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Kuper Awarded Research Fellowship 

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Charles Kuper.

Charles Kuper, assistant professor of classics, will be a Fellow in Byzantine Studies at Dumbarton Oaks during the coming academic year, 2026-27. Dumbarton Oaks is Harvard University’s research center for Byzantine Studies in Washington, D.C. 

This highly competitive residential fellowship is awarded to scholars from across the world who study the Byzantine Empire, its civilization and cultural interactions, or related topics. The only requirement for Fellows is that they devote themselves entirely to their research. Kuper will begin working on his second book project, Sacred Suicide in Late Antiquity, which investigates the negotiation of this sensitive topic in Christian literature and culture of the time. 

More broadly, Kuper works on Latin, Greek, and Syriac texts from late antiquity to the middle ages. Most of his recent publications have focused on the Christian cult of the saints and hagiography. In November of last year, he published his first book, The Menologion of Basil II (Harvard University Press), which includes a critical Greek edition, English translation, and commentary of one of the most famous liturgical manuscripts surviving from Byzantium, a brilliantly illuminated calendar of the saints made for the emperor himself. You can view the manuscript on the Digital Vatican Library (DVL) website.

Charles Kuper.

Kuper Publishes New Critical Edition and Commentary

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Charles Kuper.

Assistant Professor Charles Kuper published an 800-page critical edition and commentary on the Menologion of Byzantine emperor Basil II with Harvard University Press and Harvard’s Dumbarton Oaks research center. He also received a prestigious residential fellowship at Dumbarton Oaks for 2026-2027, which will allow him to work on his next book, Sacred Suicide in Late Antiquity. 

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Classics Faculty Share Expertise in Varied Channels

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Faculty members from the Department of Classics showcase their research and expertise by presenting at and co-organizing conferences, crafting insightful articles, and engaging in academic dialogues and professional exchanges. Following are a few recent examples. 

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Assistant Professor Charles Kuper presented a paper on the text and image in the Menologion of Basil II at a double-panel during the October 2024 Byzantine Studies Conference in New York City. He and his co-organizer won funding for the papers from the Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture.

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Associate Professor Justin Arft was a respondent to one of four papers on new computational approaches to the study of Homer and ancient Greek texts. Arft makes his appearance starting at about the 1:40 mark in the video from the Homer and Artificial Intelligence Workshop.

Assistant Professor Sam Blankenship wrote a response for the online Herodotus Helpline, an organization based in Scotland and devoted to the study of the historian Herodotus of Halicarnassus. Blankenship answered the question, “How did Herodotus know so much about what was happening in Persia?”

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Department welcomes Golubović

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The University of Tennessee’s Department of Classics is excited to welcome lecturer, Nikola Golubović. Nikola specializes in Latin literature of the first three centuries AD, with a particular focus on rhetorical education. In his research, he explores how Roman students learned public speaking, a crucial skill for participation in political and civic life at the time. He is also interested in the lives and careers of people who taught in Roman schools. These individuals often came from outside Rome.

Nikola’s own journey into Classics was influenced by teachers and professors; despite knowing little about the ancient world, after taking Latin in high school, he quickly became interested in Classics and decided to pursue a career in the field. While here at UTK, Nikola is looking forward to teaching Latin, Ancient Greek, and a broad array of courses on ancient literature and culture, as well as connecting with students.

Look for Nikola’s article on the ancient use and transmission of a collection of Roman school exercises that will soon appear in the journal Classical Philology. He has also recently written about Horace’s Satires for a publication in his native Serbian.

Learn more about our newest lecturer by visiting his department profile.

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Department co-hosts Translation Symposium

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The department of Classics and World Languages and Cultures co-hosted the first Translation Symposium in April. This event was open to the public and brought together Professor Richard Armstrong of the University of Houston and Professor Lawrence Venuti of Temple University as the keynote speakers. During the symposium, participants were invited to attend workshops and panel discussions related to the power of translation.

Before the symposium began, the keynote speakers were invited to give an interview to WUOT 91.9, about the evolution of literary translation. The interview is available on the WUOT website.