Sunday, November 25, 2012

Award Winning Mac Classics Students

Congratulations to Mac Classics Major Mr. Brendan Palangio on being awarded 3rd place in the Classical Association of Canada's undergraduate essay competition. The essay, "'Books from the Ships' and Editors of Homer: The Library of Alexandria and Ptolemaic Cultural Hegemony," was written for Dr. Corner's 2LB3 History of Ancient Greece II. Mr. Palangio comments:

"In this paper, I explored the underlying political function of the Library of Alexandria, namely it's goal of achieving a Ptolemaic hegemony over Greek literary culture. I examined the Ptolemaic imperialist policy of zealously gathering, hoarding, and copying books as to house under one roof the entirety of Greek culture. I also analyzed the workings of library scholars, such as, Zenodotus of Ephesus, Callimachus of Cyrene, Apollonius of Rhodes and Aristophanes of Byzantium. I examined their efforts in cataloging, 'correcting', and commenting on works, and how these efforts created and perpetuated a Ptolemaic hegemony over literature in the Hellenistic age. Finally, I explored how the library acted as a connection to the Greek homeland, and a unifying force for Greeks in an alien world."

More information on the award can be found here: 

http://cac-scec.ca/wordpress/activities/competitions/eng_essay-contest/


The Faculty of Humanities at McMaster University also has an undergraduate essay award prize; information can be found here: http://www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/awards/essays.html


Congratulations also to Ms. Naomi Neufeld (Mac Classics `13), who recently presented the results of her Undergraduate Student Research Award at the USRA Poster Session. Ms. Neufeld (above, left, with 2011 USRA winner Owen Phillips and Classics Club Executive Emily Lemond) investigated the acculturative forces on Etruscan Culture in the Archaic period. Her research including participating in an archaeological excavation at Cerveteri (Italy) and visiting numerous archaeological sites and museums in Tuscany and Umbria. More information on the USRA can be found here: 
http://www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/awards/usra.html

Sunday, November 4, 2012