‘Roman’ Category
Citizens United and the Roman Republic
An article inSlate compares the Supreme Court ruling in the Citizens United case (on unlimited campaign donations) to the campaign finance system that ran the Roman Republic into the ground. Some serious food for thought here. “How Political Campaign Spending Brought Down the Roman Republic” “If Cato, Cicero, or Julius Caesar were here today, […]
We are Rome! Or are we?
Speaking of conversations in print… In his column Third Party Rising, Thomas Friedman compares destructive factors in modern American politics with the conditions that led to the fall of the Roman Empire. He envisions a third party presidential candidate proclaiming to the American people… “I am not going to tell you what you want to […]
A Pompeiian Spectacle for a Sunday Night
Professor Martin Winkler, internationally renowned expert in Classics and Film Studies, wowed Gusties on Sunday night, Nov. 1st with his lecture “The Last Days of Pompeii: From Fact to Fiction and Film.” Professor Winkler took us through a whirlwind tour of receptions of Pompeii across the centuries and via a range of media, from books […]
Classics Lecture
Barbara Weiden Boyd, Ph.D., delivered a lecture on “Example and Imitation: Shared Identity and Living Tradition in Augustan Rome” on Thursday, Oct. 22 to a full house. Professor Boyd is a professor of Greek and Latin at Bowdoin College in Maine and specializes in Latin poetry, especially the works of Virgil and Ovid. Her text […]
dinner and a slide show
On Wednesday, Sept. 30, Eta Sigma Phi provided an Italian feast for hungry classicists. Globe-trotting Gusties Matt Panciera, Paula Wiggam, and Emma Ellingson shared slides and stories of their trips to Sicily and Florence. The event took place, fittingly, in the International Center–the perfect setting for inspiring wanderlust!
Comedy Night at Gustavus
On October 1st, a troupe of St. Olaf players brought us the Roman comedian Plautus’ Aulularia (‘Little Pot o’ Gold’) – performed in English, with a bit of Latin thrown in for good measure. Students from all walks of Gustavus life enjoyed an hour of uproarious situation comedy, musical numbers, slapstick, and crazy coincidences. Read […]
Greek tragedy and ‘The Wire’
Thanks to my persistent brother-in-law’s recommendation, Sean and I just finished watching the acclaimed HBO show ‘The Wire’ a couple of weeks ago. Each of the five seasons is loosely structured around a single wire-tapping case in Baltimore that sheds light on some aspect of the city’s institutions (drug trade, unions, real estate/politics, education, and […]
Stephen Berard: Living Latin
On Thursday, October 30th Dr. Stephen Berard delivered a lecture on the history of Latin as a spoken language and led a workshop on speaking Latin. Students and faculty alike were given the rare opportunity to bring past and present together by talking about their homes, families, and even computers–all in Latin! Dr. Berard continued […]
Eta Sigma Phi Hosts Toga Party
On Thursday October 30, 2008, Classicists as well as non-Classicists gathered in Old Main to have a Dionysian feast of pizza, lemonade, and Halloween decorated frost-your-own-cookies. Activities included: a Julius Caesar photo booth, Plato’s Play-doh sculpting, a Roman coloring station (designing your own ancient pottery), and Pin the Laurel on Caesar. Winners of the toga […]
The Real ‘Gladiator’
Tomb of the real ‘Gladiator’ discovered in Italy Archaeologists find tomb of the real hero who inspired epic film. Italian archaeologists have discovered the tomb of the Ancient Roman hero who inspired Russell Crowe’s character in the film Gladiator. Daniela Rossi, a Rome archaeologist, said that the discovery of the marble tomb of Marcus Nonius […]