This is not the first debt crisis in Greek history. In the 500s BCE, the Athenian politician and poet Solon had to confront a major crisis that threatened to tear his country apart, and tread a difficult line between the stubbornness of the rich and the anger of the poor. Read about it in my … Continue reading
On Wednesday of this week, Trinity College hosts a production of Tom Stoppard’s play “The Invention of Love”, a biographical drama about the great classicist and poet A. E. Housman. While possibly best known for his poetic cycle “A Shropshire Lad”, Housman was also one of the foremost Latin textual critics of the 20th century, … Continue reading
As the winds of October blew, five classicists set off for the British Library to take its exhibition Terror and Wonder: The Gothic Imagination. Continue reading
Like many of my colleagues, my engagement with this century’s pop culture is rather erratic. There are quite a few major crazes that have largely passed me by (wasn’t there something about a boy wizard a few years back?). Continue reading
A young royal dies. The rest of the royal family handle it awkwardly. The public is engulfed in grief. It’s so sad. But what a beautiful story! For the past several weeks, I’ve been directing a production of Euripides’ Alcestis. Today, I thought I’d share my thoughts about the play, and the way I’ve tried … Continue reading
As we approach the feast day of St. Valentinus, it seems appropriate to take a look at one of my favourite love stories from classical literature. Not Helen and Paris, both of whom I tend to find annoying. Not Odysseus and Penelope, although that is indeed one of the great love stories of all time. … Continue reading
In 1957, a young Ted Turner told his father, billboard magnate Robert Turner, that he was planning to major in classics at Brown university. Turner Sr. was less than pleased. Continue reading
res gerendae 