Dr. Boyd from the Department of Languages, Literatures & Cultures is one of the several professors who teaches a unique and specialized honors colloquium to first year Honors students. This semester, her class focuses on Greek and Roman societies; students analyze political and social tensions, various philosophies, and causes of war. In her words:
In the earlier hours of Monday and Wednesday mornings (8:40-9:55 am) first-year students in the Honors Program make their way to Mitchell Hall 048 to investigate Greek and Roman conceptualizations of race and ethnicity and ask if ancient thinking remains relevant to our lived experiences today. As part of this class, students study the succession of conflicts between the Greek states and the Persian Empire in the early fifth-century BCE, known as the Persians Wars. The age around this confrontation gave birth to many of the ideals still prized today – freedom, democracy, and philosophy, to name a few – but these wars also witnessed the formation of the East-West dichotomy, which 2,500 years later persists in society and politics of today.
In this photograph, students (left to right: Rachel Jarvis, Jeremy Kuelker, Kenneth Mohs, Cole Lazarus, and Joseph Healy) consider the monumental battles of these wars and reenact the formation and fighting techniques of a Greek hoplite warrior.