Film Series for Spring 2007

2007-2008 News and Events

Second Joe Bennett Memeorial Lecture in Classical Studies Sept. 26, 3:30 in 255 OHB

"Athena Itonia: The Fragmentary History of a Greek Cult" by Prof. Gerald Lalonde, Grinnell College. From scattered literary and archaelological evidence this lecture will sketch a history of the ancient Greek cult of Athena Itonia, a military goddess who origniated in the remote past of central Greece to become patron of the Thessalian League and is famed cavalry. From Thessaly the cult spread at least to Boiotia, Athens, and the small Aegean island of Amorgos. An inscribed Shrine marker and two treasury accounts of the 5th and 4th centuries B.C. show that at Athens the cult of Athena Itonia had a significant shrine with profitable rental properties. Literary testimonia indicate the approzimate location of this shrine and that it was probably founded in connection with the Tessalian cavalry that served in Athens as mercenary allies during thePeisistratid tyranny of the 6th century B.C.

Kate Fedewa ('07) has been awarded the first Post-Baccalaureate Teaching Fellow in Classical Studies. This is designed to Provide a mentored teaching experience for recent graduates with serious commitment to teaching who have excelled academically as undergraduates, demonstrated an aptitude for leadership, and who plan to apply to a graduate program outside Michigan State