Classics Activities and Events for 2010-2011

The Order of Orgies: Sex and the Cinematic Romans

Location: Bolton Hall: Davis Auditorium
Date: 11/09/2010
Time: 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Speaker: Stacie Raucci, Assistant Professor of Classics, Union College

Description:
Join Professor Raucci as she explores the sexual mores of the Romans as depicted on the silver screen and on television. We know the Romans were decadent, but what do depictions of Roman decadence say about contemporary attitudes toward sex and sexuality? Does orgiastic excess hold up a mirror to the viewing audience?

Professor Raucci received her B.A. from Wellesley College and her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. Her scholarly interests focus on the reception of the ancient world, and her course offerings include the ancient world in film and sex and gender in classical antiquity.

Sponsor: Classics Department

 

Classical World Lecture: The Shipwreck of Odysseus

Location: Palamountain Hall: Davis Auditorium
Date: 03/07/2011
Time: 5:45 PM
Speaker: Professor Jeffrey Hurwit

Description:
How do Greek vase painters represent their myths? Usually we have clues, such as traditional iconography or labels to tell us who is who and what is what. For Greek vases of the Geometric period, however, this question does not have easy answers.

At tonight's lecture, Professor Jeffrey Hurwit considers an eighth-century Greek vase that used to be considered a painting of the shipwreck of the Homeric hero, Odysseus. Has the painter depicted a mythological scene or a generic scene of everyday life? How do we know? Professor Hurwit suggests that the Geometric imagery in fact defies simple categorization and exemplifies the variety and originality of early Greek art.

Professor Jeffrey M. Hurwit is a leading scholar of ancient Greek art. He received a combined A.B.-M.A. degree in Classical Languages and Literatures from Brown University in 1971 and a Ph.D. in Classical Art and Archaeology from Yale University in 1975. A full professor at the University of Oregon since 1990, he holds the title of Philip H. Knight Professor in Art History and Classics.

The recipient of many prestigious awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, Professor Hurwit is the author of numerous works on the art and civilization of Archaic and Classical Greece. Among the more influential of his publications are the articles "Reading the Chigi Vase" [Hesperia 71 (2002), 1-22] and "The Kritios Boy: Discovery, Reconstruction, and Date" [American Journal of Archaeology 93 (1989), 41-80], and his books The Art and Culture of Early Greece (Cornell University Press, 1985,) The Athenian Acropolis: History, Mythology, and Archaeology from the Neolithic Era to the Present (Cambridge University Press, 1999), and The Acropolis in the Age of Pericles (Cambridge University Press 2004).

Now in its 14th year, the Classical World lecture brings to campus a teacher-scholar renowned for interdisciplinary contributions to the field of classical studies.

Attendance Info: This lecture is free and open to the public.

 

Annual Classics bus trip to The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Date: Saturday, 04/09/11
Departure time: Bus departing from Skidmore (Case Parking Lot) 7:30 AM
Returning to Skidmore: 11:00 PM