Princeton Classics

We're so pleased to announce that Dr. Mark Letteney *20 joins Princeton's faculty this year as Assistant Professor of Religion, and an affiliated faculty member in Classics!

An ancient historian and archaeologist studying ancient Christianity, the history of incarceration, and the archaeology of military occupation, Prof. Letteney is the author of two open-access books and serves as assistant director on the excavation of the Roman 6th Legion at Legio, Israel.

Welcome back to Princeton, Prof. Letteney!

Mark Letteney Mark Letteney joined Princeton’s Department of Religion in 2026. He is an ancient historian and archaeologist studying ancient Christianity, the history of incarceration, and the archaeology of military occupation. Prior to joining the Department of Religion, he held the Carol Thomas Endowed Profe...

"Christopher Nolan comes out of this movie as a very careful as well as creative reader of Homer. The Odyssey speaks to different people at different times in different ways, and that’s one of the definitions of a classic text."

How accurate is Christopher Nolan's 'The Odyssey'? Prof. Barbara Graziosi spoke yesterday with Indira Lakshmanan of to discuss how Nolan's film stacks up against other adaptations of "The Odyssey."

Listen along at the link below!

How accurate is Christopher Nolan's 'The Odyssey'? Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of “The Odyssey” is raking in an epic box office haul.

The Princeton Classics Annual Newsletter is here! Fresh off the printer and heading to mailboxes worldwide, the Summer 2026 issue includes profiles of students and faculty, as well as features on all major department news and events from the 2025–26 academic year.

Click here to read online: https://classics.princeton.edu/department/news/2026-princeton-classics-newsletter

(And thanks to Mali Skotheim for another great cover!)

A dispatch from Sardinia, where Art and Archaeology, Princeton's Leigh Lieberman serves as Head of Materials for the University of Cincinnati's Tharros Archaeological Research Project!

This year, grad student Katy Knortz (A&A) continued her work in the trenches, furthering understanding of developments in the ancient city’s urban center, while Leigh was joined in the lab by Jason Leaym and Mikayla Carlowicz (CLA), collecting data about the project's vast ceramic assemblage.

"I spent the last five weeks working in the materials lab at the Tharros Project. Though I've long used archeological data, this experience helped me better understand how that data is produced, and how best to use it. I also particularly enjoyed working with the pottery because it offered me the opportunity to develop new ways of learning about the past. I've long said touch is my strongest sense, and I loved how—even when it was dirty and I couldn't see the sherds well—I learned to tell by feel which might be most helpful for dating the stratigraphy. I'm grateful to PAW, PIIRS, Classics, and A&A for the opportunity to participate in this project!"
—Mikayla Barreiro Carlowicz, GS

From our own Prof. Matt Simonton!

The first edition of PS Deep Dives has launched, with an examination of ancient Greek oligarchies by Princeton’s Matt Simonton, who shows how skillfully designed institutions can preserve authoritarian regimes.

Subscribe now to read it, and don’t forget to sign up for our Deep Dives newsletter to receive every commentary in the collection directly in your inbox.
https://bit.ly/4eLXFUT

A bittersweet day as we congratulate Harriet I. Flower, Andrew Fleming West Professor in Classics, and Michael A. Flower, David Magie '97 Class of 1897 Professor of Classics, on transferring to emeritus status.

Anchors of teaching and scholarship across their combined 46 years with the department, Michael and Harriet have forged a rich legacy in friendships, research, and advisees—fifteen of whom (each now a distinguished professor) returned last April for "Floralia," a double retirement conference in their honor.

"I have learned so much from my students and colleagues, who continue to shape the historian I hope to become."
—Harriet Flower

Click below for more photos of the event and to read the Flowers' official emeritus biographies, prepared by Department of Classics faculty.

Harriet and Michael Flower transfer to emeritus status July 1, 2026For three days last April, ancient historians from across the country gathered at Princeton to celebrate Floralia—in this case, not the Roman festival of flowers but a retirement conference honoring Harriet I. Flower, Andrew Fleming West Professor in Classics, and Michael A. Flower, Da...

As a classics major at Princeton, Gabriel Duchovny spent years learning to read ancient texts slowly and carefully. As an investigator at Brooklyn Defender Services, he scoured the borough for evidence after alleged crimes occurred. And as a midfielder with Princeton Men's Soccer, his ability to connect play down the field helped make one of the most successful men’s soccer teams in Princeton history.

For Duchovny, all three pursuits drew on the intellectual habits he developed in classics: patience, thoroughness and attention to detail. These abilities and experiences would culminate in his thesis, “Ancient Roman Banditry: A Modern Criminological Analysis,” advised by Yelena Baraz, which earned him the classics department's John J. Keaney Prize for best senior thesis.

(Click below for more on Duchovny and his remarkable Princeton journey!)

Senior thesis spotlight: A classics major applies modern criminology to accounts of ancient Roman bandits Gabriel Duchovny, a midfielder on the Princeton men’s soccer team, has also tapped his facility with language to translate from Italian two scholarly papers about the strategic innovations of Tottenham Hotspur soccer coach Roberto De Zerbi.

Happy Publication to THE ANCIENT INTERPRETATION OF DREAMS: EARLY GREEK HERMENEUTICS AND ITS SOURCES by Prof. Mirjam E. Kotwick—available today from Princeton University Press!

Long before Freud, dreams and how to make sense of them fascinated ancient thinkers. In THE ANCIENT INTERPRETATION OF DREAMS, Mirjam Kotwick traces a continuous intellectual practice of dream interpretation across a range of ancient Greek texts, including those from Homer, Aeschylus, Herodotus, Antiphon, the Hippocratic doctors, Plato, and Aristotle.

Kotwick shows that ancient Greeks used their study of dreams to reflect on larger questions of interpretation, figurative language, and metaphor—before the concept of metaphor existed. Through the interpretation of dreams, Kotwick argues, we can see early Greek hermeneutic thought develop.

https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691263557/the-ancient-interpretation-of-dreams

We are overjoyed to announce the release of the new issue of PYRPHOROS, Princeton's Undergraduate Classics Journal—available now on our website!

"If you come away from this journal with a new idea, an impulse for collaboration, or a drive for connecting to the community of classicists both at Princeton and beyond, then we will have fulfilled our metaphorical mission—to uphold, in our small way, the gift of human art and ingenuity granted to us by our namesake rebel, Prometheus the Fire-Bringer."
—Jack Geld '26, Editor-in-Chief

https://classics.princeton.edu/research/bookshelf/pyrphoros-vol-2

We're proud to congratulate Prof. Jesse Lundquist on receiving the Arthur H. Scribner Bicentennial Preceptorship! This year, Lundquist is one of only five professors appointed as Bicentennial Preceptor, who serve a three-year term including a full year of research leave.

“I deeply appreciate this praeceptorship since it guarantees the chance to work and publish more especially in these critical pre-tenure years," said Prof. Lundquist. "This is the kind of opportunity that makes Princeton so great a place to work at.”

Read more now on our homepage!

Jesse Lundquist appointed Bicentennial Preceptor Princeton Classics is proud to congratulate Jesse Lundquist on receiving the Arthur H. Scribner Bicentennial Preceptorship. Established following Princeton’s bicentennial in 1946, Bicentennial Preceptorships extend for three years and support promising junior faculty in the humanities and social s...