Calendar

As Rome’s empire spread, so did it its baths. Bathhouses (thermae or balnea) were an everyday meeting-point for the Romans, a grand luxury, and an engineering marvel. So why aren’t there more poems about them? Compared to other Roman institutions, such as amphitheatrical shows, baths had an oddly muted influence on Latin literature. Moreover, the genre of poetry in which the bathhouse most frequently appears is epigram, which creates a paradox: one of Rome’s most sublime achievements is commemorated in one of its lowest genres. Did the soothing heat of the bathhouse have an an-aesthetic effect on the writing of literature? This lecture explores the bath in Latin poetry, arguing that the silences around the balnea help to illuminate not only Romans’ perception of bathing, but fundamental dynamics in Latin literature itself.

2025 Argyropoulos Lecture

“In Greece, the practice and art of weaving has played a critical role in discussions of female labor, activities, and even character from ancient times up through the modern day. This talk focuses on three moments in Greek history — late Byzantium, the 19^th century, and the 1930s — to consider the place of weavers and weaving within a broader cultural context. How were weavers viewed within the highly stratified society of the village? What do woven works say about the beliefs of the weaver and the place of weaving in society? How did women’s work figure in a modernist movement determined to promote Greece’s own history and culture?”