Classics faculty research at UVM covers the gamut of Greek and Latin literature and the classical tradition. We have particular strengths in ancient philosophy (including political theory), Greek and Latin poetry, ancient music, Late Antiquity, technological authors, and Greek and Roman historiography. Authors of special interest include Homer, Ovid, Cicero, Thucydides, Plato, Seneca, Columella, and Frontinus. Below is a "virtual bookshelf" of some books written by our faculty.
Faculty Research
Virtual Bookshelf: A Sampling of Faculty Publications
-
Ovid's Women of the Year: Narratives of Roman Identity in the Fasti (CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title, 2017) by Angeline Chiu
-
Kinyras: The Divine Lyre by John Franklin
-
The Thymele at Epidauros: Healing, Space, and Musical Performance in Late Classical Greece by John Franklin (co-author)
-
Homeric Stitchings: The Homeric Centos of the Empress Eudocia by Mark Usher
-
In Praise of Later Roman Emperors: The Panegyrici Latini by Barbara Saylor Rodgers
-
A Student’s Seneca: Ten Letters and Selections from De Providentia and De Vita Beata by Mark Usher (editor)
-
Socratic Theages (German Edition) by Jacques A. Bailly
-
Diogenes by Mark Usher
The examples below illustrate the extraordinary depth and breadth of the scholarship currently being undertaken by our faculty. These are just highlights; all of our faculty members are actively engaged in research and writing. Explore the department's work through our faculty profiles.
John Franklin: Ancient Music and Music Archaeology
John Franklin works in the emerging field of music archaeology, where scholars reconstruct lost musical traditions from visual representations, instrument remains, theoretical writings, and actual scores (preserved on tablets and on papyrus). Franklin's forthcoming book, Kinyras: The Divine Lyre, explores an historical relationship between a legendary priest-king of Cyprus and the god Kinnaru of Ugarit, who was the personified sacred lyre of West Semitic temple music of the Bronze Age. A second, more general stiuduy is also well underway: The Middle Muse: Mesopotamian Echoes in Early Greek Music.
Angeline Chiu: "Calendar Girls" in Ovid
Angeline Chiu is currently writing a book on Ovid's use of female characters and literary genres in his treatment of Roman identity in his calendrical poem Fasti. She also works on the interplay among Latin literature and Roman topography, Latin epic, and the classical tradition. Her latest article examines the changing nature of Julia, Caesar's daughter, in Lucan's epic poem Pharsalia.