The Ancient Greek and Roman civilizations have left their mark on the history, architecture, literature, and language of Charleston. On February 20 and 21, the College of Charleston will explore these connections in “Classical Charleston – History, Poetry, and War: Gildersleeve’s Past and Present.” The events are presented by the Department of Classics and the Theodore Guerard Lecture Series.
“The Making of a Southern Classicist: Gildersleeve in Charleston, the Violet City” will be held on Monday, February 20, 2012 at 5:30 p.m. in room 227 of the Marlene and Nathan Addlestone Library. The event is free and open to the public. Ward Briggs, the leading biographer on Basil Gildersleeve, will be the lecturer. Briggs is an authority on the history of the 19th – 20th classical German scholarship and is the editor of “Soldier and Scholar: Basil Gildersleeve and the Civil War.”
On Tuesday, February 21, two lectures will be held in Alumni Hall in Randolph Hall. “Is it You I Hear Voice and Recognition in Greek Literature” by professor Silvia Montiglio will be held at 4:00 p.m. and “Tacitus and Germanicus: Moments and Models” by professor Anthony Woodman will be held at 5:30 p.m. Both lectures are free and open to the public. Montiglio and Woodman are endowed Gildersleeve chairs. Montiglio is at The Johns Hopkins University and is the author of three books. Woodman is at the University of Virginia and is a renowned international historian, published in both historiography and poetry.
Basil Gildersleeve was born in Charleston in 1831, and he attended the College of Charleston in 1845. He is known as one of the premier early American scholars of Classical Philology (literary studies) and his influence not only on Classics, but academics in the United States is enduring.
Classical Charleston is sponsored by the School of Languages, Cultures, and World Affairs, the Department of History, the Archaeology Club, and Classics Club.
For more information, contact Dr. Noel Zeiner-Carmichael at 843.953.8062 or carmichaeln@cofc.edu.
