Previous Lecture Series Topics and Speakers
15TH ANNUAL SPRING LECTURE SERIES: 2007
War and Torture in the Ancient World
Roman Warfare Between Republic and Empire
Dr. Carlos Norena, Department of History, University of California, Berkeley
Roman Soldiers Taken Prisoner of War
Dr. Gaius Stern, Department of Classics, San Francisco State University
Madness and Self-Mutilation in Herodotus
Dr. Isabelle Pafford, Department of Classics, San Francisco State University
Religious War in the Ancient West
Dr. Jonathon Roth, Department of History, San Jose State University
14TH ANNUAL SPRING LECTURE SERIES: 2006
The Gorgeous and the Grotesque
In the Eye of the Beholder: Aestheticism Among the Ancients
Loretta Reed, Department of History, California State University, Sacramento
Sex and Death Entwined: Images of the Medusa in Popular Culture
Elise Earthman, Department of English and Associate Dean of the College of Humanities, San Francisco State University
Designing Women: The Hetaira as Model from Phintias to Praxiteles
Andrew Stewart, Departments of History of Art and Classics, University of California, Berkeley
Visions of Mortality in Seneca's Thyestes
Austin Busch, Teaching Fellow in the Department of Humanities, Stanford University
13TH ANNUAL SPRING LECTURE SERIES: 2005
Magic and Superstition in the Ancient World
Envy and the Evil Eye in Latin Love Poetry
Ruth Caston, Department of Classics, University of California, Davis
Mary Dissolving Chains in Ancient Magic
Marvin Meyer, Department of Religion at Chapman University and Director of the Coptic Magical Texts Project at Claremont Graduate School
Magic in Ancient Mediterranean Drama
Mary Kay Gamel, Departments of Classics and Comparative Literature, University of California, Santa Cruz
To Paraphrase the Transcendent: Jewish Mysticism and Magic
Kitty Millet, Department of Jewish Studies, San Francisco State University
12TH ANNUAL SPRING LECTURE SERIES: 2004
Order and Chaos in Ancient Life and Thought
Keeping Satyrs in their Place: Dionysiac Chaos and Civic Order in the Athenian Theater
Mark Griffith, Department of Classics, University of California, Berkeley
The Roman Army as an Agent of Order and Disorder
Jonathan Roth, Department of History, San Jose State University
Order from Chaos in Ancient Myths
Phillip Stanley, Department of Classics, San Francisco State University
Tiberius and the X-Files
Trevor Murphy, Department of Classics, University of California, Berkeley
11TH ANNUAL SPRING LECTURE SERIES: 2003
Friends and Enemies in the Ancient World
Romans vs. Dacians et al.: Friends and Enemies from the Carpathians to the Danube
Linda Ellis, Museum Studies Program, San Francisco State University
Proteus, Porthole and Polyps: Some Archaic Greek Images of Friendship
Richard P. Martin, Department of Classics, Stanford University
De Inimicitia: Cicero and his Political World
Richard Hoffman, Department of History, San Francisco State University
Making Friends with Aristotle
Anthony A. Long, Department of Classics, University of California, Berkeley.
10TH ANNUAL SPRING LECTURE SERIES: 2002
Sex and the City: The Geography of Gender and Sexuality in the Ancient World
An Evening with Olympia: A Question-and-Answer session on Acting and Greek Tragedy
Olympia Dukakis, Academy-Award winning actress
Mapping Ancient Sexuality: Why It Matters, Why It Happened
Ralph Hexter, Dean of Arts and Humanities and Chair of Comparative Literature, University of California, Berkeley
Mother Cybele and Her Eunuch Priests
Lynn E. Roller, Department of Classics, University of California, Davis
Shaping Space and Time: The Warrior's Departure
Karen Bassi, Department of Classics, University of California, Santa Cruz
Sex and Humor in Biblical Narratives: Esther, Judith, and Susanna
Erich Gruen, Department of Classics, Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology, University of California, Berkeley
Artemidorus on the Couch: Some Sexual and Transexual Dreams from the Second Century C.E
David Leitao, Department of Classics, San Francisco State University
9TH ANNUAL SPRING LECTURE SERIES: 2001
Pop Go The Classics! The Ancient World in Popular Culture
Hecuba and History
Carey Perloff, award-winning Artistic Director of the American Conservatory Theater
The Ancient Hero in Film
Pamela Vaughn, Departments of Classics and World and Comparative Literature, San Francisco State University
Gladiator, America's Rome in Film
Emily Albu, Department of Classics, University of California Davis
Bringing the Late Republic to Life (and putting it to death)
Steven Saylor, Best-selling mystery writer of the ROMA SUB ROSA series
Romancing the Stones (from Agatha Christie to Indiana Jones)
Barbara McLauchlin, Department of Classics, San Francisco State University
8TH ANNUAL SPRING LECTURE SERIES: 2000
Ancient Biographies: Individuals of Antiquity
Alexander Persicus: A New Portrait from Iran
Andrew Stewart, Department of Classics, University of California, Berkeley
Mother Knows Best: Cornelia Mater Gracchorum
Judy Gaughan, Department of Classics, University of California, Berkeley
A Reassessment of Flavius Josephus
Jonathan Roth, Department of History, San Jose State University
Dying Like A Queen: Cleopatra and the Asp(s) in Antiquity
Robert Gurval, Department of Classics, University of California, Los Angeles
7TH ANNUAL SPRING LECTURE SERIES: 1999
Time Travel: Pilgrimages to the Medieval World
Achilles in Love: Medieval Interpretations of the Trojan War
Pamela Gehrke, Department of World and Comparative Literature, San Francisco State University
Sex, Lies, and Monica: Augustine's 'Confessions'
Pamela Hood, Department of Philosophy, San Francisco State University
The Bible Moralisée and Thirteenth-Century Pictorial Exegesis
Christopher Hughes, Department of Art History, University of California, Berkeley
Sexual Dissidence and Medieval Latin
Ralph Hexter, Departments of Classics and Comparative Literature, University of California, Berkeley
6TH ANNUAL SPRING LECTURE SERIES: 1998
A View to the East: The World Beyond Athens and Rome
Scribes in Mesopotamia
Laurie Pearce, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Yale University
Eunuch Priests of Cybele
Lynn E. Roller, Department of Classics, University of California, Davis
Warrior Women of the Steppes: Amazons Uncovered
Jeannine Davis-Kimball, The Center for the Study of Near Eastern Nomads
Roman Syria: Where West Meets East
Phillip V. Stanley, Department of Classics, San Francisco State University
5TH ANNUAL SPRING LECTURE SERIES: 1997
Getting in Touch with Antiquity
Blood in the Forum
Steven Saylor, Best-selling mystery writer of the ROMA SUB ROSA series
Roman Designs for Living: Exploring Architectural Patterns in Rome, Ostia, and Pompeii
Margaret Henry, Department of Classics, San Francisco State University
Render Unto Caesar: Coin Types, Identity, and Power
Robert C. Knapp, Department of Classics, University of California, Berkeley
Thugs by Choice: Roman Portraiture in the Late Republic
Gary B. Miles, Departments of Classics and History, University of California, Santa Cruz
4TH ANNUAL SPRING LECTURE SERIES: 1996
The Divine and the Human: Religion in Antiquity
God's Servants, God's Slaves
Susanna Elm, Department of History, University of California, Berkeley
Orpheus and the Third Sex: Homosexual Ecstasy in some Orphic Cults?
David Leitao, Department of Classics, San Francisco State University
Simplicius and Late Pagan Piety - The Confrontation with Christianity, and Philoponus
John J. Glanville, Department of Philosophy, San Francisco State University
The Mesopotamian Religious Experience
Laurie Pearce, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Yale University
Gifts for the Gods: Dedications in Ancient Greece
Christopher Simon, Archaeological Institute of America, San Francisco Society
Female Voices, Divine Speech: The Pythia, Cassandra, and Apollo
Lisa Maurizio, Department of Classics, Stanford University
3RD ANNUAL SPRING LECTURE SERIES: 1995
Gender Issues: The Male and Female in Antiquity
Orality, Masculinity, and the Greek Epic
Karen Bassi, Department of Classics, University of California, Santa Cruz
Female Representations and Interpreting 'The Odyssey'
Seth Schein, Department of Comparative Literature, University of California, Davis
Women in Antiquity: Enduring Images
Charlayne Allan, Department of Classics, University of California, Davis
Sophocles' 'The Women of Trachis'
Helen Moritz, Department of Classics, Santa Clara University
2ND ANNUAL SPRING LECTURE SERIES: 1994
Intercultural Influences in the Ancient World
The Cosmogony of Egypt: Its Influence on the Mediterranean
Vulindlela Wobogo, Department of Ethnic Studies, San Francisco State University
Rome in North Africa: The Confluence of Four Cultures
Richard Hoffman, Department of History, San Francisco State University
Pagans and Jews: Multiculturalism or Anti-Semitism
Erich Gruen, Department of Classics, Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology, University of California, Berkeley
Greece and Anatolia
Barbara McLauchlin, Department of Classics, San Francisco State University
1ST ANNUAL SPRING LECTURE SERIES: 1993
Jacob Needleman, Department of Philosophy, San Francisco State University