Rhetoric and Poetics Workshop | Ancient Societies Workshop | Ancient Philosophy Workshop
Medieval Studies Workshop |  Late Antique and Byzantium Workshop | Interdisciplinary Archaeology

We are the Chicago of Arthur Adkins, Anne Pippin Burnett, Ralph Johnson, George Walsh, and Classical Philology—namely, a program with a strong philological basis and an excellent literary tradition. While we remain committed to the constant replenishment of our rich philological heritage, we have also expanded our program in interdisciplinary directions. Within our own department faculty and students alike have developed expertise in new theories and methodologies—cultural poetics, up-to-date approaches to archaeology and ancient social and political history, sociological and anthropological approaches to inter-cultural exchange, issues of gender and sexuality, and discourse analysis approaches both to history and literary texts. We seek always to combine rigorous philological work with methodologically sophisticated approaches to ancient literature and culture.

Our program reflects this combination of traditional philology with contemporary interdisciplinarity. Graduate students are required to take a one-year language survey in each language; in addition to intensive reading, these surveys include prose composition for both languages. But graduate students are also required to do some of their course work outside of the Classics department. We encourage students to explore other disciplines in the hopes of teaching them to be well-rounded scholars with an eye for the broad questions of concern not only to classicists but also to academics in other fields.

To support faculty and graduate student research, we run three workshops; most faculty and student projects fall under the rubric of one of them. They are: the Ancient Societies Workshop, the Rhetoric and Poetics Workshop, and the Ancient Philosophy Workshop. In addition, departmental faculty are associated with the Medieval Studies Workshop, the Late Antique and Byzantium Workshop, and the Interdisciplinary Archaeology Workshop. Faculty and graduate students, as well as occasional outside visitors, present work-in-progress at these workshops and they provide an occasion for collegial discussion about research aims and methods, as well as about the substance of the particular presentation.

These workshops are the center of the department's intellectual life.

Rhetoric and Poetics Workshop

The Rhetoric and Poetics workshop is concerned with the literature and poetry of classical Greece and Rome, considered either in their own terms or in relation to the literature and poetry of other cultures. It invites presentation of critical arguments completed or in progress, and from the broadest possible range of perspectives. Current participants especially seek to advance work that traces intersections between poetics and politics, or that accounts for the rhetorical function of poetry. Click here for more information.

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Ancient Societies Workshop

The Ancient Societies workshop fosters research on all areas of ancient culture, with a special focus on intercultural interaction and exchange. It meets every other week to discuss a paper presented by a graduate student, faculty member, or outside visitor. The emphasis is on work-in progress and collaborative conversation aimed at advancing a shared research endeavor. Each year the Ancient Societies Workshop chooses a specific theme. Past themes have included War and Peace in Ancient Societies, Corruption and Purity, and Religion in the Ancient World. Click here for more information.

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Ancient Philosophy Workshop

The Ancient Philosophy workshop focuses on a particular text every year. Participants meet regularly to discuss that text and also occasionally to listen to papers by outside visitors on a variety of subjects. Recent texts have included Aristotle’s Physics and De Anima and Galen’s writings on women

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Medieval Studies Workshop

This workshop will focus on the European Middle Ages, circa 500-1500, although it will also welcome participants interested in areas other than Europe. We draw participants from various disciplines, including art history, music, Romance and Germanic languages and literatures, English, divinity, and history. We also encourage the participation of medievalists from the Newberry Library and other institutions in the Chicago area. Each quarter, the workshop features one outside speaker from within the Chicago area, one faculty speaker from the University of Chicago, and three student speakers. Click here for more information.

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Late Antique and Byzantium Workshop

We aim to provide a context for the study of all aspects of the peoples, cultures, histories, and religions of the Late Antique and Byzantine world, including the Near Eastern and Slavic. We also endeavor to create a forum for communications about recent archaeological discoveries in the region. Click here for more information.

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Interdisciplinary Archaeology

Historically, archaeological research has been divided among different academic disciplines, and there is a corresponding variation in intellectual traditions and approaches between departments. It is our primary object to bridge these divisions and to forge a healthy, informed dialogue between members. This year?s theme will be "Archaeology and Nature." This theme will address the broad topics of human impacts on the environment, representations of the natural world in archaeology, the reappearance of environmental determinism, and perhaps environmental catastrophes in the archaeological record. In addition, the workshop will include a number of "off-theme" presentations at alternate meetings.

Click here to see schedules for these workshops, as well as the whole list of workshops throughout the University.

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