Yale Department of Classics

09/24/2026

New Pasts Imperfect (9.24.26) https://pasts-imperfect.ghost.io/pasts-imperfect-9-24-26/
This week, noted ailurophile and Homerist Joel Christensen sings to us about new scholarship helping us to make sense of Homer and highlights a new book on lamentation and glory in the Iliad. Then, reconfirming Jefferson's children with Sally Hemings, mapping the roads and coin circulation of the Roman Empire, the ancient history of Chinese characters, how ancient labor collectives organized the La Mojana field systems in Colombia, 3D printing ancient Greek amphorae with gingerbread, a new board game takes you back to the Sassanid Empire, a virtual lecture on wari khipus, new ancient world journals, and much more.

This week, noted ailurophile and Homerist Joel Christensen sings to us about new scholarship helping us to make sense of Homer and highlights a new book on lamentation and glory in the Iliad. Then, reconfirming Jefferson's children with Sally Hemings, mapping the roads and coin circulation of the Ro...

09/14/2026

Dean Lynn Cooley has announced today that classicist Amy Richlin is among the four Yale alumni honored with the 2026 Wilbur Cross Medal, the highest honor that the Graduate School bestows on alumni. Professor Richlin, internationally renowned for her pathbreaking work on ancient sexuality, women in antiquity, and Roman comedy, will receive the medal in a ceremony on campus on October 19. While in New Haven, she will also be delivering a lecture entitled 'Yale, Cradle of the History of Sexuality'. Our deepest congratulations to Professor Richlin! Read more about Prof. Richlin and this year's other recipients at the link below.

This fall, the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences will present its Wilbur Cross Medal for Alumni Achievement to four graduates who have demonstrated exceptional scholarship, teaching, and public service. This year’s honorees are:

09/10/2026

New Pasts Imperfect (9.10.26) https://pasts-imperfect.ghost.io/pasts-imperfect-9-10-26/
This week, ancient historian Jeremy Simmons discusses Rome, India, and his new book on ancient Indian Ocean trade networks. Then, new mosaics may honor two beloved ancient pets, a new book on Aristotle in the antebellum South, the medieval evolution of the taifa of Denia, a gigantic new dinosaur in Brazil, a candle to commemorate what we lost in that Bronze Age Collapse, historian Lonnie Bunch III resigns from the Smithsonian after months of harassment, new ancient world journals, a conference on Ovid in the global tradition, and much more.

This week, ancient historian Jeremy Simmons discusses Rome, India, and his new book on ancient Indian Ocean trade networks. Then, new mosaics may honor two beloved ancient pets, a new book on Aristotle in the antebellum South, the medieval evolution of the taifa of Denia, a gigantic new dinosaur in

08/27/2026

New Pasts Imperfect (8.27.26) https://pasts-imperfect.ghost.io/pasts-imperfect-8-27-26/?ref=pasts-imperfect-newsletter This week, classicist and translator Stephanie McCarter discusses the art of translation, adapting myth, and her new book on Catullus. Then, India's Rāmāyana answer to Nolan's Odyssey, archaeologists at Sardis find a monumental new statue, mapping the ancient jade trade in western Canada, a medieval caravanserai emerges from the sands of Asila in North Sinai, the ethics of collecting ancient DNA, Dr. Wong wins a blue ribbon with her historic fiber arts, a tribute to secular saint Dolly Parton, new ancient world journals, and even some Sea Peoples.

This week, classicist and translator Stephanie McCarter discusses the art of translation, adapting myth, and her new book on Catullus. Then, India's Rāmāyana answer to Nolan's Odyssey, archaeologists at Sardis find a monumental new statue, mapping the ancient jade trade in western Canada, a mediev...

08/27/2026

A new book out from Yale University Ancient History Ph.D. François Gerardin Department of History at Yale University

08/25/2026

Assistant Professor Malina Buturovic reviews Aistė Čelkytė's Galen on Human Physiology: Taking the Body apart and Putting it Back Together Again (Cambridge, 2025) in the Bryn Mawr Classical Review

BMCR 2026.08.23 Galen on human physiology: taking the body apart and putting it back together again Aistė Čelkytė, Galen on human physiology: taking the body apart and putting it back together again. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2025. Pp. 294. ISBN 9781009435819. Review by Malina But...

08/24/2026

Associate Professor Jessica Lamont contributes a chapter, "Blood, Death, and ‘Magical’ Ritual Practice" to The Power of Blood
Blood and Blood Ties in Greek and Roman Discourse, edited by Julia Hoffmann-Salz and recently published by Vandenhoek & Ruprecht

Blood was everywhere in antiquity - but what did Greeks and Romans actually think about it? For the first time, this volume brings together studies on when and how blood and the ties it created were a topic in ancient discourse.

08/13/2026

New Pasts Imperfect (8.13.26) https://pasts-imperfect.ghost.io/pasts-imperfect-8-13-26/ This week, classicist Jermaine Bryant discusses Zora Neale Hurston's posthumously published The Life of Herod the Great. Then, a new study of the mass grave at Phaleron (Attica) confirms a local population; UNESCO announces 25 new heritage areas as protected sites, including Sebastia in Palestine; a new, open access book on medieval origin stories of Eurasia; massive geoglyphs in the southwestern Amazon; ancient Scandinavia and polar bears (?) in the Colosseum; recreating Egyptian Blue; the Indigenous oyster middens of New York City; a new exhibition on making medieval manuscripts; new ancient world journals—and more. Let's take a break from the endless Odyssey discourse and get to it.

This week, classicist Jermaine Bryant discusses Zora Neale Hurston's posthumously published The Life of Herod the Great. Then, a new study of the mass grave at Phaleron (Attica) confirms a local population; UNESCO announces 25 new heritage areas as protected sites, including Sebastia in Palestine; a...

08/04/2026

Our 2026 newsletter has arrived! Here is our annual roundup of all the news and events from Yale's Department of Classics. We hope all our students, friends and alums are having a calm and happy summer.

07/24/2026

Our own Prof. Ben Kruchió appears in Yale Today this morning, discussing film adaptations of the Odyssey.

With the recent release of Christopher Nolan’s long-awaited film adaptation, Yale’s Benedek Kruchió considers how the “poem of multitudes” has been adapted and reimagined over millennia.