Mapping the Sky: Roman Augury in the Classroom

Figure 1: Unrecorded Artist, “Relief plaque with Vulture and Cobra on baskets; falcon on opposite,” 400-30 BCE, limestone, Egypt, now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC, NY (CC0).

"Although we might not have faith in these beliefs today, I have found that while teaching my Roman Empire class, having students reconstruct these fastidious rules, in order to learn to engage with the ars of divination, can provide them with deeper access into Roman beliefs about communication with the gods."

October 10, 2018

Book Note | Not All Dead White Men

by Sarah Bond in Book Notes

Sarah Bond reviews Donna Zuckerberg’s Not All Dead White Men: “A new generation of classicists, archaeologists, and premodern historians have begun to realize that an insulated approach to scholarship is itself a form of privileged monasticism that we can no longer retreat to. In Not All Dead White Men, Zuckerberg looks into the crevices of the internet and into academia with a jussive command: “Fiat lux” (Let there be light). It is up to us to keep the lights on.”