IPGRH has long maintained a roster of highly talented individuals whose academic pursuits and interests span far and wide. As we move into the academic year of 2018-2019, sure to be full of scholarly pursuits, we wanted to take a closer look at what our faculty and students have been tending to and how they were spending their summer:
My "serious" summer plans are to read the Latin reading list and to prepare for the Latin qualifying exam in September, as well as learn German. The "fun" summer plans are to go to Iceland to visit the Landsbókasafn og Háskólabókasafn Íslands (National and University Library of Iceland) and/or the Þjóðskjalasafn Íslands (National Archives of Iceland) to conduct more research on the life of Iceland's founding father and philologist, Jón Sigurðsson. My "throw them for a loop" summer plan is to study introductory Sanskrit with Ben Fortson.
In October 2017, I presented my paper, "Haec Fama Valebat: the Sexual Crimes of Sallust's Catiline," at the annual meeting of the Classical Association of the Atlantic States (CAAS) in New York. In October of this year, I will go again, this time in Philadelphia, to present my paper, "Per Flores Medio in Discrimine: the Roman Concept of a Sanctuary.
This summer, I am researching and writing on Rome's lower magistrates and the meaning of magistracy in the Roman Republic, and learning Sanskrit as a hobby with Ben Fortson. In addition, I am a Graduate Fellow at the Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies for the 2018-2019 year, where I will help to organize two Friday workshops in response to visiting scholars and continue to work on my dissertation, tentatively titled
In summer 2018, thanks to funding from a Rackham Language Study Grant, I was able to continue studying Italian at the Il Sasso Language School in Montepulciano, Italy. In the mornings, I took group classes focused on grammar and speaking and in the afternoon had private lessons with strategies for reading academic Italian. I put those skills to use after the course in a research trip visiting sites in Central and Southern Italy relevant to my dissertation research, again thanks to funding from Rackham, the Frier Fund and the History Department. Highlights of that trip include seeing the remains and museums at Paestum, Croton, Sybaris and Siris/Heraclea.
From mid-June to the end of July I am continuing my work at the Gabii Project as an Assistant Trench Supervisor in areas G and H. This summer we are working on understanding the imperial and late antique phases of the main city center, focusing on the sequences of roads and the buildings associated with them. There are also hints of early Republican architecture in the area and that is what I am most excited to uncover!
After my time in Italy I am looking forward to getting back to Ann Arbor in August to incorporate my new research into my dissertation.
This summer has been almost exclusively dedicated to language training. I am steadily working my way through the reading list for the Greek exam, as well as learning Italian for my modern language requirement. When I have the time, I have also been indulging in a couple summer beach reads: Michael Scott's Ancient Worlds: A Global History of Antiquity, and Robert Graves' classic I, Claudius (Amazingly, I've never actually read it before!).
