UAlberta Classics

09/01/2026

Not only is today the first day of classes, but it's also World Letter Writing Day!

Here we have a selection of writing tools (courtesy of the British Museum): ink pots, styluses, wax tablet, and an actual letter on papyrus.

Cicero and Pliny the Younger were both prolific letter writers, whose letters are not only one of our best sources for social and cultural history, not to mention historical events (see in particular Pliny on the eruption of Mt Vesuvius!), but also excellent examples of Latin, of Roman literature, and rhetorical style.

Would you like to be able to read Cicero and Pliny and all the Latin authors, in Latin? Take LATIN 101 this term!

Would you like to learn more about Roman literature? CLASS 221 and CLASS 322 are for you! Is it Roman history you're interested in? We have so many courses on so many different areas of Roman history! Check out the course offerings on our departmental home page! Is it archaeology you're interested in? Start with CLASS 220: Intro to Archaeology!

Remember to write letters, especially physical letters on real paper with real ink, and send them off to your loved ones and tell them all about your experiences here at U Alberta! Letters are one of the best records we have about what people are thinking about their world. Do future historians and literary scholars a favour, and write letters!

08/31/2026

We have fun welcoming new (and returning!) students to campus at the Faculty of Arts, University of Alberta' Orientation. The beginning of the new academic year is always so exciting!

Welcome to the first year students, welcome back to the returning students, and here's to a great new academic year!

08/31/2026

Summer is ending and it's back to classes, but that doesn't have to mean the end of fun reading! Look for a new Robert Harris novel, Agrippa, Octavian / Augustus' right-hand man on shelves in early September.

And once you've read Agrippa, try his trilogy about Cicero, and, especially, his thriller about Pompeii, and then sign up for all the Roman history courses!

From the internationally bestselling author of Conclave, Precipice and the acclaimed Cicero trilogy comes a sweeping new political thriller about the general who built an empire—and paid the ultimate price. Agrippa is Robert Harris’s monumental return to the world of ancient Rome on the edge of ...

08/16/2026

"Move over, Odysseus: time for the women of ancient Greece to have their moment in the sun"

Natalie Haynes has an excellent article in the Guardian (which we can't link but we encourage you to google!) about the many new and exciting adaptations of ancient Greek myth on the modern stage, including a new ballet inspired by the Pandora myth (Mere Mortals) and several dramas adapting the myths of the house of Agamemnon.

Would you like to learn more about ancient Greek myth and the literature it inspired? We can help you with that!

CLASS 102: Ancient Greek and Roman myth (Fall term with Adam Kemezis and Stephanie Dennie; Winter term with Ed Middleton and Stephanie Dennie)

CLASS 221: Ancient Greek and Roman Literature in translation (Fall term, with Stephanie Dennie)

CLASS 321: Ancient Greek Lit in translation (Fall term with Kelly MacFarlane)

CLASS 322: Roman Lit in translation (Winter term with Jeff Masse)

08/14/2026

Are you looking for something fun to read for the last few weeks of summer? Excavations --- set at an archaeological dig in Greece, and about to become a TV limited series -- might be worth a look!

And of course, if you're interested in archaeology, we have courses for you!

CLASS 220: Intro to Methodology, Theory, and Practice of Classical Archaeology (Fall term; Dr Middleton)

CLASS 254: Greek Art and Archaeology (Fall term; Dr Middleton)

**CLASS 472: Topics in: Mainland Greek Urbanism (Fall term; Dr Middleton -- This seminar engages with the development of cities and urban life from an archaeological perspective, with a focus on the Greek mainland, from the first neolithic settlements to the Roman period.)

CLASS 477: Archaeology of Roman Burials (Fall term; Dr Ellenberger)

CLASS 255: Roman Art and Archaeology (Winter term; Prof
Harvey)

**CLASS 472: Topics in: Houses and Households of Ancient Greece (Winter term; Prof Haagsma)

***-- Yes, you *can* take both versions of CLASS 472. They are both "Topics in...." courses and because the topic changes, you can take more than one.

Excavations is a novel by Kate Myers about four women working at an archaeological site in Greece, which was supposed to have been the home of the ancient Olympic Games before they moved to Olympia.  The women all have very different personalities, and at first, they don’t get along, with two of ...

08/04/2026

It's August, which means the summer research and conference season is almost over. What exciting conferences did your instructors get to this term?

The Celtic Conference in Classics (the largest Classics conference in Europe) was held at at Maynooth University in Ireland in July and saw a large contingent of U of A Classicists, presenting on ancient Thessaly in a panel co-organized by Prof Haagsma.

Prof Haagsma along with Prof Gino Canlas (former U of A graduate student and instructor, now faculty at Western) presented on their work in Thessaly ("Echoes in stone: tholos tombs and the afterlife of Mycenaean Thessaly").

Gino Canlas also presented on an element of Hellenistic Thessaly: "The survival of sanctuaries in defunct poleis."

Prof Pownall presented on "Thessaly in Xenophon's Hellenica."

Former *and* returning instructor Dr Ed Middleton presented on "Agricultural and imperial exploitation in Hellenistic and Roman Thessaly."

Current graduate student Chryssa Varela presented on Thessaly as well ("Uncovering old Halos: insights into urban life in Hellenistic Thessaly").

And former graduate student, currently working on his PhD at the University of Groningen, Adam Wiznura, presented on "Localizing Thessalian sacred border zones."

An excellent showcase of U Alberta expertise and research!

(Photos by Rosanagh Mack and Margriet Haagsma)

07/24/2026

Did you enjoy Nolan's Odyssey? Are you looking for your next great Classics movie? How about a movie about Emperor Diocletian, all in Latin?

Need to brush up on your Latin before the movie? Sign up for LATIN 101/102 today!

The "Diocletian" project consists of two separate products: the feature-length feature film "Diocles" (136 minutes) and a hybrid, documentary-fiction series of five one-hour episodes, titled "The First Split Citizen", with Mladen Badovinac as presenter and narrator, writes HRT.

07/23/2026

Looking for a 4th year seminar / graduate course? We have a new one, just for you!

07/17/2026

And of course, if Nolan's Odyssey has inspired you to learn ancient Greek to read the epic in the original, we can help you with that! Sign up for GREEK 101/102 today!