Outside of their scholarly endeavors, several members of the Cornell Classics Department are also accomplished artists. Here we share a sample of recent creative projects undertaken by graduate students in the department, many of which reflect their studies of the ancient world:
Charlotte Hunt, a third-year PhD student in Philology & Literature, creates work which is inspired by her interest in animals and stories of animals from antiquity. Her "Procne and Philomela" (below) is featured on Diotima, a website dedicated to providing information on women, gender, sex, sexualities, race, ethnicity, class, status, masculinity, enslavement, disability, and the intersections among them in the ancient Mediterranean world.
Procne and Philomena
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"Procne & Philomela" by Charlotte HuntCharlotte also created a piece about Callimachus' nautilus epigram (below) for Athena Kirk's seminar "Animal Power" in Spring 2020.
Nautilus
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A painting inspired by Callimachus' Nautilus Epigram by Charlotte HuntCharlotte's photograph of jellyfish (below) represents her love of marine animals. The photograph has been chosen for display on the Olin Library elevator doors (dates TBD).
jellyfish
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Photograph of jellyfish by Charlotte HuntEmmy Shanahan, also a third-year PhD student in Philology & Literature, writes poetry. Many of her poems, a few of which are included below, draw inspiration from the ancient world.
"Eumenides"
Aeschylus pretended Furies could be mended into Eumenides, but I have never knowna single friend to come from ranks of enemies, and all my aching scarsare sharp initials carved by hands held out to me.
"carrying on"
The moon still shines through high oak leaves, and stars still blink down one by one, and water carries on in streams, but Icarus was his dad's sun.
"making mistakes"
I was the worst of suppliants, invading all the inner shrines. I violated holy pactsand drank the sacred wine. But Hindsight saw Pandora's crown, a wonder to behold, and laid his caution at her feet, where groundbecame a hallowed place. Did Hindsight love his guileful wife? And could he want Lord Thunder's curse, who held the door for every strife? He could, so much the worse.
Hana Aghababian, a second-year PhD student in Linguistics, shares her free verse Latin poem inspired by recent events in the field of Classics and the country more generally, as well as a prompt from Dan Gallagher's Latin Prose Composition course in Spring 2021. She also enjoys drawing flowers.
invisi colores
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"invisi colores" & drawing of cherry blossom by Hana AghababianIf you are a Classics student or faculty interested in sharing your creative work, please reach out to Hana Aghababian (aha92@cornell.edu) or Sarah Epplin (sme84@cornell.edu).
