Below is a sampling from the titles of Senior Research Papers (earlier: "honors theses") submitted at Penn. Apologies for the incompleteness of the list: if you have additions, please let us know! 100-word abstracts are also available for most projects
- Brandon Block, "Wealth, Prestige and...Miracle Cures? The Influence of Economic Interests on the Asklepieon at Epidaurus" Supervisor: Ralph Rosen
- Sara Chopra, "Translating the Translators: A Comparative Approach to Contemporary Translation of the Priam-Achilles Dialogue in Book 24 of the Iliad." Supervisors: James Ker and Bridget Murnaghan
- (Spring 2021) Cecelia Heintzelman, âCases and Casts: A Diachronic Study of the Mediterranean Section of the Penn Museum.â Supervisor: Brian Rose
- Stephen Jagoe, "Virgilâs Universal Prophecy: Judeo-Roman Interaction in Virgilâs Fourth Eclogue." Supervisor: Joe Farrell
- Nicky Kotler, "The Rise of the Imperial Cult and the Reception in the City of Rome." Supervisor: Julia Wilker
- Spencer Landis, "Platonic Metaphysics and the Non-Discursive: A Glimpse into the Divine.â Supervisor: Peter Struck
- Isabelle Schatzker, "Eclectic Identities in the Material Landscape: Reconsidering Decorative Function and Perceptions of Space in the Houses of Pompeiiâs Non-Elite." Supervisor: Mantha Zarmakoupi
- Elizabeth Vo-Phamhi, "Manumission and Mobility" Supervisor: Kim Bowes
- Olivia Wells, "Bringing Conchiclam Apicianam to Life: An Experimental Archaeological Investigation of a Multi-Ingredient Dish from Apiciusâ De Re Coquinaria." Supervisor: Kim Bowes
- Matan Davis, âThe Writing is On the Wall: Dialogic Insults on the Walls of Pompeii.â Supervisors: Kim Bowes, James Ker.
- Kathryn Kelly, âRepresentations of Memnon throughout Antiquity and in Contemporary Classical Studies: An Examination of the Epic Heroâs Ethiopian Ethnicity.â Supervisor: Emily Wilson
- Amelia Marion, âSearching for Carthage in Plautusâ Poenulus: An Exploration of Punic Culture in Roman Literature. Supervisor: James Ker.
- James Nycz, âIndividual Agency and Economic Decision- Making in the Fourth-Century Great Oasis of Roman Egypt.â Supervisor: Cam Grey.
- Christina Recto, âLearning My ABCs: A Between Culture Comparison of Ancient and Modern Educational Reform.â Supervisor: James Ker.
- Cate Simons, âMartial and the Art of Deflection: Martialâs Use of Mythological References as a Tactic to Divert the Unwanted Gaze.â Supervisor: Cynthia Damon.
- Jordan Tayeh, âThe Barbarian Doctrine: Reframing Eastern Alienation and the Religion of the Alien God.â Supervisor: Jeremy McInerney.
- Christopher Williams, âAn Analysis of Transportation Burden Sharing in Roman Egypt as Evidenced through Papyriâ Supervisor: Kim Bowes.
- Rachel Winicov, âRelationships of Power in the Sixth Century CE Syrian Religious Milieu.â Supervisors: Cam Grey and Reyhan Durmaz (Religious Studies).
- Anthony Ciro, "The Iliad: Far from Political Treatise, Far from Political Neutrality" (supervisors: Sheila Murnaghan and Julia Wilker)
- Margaret Danaher, "The Role of Punishment in Petroniusâs Satyricon: Resemblances between the 'Quartilla' and the 'Ship of Lichas' Episodes" (supervisor: James Ker)
- Catherine de Luna, "Matriarch, Mother, Mouthpiece: Examining Televisual Representations of Livia Drusilla" (advisor: Brian Rose)
- Max Frantz, "The Introduction and Presence of 'Exotic' Foodstuffs in Late Iron Age and Early Roman Britain: an archaeobotanical analysis (supervisor: Kimberly Bowes)
- Max Jokelson, "Peace and Alliance in Xenophonâs Hellenica" (supervisor: Julia Wilker)
- Clare Kearns, "áźÎźÎŽĎÎąÎ˝ÎżĎ áźŠĎĎÎŻĎ: Gender and Power in Apolloniusâ Argonautica" (supervisor: Joseph Farrell)
- David Kestenbaum, "The Classical Greek Perception of the Trojan War"
- S. Maddy Moore, "Art from Archaeology: Reconstructive Illustrations and Historical Empathy at the Saronic Harbor site of Kalamianos" (supervisor: Thomas Tartaron)
- Louis Morledge, "Roman Citizenship & Political Community" (supervisor: John Mulhern)
- Breyasia Scott, "Medeaâs Symposium" (supervisor: Emily Wilson)
- Sydney Shiffman, "An Analysis of the Cross-Contextual Supplication Sequence in Book 22 of the Odyssey" (supervisor: Peter Struck)
- Vassilios Fassas, "The Fourth Century Athenian Economic Miracle and the World's First Credit Market" (supervisor: Jeremy McInerney)
- Victoria Greene, "Recovering Lost Voices: The Experiences of Women during the Peloponnesian War" (supervisor: Jeremy McInerney)
- Catherine Sophia McNally, "The Evolution of an Allegorical Masterpiece: Peter Paul Rubens and the Judgment of Paris" (supervisor: James Ker)
- Rachel Zachian, "From Ancient to Modern Medicine: Hippocrates and Galen in 19th-Century U.S. Medical School Curricula" (supervisor: Ralph Rosen)
- Anuj Amin, âA Case for Egyptian Influence in Early Greek Religion Hesiod on Chaos, Creation and Deathâ (supervisor: Peter Struck)
- Braden Cordivari, âThe BeyceÄiz Tumulus: A Phrygian Monument and its Social Significanceâ (supervisor: Brian Rose)
- Claudia E. Epley, âBaltic Amber on Faliscan Fibulae: Economic Mechanisms and Interpretive Perspectivesâ (supervisors: Cam Grey and Dr. Jean MacIntosh Turfa)
- Mileidy Gonzalez-Negreira, âRethinking the Brontoscopic Calendar: Epidemiology, Climate, and Trade in Iron Age Etruriaâ (supervisor: Dr. Jean MacIntosh Turfa)
- Adam J. Ireland, âParadoxes of Rhetoric: Socrates the Philosopher-King and Johnnie Cochran the Atticâ (supervisor: Jeremy McInerney)
- Claudia Kassner,âÎľĚÎťÎľĎ Î¸ÎľĚĎÎą Îľáź°ÍΟξν ÎşÎąÎšĚ ÎąĚνξĚĎÎąĎĎÎżĎ:â¨An Examination of the Manumission Inscriptions at Delphiâ (supervisor: Jeremy McInerney)
- David Kinnaird, âThe Real Catiline: How and Why Catiline Has Been Misrepresentedâ (supervisor: Cynthia Damon)
- Kristen Rye Pearson, âTangled Motivations: Community, Mobility, and Frugality in a 10th Century Textile Assemblage from the Mongolian Altaiâ (supervisor: Dr. Katherine Moore)
- Samantha Warrick, âThe Eruption of Thera: A Disaster Studies Perspectiveâ (Cam Grey)
- Sam Wert, âAuthorial Games of Ancient Romeâ¨A Study of Gaming and Gambling in Roman Literatureâ (supervisor: Dr. Ann Kuttner)
- Rachel Nevada Wood, âDoing Genderâ and Myths of Sex Change in Ovidâs Metamorphosesââ¨(supervisor: Joseph Farrell)
- Claire C. Beamish, âHealth Care Revolution or Evolution? A Comparative Analysis of the Theoretical and Structural Components of Health Care in Hellenistic Greece and Under The Affordable Care Actâ (supervisor: Ralph Rosen)
- Mia Chalhoub, âPerspectives of Carthage: The Counter-Roman Argument Existsâ (supervisor: Joseph Farrell)
- Jeremy T. Cohen, âLion Within: Platoâs Republic in Roman Upper Egyptâ (supervisor: Peter Struck)
- Michael Freeman, âPendant and Papyri: An Intertextual Analysis of Magical Inschriftenfiguren Gemstonesâ (supervisor: Peter Struck)
- Catharine Hopkins, âWhen Republics Fall: What the United States can learn from the internal faults that brought down the Roman Republicâ (supervisor: Dr. John Mulhern)
- Alexander Thomas King, âHealth Differentials in the Aegean Bronze Age: The impact of sex and status on health outcomes in the Mycenean and Minoan worldsâ
- R. A. Lahiri, âSchoolboy Commentary and Tacitusâs Agricola in 19th Century Englandâ (supervisor: Cynthia Damon)
- Diane Panepresso, âThe Painted House at Gordionâ (supervisor: Brian Rose)
- Lisa Picciotti, âIsis, the Ka of the Flavian Gensâ (supervisor: Brian Rose)
- Natalie Reynolds, âEunomia in the Archaic Period of Greeceâ (supervisor: Jeremy McInerney)
- Jeremy Schwartz, âGalen on Athletic Trainingâ (supervisor: Ralph Rosen)
- John E. Stiffler, âGoing to the Law:â¨A Study of the Petitionary Process in Roman Egyptâ (supervisor: Cam Grey)
- Samuel York, âJulius Canus: A Case Study in the Exemplarity of Deathâ (supervisor: James Ker)
- Louis Capozzi, âStilicho the Survivorâ (supervisor: Cam Grey)
- Shlomit Heering, âCleopatra and Berenice:â¨The Perception and Presentation of Two Queensâ (supervisor: Julia Wilker)
- Nina S. Kaledin, âCaracalla and the Military in Dio, Herodian, and the Historia Augustaâ (supervisor: Cam Grey)
- Allison Resnick, âPallor in Juvenal:â¨A Symptom of Social Diseaseâ (supervisor: James Ker)
- Kamillia Scott, âPartage, Conflict, and Value in the Joint Expeditions by the Penn Museum and the British Museum at Ur of the Chaldeesâ (supervisor: Dr. Ann Kuttner)
- Allyson Zucker, âPerceptions of Time in Horace's Odes, Books 1-3: Through the Lens of Caesar's Calendrical Reformsâ (supervisor: Joseph Farrell)
- Laura Agosto, âFault Lines of the Oikos: The Relationship between Individual Desire and the Oikos in Euripidesâ Medeaâ (supervisor: Sheila Murnaghan)
- Donald Antenen, âSocrates' Silencesâ (supervisor: Emily Wilson)
- KC Boas, âThe Big Picture: The Relationship between Text and Image in Greek Comic Vase Paintingsâ (supervisor: Ralph Rosen)
- Madeleine Brown, âRoman Virtus and Greek ÎĚνδĎξΚĚÎą in Jewish Writing: Examining Cultural Integration Through Changes in Conceptions of Manly Virtueâ (supervisor: Cam Grey)
- Kevin Ennis, âSynagogues in the Diaspora (2nd Century BC to 6th C. AD): A New Architectural Analysis and Historical Implicationsâ (supervisor: Lothar Haselberger)
- Christian Gilberti, âFrancis Daniel Pastorius, the Classics, and Virgilâs Aeneid in Early Americaâ (supervisor: Cam Grey)
- Julianna Pakstis, âFarewell to Femininity: An Analysis of the Great Monologue in Euripidesâ Medeaâ (supervisor: Sheila Murnaghan)
- Carly E. Sokach, âA Potion for the Goddess:â¨Controlling Menstruation and Fertility Through the Thesmophoriaâ (supervisor: Jeremy McInerney)
- Sarah Wilker, âWhat does the Pot say of the Potter? An Examination of the Ceramic Record from 3rd-c. BCE Egyptâ (supervisor: Dr. Ann Kuttner)
- Amanda Ball, "The Rock-Vaulted Halls: A look into the landscape of the Greco-Roman underworld and its origins" (supervisor: Brian Rose)
- Cara Cugley, "An Analysis of Tomb II of the Great Tumulus at Vergina" (supervisor: Julia Wilker)
- Kate Goldenberg, "Reclaiming a Selected Past: Mussoliniâs Rome and Baconâs Philadelphia" (double major with URBS; supervisors: Eric Schneider [URBS], James Ker [CLST])
- Julia Hurley, "Food in Roman Britain: A discussion of current issues in scholarship and a proposed new approach" (supervisor: Ann Kuttner)
- Elizabeth Potens, "Dionysus and the Cultural Identity of Thrace: A xenos god for a xenos people" (supervisors: James Ker, Tom Tartaron)
- Devin Scanlon, "Metabolai PoliteiĹn" (supervisor: John Mulhern)
- Carson Woodbury, "Call Me Demaratus: Narrating Spartan ethnography in the Historiesof Herodotus (supervisor: Julia Wilker)
- Alex Clapp, "Politics of Culture in the Ancient Pontus" (supervisor: Jeremy McInerney)
- Kyle deSandes-Moyer, "Hunters, Guards, Companions: The Role of Dogs in Antiquity" (supervisors: Katherine Moore, Thomas Tartaron)
- Sarah Gutman, "'The Ways of Conduct and Fate': Codes of Conduct in the Iliad and the Ethics of War" (supervisor: Peter Struck)
- Molly Hutt, "Well That Escalated Quickly: Infanticide and Duality in Euripides' Medea as an Expression of Athenian Anxieties in 431 BC" (supervisor: Jeremy McInerney)
- Marguerite Leone, "The Justinianic Plague and the History of Epidemics" (supervisor: James Ker)
- James Levy, "The Outsider as Insider: Aristophanesâ Understanding of the Classical Athenian Slave" (supervisor: Jeremy McInerney)
- Jamie O'Connell, "MaguĹĄ, MĂĄgos, or Magician: Considering Herodotus as a Source for theMagoi in Achaemenid Religion" (supervisors: Justin McDaniel and Jeremy McInerney) [ANCH major]
- Alethea Roe, "Ancient Faces, Enduring Questions: The 'Fayum' Mummy Portraits and the Problem of Verisimilitude" (supervisor: Ann Kuttner)
- Laura Santander, "Playing With Our Expectations: The Narrator's Influence on the Audience's Experience in Homer's Iliad and Euripides' Troades" (supervisor: Emily Wilson)
- Noreen Sit, "A Culture of Display: Expenditure and Image from Caesar to Nero" (supervisor: Cynthia Damon)
- Adena Wayne, "'Contrarios ceteris mortalibus': Reading Tacitean Irony on the Jews in theHistories Book V" (supervisor: Natalie Dohrmann and Peter Struck)
- Jacob Finkel, "Deceptive Veracity: Cicero's Use of Direct Discourse for Dramatic Invention in ad Atticum 389" (supervisor: James Ker) [M.A. thesis]
- Kalla Gervasio, "Improving Nutrition Education Curricula in the Philadelphia School District: From Hippocrates and Galen to the USDA" (supervisor: Ralph Rosen)
- Catherine Krabbenschmidt, "Augustus' Projects on the Palatine: Rewriting Rome's Memory" (supervisor: Kimberly Bowes)
- Mark Nakahara, "Art or Archaeology: Collections and Fieldwork of the Penn Museum's Mediterranean Section" (supervisor: Kimberly Bowes)
- Alexandra Olsman, "Ipsarum tribadum tribas, Philaeni: The Curious Case and Reconstruction of the Roman Tribas" (supervisor: James Ker)
- Anita Saggurti, "Artemis Patron of Fertility and Childbirth" (supervisor: C. Brian Rose) [ANCH major]
- Michael Wadden, "Herodotus' Histories, Viewed Through an Ethiopian Lens: A Study of the Narrative Function of Herodotus' Ethiopian Episode" (supervisor: Jeremy McInerney)
- Taylor Williams, "'Storms of this Inconstant World': Ideology, Identity, and the Ideal State in Late Antiquity" (supervisor: Cam Grey)
- Benjamin Winnick, "Arcadia's Sense of Identity Throughout Antiquity" (supervisor: Jeremy McInerney)
- Tongjia "Alex" Zhang, "Socrates and the Irrational: On Plato's Symposium and Phaedrus" (supervisor: Emily Wilson)
[Contact us if you can help fill in missing information!]
- Abby Johnston, [on death, gender, autonomy in Ovidâs Heroides] (supervisor: Emily Wilson)
- Sonya Parashar, Galen and his Insecurities (supervisor: Jeremey McInerney)
- Ava Childers, âThe Politicization of Classical Greek Archaeological Heritage: Building a New Greek Cultural and Natoinal Identity Atop the Parthenonâ (supervisor: Tom Tartaron)
- Caitlin Foley, âT. Pomponius Atticus and the Pursuit of Self-Preservationâ [supervisor: Cam Grey]
- Sarah Hilker, âThe Hippocratic Doctrine: Finding Traces of Magic in Classical Medicineâ (supervisor: Ralph Rosen)
- Lily Rogath, âPinxere et mulieres: Description of the Villa and Tomb of a Gallo-Roman Female Artist Discovered at Saint-MĂŠdard-des-PrĂŠs (VendĂŠe)â (supervisor: Ann Kuttner)
- Christopher Santoli, âBeyond the Angry Man: Cannibalism in Seneca's Prose and Poetryâ (supervisor: James Ker)
- Johan Tatoy, âNavigating Generic Identities: Medea in Valerius Flaccus' Argonauticaâ (supervisor: James Ker)
[Contact us if you can help fill in missing information!]
- Susan Garrigle, Alexander and the Succession Crisis (supervisor: Jeremey McInerney)
- David Blome, âHunters and Hounds, Soldiers and Commanders: Combat leadership in Xenophon's Cynegeticusâ (supervisor: Jeremey McInerney)
- Michele Charles, âGods, Heroes and the Hoplite: The Role of Religion in Ancient Greek Warfareâ (supervisor: Jeremey McInerney)
- Jane Raisch, âAgony and Theatricality in Euripides' Bacchae and Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus" (supervisors: Emily Wilson, Classical Studies; Margreta de Grazia English)
- Curtis Roche, [on Socrates: focused on the Apology, questions of historicity] (supervisor: Emily Wilson)
- Sarah Buchanan, âAlexanderâs Funeral Pyre for Hephaestion: A Motif-Based Reading of the Monument as Spectacleâ (supervisor: Ann Kuttner)
- Christine Quinn, âThe Tomb of Philip IIâ (supervisor: David Romano)
- John Byck, âSculpture through the Lens: A Retrospective Visual Analysis of the Tyrannicides and the Nike of Samothrace in the Light of Modern Photographic Cultureâ (supervisor: Ann Kuttner)
- Abby Cohen, âThe Architectural Landscapes of the Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore at Corinthâ (supervisor: David Romano)
- Michael Lackman, âPersonal Politics: Thucydides' Anthropic Polis in the Archidamian Warâ (supervisor: Jeremey McInerney)
- Claudia Moser, âNaked Power: The Phallus as an Apotropaic Symbol in the Images and Texts of Roman Italyâ (supervisor: David Romano)
- Alexander Perkins, âScar, Sympathy, Icon, and Identity: The Power of the Name within the Ancient Imaginationâ (supervisor: Ralph Rosen)
- Jessica Shore, [on the social role of the flamen from the late republic to first-century Pompeii] (supervisor: James Ker)
- Kelly Sloane, âEpic Illuminations: Word and Image Relationships in the Illustrations of theAeneid in the Vergilius Vaticanusâ (supervisor: Joseph Farrell)
- Dan Shu, [on Paradise Lost and the Phaethon episode in Ovid's Metamorphoses] (supervisor: Emily Wilson)