Evan Jewell (2023 Fellow) has been selected as the new director of the Classical Summer School.

We are excited to share this great news from the American Academy in Rome:

“The American Academy in Rome is pleased to announce that Evan Jewell (2023 Fellow) has been selected as the new director of the Classical Summer School. He will immediately step in and oversee the upcoming 2024 Classical Summer School.”

Congratulations Evan!

Photo Credit: The American Academy in Rome

Nigidius Figulus: Roman Polymath Published.

Edited by Katharina Volk and based on a 2022 CAM conference, this volume is the first collection of academic articles on Publius Nigidius Figulus, the mysterious senator, scholar, and alleged “Pythagorean and magus” of the late Roman Republic, offering perspectives on his politics, philosophy, mythography, biology, religious studies, linguistic thought, divinatory activities, and reception.

Contributors: Katharina Volk, Philip Thibodeau, Daniele F. Maras, Duncan E. MacRae, Jay Reed, Phillip Sidney Horky, Alessandro Garcea, Fabio Tutrone, and Giulio Celotto.

Columbia Studies in the Classical Tradition 47, Leiden: Brill, 2024.

https://brill.com/display/title/69681

Celebrating Recent Work by Ellen Morris - Tuesday, October 10, 2023, 6:15 pm

Event link: https://sofheyman.org/events/celebrating-recent-work-by-ellen-morris 

Join us for our New Book Series event honoring Famine and Feast in Ancient Egypt by Ellen Morris. Famine and Feast in Ancient Egypt covers the creation and curation of social memory in pharaonic and Greco-Roman Egypt.

Professor Morris will be joined by panelists Zoë Crossland, John Ma, Joseph Manning, and Nancy Worman. 

Tuesday, October 10, 2023, 6:15 pm EST | In person at the Heyman Center and online via Zoom

Registration required 

The Winner of the 2023 Winkler Prize - Izzy Levy

We are so excited to announce that our very own Izzy Levy has won the 2023 Winkler Prize for their essay "Poetic World-Building, Queer Ephemerality, and Sapphic Memory Work: Fragment 94 and Eloise Klein Healy’s The Islands Project: Poems for Sappho."

The Winner of the 2023 Winkler Prize

“The graduate winner of the 2022 Winkler Memorial Prize is Izzy Levy, Ph.D. candidate in Classics from Columbia University, for their essay, "Poetic World-Building, Queer Ephemerality, and Sapphic Memory Work: Fragment 94 and Eloise Klein Healy’s The Islands Project: Poems for Sappho" Izzy's essay examines the importance of loss and rupture in Sappho's fr. 94, developed through an intertextual reading of Klein Healy's response to Sappho, mediated by the concept of "queer ephemerality" articulated by José Esteban Muñoz” (2023, Oberlin College and Conservatory)

Combined BA/MA in Classics Program

Combined BA/MA in Classics

The Department of Classics is delighted to announce a new BA/MA program in Classics. The BA/MA program in Classics is available to current Columbia undergraduates irrespective of major and allows students to complete an MA in Classics within one year of receiving their BA, with the possibility of transferring in up to three courses (9-12 credits) taken as undergraduates.

The BA/MA program in Classics is ideal for students who:

  • Intend to pursue graduate study in Classics, Classical Archaeology, History, Philosophy, Art History, Medieval and Renaissance Studies, and related disciplines, in which the Classical tradition and Classical reception are central;

  • Are contemplating careers in which a Classical education provides beneficial preparation (education, law, medicine, international diplomacy, publishing, theater);

  • Wish to acquire advanced knowledge of ancient Greek and Latin literature and languages;

  • Are simply fascinated by antiquity and wish to study the subject beyond the undergraduate level.

For details, see https://www.gsas.columbia.edu/content/bama-option.

Application

The BA/MA program in Classics has rolling admissions. However, applicants interested in the BA/MA option should apply at least two months prior to the semester in which they intend to begin taking courses that will count toward the MA. Ideally, students apply during their junior year or during the first semester of their senior year. Applicants who are admitted to the BA/MA program receive permission to commence MA coursework in Classics, with a promise of official admission to the MA program following the conferral of the undergraduate degree. 

MA Program Requirements

• 30 credits comprised of nine or ten courses at the 4000 level or above, seven of which must be taken for graded credit 

• Of these courses, students are required either to attend two semesters of the Graduate Research Colloquium (CLCV GR5010; 2 credits each semester) or to write an M.A. thesis under the rubric of CLPH GR 5000 (4 credits).

• Of the remaining courses, all except two must be in Greek (GREK) and/or Latin (LATN). The other two may be civilization courses offered by the Department or courses on the ancient world in other departments. 


Contact

  • For questions regarding the BA/MA program, contact the Director of Graduate Studies in Classics, Professor Katharina Volk: at kv2018@columbia.edu

  • Questions regarding the BA programs in Classics, Classical Studies, and Ancient Studies, contact the Director of Undergraduate Studies in Classics, Professor Marcus Folch: at mf2664@columbia.edu

In Memoriam Raffaella Cribiore

The Department of Classics mourns the tragic death of Raffaella Cribiore— papyrologist, social historian, cultural historian of education, and wonderful friend. A native of Milan, Raffaella wrote her dissertation at Columbia with Roger Bagnall (1993); this formed the basis of her acclaimed Writing, Teachers, and Students in Graeco-Roman Egypt (1996). Her interest in education led to a further book, the Goodwin Prize-winning Gymnastics of the Mind (2004), and several more works on Libanius. Her expertise in papyrology is reflected in her long-standing curation of the extensive papyrological holdings at Columbia, At the time of her death, Raffaella was Professor of Classics at NYU. Her warmth, wit, and whole person will be immensely missed. 

In Memoriam Geraldine Visco

We were very saddened to hear of the recent passing of Gerry Visco, our inimitable departmental administrator who did so much to enrich our daily operations from the late 1990s until her retirement in 2015. When she joined the department, she had already worked in various administrative capacities at Columbia and she therefore brought to her new role an enviable depth of institutional knowledge.

Gerry was a very able departmental administrator, and she also knew whom to turn to in the wider Columbia Community as and when further consultation was needed. She constantly defended and furthered the Department’s interests. Beyond her professional expertise, however, she made an indelible impression on generations of faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates. Gerry’s occasionally unconventional style was the stuff of legend, as was the thoughtful kindness that underlay her sometimes gruff demeanor. Hers was a singular form of diplomacy that struck many visitors to the department, and through these interactions, Gerry became well-known in the wider Classics community beyond Columbia.

She gave great support to many graduate students: with a kind word here, and a generous gesture there, she helped many towards the finish line of the Ph.D. The departmental parties she organized were invariably spectacular, and few could match her ability to make her office routine resemble a final dress rehearsal for a performance of Cabaret.

She was endlessly colorful of character, with a rich and varied existence beyond her day job—a legend in old-style New York nightlife which she documented in her photography. Many aspects of that wider life gave a wonderful exuberance to her presence in the Classics department, a ceaseless energy for the unexpected. All who knew her much lament her passing: Gerry Visco touched our lives in ways that will long be fondly remembered.

For more about Gerry please see her interview with the New York Times from 2016

Classics Department Graduation Celebration - May 17th 12p-2:30p 618 Hamilton Hall

The Department of Classics would like to formally invite all of you and your families to a gathering after University Convocation on May 17th.

We will have food and drink in the Classics Department, Hamilton Hall, 618 from 12-2:30 for you and your families to enjoy and celebrate the day with a toast with the Classics Faculty. 

We would be delighted if you would join us. 

Columbia wins big in Recitation Contest!

For its Greek and Latin Recitation Contest this past weekend, the New York Classical Club received seventeen submissions from Columbia and Barnard students, three of whom went on to win prizes:

Umberto Verdura (Ph.D. program): First Prize in Latin

Octavio Vourvoulias (Columbia College): First Prize in Greek

Grace Clifford (Postbaccalaureate Program): Third Prize in Greek

Congrats to these gifted performers—and thanks to everyone for submitting!  The contest takes place every year, so please try again in 2024.

Mary-Evelyn Farrior Awarded Rome Prize

Mary-Evelyn Farrior, a Ph.D. candidate in Classical Studies, has received the Emeline Hill Richardson/Jesse Howard, Jr. Rome Prize in Ancient Studies for 2023-24. Awarded annually by the American Academy in Rome (AAR), the fellowship supports advanced work and research in the arts and humanities. This highly competitive prize is given each year to artists and scholars, both at the early and middle stages of their careers, who the Academy feels represent the highest standard of excellence in their respective fields. Fellows remain in residence at the Academy in Rome and are encouraged to collaborate across disciplinary divides.

Thanks to the support of the AAR, Mary-Evelyn will continue her doctoral research on Inscribing Community: Mapping Greek Inscriptions in Imperial Rome. See more about Mary-Evelyn Farrior.

Paraskevi Martzavou - Joining the Institute for Ideas and Imagination in Paris

Our very own, Dr. Paraskevi Martzavou has joined the Institute for Ideas and Imagination in Paris!

We are so proud and excited about the great work that will come from this fellowship

Columbia’s Institute for Ideas and Imagination has just announced its lineup of 2023-24 fellows. The cohort blends Columbia faculty and postdocs with creative artists of global renown, from Ted Hughes Award-winning poet Jay Bernard to the interdisciplinary artist Ana María Gómez López. The new fellows are working on a range of topics, including the fate of the Egyptian gods in ancient Greece, the life of the Jamaican cultural theorist Stuart Hall, and the environmental and social degradation of contemporary Venezuela.

The Institute for Ideas and Imagination is a residential fellowship program at Reid Hall, offering support for faculty and recent doctoral students from all departments and schools to work alongside writers and artists from outside the academy. It is a presidential initiative launched just five years ago that now forms part of Columbia Global, which brings together global initiatives at the university, including Columbia World Projects and the Columbia Global Centers.

Read the Full Announcement Here

Female Agents: Gender, Drama, Reception, Performance - A Conference in Honor of Helene Foley

Please join us in celebrating Dr. Helene Foley with a Conference in her honor highlighting her amazing legacy and lasting impact.

FEMALE AGENTS: GENDER, DRAMA, RECEPTION, PERFORMANCE

A CONFERENCE IN HONOR OF HELENE FOLEY

MARCH 31-APRIL 1, 2023

MILSTEIN 912 AND 914

BARNARD CAMPUS

Organized by Nancy Worman

– in collaboration with students and former students of Helene –

Francisco Barrenechea, Claire Catenaccio, Anna Conser, Elizabeth Heintges, Carina de Klerk, Izzy Levy, Melissa Mueller, Sarah Nooter, Simone Oppen, Cristina Perez, Charles Pletcher, Melinda Powers, and Caleb Simone

– as well as her colleagues –

Gisela Cardenas, Marcus Folch, Erin Mee, Kristina Milnor, Ellen Morris,

Elizabeth Scharffenberger, Debbie Steiner, Oliver Taplin, and Froma Zeitlin

– with assistance from Columbia graduate students –

Emma Ianni, Giovanni Lovisetto, Valeria Spacciante, and Brett Stine

SPONSORED BY THE COLUMBIA DEPARTMENT OF CLASSICS AND THE BARNARD PROVOST’S OFFICE

Imperial Attica: A Greek Region in the Roman Empire 3/30-4/1

Imperial Attica: A Greek Region in the Roman Empire

Attica in Imperial times provides a remarkable success story. Starting in the late Republican period, this region became a place imbued with cultural meaning like no other in the Mediterranean. In a sustained, creative response to its incorporation into the geopolitical frame of the Roman empire, a "dense" Attic identity developed not simply by consolidating and reviving traditional features, but also by innovatively reshaping and expanding them. The conference aims to explore the dynamics of this historical phenomenon by addressing it from a multiplicity of disciplinary perspectives. It will investigate the literary representations of Attica and its landscape. It will ask how the new ideals impacted and shaped the reality of the region—its architectural landscape, its artistic production, and its material culture. It will examine the various forms of social and religious life that flourished in Roman times. It will devote attention to the role of individuals like Pomponius Atticus, Arrian, Hadrian, Gellius, and of course Herodes Atticus. And it will address the issue of Attica's "exportability" beyond geographical boundaries, be it in the form of a stylistic ideal or as an artifact.

Thursday, March 30, 6 pm:

Keynote Talk: Angelos Chaniotis (followed by reception)

Friday, March 31, 9 am-5:20 pm

Speakers: Ada Caruso, Nigel Kennell, Jason König, Paraskevi Martzavou, Sabine Müller, Katerina Oikonomopoulou, Estelle Oudot, Maria Papaioannou, Alexia Petsalis-Diomidis, Mantha Zarmakoupi

Respondents: Alessandro Barchiesi, Barbara Borg, Sailakshmi Ramgopal

Saturday, April 1, 9 am-5:20 pm

Speakers: Anna Anguissola, Elena Calandra, Francesco Camia, Francesco de Angelis, Björn Ewald, Joseph Howley, Lawrence Kim, Annalisa Lo Monaco, Lindsey Mazurek, Laura Viidebaum

Respondents: Alessandro Barchiesi, Barbara Borg, Ilaria Bultrighini, R.R.R. Smith

Free and open to the public

(Please note: The conference will take place in Schermerhorn Hall 807.

The keynote talk only will also be available online: register here).


Celebrate Professor Karen Van Dyck's Book Launch

The Program in Hellenic Studies at Columbia University invites you to celebrate the launch of the bilingual collection  ΑΛΛΩΝΩΝ/LIFTED.  Karen Van Dyck and Eleni Bourou will talk about their collaboration followed by authors and translators reading “their” poems.

 

Thursday, March 30th, 2023 at 7:00 PM 

at Book Culture (536 W 112 St.) 

between Broadway and Amsterdam

Register Here


Rules

1. Take a prose passage that wants to be a poem.

2. Transcribe it.

3. Note the author,

4. the title of the book where you found the passage,

5. and the translator, if originally in another language.

6. Rework it as a poem:

7. break it into lines,

8. create stanzas,

9. change the punctuation,

10. but don’t delete or add words, except a title.

 

About the author
Karen Van Dyck is a critic, translator, poet and founder of Hellenic Studies at Columbia University. Her recent translations include Jazra Khaleed's The LIght that Burns Us, Maria Laina's Hers, Margarita Liberaki’s Three Summers,  and the anthology Austerity Measures: The New Greek Poetry. Her essays, translations, and poems have appeared in the PMLA, the LARB, the Guardian, The Paris Review, Asymptote, and Tender.

About the translator

Eleni Bourou is a translator, poet and editor. Her translations include poetry by Yosano Akiko, Nanni Balestrini, Nicole Brossard, Audre Lorde, and Keston Sutherland. Her poetry can be found in the collective works Virgulentxs (Berlin), A Chama Depende do Combustível vol. 2 (Fortaleza), What the Fire Sees (Brussels), ANAMESA (Athens) and in the literary magazine Lichtungen (Graz). She and Jazra Khaleed edit the Greek poetry magazine Teflon.


Department of Classics at Columbia University in the City of New York
1130 Amsterdam Avenue, 617 Hamilton Hall, MC 2861, New York, NY 10027, USA
(212) 854-3902 | (212) 854-7856 (fax) | classics@columbia.edu