The University of British Columbia
Vancouver campus
WHEN CLASSICAL WORLDS COLLIDE
From the pyramids to the Colosseum, from the Olympic Games to Mecca, our department offers a unique opportunity to link different disciplines and study ancient civilizations in a wider context.
EXPLORE THE PAST AND GAIN INSIGHT INTO THE PRESENT
Our unique program opens the door to three thousand years of language, literature, art, philosophy, religion and history, revealing their influence on modern culture.
UNEARTHING ANCIENT CULTURES
We pursue research into the cultures of ancient Egypt, the Near East, Greece and Rome, with ample archaeological fieldwork opportunities for our students, like the Centre for the Study of Ancient Sicily.
Rabbinic Drinking: Beer and Wine in Judaism in the Roman World (Jordan Rosenblum)
26th Sep 2018Lecture open to the public. Rabbinic Drinking: Beer and Wine in Judaism in the Roman World Prof. Jordan Rosenblum, Belzer Professor of Classical Judaism University of Wisconsin-Madison https://wisc.academia.edu/JordanRosenblum Wednesday, Sept. 26, 3:00 PM Buchanan C 203
Department Seminar: “Domestic Dexterity: Athenian Girls At Play.” (Jonathan Vickers)
19th Sep 2018Abstract to follow.
AIA Lecture: Cultural heritage in danger (Regine Schulz)
15th May 2018Cultural heritage is worldwide increasingly in danger. There are many different reasons, such as natural disasters, collateral damages by war and actions of terror, intentional destruction to annihilate the cultural roots and traditions of opponents as well as looting, thefts and illegal sale for profit. However, in the same way destructive are neglect, repressions and...
War and Society in Colonial Sicily, International Workshop
27th Apr 2018Website: https://wasics.sites.olt.ubc.ca/ Program: WASICS Brochure Friday, 27.04.2018 (Peter A. Allard School of Lawm Allard Hall, 1822 E Mall, Room 121) 9:30 – 16:00 M. Jonasch (DAI/UBC), A Military Landscape? Mapping colonial spatial Development Policies in Southcentral Sicily S. Vassallo (Soprintendenza Palermo), War and Conflicts in Northcentral Sicily at the End of the 6th and during...
Pharos Lecture: “Female Justice: Getting Revenge on Terrible Men in Ancient Greece”
26th Mar 2018Speaker: Dr. Siobhan McElduff, UBC CNERS Pericles told the men of Athens that the best thing for a woman was not be spoken about, either in blame or praise; the women of Athens surely had other ideas. This lecture will look at how, in a time long before #metoo, women in ancient Greece tried to...
AIA Norton Lecturer: “Mistaken Identities: Tracking down Roman Emperors in Modern Art” (Mary Beard)
20th Mar 2018Speaker: Dr. Mary Beard, Professor of Classics, University of Cambridge Classical Roman emperors were often represented in Renaissance and later art, despite their collectively thuggish and often murderous natures. In her lecture, “Mistaken identities: tracking down Roman emperors in modern art“, Professor Mary Beard explores why were they such a popular subject, whether they just...
17th Mar 2018
TONY KEDDIE Triclinium Trialectics: Jewish and Christian Reactions to the Emergence of the Triclinium in Early Roman Palestine This paper draws on critical spatial theory to analyze the earliest literary constructions of the triclinium, or Roman dining room, in Jewish and Christian sources from Early Roman Palestine. It begins by examining the archaeological evidence of triclinia with stone benches in Palestine, addressing...
TONY KEDDIE Triclinium Trialectics: Jewish and Christian Reactions to the Emergence of the Triclinium in Early Roman Palestine This paper draws on critical spatial theory to analyze the earliest literary constructions of the triclinium, or Roman dining room, in Jewish and Christian sources from Early Roman Palestine. It begins by examining the archaeological evidence of triclinia with stone benches in Palestine, addressing...
15th Mar 2018
Speaker: Dr. Eric Cline, Professor of Classics and Anthropology, George Washington University Excavations and survey from 2005-2017 at the site and environs of Tel Kabri, located in the western Galilee of modern Israel, have shown that the Middle Bronze Age Canaanite palace there is at least three times as large as previously thought, with much...
Speaker: Dr. Eric Cline, Professor of Classics and Anthropology, George Washington University Excavations and survey from 2005-2017 at the site and environs of Tel Kabri, located in the western Galilee of modern Israel, have shown that the Middle Bronze Age Canaanite palace there is at least three times as large as previously thought, with much...
“Book Illustration in Antiquity”: Dr. Cillian O’Hogan with Alcuin Society
7th Mar 2018Illustration of books in the ancient Graeco-Roman world: Cillian O’Hogan The Alcuin Society is pleased to announce its first lecture of 2018. Join us for an evening with lecturer Cillian O’Hogan of UBC about the illustration of books in the ancient Graeco-Roman world. This lecture will give an overview of the surviving fragments of ancient...
“The Kassite Conundrum – Mystery or Not?” (Tim Clayden with Green College)
27th Feb 2018Dr. Tim Clayden OBE, Green Templeton College, Oxford “The Kassite Conundrum – Mystery or Not?”
Thomas Schneider’s research on early alphabet discovery garners international attention
A paper recently published in the Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research by Dr. Thomas Schneider has received news coverage from North America to Israel, Russia, and Korea! The paper reports on what could be the earliest example of our alphabet sequence from a 3400 year-old piece of Egyptian pottery. Read more on […]
Gregg Gardner named division Chair for Association for Jewish Studies
Professor Gregg Gardner has been named Chair of the Division of “Jewish History and Culture in Antiquity” of the Association for Jewish Studies (AJS). In this role, he will be shepherding and overseeing all paper proposals on Jews and Judaism during the Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine ages for the AJS’s Annual Meeting – the largest […]
Franco De Angelis awarded two fellowships
Professor Franco De Angelis has been awarded the Arthur Dale Trendall Fellowship by the Institute of Classical Studies of the University of London. The fellowship was inaugurated in 2000 in memory of Arthur Dale Trendall for senior scholars from universities outside the UK, who work on the same areas of interest as Professor Trendall, including […]
Dr. Thomas Schneider elected Visiting Professor of Halbert Centre
Dr. Thomas Schneider has been elected as a Visiting Professor of the Halbert Centre for Canadian Studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He will spend up to one month during the 2018-9 academic year at the Hebrew University, delivering two public lectures, a workshop for students, as well as the annual Hans Jakob Polotsky […]
Dr. Robert Cousland has published a new book, “Holy Terror. Jesus in the Infancy Gospel of Thomas.” (Bloomsbury, 2017) About The Infancy Gospel of Thomas (or Paidika) is one of the most unusual gospels in the Christian tradition. Instead of revealing the compassionate Jesus so familiar to us from the biblical Gospels, it confronts its readers with a […]
Kevin Fisher, Roger Wilson receive SSHRC Insight Grants
Dr. Kevin Fisher has been awarded a large SSHRC Insight Grant for “Investigating the Socio-environmental Dynamics of an Ancient Urban Landscape”. The grant will fund five years of excavation and related work at the Late Bronze Age (c. 1650-1100 BCE) city of Kalavasos-Ayios Dhimitrios, Cyprus. Recent research suggests that new urban landscapes that were created […]
Graduate Student Success: Gillian Glass, Emma Ramsden receive scholarships
CNERS is very pleased to announce that PhD Religious Studies student Gillian Glass has won a Killam Doctoral Scholarship! This is an extremely competitive and, therefore, prestigious award – and CNERS now has two Killam Doctoral Scholarship holders after Ryan Schroeder, also a PhD Religious studies candidate, received one last year. We also congratulate MA ACRE student […]
Dr. Gregg Gardner receives Halbert Centre grant for workshop on charity in classical Jewish law
Gregg Gardner has been awarded a grant from the Halbert Centre for Canadian Studies at Hebrew University! The funds will go towards co-organizing a workshop between academics from UBC and other universities in Canada, and the Israel Matz Institute for Jewish Law of the Law School of Hebrew University, on the topic of “Charity in […]
Dr. Michael Griffin receives UBC Killam Research Fellowship
Dr. Michael Griffin, Associate Professor of Greek Philosophy, has received a UBC Killam Research Fellowship for his project, “The Puzzle of Virtue: Indian Contributions to a Greek and Modern Theory.” We are excited to hear more about this research in the future!
Dr. Kevin Fisher, Assistant Professor of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology, has been working with the UBC Emerging Media Lab (EML) to develop the 3D visualization of Kalavasos-Ayios Dhimitrios (more of the KAMBE project here). EML has connected Dr. Fisher with a group of students from the UBC Game Developer’s Association, who are working on ways of using augmented reality […]
An introduction to our Department, its history and aims, as well as location and contact information.
Learn more about UBC, its campus and reputation for excellence in teaching and research.
Get to know the city, its unique setting, cultural diversity and reputation as one of the world’s most liveable cities.