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Articles by author: egreene

Classics and Archaeology High School Day

Wednesday, April 10, 2024 | By egreene

On Saturday, April 6th, fourteen students (and three parents) from six high schools in the Niagara Region visited the Department to participate in Classics and Archaeology High School Day, an event organized by our Recruitment Committee.

Katharine von Stackelberg, Angus Smith, Allison Glazebrook, Michael Carter, and Adam Rappold introduced students to ancient artifacts, Roman coins, the Greek alphabet, and traditions of games and play–including a scavenger hunt in the Department. We hope the experience leads some of our visitors to choose Brock for their studies!

Categories: Events
Humanities Research Institute’s Spring Term Symposium

Wednesday, April 10, 2024 | By egreene

The Department of Classics and Archaeology will be well represented at the Humanities Research Institute’s Spring Term Symposium, featuring in-progress work by graduate students and faculty in the Humanities. Nadine Brundrett and Michael Carter will present in the morning session, “Rediscovering a lost Roman inscription: From provenance to provenience for CIL X 1074.” In the afternoon Fanny Dolansky and M.A. student Sarah Murray will address, “Pedagogies in progress: Creating a Latin commentary for classroom use as a component of a Major Research Paper in Classics.” The full program is available here.

Join the event in person on Monday, April 15, 2024, 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. in the Charles A. Sankey Chamber or virtually via Lifesize. For best performance use the Chrome browser.

Categories: Events, News
Madelyn Huston to present at Mapping the New Knowledges

Wednesday, April 10, 2024 | By egreene

Congratulations to Classics (Text and Culture) M.A. student Madelyn Huston, who will deliver a presentation titled “Briseis’ Lament and the Agency of Enslaved People” at Brock’s Mapping New Knowledges Research Conference on Wednesday, April 10th. The conference includes 21 paper sessions and a poster presentation featuring graduate and undergraduate research across campus, as well as a keynote address by Dr. Adam Dickinson (Department of English Language and Literature) titled, “Writing Metabolism: Art, Science, and Research Creation.” The full program is available here.

Categories: Events, News
A busy February for Classics and Archaeology faculty

Wednesday, March 20, 2024 | By egreene
February was a short month, but Classics and Archaeology faculty kept busy with an assortment of lectures and publications.
- On February 2, Carrie Ann Murray presented “Religious Worship and Mobility at the Lago di Venere Sanctuary, Pantelleria” for the University of Toronto’s Classics Department Lecture Series.
- On February 5th, Allison Glazebrook delivered the Joseph C. Miller Memorial Talk at the Bonn Centre for Dependency and Slavery Studies of the Universität Bonn. Her lecture was titled, “Slavery in the Athenian Sex Trade.”
- Elizabeth Greene wrote two short articles for the Institute of Nautical Archaeology Quarterly, “The Archaic Shipwreck at Pabuç Burnu and Stories of Everyday Mobility” and (with J. Leidwanger), “The Marzamemi 2 ‘Church Wreck’ and a Changing Late Antiquity.”
- Katharine von Stackelberg published “The World of Nature” in J. Toner (ed.) The Cultural History of Leisure Vol. I: A History of Leisure in Antiquity. (Bloomsbury, February 2024).
Stop by the Department to chat with faculty about their current research!
Categories: News
Prof. Katharine von Stackelberg discusses Valentine’s Day

Wednesday, March 20, 2024 | By egreene

Did you know that in mid-February ancient Roman women were more likely to be struck by a strip of goat skin than gifted a box of chocolate?

An interview in Pelham Today featured Dr. Katharine von Stackelberg on the ancient and historical traditions that led to modern-day Valentine’s Day celebrations:

“Modern day Valentine’s Day celebrations may also have roots in the Lupercalia festival, which was traditionally held on Feb. 15. The reasons for the ancient rites aren’t totally clear, but von Stackelberg said it was likely related to good fertility and health. The festival began with an animal sacrifice, followed by the Feast of Lupercal.

“What would happen is a goat would be ritually sacrificed and the skins would be cut up into thongs. The sources are conflicting but nude or nearly naked men would run around the sacred boundaries of Rome and they would strike women with those bloody strips of goats,” she said. “It was considered very lucky if you as a woman were struck by one of the thongs. If a woman got hit by one of these, it meant you had improved chances of getting pregnant and having a safe birth.”

Read more here.

Andrea Camassei, Lupercalia, ca. 1635.

Categories: News
Join the Department’s Latin Table (Mensa Latina)

Monday, February 12, 2024 | By egreene

In winter term 2022, the first gathering of the Mensa Latina was held in the department; now two years later, the Mensa Latina (Latin Table) is still going strong! Once a month, a group of undergraduate and graduate students interested in learning more about the Roman world and Latin and expanding their knowledge beyond the classroom meet with professors Sarah Parker and Fanny Dolansky to explore a wide range of topics. Previous sessions have focused on Roman humour; petkeeping; manuscripts and paleography; medicine and the body; and the poetry of Catullus and Martial. We’ve also tried our hands at playing Roman games and our tongues at speaking conversational Latin. On January 25, students learned about Roman satire; February 26 participants examine the calendar and Roman festivals. In the final meeting of the term on March 25, Dr. Katharine von Stackelberg introduces Roman cuisine and authentic Roman recipes from Apicius’ nearly two-thousand-year-old cookbook. No knowledge of Latin is required and everyone is welcome.

Mensa Latina – Winter 2024 dates

Students and faculty participate in the Mensa Latina.

Categories: Events
Humanities Graduate Student Symposium, “Narratives of Identity

Monday, February 12, 2024 | By egreene

Kudos to Daniel Belanger, Miranda King, and Cassidy Robertson for their roles in the 2024 Humanities Graduate Student Symposium, “Narratives of Identity,” which took place on Saturday, February 10th. King spoke about “The Small Finds from the Sanctuary of Venus at Pompeii” in Panel 2: Voicing the Visual. Belanger presented, “Hepatitis Bee: The influence of Roman culture on their understanding of bee disease” in Panel 4: Negotiating Nature. Robertson served as Administrative Coordinator for the conference. Click here for more information about the papers and presenters in this celebration of Brock Humanities graduate student research.

Categories: Events, News
Classics Minor James Moen to publish in Philomathes

Monday, February 12, 2024 | By egreene

Congratulations to Classics minor, James Moen, whose paper, “Agroeconomic Policy: Re-evaluating the Agricultural Decline of the Later Roman Empire” was accepted for publication in the undergraduate Classics journal Philomathes. The essay was written last year for CLAS / HIST 3P09 (History of the Later Roman Empire), taught by Dr. Michael Carter.

2nd century AD mosaic from the House of the Laberii at Uthina, Tunisia (https://www.sciencephoto.com/media/527318/view/roman-country-life-mosaic)

Categories: News
Alumna Francesca Patten (MA ’18) participates in Humanities career event

Wednesday, January 24, 2024 | By egreene

Classics alumna (MA 2018) Francesca Patten was one of two inspiring speakers at the recent online event “Life After Grad School: Careers for MA students in Humanities,” hosted by the Faculty of Humanities and co-organized by Classics alumna Alison Innes (MA 2009). Francesca followed her studies in Classics with a Master’s in Public Administration, specializing in economic policy. She has worked for the Department of National Defence, Newfoundland and Labrador Housing, and the Canadian Transportation Agency, as well as with non-profit organizations in policy development, capacity building, and program evaluation. She is currently a PhD candidate in Educational Research at the University of Calgary where her research has brought her back to the ancient world with a focus on museums and public communication. Francesca highlighted the many skills gained during an MA degree, and especially during work on a Major Research Paper or Thesis. She noted that students shouldn’t underestimate the value of this work to future employers including time and project management, communication and analytical skills, resourcefulness, and creativity. She also encouraged students to pursue their passions and not to worry if their career path doesn’t end up being linear.

Here’s a flashback photo to Patten’s Brock days, working with fellow alumna Sydney Bryk on the Venus Pompeiana Project, a collaboration between the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, Mount Allison University and the University of Missouri

Categories: News
A busy fall for department faculty

Thursday, November 16, 2023 | By egreene

Brock Classics and Archaeology faculty have been busy this fall speaking about their work at national and international venues:

Allison Glazebrook participated in the Greek History and Political Theory Colloquium at Western University in September, delivering a paper titled, “Community, Women, and Place in the Speeches of Isaeus.” In October she delivered a Brock Talk at the St Catharines library, “Women and Community in Classical Athens.” And in November she spoke on “Enslaved Labour, Sexual Labour, and Enslaved People” in the Department of Classics and Religious Studies at the University of Ottawa.

Elizabeth Greene gave six lectures in September as the Classical Association of Canada’s Western Tour Speaker. At the University of Manitoba and the University of British Columbia she delivered a talk titled, “The Many Voices of the Mediterranean: Archaeologies of Trade, Fishing, and Displacement in Southeast Sicily;” at the University of Alberta and Simon Fraser University she spoke on, ““Exchange in the Age of Lyric Poetry: The 6th-century BCE Shipwreck at Pabuç Burnu, Turkey;” at the University of Winnipeg her talk was titled, “The Late Antique “Church Wreck” at Marzamemi, Sicily,” and she delivered, “Ephemeral Heritage: Boats, Migration, and the Central Mediterranean Passage” at the University of Victoria.

In October, Adam Rappold presented his research on “Homer’s Interactive Iliad: Adapting Classical Texts In a Digital World” at the Department of Classics and Archaeology’s Research Seminar Series.

Along with with Rodney Fitzsimons (Trent University), Brock alumnus D. Matthew Buell, and Jane Francis (both at Concordia University), Angus Smith delivered a paper titled, “Visualizing Unseen Landscapes: Report of the Khavania Archaeological Project, 2022,” at the 29th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists in Belfast, Northern Ireland in September.

Department faculty are also making good use of funding through Brock’s Humanities Research Institute. Michael Carter and Nadine Brundrett were awarded funds for their joint project on “The Games of Aulus Clodius Flaccus.” Carrie Ann Murray obtained funding for the Brock University Archaeological Project at Pantelleria, and Angus Smith received funds for “Ceramic Analysis of Prehistoric Pottery, Khavania Archaeological Project in Crete Greece.”

Categories: News