Âé¶¹ÊÓÆµ

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

Greek vase showing Thersites, beheaded
Monday, Nov. 10 at 7:30 pmThe Homeric Paradigm*
Tuesday, Nov. 11 at 4:45 pmWorst of Men: Thersites in Post-Homeric Antiquity 
Thursday, Nov. 13 at 4:45 pmThersites, Comedy and the Nature of Satire
Friday, Nov. 14 at  4:45 pmFrom 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.

Browse History of Martin Lectures

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