Yale Department of Classics

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.

07/17/2026

New Pasts Imperfect (7.16.26) https://pasts-imperfect.ghost.io/pasts-imperfect-7-16-26/ μοι ἔννεπε, μοῦσα, of this special Homer issue to prepare you to head to the theaters to see The Odyssey this week. Our resident Homer sage, Joel Christensen, discusses his new book, Why Odysseus?: Survivor, Scoundrel, (Anti)hero. Then, Yoandy Cabrera provides a list of Hispanic reimaginings of The Odyssey to check out, an engaging Homer discussion with Jackie Murray and Emily Wilson, the Tom Hollands collide on the Odyssey press circuit, a new study calculating the loss of medieval manuscripts, Tom Hiddleston and a few trusty classics professors take on Pompeii, saving Chaco Canyon, Mayan ruins reveal the name of an ancient astronomer and mathematician, global receptions of Homer from China to the Caribbean, a new open access book on The Iconography of ‘Otherness’ in Pre-Modern Visual Art, new ancient world journals, and much more. Let's get to it.

μοι ἔννεπε, μοῦσα, of this special Homer issue to prepare you to head to the theaters to see The Odyssey this week. Our resident Homer sage, Joel Christensen, discusses his new book, Why Odysseus?: Survivor, Scoundrel, (Anti)hero. Then, Yoandy Cabrera provides a list of Hispanic reim...

06/23/2026

New Pasts Imperfect (6.18.26) Yale University Classicist, Erika Valdivieso, discusses Latin American classical reception, Virgil & her new book: Empire’s Companion: Virgilian Epics from Colonial Iberoamerica. (University of Chicago Press). Then, ancient Cypriot pigeons, a new game board from medieval Morocco,
remembering Rosamond McKitterick, ancient world journals & more.

This week, classicist Erika Valdivieso discusses new directions in Latin American classical reception, Virgil, and her new book, Empire’s Companion: Virgilian Epics from Colonial Iberoamerica. Then, ancient Cypriot pigeons, what film costumes convey about views of the ancient "other", a new game b...