Jordan Ardoin

Graduate Student

jra2214@columbia.edu

Interests

• Human-animal relationships in ancient life and literature

• Greek tragedy and comedy

• Natural philosophy and science of the ancient world

• Ancient narratives of gender non-conformity

• Translation of ancient texts for a modern audience

Jordan Ardoin has earned a B.A. in English from the University of West Florida (2017), a B.A. in Classics from the University of Colorado at Boulder (2024), and, most recently, an M.A. in Classics with a specialization in Greek and a Certificate in College Teaching, also from the University of Colorado at Boulder (2026). In addition to their degree programs, during which they primarily studied language and literature, they have had opportunities to study classical archaeology while working as a student volunteer on the Brač Island Project in Croatia in the summer of 2023 and attending the American School of Classical Studies at Athens' six-week Summer Session in the summer of 2025.

Jordan's current research focuses on the myriad and multitudinous uses and depictions of animals in ancient literature, especially poetry. They aim to marry analytical approaches from the fields of literary criticism and human-animal studies and to highlight the important roles animals played in ancient life and thought. They have presented several research projects on this topic so far, including "Oedipus at Kolonos Hippios: The Meaning of Horses in Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus” at the inaugural Human-Animal-Studies in Classics conference at the University of Zurich in 2025 and “Dogs, Wasps, Pigs, and Dung-Beetles: The Animal Identities of Old Women in Aristophanes’ Lysistrata” as part of the University of Colorado at Boulder's Mary E.V. McClanahan Essay Prize and Lecture Series in 2026.

Aside from their research, Jordan has immensely enjoyed teaching introductory Latin courses and hopes for future opportunities to foster an appreciation for the ancient world, especially its languages and literature, in the next generation.