Don’t miss the Brock News’ profile of Lucie Mackintosh, who graduated this with a Bachelor of Arts in Classics, in the Greek and Roman Studies stream, on Friday, June 14 during Brock’s 115th Convocation. Congratulations, Lucie!
Current and former department members were active at the Annual Meeting of the Classical Association of Canada, held at the University of Laval in Quebec City on May 13-16.
Faculty members spoke on their current research initiatives: Allison Glazebrook delivered a paper titled, “Vulnerability, Sex, and Labour in Lysias 4: A Case Study.” Glazebrook also chaired a session titled, “Beauty and Ugliness.” Adam Rappold presented, “Meeting the God: Religious Innovation, Epiphany and Memory in the Homeric Hymn to Apollo”
M.A. student Madelyn Huston spoke on a topic emerging from her Major Research Paper, “Briseis’ Lament and the Agency of Enslaved People.” M.A. alumna and Ph.D student at Western University, Stephanie Dennie, discussed her dissertation research, “Legitimizing the Spartan Dyarchy: The Return of the Herakleidai in Tyrtaios fr. 2 West.” She recently defended her dissertation, “Creating Legitimacy: The Dyarchy in Spartan Social Memory.” Simone Mollard, now a Ph.D. student at McMaster completed her term as Chair of the Graduate Student Caucus of the CAC.
Congratulations to all!
Congratulations to Elizabeth Greene, who was elected as a corresponding member of the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut (DAI). Founded in 1829, the German Archaeological Institute is one of the leading international archaeological organizations. It has its headquarters in Berlin and a worldwide network of departments and branches, including its long-established departments in Athens, Rome, Cairo, Istanbul, and Madrid. It has sponsored numerous important excavations around the world and publishes some of the leading archaeological journals and monograph series.
Each year the Board of Directors of the DAI elects a small group of Corresponding Members from among those “individuals who are most meritorious concerning the literature and monuments of the ancient world” (homines eximios et de litteris monumentisque aetatis antiquae). She was presented with a diploma by Prof. Dr. Ortwin Dally, Director of the Rome division of the German Archaeological Institute, at the Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America in January 2024.
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!
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.
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.
February was a short month, but Classics and Archaeology faculty kept busy with an assortment of lectures and publications.
Stop by the Department to chat with faculty about their current research!
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.
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.
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.
