New Approaches to Classics Lecture Series

New Approaches to Classics (formerly Myth and Religion) is the departmental lecture series of the Boston University Department of Classical Studies. Typically there are two or three lectures in each semester by invited speakers from the US and abroad. Since 2022, the lecture series has been particularly focused on showcasing the work of junior scholars and scholars from diverse backgrounds; work that connects the ancient world to contemporary issues and concerns; and work that challenges the boundaries of what ‘Classics’ can and should mean today. Beginning in Spring 2023, one speaker per year is determined by the vote of the graduate students. All lectures are free and open for anyone to attend.

The New Approaches to Classics lecture series is generously funded by a grant from the Boston University Center for the Humanities.

For more information, contact Prof. Steven Smith (sds74@bu.edu) or Senior Program Coordinator Joe Knapik (classics@bu.edu).

Presenters for 2026-2027 include:

Professor Dan-el Padilla Peralta (Arizona State University)
Monday, October 26th, 2026.  5:00-7:00pm
STH B19, 745 Commonwealth Ave.
Title: Slavery, Affect, and the Roman Literary Imagination

Description: Riffing on William Fitzgerald’s Slavery and the Roman Literary Imagination, this talk explores how various forms of literary and para-literary production in the Roman Empire modeled an affective system that was regularly ascribed to — if not imposed upon — enslaved and formerly enslaved persons.

Professor Emilia Barbiero (New York University)
Monday, September 228th, 2026.  5:00-7:00pm POSTPONED due to inclement weather
STH B19, 745 Commonwealth Ave
Title: Women at Center Stage, or: Plautinisches im Aristainetos

Description: It is well established that the Letters of Aristainetos are replete with intertextual references to New Comedy. But what about Roman Comedy? In my paper, I reveal a sustained engagement with the Plautine corpus throughout this late-antique epistolary collection, showing that Aristainetos borrows from Plautus’ cast of characters and typical premises, even reproducing specific scenes. And yet this Latin model material is transformed in Aristainetos’ hands:in the Letters, various scenarios drawn from the fabula palliata have been inverted, retold from a particularly female perspective to create paralogical narratives spun out of Plautus’ plays.