3 UofL professors will be presenting lightning talks followed by a short Q&A session to kick off the conference! Below you will find this year's professors and their presentation topics. Please come ready to learn and with questions to ask our experts! If you are a professor interested in presenting next year, please contact Darcy Komp at dlkmop01@louisville.edu.

Dr. Robert D. Luginbill Bio

Robert D. Luginbill, PhD

Spartan Laughter

Matthew Goldberg Bio

Matthew Goldberg, MA

Cadavera Vero Innumera: Rome, Carthage, and Hannibal's Triumph at Cannae

On a hot summer day in 216 B.C., the Carthaginian general Hannibal Barca annihilated two armies of the Roman Republic in one of the most famous battles in ancient history; eight Roman legions were caught in Hannibal's vise where they suffered more than 50,000 deaths on the battlefield, a catastrophe which brought the Roman Republic to its knees. Hannibal's victory at Cannae has been discussed, dissected, and debated by soldiers, historians, and commentators ever since. Despite the defeat, Rome recovered remarkably quickly, demonstrating an unusual political, cultural, and military flexibility for the period. This presentation examines the Second Punic War, the Battle of Cannae, and how the Roman system not only absorbed these massive losses, but recovered and defeated Hannibal in the ensuing years, drastically impacting the history of the Western Mediterranean world. Additionally, Cannae's impact on tactical thought will briefly be surveyed to show how a battle fought more than two millennia ago still remains an important point of reference to modern generalship and warfare.

Chad M. White Bio

Chad M. White, MA

The Ivory Bangle Lady: Elite Identity and Ethnic Diversity in Late Roman Britain

In 1901, a stone coffin was uncovered outside the walls of Roman York—and then largely forgotten for a century. Inside lay a young woman richly adorned with ivory and jet, buried alongside imported glass and marked by both pagan and Christian elements. Her grave occupies a moment of transition: between empire and frontier, between older religious traditions and an emerging Christian order, between provincial Britain and the wider Mediterranean world. Who was she, and what does her burial reveal about a society on the cusp of change? This paper examines the material and historical evidence surrounding the so-called “Ivory Bangle Lady” to reconsider identity, belief, and belonging in the late Roman world.