UCLA Department of Classics

10/12/2026

Even a 3-hour movie cannot approach the expansiveness of a 24-book epic poem.

Yet, in leaving out Odysseus’s parents Anticlea and Laertes, Nolan’s film lost two of arguably the most poignant reunions of the Odyssey, which speak to the nature of our relationships with those who raised us.

Dr. Collin Moat discusses this perspective in The Odyssey Files, blog 9 “Between Parents and Children” https://classics.ucla.edu/blog/the-odyssey-files-9-between-parents-and-children/

10/07/2026

Sheila Murnaghan (University of Pennsylvania) will conduct a Commentary Writing Workshop on Sophocles' Ajax on Monday, October 26th at 4 PM in Dodd. 248.

She will discuss lines 646-92 of Sophocles' Ajax (the “deception speech”) for a commentary she is preparing for the Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics (green and yellow) series.

A section of the commentary will be pre-circulated in advance to guests who RSVP by Thursday, October 22nd.

For full event details: https://classics.ucla.edu/event/sheila-murnaghan-commentary-writing-workshop-on-sophocles-ajax/

10/02/2026

In this latest blog of The Odyssey Files, Professor Adriana Vazquez discusses the city named Ulisseia which was said to have been founded by Odysseus and can be called, in archaeological terms, the first phase of Portugal’s capital.

Discover some interesting details of his activity on the Iberian Peninsula in “Odysseus goes to Portugal”

https://classics.ucla.edu/blog/the-odyssey-files-8-odysseus-goes-to-portugal/

By Professor Adriana Vazquez   Beneath the historic buildings of Lisbon lies a secret history, archaeological in conceit but nowhere to be found in its stratigraphy: the cobbled streets and...

10/01/2026

Catherine Price, a second year student in the Department of Classics is also a Daily Bruin Opinion Columnist and Photo Contributor!

Read her latest opinion piece "Latin is more than a dead language, deservees a larger place in UCLA's curriculum" online here: https://dailybruin.com/2026/05/31/opinion-latin-is-more-than-a-dead-language-deserves-a-larger-place-in-uclas-curriculum

We wholeheartedly agree with you Catherine!

This post was updated Sept. 29 at 9:31 p.m. Latin is a dead language. Or at least that’s what I’d heard growing up. As a kid, the only time I was confronted with the language was in church, singing hymns I couldn’t hope to translate.

09/25/2026

The figure of Helen in Greek mythology has always been controversial.

In an inadvertent and jarring echo of the classical past, Helen was perhaps the most controversial figure in Christopher Nolan’s recent Odyssey adaptation as well.

Read grad student Elisa McAtee's blog, the latest entry of The Odyssey Files to find out why:

By Elisa McAtee, Graduate Student in Classics   The figure of Helen in Greek mythology has always been controversial. Ancient writers displayed their intellectual prowess debating whether she really went...

09/25/2026

Some of our grad students (Opal, JT, Emma) awaiting the start of the performance of Antigone: In the Language of Kings at the Getty Villa last night. It was a packed house and the play is terrific!! Go to see it if you can. (There is another free matinee performance for students next wed, DM us if you are a UCLA student & interested in tix).

09/25/2026

PhD candidate Tom Francis recently traveled to Toronto to deliver a paper at the Connected Pasts conference. His paper, “Modeling Alphabet Diffusion and Community Interactions in Ancient Italy with Spatiotemporal Processes” was co-authored with PIES PhD student Muhammad Rehan. Congratulations Tom and Rehan!

09/18/2026

Professor Bryant Kirkland brings us the next blog post of The Odyssey Files.

In it he describes how a mishap at the 4DX theater got him thinking about the other forms of intransigence he brought with him into the cinema that day.

He shares his thoughts here: https://classics.ucla.edu/blog/the-odyssey-files-6-reception-in-4dx-or-not/

09/17/2026

Assistant Professor Adriana Vazquez, together with a team of collaborators led by Leni Ribeiro Leite (University of Kentucky), has been awarded a Scholarly Editions and Translations grant from the National Endowment of the Humanities.

With this grant, they will work to publish a critical edition and translation of the Jesuit missionary José de Anchieta’s De gestis Mendi de Saa, a sixteenth-century Latin poem describing the “heroic deeds” of Mem de Sá, the third governor general of Brazil.

The full list of award recipients can be found here, with Prof. Vazquez's award listed under "Kentucky":
https://www.neh.gov/sites/default/files/2026-07/NEH%20grant%20awards%20state%20by%20state%20July%202026.pdf

Congratulations Professor Vazquez!

09/14/2026

Professor Amy Richlin has been awarded a 2026 Wilbur Cross Medal!

The Graduate School of Arts & Sciences at Yale University has awarded Distinguished Research Professor Amy Richlin a 2026 Wilbur Cross Medal.

The award was announced on September 2nd, and is the highest honor offered by the Graduate School to its alumni. It recognizes exceptional scholarship, teaching, and public service. Professor Richlin joins three other distinguished researchers in the awards this year, and they will all return to the Yale campus on October 19 to deliver public lectures.

The title of Professor Richlin’s lecture is “Yale, Cradle of the History of Sexuality.”

Congratulations to Professor Richlin on this well-deserved honor! You can find more information about the awards and the lectures at the following link: https://gsas.yale.edu/about/news-announcements/graduate-school-present-its-highest-honor-four-accomplished-alumni