THE PRINCETON CLASSICS DEPARTMENT investigates the history, language, literature, and thought of ancient Greece and Rome. We use the perspectives of multiple disciplines to understand and imagine the diversity of these civilizations over almost two thousand years and to reflect on what the classical past has meant to later ages, and to our own.
Ancient Rome met 21st-century game show at the second annual Princeton Certamen on March 2, organized for middle and high school students by undergraduates interested in classics. The word certamen means “contest” in Latin — an appropriate name for this quiz bowl focusing on the language, literature, culture and history of Ancient Rome. About 200 students from 13 schools traveled to Princeton’s campus to compete, some coming from as far away as Wisconsin.
"From chaos to chaos: Janus’ Speech in Fasti 1 and the Gates of War"
In this paper, starting from the identity between Janus and Chaos that Ovid postulates, I shall analyze the god’s dialogue with the poet in the first book of the Fasti. I intend to prove…
The department’s annual newsletter is now available online and paper copies have been mailed. Inside you can find updates from faculty and students, an article by alumnus Kevin Moch ’10, and stories of last summer’s “Plato’s Republic” study program in Paris.
Our colleague Dan-el Padilla Peralta has once again been the target of an attack, this time disseminated by the National Association of Scholars, that repeats at greater length the substance of the one made against him in person at the Society for Classical Studies. The author’s basic premise seems to be that the simple elimination of any ‘race consciousness’ in academics can suffice to…
Interested in speaking Latin or ancient Greek? Speaking is an excellent way to solidify your grasp of grammar and vocabulary and to learn how to understand Latin and Greek as what they are — languages and not puzzles. It’s also great fun! The Latin table meets at 6:30pm on Mondays in Whitman dining hall, and the Greek table meets at 6:30pm on Thursdays. All are welcome. If you have any questions, please contact Kevin Duraiswamy ’19.
Emily Wilson, Professor of Classical Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, visited Princeton’s campus on the evening of Monday, February 4th, to deliver a lecture on her experiences producing a translation of the Odyssey (Norton, 2017).
Assistant Professor Dan-el Padilla Peralta shares his thoughts about the AIA-SCS 2019 meeting in an article on Medium and in an interview with The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Earlier this year, at the national meeting of our major scholarly society, a member of this department was subjected to a racist verbal attack in a public forum. I write as chair to deplore and refute the sentiments directed against him and to commit our department to working to eliminate the conditions that make such incidents possible in the professional lives of colleagues in our, or any other, academic discipline. For other responses, please see this roundup.
—Andrew Feldherr
