BENJAMIN STEVENS

Languages and Literature
Visiting Assistant Professor of Classics

Bard College
Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504
bstevens@bard.edu

RESEARCH AND TEACHING INTERESTS

  • Latin and Greek languages and literatures. Roman and Greek history.
  • Social, sociolinguistic, and ethnic history and theory. History of linguistics.
  • Indo-European literatures and linguistics. The American comic book.

EDUCATION

  • Ph.D. Committee on the Ancient Mediterranean World. University of Chicago.
    topic: "The Origin of Language in Greek and Roman Thought".
    Special Field Exams: Roman History and Greek History.
  • M.A. Committee on the Ancient Mediterranean World. University of Chicago, August 1999.
  • B.A. Classics. Reed College, May 1998. Honors thesis: "A History of the Roman Calendar".
  • (non-degree) Classical Summer School. American Academy at Rome, June-July 2000.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

2004-6 Visiting Assistant Professor, Classics, Bard College.

2004 Lecturer, Classics, University of Colorado-Boulder (The Rise and Fall of Ancient Rome).

2002-3 Lecturer, The College, University of Chicago (Accelerated Introduction to Classical Latin I, Accelerated Introduction to Attic Greek I).

Writing intern, Humanities Collegiate Division, University of Chicago (conducted prose composition workshops for first-year seminar: Reading Cultures; also 2000-1: Readings in World Literature, and 1999-2000: Greek Thought and Literature).

2001-2 Lecturer, Classics, Catholic University of America (Intensive Review of Elementary Latin, Intermediate Latin II: Poetry of the Augustan Age).

Lecturer, Classical and Semitic Languages and Literatures, George Washington University (Vergil's Aeneid and Georgics, Advanced Latin: Livy and the Origins of Rome).

2000-1 Course assistant, Classics, University of Chicago (Roman Republican Prose, Ovid: Metamorphoses, Ancient Mediterranean World III: Greek and Roman Art, Intensive Introduction to Attic Greek 2).

PAPERS PRESENTED

"The Origin of Language in Homer and Hesiod"; "mikten ex amphoin: The Origin of Latin in Dionysius of Halicarnassus"; "Eponymy, Etymology, and the Image of Pre-History: The Strange Case of King Italos"; "quae sunt dicta in stulto: Mediterranean Words and Latin Insults"; "Apoikistesis: The Mythological Significance of Augustan Time-Keeping"; "Nature, Culture and Divination: Two Ancient Episodes".

LANGUAGES

  • Ancient: Greek, Latin; Old English; research knowledge of Etruscan, Oscan, Umbrian.
  • Modern: French, German, Italian, Russian, Spanish.

ACADEMIC AWARDS AND HONORS

  • Mellon Foundation—University of Chicago Dissertation-Year Fellowship. 2003-4.
  • Affiliated Fellowship, Franke Institute of the Humanities. University of Chicago. 2003-4.
  • Edward L. Ryerson Fellowship. University of Chicago, 2000.
  • Century Fellowship. University of Chicago, 1998-2003.
  • Mellon Fellowship in Humanistic Studies. Woodrow Wilson Foundation (at University of Chicago), 1998-1999.
  • Phi Beta Kappa. Reed College, 1998.

REFERENCES

  • Jonathan Hall. History. University of Chicago.
  • Brian Krostenko. Classics. University of Notre Dame.
  • Linda Safran. Greek and Latin. Catholic University of America.
  • Richard Saller. Provost and History. University of Chicago.
  • John Ziolkowski. Classical and Semitic Languages and Literatures. George Washington University.