Sanjaya Thakur | Colorado College (original) (raw)
Papers by Sanjaya Thakur
The Classical Journal, 2020
Classics majors acquire valuable and practical skills as they fall in love with the ancient worl... more Classics majors acquire valuable and practical skills as they fall in love with the
ancient world, but often struggle to articulate to themselves and to others, especially
prospective employers or parents, the transferable skills and dispositions provided by their work in Latin, Greek or Classical Civilizations. The Classics Tuning project, supported by a Mellon Faculty Career Enhancement Grant from the Associated Colleges of the
Midwest (ACM), endeavored to address these concerns. The project had three
components. First, twelve classicists from the ACM met for a day and a half workshop to articulate the learning outcomes and transferable skills associated with an undergraduate liberal arts degree in Classics. Second, using these core competencies as a foundation, a survey was written and sent to classics alumni (615 responses out of 1733 surveyed) to determine what competencies they recognized they had gained through their study of classics, and how they had transferred these to areas outside of academics. Third, the grant funded the creation of a repository of resources connected to the teaching, assessing, and publicizing of these competencies
Classical World
ABSTRACT: Vergil’s Aeneid contains more allusions to Augustus’ wife than scholars have previously... more ABSTRACT: Vergil’s Aeneid contains more allusions to Augustus’ wife than scholars have previously recognized; because Livia was connected with both the Drusi and Claudii, Vergil’s references to those gentes and their ancestors allude to her (among other people). Vergil pays special attention to the Claudii, the gens of which Livia was a member, into which she had married, and to which her sons also belonged. These allusions fit both with Vergil’s treatment of contemporary women and Livia’s public presentation at the time. Like all references and allusions to Augustus’ marriage, however, these can be read in a positive or negative light.
Negotiating the Past in the Past
Tiberius, the Varian disaster, and the dating of Tristia 2., 2014
Later historians, such as Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio, have dominated interpretations of e... more Later historians, such as Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio, have dominated interpretations of events at end of Augustus' principate and, in turn, evaluations of Ovid's poetry from exile, condemning his characterizations of such characters as Tiberius and Livia. In addition, Ovid's exile works have been examined from an Augustan perspective; my dissertation examines Ovid's characterization of members of the imperial household within the exile literature from a Tiberian perspective, using various literary and non-literary sources to situate Ovid's characterizations within the discourse of their own period. My methodology combines both literary and historical approaches. In contextualizing Ovid's approach to characterization, I reveal his consistency and similarity to presentations of the imperial family in other forms of public discourse. I examine Ovid's exile works in the literary traditions of elegiac and panegyric poetry, both in the Roman poetic tradition, but also in the broader Hellenistic tradition. I analyze the imperial domus as a concept (detailing its constitution and evolution over the course of the exile literature) and each appearance of Tiberius, Livia and Germanicus within the Tristia, Epistulae ex Ponto and revised Fasti. Ovid initially presents Tiberius as Rome's military commander beside Augustus; over the course of his epistles he applies diction, terminology and imagery once reserved for Augustus to Tiberius. I read Ovid's texts against a series of other primary sources, such as the senatorial decrees passed upon the death of Germanicus, to consider how Ovid's language relates to the historical developments in the period in question. These texts provide alternative sources to compare whether the language and imagery contained in Ovid's poetry are consistent with those seen early in Tiberius' reign. Ovid's characterizations of Tiberius, Livia and Germanicus were carefully crafted to mirror their roles in official ideology. Ovid presents the characters in such a way that his poems can be read as praise, but also pressure on these individuals to demonstrate the qualities Ovid bestows upon them in his poems by granting his recall to Rome.Ph.D.Classical literatureLanguage, Literature and LinguisticsUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/127068/2/3328973.pd
The Classical Journal, 2020
Journal of Roman Archaeology
Journal of Roman Archaeology, 2011
Journal of Roman Archaeology, 2013
The Classical Journal, 2020
Classics majors acquire valuable and practical skills as they fall in love with the ancient worl... more Classics majors acquire valuable and practical skills as they fall in love with the
ancient world, but often struggle to articulate to themselves and to others, especially
prospective employers or parents, the transferable skills and dispositions provided by their work in Latin, Greek or Classical Civilizations. The Classics Tuning project, supported by a Mellon Faculty Career Enhancement Grant from the Associated Colleges of the
Midwest (ACM), endeavored to address these concerns. The project had three
components. First, twelve classicists from the ACM met for a day and a half workshop to articulate the learning outcomes and transferable skills associated with an undergraduate liberal arts degree in Classics. Second, using these core competencies as a foundation, a survey was written and sent to classics alumni (615 responses out of 1733 surveyed) to determine what competencies they recognized they had gained through their study of classics, and how they had transferred these to areas outside of academics. Third, the grant funded the creation of a repository of resources connected to the teaching, assessing, and publicizing of these competencies
Classical World
ABSTRACT: Vergil’s Aeneid contains more allusions to Augustus’ wife than scholars have previously... more ABSTRACT: Vergil’s Aeneid contains more allusions to Augustus’ wife than scholars have previously recognized; because Livia was connected with both the Drusi and Claudii, Vergil’s references to those gentes and their ancestors allude to her (among other people). Vergil pays special attention to the Claudii, the gens of which Livia was a member, into which she had married, and to which her sons also belonged. These allusions fit both with Vergil’s treatment of contemporary women and Livia’s public presentation at the time. Like all references and allusions to Augustus’ marriage, however, these can be read in a positive or negative light.
Negotiating the Past in the Past
Tiberius, the Varian disaster, and the dating of Tristia 2., 2014
Later historians, such as Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio, have dominated interpretations of e... more Later historians, such as Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio, have dominated interpretations of events at end of Augustus' principate and, in turn, evaluations of Ovid's poetry from exile, condemning his characterizations of such characters as Tiberius and Livia. In addition, Ovid's exile works have been examined from an Augustan perspective; my dissertation examines Ovid's characterization of members of the imperial household within the exile literature from a Tiberian perspective, using various literary and non-literary sources to situate Ovid's characterizations within the discourse of their own period. My methodology combines both literary and historical approaches. In contextualizing Ovid's approach to characterization, I reveal his consistency and similarity to presentations of the imperial family in other forms of public discourse. I examine Ovid's exile works in the literary traditions of elegiac and panegyric poetry, both in the Roman poetic tradition, but also in the broader Hellenistic tradition. I analyze the imperial domus as a concept (detailing its constitution and evolution over the course of the exile literature) and each appearance of Tiberius, Livia and Germanicus within the Tristia, Epistulae ex Ponto and revised Fasti. Ovid initially presents Tiberius as Rome's military commander beside Augustus; over the course of his epistles he applies diction, terminology and imagery once reserved for Augustus to Tiberius. I read Ovid's texts against a series of other primary sources, such as the senatorial decrees passed upon the death of Germanicus, to consider how Ovid's language relates to the historical developments in the period in question. These texts provide alternative sources to compare whether the language and imagery contained in Ovid's poetry are consistent with those seen early in Tiberius' reign. Ovid's characterizations of Tiberius, Livia and Germanicus were carefully crafted to mirror their roles in official ideology. Ovid presents the characters in such a way that his poems can be read as praise, but also pressure on these individuals to demonstrate the qualities Ovid bestows upon them in his poems by granting his recall to Rome.Ph.D.Classical literatureLanguage, Literature and LinguisticsUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/127068/2/3328973.pd
The Classical Journal, 2020
Journal of Roman Archaeology
Journal of Roman Archaeology, 2011
Journal of Roman Archaeology, 2013