Department of Classics and Archaeology Spring 2008 Newsletter
Fr. Wafik Nasry, S.J., Dr. Ethan Adams, Dr. Katerina Zacharia, Fr. William Fulco, S.J., Dr. Matthew Dillon
Message from the Chair
Dear Classics, Classical Civilizations and Archaeology Majors and Minors,
It is my great pleasure to welcome you all to our Classics luncheon on this fourth week of the spring semester.
As many of you know, I became chair of the Classics & Archaeology department in August 2008, but have been faculty at LMU since January 1999, first as a joint appointment with the Center of Modern Greek Studies and since May 2002 as a full-time appointment in Classics, so I have a good idea of the challenges and aspirations of our department.
The Department of Classics & Archaeology offers majors and minors in Greek, Latin, Classics, Classical Civilizations, and an Archaeology minor. Our faculty are committed to providing you with a unique educational experience at LMU. We offer our students a deeper understanding of the literary and cultural foundations of western societies by exploring their roots in the Greek and Roman classical traditions. Our archaeological offerings extend these investigations of early European cultures into their Near Eastern background and include the hands-on study of ancient artifacts. The combined study of the languages, literature, religion and material cultures of ancient Greece, Rome, and the Near East offers the student a wide-ranging and well-rounded preparation in critical thinking, analytic skills, and writing and prepares the student to contextualize the immense achievements of the past in the modern world. Because of the broad humanistic nature of the programs in Classics and Archaeology, there emerge fundamental questions about what it means to be a human being, and thus the courses in the department offer many interdisciplinary connections with philosophy, theological studies, history, theater, and other academic fields.
At the top of my long wish list for our department, I give top priority to the creation of a new position for Classical Archaeology to complete our curriculum, and allow the creation of a new major in Archaeology. Currently, our Archaeological Museum, library and lab offer a rare hands-on learning experience masterfully administered by Fr. Bill Fulco, whose expertise lies in Near Eastern languages and archaeology. I am actively working towards creating a student curator position.
It is also my goal to strengthen and expand our ancient language course curriculum so that more students may annually complete the six-semester language cycle. We are offering courses in classical Greek and Latin for all levels of proficiency and will be inaugurating during the first summer session 2008 intensive summer language courses for Greek and Latin. We also offer regularly Hebrew, Arabic and Near Eastern languages.
We offer a good selection of literature courses in translation that fulfill the University literature Core requirement: Epic (CLCV 200); Greek Tragedy (CLCV 210); Ancient Comedy (CLCV 220); Ancient Historians (CLCV 230). We also offer a very popular course that fulfills the upper division Theology core requirement, Archaeology and the Bible (ARCH363), and an array of Classical Civilizations, Art and Archaeology courses.
I am currently teaching a new upper-division course on the Ancient world on Film (CLCV 455), and am developing a new course on “Greece: and Past to Present” (CLCV 498.01) to be taught in fall 2008, where we will be tackling issues of national identity and culture; Greece will be studied as a case-study on the construction of national identity from 776 BC to 2008. I will be using my forthcoming volume “Hellenisms: Culture, Identity and Ethnicity from antiquity to modernity” (Ashgate, UK, June 2008) as the course textbook. Furthermore, I have been actively working towards developing a new course on “Tragedy and the Tragic” to be team-taught, hopefully, in fall 2009.
We conducted a student focus group in fall 2007 and will be giving exit interviews in May 2008 to our graduating majors in an effort to enhance the dialogue with our students and improve our program and curriculum. I encourage you to contact me (kzacharia@lmu.edu) any time during the semester with any suggestions or feedback on our program.
With all my best wishes for a productive and transformative 2008,
Katerina Zacharia
Chair of Classics & Archaeology
Course Schedules
• New Summer Classes!!
For the first time, we will be offering Intensive Greek and Latin Summer courses, in which you can learn the material normally covered in the 101-102 sequence. Those who take this course will be able to sign up for either GREK 201 or LATN 201 in the Fall. Here’s the Summer 2008 schedule:
Session 1: CLCV 200: Classical Epic (Dillon) TR 1600-1900
GREK 198: SS: Intensive Greek (Zacharia) MTWR 0955-1140
LATN 198: SS: Intensive Latin (Dillon) MTWR 1150-1335
Session 2: CLCV 451: Myth in Literature (Adams) TR 1250-1550
• Tentative Schedule of Classes
If you are a major or minor in CLCV, CLAS, GREK, LATN, or ARCH—or interested in becoming one—you will be happy to learn that the Department has made a tentative schedule of classes for the next four years. More details to come, but in the meantime, here are our offerings for Autumn 2008:
CLCV 200: Classical Epic (Adams) LATN 101: Elementary Latin I (Adams)
CLCV 301: Greek Civilization (faculty) LATN 201: Intermediate Latin (Adams)
CLCV 304: Greek Art & Architecture (faculty) LATN 321: Cicero (Dillon)
CLCV 498: Greece: Past To Present (Zacharia)
ARCH 204: Elementary Arabic I (Nasry) GREK 101: Elementary Greek I (Dillon)
ARCH 363: Archaeology & the Bible (Fulco) GREK 201: Intermediate Greek (Zacharia)
ARCH 404: Egyptology (faculty) GREK 313: Greek Lyric Poetry (Fulco)
ARCH 410: Archaeology Field Experience (Fulco)
ARCH 411: Near Eastern Archaeology Lab (Fulco)
Archaeology News
We have been particularly blessed with significant gifts in the past year.
Most spectacular is the Hydria, the very large Greek vessel now housed in the Archaeology Library. Its acquisition was the result of gifts from several generous supporters: Jay Grant and the Devere Foundation, Denise Richards, Fayez Barakat, Jim and Nelly Kilroy and the Dreier Family. Jim Pieper gave us the beautiful custom-made display case which houses the Hydria. Other recent acquisitions are an erotic-cultic Babylonian terra cotta plaque from the time of Hammurabi, a stunning wooden lady from an Egyptian tomb, and several new pieces of painted Greek pottery from classical Southern Italy, including the “bunny kylix” to the right, a gift from Paul Schulte, now of Hong Kong.
Denise Richards LMU '68, who has helped us acquire several of our most beautiful Greek vases and several key Egyptian antiquities, has now acquired for us two stunning display cases in the Coin Room. These cases have mirrored backs and adjustable side lighting at each shelf. The most often heard word from those who first see these cabinets lit is “Wow!” Denise also has plans for the future in helping us display our treasures in housing that fits their intrinsic beauty.
Gifts that have enabled our students to participate in summer archaeological excavations have also come from the Kilroys, Denise, The Devere Foundation, Lydia Hao and other friends. This coming summer four of our students will work at the huge site of Megiddo (Armageddon) in Israel (Molly Lower, Jordan Oslin, Liz Manning and Adam Stebbins), and one of our curators, Grady Winn, will excavate on a Mayan site in Guatemala. In addition, these funds will partially subsidize twelve of our seniors graduating in the spring to tour the archaeological sites in Upper Egypt and Jerusalem in the latter half of May upcoming.
Right at home, our incomparable benefactor is Joan Pohas in University Relations. It is very largely through Joanie's work with our donors that all of our growth has been possible. Joanie has fostered our students abroad programs, and when there has been some special piece of antiquity that we would love to have in our museum, Joanie is on the phone with our donors telling them that down deep they really want to buy it for us. And they do.
Curators Ellen Krause, Grady Winn, & Molly Lower with the display cases donated by Denise Richards The Apulian Hydria
Faculty News
• Prof. Matt Dillon has returned from his Fall 2007 sabbatical! He spent much of the summer in Turkey, helping to catalog the amphora collection of the Anemur Museum, and also worked on revising his new Latin textbook In Africa: Roots of Language and Civilization, aimed at African-American and other high school students. Dr. Ethan Adams and Fr. Bill Fulco have also offered contributions to the book. He’s delighted to be back in the classroom teaching Latin, Greek and Ancient Historians. Matt is also chair of the Core Curriculum Committee, which is currently undertaking a major revision of the LMU Core.
• Dr. Zacharia has finished her book, Hellenisms: Culture, Identity, and Ethnicity from Antiquity to Modernity, to be published by Ashgate UK. She would like to give her sincere thanks to Aubrey Hanson for her help as Rains Assistant and to Ann Hanson for her expert work as a copy editor.
• Dr. Adams will be presenting his paper “The Disneyfication of Rome” at the Junior Faculty Seminar on February 19th. He continues to work on a translation and commentary of Lucan’s Civil War with Matthew Fox of Rutgers University, as well as on a study of mythological imagery in Lucan. He would like to thank Rebecca Hartstein for her help as Rains Assistant.
• Fr. Fulco has been very busy in the past several semesters with reviews, articles, film-production and essays. He was a major contributor and organizer for The Passion of the Christ: Deluxe DVD Edition. His contributions include sections on the use of Aramaic and Latin in the film; the history of the Stations of the Cross and their present devotional sites in Jerusalem; Commentary with Mel Gibson, voice-over on film; and panel discussion of the faith dimensions of the film. He is currently working on the script in Punic, Greek, Latin and Berber for Vin Diesel’s Hannibal the Conqueror.
Summer Grants
• There are many opportunities for summer academic awards. Here are a couple upcoming deadlines:
Eugene Escallier Foreign Study Award (February 28, 2008)
http://www.lmu.edu/Page4592.aspx
William Fitzgerald Summer Grants (February 28, 2008)
http://www.lmu.edu/page22052.aspx
Upcoming Events
• National Latin and Greek Exams
If you are enrolled in a LATN or GREK course, you can look forward to the National Language Exams, which will be administered during the second week of March. Last year, LMU language students performed remarkably well, winning many gold and silver medals.
• Comparative Drama Conference, March 27-29, 2008
The Comparative Drama Conference is an international, interdisciplinary conference founded in 1977. This is the fourth year the conference has been held in Los Angeles under the direction of Dr. Kevin Wetmore of LMU’s Theater Arts Department, along with Dr. Zacharia. Every year, approximately 150 scholars are invited to present and discuss their work in the field of drama. The papers delivered range over the entire field of theatre research and production. Over the past 31 years the participants have come from 31 nations and all 50 states. The 32nd Comparative Drama Conference will be held at the Radisson Hotel Los Angeles Westside (6161 W. Centinela Ave., Culver City CA 90230-3200).
• Festival of Dionysus
This year’s D-Fest will be held on Friday, April 11th, from 7:30-11:30pm. Mark your calendars! There will be the usual games, skits, and food—plus, music and (possibly) faculty karaoke!!
• 2nd Annual Classics Spring Symposium
On Tuesday, April 15th, 10:30-1:30, we will hold our second Classics Symposium. Following last year’s hugely successful event. we hope to continue the tradition with student and faculty presentations, food, and community. If you are interested in participating, contact one of the faculty.
Eta Sigma Phi
• Spring Initiation
Eta Sigma Phi is the national honorary collegiate society for students of Latin and/or Greek. The purposes of the Society, in the words of the Constitution, are “to develop and promote interest in classical study among the students of colleges and universities; to promote closer fraternal relationship among students who are interested in classical study, including inter-campus relationship; to engage generally in an effort to stimulate interest in classical study, and in the history, art, and literature of ancient Greece and Rome.” If you have taken Greek or Latin for at least one semester, you are eligible to join. This year’s top-secret initiation ceremony will be held on Thursday, February 21st, at 10pm. For more information, see Dr. Adams.
• Mystery Classics Theater 3K
Eta Sigma Phi, for the last two years, sponsors a Movie Night where the finest movies featuring Classical themes are shown, often to the accompaniment of snacks, pizza, and jollity. Recent movies include The Clash of the Titans, Fellini’s Satyricon, and Monty Python and Holy Grail (okay, not so Classical, but there’s Latin in it...). The next movie will be announced soon. For details, see Dr. Adams.
Graduating in May?
• Requirements
If you plan on graduating on May 10th, please remember to consult your Bulletin and make sure you have fulfilled all requirements for your major or minor.
• Exit Interviews
Graduating seniors in our majors and minors will be asked to sign up for an Exit Interview on April 22nd. We want your feedback!
Contact Info
|
Dr. Katerina Zacharia, Associate Professor and Chair |
UNH 3755 |
310-338-5783 |
kzacharia@lmu.edu |
|
Dr. Matthew Dillon, Professor |
UNH 3757 |
310-338-4590 |
mdillon@lmu.edu |
|
Dr. Ethan Adams, Assistant Professor |
UNH 3718 |
310-338-2996 |
eadams4@lmu.edu |
|
Fr. William Fulco, Big Schmazoon of Archaeology |
UNH 3716 |
310-338-5835 |
wfulco@lmu.edu |
|
Fr. Wafik Nasry, Assistant Professor |
UNH 3721 |
310-568-6622 |
wnasry@lmu.edu |
|
Shanna Kennedy-Quigley, Instructor |
BUR 245 |
818-783-2333 |
s.k.quigley@sbcglobal.net |
|
Marlene Savala, Administrative Assistant |
UNH 3787 |
310-338-5728 |
msavala@lmu.edu |