second is a game, similar to the board game Clue, where students will attempt to learn who killed the dog Argus. To learn more about the VRoma MOO, visit http://www.vroma.org/help/.
2004 - 2005
Students in CLA 382 Roman Archaeology took full advantage of their May 2005 trip to Italy. They visited the Roman Forum, walked the path of triumphing Roman generals on the Triumphal Way, enjoyed ancient Roman entertainment and leisure venues such as the Theater of Marcellus, Baths of Diocletian, Circus Maximus, and the Colosseum. They also delighted in climbing Mount Vesuvius, walking through the cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, Paestum, and Ostia, not to mention the gorgeous view of the Bay of Naples from their hotel balconies in Vico Equense.
On March 21, Dr. Judith Hallett, Professor of Classics and Women's Studies, University of Maryland, will present a talk, "Roman Women: Images and Realities" in Shaw, 11:10 AM. Dr. Hallett specializes in Latin language and literature; ancient Roman and Greek civilization; women, sexuality and the family in classical antiquity; and the classical tradition in America. She is author of Fathers and Daughters in Roman Society: Women and the Elite Family, and has contributed to many collections of essays such as Roman Sexualities (1997), Women Writing Latin (2002), and Compromising Traditions: The Personal Voice in Classical Scholarship (1997), and Six North American Women Classicists (1996-97).
Big Love, Charles Mee’s explosive update of Suppliant Women by Aeschylus, is as much vaudeville as tragicomedy. 50 sisters forced to marry 50 cousins make a pact to kill their grooms – but what happens when love gets in the way? Performances at Cornell College March 16-19; at Riverside Theater March 24-April 10.
In November, students from Love and Sexuality in Greece and Rome read selections of Greek and Roman poetry at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art. In "What the Romans Talked about at Dinner Parties: Poetry, Gossip, and Lampoon," Classical Studies students from Cornell College treated museum-goers to a taste of Roman literature as they read selections (in English translation) from Latin authors, such as Catullus, Sappho, Sulpicia, Horace, and Petronius. The presentation was made in conjunction with the museum's exhibit, Art in Roman Life: Villa to Grave, through August 2005.
2003 - 2004
Beginning Greek students at Cornell have been testing a new website, Ariadne: Resources for Athenaze, created by John Gruber-Miller and Cindy Benton. The website is designed to offer activities that integrate language and culture and to help Greek language students and their teachers see the ancient world through others' eyes: women, metics, slaves, non-Athenians, and non-Greeks.
In November 2003, John Gruber-Miller presented a Chatauqua to local citizens entitled "Friends, Romans, Countrymen! or What Have the Romans ever done for us?" The four-part series was designed to prepare visitors to attend the special exhibition, "Art in Roman Life: Villa to Grave," at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, September 19, 2003-August 25, 2005.
In October, senior Heidi Norris did an independent study in Greek comparing Josephus' account of the creation of the world in Jewish Antiquities and the account in Genesis 1-11.
2002 - 2003
Intermediate Latin students performed Plautus' comedy, The Pot of Gold (Aulularia). The play tells the story of Euclio, a poor man who discovers a pot full of gold coins, but soon learns that money doesn't always bring
happiness as his greed and paranoia make him and the people around him
miserable. We also follow a love triangle between Euclio's daughter
Phaedria, who has managed to conceal an illegitimate pregnancy from her
father for the last nine months; Lyconides, the father of Phaedria's child,
who now wishes to marry her; and Megadorus, Lyconides' rich uncle, who wants to marry Euclio's "virgin" daughter because he thinks a poor wife will be
more obedient. Since Plautus' original ending for the play has been lost,
this production features a new ending written by the Latin 205 class.
The performance will take place in front of Allee Chapel on Sunday,
April 27 at 6:00 p.m. and Monday, April 28 at noon.
In April, students Abigail Ozanne and Kim Jones presented papers at the seventh annual Cornell College Student Symposium. Abigail's paper, "Why Narcissus? D.H. Lawrence's Reflections on Ovid's Narcissus Myth," critiqued D.H. Lawrence's reinterpretation of Ovid's Narcissus myth as a search for knowledge. Kim's paper, "How Jewish is Herod the Great? Evidence for Ritual Bathing (Mikva'ot) in Ancient Judea," presented evidence for early mikva'ot in Herod's fortifications at Masada, the town and palace at Herodium, and palace at Caesarea.
Senior Classical Studies and Religion major Kim Jones did an independent study on Josephus' account of Herod the Great. She then used the information she learned about Herod along with further research to write her senior thesis, "How Jewish is Herod the Great? An Examination of Herodian Mikva'ot."
In Fall 2002, Melanie Dedecker participated in the new ACM Turkey Program. After traveling through Istanbul and the coast of western Turkey, she studied archaeology, archaeological theory, Turkish history, and Turkish language at Billkent University in Ankara. Read Melanie's comments about the experience.
2001 - 2002
We send our best wishes to Cindy Benton as she takes a new job at Bucknell University. She can be reached at cbenton@bucknell.edu
In May 2002, Latin 205 students, under the direction of students Lauren Bene and Amber Hicks, and faculty member Cindy Benton, staged Terence's Phormio, a comic love story set in the 60's with a crazy twist.
Melanie Dedecker, a Classical Studies and Archaeology major, presented the results of her research project at the sixth annual Student Symposium. Her presentation, "Defining Mystery Cults: An Examination of Greco-Roman Mystery Cults and the Kachina Cult," compared the structure, ceremonies, and social functions of Greco-Roman mystery cults of Isis, Demeter, Dionysos, and others with those of the American southwest Kachina cults of the Hopi nation.
