Department of Classics - UCLA

CANCELLED: Alex Walthall | A City in Transition: Reflections on Recent Investigations at Morgantina (Sicily)
2024-05-13 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Dodd 247
This lecture planned for Monday, May 13th has been cancelled.
A City in Transition: Reflections on Recent Investigations at Morgantina (Sicily)
This talk highlights the results of recent excavations carried out at the archaeological site of Morgantina in central Sicily, work which has focused on a modestly appointed house of Early Hellenistic date and a temenos-like complex belonging to the period of Roman rule on Sicily. Both monuments—one private, one public in nature—reveal much about life in the ancient city during moments of great political and social change. They also offer an opportunity to reflect on more recent historical biases in fieldwork practice at Morgantina as well as to set forth principles shaping the current generation of long-term research at the site.

Dan-el Padilla Peralta talk on Mon. Oct. 14
2024-10-14 16:00 - 18:00 | Bunche Hall Room 6275
Dan-el Padilla Peralta (Princeton University) will give a talk entitled On the Wings of Locusts: Ancient Rome and New Ecological Histories on Monday, October 14th at 4 PM in 6275 Bunche Hall.
All are welcome!

Giuseppe Pezzini | The Veil of the Name: Comedy in the Aeneid
2024-10-28 16:00 - 17:30 | Dodd 248
Please join us on Monday, October 28 at 4pm for Professor Giuseppe Pezzini (Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford) who will be speaking on “The Veil of the Name: Comedy in the Aeneid,” in Dodd 248.
All are welcome!
Description:
The lecture will explore an important yet neglected ingredient of Virgil’s recipe in the Aeneid, namely Roman comedy, preserved primarily through the works of Plautus and Terence. Readers of Roman comedy cannot help but recognize in Aeneid4 a web of comic motifs and situations that enrich its plot and characters, stirring and manipulating readers’ (and characters’) expectations. Some of these motifs are not exclusively comic and appear in other genres and texts, notably tragedy (as long recognized by Virgil scholars), yet their comic origin and implications should not be underestimated. After a brief but systematic overview of comic elements in Aeneid 4, I will focus on ‘liminal’ tragic-comic features, arguing that this process of genre hybridization evokes comic expectations only to ultimately subvert them.

Jonathan Prag | “Crossreads and I.Sicily: digital and interdisciplinary approaches to the epigraphy of ancient Sicily”
2024-11-22 12:00 - 13:00 | Dodd 248
The UCLA Department of Classics presents a talk by Jonathan Prag (Oxford University) on Friday, November 22 at 12:00 PM.
The lecture entitled “Crossreads and I.Sicily: digital and interdisciplinary approaches to the epigraphy of ancient Sicily,” will be held in Dodd 248.
Description:
“Crossreads and I.Sicily: digital and interdisciplinary approaches to the epigraphy of ancient Sicily”
This talk presents the ongoing work of the I.Sicily and Crossreads projects. I.Sicily is a multilingual digital corpus of the inscriptions of ancient Sicily based upon fresh autopsy (sicily.classics.ox.ac.uk); Crossreads is 5-year ERC project developing and applying linguistic, palaeographic and archaeometric analyses to this corpus (crossreads.web.ox.ac.uk). The ambition of both projects is to make the complex epigraphic heritage of Sicily more accessible and to cast new light upon the cultural history of Sicily through this rich corpus of evidence. The talk will explore some of the methodological challenges and present some of the results achieved so far.

Christopher Moore | "The Plurality of Virtue."
2025-01-27 17:00 - 18:30 | Dodd 248
The UCLA Department of Classics is pleased to present a lecture by Professor Christopher Moore, Pennsylvania State University entitled “The Plurality of Virtue.”

Jinyu Liu | "Labeling Ethnicities of Enslaved and Freed Individuals in the Early Roman Empire: Fluidity and Complexity"
2025-03-03 17:00 - 18:30 | Dodd 248
Please join us for a talk given by Professor Jinyu Liu (Emory University) entitled “Labeling Ethnicities of Enslaved and Freed Individuals in the Early Roman Empire: Fluidity and Complexity” on Monday, March 3, 2025 in Dodd 248, reception to follow.
All are welcome!

Rebecca Benefiel to present "The Nature of Ancient Graffiti: Exploring Popular Writing in Pompeii" on May 22
2025-05-22 17:00 - 19:00 | Fowler Museum A222
The UCLA Department of Classics and Cotsen Institute for Archaeology proudly present a lecture by Professor Rebecca R. Benefiel (Washington and Lee University), entitled “The Nature of Ancient Graffiti: Exploring Popular Writing in Pompeii” on Thursday, May 22 in Fowler A222 at 5pm, followed by hands-on work to get us thinking about how to do research using graffiti in antiquity.

Cristina Pérez Díaz to present "From the Founding of the Country" on May 29
2025-05-29 17:00 - 19:00 | Dodd 248
The UCLA Departments of Classics, English, Spanish & Portuguese, Chicano/a & Central American Studies, as well as the Center for the Study of Women proudly present a reading of “From the Founding of the Country” by classicist, writer, and translator Cristina Pérez Díaz (University of Puerto Rico) followed by a conversation with UCLA Professor Patrícia Lino (Department of Spanish & Portuguese) on May 29 in Dodd 248 at 5pm.

Professor Sarah P. Morris' lecture "Out of Anatolia: Hittites, Homer and the Trojan War"
2026-02-26 16:00 - 19:30 | UCLA Faculty Club, Morrison Room, 480 Charles E Young Dr E, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
Please join us for a lecture followed by a reception featuring Professor Sarah Morris who will present her talk “Out of Anatolia: Hittites, Homer and the Trojan War”
This lecture will be held at the Faculty Club’s Morrison Room on Thursday, Feb. 26th at 4 PM. All are welcome!

Emily Greenwood | “Audre Lorde and Plato’s Menexenus: The Master’s House and the House of Difference”
2026-04-23 17:00 - 18:30 | Dodd 247
The UCLA Department of Classics is pleased to present a lecture by Professor Emily Greenwood, Harvard University entitled “Audre Lorde and Plato’s Menexenus: The Master’s House and the House of Difference”

Sasha-Mae Eccleston | "Book Discussion - Epic Events: Classics and the Politics of Time in the United States Since 9/11"
2026-05-22 16:00 - 17:30 | Dodd 248
Please join us on Friday, May 22, 2026 for a talk by Sasha-Mae Eccleston entitled “Book Discussion – Epic Events: Classics and the Politics of Time in the United States Since 9/11”
All are welcome!

Odyssey Book Club | July 30, 5-6 PM
2026-07-30 17:00 - 18:00 | Online
Join us for an online disscusion of Nolan’s film and Homer’s epic. All are welcome but an advance RSVP is required.
RSVP by July 27th here.

Verity Platt | ‘The Garland in Greco-Roman Art: An Exercise in Anthocriticism’.
2026-11-09 16:00 - 17:30
Verity Platt will be giving a talk entitled,‘The Garland in Greco-Roman Art: An Exercise in Anthocriticism’.
Location and details to come so stay tuned.
