Recent News

The John J. Keaney Prize is the departmental prize for the best senior thesis. This award is in fond memory of Professor John Keaney, who served the Department as colleague, teacher, and mentor for 41 years, from 1959 to 2000. The award was established in 2010 to replace the Atkins Prize for the best senior thesis, which was awarded until 2009. Initial funding has been provided by a grateful alumnus, one of the many who learned so much from Professor Keaney.

The Department of Classics' Andrew Feldherr with Graduate Alum Luca Grillo and others co-organized the two-day conference hosted by the University of Notre Dame, Rome Gateway Center.  

The conveners included Luca Grillo (University of Notre Dame), Emily Baragwanath (UNC, Chapel Hill), Andrew Feldherr (Princeton University) and Christopher Krebs (Stanford University). 

2023 marks the 35th anniversary of the appearance of A. J. Woodman's Rhetoric in Classical Historiography, a work that has transformed our understanding of the Greek and Roman historians, especially among anglophone scholars. Woodman argued above all that the aims of these historians must be understood according to the principles of ancient rhetoric, for example, to praise, inspire or entertain, rather than anachronistically presuming that they shared the same fundamental goal as the modern academic discipline of history: to represent the truth of what happened in the past. 

The Department of Classics is happy to share the news that Grant Bruner was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. The Phi Beta Kappa Society, founded in 1776 and the oldest of all national honorary scholastic societies, has a chapter at Princeton. Election to this chapter is based on scholastic standing and generally includes the highest-ranking tenth of each graduating class. Congratulations Grant!

The Stinnecke Prize, established at Princeton in 1870, is given to the sophomore or junior who passes the best examination based on the Odes of Horace, Eclogues of Vergil, and the Latin Grammar and Prosody, as well as the Anabasis of Xenophon or Plato’s Euthyphro, Crito, Apology and Phaedo and the Greek Grammar. The winner receives a one-time stipend of $5,000 in addition to any scholarship or other financial assistance, which he or she may be receiving.

The Humanities Council is pleased to award 27 new grants for innovation and collaboration in 2023-24. These projects, led by 41 faculty from across 25 academic departments and programs, will contribute to humanistic inquiry across disciplines on Princeton’s campus and beyond. In addition, the Council continues to support six previously awarded multi-year initatives.

The Department of Classics celebrates the 90th birthday of our esteemed emerita, Professor Froma Zeitlin. Professor Zeitlin is an exceptional scholar who has dedicated her career to the field of ancient Greek literature, with particular interests in epic, drama and prose fiction, along with work in gender criticism, and the relationship between art and text in the context of the visual culture of antiquity. Froma's work on establishing new approaches to Greek tragedy has been considered particularly influential.She has been an inspiration to generations of students and colleagues, and her contributions to the department and the wider academic community are immeasurable. We are honored to celebrate her milestone birthday and recognize her outstanding achievements. Please join us in wishing Froma a very happy 90th birthday!

You may view Froma's Liber Amicorum (Book of Friends), here.

Grant Bruner, a senior in classics, took the first prize in both Greek and Latin at the New York Classical club undergraduate Greek and Latin examinations. Laurie Drayton, a freshman with classics interests, took the second prize in both. 

The Classics Department will offer a minor beginning with the Class of 2025.

Annabelle Duvalis a history concentrator from Rhinebeck, N.Y. with a certificate in Gender and Sexuality Studies.Traditionally, the salutatorian delivers their address in Latin, a language Duval first started studying in the sixth grade. As an undergraduate, Duval studied the antiquity period in her home department, as well as in Classics. She also has taken courses focused on Latin literature.

Toni Keaney, the wife of our much-missed former colleague John Keaney, passed away on March 23.  The Keaneys moved to Princeton in 1959 and raised three children here while Toni worked as a nurse and teacher in the local school system.  We pay tribute to a life rich in service to others and send our condolences to her family.  A fuller obituary can be found here.