• Classical Charleston Lectures

  • 2012: History, Poetry, and War
  • 2013: Modeling Connectivity
  • 2014: Citizenship in a Democracy
  • 2015: Classics, Black Colleges, and Civil Rights
  • 2016: Tradition, Innovation, and the Liberal Arts
  • 2017: Transformations
  • 2018: Sappho, Then and Now
  • 2019: Diversifying Classics
  • 2020: Translatio: Carrying Ideas Across Cultures
  • 2023: Environmental Change and Human Resiliency

The Department of Classics is pleased to announce the ninth annual colloquium of the Theodore B. Guérard Lecture Series, Classical Charleston: “Translatio: Carrying Ideas Across Cultures.”

“Translation is an interpretive, subjective exercise…fresh, modern translations of ancient texts eschew a literal, word-for-word (verbum pro verbo) transference of meaning, aiming instead at the transmission of ideas and thoughts – the reflected image of the ancient world. Translations offer a semiotic mechanism for bridging the gap between the ancient world and the modern, for connecting the ancient writer with the non-specialist reader. 

More than ever, translations that are culturally relevant and meaningfully accessible are needed for maintaining the relevance of classics in a culture that continues to challenge the value of the ancient world (and of humanities more generally) and in an academic environment where, all too commonly, undergraduate institutes are becoming more professionalized.” 

-- N. Zeiner-Carmichael, Roman Letters: An Anthology, xv 

Often viewed as a simple if specialized practice, translation is a means by which ideas are transferred from one culture to another, a process which brings the practices into the wider lenses of reception and cross-cultural engagement. 

Monday, March 9 (Alumni Center, SOEHHP, 4:00-6:00pm)

• “Translating Empire: Caesar and Tacitus” - Dr. Cynthia Damon, University of Pennsylvania (4:00pm)
• “Practical Translation: Ancient Practices for a Modern Audience” - Dr. Amy Cohen, Randolph College (5:15pm)

Tuesday, March 10: (Arnold Hall, Jewish Studies Center, 4:00-6:00pm)

• “True Translations and ‘Versions’- Greek Tragedy and Contemporary Audiences” - Dr. Evan Parry, College of Charleston (4:00pm)

• “Global connections: cross-cultural encounters and transfer” - Dr. Silvia Rodriguez Sabater, College of Charleston (5:15pm)

This colloquium is co-sponsored by the the School of Languages, Cultures, and World Affairs, the Department of Hispanic Studies, the Department of Theatre and Dance, Classics Club, and Eta Sigma Phi.

For more information, contact Dr. James Newhard (newhardj@cofc.edu).