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Research Interests

• Greek and Latin Epithalamia
• Medieval Latin
• Augustan Poetry
• Latin Pedagogy
• Late Antique & Patristic Literature
• The City Rome in Material and Literary Culture

Spring MMXXIV Class

Explore Italy (Spring 2024 Break Academic Tour of Italy)

For more information, get in touch with Study Abroad: Dafne Johnson (dafnej@arizona.edu)

FALL 2015 EXHIBIT: CLASSICS AND AT THE UA MUSEUM Of ART--Awarded CAMWS Outstanding Outreach Award 2016

Rome: The Legacy of the Eternal City Exhibit at the UA Museum of Art, September 2015-Januuary 2016

…To the Eternal City. ‘Tis the centre
To which all gravitates. One finds no rest
Elsewhere than here. There may be other cities
That please us for a while, but Rome alone
Completely satisfies. It becomes to all
A second native land by predilection,
And not by accident of birth alone.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807-1882

When the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote these words, Rome was bustling with tourists, eager to visit it as a cultural center and to view its monuments and art. The city is still viewed as a cultural epicenter and prime destination in Europe. Its ancient legacy is embodied in our contemporary surroundings. Rome’s remains literally dot the landscape in Europe, the Middle East, and Northern Africa, and they are figuratively buried within film, music, architecture, food, spectacles, and language. Rome is also ubiquitous in the Southwest: in its language, religion, art, and architecture, Rome’s legacy helps nourish and shape our regional identity. That its ancient artifacts continue to be displayed in museums all over Europe and around the world invites us to reconsider its legacy anew and to pose the question: What is the continuing lure of ancient Rome?

In this exhibit, you will find renderings of the Roman landscape, images of mythological stories, and recreations of historic events interpreted by artists of different countries and eras. The show reflects, and provides an impetus for, emerging academic work in the field of Classical Reception Studies, including in the American Southwest.

Related Events

SYMPOSIUM  October 6, Tuesday, Student Union Kiva Auditorium: "Rome and Its Receptions"

TEACHERS' WORKSHOP September 25, Saturday

POEMS ABOUT ROME  October 17, Saturday, Poetry Center

ANDREW LAIRD LECTURE: "Greece, Rome, and Aztlan: Classical Legacies from Mexico to the American Southwest"   January 21, 4 pm, Musuem of Art

Major Publications

• Sublime Cosmos, ed. David Christenson and Cynthia White, forthcoming 2024 Bloomsbury
• "'Solution Sweet'" and Keat's Poetic Ideal: Erotic and Nuptial Imagery in The Eve of St. Agnes" (forthcoming 2024 Boomsbury)
• Encyclopedia of the Bible “Stag” (forthcoming 2024 De Gruyter)
• Encyclopedia of the Bible “Partridge” (2023 De Gruyter)
• “The Digital Humanist’s Renaissance: verba volant scripta remanent digita sunt.” Teaching Classical Languages 9.1 (2018), 95-110 
• “Potiones ad sanandum: Text as Remedy in a Medieval Latin Bestiary” in Medieval Hygiene:  Physical and Spiritual Health in the Middle Ages (forthcoming, De Gruyter, 2017)
• "Rome: The City as Text" (Classical Outlook, 2016)
• "Un Serraglio Gotico: Il Bestiario Northumberland," Alumina. Pagine miniate. (Milan, 2012)
• From the Ark to the Pulpit: An Edition and Translation of the "Transitional" Northumberland Bestiary (13th century) (Louvain-La-Neuve, 2009)
• "Concordia Virginitatis: Passionate Marriage in Paulinus of Nola's Epithalamium," in Words of Love, Love of Words in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, ed. A Claussen, Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies 347 (Tempe 2008)
• The Emergence of Christianity in the Greco-Roman World (Fortress Press, 2010)
• “Inductive Texts and the Latin Major,” CJ 101 (2005): 67-76.
• “The Northumberland Bestiary and the Art of Preaching,” Reinardus 18 (2005): 167-92.
• "The Vision of Augustus: Pilgrims' Guide or Papal Pulpit?," Classica et Mediaevalia 55 (2005).
• Homilies of Joshua by Origen, co-translator with Barbara Bruce FOTC 105 (The Catholic University Press of America, 2002).
• "Music in the Latin Classroom," AP Latin Teacher's Guide (ETS, 2001).
• "De Raptu Proserpinae in the Church Fathers: The Sacrum Myterium of Marriage," in Festschrift for Thomas P. Halton (Catholic University of America Press, Washington, D.C., 1998), pp 244-269.
• "Docere Docentes: Training New Teachers in an Ancient Discipline," in Richard A. LaFleur, ed., Latin for the 21st Century: From Concept to Classroom (Glenview, IL: Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley, 1997), chap. 18.
• "Agnes" "Catherine of Alexandria" "Cecilia" "Eustochium" "Gervasius and Protasius" "Ursula," in E. Ferguson, ed., Encyclopedia of Early Christianity, 2 volumes (Garland Publishing, Inc., 1997).
• "Roman Baths," in Gregory A. Staley, ed., Speculum Romanum (American Classical League, Miami, Ohio, 1984), pp 35-54.

M.A. Thesis Committees Served/Directed

• Michael Swantek, “Dreams in Vergil’s Aeneid” (2020)
• Jordan Swanson, “Sacrificial Undertones in the Martyrdom of Polycarp” (2020)J
• Desiree Coleman, “Boetian Tales” (2019)
• Meaghan Neilson, “Ancient Battle Narratives” (2018) (won N. J. Austin Thesis Award)Jesse Munoz, “The Larnax and the Tree: Daphnis, Adonis, Meleager and Osiris in Myths of Death and Rebirth” (2015)
• Elizabeth del Curto, “A Manual for the Heart: An Analysis of Rhabanus Maurus’ Conception of Puritas Cordis in his Three-Book Treatise: De videndo Deum, De puritate cordis, and De modi poenitentiae” (2015)
• Daylin Oakes, "Ancient, Medieval and Current CI Methods of Latin Instruction" (2017)
• Ian Merrill, "A Comparison of the Works of Latin Literature That Influenced British and American Political Figures Between 1700 and 1825" (2016)
• Stephanie Hutchings, “Greedy Gentlemen: An Expansion of (Stereo-) Typical Views of Men in Apuleius’ Metamorphoses” (2015)
• Sara Alcázar Silva, “Le filter affectif dans les activités orales chez les apprenants du français en tant que langue seconde” (2015)
• Alexandra Elliott, “Peripheral Camilla: Major Implications of a Minor Character” (2014)
• Heffernan, Edward, "Intertexts and Latin Verb Systems in Battista Guarini's De ordine docendi et studendi" (2014)
• Clark, Sean E., "Protestants in Palestine: Reformation of Holy Land Pilgrimage in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries" (diss.,2013)
• Gurtler, Marissa, "Stealing Knowledge and Creating Life: Reflections of Prometheus in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus" (2013)
• Ettinger, W. Kolb, "Practicality and Pedagogy: Using Utility to Identify Teaching Strategies for the Latin Classroom" (2013)
• Evelyn Rick, “Empty Ears and a Keen Smelling Mind: Language as Sensory Evidence of Epicurean Truth in De rerum natura” (2013)
• Sean Tulley, “Who’s for Dinner? A Study of Cannibalism as a Literary Motif in Greco-Roman Literature” (2013)
• Wright, David, "Characterizations of Aeneas and the Trojans as Bandits in Augustan Literature" (2012)
• Anderson, Robert, "Classical Reference in the Correspondence of Abelard and Heloise" (2011)
• Whitehorn, Antha, "Latin-based Vocabulary for College Entrance Exams" (Summer 2011)
• Copeland, Jared, "The Cultural Reception of Numa Pompilius and Evolving Attitudes toward Roman Religion" (2011)
• Dwyer, Justin, "Nomina tuum pretium: the Comic Value of Prostitutes' Names in Plautus and Terence" (2011)
• Hagedon, Mike, "Portrayals of the Pharisees and Sadducees in Josephus and the New Testament" (2011)
• Jackson, Clearblue Seneca, "It's a Hard-Knock Life: Literary Examples of Roman Adoption and Fosterage" (2011)
• Nielsen, Hunter, "The Concept of Otium in the Augustan Age" (2010)
• Zaleski, Richard, "Ovidian Allusions in Prudentius' Peristephanon" (2009)
• Dahlgran, Annie, "Marginalized Groups in Roman Satire" (2009)
• Bullard, Rob, "Iustitia in Juvenal Satire 4" (2009)
• Urban, Catherine, "The Politics of Books: Public Libraries and Patronage in Imperial Rome" (2008)
• Cummings, Daniel, "Radices non Crambe Repetita: Active Language in the Latin Classroom" (2008)
• Jacobson, Sarah, "Illa mihi sedes: the Domus in c. 68 of Catullus" (2007)
• Schrepfer-Tarter, Amy, "Vocabulary Learning Modules in the Secondary Latin Classroom" (2007)
• Cohen, Holly, "Spes Surgentis Iuli: Ascanius in the Carthage Episode" (2005)
• Smith, Damon, "An Interpretation of the Greek Infancy Gospel of Thomas" (2004)
• McCarthy, Ryan, "Vrbs Oritur: The Parilia Meets Politics in the Age of Augustus" (2004)
• Jorgensen, Amanda, "Ovid's Myrrha Episode: Intratext, Intertext, Context" (2004)
• DeLeeuw, Jason, "The Geography and Ethnography of Ancient Iberia in Greek and Roman Authors before the Arab Invasion" (2003)
• Ivanyi, Cord, "Nihil sub Sole Novum: A Consideration of What the Past Says about the Present in American Education" (2003)
• Showalter, Jesse, "The Apple's Role: Acontius and Cydippe in Latin Love Elegy" (2003)
• Jones, Valerie, "Creativity and Healing in Antiquity: An Analysis of Texts Centered on the Figure of Asclepius" (2001)
• Corbett, Erin, "Ambrose: An Exhortation to Virginity" (2000)
• Kemper, Julie, "Nicholas Jenson's 1478 Edition of Plutarch's Virorum Illustrium Vitae" (1999)
• Hill, Brent, "Orpheus, Lyre, Zodiac: Pagan Iconography for Late Antiquity" (1998)
• Carlson, Deborah, "Magical and Theatrical Elements in Two Terracotta Figurines from Utica, Tunisia" (1995)
• Miller, Kerstin, "Sulpicia's Love Elegies" (1994)

   

  HONORS THESES DIRECTED

• Eric Hensley, “The History of Latin Language Instruction” (2014-2015)
• Jamie Leresche “Poetry in Translation in Vergil’s Aeneid: Perspectives on the Translation of Aen. 6.426-77 (2013-2014)
• Erica Holbrook “The Heart of the Matter” (2012-2013)
• Micah Lundsford (2009-2010)