classics 
-
2/28/2021
The Original Storming of the Capitol
by Stephen Dando-Collins
The January 6, 2021 siege of the Capitol in Washington DC has eerie parallels with a much earlier event, the AD 69 siege of the Capitoline Mount in Rome.
-
SOURCE: The Conversation
2/23/2021
When Men Started to Obsess Over Six-Packs
by Conor Heffernan
Today's culture of Instagrammed abdominal muscles traces back to the time when nineteenth-century physical culture movements converged with the archaeological discovery of ancient Greek statuary (bodybuilders then used the new technology of photography in ways we'd recognize).
-
SOURCE: Chronicle of Higher Education
2/23/2021
No, Classics Shouldn’t ‘Burn’
by James Kierstead
A classicist offers a rebuttal to a recent critique of the field, arguing that practitioners are justified in evaluating a "western civilization" but do so from a multitude of perspectives.
-
SOURCE: New York Times
Ancient Rome Has an Urgent Warning for Us
by Kyle Harper
It's simplistic to look to the classics as instructions for political or social conduct, but the study of the past should inform our awareness of the power of nature to affect social and political life.
-
SOURCE: New York Times
2/2/2021
He Wants to Save Classics From Whiteness. Can the Field Survive?
Dan-el Padilla Peralta argues that the field of Classical Studies has been tied to the historical rise of white supremacy by emphasizing the Greek and Roman roots of European society, and leads a movement of revisionists.
-
SOURCE: Bloomberg
12/19/2020
How Ancient Rome Defeated Donald Trump
Veteran war correspondent Tom Ricks has written a new book on the influence of Greece and Rome on the American founders, and discusses how this year's election reflects that influence.
-
12/20/2020
The Plague in Ancient Athens: A Cautionary Tale for America
by Fred Zilian
The United States in some respects has fared better under COVID than Athens did during the plague that accompanied the Peloponnesian War: a vaccine is in sight, and our head of state survived the day's most feared disease. But in both cases, disease showed the strains and cracks of a society and political system that will be difficult to repair.
-
11/8/2020
The End of an Era? Athens After Empire
by Ian Worthington
“Hellenistic” Athens may not shine as brightly as Classical Athens, but it has lived unfairly in the shadow of its famous predecessor. It’s time it emerged from that shadow.
-
SOURCE: The Baffler
10/28/2020
Grin and Bear It: On the Rise and Rise of Neo-Stoicism
by Hettie O'Brien
"Stoic practices may allow us to live more easily in the world as it is. But politics is as much about conflict as consensus, and depends, at least in part, upon people getting angry."
-
10/11/2020
The Battle of Salamis Opened the Door for Ancient Greece’s Golden Age
by Fred Zilian
September marked the 2,500th anniversary of the Battle of Salamis, where the Greeks won a surprising naval victory over Persian forces, thwarted their efforts to conquer Greece, and set the stage for the golden age of Athenian civilization.
-
SOURCE: Zocálo Public Square
9/23/2020
What Would Cicero See In American Governance Today?
by Edward Watts
"The United States now approaches the tipping point between a republic governed by law and the polity of violence, governed by mutual fear, that Cicero described over two millennia ago."
-
SOURCE: Chronicle of Higher Education
7/14/2020
When Plague Is Not a Metaphor
by Hunter Gardner
It's not always a blessing when current events make a researcher's specialty suddenly and urgently relevant.
-
5/10/2020
The Real Thucydides Trap
by Waller R. Newell
Classical histories are in vogue as explanations for the Coronavirus-fueled tensions between the United States and China. A political science scholar argues that an influential theory gets Thucydides backwards.
-
SOURCE: Slate
The Plague That Killed Athenian Democracy
by Robert Zaretsky
Want to know how disease can permanently alter a society? Read Thucydides.
-
3/22/2020
Our Stories Will Carry Us to the Future. Can They Save Us Now?
by David Farrier
To avert a climate disaster, science is essential, but we also need stories. We know ourselves first and foremost in the tales we tell.
-
SOURCE: The Conversation
3/12/2020
Plagues Follow Bad Leadership in Ancient Greek Tales
by Joel Christensen
Zeus observes in Homer’s “Odyssey,” as I’ve translated it, “Humans are always blaming the gods for their suffering / but they experience pain beyond their fate because of their own recklessness.”
-
SOURCE: The Conversation
3/12/2020
Why a Roman Philosopher’s Views on the Fear of Death Matter as Coronavirus Spreads
by Thomas Nail
Instead of worrying about what may happen after death, Lucretius advises people to focus on keeping their bodies healthy and helping others do the same.
-
9/1/19
Sparta and the Collapse of Greece
by Jennifer T. Roberts
Why the Peloponnesian War went on longer than is commonly thought.
-
SOURCE: National Geographic
8/26/19
The Vandals sacked Rome, but do they deserve their reputation?
Their name is synonymous with destruction, but the group may not deserve such a harsh legacy.
-
SOURCE: Inside Higher Ed
3/4/19
The Trouble With Classics Continues
New video shows exactly what was said during a heated discussion at the annual gathering of classicists in January. Does it change anything?
News
- He Risked His Life Filming A Mississippi Senator's Plantation In 1964
- Trinity College Reckons with Slavery Links as Ireland Confronts Collusion with Empire
- Black Spirituals as Poetry and Resistance
- How Black Women Brought Liberty to Washington in the 1800s
- Part of Being a Domestic Goddess in 17th-Century Europe Was Making Medicines