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)
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
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.”
At the Fall convocation ceremony, Daniel Belanger, who graduated this spring with a Bachelor of Arts in Classics and a specialization in Greek and Roman Studies, was honoured with the Governor General’s Silver Medal. The Medal recognizes the two undergraduate students with the highest academic average of the class of 2023. Daniel is currently continuing his studies as an M.A. student in the Department of Classics and Archaeology, and we are proud to celebrate his achievement!
For more information on the Fall Convocation ceremony and the Governor General’s Silver Medal, follow this link.
Professor Allison Glazebrook has received the 2023 Faculty of Humanities Award for Excellence in Research and Creative Activity (https://brocku.ca/humanities/research/award-for-excellence/). This Brock award recognizes a consistent track record of outstanding research or creative achievements appropriate to the nominee’s discipline. Congratulations Dr. Glazebrook for this impressive recognition!
Brock faculty and alumni were well-represented at this year’s Annual Meeting of the Classical Association of Canada, held May 10-12 in Halifax, NS. Conference information and the full program is available here. Don’t miss next year’s annual meeting in Laval!
Allison Glazebrook and Angus Smith represented the faculty with their papers:
Rodney Fitzsimons, Trent University, Matthew Buell, Jane Francis, Concordia University, and R.A.K. Smith, Brock University, “Canadians at Aghios Nikolaos Again: Report of the Khavania Archaeological Project, 2022.”
Allison Glazebrook, Brock University, “The Importance of Place: Athenian Women in the Polis.”
Our alumni were visible giving papers and organizing panels:
Jeff Masse, University of Toronto, gave a paper, “On the Distributed Agency of Arrows in the Homeric Poems” in a session organized by Simone Mollard, McMaster University, Catherine Tracy, Bishop’s University, and Christina Vester, University of Waterloo.
Two M.A. alumni were featured in a panel organized by the Graduate Student Caucus and chaired by Victoria Muccilli and Simone Mollard:
Jazz Demetrioff, University at Buffalo, “Calling all Doctors: The Hand vs. the Practitioner.”
Stephanie Dennie, University of Western Ontario, “Attic Drama as A Starting Point: Using Sophocles’ Antigone as an introduction to interdisciplinary learning in a co-taught class for Theatre Studies and Community Psychology.”
We love to celebrate the stories of our alumni, in the field or far beyond. Please drop us a note if you have any news to share.
Don’t miss M.A. student Sarah Murray’s paper in the Brock Review, “Erasing the Future: The Treatment of Children by the Romans in the Aftermath of Battle.” Originally written in a course on Disasters in the Ancient World taught by Dr. Fanny Dolansky, Murray’s paper explores the separation of families and the fate of children in the aftermath of battle, as preserved in the historical and monumental record. The essay was also awarded a prize in the Classical Association of Canada’s senior level essay competition. Congratulations, Sarah Murray!
Kudos to Prof. Dolansky for her chapter “Belief and ideology” in A Cultural History of Youth in Antiquity. The volume, edited by C. Laes and V. Vuolanto was recently published by Bloomsbury and belongs to a series on the history of youth.
According to a press release on the volume from the University of Manchester:
Young women, sub-elite young people and cultures that are often overlooked in history books are given a platform, and it is the first book volume ever to examine congenital, intellectual disability in the ancient world. The contributions cover the ancient Near East, Egypt, the Graeco-Roman world, ancient China, the rabbinic tradition, Byzantium, the Islamic world and the Middle Ages in the Latin West. “For too long, the ancient world has been studied somewhat in isolation to other periods of history,” said Prof Dr Laes. “The engaging and thought-provoking chapters combine careful textual analysis with attention to the material evidence and comparative perspectives, not the least those offered by disability history for recent periods in history.”
Dolansky’s chapter offers a broad picture of young people’s independent and collective religious activities in the ancient Mediterranean world, concentrating in particular on male and female youth in Classical Greece and late Republican and Imperial Rome. She also draws on select examples from Judaism and late antique Christianity. Literary authors less commonly examined in studies of youth, such as the Augustan poet Grattius and the travel writer Pausanias, are integrated with more traditional sources such as Horace and Livy to capture ritual activity that took place in diverse locales involving a wide range of participants. Additionally, epigraphic evidence sheds light on individuals of both sexes who were lower on the socio-economic scale and actively engaged in religion both as individuals and in groups.
Don’t miss the current episode of Foreword, in which Brock Classics M.A. alumna, Alison Innes, interviews Prof. Fanny Dolansky about childhood in ancient Rome.
Please click here to listen to the podcast.
What was life like for children in ancient Rome? How did Romans think about the idea of family? And why should we bother studying Latin in the 21st century? Our guest this episode is Dr. Fanny Dolansky, Associate Professor with the Department of Classics and Archaeology. She shares how she became interested in Roman history, her work on childhood and Roman religion, and how the pandemic has presented her with new avenues of research.
Foreword introduces the study of arts, culture, and society and explores how research in the Humanities helps us understand our world today. Topics include history, English, modern languages, literature, ancient history, archaeology, game studies, technology, fine and performing arts, philosophy, Canadian studies, and more.
In the summer of 2023, the Department of Classics & Archaeology will offer CLAS/VISA 3M23 Study Tour of Greece. Students will spend 2-3 weeks touring the archaeological sites and museums of Greece to learn first-hand about the history and culture of the ancient Greek world. To express interest, and for updates and more information about the application process, please fill out the brief online form at: https://forms.office.com/r/0Td8VaVk0f
