Classics
The Charles Beebe Martin Memorial Lectures
The Martin Lectures Fund was established by gifts of many friends of Professor Charles Beebe Martin ’76, in recognition of his service of more than 40 years as a teacher of Greek and the Fine Arts.
The 2025-26 Charles Beebe Martin Lectures
Ralph Rosen
Vartan Gregorian Professor of the Humanities and Professor of Classical Studies Emeritus
Department of Classical Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Thinking with Thersites:
Afterlives of a Greek Anti-Hero
November 10-14, 2025
| Monday, Nov. 10 at 7:30 pm | The Homeric Paradigm* |
| Tuesday, Nov. 11 at 4:45 pm | Worst of Men: Thersites in Post-Homeric Antiquity |
| Thursday, Nov. 13 at 4:45 pm | Thersites, Comedy and the Nature of Satire |
| Friday, Nov. 14 at 4:45 pm | From Buffoon to Cynic: Thersites in Early Modern Drama |
*Monday night's lecture will be live-streamed! To attend virtually, please register in advance:
All lectures are free and open to the public, and take place in the Craig Lecture Hall of the Âé¶¹ÊÓÆµ Science Center, at the corner of Lorain and Woodland Streets. The opening night's lecture will be followed by a reception.
History and Listing of the Martin Lectures
Volumes I-XXX were published by the Harvard University Press by arrangement with the Martin Classical Lectures Committee. Thereafter a new series was established, with publication by the Princeton University Press.
Each volume, except the first, was delivered by a single individual and accordingly each such volume has its own title.
2001
James J. O’Donnell, University of Pennsylvania
The Lives of Augustine
- Mar. 5: “Death in Hippoâ€
- Mar. 6: “The Man without Qualitiesâ€
- Mar. 8: “The Past Recapturedâ€
- Mar. 9: “The Tongue Set Freeâ€
2002
Ian Morris, Stanford University
The Greek Economic Miracle
Feb. 11: “The Case of the Missing Capitalistsâ€
Feb. 12: “How the Good Life Got Better in Ancient Greeceâ€
Feb. 14: “Weight of Numbers: the Economic History of the Very Long Termâ€
Feb. 15: “Making Sense of Miraclesâ€
2003
Gregory Nagy, Harvard University
Masterpieces of Classical Metonomy
Mar. 3: “Music at the Festivalâ€
Mar. 4: “Art and its Attractionsâ€
Mar. 6: “Beauty and its Delicate Creationsâ€
Mar. 7: “Mysteries of Fusionâ€
2004
Michael Putnam, Brown University
Poetic Interplay: Catullus and Horace
NS. Vol. VII, Poetic Interplay: Catullus and Horace (2006)
Mar. 8: “Time and Placeâ€
Mar. 9: “Speech and Silenceâ€
Mar. 11: “Helenâ€
Mar. 12: “Virgilâ€
2005
Leslie Kurke, University of California at Berkeley
Aesopic Conversations: Popular Tradition and Cultural Dialogue in Antiquity
Feb. 28: “The Aesop Tradition and Aesop at Delphiâ€
Mar. 1: “Aesop as Sage: Political Counsel and Discursive Practiceâ€
Mar. 3: “The Aesopic Parody of High Wisdomâ€
Mar. 4: “Aesop in Plato and Herodotus, or the Socio-Politics of Proseâ€
2006
Erich Gruen, University of California at Berkeley
Identity Theft: Cultural Appropriations and Collective Identity in Antiquity
Feb. 27: “Fictitious Kinshipsâ€
Feb. 28: “Foundation Legendsâ€
Mar. 2: “Cultural Appropriation and Approbationâ€
Mar. 3: “Embracing the ‘Other’â€
2007
Robin Osborne, The University of Cambridge
The Politics of Pictorial Representation in Early Athenian Democracy
Mar. 5: “Painted Pottery and its Historyâ€
Mar. 6: “The Politics of Warâ€
Mar. 8: “Athletics and the Politics of Desireâ€
Mar. 9: “Pots and Politicsâ€
2008
Joseph Farrell, The University of Pennsylvania
´³³Ü²Ô´Ç’s Aeneid: Narrative, Metapoetics, Dissent
Feb. 25: “The Choice of Aeneas: Achilles and Odysseus in the Eyes of Homer’s Criticsâ€
Feb. 26: “The Wrath of Jono In Vergil’s Homeric Programâ€
Feb. 28: “The Vergilian narrator and Augustus’ Culture of Dissentâ€
Feb. 29: “No Second Troy? Reading with Aeneasâ€
2009
Christina Kraus, Yale University
Tacitean Polyphonies: The Agricola and its Scholarly Reception
Apr. 13: “The Agricola and the Problem of Genreâ€
Apr. 14: “In the Castra with the Lead Pipe: The Fetishization of Roman Britainâ€
Apr. 16: “Which Tacitus? The Agricola and the Career of the Authorâ€
Apr. 17: “The Challenges of Commentaryâ€
2010
Simon Goldhill, Cambridge University
Virgins, Lions, and Honest Pluck: The Victorians and Classical Antiquity
Feb. 22: “Desire and the Classical Body: Victorian Imaging, from Waterhouse to Warholâ€
Feb. 23: “Who Killed Chevalier Gluck?â€
Feb. 25: “The Most Popular American Book Everâ€
Feb. 26: “How Classics Destroyed the Churchâ€
2011
Victoria Wohl, University of Toronto
Euripides and the Politics of Form
Feb. 21: “The Politics of Formâ€
Feb. 22: “Broken Plays for a Broken Worldâ€
Feb. 24: “Beautiful Tearsâ€
Feb. 25: “The Endâ€
2012
Alessandro Barchiesi, University of Siena and Stanford University
The Council of the Gods
Nov. 5: “The Divine Senateâ€
Nov. 6: “The Council in Hellâ€
Nov. 8: “A Triadic Modelâ€
Nov. 9: “Adjustment Teamâ€
2013
David Frankfurter, Boston University
Christianizing Egypt: Syncretism and Local Worlds
Nov. 4: “Re-Modeling the Christianization of Egyptâ€
Nov. 5: “Domestic Religion and Religious Changeâ€
Nov. 7: “A Site of Blessings, Dreams and Wonders: The Egyptian Saint’s Shrine as a Crucible of Christianizationâ€
Nov. 8: “Whispering Spirits, Holy Processions: Christianizing the Egyptian Religious Landscapeâ€
2014
Richard Martin, Stanford University
Homer Abroad: Greek Epic in Comparative Perspective
Oct. 6: “Crete and Homeric Singersâ€
Oct. 7: “Ireland and Homeric Audiencesâ€
Oct. 9: “Kyrgystan and Homeric Heroesâ€
Oct. 10: “Mali and Homeric Composersâ€
2015
Ruby Blondell, University of Washington
Helen of Troy on Screen
Nov. 2 “Olympus Moves to Hollywoodâ€
Nov. 3 “The First Flapper Queenâ€
Nov. 5 “There She Is, Miss America!â€
Nov. 6 “Ridiculous Female Trappingsâ€
2017
Steven Ellis, University of Cincinnati
The Pompeian Context: Lessons from the Excavation of a Roman City
Nov. 6: “Context and Complexity in the Social and Structural Making of Pompeiiâ€
Nov. 7: “Retail Investment and the Socio-economics of Sub-elite Constructionâ€
Nov. 9: “The Specialized Roman City: The Rise and Fall of Urban Innovationâ€
Nov. 10: “Life of Marcus Surus Garasenus: A Syrian in Pompeiiâ€
2018
Shadi Bartsch-Zimmer, University of Chicago
Revolutionary Re-readings: The Western Classics in Modern China
Oct. 8: “The Road to June 4, 1989â€
Oct. 9: “Plato's Republic in the People's Republic of Chinaâ€
Oct. 11: “The Politics of Rationalityâ€
Oct. 12: “Socrates, Confucius, and Chinese Nationalismâ€
2019
Daniel Selden, Professor of Literature and Classical Studies, University of California Santa Cruz
Holy Wandering: The Worlding of the Alexander Romance
Nov. 4: Mapping the Alexander Romance
Nov. 5: The Quest for the Waters of Life
Nov. 7: Guardians of Chaos
Nov. 8: Iskandar and the Idea of Iran
2021-22
Esther Eidinow, Chair in Ancient History, Department of Classics and Ancient History, University of Bristol
Magical Thinking and Magical Beliefs in the Ancient World
May 9: Imagining Magic
May 10: Performing Magic
May 12: Fearing Magic
May 13: Living with Magic
2023-24
Helen Morales, Argyropoulos Professor of Hellenic Studies, Department of Classics, University of California - Santa Barbara
Art, Activism, and Ancient Fiction
Oct. 30: Re-encountering antiquity with Harmonia Rosales
Oct. 31: Aesop, slavery and queer kinship
Nov. 2: Riddles of incest
Nov. 3: Heliodorus' blackness
2024-25
Christopher Faraone, Robert O. Anderson Distinguished Service Professor, Department of Classics, University of Chicago
The (Lost) Magical Handbooks of the Roman Empire
March 3: Handbooks in Three Roman Cities
March 4: Scribes and their Boiler Plates in Athens and Amathous
March 6: Draftsmen and their Picture-books in Rome, Carthage, and Egypt
March 7: Artisans and their Workshops in Late-Antique Rome and Pergamon