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Spurlock Hosts Classics Seminar

  • Post Date: 11/09/2018
  • Author: Beth Watkins
  • Reading Time: 2 minute read

This summer, Spurlock Museum and Krannert Art Museum co-hosted a six-week-long seminar called The Use of Art and Material Culture in Scholarship and Teaching (external link). Arranged jointly by the Society of Classics Studies and the UIUC Classics Department (external link), scholar specialists and doctoral students from across the country explored both museums’ collections of Greek and Roman artifacts. Below are some of the topics the students discussed.

Parthenon frieze

  • John Senseney examining sculpture and inscriptions with students.
    UIUC Art History Professor John Senseney and the students examine Greek sculpture and inscriptions in Spurlock’s Ancient Mediterranean gallery.

Archaic and Greek ceramics

  • Professor listens as students evaluate function of a Greek artifact.
    Washington University Professor Emeritus Susan Rotroff listens as students evaluate the function of a Greek baby feeder from the 4th century BCE (1926.01.0008).

Etruscan and Roman pottery and sculpture

  • Students observing fragment with flashlight.
    Students Marleigh and Ekaterina use a flash light to illuminate and examine the iconography on a Roman sarcophagus fragment from the 2nd century (1989.09.0021).

Greek and Roman coins

  • Professor discussing iconography on Greek and Roman coins.
    UIUC Classics Professor Emeritus Jim Dengate discusses iconography on dozens of Greek and Roman coins dating back as far as 600 BCE.
  • Collections Manager and students evaluating pottery sherds.
    Spurlock’s Collections Manager Christa Deacy-Quinn works with students to evaluate and match Roman pottery sherds.
  • Professor and students translating Roman papyrus fragment.
    UIUC Classics Professor Daniel Leon assists students Matthew and Ashley in translating a Roman papyrus fragment from Egypt documenting a woman’s will dating back to 331 CE (1914.21.0015).