2025 - 2026 Archive
Embedded Files
Friday Classics Luncheon
Anastasia Dakouri-Hild, University of Virginia
“Egypt & Nubia in Africa: Museum Artifacts ‘Speak’"
Friday, 17 April, 1:00-1:45pm
Gibson Room, Cocke Hall
Boxed lunches provided by the Department of Classics will be available at 12:30pm, the talk will start at 1pm, and we will close at 1:45pm, so those who need to can make it to 2pm classes.
New Books on Medieval Matters
Benjamin Saltzman, University of Chicago
Tuesday, 14 April, 5:00pm
349 New Cabell
Benjamin Saltzman, Associate Professor of English at the University of Chicago, will discuss his recent monograph, Turning Away: The Poetics of an Ancient Gesture (University of Chicago Press, 2026).
The World Between: Egypt and Nubia in Africa series
Peter Der Manuellian, Harvard University
Webinar: "Walking Among Pharaohs: The Spectacular Career of Archaeologist George Reisner in Egypt and Nubia"
Wednesday, 8 April, 6:00-7:00pm
The lecture examines the life and work of America’s greatest Egyptian archaeologist, George Reisner (1867-1942). His legacy of forty-three years of breathtakingly successful excavations at twenty-three different archaeological sites in Egypt and Sudan (ancient Nubia) included pyramids, colossal statues, gold jewelry, decorated tomb chapels, temples, settlements, fortresses, ceramics, furniture, stone vessels, and hieroglyphic inscriptions everywhere. Leading the Harvard University-Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition, Reisner put American Egyptology on the world stage. The talk presents Reisner’s undeniable impact and considers his life within the context of Western colonialism, racism, and nationalism. It will also explore new visualization technologies, particularly at the Giza Pyramids, that Reisner’s work makes possible today.
Online: please register here.
New Books on Medieval Matters
Antoine Borrut, University of Maryland
Monday, 6 April, 5:00pm
349 New Cabell
Antoine Borrut, Associate Professor of History, University of Maryland, will discuss his recent monograph, Astrology and History in Early Islam: Aligning Heaven and Earth (Univeristy of Edinburgh Press, 2026).
30th Annual Graduate Colloquium
Are You Not Entertained?: Amusement & Leisure in the Greco-Roman World
Saturday, 28 March, 9:00am-4:30pm
Cocke Hall, Gibson Room
Schedule of events:
● Breakfast and coffee—9:00am to 9:30am
● Opening remarks—9:30 to 9:40am
● Panel I—9:40am to 10:40am
○ Abigail Snyder (UVA Religious Studies), "Entertaining Holiness: The Rabbinic Reworking of the Roman Convivium", 9:40am to 10:10am
○ Ciara Mulchy (UVA Religious Studies), "Jesus and Mary's Childhood Play in Early Christian Infancy Gospels", 10:10am to 10:40am
● Coffee break—10:40am to 11:00am
● Panel II—11:00am to 12:00pm
○ Rebecca Tauscher (CUNY), "Acrobats on Display: Wonder, Spectacle, and Entertainment in Magna Graecia", 11:00am to 11:30am
○ Eleanor Cunningham (Univ. of Chicago), "A Scroll of Their Own: Forms of Women's Participation in Roman Literary Entertainment", 11:30am to 12:00pm
● Lunch break—12:00pm to 12:45pm (food provided, seating in amphitheater)
● Ancient Music Performance—12:45pm to 1:45pm (Minor Hall 125)
○ The Call of Kinnaru (John Franklin, Abigail Bradford, Rachel Fickes), performing: “Ancient Music, Old and New”
● Panel III—2:00pm to 3:00pm
○ Patrick Callahan (UCLA), "The Game of Satire in Republican Rome", 2:00pm to 2:30pm
○ Damian Day (UVA History), "The Beasts of Bellum Civile: Lucan’s Lion and Tiger Similes in Book 1", 2:30pm to 3:00pm
● Break—3:00pm to 3:30pm
● Keynote address—3:30pm to 4:30pm
○ Naomi Weiss (Harvard), “Intertheatricality in Euripides’ Orestes: The Phrygian’s Song”
● Reception—4:30pm to 6:00pm (for all)
● Dinner—6:30pm to 9pm (keynote, graduate presenters, musicians, and UVA grads)
○ Location: Kanak Indian Kitchen, 385 Merchant Walk Sq, Charlottesville, VA 22902 (food provided; alcohol can be purchased separately; we have limited space for plus-ones, so please let us know if you would like to bring a guest).
Archaeology Day
Saturday, 21 March, 12:00-3:00pm
Fralin Museum of Art at UVA
Join us for a fun family day celebrating Archaeology at the Fralin Museum, UVA. Activities include a Q&A with the curator of the exhibition The World Between: Egypt and Nubia in Africa (through June 14), a raffle, lots of fun activities, and more!
https://uvafralinartmuseum.virginia.edu/events/archaeology-day-0
The World Between: Egypt and Nubia in Africa series
Denise Doxey, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
"A Burial Fit for a Queen: the Royal Women of el-Kurru"
Friday, 20 March, 6:00-7:00pm
Cambell Hall, CAM 160
Dr. Denise Doxey is the Curator of Ancient Egyptian, Nubian, and Near Eastern Art at the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), Boston. Her field work includes excavations at Abydos and Saqqara in Egypt. She has curated or co-curated several major exhibitions, including Secrets of Tomb 10A: Egypt 2000 BC, Gold and the Gods: Jewels of Ancient Nubia, and the seminal Ancient Nubia Now (2019), a reckoning of the problematic legacies of racial prejudice and partage in Egyptology.
Abstract: some of the most spectacular, though enigmatic, objects in the Nubian collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, come from the tombs of royal women of the eighth century BCE. These women lived during the reign of King Piankhy (Piye), the ruler who subdued Egypt and unified the Nile Valley from the confluence of the Blue and White Niles to the Mediterranean Sea. They were buried at the site of el-Kurru with exceptional jewels and vessels of bronze, stone, and precious metal. Many of the items demonstrate the exchange of funerary beliefs and artistic styles between the kingdom of Kush and its neighbors to the north, while others are distinctively Nubian.
The World Between: Egypt and Nubia in Africa series
Conference: Egypt and Sudan from Prehistory to the Present
Friday, 27 February, 9:30am - 4:00pm
Harrison-Small Auditorium
The conference is part of the programming for the ongoing exhibition The World Between: Egypt and Nubia in Africa at The Fralin Museum of Art, University of Virginia (through May 31, 2026). It provides vital context to the themes of the exhibition and up-to-date insight on the sociopolitical developments and artistic transitions that shaped Egypt and Nubia over millennia.
Participation is welcome from both the local community and the broader public. Members of the university and local community are encouraged to sign up for in-person attendance (limited to 150 seats). Registration can be completed through the in-person registration link. For those joining us from outside the region, please use the separate webinar link.
For more details on the schedule, contributors, and abstracts, please visit the official conference website.
UVA Department of Classics Lecture
James Ker, University of Pennsylvania
“Looking for the Young Seneca: Why, What, and How"
Thursday, 19 February, 5:00pm
Gibson Room, Cocke Hall
Reception to follow in the Department of Classics
Archaeology Brown Bag Workshop
Zack McKeeby, New South Associates
"After the Degree: An Applied Introduction to Cultural Resource Management"
Friday, 13 February, 4:00-5:30pm
Brooks Hall, 2nd floor conference room
Abstract: Some 90% of professional archaeologists in the US work in the field of Cultural Resource Management (CRM), with most of the remainder employed in institutions of higher ed. or in museums. The CRM industry is, moreover, projected to grow over the next decade, despite disruptions to the federal workforce in the past year and ongoing threats to historic preservation -- and at a faster pace than academic departments in the US are currently able to support. In this talk, Dr. McKeeby (PhD UVA Anthro ’24) discusses recent Phase II research at the Neabsco Mills Ironworks Site (44PW0629), an 18th-century Chesapeake Iron Plantation located near Woodbridge, VA. In doing so, he offers a candid introduction to the CRM industry, focusing on transferable skills at both the graduate and undergraduate level with the goal of spreading awareness and charting pathways for what careers in CRM look like, post-degree.
Light refreshments will be served.
Friday Classics Luncheon
Ivana Petrovic, University of Virginia
“Apollonius & Eratosthenes"
Friday, 23 January, 1:00-1:45pm
Bryan Hall 229A
Boxed lunches provided by the Department of Classics will be available at 12:30pm, the talk will start at 1pm, and we will close at 1:45pm, so those who need to can make it to 2pm classes.
Fall 2025
Friday Classics Luncheon
Erica Krause, University of Virginia
“Ecological Cognitive Dissonance in Pliny’s Natural History"
Friday, 5 December, 1:00-1:45pm
Wilson 142
Boxed lunches provided by the Department of Classics will be available at 12:30pm, the talk will start at 1pm, and we will close at 1:45pm, so those who need to can make it to 2pm classes.
Book Release Talk
Inger Kuin, University of Virginia
Diogenes: The Rebellious Life and Revolutionary Philosophy of the Original Cynic: Book talk and conversation with Gregory Hays
Saturday, 22 November, 4:00-5:00pm
New Dominion Bookshop (404 East Main Street)
Join us for an afternoon with Inger N.I. Kuin, who will speak about her new book, Diogenes: The Rebellious Life and Revolutionary Philosophy of the Original Cynic. A conversation with Gregory Hays will follow. This in-person event will be free and open to the public. We recommend arriving early for the best seating.
About the Book: In his own day, the ancient philosopher Diogenes the Cynic had a reputation for eccentricity, heckling his fellow philosophers in the marketplace, living in a clay pot, and relieving himself in public. Since his death in 323 BCE, devoted followers made him and his ideas famous the world over. But what we think we know about Diogenes remains distorted and sanitized.
In Diogenes, classicist Inger N.I. Kuin scours all existing evidence of Diogenes and his followers to offer an in-depth account of Diogenes’s life and thought, revealing a man whose innovative ideas about power, death, nature, and the body have much to teach the contemporary world. He pioneered a vision of simplicity and autonomy in his day-to-day life, stressing the importance of living in the here and now, and of always thinking for oneself. Diogenes stands apart as history’s first recorded critic of slavery and a proud exile from polite society whose challenging thought proved foundational for the Stoics and their successors.
Diogenes rehabilitates Diogenes as a compelling thinker for the twenty-first century, one who demands that we look at our society with fresh eyes and be unafraid of change—starting with ourselves.
About the Author: Inger N.I. Kuin is the author of the upcoming book Diogenes and is an associate professor of classics general faculty at the University of Virginia. Born in the Netherlands, she worked as a journalist before receiving an MA in philosophy from the University of Amsterdam and a PhD in classics from NYU. She divides her time between Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and Charlottesville, VA.
About the Moderator: Gregory Hays is a classical scholar and translator, and a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books. His English version of Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations is available from Random House’s Modern Library. His academic research centers on late and medieval Latin, as well as on Latin palaeography and manuscript studies. He is currently finishing an edition with commentary of the works of the sixth century allegorist Fulgentius (forthcoming from Oxford University Press). He is an associate professor of classics at the University of Virginia.
Diogenes will be released on November 11. To order the book, please see below for the New Dominion Bookshop book order form or call the shop at 434-295-2552.
Archaeology Community Night
Tuesday, 18 November, 6:00-7:30pm
Fayerweather Lounge
Majors, minors, and anyone interested are welcome! Join us for:
Short presentations by faculty and guests
Information on fieldwork and internship opportunities
Screening and discussion of The BRIA Expedition - A Road trip to Medieval Thrace by Prof Fotini Kondyli
Pizza, information about archaeology-related opportunities, a short film and discussion about archaeologists working together in the field (see poster!), and more!
The first 30 to arrive will be eligible for free raffle tickets to win Archaeology water bottles : )))
The World Between: Egypt and Nubia in Africa series
Shomarka Keita, Smithsonian Insitution and William and Mary
“Ancient Egypt In Its African Context and at a Crossroads"
Friday, 14 November, 6:00-7:00pm
CAM 160, Campbell Hall, Architecture School
Please join us for the second lecture in The World Between: Egypt and Nubia in Africa series, sponsored by the Page-Barbour Committee, the Archaeological Institute of America and the Interdisciplinary Program in Archaeology.
Our speaker is Shomarka Keita, a physician and biological anthropologist affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution and the Institute for Historical Biology, William and Mary. Specializing in bioarchaeology and osteoarchaeology, he has written extensively on identity and biology in Egypt and Nubia. In this capacity he has contributed to museum exhibitions including MFA Boston. His topic, Ancient Egypt In Its African Context and at a Crossroads, explores the interconnections between ancient culture, language and biology, one of the themes of the The World Between: Egypt and Nubia in Africa exhibition (The Fralin Museum, August 30, 2025-June 14, 2026).
Egypt is in the northeastern corner of Africa, in essence a 930 mi linear oasis in the eastern Sahara. Ancient Egyptian culture emerged in this region with southern or Upper Egypt as the hotbed of many cultural developments setting off Egypt to its later trajectory. The local roots of early Egypt are uncontested, associated with the desert and Nilotic valley cultures of Nubia and incorporating many traits from the Paleolithic to Bronze Age cultures that existed to its south. However, due to the history of Egypt's exploration and reception by the European gaze, it has traditionally been regarded as 'Western' or 'Near Eastern', divorced from its place of emergence and cultural connections with Africa. This presentation will address the origins of ancient Egyptian culture including aspects of its interconnections with Nubia. Evidence from linguistics, biology and archaeology will be explored.
2025 James Constantine Lecture
Jeremy McInerney, Univesity of Pennsylvania
"Inhuman, Nonhuman, and Subhuman"
Thursday, 6 November, 5:00pm
Cocke Hall, Gibson Room
reception to follow
Karsh Institute of Democracy
KRISIS: Civic Reckonings and Resilience in Greek Antiquity
“Conceptualizing Crisis: Perspectives from Premodernity”
Wednesday, 29 October, 5:00pm
Cocke Hall, Gibson Room
Readings are available HERE
Lowe Lecture
Josiah Osgood, Georgetown University
"Women as Witness in Roman Criminal Trials"
Monday, 27 October, 5:00pm
Cocke Hall, Gibson Room
reception to follow
Friday Classics Luncheon
Meira Kensky, University of Virginia
“Sailing the Sea Fantastic: Lucian of Samosata’s True Story"
Friday, 24 October, 1:00-1:45pm
Wilson 142
Boxed lunches provided by the Department of Classics will be available at 12:30pm, the talk will start at 1pm, and we will close at 1:45pm, so those who need to can make it to 2pm classes.
Classics Lecture
Tony Woodman, University of Virginia
“Virgil’s Fourth Eclogue: an even more basic approach"
Tuesday, 21 October, 5:00-6:30pm
Gibson Room, Cocke Hall
The World Between: Egypt and Nubia in Africa series
Ashby Solange, University of California, Los Angeles
“Sacred Dancers of the Goddess Hathor"
Friday, 17 October, 6:00-7:00pm
CAM 160, Campbell Hall, Architecture School
Please join us for the inaugural lecture in The World Between: Egypt and Nubia in Africa series, sponsored by the Page-Barbour Committee, the Archaeological Institute of America and the Interdisciplinary Program in Archaeology.
Our first speaker is Ashby Solange, an assistant professor in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at UCLA. A well-known Egyptologist and Nubiologist, she specializes in Demotic language and Nubian religion. Her topic, Sacred Dancers of the Goddess Hathor, explores the manifold connections between Nubia, dance and music in ancient Egypt and ties into one of the themes of the The World Between: Egypt and Nubia in Africa exhibition (The Fralin Museum, August 30, 2025-June 14, 2026).
Hathoric dances were performed by (primarily) women in professional dance troupes called khener. In such rituals the power of music and movement were harnessed to transport the worshipper into an ecstatic encounter with the divine. Worshippers engaged in nocturnal rituals for the goddess Hathor sought this type of ecstatic encounter. Ancient Egyptian texts preserve the name of this sacred dance (ksks) and document the ritual processions of Nubians into Egypt as they accompanied the return of the goddess Hathor who was believed to reside in Nubia and return annually to Egypt. This paper will trace this sacred dance through its performance in Egypt, Nubia, Meroe, and perhaps its survival among groups living in Ethiopia today.
The lecture will be followed by an informal gathering in the Fralin Museum, where the audience will have the opportunity to engage with the speaker, the curator, and the artifacts on display (7-745 pm).
Friday Classics Luncheon
Jon Mikalson, University of Virginia
“Thomas Jefferson the Hellenist: How to Read Greek Literature as TJ did"
Friday, 3 Oct, 1:00-1:45pm
Wilson 142
Boxed lunches provided by the Department of Classics will be available at 12:30pm, the talk will start at 1pm, and we will close at 1:45pm, so those who need to can make it to 2pm classes.
Classical Association of Virginia Fall Meeting
Saturday, 27 September, 9:30am-3:30pm
Gibson Room, Cocke Hall
REGISTRATION second floor, outside Gibson
9:30 AM Registration
Coffee and Pastries, Compliments of the UVA Department of Classics
MORNING SESSION in the Gibson Room
10:00 AM Business Meeting
Welcome and Introductions: Patrick Bradley - Officers & Chairs, New Members, First-Timers, Guests
Minutes of the Spring 2025 Meeting: Holly Fitterer
Treasurer’s Report: Jacquelyn Wilkins
Executive Committee Report: Patrick Bradley
Tournament, Contests, and Awards Report: Bart Natoli
General Announcements
11:00 AM Break
11:15 PM “This Barking Dog Also Bites: The Radical Philosophy of Diogenes the Cynic.” Inger Kuin, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
12:15 PM Group Photograph
Prepaid Box Lunch — outside on the Grounds & in the Amphitheatre, or in Cocke Hall, as weather permits
AFTERNOON SESSION in Gibson
1:30 PM “Spectacula Nova: Experiential Learning and Fostering Community in a Latin Program.” Noah Cogan, St. Catherine’s School, Richmond, VA
2:30 PM “The Names of Odysseus” Jorge Wong Medina, University of Richmond, Richmond, VA
Archaeology Brown Bag Workshop
Anastasia Dakouri, University of Virginia
"The World Between. Egypt and Nubia in Africa: Telling the Story through Museum Artifacts"
Friday, 26 September, 4:00-5:30pm
Fayerweather Lounge
Abstract: Beyond merely acknowledging the geographical position of ancient Egypt on the African continent, the lecture examines the extent to which Egypt was of Africa culturally, first by scrutinizing the categories of ‘Egypt’ and ‘Nubia’ and the connections between material and visual culture and identity. Subsequently it utilizes key artifacts in US collections as case studies to tell the story of this interaction anew, fleshing out the rich and complex rapport between Egypt and Nubia over the course of several millennia. In the process, the lecture also highlights the importance as well as the limitations of using visual culture to articulate/construct and understand/read ancient identities.
Immediately following this talk, anyone interested can proceed to the Fralin Museum of Art for a Final Fridays reception, and to visit The World Between: Egypt and Nubia in Africa exhibition.
Archaeology Brown Bag Workshop
Opening Reception
Friday, 19 September, 4:00-5:15pm
Fayerweather Patio
Light refreshments will be served.
Friday Classics Luncheon
Jacqueline Arthur-Montagne, University of Virginia
“Back to the Future: Greek History in Roman Schools"
Friday, 19 Sept, 1:00-1:45pm
Bryan Hall 229A
Boxed lunches provided by the Department of Classics will be available at 12:30pm, the talk will start at 1pm, and we will close at 1:45pm, so those who need to can make it to 2pm classes.
Classics Lecture
Tim Whitmarsh, University of Cambridge
“The Greatest Stories Ever Told: Reading Pagan Myth in Christian Constantinople"
Tuesday, 9 Sept, 5:00-6:30pm
Gibson Room, Cocke Hall
We have more Greek epic verse surviving from the fifth century AD than any other period of classical antiquity. At first sight this seems a paradox: were Christians not supposed to despise epic most of all the pagan literary forms? Was it not the source of all theological error? Was the Homeric tradition not full of adulterous gods, lying heroes, cheating wives and countless other improprieties? This lecture will explore the reasons why the Byzantine theocracy not only tolerated but even celebrated the epic tradition that reached back to Homer and to the distant roots of Greek culture.
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