Classical Studies
Classical Languages major Gabi Stewart ('18) will be Duke's next Rhodes scholar! She will use the scholarship to continue her studies in ancient Greek and manuscripts and papyri at Oxford University. For the full story, see Duke Today. read more about Gabi Stewart wins Rhodes Scholarship! »
The students of Claire Catenaccio's Greek tragedy seminar (Greek 528) took an adventure-filled field trip to Paperhand Puppet Intervention in Saxapahaw to investigate the techniques of masked performance. read more about Greek Tragedy Mask Workshop »
Research Travel Award Winner (Undergraduate): Fall 2017 From the 21st to 24th of October, I was at Yale University conducting research for my undergraduate honors thesis. My thesis aims to trace the institutional history of the American Society of Papyrologists and, more broadly, to study papyrology’s development in the US throughout the 20th century. Yale was indispensable to papyrology’s spread across the Western Hemisphere. In the 1930s, Russian émigré and renowned historian Michael I. Rostovtzeff imported papyrology… read more about Gabrielle Stewart: Papyrology Research, Yale University »
Claire Catenaccio has received a generous Enhancement Grant from the Dean's Office for her undergraduate class Greek on Aristophanes. The class will now include a weekend trip to New York City at the end of March! Students will watch a production of Aristophanes' Frogs in Ancient Greek, put on by the Barnard/Columbia Ancient Drama Group. After the production, the class will have the opportunity to talk to the director, designer, and actors, and will also pay a visit to the world-class collection of vase-paintings and… read more about Frogs Take Manhattan »
John Aldrup-MacDonald will present a draft of a paper to be given at the 2018 Annual Meeting of the Society for Classical Studies. The talk will be of interest to anyone curious about the nature of diplomacy and interstate law in Classical Greece, or anyone who wants to see how intertextuality functions in a body of writing that could be described as the central literary genre of democracy: the decree. read more about Intertextuality in Athenian Interstate Legislation: The Case of IG II^2 1 »
Professor Sosin will teach Spring Breakthrough again this year. As a natural sequel to last year's "Socrates on Trial", this year students will build a bicycle from scratch! Working with a renowned framebuilder, students will cut steel, file and prep, fit tubes and lugs, and braze it all up--three days down. On the fourth, we will go for a leisurely ride (bikes provided), have a picnic, brew some coffee, enjoy a bit of two-wheeling comradery. On day five we will work with a local master mechanic to build up the… read more about Spring Breakthrough 2018 »
Classical Languages major Gabi Stewart has won a Undergraduate Research Support grant for archival research at Yale University for her senior thesis on the early history of papyrology in North America. read more about Gabi Stewart wins URS award »
Research Travel Award Winner (Graduate): Summer 2017 At the center of my research this summer was a massive wall at the temple of Delphi which contains hundreds of records of the manumissions of slaves. The earliest records date to c. 200 B.C.E., the latest to c. 100 C.E. The slaves are men and women, Greeks and not. These inscriptions constitute our best textual evidence for those at the bottom of ancient society, yet our basic knowledge of the wall and the inscriptions is lacking. For example, there are many open… read more about Adrian High: Digital Humanities Summer Institute at the University of Victoria, Victoria Canada »
Research Travel Award Winner (Graduate): Summer 2017 This past August, some fellow grad students and I attended the Paideia Institute's Living Greek in Greece program, a two-week spoken-Ancient Greek program based out of the tiny seaside town of Selianitika, Greece. A group of about 30 philhellenes--ranging from high school students and undergraduates to grad students, professors, and even a poet-in-residence--gathered in the picturesque "Garden of the Muses" to read Hesiod and discuss it--all in Ancient Greek. After a… read more about Tori Lee: Paideia Institute’s Living Greek in Greece Program, Selianitika Greece »
Research Travel Award Winner (Undergraduate): Summer 2017 With the generous award that I received from the Teasley Family Antiquities Fund, I spent the summer at St. Hugh’s College at the University of Oxford doing exciting research on an existing project called “Anachronism and Antiquity” with Professor Timothy Rood. The goal of the project was to examine and contextualize ancient Greco-Roman art and literature in order to better understand anachronism as it relates to that time period. Additionally, the project studied… read more about Mycroft Zimmerman: Examined and contextualized ancient Greco-Roman art and architecture, Oxford England »
Research Travel Awards (Undergraduate): Summer 2017 With the generous support from the Quigley Fund, Yashas Manjunatha worked on the Vulci 3000 project under the direction of Classical Studies professor Maurizio Forte, with the end result being his development of a 3D app for the archaeological park. The fieldwork and digital data collection involved learning the capabilities and use of several devices and methods, including laser scanners, image modeling, spectral analysis, digital photogrammetry and remote sensing tools… read more about Yashas Manjunatha: Excavation at Vulci, Italy »
Research Travel Award Winner (Graduate): Summer 2017 This summer I was fortunate to receive a grant from the Teasley Family Antiquities Fund to attend the Paideia Institute’s Living Greek in Greece (LGiG) program, an intensive two-week program in which students of Ancient Greek strive to achieve fluency in spoken Ancient Greek through an immersive classroom environment. My journey to Greece began in early August, when I flew to Rome for a few days to visit some of my favorite classical landmarks and museums and begin to… read more about Erickson Bridges: Paideia Institute’s Living Greek in Greece Program, Selianitika Greece »
Research Travel Award Winner (Graduate): Summer 2017 For two weeks in August this year I attended the Paideia Institute's Living Greek in Greece Program in Selianitika, Greece. Paideia's goal through programs like this is to enrich the study of classical languages by having students engage in discussion in the target language as one would in a modern language course. This year the theme of the course was the works of Hesiod, so twice daily we met with our groups, guided by a resident Paideia instructor, to discuss (in… read more about Clinton Kinkade: Paideia Institute's Living Greek in Greece Program, Selianitika Greece »
A new show at the Field Museum of Chicago with the collaboration of Maurizio Forte, as co-curator of the Etruscan collection . read more about Ancient Mediterranean Cultures in Contact »
Here is a sneak peek at all of the Spring 2018 courses that we will be offering. Bookbagging begins Oct 23rd. read more about Sneak Peek at the CLST Spring 2018 Courses »
Tolly Boatwright Elected President of Society for Classical Studies! The national learned society for classicists, the Society for Classical Studies, has voted in Duke's Tolly Boatwright as the President-elect of the association, their highest honor. read more about Tolly Boatwright Elected President of Society for Classical Studies »
Research Travel Award Winner (Undergraduate): Summer 2017 I shift where I kneel, adjusting my knee pads to minimize contact with sharp rocks and jagged root ends. As the sun warms my back, dissipating the mist curtains that had been floating between hills and mountains, and the cool wind blows through me, I pick up the brush I had set on the ancient mortar stone protruding from the ground. My excavation partner had found a context- a set of bones in the same strata, likely belonging to the same specimen. Taking a… read more about Inessa Chandra: Sondor Bioarchaeology Field School, Sondor Peru »
Research Travel Award Winner (Undergraduate): Summer 2017 With the generous award I received from the Quigley family and their newly established Quigley Endowment, I was able to participate in the Proyecto Arqueológico Renieblas (PAR) in Renieblas, Spain, and visit the Museo Arqueológico Nacional in Madrid. Co-directed by Dr. Alicia Jiménez of Duke University and Dr. Jésus Bermejo of York University, PAR is an excavation project aimed towards understanding the Roman camps at Renieblas, their chronology, and their role in… read more about Lauren Pederson: Excavation at Renieblas & National Archaeological Museum, Renieblas Spain »
I am delighted to announce that THREE of our Classical Studies teachers today received decanal commendations for Spring 2017 evaluations ranked among the top 5% of all undergraduate instructors in Trinity College (in the categories Quality of Course, Quality of Instruction, and Intellectual Stimulation). They are: Alicia Jiménez, Tom Cole, and Rex Crews. Congrats! read more about Three CLST professors ranked among the top 5% of all undergraduate instructors »
Duke in Vulci: Archaeological excavations in 2017. The Vulci 3000 Project The dynamics of urban transformations in Italy across the first millennium BCE is one of the most interesting research topics in classical archaeology because it reveals social and political dimensions of several ancient societies through the comparative analysis of material culture and architectural monumentalization. Transformation and evolution depend on social and political changes that deeply influence cities’ layouts,… read more about Duke in Vulci: Archaeological excavations in 2017. The Vulci 3000 Project »
Undergrad CLST major Elizabeth Needham takes time from Duke in Berlin summer program to see antiquities at Altes Museum. read more about Undergrad CLST major Elizabeth Needham visits antiquities at Altes Museum »
Lauren Pederson received a CLST Research Travel Award, thanks to the Quigley Endowment. She visited the Museo Arqueológico Nacional & is now excavating with Dr Jiménez in Renieblas. read more about Undergraduate Lauren Pederson Receives Research Travel Award »
In Memoriam: Georgia Machemer It is with great sorrow that we announce the recent death of our friend and colleague, Dr. Georgia Machemer. Dr. Machemer taught on and off in Duke’s Classical Studies, including in 1993-94, F1997, F2001, F2002, F2003, F2005, F2006, and F2007. She contributed to the department especially though her expertise in Greek language, literature, culture and history. Her cheerful collegiality also added greatly to our community: she was always ready to discuss… read more about In Memoriam: Georgia Machemer »
On May 9, CLST Professor Tolly Boatwright will present “God-like Power? Rome’s Imperial Women,” at Dartmouth College. read more about CLST Professor Tolly Boatwright to present at Dartmouth College »
Gabrielle Stewart, Classical Languages Major '18, has won the Faculty Scholars Award for her latest research project: an autograph book from 17th c. Saxony. The Faculty Scholars Award is the highest award faculty bestow upon students, only 3-5 are awarded annually. Congratulations Gabrielle. read more about CLST student, Gabrielle Stewart wins Faculty Scholars Award »
It is with great pride and pleasure that we announce that our colleague CLST Professor Alicia Jiménez has been awarded a fall 2017 fellowship at the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America at Columbia University. This prestigious fellowship will allow her to work on her own research on Mimesis, as well as make and deepen connections through weekly seminars for fellows and selected guests. The competition for fellowships was fierce this year, and it is greatly to Alicia’s and Duke’s credit and renown… read more about CLST Professor Alicia Jiménez wins 2017 fellowship at the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America at Columbia University »